Silent Crown

Consider it.

Consider it well.

As Bai Heng regarded him seriously, Ye Qingxuan was silent for three seconds, he nodded slightly.

“I’ve considered it.” He reached out and touched Bai Heng, revealing a grin of farewell. “Sure enough, it’s better to save time by throwing you to the outer heavens rather than wasting time dragging you to the Emperor.”

At that moment, everyone for 100 miles heard the sound like a mountain range falling from the sky and hitting the earth with a roar.

Within ten meters of Bai Heng’s body, cracks appeared in the earth. The terrible shock made dust fly up. It fell into three piles, and then a great wind swept through, making it difficult for anyone to open their eyes.

But when the dust settled and the wind died down, and everyone was coughing, Bai Heng still stood in his original place, looking calmly at Ye Qingxuan.

He grinned.

Ye Qingxuan’s face fell.

The power that he had just exerted should have been enough to launch a steel siege engine into the sky, not to mention Bai Heng. But Bai Heng had not been moved at all. At the moment that Ye Qingxuan had struck, he had felt a terrible force 100 times more powerful coming from the interference of his essence, almost knocking him over.

“It’s useless, I was just making an analogy.” Bai Heng sighed. “The Great Wall’s protective music theory is, how should I say it, quite thorough. Since ancient times there have been many who tried to kill Master of the Dragon Bloodline like you, and many of them died. All its different kinds of protection are complete.”

As he said this, he rolled up his sleeves and showed Ye Qingxuan his brand that marked him as the head of the Bai family. “You see, I the Vermilion Character Iron Voucher [1] on my body. You have not been recognized by the path of the Dragon Bloodline as the head of the Ye family. Nor do you have a letter written in blood with the orders to ‘rid the Emperor of evil ministers.’ Unless you exert enough power to throw Weiyan Palace, which is suppressed by the Dragon Bloodline, into space, you’re wasting your effort.”

Upon saying this he brushed away the hair that had blown into his face.

“With that said…”

Bang! Before he had finished speaking, the ground beneath Bai Heng’s feet cracked open and quickly closed back up. The earth that was originally composed of dust and mud now revealed the faint luster of metal.

The sword could do no him harm, just as fire could not invade water.

Instead, a tiny crack split open in Ye Qingxuan’s fingertip.

After Ye Qingxuan stopped, Bai Heng said carelessly, “Stuffing me into the heart of the earth won’t work.”

After a long silence, Ye Qingxuan looked back at Zhangsun Jigui. “Is what he says true?”

Zhangsun Jigui looked conflicted. Why do you think that I will just tell you that? But after a long silence, he sighed. “This is the Great Wall’s protection of the Dragon Bloodline. Unless another head of one of the families gets involved, the most that an ordinary musician can do is put him in a difficult position. It would be almost impossible to kill him.”

“…” Ye Qingxuan was plunged into silence. He narrowed his eyes at Bai Heng.

It was just as Bai Heng had said.

He considered.

But he wasn’t considering how to send him to the capital, but how to kill him easily right here.

It was best to kill him so that there would be nothing left of him.

In just a few moments, Ye Qingxuan tried all sorts of methods, high temperature, extreme cold, suffocation, swords, bows… Unfortunately, under the blessing of the Great Wall and Bai Heng’s careful preparations, all his attempts were completely defused.

Bai Heng was frolicking about right in front of him, but he couldn’t do it. This feel left Ye Qingxuan extraordinarily annoyed.

In the end, he let out a long sigh.

“Have you thought it through?” Bai Heng asked.

“I’ve thought of two ways to solve this.” Ye Qingxuan looked him up and down indifferently. “The first is to build a cage here and lock you in it, then sit down and wait seven days. If you don’t drink water you’ll die after three days. After waiting for your body to rot the problem will be solved.”

“That would be an effective method.” Bai Heng nodded. “And the second?”

“This.” Ye Qingxuan raised the New Testament Sword and pointed it at his face. “Destroy you and that d*mn Great Wall at the same time!”

“That might be possible.” Bai Heng heard him, but merely raised his eyebrows and shook his head with pity. “Unfortunately,” he said, “it’s too late.”

At that moment, the “From the New World” movement played once again, and the thousands of movements that Ye Qingxuan had filled in emerged from the darkness like stars, their endless light locking onto Bai Heng.

A symphony of stars.

Ye Qingxuan had used the World Tree arrays to transform all the movements into Gungnirs. Thousand of Gungnirs overlapped, forming a force terrible enough to destroy a catastrophe.

The killing machines that filled the sky formed a line, and the torrent of light was ready to strike.

Immediately after that, a beam of light came from the sky and fell in front of Ye Qingxuan.

Then, the light unfolded into a bundle of yellow silk. The first thing that emerged was the seal that represented the Emperor’s will, followed by a line of characters.

There was also a ceremonial officer who read out the characters with an affected cadence. It sounded like parallel prose. It was elegant and fair, but Ye Qingxuan did not understand a word of it. This annoyed him.

He looked at Zhangsun Jigui.

Zhangsun Jigui was already numb to it all. He did not need Ye Qingxuan to tell him. He shook his head and translated for him, “He said a lot of this and that, reviewed the past a bit, severely criticized Bai Heng, expounded his own sincere admiration for you, and said that only the mastermind would be punished, and not his followers. Finally, he asked you to bring Bai Heng to the capital.”

“And then?” asked Ye Qingxuan.

Zhangsun Jigui looked at him closely, with eyes full of disgust. “Then you can get what you want. You can take your woman and go, the further away the better.”

“Thank you.” Ye Qingxuan’s expression was serious, and there was no sarcasm in his voice. “So you all will just watch me take Bai Heng away?”

Zhangsun Jigui ignored him and just looked Bai Heng. “From here on out, our alliance is complete.”

“Mm. You did better than I could have ever imagined.” Bai Heng nodded. “Well, I’m off.”

“We won’t see you out.” Zhangsun Jigui looked at him one last time, then turned and left.

As Ye Qingxuan looked at him strangely, Bai Heng came back with some shackles. He looked eager.

“Shall we be off?” Bai Heng smiled amiably and walked in front of him, full of enthusiasm, just like he was acting as a guide to his brother from the countryside. “Don’t worry, I’m familiar with this road. I’ll lead the way.” Upon saying this, he strutted towards Heaven’s Gate.

After a long silence, the gate opened up a crack for him.

In this way, Bai Heng fulfilled the aspirations of the vast majority of rebels. He broke through Heaven’s Gate and headed towards the capital.

It was not as a conqueror, but as a prisoner.

But he still seemed full of happiness, and free in a way that was difficult to describe.

…

After a lot of cumbersome procedures, and taking along a team of what looked like full-fledged soldiers, Ye Qingxuan once again embarked on the road to the imperial capital.

Before that, he buried Mr. Hu properly.

“It’s unfortunate, a hero like this should have a state funeral. Can this thin coffin really repay him?” Bai Heng still stood beside him. “But according to his majesty, this is right and proper. After people die they aren’t worth going to great effort for. It’s fine just to bury them. It will be the same for her, otherwise, she won’t succeed to the throne for many years. The emperor’s tomb will be eternal, but those of the previous generations will come to an end. But a heroic character like Mr. Hu, it’s really unfortunate, I say. Ye Qingxuan, what if I offer a bit of money…”

“Shut up.” Ye Qingxuan looked back at him from his horse with a dark expression. “Don’t make me take you outside the Empire and execute you with my sword!”

“Mr. Hu both sought and obtained benevolence. Why are you like this?” Bai Heng looked at him from the prison cart with eyes full of regret. “Unfortunately, Ye Qingxuan, you’ve already missed your last chance to kill me. If you try now, I won’t even need to call for reinforcements. Do you believe that the Emperor will stop you?”

Ye Qingxuan’s expression grew darker and darker as he spoke. He felt that the Great Wall music theory, which shrouded the sky, had locked onto Bai Heng and covered him in layers of protection. Even the prison cart received the protective power of the Great Wall.

“I’ve said it before, the Emperor won’t let me die.” Bai Heng sprawled out lazily in the prison cart, mocking the eyes that looked down on him. “After hundreds of years, a third of the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline has been lost. Now every Dragon Bloodline is indispensable. After losing the Heaven Ladder music theory that the Ye family was responsible for, the Emperor will not let Aurora lose the Bai family’s authority over the City in the Sky.”

Ye Qingxuan said nothing and just kept moving forward. His mind was in turmoil for a multitude of reasons. Originally, he could have made it to the capital in two days by himself by riding at top speed. Now it seemed so far away, almost out of reach.

The addition of an extra brigade to pull the prisoner cart made it so that the road that he could have traveled in two days by traveling day and night would now take almost a week. And dealing with that b*stard Bai Heng was getting more and more pressing.

If the horse was not the finest, he wouldn’t ride it. If the meat was not perfect, he would eat it. If the water was not as sweet as dew, he wouldn’t drink it…

Even though he was a prisoner, he still held to the haughty manners and standards of a noble or prince. He would not deign to respond to anyone other than Ye Qingxuan, resulting in the burden of communicating with the idiot falling on Ye Qingxuan’s shoulders.

After being annoyed for a whole day, he finally exploded.

“Hey, Ye Qingxuan, have you ever…”

“No! Shut up!” Ye Qingxuan did not even bother to look at his talkative captive. But Bai Heng did not give up, instead putting on a mysterious look.

“Are you sure you don’t want to listen?”

Ye Qingxuan was silent, completely ignoring him.

Without a supporting character to talk to, Bai Heng shook his head in disappointment and said to himself, “Have you ever had a strange dream? I mean, after coming to the East…”

Ye Qingxuan’s face changed.

Bai Heng laughed like he could see Ye Qingxuan’s expression. “Don’t worry, this is just a necessary step before you can inherit the role of head of the family. You are the last Ye. As long as you are in Aurora you will gradually receive the memories that your ancestors left in the City in the Sky. Or you could say… your mission.”

In the prisoner cart Bai Heng slowly rolled a cigar, then lightly said, “But don’t worry. The Ye family was always lazier than the other families. And they were destroyed personally by your father. You’ll be just as miserable as the Zhangsun family, destined to carry out their fate since birth, living for an inexplicable mission that you cannot escape even by dying…”

Ye Qingxuan was silent for a while, then said, “You mean… musicians who inherit the Dragon’s blood are implanted with orders that cannot be disobeyed?”

“Yes, that’s right. You didn’t know? It seems like Ye Lanzhou really didn’t tell you anything…” Bai Heng smiled mysteriously. He pinched the cigar in his mouth to indicate his main point.

Ye Qingxuan looked at him coldly for a long time. He opened his fingers and a flame spewed out, burning the cigar and a large portion of Bai Heng’s hair to charcoal.

“If you have something to say, then say it.”

“Tsk tsk, that’s not the attitude of someone asking for help.” After pushing away his burnt hair, Bai Heng smoked two cigars. He leaned on the prisoner cart and blew out a puff of black smoke.

“The Dragon bloodline bequeaths music theory through the bloodlines, that is to say, the ancestors are the future generations’ provisions. The descendants enjoy their ancestors’ blessings, but must also take on the fate that has been deepened generation after generation, just like a curse. Look at the Liu family. Originally the matriarch and the little ones were all full of life, but for the sake of longevity, they became something not quite human and not quite ghost. The Yuan family was a little better. They didn’t inherit a mission, it was a ‘killing impulse.’ Every generation only lacked one thing in their minds—they could not have empathy for others, and would rarely have pity. They could only take joy in killing and being killed. As for the Zhangsun family, they always dreamed of returning to heaven. The heads of the family throughout the ages tried to regain their kingship and use the power of the nation to rebuild the City in the Sky, and for this reason, a sh*tty court was built. Are you aware of the White Lotus Society? They started that. Crossing the ‘void’ and returning to the ‘homeland.’ Huh, it’s all nonsense. Also…”

After he said all this, Ye Qingxuan looked at him questioningly.

“And the Bai family?” he asked. “You didn’t talk about yourself.”

“Ah, originally we had this, but no longer.” Bai Heng flicked away his cigar and said indifferently, “I exploited a loophole. I’m not even a musician, wouldn’t it be a little ridiculous for me to have a mission?”

Ye Qingxuan looked away and paid him no more attention. He just urged his horse to move on.

Bai Heng was left in the prisoner cart alone, tutting and sighing.

“Great, great.”

He narrowed his eyes at Ye Qingxuan’s back.

“It’s just an illusory joy. You’d better enjoy it.”

[1] A symbol of authority granted to generals and ministers by the Emperor in ancient China