Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  One could presume that when the ‘accountants’ of the College of Cardinals of the Church drew up the ‘property inventory’ and realized that Ye Qingxuan actually had ‘shares’ in the newly listed ‘company’, their expressions would definitely be very interesting, no?

  Thus, here came Ye Qingxuan’s problem.

  His goal was to attain the Level of Scepter.

  To do so, he would need to become a master first.

  To become a master, one must have a Symphony of Predestination.

  In the environment of the Ultimate, it was no longer possible for one to rely on external forces. To possess a Symphony of Predestination, he must recreate it by himself and reunite the three types of music theory as one in his own way.

  Doing so had its advantages and disadvantages.

  The advantage was that one couldn’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, and when Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination was completely recreated, the strong and mighty foundation that had been accumulated originally would probably be even more terrifying. At that time, the immediate attainment of the Level of Scepter was almost a given.

  Meanwhile, the downside was even more obvious…

  Composing music was not Ye Qingxuan’s forte.

  To be exact, he knew nothing about it, nothing at all, and failed to grasp the gist of it no matter how much he tried to learn.

  All his talents were regarding integration and application, and he completely sucked at the aspect of creation… Moreover, his habits and awareness had already become deep-seated after such a long time, and it would be very difficult to adjust them, unless he started learning everything all over again like an apprentice…

  Based on estimates, no matter how fast he was, it would take at least half a year.

  After half a year, even the dish of citron daylily would be cold already! [1]

  After changing teachers for 20 times, Ye Qingxuan had to admit that he had entered a difficult situation and that it was useless for anyone to teach him.

  “I’m at a disadvantage because of the lack of culture!” Ye Qingxuan looked up to the sky and sighed deeply. Toying with the incomplete stone plate in his hand, he couldn’t help but want to beat people up.

  …

  Ten minutes later, all the masters who were resting with their eyes closed were awakened.

  After so many days, everyone’s psychological endurance had improved by a lot, and they had grown used to seeing Ye Qingxuan bathed in light since a long time ago.

  In the corner of the main hall, Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes, his head hanging low, and held the broken stone plate in his hands.

  Under his sleeves, the black array of the catastrophe resonation extended like a living thing and connected itself to the stone plate. The two were integrated as one.

  Then, turbulent waves of music theory burst forth between Ye Qingxuan and the stone plate.

  Innumerable tangible strands of music theory emerged from his body, distorting the Physical World. They turned into flames and burned fiercely.

  A faint melody seemed to be coming from the broken stone plate, but if one was to listen carefully, one wouldn’t be able to catch its trace at all. It seemed to be lingering in a distant place, unwilling to approach.

  In the fire of music theory which Ye Qingxuan was located in, illusions continuously emerged amid the changing colors. Under his will, the Physical World, which had been deeply eroded by music theory, was also constantly distorted.

  If one was to observe carefully, one would notice that in the flames, even Ye Qingxuan seemed fleeting, as if he was dissolving in the torrent of ether, revealing his true, original appearance.

  In the masters’ sensing, Ye Qingxuan had disappeared without a trace, and what replaced him were various terrifying imagery.

  One example was the bright moon rising from the sea and illuminating the horizon.

  One example was the grand temple where brilliant hymns were played, standing majestic and fierce.

  One example was the sea abyss of darkness, pulling everything towards it and swallowing them up entirely.

  Sometimes it turned into indigo moonlight, freezing everything.

  Sometimes it was like countless streams of mercury gathering, raging and rushing, as if the four seas had breached the dykes and gushed backwards onto land, knocking down everything tyrannically.

  And sometimes it seemed to turn into the incarnation of destruction with a thousand hands and a hundred arms, holding precious bottles, iron rods, wind and thunder, and casting thunders of fury towards the Physical World.

  Sometimes the masters even sensed him as innumerable overlapping alchemy arrays. Countless fine structures beyond the limits of human imagination flanked the sage stone, forming a thin figure who seemed to have the corners of his lips curled upwards in a teasing smile.

  “Resonance of music theory, again?” Auden looked at Ye Qingxuan with a bitter expression and couldn’t even be envious.

  At the start, he would still feel jealous, but at the moment he didn’t even have the energy to be jealous anymore.

  One would really die from anger if one was to keep on comparing oneself to other people.

  When Auden was Ye Qingxuan’s age, he was still memorizing a lot of information, and how would he ever thought of becoming a master one day? However, at the moment, Ye Qingxuan was already one step away from becoming a scepter musician, more or less.

  The movement of the moon, the music theory of the Holy Cauldron and that of the abyss, the quiet moon that was born after the superposition of the two, the deepness of the Silver Tide that Abraham had passed down to him, the tyranny and horror of the Hecatoncheir… Even Hermes’ alchemy was within.

  Not to mention the music theory of the Heaven Ladder and Old Phil’s Firebird projection.

  In the end, even the outline of Ultimate emerged vaguely…

  The masters always felt that Ye Qingxuan had learned various things unsystematically, but they never realized that just how unsystematic and of what a great variety the things he learned were.

  Never mind the variety and lack of systematicness, the thing was, every single one of it would suffice for him to attain the Level of Scepter if he was to take the path to the end. He could even surpass the ordinary scepter musician and be able to put up a good fight even against saints.

  But it was the precise reason why they were most dispirited.

  They knew the situation that Ye Qingxuan was facing at the moment.

  Such a terrifying resonance of music theory was an unusual sight that would only occur when a musician was advancing to the next level.

  Remaining for even one second longer in such a state would bring great benefits!

  But who could advance for four or five days in one go, even pausing the process to have a meal and continuing to advance after finishing his meal?

  It was Ye Qingxuan’s ability, and they didn’t even have the right to be envious.

  No one among them could induce a power hundreds of times beyond his own limit like Ye Qingxuan, treading on thin ice as if he was taking a walk in the park. Even with the stone plate in hand, none of them could resonate with the catastrophe of the Ultimate.

  The great benefits were all enjoyed by Ye Qingxuan alone.

  Moreover, it wasn’t that he was stingy and unwilling to share the meat on the table with them, they simply didn’t have mouths to eat their share.

  Nothing else under the sun could be more dispiriting.

  At the moment, Ye Qingxuan was sorting out his own system of music theory. Amid so many exquisite and complicated branches of music theory, it could be said that all the roads would lead him to a bright future. But Ye Qingxuan happened to be pacing in front of the door, stepping on seven or eight boats together [2], yet always refusing to actually choose one road and walk inside.

  For five or six days, he had been rubbing against the outside of the door without going in [3].

  It was very gangster-like and shameless of it.
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  Ye Qingxuan was in no hurry, on the contrary, the masters were almost nothing short of anxious.

  It continued until a few hours later, when the chaos resulting from the resonance of music theory gradually dissipated, and the ‘advancement’ came to an abrupt end.

  Ye Qingxuan opened his eyes.

  His expression had no joy, but was on the contrary full of disheartenment.

  Looking down at the stone plate in his hand, his expression became complicated.

  It was the ticket that made him confident about being able to hitch the ride — the core of the catastrophe, albeit only one-third.

  Although the piece of the core of the catastrophe did not belong to him, there was no harm in temporarily borrowing it for the sake of reference.

  Its rightful owner was still watching on beside him, he dared not pocket it and claimed it as his own.

  He could conclude with certainty that other commands had been ingrained more deeply in the depths of the old nun’s consciousness, namely the core commands preset by the Sacred City, such as fighting for the core of the catastrophe and safekeeping it.

  This command must definitely have higher priority over everything else. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be totally indifferent about Raymond, who was close at hand, being killed when she was fighting for the core.

  But come to think of it, Raymond’s death was full of questions. Who would deliberately scheme to kill Raymond, yet not lay a finger on Schubert who had lost all forms of initiative next to him?

  It was beyond reason.

  If murdering Schubert could allow him to attain the Level of Scepter immediately, Ye Qingxuan would definitely… okay, he would definitely hesitate more than a few times and still not be able to do it in the end.

  Killing an old nun for personal attainment.

  Ye Qingxuan would renounce himself just for thinking about it.

  In the past few days, he had commanded Schubert with the Holy Bible. It was fairly inconvenient, but generally she could effectively implement simple measures.

  The only problem was that she would never let the piece of the core of the catastrophe leave her sight.

  Even at the moment, she stood silently in the shadows at a corner, staring at Ye Qingxuan blankly.

  The focus of her sight fell on the core.

  It had been a few days, and she had not slacked in the slightest bit.

  But even Ye Qingxuan himself had grown resigned and despaired, and was close to giving up.

  [1] The literal translation of a Chinese saying that means ‘everything would be too late by then’.

  [2] The author is referring to a Chinese saying that literally translates as ‘one foot in each boat’, means ‘romantically involved with two different persons at the same time’, and can be used metaphorically in a broader sense.

  [3] The author is referring to a dirty joke in Chinese about non-penetrative sex.

  651 Keep Pushing

  Although a catastrophe could not be developed, one-third of the core had allowed Ye Qingxuan to take a peek into the deeper levels of the Ultimate. There were countless music theories that were constantly changing. It was just like looking at the dust in the ocean through a prism. Under such a terrifying scale that was so immense it was borderline impossible, Ye Qingxuan truly felt miniscule.

  To any musician, this was a rare opportunity. A catastrophe had completely revealed its core music theory for him to observe and refer to, and this was more effective than being taught by any of the best mentors. Especially with Jiu Xiao Huan Pei in his hands, the level of sensitivity of Ye Qingxuan’s perception was so astounding that it allowed for the recurrence of any detail in the entire process.

  Ye Qingxuan managed to gain plenty of knowledge within a short period of four days but it was not without its limits. With regard to the knowledge he could gain on the Distortion level, he was already at the peak. If he still did not become a Master, he would have missed a great opportunity. His situation was just like a mouse that could not possibly finish consuming all the grain in a granary. This was as far as Ye Qingxuan could go, in terms of his level of observation and abilities. It was painful to know that it was so near, yet so far. At the end of the day, the problem still lied with the Symphony of Predestination…

  “I refuse to believe that I’m unable to write a simple Symphony of Predestination!” Ye Qingxuan was furious and placed the shard of the stone plate to one side. He picked up paper and pen and began to write furiously. After ten minutes, he finally stopped and took a look at what was in his hands. A flame started and he threw the movement into the fire without any emotion. In the end, he sighed helplessly.

  Alright, he really failed to write anything. If only there was a template or a correct answer to be found, but of all things, he was most clueless about creations like this that could not be bound. Everything he wrote could just as easily be either right or wrong. How to start, how to end, what would the rhythm be…

  Everything was shrouded in a mist of confusion. No one could tell Ye Qingxuan what he should do. This was not a test so there were no structure or rules. He sank into deep thoughts. This time around, the amount of time he took to think was far more than the combined amount of time he took the past few days. Ye Qingxuan sat on the broken steps as if he was in a daze, and would not react even when he was spoken to.

  Ye Qingxuan remained unmoved even when dinner time came. Too many things had happened to him, so all the Masters were already used to it. It wasn’t until late at night that Ye Qingxuan finally raised his head again. His neck was so painful that it felt like it had been broken in two. He has stayed in the same posture for too long so his entire body was rather numb now. He sighed before asking for clean water to wash his face. He had regained his spirits.

  Mable took a look at him and was no longer worried. “Have you made some headway?”

  “Yes.” Ye Qingxuan was devouring his dinner. The food might have been cold and hard and even caused slight pain being digested in his stomach, but he felt a wholesomeness of life. Finally, he made up his mind.

  “Since the orthodox way doesn’t work for me, I will just have to continue down the unorthodox path.” He had finally thought things through.

  Creating had never been his strength as all of his talents lied in the areas of operation and integration. Expecting him to play the role of a trailblazer was probably a bit too much. He finally acknowledged this and decided to give up completely. His weaknesses were not something that could be covered up with simply more effort. Rather than trying so hard to cover up his weaknesses, he might as well focus on improving his strengths.

  Just like how he had been doing.

  From the very beginning, he has always been that scribe. As long as there was a correct answer to be found, he would be able to fill it in with no problems. But writing poems had always been something that he struggled with. Therefore, he decided to return to this old path and continue copying, even for the Symphony of Predestination. If he could not create a Symphony of Predestination, then so be it. If he did not have his own, then he would copy others and turn them into his own.

  He already understood how the music theory of the Ultimate would determine ‘external forces.’ Anything that he would not be able to implement his will and consciousness or fuse with himself would be considered external forces. In that case, the Ultimate actually provided him with an opportunity.

  It had given Ye Qingxuan a reminder. All this while, he always thought that he had been utilizing these abilities to perfection. He never considered the possibility that there were other issues that he had not discovered all along. Therefore, he decided that he might as well make full use of this opportunity to solve them. Just as Ye Qingxuan was still pondering, he suddenly realized something unexpected.

  If the trinity Symphony of Predestination did not belong to him, then so be it. After all, the three parts came from the three people that made a huge impact on him. But what surprised him was that all the music theories that he h
as left behind had all come from the ‘way of deciphering.’ In other words, the Ultimate was treating the way of deciphering as a part of Ye Qingxuan.

  Actually, it did make some sense. Although the way of deciphering was passed down from Abraham, he was unable to pass down the real way of abstinence to Ye Qingxuan due to the former being restrained by both the military and the covenant with the Sacred City. As a result, he had no choice but to dismantle and break down all his knowledge into bits and pieces before guiding Ye Qingxuan into discovering them for himself. Finally, the way of deciphering would be the key to piece everything back together again. It was just like what Hyakume did to Ludovic. In the process of Ludovic becoming the former dark pope, who knew when he being ‘Ludovic’?

  Ye Qingxuan never imagined that there would come a day where he would have to apply Hyakume’s method to solve his own problem. In other words, even the solution was copied from someone else. Interesting. The reason why Ye Qingxuan deemed the way of deciphering to be of the utmost importance was also because it was something that he was most familiar with.

  Abraham was a genius because of one reason—he was the first person in history to operate a music theory by removing ‘I’ from it. As a result, it would no longer be limited by one’s will. Instead, it would carry on all the way until the very end. It would not involve any emotion or perception that could affect the observation and usage of aether and music theory. It would not require humans to use aether. Instead, the aether would develop, transform, conclude, and discipline itself all on its own.

  Ye Qingxuan truly thought that this was the true path of the School of Abstinence. Now that the solution had been found, time had suddenly become tight.

  Ye Qingxuan did not intend to dive straight into copying. There were techniques to copying too. Since he had plenty of templates, he decided to prepare sufficiently first before beginning.

  “Master Auden,” he raised his head and waved to Auden, “give me paper. Give me plenty of paper.”

  There was a pained expression on Auden’s face. “Don’t treat my music theory pages as some draft papers…” He unwillingly took out the last roll. These were special alchemy papers that he had bought for his music theory. One piece of paper alone cost as much as black-gold of the same weight, and the scariest thing was that the supply of these papers was very low. Creating a sheet of paper would require one month of a craftsman’s time.