by Feng Yue
This was the cursed child. He was born in the massacre of demons, born in death and sin.
“Still alive?” The one-armed musician cried in joy. “Someone’s still alive! Doctor, where’s the doctor? Miss, please hold on. The doctor will come soon…” But his voice died off because of the woman’s mournful yet relieved eyes. She lowered her head and kissed the infant’s cheek. The terror and despair in her eyes were gone, as if she had received the most precious treasure on earth.
The infant opened his eyes and stared at her. He raised a hand, touching her cheek. She smiled and quietly hummed a lullaby. Her voice was full of content and unwillingness to part. Cold blood flowed under her dress. It was extreme blood loss. The wild refugees did not kill her; the wild demons did not destroy her. But now, she was going to die.
How nice it was that the misfortune and darkness was all going to disappear. The long life of misery and torture was finally going to end. There would no longer be redemption and pain waiting for her…
She used all of her strength to lift up the child, and gave him to the dazed musician. Her eyes were grave and pleading. The cold prosthetic arms scooped up the child clumsily. The middle aged man carefully took him, stiffly yet gently, as if he was holding the weight of the world.
She could not help but laugh seeing the musician’s awkwardness. Her expression was one of relief and peace. Finally, she reached out a hand. Her finger brushed against the infant’s cheek and slowly gestured using sign language, one word at a time.
She said, “Please tell him that I am happy.”
The musician froze, and then slowly nodded.
And so, she closed her eyes. She died.
In the stillness, only the infant touched her dropping cheek. When he did not feel any warmth, he began wailing, as if he knew what he had lost.
After a long time, the musician lifted the infant and turned to leave this giant tomb. After a few steps, he could not help but look back at the dead woman. She was curled in the corner, her red hair as beautiful as dying flames. All pain had left her—she was so lonely and so serene. The steel door slowly fell and darkness swallowed her content smile. All was still.
179 Past Mistakes
Ye Qingxuan woke from his nightmare with a start. He climbed out of bed, sweat pouring down his back.
Before him, a bloody conch hovered above a white palm. There were fine veins in the conch, detailed to the point of abnormality. Tiny music notes in the veins formed a vast and mighty music score.
The only sound in the silent sealed room was the youth’s breaths. A faint breeze blew past the conch, producing a faint echo. The echo was like a person murmuring in one’s ear, describing an unspeakably dark secret. As one listened, one could not help but focus on it entirely and become obsessed.
“Failed again?” On the chair, Lola played with the conch, unperturbed. “You need to get used to it.”
Ye Qingxuan was dazed for a long time. “I had a nightmare.”
“As expected. I told you to be prepared because it won’t give you good dreams or sleep.” In her hands, the conch-shaped sign shone with the red glimmer of blood. It illuminated her cheeks, adding a shade of seductiveness and magic to the peaceful and mysterious face, making it mesmerizing.
This was one of the sign’s powers. There was an endless amount of hopelessness and wildness crystallized within it, naturally connecting it to the Avalon’s Shadow. It sent the sounds in the darkness to this world. Though it had lost the ability to activate the Blood Path, with some refinement, it was still a rare and perfect instrument.
With this as the medium, it could cast one’s consciousness into the dark side of Avalon, enter other nightmares, and use them for exploration and practice. However, the pressure was a bit too much.
“You can’t take it anymore?” Lola asked lightly. “Seems like you need to practice your endurance a bit more.”
Ye Qingxuan heard but did not listen. He just thought back to the dream in fear. “Whose dream did I just see?”
“It could be anyone’s. You’re just a passerby in the dream. Don’t lose yourself in it, otherwise you’ll die from the chaos in your mind.”
“I’m just sad.” Ye Qingxuan raised a finger and wiped his tears. “Let’s stop for a bit. I want to rest.”
Lola tossed a handkerchief onto his lap. “Five minutes.”
-
A few days ago in the hidden room under the building. Frost covered everything. Ye Qingxuan was suffocating. Deathly white frost flowered at his feet and snaked up his calves. His frozen blood transformed into icicles, piercing his body. Thousands of frost blades tore at his body bit by bit, pushing his consciousness into endless darkness.
Finally, he woke with a yelp. He found himself sprawled on the ground unharmed. It was as if nothing had happened. Lola rested in the chair before him, looking down at his pathetic state with a mocking expression. In her hands, the silver flute twirled and radiated with the remains of the dispersing melody.
“I told you before. There should be a limit to not knowing your limits,” Lola stated. “If you’re throwing a fit, can you do it somewhere you have the upper hand?”
Ye Qingxuan straightened out with difficulty and sat on the ground. He rubbed his face, dispelling the drowsiness in his brain. He grit out, “Again!”
“Okay, any time.” Lola lifted the tea kettle easily and poured another cup for herself. Steam rose from the red tea with a light fragrance. She seemed to not be prepared at all.
Bang! Ye Qingxuan pressed his finger and Jiu Xiao Huan Pei rang out, but it stopped abruptly. He froze and reflexively tried to retreat, but he could not move. He only felt unbearable heat.
It was as if his blood was boiling. Scalding heat rose in his chest, turning into flames. The flames burned his body dry and shot out from his pores, dissipating in the air. He turned into a pile of ashes and scattered in the wind before vanishing.
But in the next moment, he opened his eyes in shock. Before him, Lola was still lifting the tea kettle. The cup was not yet filled with red tea. The fragrance of roses spread from the red liquid.
“Want a cup?” Lola asked softly. She placed the warm cup into his hands and her voice grew gentle and caring. “You’ll feel better after you drink it.”
Ye Qingxuan looked down at the tea in his cup. He threw his head back and downed it. Placing the teacup on the ground, he grit out, “Again!”
Lola shook her head and sighed. “So reckless.”
The sound of a rope tightening came from the darkness behind the youth. Ye Qingxuan spun backward, but a menacing and burly giant threw a sack over his head. In an instant, his vision blurred and there was a rope around his neck. He could vaguely see cruel sunlight through the sack.
“Hang him! Hang him!” an angry crowd roared. “Hang this d*mn murderer!”
The wooden boards under his feet were opened and his body fell abruptly, but the noose around his neck tightened, pulling him up harshly.
Crack. Was this the sound of his neck cracking? An endless period of suffocation followed…
When Ye Qingxuan opened his eyes again, he had practically forgotten how to breathe.
“Continue?” Lola’s smile was cheerful.
Ye Qingxuan had almost lost the strength to grit his teeth. “Yes.”
-
When he woke up for the last time, it was already light out. As morning birds chirped, he wore the robe of a housekeeper and knelt before Lola in the living room of the old building. He enthusiastically recited a poem that would make even traveling poets blush. His entire body was sore.
-
“What is wrong with me?” He looked around blankly and realized that the living room was clean as if it had been washed with water. He could see his reflection on the shiny floor. Lola smiled without saying anything. Beside him, the Pyramid King handed him a crystal prism to show him the recorded video.
The youth sang drunkenly under the moonlight. He took off his clothes as he ran around the build
ing. Then he started to fetch water, chop firewood, wash dishes and clean the entire building. Finally, he changed into the housekeeper’s uniform and allowed himself to be ordered around like a loyal dog. He enthusiastically served the noble lady Lola, pouring tea and taking care of all details…
After watching all this, Ye Qingxuan felt weak. He fell into a chair and shook his head. “I surrender. I give up.”
“Oh? What a pity.” Lola tasted the breakfast that Ye Qingxuan had made and nodded in satisfaction. “Your breakfast is quite good. I’d planned for you to make lunch.”
“Do you lack cooks?!”
“What’s that saying again?” Lola thought for a moment and revealed an elegant and charming smile. “It makes me happy.”
This f*cking woman…Ye Qingxuan glared at her and swore in his mind.
“Someday, I’ll make you massage me and play the harp while singing…” Lola said out loud as if she could read his mind. “Should I praise you for your impressive goal or tell you that you’re too weak?” She gazed at the awkward Ye Qingxuan and shook her head in pity. “Are you too scared to think about something excessive?” She paused meaningfully. A flirty smile appeared on her white and lovely face, making one feel the heat.
“…” Ye Qingxuan cleared his mind, killing the growing thought in his mind. He did not dare to think about it.
This story proved that you should never think about weird things in front of a musician from the School of Mind. You would be eavesdropped on without even knowing it.
But it was crazy! When she was still the Professor, Ye Qingxuan had control no matter what. He could fight when he wanted to and escape when he wanted, but now that she had revealed her true identity, he became the one that was eating dust. This made no sense!
“Give up?” Lola asked. “I thought the same trick wouldn’t work on you twice. It really scared me.” She patted her chest dramatically, pretending to be relieved.
“Stop patting. Your chest is so flat already. What if it disappears now?” Ye Qingxuan retorted. “You just beat me. What’s there to be proud of?”
“But it makes me happy to beat the dark musician Holmes.” Lola shook her head in mocking pity. “But it’s a pity that you’re so weak and were just getting beat up by me. I couldn’t even get serious.”
Ye Qingxuan almost spat out blood. “You’re at least a fourth level Resonance musician. You’re a whole realm and two levels away, alright? And I can’t even use any equipment. If you can’t beat me like this, then you shouldn’t even be a musician. Just go back and be your noble lady in peace.”
“Really?” Lola giggled. “If I told you that everything I used was from the Musician level, only one level above you, and didn’t even use my sound of heart or other powers…would you think that the problem lies in you?”
“…” Ye Qingxuan was stunned. He thought back to the process of their duel and furrowed his brows in the end. “Are you joking?”
His answer was the glow of the aether ball. The ball with gold thread and jade embedded in it shone in Lola’s hand, flashing slightly. This was the easiest way for musicians to measure their levels. Their skill level could be measured with the aether ball’s sophisticated sensing capability after projecting their spirits into it.
The nine levels of musicians were all different. The indications were all different for each school as well, but it was enough for a basic diagnosis. But now, Ye Qingxuan was already shocked.
“What…is this?”
-
Light shone within the aether ball. The light was unstable, like a candle flickering in the wind. It was worse than Ye Qingxuan! In fact, it was quickly weakening, until it fell into the Student level, and then went even lower than that. One could only say that it was better than nothing. The sight simply made one speechless.
“What…is this?” Ye Qingxuan pressed a finger onto the aether ball and fell into a confused daze after confirming that Lola was not cheating. She could not even be compared to a student now!
“It’s simple,” Lola stated. “If your symphony of predestination was destroyed, you’d be like this too.”
“Impossible!” Ye Qingxuan insisted.
-
On the musician path, ninety-nine percent of musicians were stuck in the Musician level for life because of the Barrier of Knowledge. That was the first obstacle. But following that, there was an endless stream of challenges.
Like going against the current and retreating rather than moving forward, the road would only become more and more narrow—more and more dangerous. Sooner or later, one would venture into uncharted darkness and continue in solitude.
The Resonance level, the Disturbance level, the Distortion level…Every level required a tremendous amount of resources and hidden rituals to break through. And finally, the road would come to a dead end. Here was the limit of humanity. After it was a sheer cliff over an abyss of darkness.
Only one out of every ten-thousand musicians could break through the abyss and create their own ‘scepter’ to become a saint! These musicians either had incomparable power or were absolutely brilliant geniuses. What they used to break through the abyss was the power brewed by their soul—the symphony of predestination!
This was a music score created by upgrading a musician’s sound of heart and tenacity. It was unique and represented the musician’s soul. Their tenacity, thoughts, and heart were all contained within.
If destroyed, it was not just the music score that was destroyed, but also the musician, his life and all its essence. This represented the overturn of one’s sanity. One’s personality would become unstable.
But the mental breakdown was only the beginning. After that, one would die from the backlash of one’s symphony of predestination. There was no cure.
For centuries, so many musicians had rushed forward in an attempt to break through the last obstacle, but ended up scattering like ashes with his symphony of predestination. Countless people had left behind examples of mistakes. They were all bloody lessons to be learned.
If Lola’s symphony of predestination had truly been destroyed, then the thing before Ye Qingxuan should be a cold tombstone. Ye Qingxuan had seen an example with his own eyes—the Royal Musician Claude.
Only his sound of heart had been destroyed, but he was instantly crippled. If he had not found a doctor from the School of Choir, he would have died. If it was the symphony of predestination that contained everything?
“Don’t scare me, Moriarty!” Ye Qingxuan looked into the Professor’s eyes and said coldly, “If your symphony of predestination had been destroyed, the best situation would be dying from psychosis.”
Lola laughed. “It’s normal to be suspicious…”
She was speaking lightly, but Ye Qingxuan’s vision blurred. His collar was grabbed by her and he was yanked forward before he could react. He saw Lola’s pale face and dark eyes. There was a tinge of blood in her eyes. The angry blood-color was like flames, burning away her rationality day and night. She was constantly at the border of insanity. Then strands of blue-green veins appeared on her white face. She looked fierce yet fragile, as if she would break apart at the slightest touch.
“Death from psychosis?” She laughed. Her sneer was cold and twisted, devoid of any grace or elegance. “How far do you think I am from being a psycho?”
Ye Qingxuan did not reply. Which was the real her?
Tortured day and night by the backlash of her symphony of predestination, she was constantly at the verge of mental and physical breakdown. On this wire, death was on the left and psychosis was on the right. Beneath her was a bottomless abyss. They were only a hair’s breadth away from her.
In the long silence, Ye Qingxuan looked away first and surrendered. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay, I forgive you.” Lola slowly loosened her grip and tidied his collar for him. Her eyes softened. “Don’t worry. You’re my only companion in this world—I’ll forgive you no matter what you do.” Ye Qingxuan was silent. “Aren’t you curio
us how I survived?”
Lola returned to her seat and lifted the red tea that contained drugs. Her trembling hand finally stabilized. Don’t forget, I’m not the same as the average person. The natural talent of the moon spirits kept me from dying on the spot.” She smiled, revealing her slightly sharp canines. “To be honest, I never thanked my demonic bloodline. To live, I signed a contract with the Indigo Moon, but my power can never return to how it was. It wavers with the moon phases, sometimes strong and sometimes weak.
“My old injuries still haven’t healed completely. A large portion is used so I can manage to maintain my sanity. Ye Qingxuan, don’t you think it’s laughable? At my strongest point, I was only a step away from the Scepter level. But now, I’m sometimes weak as a child. For example…you can reach over and strangle me now.” She raised her chin, revealing her neck to the youth. Her neck was long and pale. It seemed that one could grasp it completely it with one hand. And if one tightened slowly, she would die. So easy.
“How about it? Do you feel the urge?” Lola smiled tauntingly.
Ye Qingxuan did not look. Instead, he asked quietly, “Are you injured because of my father?”
Lola fell silent. After a long while, she sighed softly. “That was in the past.”
-
“As you know, I have the moon spirit’s blood in my veins. I was born as a demon. This was my original sin. My original name was very long. You can just call me Moriarty. Lola is actually an alias.
“My father was killed before I was born. My mother was human. The musician thought she was raped by my father and did not see that she was pregnant, so he brought her back to the human world.
“Then I was born. When I was three, my mother passed away. I was taken by an elder of my clan. I returned and stayed there for a long time before coming back out. Later, I became your father’s student. Someone with demonic blood became the heir of the natural enemy of demons, the Moon of Purity…it sounds like an incredible joke.
“Because of this, I severed ties with my clan. I designed a battle for them to think that I was killed. After that, no one knew I was a moon spirit, except for my teacher. After a while, he got married and I went to travel and study.
