Silent Crown

Oh no!

At the moment, everyone’s expression changed drastically. Not waiting for Ye Qingxuan to finish his words, they instantly gathered up all their strength, and instead of attacking, they quickly dashed away.

But immediately after that, in midair, they felt that something was wrong.

The thunder-like blow they expected never struck.

Nothing even happened.

They turned back in surprise and only saw Schubert casting a look at Ye Qingxuan, a blank look in her eyes, which had no vigor in them at all. Then, she withdrew her gaze once more.

She lowered her head and continued reciting the scriptures.

Confusion, surprise, realization, and anger… Finally, their expressions turned to that of mockery.

As everyone looked on, Ye Qingxuan blushed, awkwardly retracted his seemingly incomparably impressive pose, and coughed twice.

He had just put on an act for nothing!

He threw the brooch that had been of no goddamn use to the side, madly cursing the Church in his heart!

He thought that he had turned the tables just now, and he even talked tough, but it ended up not working at all. The contrast between the situations before and after made him feel as if he had a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat and was unable to spit it out.

What on earth are the *ssholes in the Church thinking?! Despite having committed the awful act of making a person into a container for a scepter, they’re too stingy to add one more control module, aren’t they?!

Ye Qingxuan dryly laughed twice. “Um, something came up last minute, do carry on with your chat, I’ll take my leave first.”

However, just as he turned and took a step forward, iron ridges grew out and filled the ground in front of him. The sharp upper edges aimed straight at Ye Qingxuan’s face.

The murderous intention was bone-chilling.

“A pretty good trick, Grand Inquisitor.” The old man in the lead wore a dark expression. “You’ve successfully made fun of us and also given up your last chance.”

Ye Qingxuan sighed and tapped the ground with the staff of fate. “In other words… I must fight?”

No one responded, and frenzied aether waves rose again.

Ye Qingxuan inwardly cursed. Raymond, that old fart, he just had to cause me more trouble even in his death. Devil knows what a weakling like him had relied on to command Schubert!

Surely he didn’t rely on the reciting of scriptures instead of alchemy equipment?

Wait, reciting scriptures?

Despite being at such a nerve-racking juncture with the enemy looming in front, Ye Qingxuan was momentarily stunned.

He only just realized that since a while ago, the old nun had switched to reciting scriptures of the same verse without anyone noticing. “…Fear thou the Lord and the king, and company not with them that are given to change. For their calamity shall rise suddenly. He that saith unto the wicked, ‘Thou art righteous’, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him…”

She recited it over and over again, but it was still the same verse.

But the last sentence, the conclusion of the utmost importance, was missing from the Proverb.

Subconsciously, Ye Qingxuan murmured softly, “— And the destruction from the Lord, who knoweth it?”

At the very moment, it was as if thunder had descended from the sky.

In midair, a rumble suddenly erupted from the scepter hanging high. Horrible thunder brewed within, and lightning burst forth. Everyone felt the bone-chilling cold coming from the old nun.

In a trace-like state, as if she was obeying the instruction of God, she raised her head, and the terrifying brilliance of God filled her hollow eyes.

The next moment, horrifying thunder burst forth from the element of the scepter in midair. It was as if a bright sun was rising between the heavens and the earth.

The mere act of gazing upon the fierce light close at hand would be enough to burn and damage one’s eyes severely.

In the blink of an eye, while Ye Qingxuan only felt a horrifying heat descend from the sky, the thunder had turned into an ocean and engulfed everything.

When he opened his eyes again, he could only see a scorched blackness in front of him.

The thunder dissipated.

Everything seemed to imply that nothing had happened.

The six masters who stood in front of Ye Qingxuan had long since disappeared without a trace.

At that moment, they didn’t even have time to escape. Under the thunderous wrath of the Saint, all of them turned to ashes. The thunder was like punishment from God. Wherever it passed, everything was all destroyed.

Their music theory cracked and collapsed, their bodies were destroyed, and even their ashes had evaporated entirely. Even the earth melted and changed into a splatter of grayish-black and scorching red colors, exuding a smell of sulfur that seemed to come from hell.

As all the bystanders looked on in surprise and shock, Ye Qingxuan was silent for a good while, then couldn’t help but laugh.

He laughed loudly.

He finally understood how the Sacred City had commanded Schubert.

Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate [1] — The same was true for alchemy.

Since a better method existed, they need not add a crappy control circuit.

It had probably been planned from the very beginning?

A devout believer was to be used as the container to hold the elements and scepter born of the Holy Bible. Then, the Proverbs of the Holy Bible were used as the medium of communication.

After the original personality was erased by the music theory, the devout heart remaining would become the best way to control the container. As long as one mastered the contents of the Holy Bible, one could control it.

In simple words, as long as one could recite the entire Holy Bible, one could naturally understand how to communicate with Schubert.

Meanwhile, Ye Qingxuan’s title as a bishop within the Church provided him with a command authority of minimum level.

Although some other more covert control circuit was certainly hidden within, the current extent was enough, provided that he simply wanted to use Schubert’s scepter as a deterrent.

Seeing that Ye Qingxuan had commanded Schubert, in a flash, their surroundings were completely empty. All the musicians had run away completely.

In the silence, Ye Qingxuan examined the old nun in front of him and his lips curled into a smile.

The Ultimate was indeed a nice place…

He thought of a pretty good plan.

…

In the dead of the night, fiery glows lit up from time to time in the silent city.

Under the calm surface situation that resembled stagnant water, turbulent undercurrents prevailed. God knew how many musicians were hiding in the dark, madly fighting and killing each other to seize power.

There were also musicians who were not interested in the power that could be obtained out of nowhere.

Some held it in contempt, while others didn’t want to get themselves into trouble — There is no such thing as a free lunch, all the pies that fell from the sky [2] came with their own prices.

Leaving the risks of engaging in combat aside for the moment, just the unsubstantial power obtained would in itself require one to put in a significant amount of effort just to control it.

If that was all, it would still be alright. Schools that had been established for some years, even if not for very long, generally had methods designed specifically in relation to such external power, and the methods would allow one to completely master such power.

However, if one was to accept the music theory of the Ultimate, one’s own music theory would also be altered by the Ultimate.

Contamination was relative. Human beings were altering the Ultimate, and the Ultimate was also altering human beings.

When the Ultimate officially finished brewing up and the catastrophe was born, then naturally, the School of the Ultimate that would make use of its music theory would take shape.

Actually, most of the schools of mankind had originated in similar fashion. By imitating, studying, and exploring catastrophes, they obtained power from catastrophes.

But the situation they faced at the moment was different. Direct inheriting the music theory of the Ultimate would inevitably cause one to be affected by the Ultimate. After the Ultimate was controlled by the Church, one would also become a lackey of the Church for sure.

It was just like dark musicians.

Any musician would hold dark musicians in contempt as long as he had a bit of talent, and why was that so? Wasn’t it precisely because those fellows were controlled and restricted by catastrophes and demons, and didn’t even have freedom?

Of course, there was no shortage of wackos who were blinded by greed and even dared to scheme against the catastrophe for the sake of power.

Therefore, other than a large number of people who were ecstatic, there were still a small number of musicians with strong enough foundations and promising futures, who were unwilling to get involved in such trouble.

Moreover, musicians would never make enemies lightly among themselves. Once enemies were made, the consequence would be nothing short of a fight till death.

For those who killed other musicians for the sake of power, leaving the issue of whether it was done via a fair showdown aside for the moment, surely they weren’t assuming that the schools the musicians belonged to were dead as well?

Musicians who could attain the Level of Master were all mainstays of their respective schools, or might even be the very ones in charge of their schools.

Offending a large group of people for the sake of some power that came with a price would probably result in failure to obtain protection even from one’s own school, and one could only resort to seeking refuge in the Sacred City.

It was probably the Church’s plan as well?

In a casino, the one to profit the most would never be the expert of cheating, nor would it be the experienced gambler well-versed in the art of gambling, but the owner of the casino who was acting as dealer.

The casino would charge both sides, so no matter which side was to win, it would earn a steady profit with no risk of losing.

It wasn’t that no smart person had figured it out, but people were often powerless to change the environment, and would instead be influenced and changed by the environment.

When the entire Ultimate became the Colosseum, few people were able to maintain their virtue in solitude.

One example was Auden from the School of Wan Lei.

Sometimes even though one made no attempt to kill others, others would still attempt to kill one…

“Orlando, I have never offended you!” After being forced into a dead end, Auden’s expression was twisted with rage. “Are you not afraid of the revenge of the School of Wan Lei that will follow if you kill me!”

Behind layers of stone-like fluorescence, Auden was already extremely flustered. A big half of his beard had been cut off, and his robe was in tatters. If it hadn’t been for the alchemy equipment, he would have died and gone to the underworld in the first round of sneak attacks.

The School of Wan Lei derived from the school of modifications and was known for its manipulation of stone and iron. Its forte was defense. Once the core music theory was unfolded, it was as if the musician had carried a fortress on him, and ordinary musicians were unable to break through the defenses at all.

But it must also be considered from a relative perspective, especially when the opponent had advanced to the Level of Scepter. The fortress became a coffin, and one couldn’t even escape.

Orlando’s figure was like a materialized ghost, swaying fleetingly, and produced a sharp cackle.

After a musician of the school of magic attained the Level of Scepter, he could control reality and illusion. Even his own existence was so fleeting that it was difficult to detect.

Furthermore, Orlando’s forte was eroding reality via illusions. Under the distortion of music theory, the illusion of nothingness continuously eroded Auden’s defenses, disintegrating it bit by bit.

He was bent on killing Auden, and his attacks became more decisive, not even giving Auden any chance to take a breathe. His own existence was transformed in the sharp melody, and dreamlike streams of light were blown out of his flute, making Auden’s face turn pale.

“You won’t have it easy even after I die.” Auden gritted his teeth and made up his mind. As if his blood was ignited, his face turned red. Turbulent music theory permeated from his defenses, and surprisingly turned the illusions into dust.

Assimilation.

Different types of Symphonies of Predestination would produce different effects once they blew themselves up. Most musicians of the school of modifications were good at destruction, but masters of alchemy like Auden were better at altering the nature of matter.

Once his Symphony of Predestination erupted, despite the suppression of the Ultimate, everything within a few hundred meters would all be transformed into dust.

Then, Orlando would definitely not have it easy. Moreover, he couldn’t even obtain the Symphony of Predestination, and could only return empty-handed.

“Will I give you a chance?” Orlando sneered, and the flute played a sharp melody. In the shrill sound, Auden’s vision blurred, and he actually lost the ability to sense his Symphony of Predestination. After the confrontation that had lasted for a long time, the illusions had quietly seeped into Auden’s consciousness.

Even Orlando himself had become a fulcrum of the illusions.

As long as one looked directly at him, one would be eroded by his illusions and get trapped deeply within without realizing it.

Seeing the vague figure that Orlando had turned into walk towards him, Auden felt utter despair in his heart. Only then did he understand that the reason why the other person had dragged things on with him for such a long time was just to make him deeply trapped and unable to escape.

But at the very moment, a hoarse sigh sounded.

“And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.” The young man who walked out of the shadows recited the Holy Bible, clapped his hands deftly, and proclaimed, “— And it was so.”

Smack!

[1] The principle of Occam’s Razor that translates as ‘Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity.’

[2] The author is referring to a Chinese proverb that literally translates as “A pie fell from the sky.” It means that one gets to enjoy benefits without putting in effort.