Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Once you violated it, it would be like a maggot in your bones. It would not rest and it would not die!

  “Aren’t I just knocking down a wall?” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “Why does it need to be so ruthless?” He raised the New Testament Sword and brought the blade down, and music theory clearly and nimbly cut off the links that entangled him to the outside world. In the end, Ye Qingxuan had become nothing more than a simple “hole” in the Great Wall.

  There was no echo or resonance, all noise and music theory was absorbed. He slipped effortlessly through layers and layers of barricades. The lightning of armageddon swirled around him, brushing past him continuously. At its closest, it still was a little distance away.

  Even so, it gradually honed in on Ye Qingxuan’s position, shrinking in towards the center.

  “Tsk!” Ye Qingxuan frowned but could do nothing but prepare to resist it.

  In the end, Armageddon suddenly came to a standstill and then collapsed, strangely disappearing right before the life and death struggle began. And behind layers of electricity, a blurred phantom emerged amid countless streams of light.

  It had no face, no contours, it did not even seem like a human figure, but for a fleeting moment, it formed a coincidental pattern, throwing Ye Qingxuan’s will into turmoil. It was like a switch had been pressed. In a flash his mind became unsteady and he lost control of himself.

  There was not even space left in his mind for him to be shocked.

  Trees, the sea, fish… a series of completely different images appeared in his mind. In the end, they pointed to traces of something that he had long before pushed into the deepest part of his memory.

  He inexplicably remembered; he remembered the phantom that had appeared beside him when he had opened the musician’s door and burned his Dream of a Millennium.

  It was nothing more than an inflexible memory, but at that moment, it came alive. The musician with features similar to his own walked out of the stillness and nodded at him with a smile.

  He seemed to be greeting him.

  He was telling him: I’m here.

  Then, the series of images and thoughts fell apart and disintegrated once again. His turbulent mind re-stabilized as if nothing had happened. All that was left of what had just happened was a hint of stress.

  But Ye Qingxuan could not help but think of what the phantom had asked him.

  Do you regret it?

  A new meaning to the question that had haunted him for so long had appeared in that moment. Even though the phantom had no ill-intent, and had even helped him to overcome armageddon, it still made him uneasy.

  “Was it… the Millennium Fate?” He remembered Yunlou Qingshu’s demented words, and he grew irritated. The thing he hated most was people who seemed to know everything yet said nothing.

  Always with a mysterious smile and condescending look, as if they were watching a drama that they had long since seen through, staring at him like he was a puppet to be pushed towards its ultimate fate.

  Screw your freaking Spring and Autumn Dream!

  Ye Qingxuan snorted, shook his head, and stopped thinking about it. That trick would only work once, like a letter being stuffed through the crack in a door. After Ye Qingxuan put up his guard, it wouldn’t be effective anymore.

  He had already made up his mind. He ignored everything else.

  He had already done enough for this world. No one could manage the floods that would come after he died, why should he have to manage some d*mn problems from thousands of years ago?

  At that moment he pierced through the Great Wall and broke through the clouds. The first thing he saw was the dried up wasteland beneath the dark clouds. A thousand miles of yellow sand stretched out as far as the eye could see, and faint yellow dust floated in the air.

  The distant ground was still covered in cracks, both large and small as far as the eye could see. There was even a great spot; pitch black, like it had been scorched by the blazing sun.

  “Where is this?” The first thing Ye Qingxuan felt was frustration. Had he gone the wrong way? Where was the legendary picturesque scenery? The beautiful mountains and rivers? What was going on? Forget pines and cypresses, there was not even grass on the ground!

  More importantly, the group of people on the ground… what were they doing?

  As Ye Qingxuan descended and looked down upon them, piercing through dust and sand, he finally saw the chaotic darkness on the ground clearly. It was a myriad of densely packed figures, entangled with each other and groaning and roaring.

  A bright red color ran through this barren world.

  Among the killing, a throbbing power surged through their blood and became tangled together. It attacked invisibly, advancing at every stage. Music theory intertwined with other music theory, vying for control of the physical world.

  It was a battle…

  Outside the killing field, two groups of musicians competed for control of the battlefield, calling down fire and thunder or sending out mana. A countless number of musician’s music theory overlapped with each other, tangled together, forming a chaotic torrent amidst the tug of war.

  As Ye Qingxuan descended, a beam of light blazing like a meteor appeared in the sky. Dozens of waves of aether had already locked onto him, and music theory stretched out towards him.

  “Wait!” Ye Qingxuan was dumbfounded.

  At this moment, the battlefield was hanging by a thread. Everyone was striving with all their might to kill, and they were determined to not let any cracks appear in their armor.

  Facing the meteor descending from the sky, the first thing that appeared in the minds’ of musicians on both sides was confusion.

  Is he on our side?

  No.

  Then…

  Surrounded by the power of Gungnir and the Net of Aether as he descended from the sky, Ye Qingxuan seemed to have become the enemy of both sides at the same time. As a result, the musicians on both sides sent out a devastating attack towards the sky at once.

  It was like a replay of the battle with the sea fortress several months before.

  But this time the one who faced the copious amounts of movements was Ye Qingxuan.

  D*mn it! Ye Qingxuan’s expression changed suddenly. He finally understood why the Great Wall was so weak here. It was because all of the Great Wall’s power here was tied up in blocking off the aftereffects of this battle, and could not cope with an external assault.

  As a result, he was able to enter it as he pleased. He never would have thought that the place that he entered was not an empty room, but a battlefield between two gangs!

  Facing the incoming attack, Ye Qingxuan’s first reaction was to work in tandem with the Net of Aether to help him block the tidal offensive. But he did not expect that there would be no response from the Net of Aether. He could not even feel it through the Great Wall.

  Ah, they had broken the net sure enough!

  Ye Qingxuan pondered and immediately became puzzled. Huh? Why did I say “sure enough”?

  There was no time to pay attention to the confusion in his heart. Fortunately, he still had the New Testament Sword beside him.

  Hold up the foundations of the earth and prop up the dome of heaven.

  In a flash, Ye Qingxuan hid in a fault of aether, as if he was sailing a broken ship that was lashed by heavy wind and rain. Although this attack seemed terrifying, it lacked decisiveness. It had only quantity, which was not enough to damage him.

  It was looked a little embarrassing for him.

  Facing the roaring attacks that came one after another, Ye Qingxuan did not dare continue towards the center of the battlefield. Abandoning his prodigious strength, he forced himself to descend in a different direction. As swift as lightning, he felt himself streak across a huge arc in the sky, passing over the vast battlefield.

  Wrapped in the residual power of Gungnir and the Net of Aether, Ye Qingxuan felt himself burst through layer after layer of barriers until he fell into a building.

  He was l
ike a meteorite.

  Shockwaves burst out with a roar.

  As dust flew all around, Ye Qingxuan coughed violently and climbed out of the deep hole. He saw an old man in front of him. In the shattered building, he enjoyed the protection of two musicians. He looked down at Ye Qingxuan and looked surprised.

  “In all my years I’ve never seen somebody try to meet me like this.” He looked at Ye Qingxuan, whose head and face was covered with dust, shook his head and sighed. “Truly… original!”

  Ye Qingxuan frustratedly looked at him and his luxurious robe. Under the protection of the enchantment, his black robe had not gotten any dust on it. It was trimmed with black gold, majestic and severe.

  He couldn’t help but look around. All he could see outside the building were layers and layers of musicians surrounding the place. In the void, he could faintly see the fluctuations of several Scepters locking onto him with terrifying killing intent.

  Ye Qingxuan’s face twitched.

  He was screwed!

  Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

  “Where is this place?” He looked at the old man.

  “It’s a battlefield, of course, Ye Qingxuan.” The old man chuckled softly, like he knew him. “This is my camp. You don’t even know where it is that you fell?”

  Ye Qingxuan was stunned.

  “Then you are…” Before he had finished speaking, he finally checked his mental atlas and recognized the man before him.

  “Bai Heng?”

  760 Rebellion

  If Ye Qingxuan kept a diary, the contents of the day’s entry would definitely be very strange:

  On the first day of arriving in the East, I broke through the Great Wall, descended from the sky, and fell onto the battlefield. Both sides fired at me at the same time, and I had to cover my face and scurry away embarrassingly. Then, I slammed into the enemy’s headquarters, and the central tent of the enemy collapsed under my weight. No, actually, if I fell slightly to one side, I could have crushed the commander and brought victory to the other side.

  Then I climbed out of the pit and saw a goddamn old man.

  Bai Heng.

  Bai Heng, the Regent.

  A treacherous traitor, with wild ambition like a tiger or wolf… His name was always followed by 100,000 titles absolutely unpleasant to the ear, and they were all synonymous to the term “rebel.” If the present ruler had been a man, then other accusations of stealing the sovereignty of the nation, treating his own word as law, and holding the nobles hostage would have probably been spread everywhere.

  But for Ye Qingxuan, the affairs of the East had nothing to do with him at all.

  As for why he wanted, for a moment, to kill the old man, it was because the latter once took Bai Xi away from him in the Sacred City.

  To a certain extent, Bai Heng could be considered to have helped Ye Qingxuan become who he was at the moment. Had he not been provoked by Bai Heng, Ye Qingxuan would probably still be a small musician who was getting by in Anglo, striving to stay away from power and disputes, his possessions constantly being robbed by others.

  So, as a thank you gift, how about death by being torn limb from limb while being tied to five horses galloping in different directions?

  For the elderly, death by being cut into a thousand pieces seemed a bit too cruel and inhumane. It would be best to choose a sufficiently comfortable method of death. How about ten feet of white silk, a glass of poisoned wine, or the simple and direct way of cutting his head off? Or, even more straightforwardly, blast him into pieces in an instant with From the New World!

  Although he arranged countless ways for this “kind old uncle” to die in a flash, Ye Qingxuan did not act recklessly. As for the reason why, the other party knew that it was he who fell from the sky, yet still dared to come forward. Clearly, the old man was counting on something he didn’t know.

  What was more, Ye Qingxuan always had doubts about Bai Heng’s true identity. What actually was the Duke of the Dragon Bloodline, the Regent of Aurora, the head of House Bai?

  A freak created by humans, or the legendary… Tung Wang Kung?

  Before him might be a being of the same status as Hermes, another of the Three Wise Men, that won the final victory by putting an end to the other’s existence after countless years of fighting.

  A catastrophe in human skin.

  Thinking of it, Ye Qingxuan felt his head aching.

  Shouldn’t an old monster of such a high difficulty level walk out of the palace laughing loudly only after I experience countless hardships, defeat the tigers, lions, and elephants blocking my path, and fight various opponents level by level, all the way from minions to the eight pillars of the country [1] and the four heavenly kings [2]?

  Why has he appeared right in front of my eyes as soon as I entered Aurora?

  At the moment, it is not about what I want to do, but what the other party wants to do.

  …

  Bai Heng did nothing.

  To be exact, he simply reached out and pulled Ye Qingxuan out of the pit, motioning for his servants to leave. He withdrew the troops encircling the young man. Even the scepter musicians hiding in the air were dismissed. It was as if they were uncle and nephew, having a heart to heart conversation.

  Smiling, he invited Ye Qingxuan to take a seat opposite him, his smile kind. “Have some tea?” As he said so, he personally lifted the teapot and poured Ye Qingxuan a cup of… mud, full of dust and debris from the roof beam. Bai Heng was momentarily stunned, but for some reason unknown, it was Ye Qingxuan who felt awkward.

  Ah, indeed, it’s my fault for falling from the sky… Otherwise, everyone should have started praising the high-quality tea leaves.

  “Better not drink it then, just put it here.” Bai Heng shook his head. “It isn’t bad as a decoration.”

  So, in a room full of cracks with a big hole in the ceiling, the two sat in the chairs beside the big pit. A stream of sunlight shone through the big hole above, and the wind carried the faint noise of men fighting from afar. Dust fell from the ceiling into the cups in front of the two.

  Ignoring the godd*mn environment, they both pretended that they were sitting opposite each other in an elegant and clean tea room.

  It was extraordinarily awkward.

  “So, by the looks of it, you have finally rebelled?” Ye Qingxuan looked to his side, at the sand table that was half smashed by his weight, the half of which was also overturned and crushed by the air pressure as a result of his fall, and his expression became mocking.

  “The way I phrase it, you may not believe me.” Bai Heng’s expression was weird. “Actually, it was Her Majesty who rebelled.”

  “…” Ye Qingxuan was silent and speechless. He had never seen such a brazen person.

  “It’s true, or rather, I should say that I am the one who has been working hard to pick up the pieces for her all along. Otherwise, how could Her Majesty get rid of all the deep-rooted evils in the short period of slightly more than ten years?”

  Bai Heng sighed and shrugged. “Unfortunately, I have too much power and influence, and Her Majesty cannot tolerate my existence anymore. Otherwise, it would have become a much-told tale of a praise-worthy relationship between a ruler and her courtier.”

  “Ha, you can boast all you like.” Ye Qingxuan snickered, “Rebel against herself, is the empress really that dumb?”

  “Yes.” Bai Heng nodded, and his smile became odd. “Can you guess what Her Majesty did?”

  “What did she do?” Ye Qingxuan had a bad feeling.

  “Everyone knows that the present empress has promoted the status of plebeians and commoner musicians… That’s alright, but the main point is…” Bai Heng was silent for a moment, then lamented, “It is very troublesome to explain the various initiatives to you, but only a few months ago, everyone finally knew that her real intention was to abolish the establishment of the nine families of Dragon Bloodline. Mhmm, yes, she intends to completely abolish the enfeoffment system of the nine families
of Dragon Bloodline.”

  “…” Ye Qingxuan was silent. He went through stages of confusion, stupefaction, puzzlement, surprise, then finally shock. As if he saw the lords and ministers pole dancing in front of him, he widened his eyes and looked at Bai Heng.

  Friend, what did you say?

  “Ah, you didn’t hear me wrong.” Bai Heng said calmly, “Her Majesty has high ambitions. She is not targeting my House Bai specifically, but also House Liu, House Yuan, House Changsun, House Yunlou, House Ye in one go. Even House Lou and House Qin, which have disappeared to God knows where a long time ago, with her own royal family, all will be abolished together.

  “Truly a ruler of unparalleled wisdom, how very admirable.”

  Ye Qingxuan didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that, at the moment, he must have looked as if he had seen a ghost.

  Indeed, as Bai Heng said…

  Her Majesty has rebelled!

  Others have rebelled against the throne, but she actually wants to rebel against herself!

  What is going on in her mind!

  “In short, now all the nine families of the Dragon Bloodline are on my side.” Bai Heng’s fingers tapped the teacup. “Now showing is the advance of the army of the coalition of the six feudatories to the capital to ‘serve the throne’ and ‘rid the empress of evil ministers’ [3]. How is it? Do you like the show?”

  Like… your *ss! What the hell!

  I’ve come over with the intention of keeping a low profile and bringing my cousin back to Anglo, why have I run into such a goddamn situation!

  “Speaking of which, it’s all thanks to the fragment of the Wheel of Balance that I brought back.” Bai Heng said calmly, “I didn’t expect Her Majesty to use the Wheel of Balance and the Great Wall to completely block Aurora off from the outside world in one night. I’m afraid that no one outside can guess what’s going on here?”

  No, only the devil would be able to guess what has happened here!

  And everyone thinks that you are the fella who has launched a coup!

  In the end, you’ve actually become the empress’ scapegoat?