Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Unfortunately, he had chosen safety.

  In this way, he was afraid that even the power of the Sacred City had been wasted on Ye Qingxuan.

  When men grew old they grew treacherous, when horses grew old they grew crafty, and when rabbits grew old, even eagles would be foiled.

  When facing this old b*stard, Ye Qingxuan did not dare let his guard down at all.

  Who knew what kind of poison these old b*stards had in their hearts that they had never even trusted their allies? Moreover, after Rommel’s overconfidence had led to the destruction of the sea fortress, an irreparable rift had opened up between the two sides.

  In an instant, he could see the old musician’s heart clearly. Ye Qingxuan tapped the blade of the New Testament Sword and couldn’t help but laugh. “You really believe in me…”

  The old musician did not pay attention to the mockery in his words. He merely sighed with a hint of impatience, as well as undisguised disgust and indifference. “When will you cast off this detestable modesty? Enough, Mr. Ye, why pretend? Are you not about to hold the whole world in your hand? When that day comes, you will only be a step away from Asgard…”

  The old musician stared coldly at Ye Qingxuan. “Unfortunately, the Sacred City does not understand that the biggest enemy is not the Commonwealth of Caucasian, that puppet that Gaius pushed to the front to catch the arrow, but you.”

  “Me?” Ye Qingxuan was amused. “How can it be me?”

  “Yes, they don’t understand. You don’t understand either.” The old musician sighed with exhaustion. “The Church has not thought from the perspective of humanity for centuries. They have never lived in the human world, so they don’t understand what you bring. The greatest threat to the world was never power, just as the main axis of the human world has never been catastrophes. Humanity’s worst enemy has always been humans. Unfortunately, I realized this too late, too late…” The old musician’s heart was full of regret. If he had realized this earlier, if he had known what kind of awful ideas lurked under that monster Ye Qingxuan’s skin, he would definitely have utterly annihilated him.

  Unfortunately, the situation was already set. In fact, it was not until he had decided to meet death and transmit the Emperor’s extinguishment orders that his thinking was freed from the perspective of the past.

  It was no longer limited to himself, nor was it limited to a single time or place, but took everything into consideration. It had emerged from the perspective of Asgard and now saw everything from the perspective of the whole human world.

  It was then that he realized how terrifying Ye Qingxuan was.

  In this war, everyone carried the banner of the world, but the only one who truly wanted to destroy the world was Ye Qingxuan.

  If the Church was victorious, then, for the world, it would be nothing more than returning to the so-called “right track,” continuing to advance under the guidance of the Church.

  If Gaius won, then it would be nothing more than the Church controlling the world under a different name.

  Although he called it a capital revolution to create a new world, he could still not escape the cage of the old world. In the end, the nobility would be overthrown, the Church would be overthrown, and God would be overthrown, it was true.

  But there would be a new capitalist class to replace the nobility, there would be a new organization to replace the Church, and there would be a new God to replace the old one.

  Although God was frightening, he was only a god.

  Were the countless Kings of Black throughout history not gods? What was the difference between their power and that of a god?

  But in the end, the human world had human rules. No matter how strong their determination was, they could only change it around the edges, at best, planting a new testing field.

  Let him create the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Let him keep dreaming.

  You could always wake up from a dream.

  One day, God would grow weary of this world, go into self-exile, and become an empty idol.

  Like like the Kings of Black throughout history had chosen.

  And one day, Gaius would realize that everything he had done had been exactly the same as the Church. This was the cycle of the human world, since time immemorial it had always been like this.

  But Ye Qingxuan was different…

  This was not what he wanted at all. What he wanted to do, what he was able to do, was far more sensational than it seemed now. Right now it seemed like he was merely competing for the main role on the stage, but what he wanted to do was completely demolish the stage.

  He had already completely cut off the road to power, using the poisonous Net of Aether to erode the path of musicianship that had been open to humans for centuries, giving the power to everyone.

  He would use the New Testament as a weapon to fight against the holy writing that had maintained the justice and righteousness of the old world. He would replace the old power with the new. He would replace old morality with new morality.

  Perhaps, in his lifetime, there would not be much difference between what he would do and what Gaius would do, but everything that Gaius wanted to do was just a temporary link in the whole plan…

  As long as Ye Qingxuan did not become a god, the role of God would be left empty and God’s authority would be weakened. In only three generations, no, two generations, the world would become unrecognizable.

  If Gaius won, Asgard could surrender, could pay reparations, could admit defeat, and could sacrifice a generation for the Commonwealth of Caucasian, letting them become the next Asgard. After that, they could slowly figure things out.

  But if Ye Qingxuan was able to win, then the whole world would be drowned in his poisonous wine, a slow suicide…

  He would cut down the rules and pillars of the world with his own hands. One day, all of the nations would experience violent social upheavals and he would build his kingdom on the ruins.

  What he wanted was not this current second-hand world.

  He wanted a new one!

  “Although I’m very happy that you think so highly of me, or should I say understand me, if you’re the person who understands what I’m thinking more than anyone else, this still can’t change the force field between us. After all, we are still enemies, no?” Ye Qingxuan slowly raised his sword, and without expression said, “So, before we discuss the future, we might as well figure out which of us is going to live and which of us is going to die. How does that sound?”

  There was silence in the divinity armor.

  After a while, the old musician laughed quietly.

  “No, you win.”

  He said what Ye Qingxuan had never imagined he would say. He took three steps back, discharged the lightning spear, spread out his steel arms, and a hoarse roar came forth from the giant, “With this power alone I cannot defeat you. I admit defeat.”

  At that moment, Ye Qingxuan could not control the shock in his heart. He fell into a daze.

  “What… What did you say?”

  742 Give Me a Noble Status or Give Me Death

  “I said, I admit defeat.” The old musician said calmly, “Now, you two have the powers of two catastrophes, both the Net of Aether and Leviathan, and are further supported by the elements of the Land of Dreams. The divine armor is powerful, but the forte of the divinity itself is neither destruction nor attack.

  “In terms of throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel, my ability is not even one-tenth of yours. And as I am fighting alone against you two, who have joined forces, I am absolutely no match.

  “The outcome of the battle has already been determined when the saints failed, why should I bother to struggle in vain?”

  He said, “I admit defeat, you have won.”

  But even though he said so, Ye Qingxuan did not relax in the slightest.

  Instead, he felt colder.

  He was uneasy.

  He had never felt so uneasy before.

  But before him, the old musician still maintained h
is grace. After admitting defeat, he was still calm, not at all feeling self-conscious as a loser. It was as if it was just two children practicing fighting in the garden with wooden swords, instead of a war where the futures of two countries were at stake.

  “At the same time, allow me to present my sincere thanks to you and the Son of God of the Caucasus.” The old musician bowed gracefully. “Thank you for actually lifting the big rock pressing down on the Asgardians and allowing us to catch our breath for a while.

  “So, next, as a thank you gift, let me present to you this psalm of creation!”

  At the moment, the ground cracked, and Asgard shook.

  Blazing light rose from the cracks in the ground.

  It was Vanaheim!

  The light illuminated the heavens and the earth.

  The huge and fiery crown emerged from the empty space above Odin’s head, and numerous fiery torrents spewed out from behind the divine armor, like countless wings piercing through the heavens and the earth. The steel giant hung high between the heavens and the earth as if he was connected to everything in the world.

  The Tree of World!

  “Many thanks to you, Mr. Ye.” The old musician’s words of gratitude sounded in Ye Qingxuan’s ear, but it only brought shock and bitterness. “If not for you, I wouldn’t be able to see where the limit is, where the road ahead is… And I wouldn’t have the courage to be so determined. “

  At the moment, on top of his head, the huge crown was slowly expanding, faintly looming over all of Asgard.

  Ye Qingxuan inhaled deeply.

  His expression was dark.

  He certainly knew what the old devil in front of him was trying to do…

  He was doing what Hyakume had once tried to do in the Sacred City!

  While elements made up the theme of movements, divinity was the main axis used to establish the heavens and the earth, the core of everything, the theme of the world!

  The most important aspect of divinity was never power. In terms of destruction, what could be compared to the destructive capacity of the eight phenomena?

  What was most precious about it was that it was the supreme element derived from the Originator, the foundation that could establish everything. The Sacred City successfully created the Holy Cauldron and established the Golden Era with the saints as supporting pillars. Such was the basis for the human world to exist.

  Hyakume had also once decided to use Ludovic as a link to combine the Holy Cauldron with himself and open the prologue of the ancient darkness.

  Even after the fall of Hyakume, the godd*mn leftovers in the abyss were still obsessed with the idea, and they were willing to pay a huge price to open the Ultimate…

  And at the moment, the old devil was doing the same thing. Even though the scale of his actions at the moment was only limited to the territory of Asgard, the Sacred City would never allow it. Also, the king of Asgard would never be crazy enough to give such an order.

  In other words, at the moment, his actions were defying the orders of his king.

  No, in Asgard’s perspective, it was the most necessary thing to do. He disregarded the king who was still in the Golden Palace, probably using the king to attract everyone’s attention, even using the king as a pawn.

  While the Holy Cauldron and Eden were fighting, and the Sacred City and Gaius had no attention to spare, he finally had the opportunity to implement the plan. He intended to reform Asgard in one go, shatter the membrane between the physical world and the realm of aether, extract an endless power to distort reality, forcibly separate the piece of land, Asgard, from the mortal realm, and artificially transform it into a foreign domain!

  All Asgardians would ascend in the mighty power, like the winged people who were transformed in Romulus back then. From then on, whether Asgard became a paradise on earth or hell on earth, it would undoubtedly be a forbidden domain for outsiders.

  Only by doing so could Asgard survive eternally amid the changes of the times.

  Regardless of whether the Holy City was to succeed or fail, whether it was Gaius or Ye Qingxuan who dominated the world, and regardless of any changes in the outside world, even if the whole world was destroyed in the war, it still would not affect Asgard at all. Then, they need not be a loyal dog of the Sacred City anymore, and they need not care about where God was standing anymore.

  Leaving aside the issue of the tragic consequences of failure for the moment, if he could succeed, Odin would definitely replace the disappeared quiet moon and be promoted to the position of the Three Pillar God. But whether he could succeed or not, after controlling the divinity with a human body, even with the Land Giant and Tree of World as buffers, the old musician probably could not survive either way.

  The old devil had already gone crazy.

  Although the world had never lacked madness, Ye Qingxuan never thought that the old man whom he had just ridiculed for not daring to take risks would be so determined.

  He burned his boats.

  If the Sacred City had been capable of coping with the pressure from the monster of Caucasian and the order of the old world had remained stable, the old musician might not have gone so far to the present extent.

  But at the moment, if the Sacred City failed, it would undoubtedly be a death sentence for Asgard.

  If they lost here, they would have no way of continuing the war. The vast and rich Asgard would totally become a juicy piece of meat on the chopping block, at the mercy of the winner during negotiations, terrorized by catastrophes.

  The north wind was no longer.

  Just like how the emperor would never surrender his throne willingly, the old musician would not accept the outcome of the Asgardians being defeated, and he would never let Asgard be reduced to such an extent.

  Give me a noble status or give me death.

  Ye Qingxuan could somewhat understand the grief and feeling of unreconciliation the old musician felt in his heart. But at the moment, it was not time for mutual understanding, and mutual understanding between Ye Qingxuan and the Asgardians was of no godd*mn use anyway.

  “Since you are so ambitious, I wish you all the best.” While blabbering words that even he himself did not believe, Ye Qingxuan secretly urged Mary to retreat immediately through the Net of Aether, but it was as if all his urges had sunk into the sea, and he received no response.

  At the moment, it was as if a chopper had slammed down suddenly, and the connection to the Net of Aether was completely cut off.

  As his expression turned dark, the figure in the divine armor spread out his left palm.

  In the hand of steel, the phantom image of the Wheel of Balance emerged, and the broken stone plate reflected the phantom images of the Net of Aether and Leviathan.

  “The biggest weakness of the Net of Aether is that it must be connected by the Heaven Ladder to function.” The old musician said calmly, “If my guess is correct, if the connection of the Heaven Ladder is cut off, then in the blind spot of the sensing of the Net of Aether, power can’t operate no matter how huge it is.”

  Along with his words, the rumble of a collapse came from afar.

  It was like the wailing of metals before they shattered.

  The old musician turned back and gazed in the direction of the rumble.

  “The Golden Palace has collapsed.” He said to Ye Qingxuan, “Under the collapse, I’m afraid that His Majesty will not be spared by fate. As a minister, I am powerless to avenge His Majesty. I can only do all I can and ask the two of you to represent Anglo and accompany him in his grave. The wish of His Majesty can also be considered fulfilled that way.”

  Ye Qingxuan almost laughed out of angry.

  Can he be considered as too conceited? Bro, it’s alright that you want to create your kingdom of heaven on earth. Wishing for others to not cause you more trouble is already an extravagant hope, yet you are still planning to use others as stepping stones. Where are your confidence and boldness coming from?

  “Hey, you aren’t good-looking, why
is it that you think more wishfully than I do?” Ye Qingxuan gritted his teeth and cackled, raising the New Testament Sword, ready to give the old *sshole a brutal lesson!

  But at the moment, under the ground, Vanaheim suddenly shook. In the dark night sky, bangs abruptly sounded one after another in the distance.

  The burning light burned the dark iron skies red.

  In the great earthquake that swept through Asgard, pillars of light rose into the sky one after another, supporting the sky that was about to collapse. As the pillars of light rose, Vanaheim’s power suddenly surged by tens of times, increasing to an incredible extent.

  The vast domain covered the land territory of Asgard, and the inexhaustible power spewed out of the aether reserves that had all been opened, blending into the light, and gathered from all directions.

  “Even Anglo can have a national defense front, are there really no war fortifications on the territory of Asgard?” The old musician looked at Ye Qingxuan indifferently. “Since 200 years ago, we have been carrying out construction works underground, building the foundation of Vanaheim. We laid roads in the wilderness, built six great cities, and migrated millions of people, creating the 13 permanent war fortresses we have today.

  “Today, it’s finally time to activate them…”

  Ye Qingxuan got goosebumps. The 13 fortresses built on the aether nodes of Vanaheim could continuously extract the reserves of the entire treasury for battles, and they were known as the strong barriers that would never fall, the iron walls of Asgard. But the reason why he felt fear was not because of the power of the 13 fortresses, but because, just now, the old musician had personally destroyed all that completely!

  After centuries of preparation, the fortresses were built, and God knew how high the price paid was. But at the moment, following the orders of the old musician, it was completely dissolved in the torrent of aether in a flash.

  They brought millions of innocent lives with them…

  “You have really gone crazy.” Ye Qingxuan’s pupils contracted, and he was overwhelmed by a sudden disgust. “Are they not citizens of Asgard?!”