Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “Congratulations, you have gotten it.” Yunlou Qingshu smiled and waved goodbye. “Go, Lord Ye, go and pursue your grand dream!

  “The truth will be waiting for you there.

  “Go and let those beings that had decayed so much until not even their ashes remained sacrifice you to the so-called thousand-year fate, hahahaha… It’s all a bad joke!”

  Until Ye Qingxuan walked out of the residence of the lord of the city, he could still hear Yunlou Qingshu’s mad laughter from the tall building behind him. “Bon Voyage!”

  He finally turned back and took one last look at the dead city, then turned and left.

  Without the slightest reluctance.

  …

  Half a day later, a man named Jiu Ying [1] walked up to the pavilion of the lord of the city. The man, who was so burly that he resembled a giant god, looked down at Yunlou Qingshu, who was soaked in spirits and vomit. “He has already left?”

  Yunlou Qingshu kept his head low, minding his own business and singing songs. He said nothing as if he did not see the man at all.

  “I see.” Jiu Ying nodded slightly.

  …

  That day, fire burned from the bottommost of the City of the Cloud Tower, consuming the corpses and bones, moving up layer by layer. The iron-like flames licked the city, shredding it inch-by-inch from the bottom to the top.

  The fire burned for three days and nights, and all the magnificence and splendor it once had were buried in the brazier fortified by high walls.

  In the end, the remaining ashes floated into the sky, blending into the rain clouds, and fell into the ocean.

  Amid the ruins, no more luxurious scenes could be seen.

  Only the souls of the dead lingered, the hoarse singing reverberating through day and night.

  [1] The name literally translates as “nine infants.” It is the name of a vicious beast in Chinese mythology that has nine heads, makes a crying noise similar to that of an infant, and can spray out water and fire.

  758 Let Me Do I

  There was a blurry light in the midst of her drowsiness. A water droplet dripped onto her face. They were so close to each other, yet she could not even make out that frail and elderly face.

  “Granny, are you there?” That familiar voice spoke once again. It sounded so far away and it was weak and hoarse. “Are you… crying?”

  “No, no. An old lady like me is just feeling happy for Princess.” The old granny calmly wiped away her tears and held the children beside her closely. “Congratulations, Princess. They are both lovely girls. They look as pretty as you were when you were a child.”

  “Where are they? Let me see them. Granny, I can barely see anymore.”

  The old granny lowered her head and tried her best to stop herself from crying. “They are right in front of you.”

  A cold hand probed around in the air and finally landed on the child’s face. Her touch was as soft as feathers. It was also itchy and the child began to laugh.

  “She’s laughing, right? Granny, another child is crying… I have hurt her.”

  “Not at all. It’s because I was too rough, so the Princess was frightened. See, she knows that she is with her mother now so she has stopped crying. The minds of mother and daughter are really in sync.”

  “I see.” That familiar voice asked softly, “Can I carry them?”

  A pair of hands held the child up ever so gently, as if she was carrying the most precious treasure in the world. A blurry face came close, and there was a warm and gentle smile on the pale face.

  “One’s a rascal and the other’s a crybaby. Granny, these are my daughters. How adorable.” She was laughing. She laughed. How wonderful. Seeing her smile was the most wonderful and amazing sight in the world right now. But the granny lowered her head and could no longer stop herself from crying.

  “Granny, don’t cry. Have I done something wrong again?”

  “No, not at all.” Granny replied gently, “An old lady like me just wishes that your health will get better. I wish that mother and daughters will be healthy and safe so that there can be more of such wonderful times ahead.”

  “Don’t be sad, Granny. I was born to have a hard life. To be able to witness their birth, I am already more than content.” The woman hugged them tight and put her face close to theirs as she shared with them her own heartbeat that was beating weakly. “Look, they are so adorable and lively.”

  “One became two. The name that we prepared can no longer be used.” Granny forced out a smile. “We must trouble Princess to come up with new names for them again.”

  “Chao Yue and Bai Xi.” She hugged the children and whispered, “Shall we name them Chao Yue and Bai Xi?”

  “Tide [1]?” Granny was taken aback for a moment before recovering quickly with a smile. “They are both good names. Both sisters will forever be linked with their hearts, as if they are one.”

  She smiled. “Chao Yue, Bai Xi, Chao Yue, Bai Xi…” She leaned close to their faces. Her lips were cold and she closed her eyes with a content look on her face.

  …

  “Mother…” Bai Xi woke up from her dream and opened her eyes. She could not help but sigh. She did not manage to see her mother’s face once again. It was so close…

  The pain in her head did not subside. As her bones and body continued to grow due to puberty, the pain, that was the result of the incompleteness that she was born with continued to linger in her flesh and bones. Once again, she inspected the alchemy formation that has been imprinted onto her flesh. Her long and slender fingernails brushed past her skin. There was a hint of coolness and the cool breeze of the late autumn triggered a layer of goosebumps.

  When she sensed a chill seeping into the yarn, she hurriedly put on layers of clothes, only to realize that these clothes, which once fit her perfectly, now felt tighter on the chest region.

  “How annoying,” she muttered softly. Then, she heard a low voice from outside the door.

  “Looks like it must have been a good dream.” The door opened and the cold yet graceful Empress stepped into her room. She looked at her from top to bottom. “I thought that you would be feeling troubled and depressed. I didn’t expect that, on the contrary, you are in such good condition that you have even put on weight. Is your headache better?”

  “Thanks to the great blessings of the Empress, they seem to have worsened recently.” Bai Xi rolled her eyes and her expression was cold. She no longer behaved carefully and respectfully like in the past. Many servants were enraged. The Empress waved her hand so that everyone else would step back, then she sat down opposite of Bai Xi.

  “In the entire palace, your pouting is the only thing that His Majesty is slightly fond of.”

  “Is that so?” Bai Xi looked at her with a teasing look in her eyes. “Actually, I was just thinking about this yesterday. What is happening to me now can be considered as falling out of His Majesty’s favor right?”

  “Oh.” The Empress raised her eyebrows slightly and carefully inspected her pretty face. She looked happier. “Are you so keen to gain the favor and affection of His Majesty? Unfortunately, your legs are too long. If they were a little more petite, you may just be favored by His Majesty.”

  “That’s not true, right?” Bai Xi climbed up from her bed and came closer, and it was almost rude of her to inspect the graceful face across her. “According to my estimation, compared to the bunch of sissies that His Majesty favored, shouldn’t he favor someone who is more manly, like me?”

  Without any hint of shame or embarrassment, the Empress only stretched out her hand, and her white and slender finger pressed against the middle of her brows and pushed her back. Then, she tilted her chin and looked at her face before sighing softly. “You may have fit all of His Majesty’s criteria but why are you born a woman?”

  Bai Xi moved forward and looked at the Empress’ face. There was a hint of playfulness in her eyes. “Don’t you know? Two women can also…”

  Slap! A streak of electricity shot
out of the Empress’ fingertips as she slapped her forehead once. “Bai Xi, you have been kept in here for so many days, but not only did you not reflect, but you are also still trying to seduce Her Majesty into homosexuality with you? Don’t you think you’re going overboard? Compared to your cheap father, you do seem to be more talented in flattery…”

  “Thank you for your compliment.” Bai Xi lazed on the bed. Her tone was sarcastic, “Her Majesty is always right, after all.”

  “It should always have been this way.” The Empress looked stern, as if she was speaking a truth. This was not just mere talk because, for all these years, she had been practicing what she preached. More than 10 years ago, when she ascended all the way to the top despite being a woman, she was seized by Bai Heng and turned into a puppet. The commoners began to talk nasty things behind her back.

  But now, was there anyone that did not recognize and acknowledge who their true ruler was? No one would have imagined that the girl, who was forced to become a puppet, would have the ambition and intelligence to seize the power of the Emperor bit by bit against all odds. She was able to clean up the mess that had been left behind by the previous Emperors and was able to hold the upper hand. Unfortunately, Bai Heng was still around to create trouble and chaos in the palace, including stealing the power of the country and controlling the affairs of the state. Otherwise, peaceful times would have come much earlier.

  “Indeed, it is good to be right.” Bai Xi watched her with a strange look on her face. “But to reach the extent of the imperial censor losing his job, that just goes to show how terrifying Your Majesty can be.”

  The Empress was calm. “How else could we have defeated Bai Heng?”

  “No, you’ve got it all wrong.” Bai Xi sighed. “You didn’t defeat Bai Heng because you were right. It was precisely you were so obsessed with being right that you made Bai Heng your enemy. Although he has never mentioned anything about it, I can tell that he, more than anyone else, absolutely hated an Emperor that was obsessed with being right.”

  “All corrupted officials will naturally think this way. This is nothing new.” The Empress chuckled. When she looked at Bai Xi again, she no longer seemed to be toying around anymore. She seemed to be gloating at her misfortune, “But the strangest thing of all is that the only person who knew her best would turn out to be you, the abandoned child that he left behind in the fire pit. Not only that, when you had the chance to escape, he actually chose to use it on someone else.”

  If not for the recent chaos and turbulence, no one would have imagined that Bai Xi, who was now a captive, still possessed such terrifying power.

  Within the time taken for three breaths, this 19-year-old girl was able to utilize her intricate skills to get rid of all the musicians and pass through layers of restrictions before using the formation in her body to tweak all the power in the Great Wall. Shortly after, she completely wasted this power, which could have helped her to escape, on Asgard.

  What a pity that there was only one chance.

  All the musicians woke up with a start and completely revamped the back door of the City in the Sky, which Bai Xi had used, so that the same thing would not happen again. They also sealed the formation in her body over and over again, stripping away any power that she might have to put up a resistance. At this state, Bai Xi was not even comparable to a girl of her age, much less a musician. Every single move she made would mean enduring the side effect of terrible pain, which had previously been suppressed by her formation.

  After the lock had been removed, it was as if time had been unfrozen and was passing by as per normal once more. Within half a month, she grew significantly from a thin little girl to a stature that was more comparable to girls of her age.

  “I’m jealous. As a woman, I cannot avoid the custom either.” The Empress inspected Bai Xi and saw the curves and contours that were becoming more and more obvious underneath her clothes, and the pale white skin beneath her collar. There was a look of pity in her eyes.

  “You could have escaped. Back then, if you had wanted to leave, I might have… not stopped you.”

  “No choice. I’m just too lazy.” Bai Xi laid on the bed and smiled happily like a little fox. “Compared to escaping on my own, I would very much prefer someone to come and rescue me instead. All I need to do to regain my freedom is to just lie here. How wonderful is that?”

  “If you are hoping for Bai Heng to come and save you, that may not be too realistic.”

  “Someone will come.” Bai Xi smiled with a look of determination on her face, “A hero that a hundred times, or a thousand times, or even tens of thousands of times stronger than him.

  “He will come and rescue me.”

  …

  At this point in time, in an unknown location just beyond the thick fog of the Great Wall, the Mountain of Nomadism was floating tens of thousands of miles in the sky. The layers of clouds were tumbling to cover the lands, creating a buffer between Aurora and the outside world. If not for the coordinates, probably everyone might have thought that these were ordinary fog of the World of the Dark. They would never have been able to find the location of Aurora amongst the confusing aether currents.

  “It’s here.” Ye Qingxuan looked down at the tumbling sea of clouds beneath him. This was the weakest spot of the seal of the Great Wall. “With the coordinates for direction, this should be the easiest place to break in from.”

  “In that case, I wish Your Highness a safe journey.” On the deck, Egor and the rest were sending Ye Qingxuan off, “We will be waiting on the seas for you to summon us.”

  “Many thanks then.” Ye Qingxuan flipped over the side of the ship and stood in the sky. He waved his hands and motioned for them to move further away from him, until the Mountain of Nomadism could barely be seen.

  This distance was good enough. He stretched out his hand and drew the New Testament out of thin air. He held onto the hilt of the sword upside-down and aimed below at the fog and the projection of the Great Wall behind the fog. With that, the tip of the sword burst into a destructive and burning streak of electricity.

  “Bai Xi, here I come,” he muttered softly.

  In that instant, lightning struck from the sky!

  [1] In Mandarin, ‘tide’ is made up of two characters, ‘chao’ and ‘xi’. They are the same characters as the ones that make up the names of ‘Chao Yue’ and ‘Bai Xi’.

  759 Wait!

  After integrating Gungnir, the Music Theory of Reform sprouted from the New Testament Sword, like the glory of the world gathered together.

  As the blade plunged, violent lightning fell from the sky, tearing through layers of fog. It seemed like they hit an invisible field, and an ear piercing sound rang out.

  Numerous rippled of chaos emerged from the void. There was a flash of light accompanied by a sharp scraping sound. In the originally empty realm of aether, the illusion of a huge city suddenly appeared.

  But compared with everything else, it was as small as a speck of dust.

  A blow at full power merely made its form emerge from the chaos. Under the support of the Wheel of Balance, even its weakest points were firm, and it was almost unshakeable.

  Now Ye Qingxuan stood in front of it, like a speck of dust trying to pierce through an iron wall.

  “Again!” Ye Qingxuan was not discouraged but instead was stirred up by his fighting spirit. A line of the Net of Aether came from far away, and the World Tree’s arrays appeared, followed by… the Gungnir orchestra!

  It was as if the catastrophe Odin had reappeared.

  Under the guidance of the supreme elemental void, a concrete outline of Gungnir emerged from the void energy. A lightning spear so violent that it seemed like it wanted to pierce through the heavens and the earth appeared in Ye Qingxuan’s hands.

  Then it struck!

  Bang! The Great Wall’s shadow surged, and a fissure emerged from within the fog. Countless streams of light flew out and repaired the cracks. Somewhere far away terrible raging wave
s gathered together.

  This was the Great Wall’s automatic defense system.

  But soon, Gungnir struck again.

  As the loud roar rang out, Ye Qingxuan cast out Yunlou Qingshu’s beacon, and it stuck into the invisible crack. Because of this, a great deal of Heaven Ladder Music Theory burst out.

  In a flash, it extended a great distance towards the core arrays of the Great Wall.

  Outflow, creation, formation, activity…

  It pierced through the four elements.

  Hermes’s alchemy worked together with the Ye family music theory that had been established when the Great Wall was built, coordinating both inside and out to open up a huge gap in the front of the Great Wall.

  A narrow vortex emerged in the rolling fog, with electricity curling within it, as if it was a crack that would lead to hell.

  Without thinking, Ye Qingxuan jumped into it, letting the darkness engulf him.

  The fleeting vortex crashed shut behind him, and the New Testament Sword protected him from enough pressure to crush flesh into dust.

  Ye Qingxuan saw countless streams of light flying before his eyes.

  As far as the Great Wall was concerned, this guy who had come in through the back door was undoubtedly a virus that had infiltrated its circulatory system. It immediately launched its defensive measures, and music theory intertwined to form the image of a bronze drum.

  A great wind blew, and thunder roared.

  The wind and thunder laughed, and lightning cut down like an ax.

  Armageddon!

  This was the punishment that the East imposed on forbidden musicians, the eternal shackles set by the Bloodline of the Dragon. After the supplementation of dozens of generations, there was no exemption even for those of the Bloodline.