Silent Crown

The moment the string was plucked, all sound muted.

The silver haze suddenly joined together and swept into a frenzy. But the aether’s glow disappeared, only leaving behind the sparse notes from the instrument.

Hidden behind the beautiful music was a sharp and sonorous breath. Like an unsheathed blade, it scraped and hummed, gradually revealing its murderous intent.

Within the sparse notes, weak ripples spread from Ye Qingxuan’s fingertips, extending in all directions.

Everything in its path dimmed. Flames snuffed, fresh blood lost its color, and darkness turned into a muted gray. Everything looked unchanged, but something seemed to be dragging them further and further away.

Mist was born from the sky then scattered. It wasn’t thick—it was thin and unnoticeable until it fully enveloped the space. Like a breath in winter air, it dissipated.

A vague chill rose, seeping into every open crevice.

Her body could still feel the heat left behind by the fire, but all her senses began to feel icy.

Hariti turned pale. Reflexively, she tried to step back, but her foot stopped mid-step. The nonexistent coldness had already seeped into her brain, freezing her thoughts and consciousness. Finally, she stood stunned in the white mist, her mind frozen in shock and terror.

In this cold mist, everything came to a standstill.

—

In the dancing white mist, there was only the sound of the zither.

Soon, the spattering of notes changed, turning into a continuous melody. The true overture had finally begun.

In the silence, the zither suddenly produced a harmonized crispness and heaviness. Burning decisive thoughts appeared, and were hammered into everyone’s hearts.

The notes reverberated through the air, shapeless and intangible, but powerful and awe-inspiring. In its path, all ghosts and demons were crushed by the majestic yet cold air.

This was not physical interaction. It was purely resonance between souls.

The music was sparse, but destroyed every evil spirit. The resentment harbored in the aether was easily crushed too. Resentment, dissatisfaction, and poisonous thoughts were nothing in the face of the music.

Like a sand castle before a tsunami, it collapsed like a joke.

Ping!

The strong and persistent will solidified into a blade. Blended into the music, it swept in all directions, slicing apart the formless ghosts, trembling and frozen in the white mist.

All that was left were white bones scattered on the ground.

The remaining resentment spilled out, crashing toward Hariti’s fragile mind like a tidal wave!

Her rheumy eyes bugged open.

On her ancient body, Tiryagoni’s music notes were pushed to their brink, like a rag frozen on an iceberg.

Quickly, the crazed resentment pulled on her, swallowing her last bit of consciousness.

—

It was as if she was thrown into a bottomless pit.

She could not see, could not hear, could not smell, could not feel…

The cruel zither tore her perception away bit by bit, until all that was left was a stooped soul, falling hopelessly down the into the abyss.

Falling, endlessly falling, falling for eternity.

An unprecedented loneliness engulfed her thoughts. She wailed, but she was not even sure if she could make a sound. Then she saw moonlight jump from the abyss.

Cemented in the seemingly eternal loneliness, everything lost its meaning. Even living became a long nightmare.

With time at a standstill in the abyss, the nightmares seemed to last forever. It would trap her for thousands upon thousands of years. But this feeling only lasted a moment, and ended before she could react.

After that, Hariti was still standing in her original position, unmoving.

Boom!

The noise of a firecracker thrown into a ditch sounded.

It came from inside her skull, as if some delicate and soft membrane had cracked open. Black blood ran from the corners of her eyes, nose, and ears.

She was finally freed from that nightmare.

In her last moments, she stared at the shadow behind the youth. Caught between tears and laughter, she cried, “You…you’re still here…that white-haired creature is you!” Her voice was dumbfounded. “Why are you here?”

Those eyes were vaguely mocking, but were also tinted with genuine terror. It was the reflection of her last moment alive. Her eyes dimmed and she collapsed.

Blood trickled from her body, collecting into a puddle and seeping through the cracks in the ground.

—

The clang of music still reverberated between the tight walls. It spread through the alley until the scattered notes melded into rock, water, and wind.

In that moment, everyone in downtown of Avalon heard a noise in their dreams. Clanging music from the zither entered their dreams, changing their dreamscape.

They saw a mysterious ocean wave in the pitch-black night. In the endless tide, a silver-white moon rose up from the end of the sky. The moonlight illuminated everything, shining kindly and fairly upon the entire world.

The moon above the ocean!

At this moment, the moonlight was everything in the skies and on earth.

—

After a long time, the strings began to scatter.

The solidified aether lost its shape again, returning to a silvery mist. The mist dissipated quickly. Its vague shadow barely discernable in the cloud.

Like a mirage from far away, his body was blurry, his face empty white. But when he looked at the youth before him, his eyes were gentle and soft.

He caressed the youth’s white hair, as if wanting to touch him with the help of the mist, but he couldn’t.

When Ye Qingxuan awoke from that all-consuming dream, he could only see the man’s shadow.

He faded into the distance, dissolving with the mist. Sensing the youth’s gaze, he stopped and turned back slightly. His blurry lips seemed to smile, but it was impossible to see clearly.

“Yezi, solve this mystery.” His lips moved soundlessly. “Go to the end of that dream.”

Something rippled through the mist, then disappeared.

Ye Qingxuan gaped at where he had been. He wanted to say something, but it was too late. It seemed to have been a hallucination, but it had felt so real. The man had come back, summoned because of the music. Yet he had to leave again after his short stay.

Ye Qingxuan pounded the wall, venting out the sadness and frustration in his heart. If only he had woken up earlier, he might have had time to talk to the man.

He did not know what to say. Maybe he would yell or accuse him. “But why do you have to leave so quickly?” he thought.

Frustrated, Ye Qingxuan hung his head. He wiped at the corner of his eyes, as if wanting to get rid of the bitterness there.

He finally saw the girl slowly open her eyes, as if waking up from a long dream. She opened her eyes with fatigue, and looked at the youth before her, trying to decide if he was real or a hallucination.

“You’re awake?” Ye Qingxuan wanted to pull her up, but his body hurt like it had been smashed by a rock. But he did not realize until then that his shattered bones had been put back together.

His fingers were still swollen and black, though. But maybe they had not complelely rotted, and could still be brought back to life with medicine. Ye Qingxuan tried moving his joints and smiled when a finger twitched.

“Let’s go,” Ye Qingxuan said. “We should go back.”

Bai Xi gazed at him in a dazed confusion. After a while, she pulled on his sleeve and climbed up. She seemed exhausted, with no energy to speak. But now she was a good child. She no longer played around, ran, or disobeyed. She obediently held onto Ye Qingxuan’s shirt sleeve, quietly, like all girls. Sometimes, she’d look up at Ye Qingxuan’s profile, her eyes confused and complicated. Sometimes, she would say in her weak and tired voice, “…I just had a nightmare.”

“The nightmare is over,” Ye Qingxuan said. “There’s always a limit to bad things. Once they’re over, they won’t happen anymore.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Ye Qingxuan patted her hair. “I won’t lie to you.”

Bai Xi looked into his eyes. “Will you get angry when I lie?”

“No. It’s okay, even if you lie to me…” Ye Qingxuan grasped her hand, saying softly, “Thank you, Bai Xi.”

She froze, looking as if she wanted to speak. But she did not say anything. After a long time, she lowered her head and uttered, “Oh.” And said nothing else.

Seeing how she wanted to say something, but was too embarrassed to speak, Ye Qingxuan could not help but laugh.

He was very cold and hungry. He was tired too, and his body felt as if it been torn apart and put back together. But none of that mattered anymore.

He had to take Bai Xi away, somewhere other than hell.

“From now on, there’ll be a new life waiting for you.”