Silent Crown

After observing and inferring for days on end, the masters exchanged their opinions and reached a unanimous conclusion. After having its source of essence taken away centuries ago, the catastrophe was already about to be born completely.

In at most a month and at least a week, it would reappear.

And it would at least be of abomination level.

Due to the special location of the Ultimate and the influence of the Holy Cauldron, it would be most unlikely for the catastrophe that would be born to have no consciousness like catastrophes of the phenomenal level.

Under the intervention of the various kings of the first generation, humanoid catastrophes that possessed self-consciousness like the Three Wise Men would not appear either, and the catastrophe definitely would not exist in a corporeal form like the four living creatures.

Its nature would be more inclined towards that of the Three Pillar God.

However, under the Sacred City’s guidance which had been preset centuries ago, once it was smoothly born, it would most likely become an artifact that could directly interfere with the Originator, like the Holy Cauldron.

The fact that it had also been cultivated by the Ultimate would link it with the Holy Cauldron even more inextricably.

For other musicians, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them to obtain power and strengthening.

But Ye Qingxuan had a hunch that was getting stronger and stronger in his heart.

— Perhaps it was really the most suitable place for him to advance to the Level of Scepter.

Maybe the mysterious power known as destiny was really arranging the happenings in the world. He only realized that he and the Ultimate were inextricably linked when he pondered carefully.

Ye Lanzhou was cast into the Ultimate back then and was imprisoned for more than ten years in the eternal silence of the Ultimate. The quiet moon that he resonated also echoed faintly with the Ultimate. Moreover, the music theory of the Wyrmrest enchantment was directly derived from the phenomenon formed when the Ultimate extracted the power of the Originator.

It was precisely because of it that he could still deeply detect the slightest change in the depths of the Ultimate even though he had fallen to the Level of Distortion and his Symphony of Predestination was no longer.

Thus, he became more and more convinced of the vague he had in his heart.

He could only attain the Level of Scepter here!

When the catastrophe cultivated in the Ultimate was completely born, the elements it created would rise from the Physical World, pass through the sea of aether, form a tide of aether which would sweep across the world, and finally ascend into the realm of aether, establishing positions of utmost importance.

More importantly, it would result in the production of new changes in the Originator then.

If Ye Qingxuan could truly combine his own Symphony of Predestination with the music theory of the Ultimate and hitch a metaphorical ride with the birth of the catastrophe, attaining the Level of Scepter would be a cinch. He could even grab a share of the new music theory of the catastrophe amid the chaos, just like what the Sacred City had been doing all along.

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.

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.