by Feng Yue
“You saved yourself,” said Paganini. “One of the Asgardians you saved was a chorale doctor who gave you a blood transfusion.”
“Ah, thank him for me.” Charles smiled abashedly. He wanted to scratch his head but could not lift his arm.
“He’s dead.”
Charles was stunned. His smile froze. After a while, he sighed softly. “I see. Is it because he saved me?”
Paganini did not answer.
“Do you have a cigarette?”
“No, I don’t smoke,” Paganini said coldly. “You’d better quit smoking from now on. As a mortal, your body can’t withstand those bad habits anymore.”
“Ah,” responded Charles. Paganini didn’t know if he had heard him as he stared at the sky with his remaining eye. He watched the countless human figures hurrying up from the ruins and flying towards the illusory kingdom. They were like souls flying into the sky, fleeing from the suffering of life and heading for the world of the dead.
“What are you looking at?”
Charles stared at the phantoms that flew into the sky. After a while, he whispered softly, “Maybe it’s heaven?”
751 Alpha
After everything returned to silence, Ye Qingxuan lowered his head, his fingers tapping on the ridge of the sword, his expression joyful.
“You won,” he said.
“Yeah.” The King of Yellow sighed. “I really envy you for being able to lose so happily.”
“So, let’s adhere to our bet.” He reached out and pulled out a vague ray of light from his heart. The light condensed into a solid, as if it was a fragment peeled off from something, having distinct edges and corners.
It was like a wedge.
It was like a wedge that nailed him in the present world, and after the wedge had been pulled out, his aura became more and more fleeting, almost blending into nothingness. It was difficult to observe and detect him anymore.
Meanwhile, the legacy of the King of Yellow was in front of Ye Qingxuan.
Ye Qingxuan looked at the crystal, then looked at the ex-King of Yellow. “You know, I never wanted your bet. I will not be the King of Yellow with or without it.”
“Yeah, that is why I envy you the most.” The musician laughed softly. “You can choose not to be the King of Yellow.” As he said so, he casually threw the royal legacy in his hands to Ye Qingxuan without feeling the slightest sense of pity at losing it. Ye Qingxuan caught it hurriedly, afraid that it would fall into pieces on the ground.
“After you give it to me, the Sacred City probably couldn’t stop the expansion of the Net of Aether anymore. Aren’t you afraid of being branded a sinner?”
“The Sacred City can’t stop anything.” The musician was not worried about it at all. “I’m afraid that it will start to change in the upcoming times which I can still witness? No matter what happens, with the King of Red, the Sacred City will not decline completely. The Church that has lost its political power can only focus on the Holy Bible and serve the incorporeal God, it’s pretty good…”
Ye Qingxuan frowned, remembering the group of cardinals, and the expressionless King of Red, and he could not help but sigh. “I’m afraid that some people will not be happy with it.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.” The musician grinned, his smile happy, and cast him a look gloatingly. “So, see you… no, goodbye forever, Hand of God.”
“You’re leaving?” Ye Qingxuan sighed and got up to send him off. “Where do you plan to go next?”
“I don’t know.” The projection of the musician slowly dissipated, and a vague voice sounded, “After no longer being the King of Yellow, where should my life begin from?
“I’ll probably go to the northernmost to take a look. It is said that there is a very strange type of black and white geese amid the snow and ice.”
Ye Qingxuan watched him dissipate and looked up, as if he could catch a glimpse of the steel star hanging high in the sky beginning to move slowly toward the north.
Ye Qingxuan actually wanted badly to tell him that all those were just legends. Actually, the north had no ice-cold polar regions, nor were there black and white geese.
But where else could he go?
From the moment he put on the crown when he was 22, his life had already stagnated. At the moment, it could be restart as the times changed. Anyway, for him, as long as he didn’t have to be the King of Yellow, anywhere would be a good place for him to go.
“Bon voyage.” Ye Qingxuan waved, gazing at the dim gleam of iron as it blended into the stars.
Before dawn, under the shining of the stars, he lowered his head, tossing and catching the royal legacy in his hand. He toyed at the sparkling crystal edges with his fingers. Upon seeing it, one wouldn’t be able to guess that the object was supreme in the eyes of those going down the path of musicians.
Apprentice, rhythm, musician, resonance, disturbance, distortion, scepter, holy spirit… It was the holy legacy at the end of the nine levels, the legacy of the King of Yellow that even surpassed the nine levels.
From the moment he embarked on the road of musicians to the present, it just took Ye Qingxuan less than two years to hold the royal legacy that countless musicians yearned desperately for in his hands, but it felt utterly surreal.
Everything that took place since just now was so ridiculous.
The person who received the title of the King of Yellow wore a blank expression, but the person who lost it felt like he had been given a new life.
Ye Qingxuan had never imagined that the ex-King of Yellow would give him the legacy so directly and decisively.
The ex-king couldn’t even be said to be financing the enemy.
He was basically filling in his own deed with the enemy’s name!
Although Ye Qingxuan was the most suitable person to inherit the legacy of the King of Yellow, regardless of which perspective one looked at it from, the King of Yellow’s actions were a bit too straightforward. Generally speaking, wouldn’t the Sacred City issue the title of the King of Yellow to Ye Qingxuan reluctantly only after he went to great lengths to undertake 12 trials?
And there would be a very high chance of some scumbag causing a scene in the middle of it all to obstruct him, thus requiring a review to be held, and Ye Qingxuan would win by forcefully overpowering the rest after a fierce debate. Had it taken place in one of the popular ultra-long novels at the moment, at least 500,000 words could be written.
In the end, the ex-king just casually made a bet with him and gave it to him.
It really felt like a hot potato in Ye Qingxuan’s hand.
Even if he was to think with his toes instead of his brain, he would still come to the same conclusion. Surely the Sacred City would not give him the power of the Holy Cauldron?
“What am I thinking so much for?” He shook his head and sighed. “I’ll give it a try first.” As he said so, he flipped his wrist and inserted the wedge into his heart.
Illusory chimes of bells erupted in his brain in an instant, and the sudden, large impact made his vision black. But in an instant, as if the chimes had knocked him out of his body, and the illusory feeling of being omnipotent came back.
But this time around, he did not felt lost for too long. Having experience from last time, he directly kept his mind under control and did not fall into confusion.
The extraordinary sublimation experience took place once more.
In a trance-like state, Ye Qingxuan’s consciousness operated in the void, passing through the limits of the physical world, and leaped towards the high-level dimensions. But this time around, it did not move toward the Originator but cast itself towards the light of the Holy Cauldron.
It was exactly because of the Holy Cauldron that the Sacred City had not been eroded by the divinity all along. Even so, the divinity must be divided into three parts for humans to be able to control it.
The thought that he could enjoy such treatment made Ye Qingxuan feel a little excitement in his heart.
Anyone with
a dream could be considered amazing.
But soon, the expected wet blanket hit him in the face.
While he was just one step away from the Holy Cauldron, Ye Qingxuan’s consciousness suddenly paused, unable to progress towards the core.
The door was slammed in his face.
A faint chill even came from the core. The projection of the King of Red emerged from the projection of the Sacred City, looking at him coldly. If Ye Qingxuan intended to take one more step ahead, His Holiness the Pope probably wouldn’t mind fighting with him once more.
“Don’t worry, I’m just taking a look, I won’t buy anything.” Ye Qingxuan gave an “honest” smile and turned to leave without casting a second glance at it.
I’m just taking a look, why be so fierce? With such a bad temper, if you aren’t careful, you’ll become a lonely old man one day!
Although he had become the King of Yellow, he couldn’t obtain the power of the Holy Cauldron. In his heart, Ye Qingxuan felt that it was quite a pity, but he wouldn’t count on the Sacred City to cater to the times and open the door for a rebel like him, for everyone to put away their differences and laugh together.
For him, the most important part was not that; instead, it was the music theory in the legacy of the King of Yellow, which controlled the aether in the whole world!
For the ordinary musician, it was the obligation that the King of Yellow must fulfill, but the obligation what the Net of Aether needed most!
At the moment, Ye Qingxuan’s figure dissipated from the territory of Asgard and returned to the Net of Aether, entering the core of the crystal.
Without feeling the slightest sense of pity at not keeping the power of the King of Yellow for himself, he pulled the stone wedge out from his heart, flipped his wrist, integrated it into the Net of Aether.
Illusory bell chimes suddenly erupted in everyone’s heart.
In a flash, all the users of the Net of Aether in the world heard the rumble.
Then, in all their sensing, the sensing range of the Net of Aether expanded wildly. As the stone wedge and the catastrophe merged as one, the real power of the ethernet network could be unleashed.
In just a moment, countless strands of Heaven Ladder music theory extended in all directions from the sea of aether.
It expanded endlessly.
In Ye Qingxuan’s sensing of aether, his own consciousness was drawn from his human body, attaching itself to the turbulent Net of Aether, wildly proliferating and expanding.
Extend, extend, and extend some more… It extended towards the end of everything.
While the Net of Aether was only like a big tree occupying a region before the incident, at the moment, its system of roots grew again and began to radiate toward the whole world!
At the moment, everyone lifted their heads in shock and looked at the silver pillar of light rising up into the sky above Avalon.
It was the pillar of heaven formed by countless Heaven Ladders intertwining.
With Avalon as the foundation, the tower-like stream of light extended toward the sky, breaking through layers of the atmosphere. In a flash, after exchanging hundreds of thousands of notes with the Guide, it formed an unshakable main axis.
It extended all the way to the silent universe outside the atmosphere, the eternal vacuum where aether fell into silence.
But it didn’t stop there.
Just as Ye Qingxuan was replanning the development of the Tree of World, another stream of light whistled as it arrived from a distance. With the upper-level authority of Watson, it fell directly into Ye Qingxuan’s hands. It was…
“Tree of World?” Ye Qingxuan’s yelped in shock, but the opportunity was too good to miss. Not having time to ask Watson how he laid his hands on it, with a flip of his wrist, Ye Qingxuan slapped the array of the Tree of World into the Net of Aether.
At the moment, on the silver-white pillar of heaven, countless complicated arrays emerged. The arrays of the path of godly ascension and the Tree of World intersected. Attached to the huge pillar of heaven, it was as if a path leading to the sky had been formed.
The Heaven Ladder evolved.
The core of the catastrophe rumbled.
Numerous crystal modules emerged from the void, gathering above the core, making its volume instantly increase by more than several times.
Then, countless branches suddenly emerged from the silver stream of light gushing to the sky.
Attaching itself to the main axis, the Tree of World began to take root and sprout.
After combining the music theory of the King of Yellow and the array of the Tree of World, the transmission efficiency of the Net of Aether almost changed qualitatively. In the past, it could only somewhat maintain circuits of the standard of official musicians. At the moment, its power began to soar and progress toward the domain after the level of resonance.
At the moment, they interlaced with each other once more. Like weeping willows, strands after strands of music theory were thrown in all directions, shrouding most of the territory of the West.
Then, it progressed outside, along with the operation of the power of the King of Yellow. In the rumble that seemed as if the heavens and the earth were collapsing, the territories at the boundaries of the human world increased inch by inch, and in a flash, it had spread hundreds of kilometers outwards and continued to extend.
Propelled by the power of the catastrophe, it was equivalent to all users of the Net of Aether using the music theory of the King of Yellow to open up new land. After the potential was exhausted, it was expected that the territory of the human world could at least increase by tens of millions of square kilometers.
At the same time, after crossing the ocean, the stream of light further enveloped all of India, Canaan, and the endless deserts of the south. In the end, it was stopped outside the Aurora by the Great Wall.
At the moment, other than the core regions of the Sacred City and Asgard, as well as the Caucasus, which had blocked the Heaven Ladder, nearly two-thirds of the human world had been covered by the Net of Aether.
Meanwhile, beneath the earth, the array of the path of godly ascension was loaded into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. With the authority of the King of Yellow, the power within the sea of aether was extracted. In an instant, under the aether reserve that could be said to be endless, the leylines of the national defense front began to increase again.
Just like the roots of a giant tree, they crossed the border and extended in all directions. The earth rumbled, and beneath the crust, the silver-white light gushed, covering the seven seas in a flash, echoing the Heaven Ladder above the skies.
It rose from the ground and descended from the sky.
The heavens and the earth were combined.
“This is the Alpha,” Ye Qingxuan whispered softly.
752 Beneath the Long Skir
Just as the stream of light of the net of aether covered the entire domain and all the musicians were unable to react in time, there was a tremble from the deepest depth of the realm of aether. It was as if very fine ripples were being started from nothingness. After merging the path of Godly ascension and the Tree of World and many other artifacts, the Land of Dreams was in control of the authority of King of Yellow, thereby triggering terrifying trembles that spread in all directions. All upper-tier dimensions trembled wherever they went.
A pair of empty eyes opened in the lowest depths of the crystal core, and it was staring at the realm of aether, which seemed to be complicated like a maze. It was looking at the turbulence that resembled the Dark World in the upper-tier dimensions. It was basically staring down condescendingly. A terrifying earthquake-like tremble burst through the net of aether.
Due to the authority of the King of Yellow, countless heaven ladder music theories were passing through the realm of aether and interweaving with each other, hence eliminating all the fog that was obscuring vision. It was just like how the King of Yellow had adjusted the aether turbulences of the Physical World back then. He
was rearranging the chaotic realm of aether and getting it back into order!
As the Land of Dreams was being rearranged top-down, there was a stream of light within the Physical World that was covering the entire domain. The net of aether was also building a passageway towards the realm of aether top-down. The massive network engulfed the chaotic sea of aether as it smoothened out each ripple forcefully yet meticulously. It was like managing hydrology. It would calm the waves, settle countless grains of sediments, branch out its pulse stoically, and extend its roots deep into the sea of aether.
With endless power to absorb, it was like a seed that was germinating and spreading its roots. The net of aether was finally given an actual body as countless streams of light flowed through the sea of aether. It was like digging a riverbed. Specialized passageways were being built in a complicated and meticulous manner as countless streams of light were interwoven with each other. In the blink of an eye, a massive miracle, that had never been seen before, appeared just like that. Above the Physical World and beneath the realm of aether, countless heaven ladder music theories intersected each other and formed complex tracks that connected the “up” and “down.”
Countless heaven ladders descended from the sea of aether and connected to the lands of the Physical World before extending upwards again. After breaking through the boundaries of the realm of aether, they entered the depth of the upper-tier dimension and finally linked together with the Land of Dreams. And so, the Physical World, the sea of aether and the realm of aether had all been connected together through the net of aether.
The gigantic tree-shaped network descended from the sky and engulfed the entire world within the power of the net of aether. As long as the musicians held on to the terminals, they would be connected to this brand-new system and obtain power and knowledge! At that moment, Ye Qingxuan suddenly developed a hallucination that the entire world was now within his grasp.
Unfortunately, in this wonderful hallucination, he saw domains being engulfed by fog. In the depths of the realm of aether and within the gaps of the massive network, no one knew just how much secrets were hidden there. It was like observing the universe with a telescope and being fully aware that behind the countless glittering stars were an unknown number of dark celestial bodies that were being hidden away. It was deeply unsatisfying.
