Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

The old musician just needed to get Ye Qingxuan on his side.

  Using the entire national strength of Asgard as his capital to gamble, the old musician suppressed Ye Qingxuan with an imposing manner. Lured step-by-step by the old musician, Ye Qingxuan walked into the trap one step after another.

  At the moment, Ye Qingxuan had been completely transformed into Odin, having absorbed all the power of Odin and Vanaheim. After he had burned himself out to establish the nine worlds, he would completely become a part of Asgard.

  The price of obtaining the power comparable to God was that he could never leave the territory of Asgard, and must even shoulder the burden of sheltering Asgard in the upcoming storm, even for the sake of protecting himself.

  It was hard to say whether Ye Qingxuan would still be Ye Qingxuan then.

  The sublimation of divinity necessarily represented the peeling off of human nature.

  When the sublimation was completed, Ye Qingxuan would no longer exist in the world, and only Odin, the supreme god of the nine worlds, would remain!

  No plan could be better than making one’s enemy fight for oneself and give his all to keep oneself safe.

  At the moment, Ye Qingxuan had become a god, operating between the heavens and the earth.

  In the domain where the realm of aether and the physical world overlapped, a uniquely divine domain was created from the void.

  Flanked by countless elements, the hymn of creation resounded.

  The land of fire and the land of ice were born again from the void.

  The dead plains were once again filled with vitality.

  The miracle performed by the god took place on the land.

  As the nine worlds grew and were perfected, Ye Qingxuan felt that he had become light. He was detached from the limited senses of human beings and acquired unimagined relief and freedom.

  He could “see” sounds thousands of miles away and “hear” the various colors of the tides of Anglo. He touched the innumerable molecules dissipating in the flames and tasted the nectar of the stars and the skies. Once again, he was transformed into aether. Countless forms of him gathered together, turning into the ubiquitous sea of aether and touched the world.

  And so, he could see Charles fighting against the holy spirits thousands of miles away, above the ruins of the Golden Palace, and the dazzling pair of wings fluttering between the heavens and the earth. He also saw that light brighter than tens of thousands of himself burning in Charles’ body.

  Finally, he saw the King of Blue looking into the distance silently at the end of the World of Dark in the north. He also saw the king clad in red coldly gazing at him from the highest point of the city of steel.

  Ye Qingxuan was on the rise.

  He passed through the layers of dimensions in the realm of aether, went up further, passed the Sacred City, passed Eden, and flitted past the Land of Dreams that seemed to have a strong yearning for him.

  He reached the end of matter, and his spirit was extracted from ordinary flesh and blood, ascending as a divine spirit, and he spilled grace into the void.

  He would no longer feel anger, sadness, or confusion…

  With the magnificent sublimation, Ye Qingxuan felt something fading from his consciousness bit by bit, making him more complete, more perfect, and more extraordinary.

  He was only one step away from the final goal of perfection.

  One step…

  But he lingered for a long time without taking the one step forward. A voice was telling him not to go forward any further, but soon, the voice gradually disappeared, thrown away from his pure spirituality, sprinkling towards the mortal realm.

  Nothing was holding him back anymore.

  Nothing except the sudden obstruction in front of him.

  Among the brilliant flares, the huge country burned itself, forcibly rising to the front of Ye Qingxuan, becoming a barrier, blocking his final path.

  It was the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

  “Ye Qingxuan, don’t go any further.” Mary’s phantom image emerged from it, gazing at Ye Qingxuan, a gap cracking open on her face. “Otherwise…otherwise…” Looking at Ye Qingxuan’s indifferent expression, after hesitating for a long time, she summoned up great courage. “Otherwise I will never forgive you!”

  Who is she?

  Who is Ye Qingxuan?

  Why should she forgive me?

  Why should I be forgiven?

  The pure light set off faint ripples, as if He was thinking, but soon, He realized something.

  Why think?

  Why should I be limited to the drudgery of mortal beings?

  The light passed through the phantom image of Mary, through the incorporeal tears of nothingness and the sad expression. Finally, He passed through the layers of barriers of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and took the last step toward the supreme domain.

  And He came to an abrupt stop.

  Because a white palm of emerged from the void, appearing with her was the magnificent scene of the City in the Sky.

  The jade city in the skies appeared, with five towns and 12 buildings.

  The Great Wall appeared, blocking his path, and the gate opened. A vague and slender phantom image of the master of the palm appeared from the distant time and space, together with an angry pair of eyes.

  “You barbaric women only know how to cry and cry some more, how troublesome!” She cast a glance at Mary and snorted. “Forget it, at least you did me a favor by delaying him.” As she said so, she withdrew her gaze and looked at Ye Qingxuan’s contours, which had lost their true appearance, and her gaze became more and more annoyed.

  “I don’t have time to hit you up.” She lifted one foot and abruptly kicked Ye Qingxuan on the face. “Cousin, get your *ss down there first!”

  At the moment, in the deepest void of the realm of aether, the place closest to the Originator, unprecedentedly chaos erupted.

  As if all the turbulence in the world had gathered together, converging into a line, then a spot.

  Then, it erupted with a rumble!

  Zhaodang [1]!

  As Zhaodang erupted, as if it had exhausted all its power, the projection of the City in the Sky dissipated in the void. However, upon being trampled head-on by her, the light was kicked back into the physical world. He broke holes in the wonderlands of several schools along the way, and after stirring up complicated turbulence in the sea of aether, He fell back to the border between the physical world and the realm of aether.

  What happened?

  Where am I?

  Who am I?

  What am I doing?

  The light could no longer remain pure and began thinking again, but it was difficult for Him to get an answer.

  A slender figure emerged, wearing a skirt as red as fire, from the turbulence in the high-level dimensions. She was holding a lapful of things in her arms, bouncing and looking around, humming a song, like she was looking for something.

  “Oh, you came here!” She appeared before the light, bending down to look at the empty light. “Also, why did you throw things all over the place!” She scooped up the shattered pieces of light from her lap and stuffed it one by one into the light. “I wasted a lot of effort going around to pick them up for you. Remember to thank me! Check and see whether anything is missing. If it isn’t complete, we can continue looking around.”

  As she said so, she unreasonably and brutally stuffed the humanity and memory of the mortal being into the divinity. Despite clearly being incompatible with each other like water and fire, at the moment, they were smoothly connected under her palm.

  It was natural, as if it had been smelted in a furnace.

  So, fear came back, confusion came back, and greed came back…

  The first thing he felt was numbness.

  It was followed by depression, then by a struggling unwillingness, followed by anger beyond words, and finally, a denial towards this death!

  I am Ye Qingxuan.

  I am not dead…

  At the m
oment, Ye Qingxuan suddenly opened his eyes in the kingdom of the nine worlds.

  I, am still alive!

  [1] A tactic exclusively used by Bai Xi in the novel. It means pounding.

  746 The Path of Fire Sword

  Between heaven and earth and within the majestic movement of creation, Ye Qingxuan opened his eyes and looked down at the world that he had started. Amidst countless streams of light, there were silhouettes of mountains and rivers, and the foundation of the kingdom of God had been set. The incredible concept of the nine great kingdoms had finally taken shape.

  “How beautiful.” He said softly, “What a pity.”

  “Are you upset?” The illusion of an adolescent girl in red skirt appeared beside him and tilted her head to look at him.

  “Yes.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “I’m furious.”

  “Then unleash your fury on your enemy. Let them see blood.” The girl stretched out her hand and her fingers to establish a complicated music theory and put on a black robe onto Ye Qingxuan’s incarnation of Holy Spirit. She was like a girl that was smoothening the collars of others. But the expression on her face was stern and firm like an Emperor. She declared, “Unleash your cruelty on them, just like how God rains down thunder and fire. Teach them to respect and fear your power.”

  Ye Qingxuan laughed. “Yes, I will.”

  When she saw a glint of focus and determination in the corner of his eye that she had never seen before, the adolescent girl became happier. “I really like the person you have become now. It’s good to see you like this, my friend.”

  Ye Qingxuan stretched out his hands and embraced her gently. He could feel the rising temperature in his chest, and a knot that had been causing him pain all this while in his heart seemed to have been untied at last. He was truly happy, from the bottom of his heart.

  “Me too, Elsa.”

  …

  As Ye Qingxuan slowly woke up, the authoritative face of Odin began to crack slowly. Ye Qingxuan’s will was running within the divinity. He stared coolly at the embryonic form of the Nine Great Worlds, and his tone was one of indifference. “Is this the new world that you wanted?”

  “I have lost.” The face of the old musician appeared in the electricity and stared at Ye Qingxuan, “Now that Odin’s power belongs to you, why can’t you just give Asgard a chance?”

  This was a transaction. The embryonic form of the Nine Great Worlds had been set, so he had already achieved the baseline of his goal. At this moment, the old musician had made a promise. If Ye Qingxuan was willing to stop and step back, he could have all the remaining power that Odin had not unleashed during the creation, and the old musician would not interfere at all. He would treat this as a form of compensation for Ye Qingxuan. If Ye Qingxuan refused to stop, then both sides would officially use Odin’s divinity as the battlefield and fight each other once more. By then, the great power of God would be completely wasted during the battle, and the embryonic form of the Nine Great Worlds would most likely be destroyed in the process as well. Rationally, this was the best outcome.

  “What a pity.” Ye Qingxuan sighed gently and shook his head. “All I want to say is that the new world is not supposed to be created this way.”

  With that, the New Testament sword appeared in his hands. When he raised it high in the sky, the glorious light of divine power surfaced on the sword blade and the formation of the path of godly ascension was opened. The power of the Nine Great Worlds was absorbed and gathered into powerful and earth-shattering hurricanes and storms. In the next instant, the sword of wind and thunder struck the divine domain ahead.

  “In order to welcome the new, one must destroy the old first!”

  In that instant, the old musician closed his eyes. “In that case, this time around, we will not stop until one of us is dead.”

  The embryonic form of the Nine Great Worlds responded with a roar. The torrents of aether burst out, and after penetrating through “Asgard,““Vanaheim,““Niflheim,” and “Middle Court Kingdom” of the outer world, they gathered within the bright Gungnir. With the support of the Nine Great Worlds, the power of Gungnir rose exponentially and in the blink of an eye, it became even more powerful than Gate of Heaven of the past. It became an artifact that was even more powerful than Spear of Destiny and was now truly a killer weapon of catastrophe!

  And in the very same instant, a massive alchemy formation was unleashed behind Ye Qingxuan. In the blink of an eye, it covered the entire divine domain.

  Firstly, three principal axes, that would have left anyone dumbfounded, were erected. The pillar of compassion, the pillar of gentleness, and the pillar of strictness. After the three axes solidified the foundation of the formation, four great precincts were developed. They evolved to such an advanced stage that they went through the four stages of flowing, forming, creating and activating based on the foundation of the three pillars. They transformed into four independent domains that were stacked on top of one another, evolving into an extreme form of the path of alchemy.

  The point, where the four great precincts intersected with each other, represented the interweaving of the music theories of heaven and earth, forming the outline and condensing into the crystallization of miracle. “Kingdom” represented substance, “foundation” represented heaven and earth, “glory” represented soul,” until the very end, when “crown” represented divinity! That was the end point within the formation, and every single one of them was more than capable of supporting the “elements” created by artifacts!

  Shortly after, 22 massive alchemy formations connected the three pillars and four precincts and the elements that represented the ten major original qualities, all into one and formed a single alchemy formation that was so terrifying that it was capable of engulfing an entire country. From top to bottom, that was the sublimation of miracle. The path of sublimation that was of great importance.

  “In the name of the last wise man, I declare the reason of sublimation of all beings and the path of creation of heaven and earth.” After the incredible alchemy formation had been formed, the queen was bathing in flames, and her eyes looked down at the entire heaven and earth. “This shall be the crystallization of intelligence and supreme souls, the origin of the beauty of all beings.

  “This is the path of fire sword!”

  With the appearance of the origin of catastrophe, the formation of the path of fire sword was mounted onto the incarnation of Ye Qingxuan, and in the blink of an eye, the New Testament sword destroyed the lightning of Gungnir then probed forward and struck again.

  Boom! The country of fog was destroyed completely. Before creation was complete, destruction had already descended upon this domain! With the New Testament in hand, Ye Qingxuan swung his sword of judgment and punished his enemies by casting lightning and fire!

  Shortly after, the formation of the path of godly ascension was extended, and in a split second, it occupied the shards of divinity domain that had been disintegrated. Then, Ye Qingxuan threw it into the realm of aether so that it would combine with the Land of Dreams. There was no reason he should be kind to Asgard. He showed no mercy in taking them apart, and he would even take their materials and resources for his own use in the future.

  With Elsa’s support, Ye Qingxuan was able to suppress the old musician’s control of the divinity domain completely. If Asgard was like a sheep, then Ye Qingxuan was now fully focused on pulling out all of its wool.

  Didn’t you want me to create a divinity domain? Alright, I’ll do it, but don’t ever get the wrong idea that it will be your home!

  Every single action was rough and violent, and he left a trail of destruction behind him wherever he went. He did not seem to care that the Nine Great Worlds were also his own creation. If he did not vent his anger this time around, Ye Qingxuan would definitely be itchy for the next decade, waiting for another similar opportunity.

  The old musician was being suppressed by the formation of the path of fire sword. He finally sighed solemnly. “It seems that I
made the wrong move in the end.” Before the path of fire sword even appeared, the old musician already knew that he had lost. Not only had he lost the battle, but he had also lost to Ye Qingxuan in terms of set-up and strategy.

  If someone wholeheartedly wanted to change the world, so much so that he was willing to allow his greatest achievements to be accomplished by others, this person would probably be as despondent as he was right now. No, this person might even expect more in return.

  As he stared at the icy silhouette of “path of fire sword,” the old musician’s face contorted. It was a divinity domain that could move at will, a moving “Nine Great Worlds!” A principal axis that could change heaven and earth at any time and resolidify the fundamentals of all beings. Beneath the cover of that alchemy formation, everything seemed to be centered around the will of that catastrophe queen. One could say that once the path of fire sword had been unleashed, she was just like a living God.

  Was there anyone else in this world that could reach this level? No. Or perhaps there was…

  The old musician bitterly mouthed that name. Hermes. Other than that wise man, who was willing to give up his catastrophe powers in order to become an ordinary man? Who else was capable of creating such a terrible existence? Perhaps she had inherited the power of catastrophe? Otherwise, it was not possible for a Romulus to transform into one of the winged people.

  At that moment, he closed his eyes. The lands of the Nine Great Worlds were disintegrating. Ye Qingxuan could feel it. Endless aether was bursting through those gaps. He was destroying the Great Wall?

  It was as if an immense burden had been removed, and now, as the old musician pushed, the Nine Great Worlds abandoned most of their powers to be captured by Ye Qingxuan. Only the core divinity element was collapsing inwards. Shortly after, the music theory that Ye Qingxuan was extremely familiar with was being established from within. Was that catastrophic resonation?!

  Ye Qingxuan was stunned. The Nine Great Worlds were being used as instruments in this symphony while Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination began to play once more. But everything was happening within the old musician’s grasp!