Silent Crown Chapter 101

“Hello, Mr. Claude.” Faced with Claude’s gaze, Ye Qingxuan took the initiative to greet him with a calm look.

However, Lestrade was pale, his lips trembled. He looked as if he wanted to run right then and there.

Perceiving his discomfort, Claude frowned slightly, a flicker of suspicion in his eyes. He looked to Ye Qingxuan, brow slightly furrowed. “Are you from here? Why don’t you have a badge?”

“This … is my fault.” Ye Qingxuan hesitated with an awkward look. “It was me. I begged Mr. Lestrade to bring me here. Please do not blame him. It’s because I have always wanted to join the police and become a good detective. Unfortunately, my family won’t let me.

“I will go back to my hometown in a few days, but I can’t just let it go. So, I asked Mr. Lestrade whether he could bring me here to have a look, so that I can be comforted.”

Seeing Ye Qingxuan’s gentle appearance and skilled manners, Claude seemed to understand something and nodded in agreement. “Your family wants the best for you. No matter in what field you enter in the future, you can always make a career. There is no need to feel regret.”

“Thank you for your advice.” Just the right amount of relief was present in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes, and Claude nodded with satisfaction.

“Take it easy, Lestrade.” Claude patted Lestrade on the shoulder. “I came here to visit my friends and relatives. I’m not your superior today and I am not as strict as others. These small infractions are harmless to the secretary too, so just relax.”

“Y-yes sir!” Lestrade lifted his head in disbelief, looked at the smiling Ye Qingxuan, and looked at Claude in wonder. He could not believe it. Had he really not been discovered? How powerful must the dark musician be that even the Starry Eyes of the School of Revelations could not see through him?

After a while, Lestrade finally snapped out of thoughts and realized that Claude had already left. In the light drizzle, the youth who had pretended to be a young elite looked at him with a smile, but his eyes were chilling.

“Just now, I was almost exposed.” “Ye Qingxuan sighed softly. “You were really nervous. I thought you would just turn around and run away.”

Lestrade’s hands trembled. He dared not to look at the man, and lowered his head, not knowing what to say.

“I don’t want something like this to happen again.” The hoarse voice came to him as amnesty.

Lestrade nodded fiercely. “I assure you, sir, I promise.”

“Then let’s continue.” Ye Qingxuan took the lead, as if he was the man who was the most familiar with this place. “Time is precious. We better not waste it.”

–

They were in the morgue of the Avalon Police Station. The acrid smell of disinfectants emanated from the silent cellar. Everything seemed ghastly under the dim overhead light. Here, even the moss in corner was dry due to the disinfectants. If a normal person stayed here for too long, he would feel as if he was lying in a coffin. The loneliness and silence was eternal.

Lestrade whispered something to the man who was guarding the morgue. The old policeman, who seemed to be limping, left obediently, dragging his lame leg.

“Here we are.” Lestrade opened the freezer of corpses for Ye Qingxuan. Despite the chilly air conditioning, he pulled out the charred corpse.

Ye Qingxuan nodded. “Go out.”

Lestrade wanted to say something, but he could find no words under Ye Qingxuan’s gaze. All he could do was walk out. The door was closed now.

Ye Qingxuan took off his hunting hat, placed it next to the corpse, and then shakily put on a pair of gloves. He looked down at the charred corpse and smiled.

“Since you left that signal, it means that there must be other traces. Whether or not your ridiculous revenge can be done depends on this now.”

He reached out to lift the victim’s wrist. On the charred upper body, the arm was still intact. Held in Ye Qingxuan’s hand, it felt the same as holding a living person’s hand, only if one ignored the coldness and absence of a pulse. Unfortunately, the dead are dead and the difference in feel was obvious.

Ye Qingxuan did not put in much effort to dissect the body. Instead, he just looked at the dead limbs. They were pale and very dead, of course, but were too withered. They were practically a bag of bones. Had the Professor evaporated all of this guy’s blood? That was too cruel.

Ye Qingxuan was even more sure of his hypothesis. He took out a ballpoint pen from his pocket, unscrewed the cap and took out the core.

“Sorry,” he apologized to the body, and then pierced the hollow pen straight into the heart of the corpse. There was a sound like cutting leather.

He pulled out the pen. Looking at the practically charred heart, he smiled in satisfaction. “Next is the last step.” He reached toward the neck, feeling along the charred skin. After a long while, he took a deep breath. “As expected, it’s a small world.”

He took off his gloves and tossed them onto the corpse in disinterest, muttering, “Mr. Professor, counting you, I’ve dealt with most of Avalon legends now, but I never thought that the self-proclaimed ‘Professor’ was once like a demon…”

He did not know where the Professor was hiding, but he already knew how the Professor had punished the traitor, what the bloody word on the wall meant, and…The Professor’s big secret!

Just as he was about to turn and leave, he suddenly heard a cracking sound from the corpse. He looked back in shock, and saw that a part of the charred body—the part that he had touched—had cracked and caved in…

–

Outside the morgue, Lestrade waited patiently with his head down. At times, he would look up at the steel door, his expression changing. Other times, he would look back down sadly to continue waiting.

This was the Avalon Police Station, the headquarters for all Avalon policemen. All he needed to do was send out a small signal and thousands of armed men would surround this place. Even a dark musician, even Holmes, would not be able to escape! And if he moved quickly and shot Holmes, there would be no evidence! Only brand new glory would be left behind! Then he would not only have small and random cases on his resume. The dark musician that had been terrorizing the city would become a beautiful point in his profile. But just as he was hesitating, the door opened. Holmes walked out.

Lestrade quickly adjusted his expression and caught up to the man, giving a flattering smile. “Sir, did you discover anything?”

“Just a small secret,” Ye Qingxuan said lightly. “In a while, your resume will have a new case. Congratulations.”

Lestrade was overjoyed to receive Ye Qingxuan’s guarantee. “Thank you sir!”

“No problem. You deserve it.” Walking ahead, Ye Qingxuan turned and suddenly asked, “Mr. Lestrade, do you know where a man’s biggest suffering comes from?”

“Huh?” Lestrade’s heart skipped subconsciously. Slightly panicking, he forced out a smile and shook his head stiffly.

Holmes laughed hoarsely as if he had seen Lestrade’s deepest thoughts. He reached out, patting Lestrade’s shoulder. “It comes from thinking that you’re clever when you’re not!”

In an instant, it felt as if Lestrade had fallen into icy water. He trembled but could not speak.

After berating Lestrade, Ye Qingxuan changed the subject. “Did anyone else come?”

“No.” Lestrade shook his head reflexively. Perceiving the angry flash in Holmes’s eyes, he quickly explained, “Everyone who enters the morgue must register. I asked the guard, and no one came before us!”

Ye Qingxuan thought for a moment before saying lightly, “There are many ways to enter without being discovered by that old man. If you’re a musician, it’s easy to deceive his eyes.”

“There are six musicians here. Other than the head’s office and highly classified files, they can go anywhere they want. There’s no need to deceive the guard.”

“What if they come from outside?” Ye Qingxuan chuckled. “Like the man we just ran into coincidentally, Mr. Claude.” He already knew who had just been here, as well as why the Professor turned the corpse into that state!

–

Just then, when the body’s charred ruins broke apart in a strange way, turning to powder, Ye Qingxuan instinctively knew something was off. After examination, he discovered that it was just as he had expected. There were signs of aether erosion.

A large amount of aether had been forced into the body after the man had died. Although the body was still intact, the aether had weakened it to the point that it crumbled to dust as soon as Ye Qingxuan touched it.

If one used Bolero to analyze it carefully, one could even deduce that it had happened half an hour ago, based on the spread of the aether. That was to say that, half an hour ago, someone came here and used music on the body.

Coincidentally, a Royal Musician, who had nothing to do with the Avalon Police Department, came here to meet ‘friends and relatives’ half an hour ago.

Ye Qingxuan would rather throw his brain onto the ground than believe it was a coincidence.

So a musician with the Starry Eyes, a Revelations musician who was skilled at deciphering the marks of all organisms, had suddenly come to the morgue, played music to a corpse burned by the Professor and then hurried away…

What did he do? He had evidently extracted the Professor’s breath from the corpse to track the Professor! But was that so?

The corners of Ye Qingxuan’s lips curled into a mocking smile.

The Professor had completely toyed with the traitor. Would he really deliberately leave traces so that others could find him? Other than the apparent reason for burning the man, another reason was probably to leave a clue, right? He had left a clue so that the parliament would continue to hunt him down. Then he could prepare an ambush, quietly waiting for the killer hired by the parliament to arrive…After being betrayed by all, the Professor’s counterattack had begun!

“Well then, let me join the fun too,” Ye Qingxuan whispered softly, and smiled subconsciously. Avalon was getting more and more interesting.

Late at night, clouds covered the sky and faint thunder rumbled. After the stars and moons had vanished, the only light in the entire city came from the dim streetlamps. The morning drizzle had intensified rather than disappearing. Layers of thick clouds hung over the city. Rain poured into every corner.

Under a streetlamp in downtown was a figure seated on a bench. Clad in a raincoat, he was as still as stone. Droplets of rain rolled down his body into the puddle with soft pitter-patters.

He seemed to melt into the shadows. As the sheets of rain fell, he became more and more unnoticeable. Only the puffs of white air from under his hood showed that he was still breathing.

After who knows how long, Bai Xi arrived with an umbrella. She tossed a bulging parcel onto his lap. “Here’s what you wanted. I searched through a bunch of shops before I could find it all.”

Ye Qingxuan reached into the leather parcel and scooped out a handful. Feeling the crude sand-like objects, he nodded in satisfaction. Then he rinsed his hands in the rain. Drops of silver light fell from his fingertips, joining the water flowing into the sewer.

“How much longer are you going to wait for?” Bai Xi felt annoyed.

“Until midnight. It’ll be exactly twelve hours,” Ye Qingxuan said lightly. “The Professor’s breath extracted from the corpse can only be kept for that long. It will be ineffective after that, and the Professor will disappear back into the darkness. The parliament won’t be able to find him ever again. If the parliament can bear it, we’ll wait a little longer too.”

“There’s still more than one hour.”

“It’s just an hour,” Ye Qingxuan replied. Then his shoulder trembled under the raincoat. “He’s here.”

He heard the distant sound of a carriage. In the deep night, an unmarked carriage rushed out from a mansion, galloping down the street.

“Don’t look up. Stare at your feet. Revelations musicians are really sensitive. Don’t even think about them.” Ye Qingxuan looked down at the puddle beneath him. In the water, he could vaguely see the reflection of a black carriage getting closer. The wheels rolled rolled quickly through the puddles, creating splashes as it galloped away.

The moment it swept past him, a blurry thread soundlessly shot through the heavy rain and stuck onto the carriage. The faint melody and thin rippling of aether were covered by the rainwater and condensation. No one could sense it.

Watching as the carriage went off into the distance, Ye Qingxuan rose and reached out to Bai Xi. “Let’s go.”

–

On the carriage, Claude suddenly felt unsettled for some reason. He sat elegantly in his carriage. The soundproof walls blocked out the sounds of the rain. He lowered his head, closed his eyes, and fell into deep thought.

A starry sky appeared in his mind. The stars shifted as if reflecting fate. He felt unsettled as he communicated with the aether, but he could not lay a finger on why.

He subconsciously caressed the bone flute in his hands. It was heavy like gold and iron, looked like bone, but felt sturdy like steel. The coldness spread through his hands and the slight ripple in his heart calmed. All was still. He had entered a state of serenity. He was extremely peaceful, but he could burst out with all his strength at any time. His slightly furrowed brows relaxed.

“How enviable. This is the Silver Virgo from the twelve zodiacs. It is a famous weapon created from the blueprint left behind by legendary divine artisan. It’s the most suitable for musicians of the School of Revelations. With the Silver Virgo in your hand, you’ll be at the most perfect state for battle at any time. It can remove any disturbances on your mind. There is neither fear nor panic…With it, your ability will increase at least tenfold, would it not, Mr. Claude?”

At the light voice, Claude furrowed his brows slightly and opened his eyes. Before him was the hovering apparition of the robin.

“Revelations musicians are naturally unsuitable for battle. As per our agreement, I’ve helped you trace the Professor. But why do I have to join the mission?” Claude huffed angrily. “Can you not find anyone for the dirty work?”

“This is about the Professor. We must be careful. He has always been mysterious and if we slip up in the slightest, he will escape again. Then it will be even harder to find him,” the robin replied smoothly. “You are the best choice. The Professor is skilled in the Schools of Illusions and Mind, but your Starry Eyes can see through all illusions and influences. He is nothing to fear.”

“But we’ve agreed that I am only responsible for aid and observation. I will not approach the site at all. If it fails, I’m leaving. Don’t think that I’ll continue slaving for you.”

“Of course. Musicians are very precious and cannot be compared to assassins. You are even a Royal Musician with a great future.” The robin gazed at the flute and said, “But the Silver Virgo is an invaluably precious instrument. The blueprint and material are all quite expensive. We’ve put in much and you must prove that it was worth the cost.”

“I will.” Claude nodded and closed his eyes again. He needed to ensure the most perfect conditions before it all began.

The robin nodded as well and the apparition dissipated.

—

Five minutes later, the carriage stopped. The door opened and a thin figure arrived with an umbrella. It was an old woman clad in a black robe that covered her body, but her beautiful curves still caught one’s eye.

“Mr. Claude? We’ve been expecting you.” She led Claude into an empty room. The only light source was the flame inside an oil bucket.

A sharp and burly figure beside the fire caught Claude’s eye. He gazed at the scriptures tattooed on the old man’s face and the ring on his finger. There was a skull on the band and it seemed crude and worn.

“The Chainsaw Fraternity?” he murmured.

The old man looked up at him, nodded, and pointed at his neck. There was a ring of rust around his neck. It seemed as if something had been implanted into his body, restricting him from speaking.

Claude thought of something and his eyes flashed. He looked away from the throat and subconsciously moved away.

He looked at the pale-faced woman beside him. “There’s only two of you?”

“And I.” A hoarse voice sounded from the corner, causing Claude to stiffen. As an experienced Revelations musician, there were not many who could pass under his radar. He had even broken past the Barrier of Knowledge and resonated with the world, receiving the power that could see through anything—the Starry Eyes! And yet he did not sense that there was another person in this cramped room.

The man sitting cross-legged in the shadowy corner cracked a smile. There was no warmth in the menacing smile. Like a snake, his mouth opened from ear to ear, and two thin tongues peeked out. “You smell good,” the man murmured to himself.

The beastly eyes stared at Claude, forcing him to gasp subconsciously. A dark musician! Only a dark musician would betray the musician’s vow and sell himself to the devil for power and forbidden knowledge, turning his body into a demon.

“You are…Blue Teeth?” Recognizing the man, cold sweat beaded on the back of Claude’s neck.

Blue Teeth, Yellow Foot, and Red Eye were three dark musician brothers who had entered the wanted list ten years ago. They were known for the missing person’s case of De’a City.

Half a year after they left the city, the tax official found countless bones in the basement. Apparently, forensics was able to put together more than seventy skeletons, but the amount people that had gone missing was many times that number. The three brothers had used civilians for their mutation experiments. After finishing the last one, they were accepted by Satan.

Claude had never expected Blue Teeth to have the guts to enter Avalon. He sucked in a cold breath. “The Musician Union watches over the entire city at all times. Are you not afraid of being captured?”

“No.” Blue Teeth shook his head. “Isn’t there another shameless fellow around nowadays, stealing everyone’s attention? Since the robin said that you’re safe, I’ll need you to cover for me later.”

Claude’s hand trembled and he managed to look away.

Under the Starry Eyes, the man was entangled in strings of blood and hate. If not for something that had blocked the enchantment’s sensors, he would have set off the alarm as soon as he neared Avalon’s borders.

Claude finally knew why the robin had forced him to be here…it was so he could cover up for this d*mned dark musician! Otherwise, the entire military would be alerted!

“It’s getting late. We must finish before midnight; otherwise it will be difficult to escape.” The pale woman looked at Claude.

Claude forced himself to ignore the eyeball in Blue Teeth’s mouth and grasped the Silver Virgo, calming his mind. Following the whistling melody of the flute, the aether changed, connecting the souls of those present.

He played a soundless melody and his body trembled. His pallor changed from dark to red, finally turning ghastly white as if he had lost blood, but his eyes brightened, reflecting the brilliant stars in the sky. Instantaneous casting of his sound of heart!

His sound of heart, Starry Eyes, had been awoken. Physical boundaries were nothing but thin paper before those eyes. Only walls could blur his vision. All color disappeared, casting him into a world of black and white. What replaced the color was the radiance of the aether.

Using the connections between their souls, he shared this strange vision with the other three. Blue Teeth whistled, yearning flashing through his eyes. The Eyes of Aether of the School of Revelations was so convenient. Would it still work if he took those eyes?

“The Professor is hiding in the Rodrigo Church in this area.” Claude waved his hands and the aether formed a reflection of the streets. The image zoomed in, focusing on the church. As the silver light changed, one could faintly see the layers of enchantment alarms. Even if he was in his hiding place, the Professor still did not let down his guard.

“I can help you block out Avalon’s enchantment, but there is only half an hour. At midnight, the enchantment will begin scanning the streets again. If you are caught at that time, I will not be able to help.” Claude stated.

“With the help of the Eyes of Aether, most alarms won’t be of any threat” he said to Blue Teeth. You can enter easily. I can decipher the Professor’s illusions and mind tricks too. You just have to do the physical work.”

The pale woman nodded and walked into the rain with the old man, disappearing into the darkness.

Blue Teeth’s figure writhed and disappeared in a gust of vile wind.

Claude sat in the empty room, focusing on blocking the enchantment’s scans. Everything was going as planned but for some reason, he grew more and more unsettled.

—

A figure stood quietly on a roof in the torrential rain, gazing at the people approaching the church.

Occasional lightning snaked through the clouds, bringing with it blinding white light. The flash of light illuminated his dark eyes.

The Vengeful Spirit—Sherlock Holmes.

The rain from the sky fell endlessly as the sound covered everything. In the midst of the storm, the white-faced woman and old man walked down the street as the rain splashed on their black clothes.

The woman lowered her head as she walked and tore off the ribbon wrapped around her waist. The large black robe slipped off, and as it fell, her naked body was exposed to the storm. Rain washed over her pale skin. Raindrops rolled down her slender neck and onto her chest, following a faint scar down her slender legs to the puddles on the ground.The wind picked up the black robe, and it tossed and turned before finally flying up to the sky.

The bare woman drew two slender steel objects from the lining of the flying black robe. One was short, the other long. The set of double swords seemed to come to life in her hands. They easily cut through the rain, setting off a wave of water vapor.

The blades had a strange design. There were many upturned pieces like the scales of a cold-blooded creature. As her blood flowed into the blade, the scales vibrated slightly. The spitting of snakes cut through the wind—Alchemy double swords: Snake Scales

This was a weapon of alchemy, forged by the bones of a famous assassin from a century ago. It contained the assassin’s soul and murderous intent. The ashes of the deceased gave life to the blades, making them extremely sharp and the possessor of incredible power.

In the pouring rain, the white-faced woman’s figure suddenly dimmed and disappeared. At first, one could still see a faint outline, but as the two swords danced, even the vague shadow disappeared. Then there was no trace of the white-faced woman in the heavy rain anymore.

“Pay attention to the Eyes of Aether searching, be careful when decoding the alarms, and do not disturb the Professor,” Claude warned through the soul line.

In the storm, the old man halted. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and illuminated the building before him. Like the entire street, the church in the Rodrigo district was dark. All was asleep.

The white-faced woman walked quietly and flipped over the fence without disturbing the alarm above.

The old man stopped in front of the door. Under the Eyes of Aether, the lock on the door was wrapped in a complicated seal. Both using a key and opening it regularly would raise the alarm.

The two began to act after exchanging a few sentences telepathically. Soon, the heavy door trembled and fell forward entirely. The sword Snake Scales had cut the door off its hinges and separated it from the building.

The old man walked forward and grasped the heavy door. A strange power was brewing in his burly body. Then he gently and slowly pulled the whole door out as if it was light as straw and tossed it onto the grass. The two entered.

Behind the door, the night watchman was shocked when he saw the door collapse without a sound. Eyes widening, he opened his mouth to shout something, only to be met with a sharp blade slitting his throat, blood spewing out. The blood gathered in the rain and seeped into the grass.

The man crossed over the body and walked straight towards the church behind the courtyard. Along the way, the hidden woman unlocked the alarms and traps one by one under Claude’s guidance.

Sometimes, the grass flipped over after some small crackles. Other times, the stone beast on the wall split into two.

“D*mmit! What school does the Professor even belong to?” Even Claude, a Revelations musician who was an expert at insight, was forced to put his all into dealing with the Professor’s traps. This interlocking trap needed a long time to figure out, even for him. Without extreme caution, they would be caught easily.

Fortunately, the white-faced woman’s Snake Scales double swords were the best dismantling tool. These two alchemy weapons were designed to decode and kill.

In silence, the two quietly approached the door, their sounds covered by the rain. With the Eyes of Aether, they were able to see dozens of figures inside the church’s hall, guarding it from all directions.

Gathering in the church at this time and guarding all entrances…They obviously were not religious believers who came to pray before bed.

“They are all Professor’s men. Be careful of them,” Claude said.

He paused and instantly became shocked. “Wait, don’t do it yet!” He squinted, his Starry Eyes penetrated the wall and focused on a red light that represented danger. As he continued to probe, more and more red lights lit up from inside the hall. Practically the entire hall was covered in the light!

“Be careful… there’s a trap.”

Claude swallowed heavily. Cold sweat seeped out from his forehead. “This hall is full of traps, and the Professor used his men as bait. There are no musicians, but there are two pieces of alchemy equipment. Wait for me to cast the silent enchantment and then…”

“Why so complicated?” Blue Teeth muttered impatiently. The dark musician walked out of the shadows and pressed his hands onto the heavy gates of the church hall. Two tongues poked out from his mouth and he began singing a very different melody.

The hoarse tune loomed in the rain, calling up a puff of gray air. The puff spread from his hands and fell upon the heavy iron gates. The intricate patterns, the iron-cast Virgin Mary and the golden grains on the gates blurred. As if a millennium of weather had occurred in one moment, the iron gates crumbled to dust and were blown into the hall by the humid wind.

Blue Teeth strode into the hall and looked around at the stunned thugs. His mouth cracked open and the melody changed. Suddenly, black smoke spewed out.

The black smoke quickly spread as soon as it had left his mouth, engulfing the hall in a flash. Wherever the black smoke passed, everything was cast into absolute darkness. Even the sound of the alarm had disappeared. The hall was completely isolated from the outside world.

Claude’s expression changed, fear in his eyes. This was the nightmare fog that dark musicians commonly used. Using Satan’s power to transform the aether, it could devour all light and sound to suppress the enemy’s actions.

The white-faced woman and old man stepped into the fog. The black smoke rolled turbulently without stop, but there was no sound. Everything inside was unclear.

Soon, the black smoke dissipated, revealing the blood and mutilated limbs scattered on the ground. The burly old man stood in the blood. His palms reached out from his heavy rain cloak, grasping the head of a survivor.

The lucky survivor stared at him in great horror. He tried to scream but could make no sound. Then the old man clasped his fingers and the skull exploded! Boom!

“What a waste,” Blue Teeth said as he glanced at the old man. “Does the Chainsaw Fraternity not know to treasure these materials?”

The old man remained silent and just glanced at him.

“Hurry up! Let’s get out of here. The trap could be triggered at any time!” Claude urged, gazing in the Professor’s direction. “Kill him while he’s still unprepared. He has begun his treatment, and a great deal of aether is gathering in the prayer room!” His complexion suddenly changed before he finished his words. “Be careful!”

A shrill scream burst out. The alarm had been triggered! Under the Starry Eyes, the entire hall quivered. The glowing red light began moving, trembling, and then it exploded!

A piercing ray of aether light burst through the entire hall—dozens of traps were being triggered at the same time! In an instant, an invisible force attacked the mind.

The little doll at Claude’s waist shattered. Blood drained from his face and oozed out from his nostrils, dripping onto the ground. He had taken all the psychological pain for the others!

“F*ck, I told you to be careful!” Claude looked at his precious secret treasure and exploded in rage. “Which b*stard triggered the trap?”

–

Bai Xi stood on the rooftop outside the church. As the shrill alarm rang, she lowered the crossbow in her hand and whistled proudly.

“Sneaking in is too boring, so let me help you make it more interesting,” Ye Qingxuan thought.

Seeing the chaotic aether in the church, he gloated. How could he enjoy being the mastermind if he did not take the initiative to make a mess? He must admit that it felt really d*mn good.

–

In the hall, a piercing melody suddenly sounded in the air. The fiery and manic music echoed between the pillars, creating tidal waves in the still aether. Notes flashed on the walls, stone carvings, and columns. It was the grand movement that described the image of Hell!

A gust of crazed wind blew violently for no reason. The burning air was like a blade, sweeping through the wind. Seemingly out of nowhere, a strong wind blew ferociously like a blade with a burning breath. It was just an instant sweep, and the hair curled up.

“Foehn wind!” Claude cried. He stared blankly at the trap, a chill running down his spine. “This is…Fire Cellar!”

The next moment, a crack appeared in in the air. A drop of red light fell down like water. What followed was an incredible red tide. It was molten iron and lava. The red tide swept through like a tsunami, easily turning all ornaments in the hall to ash.

Blurry figures rose in the flames. Lava oozed from their bodies. As the flames rolled, the fire demons slowly gathered from all directions.

“We’ve been discovered!” Claude shouted. “Don’t hold back and attack! Break through or you’ll die!”

As the firelight wavered, Blue Teeth’s expression changed, pain flashing past his eyes. Facing the incoming flames, he opened his mouth wide. Behind his sharp teeth, his two tongues began chanting crazily.

The most strident and eccentric melody came from his mouth. The strange tune directed the aether, suddenly creating a suction force. The rolling flames were pulled by that horrible suction, flooding into his mouth. The dark mouth devoured the flames wildly as if it was bottomless.

Even standing beside him, the heat practically ignited the old man’s hair. The heavy rain cloak was burned to ashes instantly.

In the formless flames, the giant demons made of molten lava and iron burst out in shrill roars and darted toward Blue Teeth. They were demons born from the flames. The aether had endowed them with this strange life. The minstrels of Canaan named them “ifrits.” Only heroes and demons could control and overcome their power!

Amidst the thundering, the old man stepped forward. The scriptures on his face shone brightly. His heavy rain coat was ripped from the inside.

A sabre that shone like black obsidian was raised. As he waved his arms, the blade, which had no sharp edge, sliced the air, sweeping toward the front.

The ifrits in front were instantly chopped in half. The formless spirit was about to group together again, but a terrible quake ripped them apart completely.

After a scream, the ifrits were defeated. They melted into a hot metal liquid and dripped onto the ground, sizzling.

“The Sighing Sword that can cut through aether?” Claude muttered. “As expected of the Chainsaw Fraternity.”

If the white-faced woman with the double swords had come as a quiet assassin, then the old man with scriptures tattooed on his face was there to demonstrate hard and true attacks!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Surrounded by dozens of fiery ifrits, the Sighing Sword slashed, creating a chilling wind.

The old man seemed to be over seventy-years-old, but the wild power within him was demonic. The steel mechanics implanted in him provided limitless strength. As the aether fire burned, the old man’s body expanded. His muscles swelled and his skin burned red as if his blood was boiling from the strength.

With a single strike, the Sighing Sword cut down two ifrits. The Chainsaw monk stepped into the flames, wielding his black sword. Where the wind from the sword blew, the ifrits began trembling and dimming.

The robin had prepared well in order to kill the Professor. The Sighing Sword was the natural predator of these formless spirits! It was a secret weapon of the Chainsaw Fraternity and tied with the Chainsaw of Punishment in terms of power.

The air around the sword wavered. If one looked carefully, one would see that the crude sword was constantly vibrating. The thousands of vibrations per second could tear apart the aether’s structure and turn these immortal spirits to dust! Within seconds, the dozens of ifrits were extinguished.

The flames were swallowed by Blue Teeth. His upper body was burnt to a crisp, but the vitality that he had stolen from his experiments helped him recover quickly. Under his charred clothing, hot air poured out from his pores, as if the were a giant stove.

“Stop fighting!” Blue Teeth roared. “Claude, where’s the Professor?”

“Behind the middle hall. He’s hiding in the prayer room forty meters away from you!” Before he could finish, the Chainsaw monk raised his sword and rushed toward the end of the large hall. As he ran, the hall shook with a thunderous roar, as if a giant steel puppet was stomping on the ground. Under the Sighing Sword, a row of saints’ statues shattered. He raised his fist and slammed it down. Boom!

A gaping hole appeared in the steel wall. Under the Chainsaw monk’s fist, the wall cracked as if it was made of paper. Something behind the wall rushed forward but was destroyed by the Sighing Sword.

The white-faced woman and Blue Teeth followed without waiting for a command. Since the sneak attack had failed, they decided to charge openly. They definitely had the upper hand!

The closer they got, the brighter the light in the Eyes of Aether. They could clearly feel the immensity of aether and the gentle singing in the air. The voice seemed to come from heaven, as if countless angels bathed in the sacred hymn.

“The rebirth ceremony?!” Hearing the melody, Claude’s expression changed. “The Professor is undergoing the rebirth ceremony. Without a doubt, he’s gravely wounded!”

The rebirth ceremony was an extremely high level healing ceremony from the School of Choir. As long as the head was still attached, even the most maimed body could be regenerated. Of course, there was a price to pay. The materials alone were enough to bankrupt a man. It seemed that the robin’s first attack had really hurt the Professor!

As the last wall shattered, the sacred and pure light flowed from the prayer room like water. Merely being within the light was enough for their small cuts and wounds to start recovering.

In the prayer room, countless runes were carved into the ground, set with numerous alchemy materials. Together, they created the angelic chant.

Pure white light fell from the sky, shining on the Professor. He knelt in the center of the room, purging his rotting blood and dead organs. He was in the most important step of the ceremony, but sensing their presence, the Professor looked up, fury appearing on his face. As he moved, a formless barrier appeared out of thin air, blocking the room from the outside world!

Under the holy light, his body continued to recover. The weak ripples of aether transformed into crashing waves, entering the field of the Resonance level. And there were still signs of further transformation! What level was this guy…before he had been hurt?! Resonance? Disturbance…or was it Distortion, the level second only to Scepter?!

“He can’t fight back right now. Hurry!” Claude’s face was pale as a sheet. “Stop the ceremony first! If he recovers fully, we’ll…” Before he could finish, the Snake Scales double swords slashed through the air, piercing the flowing mercury and cracking the runes. Ding!

Burning power radiated from the ceremonial cracks, scalding half of the woman’s face, but she did not retreat. Her muscles writhed like snakes, and her swords crossed, cutting through the bright light. The entire ceremony paused as the white light flickered unsteadily.

Boom! A burly figure crashed onto the barrier. He spun the Sighing Sword and smashed the enchantment with the hilt. The inlaid diamond at the end of the hilt was pulverized, but the terrifying vibrations sealed by it traveled into the barrier.

Boom! With a second crash, the barrier shattered.

“No!” At the center, the Professor’s head flew up, his eyes bloodshot. He moved his hands toward the front and a broken melody sounded. It stirred the frenzied aether. Hot flames appeared out of thin air, going from red to blue and blue to white. The extreme heat from the heart of the furnace gathered in his hands and swept toward the front.

The Chainsaw monk roared. Hoisting his sword up, he then brought it down! The obsidian sword trembled and shone with blinding light. The light cut through the flames, splitting the wave of fire into two.

Behind him, a figure sprang up and lept toward the Professor! In midair, six holes appeared in each of Blue Teeth’s arms. The twelve holes were like the openings of a flute. Furious winds swept into the holes and resonated inside the empty bones, whistling. He had turned his arms into alchemy equipment with Satan’s technology and various experiments. This was Blue Teeth’s instrument—Skeletal Flute!

Like the cry of a beast, the frantic melody sang in the air, performing the symphony of predestination by the musician, Saint-Saens, from centuries ago—Danse Macabre.

As the melody played, his body changed. Sharp bones protruded from his spine and scales replaced his skin. His features twisted as his entire body deformed. As if a young dragon had been forced inside his body, he cracked open from the expanding power. This was the fallen chant polluted by Satan—Dragonbone!

As he landed, the bones of his fingers expanded, and sharp blades pierced through his skin!

The Professor stumbled back, but the white-faced woman suddenly appeared behind him. She was still naked and as ugly as an evil spirit, but her swords pierced through the Professor’s shield, blocking his escape.

In the next moment, the blades of Dragonbone fell from the sky. In the beastly dance, the Professor’s limbs snapped in half. Wounds crisscrossed down his chest, and his organs were completely cut open!

Fresh blood spurted on Blue Teeth’s face, intoxicating him with the metallic scent.

The burnt Chainsaw monk strode forward and slashed down with his Sighing Sword. The blade split the Professor cleanly in half from his head down. Blood flew everywhere.

The Professor’s death seemed especially wretched under the moon.

—

For a moment, no one spoke.

“Is this real?” Blue Teeth asked quietly.

“Yes.” Claude nodded slowly after analyzing the breath in the air. He stared at the puddle of blood flowing under the moonlight, leaving behind a ghastly red.

The proud Professor had just died in…Wait, moonlight?

Claude froze. It was a night of pouring rain and dark clouds. How could there be moonlight?

Using the thread connecting their souls, Claude saw the site. Mysterious moonlight shone on the corpse and the fresh blood…It felt as if he was struck by lightning.

“Illusion! Be careful! It’s an illusion!” Claude howled. “We were tricked!” He opened his Starry Eyes wide, vigorously searching for any sign or flaw, but he could not find anything. They had fallen into the illusion long ago.

He quickly looked at the broken resonance ring on the ground and his vision blurred. The markings of the Rebirth Ceremony changed suddenly. The ground, walls, and ceiling of the prayer room were covered in music scores, and had turned the entire place into a hallucination.

When they had been attracted by the rebirth ceremony, no one suspected what the sacred white light represented. It was not the healing light at all, but the medium to lull them into the illusion!

Boom! His vision went black as the starry sky suddenly cracked apart.

Claude’s face turned ghastly pale and blood seeped from his nose and mouth. His organs spasmed in immense pain as if he had experienced horrific trauma. His Starry Eyes shattered!

“My Starry Eyes! My heartbeat” Claude wailed, staggering back. His drowsy eyes held extreme fear. Without even physically fighting, his sound of heart had been destroyed by the Professor with an illusion!

Having lost the sound of heart and being gravely wounded, he suddenly fell from the Resonance level, and returned to the category of a third-order musician. If he did not quickly find a Choir musician who could heal him immediately, not only would he never be able to return to the Resonance level, but he his organs would be at risk of necrosis! He suddenly turned pale and spit up a mouthful of blood. His body had suffered a heavy blow.

In the sky far away, Ye Qingxuan sensed his situation and gloated. “Cousin, get ready! Let’s give him a surprise arrow.” His posture was too perfect not to shoot at.

–

At the scene, the entire picture changed suddenly. The dead professor had disappeared and was replaced by the Chainsaw monk who had been cut apart by Blue Teeth. The Chainsaw monk’s skull had been torn by Blue Teeth’s dragon blade, while his Sighing Sword was buried inside the white-faced woman’s chest.

The double swords in the woman’s hand had disappeared. Blue Teeth sluggishly lowered his head and saw two blades protruding from his chest. Behind him, a shadow with a pair of swords gave a strange smile.

“Thanks for the warm greetings from the parliament and your uninvited guests.” The Professor slowly pulled out the double swords and began to weave them skillfully in his hand before assuming the standard pose for royal swordsmanship.

Under the reflection of moonlight, his lips curled into a mocking smile. “–I have been waiting for a long time!”

Blue Teeth’s face suddenly became ferocious. The swords in his body wriggled and clenched tightly! For dark musicians, mere destruction of the physical body was nothing. The Rain Artist from before was able to make a comeback even when his instrument had backfired and his entire body exploded!

Without saying a word, the bone flute on Blue Teeth’s arm began whistling again. His body transformed into something demonic, and the dragon blade lit up with the light of runes.

He appeared at the Professor’s back like lightning and chopped his head off with the dragon blade, but the professor’s figure shook and disappeared. His complexion changed as he looked up reflexively.

Poof! Snake Scales pierced through his jaw and out under his cheekbone, leaving a bloody hole. He swept away the Professor instinctively and retreated, shouting, “Claude! Help me get out of the illusion!”

There was no response on the other end of the soul connection.

“Claude!” His complexion changed. “Claude, where are you?!”

Claude did not reply. No one knew when the soul connection had broken. Then he heard a scream.

–

Half a second ago, Claude was stunned. For some reason, a strong sense of uneasiness flashed through his heart. He subconsciously raised his hand, wanting to find the source.

But then a suppressed roar sounded over the rain. The walls began shaking, and a cold arrow pierced through the rain, darting toward his chest like a viper.

Boom! There was a crisp snap. A faint shield appeared on his arm, deflecting the arrow, but the huge impact almost made him lose feeling in his arm. A cold sweat seeped from his back as the feeling of ferocious hostility made him numb.

“Who is it?” In the dark, Claude clutched his right arm in horror and curled up in the corner. “Who’s out there?!”

No one responded. The walls shook again. Feeling another crisis looming, he gave up on keeping his dignity and rolled in the dust. An arrow scraped his calf and shot into the wall, leaving behind a hole the size of a pinky finger. It was terrifying!

On a roof outside the empty house, Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes in the rain, receiving information from the perception thread. With the rain, water vapor was everywhere, making it perfect for Bolero!

Beside him, Bai Xi was kneeling on the ground. The heavy crossbow on her shoulder, which had been modified greatly, was aimed at the empty house. Rain fell on it. The splashes were chilling.

“A bit to the left, slightly lower,” Ye Qingxuan ordered, “and shoot!”

Bai Xi’s body shook, rain flying off. The arrow silently shot out and drilled out a hole in the sheet of rain. The silver crossbow arrow was like lightning. It flew across the long distance in the blink of an eye and entered the wall silently.

Only Ye Qingxuan felt the enemy’s pathetic state. “These crossbows are too powerful nowadays! The precision is crazy!”

“Who knows, maybe mine just happens to be a good one!” Bai Xi huffed and elbowed him a bit. “Stop wasting time. I just got into the swing of things. Where did he go now?”

“Two centimeters to the left, keep the height, he’s in the corner…”

–

In the dilapidated empty house, Claude’s premonition flashed constantly. He rolled from the corner without thinking. An arrow brushed past his ear immediately after and buried into the wall, twanging. The sharp, icy sound stung his eardrums as goosebumps rose all over his skin.

His sound of heart had been destroyed and he was greatly wounded, but he still had the strong intuition of Revelations musicians. He was keenly aware of the danger and crisis.

It was said that the “voyeurs” of the School of Revelations could even sense when others said their names and the context after reaching the scepter level. Their fighting ability might not have been the best, but perception and insight were the key skills of the School of Revelation. But he could not remain trapped here!

Claude’s features twisted. He could not believe that as a Revelations musician, he was trapped in a corner and could not even find the enemy! If he remained here, he was waiting for death.

Were these d*mn killers arranged by the Professor? Hiding beyond his range of perception, they wanted to make him die in humiliation, like a mouse in a ditch..

“In your dreams!”

His eyes were bloodshot. He took a deep breath, but a sharp pain stabbed his organs. In his eyes, the broken stars gathered again. Like a candle in the wind, he temporarily restored the power of the Starry Eyes, but at the cost of serious injury!

In the soon-to-be extinguished starlight, he looked around and it suddenly dawned on him. “Is it because of this?!” A dim thread of water vapor was illuminated by the starlight. It crisscrossed in the empty house, forming a dense network.

He was caught in this spider web like an insect, unable to escape. His pupil followed the thread out. His eyes penetrated the wall, looked past the rain, and focused on two figures.

After seeing the aetheric fluctuations in them, his terrified eyes settled into disdain. “I may be injured, but you think two Rhythm musicians can kill me? Professor, you are dreaming!” His face overcast, he grasped the Silver Virgo—even if he was injured, he could still manipulate the aether!

This was the real difference between musicians of the Musician and Rhythm level—as long as there was a good instrument at hand, there was a concrete gap in their combat effectiveness!

At the Musician level, it was unnecessary to prepare or even perform live before using a music score. All they needed to do was seal the entire score inside the instrument beforehand and it could be called upon at any time. With the snap of a finger, a torrent could be triggered!

“If I had the brocade of heaven…” He chanted the spell and the Silver Virgo wailed. The sealed movement was awakened. Wind whistled through the flute, bringing a distant and cold sound. The sound gradually grew, like wind howling in the winter!

Silently, the water vapor perception threads froze and snapped. In an instant, Ye Qingxuan had lost his perception.

In the empty house, white frost spread from Claude’s feet, instantly blanketing the ground in white. As if a wind tunnel had been opened, sharp winds blew in palm-size snowflakes. They whistled around his body, emitting a cold chill. The sharp snowflakes cut through the walls easily and crushed another incoming arrow.

This was not pure energy change released by the School of Modifications—this was the Blizzard Suite from the School of Revelations! It had been created by a genius who simulated the heavens rather than hell. He put celestial phenomena into his mind, empowered them with the aether, and created something comparable to natural catastrophes.

Though he was destroyed by his own wild fantasies in his final attempt, he had started a new path in the School of Revelations. With the additions of others, it became a new school. They were Revelations musicians, but most would also use music scores from other schools in case of emergency.

This was the precious movement that Claude had earned from the royal family after entering the Resonance level. With this melody, the aether would form a blizzard zone like a giant shield. In this zone, external energy attacks would be diluted and frozen by the layers of blizzards. Enemies approaching brashly would become a pile of crushed ice. And its greatest power was…Flight!

Boom! The roof of the empty house was suddenly lifted up by a huge force. His body rose and he flew up into the sky!

The wind and snow rolled in reverse, emanating with icy coldness. The icicles cut into countless water droplets and Claude was instantly dozens of meters aboveground. If he was still at the Resonance level, he could have affected the weather of the entire street. Now, flying in the air, he was invincible.

“Cousin, he’s flying,” Bai Xi murmured. “Just as you said…”

Ye Qingxuan smiled and did not reply. He slowly lifted up his cane. Bolero’s perception threads extended from his body again and spread in all directions. A plaintive melody sounded faintly.

As Claude looked down on the two standing on the roof, hate flashed across his menacing features. He seemed to have sensed Ye Qingxuan’s defense, but his expression was still one of scorn.

He awoke the music score in his bone flute once again and began playing! In an instant, the lion began to roar like an angry copper elephant. It was a fulmination!

As if thousands upon thousands of horns were blown at once, the aether rushed together amid the avalanche-like melody. The light was dazzling.

When the horrible melody seemed to shatter eardrums and evaporate the rainwater in the sky…the storm ended under the melody’s deterrence. It was logical.

The Divine Horn: This was a hymn created by saints centuries ago during the era of mission art. The song praised the mighty sounds created by divine power as it acted upon Earth! “Before long, I will shake the oceans and lands of the heavens and earth once again. I will shake the universe!”

It was a majestic roar that exploded from nothing and controlled every organism, forcing them to sway with the melody. Everything in its path shook until it crumbled to powder!

In the next moment, music burst from the horn. A thin ripple shook through the air from Claude’s fingertip. The chaotic aether surged forward, instantly transforming the heavy sheets of rain into thick fog. The cone-shaped ripple advanced toward Ye Qingxuan without a sound.

The walls in the ripple’s path was reduced to powder, the water vapor evaporated, and even dust particles cracked apart. Even the air seemed to break with a sound like glass shattering. Everything in the path of the ripple was pulverized. The white fog billowed. Destruction was coming.

Claude cackled in the air. He focused on controlling the destructive ripple. He would surround the two d*mned ants, close in on them, and finally squash them! This way, the Professor’s plan would completely fail. He would be able to receive some consolation as well. He was ecstatic about his clever attack on the Professor, but for some reason, guilt arose in his heart.

He would survive, but his partners would most likely die in the Professor’s hands…even the strange Blue Teeth would have a hard time fighting back. He did not do anything during the time when they needed him the most! The guilt and humiliation surged, and expanded without control.

When he finally came back to his senses, he had already sunk into the guilt. Even his control over the Divine Horn had slacked.

A wailing melody sounded in the rain, as if the dead were roaring in his ears! The dark melody had already burrowed into his heart. It was like mercury, seeping into every pore. As his emotions swung from fear to excitement, the melody snuck into his heart and slowly began stirring chaos.

The darkness in his soul was awoken by the frantic yet hopeless melody. He sank into confusion and pain. If he was still a Revelations musician at the Resonance level and could sense the changes in aether, he would have noticed this poisonous snake in his mind, but his sound of heart had shattered, and there were gaping holes all over his defense. He did not know how many holes he had left as his swung between emotions.

D*mn it! D*mn it! In the air, Claude struggled. The remaining starlight in his eyes was extinguished without a sound. His expression changed continuously. Sometimes it was innocent, sometimes menacing, sometimes crazed. He had sunk deeply into the darkness of his soul, as if he would drown in the dark river at any time. Pain, loneliness, and…despair!

Just as he was about to break down, coldness spread from the Silver Virgo. He shook, keeping his mind clear with difficulty.

What was happening? He looked around in shock, and discovered that the power of Divine Horn had disappeared.

It was storming again. The rain drove away the thick fog, revealing a dark figure. Sensing Claude’s eyes, the figure smiled mockingly.

In an instant, the wailing melody rose amid the sound of the rain. The murmurs in his ears transformed into howls. The rain began to pour wildly as if the skies had gone crazy!

Claude could barely keep his balance in the air. The area with the blizzard began quaking. A formless force was trying to take his body. The dark melody had seeped into him, shaking his tenacity, forcing him down!

Suddenly, the ecstatic soul fell into the abyss. He finally realized that it was a dark musician! Another dark musician! The person who had attacked him was just a distraction. There was a dark musician hidden between two Rhythm musicians…A dark musician who acted without care for Avalon’s enchantment!

But how? How could the enchantment not react to this wild melody? What had this guy received from Satan that hid him from the enchantment?!

His eyes were frantic and hopeless. He could not figure it out at all! But he could not waste more time. He must leave now…

Without thinking, he began riding the blizzard to escape from this d*mned place, but he was in was Avalon. If he ran, the dark musician would definitely chase after him…No dark musician dared to fly in the air of the capitol. No matter how the Dark Musician blocked the enchantment, if he rose up in the air, he would set off the highest class of alarms, then the Round Table Knights would arrive and destroy him! Yes, that was the only way…

Claude sped up, his body flying with the wild wind. He did not see that the cold figure shook and almost collapsed behind him.

Under the pouring rain, the exhausted youth watched as Claude faded into the distance. He shook his head. “How can I let you go after putting in so much effort?” he thought.

“The weather is good today.” Smiling, Ye Qingxuan raised his staff. Indra’s Eye reflected the lightning in the sky.

“Do not turn the three realms into ashes!” As if he had pressed a fatal button, the clouds began to tremble and blinding light appeared. It was as if an angry fire was burning behind black paper.

For a moment, the black clouds glowed from the hot lightning, and the world was blindingly white! As if the gods above the clouds were angry, the world shook with the destructive sounds of beating drums.

Amid the thunderous roars, a bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, striking the earth! Even if one shielded their eyes, the burning light was still painful.

The anger of Indra, the god of thunder, was like a sledgehammer, completely ripping apart the blizzard. It obliterated the shields and defensive alchemy equipment as well, and surged into Claude’s body.

Electrocuted, Claude let out a painful cry. He fell to the ground, his body burnt to crisp. Thud! He landed in the mud.

On the rooftop, Ye Qingxuan was once again dizzy from the blood loss and almost fell down head-first. Thankfully, Bai Xi caught him and poured medicine down his throat.

“Hurry, there’s still a bigger fish to catch. This guy is just a small shrimp.” Soon, Ye Qingxuan was energized again. He looked down at the dim Indra’s Eye and sighed. “But this thing seriously is powerful.”

If an average person used it, they would probably be sapped on the first try. Even Ye Qingxuan, with his dragon blood, suffered from blood loss. But its power was definitely worth the price!

Because of the weather, Indra’s Eye was able to manipulate the lightning and thunder in the clouds. Just as a Resonance musician used the world’s strength, Indra’s Eye used blood, but its power was uncomparable. This was what Ye Qingxuan relied on.

With Indra’s Eye, he was confident even facing three musicians, not to mention someone like Claude, who had fallen from the Resonance level and was badly injured, and could only fight using his instrument.

Ye Qingxuan’s plan was going smoothly. He first used the arrow to lure Claude over, purposely let the man discover him, and used two Rhythm level measures so he would lower his guard and walk out. Ye Qingxuan had won the battle the moment Claude shot up to the sky, laughing maniacally.

—

The empty room was in ruins. After the blizzard had swept through, everything had turned to ice. Then in the aftermath of the quakes, it had all turned to dust. That was Indra’s fire. Everything in its path would shatter to pieces!

Ye Qingxuan dragged Claude into the room and tossed the man onto the ground. The raging thunder landed on his body, and all the alchemy equipment was destroyed instantly.

Ye Qingxuan had miscalculated and used a bit too much force. He had almost burned this guy to ashes. Even so, the man was barely alive.

Thankfully, musicians were accustomed to aether, and after years of penetration, their bones were strengthened. And when a musician resonated with the world, his physical strength would soar too. His vitality would be as strong as a cockroach.

If musicians did not have such vitality, Ye Qingxuan would seriously go crazy. He had worked so hard just to have someone he could question!

After having a vessel of medicine poured down his throat, Claude moaned painfully and spat out black blood. “Who…” He opened his eyes with difficulty. They were filled with confusion and resentment. “Who are you?”

“Ah, you can still talk! That’s great.” A foot stepped onto his body and a smile appeared on the shadow’s face. “It was first time using that technique, so I didn’t control it well. My apologies. But you’re so powerful…what if I don’t kill you and you fight back?”

“Who’s there?” Claude’s face was shockingly white. He tried to see what the man looked like but it was all a blur.

“You can’t see?” The youth with a cane stooped down, politely lowering his hunting hat. “We meet again, Mr. Royal Musician Claude.”

“It’s…you!” When he finally saw the smiling face clearly, fear enveloped Claude. He could still remember the scared and confused youth from the daytime, but now, the smiling face was filled with a terrifying strangeness.

He tried to speak, but could only cough violently. “Who—who—who are you?!”

“I almost forgot to introduce myself. You can call me Holmes. The Vengeful Spirit, Sherlock Holmes.” The youth grinned. “That’s right. I’m the dark musician who’s been making headlines recently.”

“That’s right. I’m the dark musician who’s become a bit famous in recent days.”

Claude’s vision went black. As if he had fallen into icy waters, he almost passed out from the shock.

The only thing more terrifying than death was wishing one was dead. Most of those who fell into the hands of dark musicians would alternate between these two experiences. The torture of being alive, but worse than death, was the despair of wishing to be dead but unable to die!

“You and the Professor weren’t actually fighting!” Claude muttered in despair, finally seeing the light. “You’re working together.”

“Don’t make wild guesses if you’re not smart enough. I just passed by and pushed you further into the ditch.” Ye Qingxuan shrugged. “I mean, you all want to jump in and can’t be stopped. I can’t let the Professor get all the good stuff, right?”

“You!”

“I strongly suggest you don’t act brazenly,” the youth stared into his eyes and reminded him. “Or else we’re done talking, understand?”

Claude froze, panic flashing past his eyes.

“If you can’t satisfy me, I can promise that whether you die or live, the entire world will know tomorrow that you’ve betrayed the Royal Musicians to work for the parliament! You don’t want to become a traitor after you die, right?”

Claude froze and hacked up a mouthful of black blood. He roared hoarsely, “Despicable!”

“If you’re scared of people finding your weak points, then you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.” Ye Qingxuan scoffed. “But it doesn’t feel good to be a slave to others when you have such a bright future, right?”

“What do you know…” Claude forced out in resentment. “Do you know how much I’ve put in to climb to this position as a commoner? If not for the parliament, I wouldn’t even be part of the Royal Musicians!”

“That is not an excuse,” Ye Qingxuan interrupted coldly. “I’m not here to listen to how hard your life is. If you don’t want to be forced out of the Royal Musicians, you’re going to have to talk nicely with me.”

“…What do you want to know?”

“Who is the robin?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

“I don’t know.” Claude laughed, mocking both Ye Qingxuan and himself. “You’ve made a mistake. I’ve never seen him in person…I don’t know anything about the parliament.”

“You think I’ll believe that?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

Claude’s eyes rolled back, his gaze unstable. “If I’m not injured, I can resonate with the world and swear to the Originator… but if I wasn’t injured, why would I compromise with you?”

“Seems like you’re not giving up.” Ye Qingxuan stared at him. Suddenly, he grasped Claude’s chin and reached into his mouth. With a snap, he broke off a fake tooth and yanked it out.

Ye Qingxuan crushed the porcelain tooth in his hand, revealing the blood-red crystal inside. Seeing that the crystal was in Ye Qingxuan’s hand, Claude’s face grew pale, and his eyes dimmed with defeat.

“The Crystal of Virtue? It’s been ten years and you still haven’t changed where you hide it?” Ye Qingxuan scraped off a bit of powder with his nail and flicked it into his mouth. The powder melted in his saliva and transformed into heat, spreading through his body.

Ye Qingxuan shivered. His face, pale from blood loss, instantly turned ruddy. In fact, the blood had come back so strongly he almost had a nosebleed.

The Crystal of Virtue was a precious medicine known as the ‘second life.’ As long as they promised to be loyal to the royal family for life, all Royal Musicians could receive one. As long as the musician was not completely dead, he could be brought back to life with this medicine.

“What a good thing,” Ye Qingxuan praised as he stuffed it into his pocket without hesitation. “I’m keeping it.”

Seeing that his last shred of hope had been stolen, Claude screamed in anger. He tried to climb up and take it back. Besides fury and hate, an ineffable fear rose in him. Why did the dark musician know so much about Royal Musicians? Why could he see every move? Did he have the Starry Eyes sound of heart too?! But Satan’s power was supposed to deform the sound of heart. Why could this guy act so brazenly in Avalon?

Sensing his thoughts, Ye Qingxuan’s eyes turned mocking. Under those scornful eyes, any struggle became laughable. It was the humiliation of having every thought read by the other; it was the fear of walking up naked under the blazing sun.

“If you’re good and tell me about the parliament, I can bring you to the doctor. You might be able to return to the Resonance level with the help of the Chant musicians. Otherwise, you know how valuable you are to dark musicians, right?”

Claude did not reply. His burnt face was filled with despair. Finally making his decision, he said hoarsely, “I’ll talk. I know how to contact the robin. Every time I contact him, I…” For some reason, his voice trailed off and his broken face suddenly bloated.

Ye Qingxuan reacted quickly, yanking Claude’s collar. “He cursed you and you didn’t even know?! Talk! Time’s running out!”

Because he had spoken the forbidden words, Claude’s body quickly expanded to twice its original size. He looked like a balloon now.

“…I just…when!” Claude struggled in panic as the curse within him was awakened. “Robin, you…my body…”

“Finish what you’re saying! I’ll avenge you!” Ye Qingxuan stared deeply into those hopeless eyes. “Where is the robin? What does the parliament have to do with Ye Lanzhou?!”

“I, I…” Claude’s blood vessels were about to explode. “Lanzhou…”

“Spit it out!” Ye Qingxuan stared at him, eyes wild and frantic. But a hand grabbed him and dragged him out of the house before he could react. Then Bai Xi tackled him.

Boom! The ground behind Ye Qingxuan shook like an earthquake. Scalding blood and fire spewed from the crack in the wall. Claude had exploded from the curse within his body…

“Are you crazy?!” Bai Xi glared at him as if looking at a madman. “He was going to explode and you just stayed there! If I didn’t drag you out, you would’ve died with him!”

Ye Qingxuan pulled himself up. He watched as the rain washed the blood away in silence. He lowered his head, disappointed. “I’m sorry. I had some questions to ask.”

“He clearly didn’t know anything.” Bai Xi eyed him. “I’ve seen a lot of people like him, stupid people who think they’re clever and work so hard for the people who betrayed them.”

“…” Stunned, Ye Qingxuan chuckled bitterly. “Cousin, why do I think that you’re using him to scold me?”

“Ha.” Bai Xi knocked the back of his head. “What are you still waiting for? There might be some stuff left over.”

Shaking his head helplessly, Ye Qingxuan walked into the room and scavenged through the ruins. All he could find were some common performance material. The alchemy material had either shattered or broke. There were no other clues.

On the other hand, Bai Xi cheered. She had found a high grade aether ball and stuffed it into her bag without hesitation. It was an extremely precise aether ball unique to the School of Revelations. They had to be custom-made by special alchemists and were extremely expensive. It would be a waste to throw away. She could take it back and reuse it!

“Ah, what a pity.” When Bai Xi finished searching, she still felt that it was a pity. Why couldn’t this guy be more like the Indians and be loaded with treasure?

Just as she was moping, she kicked something and a white bone flute rolled out from the dust. Her eyes brightened and she picked it up. After washing off the blood in the rain, she studied it and her face brightened with surprise. She did not care anymore that Ye Qingxuan had almost got himself killed.

“Cousin, look at this!” she called, showing her discovery. “It’s an ecliptic instrument! And it’s a high grade replica. He probably put all his life savings into this thing! In the black market, it’s worth more than a hundred times its weight in green gold!”

“You know what this is?” Ye Qingxuan took it in confusion and studied it.

“Of course!” Bai Xi wagged her finger. “See, this is made of bone, but it’s an ecliptical instrument, so it must be precious material taken from the corpse of a natural catastrophe. The effect is actually better than metal.

“And I don’t know what powers the alchemist had put on it, but if it enters the market, all the Resonance musicians will kill each other for this!”

“It’s that powerful?”

“Of course.”

Just as Bai Xi began calculating the value in her mind, continuous pops came from Ye Qingxuan’s hands. She turned in shock to see an equally dazed Ye Qingxuan. A crack had appeared in the bone flute.

Wait! A crack?! This was a rare instrument! It was sturdier than green gold and could withstand the force of aether! It should not have just broke like that!

But the cracks did not stop. Instead, more and more appeared. The bone flute shook and a hole began to appear. The bits of bone that fell turned into powder and landed in the puddles. Through the hole, one could see the complex runes carved inside. One would need a magnifying glass to see the markings clearly, but now, all the runes and music scores were disappearing, like faded ink…vanishing without a trace.

Crack! Crack! Crack! The Silver Virgo shook continuously as if it was dying and could not defend itself… In the end, it cracked in half.

As if an urn had broke, starry light floated from the crack and floated into the air like dust before surging into the offender…

“What’s going on?” Bai Xi asked, her eyes wide.

“To be honest, I’m not really sure.” Ye Qingxuan was a bit dizzy too. “I never knew that it had this function…”

At his fingertip, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei glowed dimly. It sucked the Silver Virgo’s essence without stop, like a greedy and starving beast. As it hummed lightly, it delicately and familiarly broke the Silver Virgo apart, bit by bit. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei did not return to its original shape until the Silver Virgo was turned to dust.

Ye Qingxuan flipped it around, still not sure what had just happened.

Bai Xi moved over too. After studying it for a long time, she looked up. “Do you think it broke? What if it broke?”

“No way!” Ye Qingxuan gasped. According to his father, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei had been passed down from his great-great-grandfather. If he broke it, he would be a shame to his ancestors!

He quickly expanded Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. After trying to play some measures, his expression changed. “Uh…” he trailed off.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know why but…I suddenly remembered an extra section.” He looked at Bai Xi with a strange expression. “Black Friday should only have five parts, but now there’s suddenly an extra part and it’s totally different.”

“An extra one?”

“Yeah.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “I think even the name has changed.”

“What did it change into?” Bai Xi had not processed it yet.

“Moonlight,” Ye Qingxuan murmured. “Its name is Moonlight.”

“…Cousin.”

“Yeah?”

“Your dad really knows how to be dramatic.”

The prayer room was covered in blood. Blue Teeth was covered in wounds, but compared to his injuries, his appearance was more terrifying. He had completely turned into a monster! The mutated skeletal system had burst through his skin. The sharp protruding bones were like blades. His body was covered in bloody scales. The blue teeth that poked out from behind his regular teeth looked as if they were made of steel. He seemed to be a baby dragon that had been dragged out of the egg before it could finish growing. He was ugly, menacing, and terrifying! The double swords Snake Scales shattered as he chewed them, falling to the ground in metal pulp.

Across from him, the Professor gazed at his mutated body coldly, and shook his head. “So the natural catastrophe you signed the pact with was the Dark Mother?”

Blue Teeth roared and his two tongues began chanting. A dangerous light flashed in his vertical pupils. Everything he looked at began growing wildly, maturing, withering, then finally turning to dust. It was the Withering Eye!

Even the Professor weakened under this gaze. The surrounding illusions were destroyed without a direct attack.

Blue Teeth had been forced to his limits by the Professor. He had opened his mouth wide and swallowed the white-faced woman and the Chainsaw monk, and began growing until he turned into this monster. Not caring about Avalon’s enchantment at all, he transformed into a dragon, mutating into a demon. But even so, he did not have any confidence in winning. He was so fast that one could barely see his movements anymore. He chased after the Professor, toppling many walls in the process.

The traps that the Professor had set were all ineffective in the face of the strong and aggressive body. Not even the acid, crossbows, and spears protruding from the ground could damage the demi-dragon.

For the first time, Blue Teeth had the upper hand, but he still did not have a grasp. He wanted to escape, but he feared that he would be dead as soon as he showed his back to the Professor.

“Oh, you’re scared? You want to escape?” the Professor taunted him after noticing the fear in Blue Teeth’s eyes. He laughed mockingly. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll try not to destroy your body completely. After all, a dark musician changed by the Dark Mother is very valuable to research.”

“In your dreams!” Blue Teeth roared. His bony tail suddenly shot forward and ripped the Professor’s robe in half like a crossbow.

And so the injured body was revealed. In contrast to the awesome contours of the outer robe, the Professor’s shoulders and arms were thin and delicate. They were the pale white of sickness, and had faint blue-green veins under the skin. Across his shoulder blades was a wound deep enough that one could see the bone underneath. Blood still flowed from the various wounds. The fresh blood flowed in complex lines, like a thread sewn into the skin. They crisscrossed until it formed a chain wrapped around his body.

“The Oath of Revenge?!” Blue Teeth gasped in a hoarse voice. He stumbled back as if he had seen a ghost. When he looked at the Professor again, it was as if he was looking at a creature crazier than himself. His eyes were full of awe and…fear!

“You’re crazy! You pledged your soul to the Indigo Moon?!” Blue Teeth exclaimed.

“If I really have a soul, why not?” The Professor looked down, taking in his wounds. “It’s a pity. I had wanted to get some answers from you, but I guess I can’t keep you around since you’ve seen this.” With that, he faced Blue Teeth and thanked him. “Thank you for giving me so much information about the parliament.”

Blue Teeth stumbled back. Panic and shock were written in his beastly face.

Only maniacs who had no hope for the world would choose the power of the Oath of Revenge. After resonating with the world through a complex Abstinence ritual, the musician would swear an oath to the Indigo Moon which represented death and catastrophe, pledge everything he had, give up any pleasure, and become an apprentice of the Moon. He would then transform into a Revenge Musician. From that moment on, there was no meaning in life, other than revenge. Even if he died, he would become a demon and chase after his enemies. Only catastrophe and nothingness existed in that life.

The Professor smiled at Blue Teeth’s extreme fear. He raised the silver flute to his lips and a thin melody floated from the instrument. It was delicate and beautiful with a tinge of dreamy grace. It was intoxicating.

But amidst the beautiful melody, Blue Teeth’s face twisted and he began howling. As if he had lost all reason, his body bloated as if it was filled with boiling water. His body grew and grew…until he completely transformed into a bloody and messy dragon. He could not care about Avalon’s enchantment anymore. When the flute began playing, the church seemed to enter another world.

The moon shone down in this world. The Indigo Moon hung in the air, radiating with catastrophic light! The moonlight sonata!

The cold indigo moonlight shone past the church’s dome and scattered evenly throughout the room. The light covered the bloody dragon. And so the dragon became immobile, frozen by the cold light.

While everything had dulled, the moon was indigo and the blood was red, in stark contrast with each other. A decadent and desolate aura emanated from the light. The melody hung in the air, radiating with the serenity of a dream.

On the ground, the immobile dragon wailed in pain. As Blue Teeth wailed, his body broke apart and melted into the moonlight.

Now, only the moonlight was real. Everything else was just an illusion that would dissipate at the snap of a finger. Destruction had arrived.

Blue Teeth finally surrendered. A menacing face appeared on the collapsing dragon. The face broke down quickly, but the smile was still wild and sinister.

“Ha, haha…you’ll have a bad ending.” Blue Teeth cackled and roared like the curse of an evil spirit in hell. “There is no good ending in becoming the apprentice of the Indigo Moon! Your future will be more pathetic, more hopeless, and darker than mine! You’ll fall into a deeper hell! No, things like you won’t even die. You’ll forever be the puppet of the Indigo Moon, an insignificant tool!”

The Professor gazed at him silently. His eyes were emotionless. Cold moonlight seemed to flow deep in his eyes. “So what?”

The Professor clenched his fist and the bloody dragon turned to pulp. All that was left of it was the mighty but broken essence of its life.

—

When the Indigo Moon disappeared, the cold and still world vanished as well. The Professor reappeared in the church. As if exhausted, he half-knelt on the ground, panting and sweating. By manipulating the Indigo Moon’s power, he was able to use Satan’s power to kill Blue Teeth, but it was a great burden on him. The Indigo Moon was not an entity he could just order around!

The Professor was clearly weakened, but the wounds all over his arms, back, and under his robe quickly meshed together as if he had applied precious medicine.

Medicine would merely heal him, but now the wounds seemed to have never existed. No sign of the injuries were left behind. All that remained was the blood-red curse that wove around his body as if it was woven deep into his bones.

He snapped, fixing up his torn robe. With a wave of his hand, he swept away the marks on the ground. It was as if he had never been here. But when he made to leave the church, he suddenly turned.

His flute sang and a dark green arrow shot into the darkness, landing on the broken statue of a saint. The statue was pulverized instantly. Behind the statue stood a figure supported by a cane. He was wearing a beastly black robe as if he had just returned from a demon’s banquet. Broken light illuminated his silhouette and the mocking smile on his face. “It’s not good to start fighting as soon as we meet, right, Mr. Professor?” the figure said.

Standing in the center of the hall, the Professor gazed coldly at the uninvited guest. He stated, “Oh, Mr. Holmes? What a coincidence.”

“Yeah, such a coincidence.” Ye Qingxuan nodded as he chuckled, but he gazed at the Professor’s flute with a bit of fear. “Can you put down your instrument? I just want to talk.”

The Professor did not move. “Don’t mind me. This is the standard treatment for uninvited guests.”

“Ah, you’re so heartless,” Ye Qingxuan sighed as he shook his head.

“Being heartless is better than being brash, is it not?” The Professor closed in. He said in a cold voice, “You ran away last time. Where did you get the courage to stand before me once again? I won’t go easy on you this time. You should know that there’s no one here for you to call on.”

Ye Qingxuan chuckled. “That’s okay,” he said, shrugging. “I have something more precious, like a just heart, hot blood and…this.”

The Professor halted.

The Professor halted. Silver dust suspended in the air before him, drifting in the wind like catkins. Under the dim light, they glittered slightly, clear and translucent. But as soon as they fell on the Professor’s body, they began to sizzle as if burning!

Ye Qingxuan smiled. He slowly raised his right hand which carried a heavy and thick leather bag. When he loosened his grip, the bag fell on the ground and a huge amount of silver sand flowed out. Bai Xi had spent the entire day searching through Avalon’s jewelry processing workshops for them. A bag full of pure silver sand.

“What’s the matter, Professor?” Ye Qingxuan squatted down, picked up some silver sand from the bag and held it in his hands. He watched as the silver metal dust fell from his fingertips. They reflected a beautiful rainbow under the dim light. “I bought these just for you. What do you say? Do you like it?”

The Professor was silent. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to get closer. But his eyes were full of a rage that Ye Qingxuan feared! Seeing his reaction, Ye Qingxuan smiled. He seemed to like it. That was great.

“Mr. Professor …” In silence, the young man gazed at the Professor’s cold and cynical face hidden under his hat. “Or perhaps I should call you one of the legends of Avalon—Mr. Vampire.”

The Professor remained silent, but Ye Qingxuan’s voice came from the darkness. He spoke at a steady pace with a calm voice that was full of annoying arrogance and elegance. “It’s been so many years and no one discovered that you’re the legendary vampire, a moon spirit hiding in Avalon. No wonder you’ve always been mysterious, nocturnal, and never one to show your face…Do you vampires really have pointy ears?” Suddenly changing to topic, he looked curiously at the Professor’s hood, wanting to have a look at his ears.

The Professor finally spoke with extreme coldness. “Holmes, knowing too much is not a good thing.”

“Oh, really?” Ye Qingxuan played with the silver sand through his fingertips. “But I love this feeling! If this is a crime, I’m willing to spend the rest of my life in the prison.”

The Professor gazed at him and asked coldly, “How did you find out?”

“It was probably because of…the blood words. I really have to thank that traitor of yours.”

Ye Qingxuan slowly stood up, supported by his cane, and leaned lazily on the wall. “Did you want to use his death to lure the parliament into the trap and retaliate against them? It’s very clever! I went to the scene.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head and exclaimed, “It was so tragic. You burned his entire body to crisp. But was this for the sake of killing him, or to conceal what you did to him?”

The Professor froze.

Ye Qingxuan reached out and touched his own carotid artery. “There were two very small holes on his neck here, where it had been burned. If you don’t look with a goal in mind, you wouldn’t even notice. But the moment I saw the two holes, I realized what the so-called ‘Professor’ is.

“The coroner said the murder was very cruel, and that the temperature was high enough to evaporate half of his blood, but the blood had actually been drained by you, right? He betrayed you, so you drained his blood. Maybe it was to heal yourself, or maybe just to punish him.

“Finally, you set him on fire in order to destroy the corpse, silence him, leave your own breath to guide the house to come, and supply your healing with blood…you hit three birds with one stone!” He paused and smiled lightly. “But you’ve underestimated his revenge on you.”

The temperature around the Professor seemed to drop, but Ye Qingxuan was still enjoying it all. “Let me guess, when you noticed someone approaching, you lit him on fire and watched him scream and die before turning away, am I right?

“But a viper can only raise another viper. He used his last moments to take revenge. He left some words in blood on the wall, revealing your ‘big secret’. Initially, I was very confused because I’ve never seen that type of text before. Finally, I suddenly realized that what he left was not words, but just blood.” He narrowed his eyes at the silent “legend.”

“This is the secret he wanted to tell the others—the criminal mastermind of Avalon, the mysterious man who has been hiding behind the scenes, the fearsome Professor…is the a moon spirit of the fallen clan, a bloodsucking demon! ‘Professor’ Moriarty is the legendary vampire of Avalon!”

He pointed to the Professor and said in cold voice, “That was my study of the blood words. Please correct me if I’m wrong!”

After a long, long time, the Professor laughed hoarsely. “There is nothing to be corrected. Your reasoning is all correct, but you could identify me with just that?”

“Maybe it’s because of my amazing imagination.” Ye Qingxuan raised his finger and pointed to his forehead. “I actually discovered something recently. Whether I want it or not, but for some reason, I always have something to do with the legends of Avalon. Even if I try to avoid it, I always run into something strange.

“If you were me, when you encounter something like this, you’d think…what the h*ll is it this time?!”

“Your deduction is correct and the inference is very clever. To be honest, Avalon has been boring without the Shaman. If I had an enemy like you, my days would not have been so meaningless.” The Professor exuded something murderous. His eyes locked onto Ye Qingxuan. “What a pity…”

“Ha” Ye Qingxuan responded with cold laughter. “Stop acting, Lord Moriarty! No matter what you are, and even if you have sucked the blood out of all those guys and healed your wounds, you’re still weak right now.

“Don’t take me for a fool. Even if moon spirits can suck the life blood from others, it’s still a burden on you. The stronger and more powerful the enemy’s vitality is, the more difficult it is to absorb.

“It’s not about your accomplishments as a musician, but the limitation of the moon spirit’s talent! Now, after being injured for so long, just draining that dark musician was exhausting enough for you.”

Ye Qingxuan kicked the bag away, sprinkling more silver sand everywhere. When he gazed at the Professor, his eyes were emotionless. “To be honest, I don’t care what the h*ll you are. I can keep this secret for you, but you’d better have a chat with me now. Otherwise, I’ll let you have a ‘chat’ with the silver!”

He gripped his cane, looked at the Professor in silence, and asked in a coldly, “Tell me, is the Eastern kid really the key to Avalon’s shadow? Where did you get this information…and why are you so determined?”

The Professor remained silent, seeming to not have heard anything. Even at his most vulnerable, he kept quiet and did not show any intention to negotiate. He seemed to be meditating. A long and deep meditation.

Finally, The Professor looked up. All of his thoughts and resolutions were expressed in a sigh. “What a shame.”

Ye Qingxuan’s expression changed. A sword was thrusted at him!

–

The dome in the hall shattered. A gleam of dim moonlight fell down through the gap, illuminating the glowing silver dust on the floor. Amidst the glow, two piercing cold rays of light suddenly shot out from the Professor’s sleeve. They cut through the air soundlessly.

As if he was made from gravel, the Professor’s figure became faint. It seemed as if he would collapse with the wind, but in the next moment, he stepped onto the silver dust. In his hand, the two swords crisscrossed, aimed at the youth’s throat.

Unlike the Chainsaw monk’s big with his dramatic movements, like lava flowing, one could not tell when the Professor was about to move. There were no indications, not even a slight movement.

The two swords melted into the moonlight and attacked in silence without any ferocity or brutality. They only brought quiet beauty and a dismal air. It was heart-stopping!

But the youth seemed have perceived the Professor’s intention. His complexion changed when the Professor moved his muscles. He picked up the bag under his feet and scattered the silver sand generously. They created a radiant silver sheet that fell on the sword of moonlight.

The blade cut through the silver with a sizzling sound, forcing them to fly to the side. When residual silver fell on the Professor’s body, they changed suddenly, creating red sparks. Flames were born out of thin air. The red flames danced.

In an instant, the Professor was enveloped by the terrifying flames. The fire covered his body, burning him. It was the same thing he had done to the traitor a few days ago. Now it was happening to him.

This was the inborn flaw of the Moon Spirit clan. After abandoning mankind and the Silver Moon, they had been cursed to be poisoned by silver. They could absorb the vitality from others through their blood, but they would lose all control and reason under the Silver Moon’s light. Any type of silver would turn to poison at a touch and burn them to ashes!

But Ye Qingxuan did not expect that the Professor was willing to fight to the death. Did he just attack?!

Ye Qingxuan staggered back with a music note in his hand. Gas rolled over the sand, resisting the Professor’s onslaught. Ye Qingxuan had the obvious advantage and had grasped the key moment when the Professor could not use aether, but he found that he still did not have the upper hand.

The burning Professor revealed a faint and ferocious smile from behind the flames. He said hoarsely, “You wouldn’t think that the Moon Spirit clan is only good at sucking blood, right?”

Ye Qingxuan immediately processed what he meant and cold sweat rolled down. The Moon Spirits, good at swordsmanship, the clan of good swordsmanship…They were the most terrifying assassins of all the fallen races! Was the Professor not only an accomplished musician but also a monster at swordsmanship?

It was not about the giant gap in musician skills now. There was no way for Ye Qingxuan to defeat an expert swordsman who could fight perfectly despite being on fire and make every move fatal. He had miscalculated…

Ye Qingxuan had thought of many what-if’s, but never expected this trump card. This talent was rare even amongst the Moon Spirits, right? Otherwise they would have dominated the world and mankind would have died out long ago…

Thankfully, he still had Bolero’s perception threads. Ye Qingxuan dodged the onslaught of the Professor’s double swords as if he could predict the future. The two blades followed his throat, heart, and groin closely. Each move was meant to be fatal. Ye Qingxuan felt a chill whenever he came close to the blades. If not for the threads, he would have certainly died.

Doing two things at once, he did not forget to keep fighting and throwing the silver dust at the Professor. They landed on the Professor, popping and sizzling as they set fire to his body. It made the Professor seem as if he had fallen into lava. As he continued to burn, even the bones of his arms could be seen under the charred mess.

If an ordinary man was in such pain, he would have gone mad, but the Professor did not even make a sound. His attacks were still fierce. In fact, they were even more furious than before, as if he was oblivious to the Ye Qingxuan’s counterattacks and the silver dust’s natural effect against him. The Professor was determined to kill Ye Qingxuan here, even if it meant using all of the vitality he had received from Blue Teeth!

“Why are you trying so hard?!” Ye Qingxuan thought. His expression was dark as he gazed at the Professor’s charred face and furious eyes behind the flames.

“What a pity, Professor. You could have been a good opponent!” The fluctuations of the aether on his body suddenly grew frantic. He was no longer going to hold back. He was out for the kill.

At the top of the cane, Indra’s eye suddenly glimmered! As if sensing the call, the heavy rain outside the church that had paused suddenly began falling from the sky again. Thunder shook the world.

Surrounded by crimson red, the Professor breathed in the flames and suddenly let out a roar. Immediately, his body began shaking. The burning silver dust was shaken off his body and his two swords buzzed. A line of blood flowed from the moon-like blades.

The melody on the blades repeated over and over. The effects Dragon Attack, Blood Knot, and Rot were activated.

It could be seen by the naked eyes that wind was being swept up by the blade and even the stone tiles cracked, as if ravaged by a dragon. There was also a hidden curse that the opponent would never heal once he bled.

Sensing that Holmes was about to call for thunder and lightning, the Professor prepared his power, his ferocity surging. At this time, he was no longer a musician, but a warrior with sword. Hidden in his sleeves, the two swords shook like a roaring dragon.

If Ye Qingxuan could not kill the Professor with this blow, then he would be the one dying! The moment the swords’ whistling rose to the peak, frenzied aether erupted from Ye Qingxuan’s body.

As the silver dust danced, Ye Qingxuan suddenly reached out and pointed forward. Bright light illuminated the Professor’s eyes, stunning him. Boundless light glowed as if the sun had fallen from the sky. It was not the thunder of Indra’s wrath, but the note Light played to its peak!

With the control of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, Ye Qingxuan overlapped dozens of instantaneous Light runes. The power increased tenfold. The light that shot out from his fingertips was enough to blind someone, or even pierce through the body to reveal the silhouette of the bones. The light swallowed everything.

The Professor instinctively raised his hands and covered his eyes, but the silver dust dancing in the air spontaneously multiplied. They combined with each other to create a mirror. Dozens of large mirrors sprang up, forming a matrix and swallowing the Professor. Only he was able to “enjoy” this brilliant light.

In the matrix, the glow was as bright as ten suns in the sky at once. The silver dust in the light could tear one’s flesh into pieces with crushing pain in an instant. This light was kryptonite for the Moon Spirits. It was like the light of the Silver Moon!

The Professor screamed and roared. Blades whistling, he cut the matrix and broke free! But the church was empty…where was the enemy? “He ran?!”

Standing in place, the Professor’s mangled body quickly recovered. The deadly wounds created by the silver regenerated slowly as well. The white bones, flesh and pallid skin gradually returned to him, but his eyes were so furious, so startled, and so…depressed!

Holmes’s laughter seemed to echo in the air. Running away after pretending to be cool was so fun!

–

“Lalala, lalala, I’m the best at running away, not afraid of the wind or rain…lalala, I’m the best…” A man pushed a small cart in the pouring rain, like someone who loved to work. As if he heard the angry roar in the distant church, he turned back and revealed a cheerful expression under the hunting hat.

He ran?

“Of course I ran!” Ye Qingxuan pouted. “You were trying so hard to kill me. Why would I stay to die?” He sped up as he muttered to himself. Thankfully he had sent Bai Xi back earlier because the Professor was too dangerous. Otherwise, he would not even be able to run now.

He looked at the “loot” in his cart under the pouring rain. It was supposed to be the Professor’s loot: a huge heavy sabre that he carried—the Sighing Sword, as well as the ‘steel skeleton’ left behind after the Chainsaw monk was ingested by Blue Teeth. The skeleton could be implanted inside the body. It was entirely blue-green because green gold had been mixed in while casting. Even the face had a layer of twisted mesh made from the material.

This was the Chainsaw Fraternity’s craft. After separating from the Church, these monks became the world’s largest arms dealer group. They were the best at body mutations. They could implant steel machinery into a body and turn the fragile human body into an invincible warrior.

If one added the Sighing Sword, designed for breaking through defenses, the monk would practically be a musician killer. The technology not as powerful as the Gospel armor, but it was still powerful enough!

The parliament had probably spent a fortune on hiring this Chainsaw monk to do their dirty work. What did senior say before? The skeleton was far from the technology of the Gospel armor, but with some modifications and repairs, there would be no problem in adding it to the “dungeon gentleman,” right?

Imagining the Chainsaw monk’s ability to break through walls as if they were made of paper, Ye Qingxuan could not help but laugh. “I didn’t expect the Professor to fight full force, but this was worth it…” Ye Qingxuan whispered, comforting himself. This was worth it!

In the rain, he pushed the trolley and jogged, getting away from the church bit by bit. But then a figure appeared. It was a homeless man perched on a heap of garbage. He should have had some sense of self-preservation and stayed away from those he would not be able to beat, but for some reason, he summoned up the courage to stop Ye Qingxuan. “Mr. Holmes?” he asked cautiously.

“Yes.” Ye Qingxuan frowned.

“Someone wants to see you.” The man was stung by Ye Qingxuan’s sharp gaze and stepped back subconsciously. He timidly uttered the name that gave him courage. “Shaman.”

Ye Qingxuan furrowed his brows. As if a message had been sent, a black carriage soon arrived in the rain and stopped beside Ye Qingxuan.

A grizzled old man in the wagon pushed the door open and removed the pipe from his mouth. “Mr. Holmes?” Ghosthand studied him.

“How did you know I was here?” Ye Qingxuan took in how prepared they were.

Ghosthand smiled and raised his finger, pointing to the sky. “To tell the truth, you’re too high-profile to ignore. The Shaman said you were here, so we came.” As he spoke, a steady stream of people stepped out of the alleys onto the streets.

The group practically guarded all entrances in the vicinity. Ye Qingxuan could not tell how many people had been used to block every entrance without seeming to have any strategy. “I guess you can only do that if you have enough people,” Ye Qingxuan thought.

“The Shaman’s order was that if we found the Professor, we would keep him here,” Ghosthand said. “And if we found Sherlock Holmes, we would invite him back.”

“Invite?” Hearing this word, Ye Qingxuan raised an eyebrow delicately. “So do I have a choice?”

“Yes, ‘invite’.” Ghosthand repeated. He smiled and pointed to his back. “Do as you please. We won’t force you.”

“Oh, then I won’t go.” Ye Qingxuan laughed and pulled the small cart back, waving goodbye. “Everybody can go home now. No need to see me off. I’ll be gone soon. See you la—”

“He said that the old guy will be waiting for you there,” Ghosthand interrupted.

Ye Qingxuan fell silent. After a long while, he sighed softly. “Can you help me look after this small cart? It’s not easy to get a set of things like this and I don’t want the scavengers steal them.”

Ghosthand waved and two strong men appeared, taking the cart to the carriage. “Please.” Ghosthand got out of the carriage and opened the door for Ye Qingxuan.

Ye Qingxuan looked at him and took off the hunting hat before climbing into the carriage. “Where’s the Shaman?”

“A place you are very familiar with.” Ghosthand closed the door. “No.221 B, Baker Street.”