Silent Crown Chapter 140

The Cloister of Cavern was first built by a group of ascetic monks.

They spent forty years carving the early structure of the cloister out of the rock cliff. From then on, after two hundred years and four periods of construction, the Cloister of Cavern became what it looked like now.

Like the headquarters of the Chainsaw Fraternity, the interior part of the cloister was carved out of the rock mountain, but its scale was not as grand as the Chainsaw Fraternity’s. The construction of the stone chambers could only be described as rough, for those chambers didn’t even have any windows, but only several fist-sized holes for ventilation.

After Ye Qingxuan’s identity was verified by a musician, he was respectfully guided to the office of the cloister’s dean.

The stove in the corner dispelled the dampness in the stone chamber, but it was still cold.

Ye Qingxuan sat in a chair and waited silently. After half an hour, the door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man who looked capable and vigorous came in.

He looked older than his age, the hair on his temples going gray. His bones and facial features showed that he was Angle, and his knuckles were large, and his palms were rough with calluses. Although his muscles were oversized, they still presented a sense of strength.

He moved with power and sturdiness, like an army.

“Hello, Mr. Ye, I’ve heard a lot about you.” He stretched out his hand to Ye Qingxuan, and introduced himself. “I am the interim leader here, Colonel Xavier.”

Ye Qingxuan raised his eyes, looked at him and his hand, but he didn’t intend to shake hands with him.

Colonel Xavier’s tone was very subtle, for he disguised his discontent and contempt very well.

Even though he called him “Mr. Ye,” he did not care about Ye Qingxuan’s identity as a sword bearer.

Handshaking was common, but it could only be used among peers. As the successor appointed by Maxwell, the leader of the Fifth Division under a state of emergency, Ye Qingxuan possessed a higher authority than Xavier did. Therefore, Xavier should give a military salute and transfer the command authority to him when they met.

Instead, after making Ye Qingxuan wait for half an hour, he came late with two subordinates, and wanted to shake hands with him with fake zest.

Ye Qingxuan looked at the two men behind Xavier.

One of them was an old man in a robe, holding a walking stick, looking like a clergyman of the church. He did not wear an emblem nor a sacrificing garment of the Order, but he wore many luxurious rings on his fingers, from which anyone could feel the aether waves.

He was definitely a musician with many achievements. Although he didn’t use any music movement or alchemy equipment, the water vapor and coldness couldn’t get into his body.

It was because of the buffer layer of natural music theory around his body, which was formed through the regular frictions between the Physical World and the gravitational force formed in the music theory of his body.

His music theory was at the distortion level, at least.

The other person was much younger. He wore a pair of well-crafted glasses, which showed that he had a bad eyesight. The calluses on the index finger and thumb of his right hand indicated that he had been doing paperwork for years. Therefore, he might be a copyist, a scholar, a lawyer, or a middle-class official.

However, there was no mark of the Fifth Division on their coats.

That was interesting.

A cunning smile appeared on Ye Qingxuan’s face.

Being ignored by Ye Qingxuan, Xavier’s expression remained unchanged, but his eye muscles trembled slightly. He drew back his hand and sat in the main position of the office, as if nothing had happened.

“Mr. Ye, you must be tired after such a long trip.” Xavier maintained his politeness and respect to Ye Qingxuan. “The resting room has already been prepared for you. A batch of supplies just arrived, so our chef has cooked many delicious dishes. You can have your dinner later and have a good rest tonight.”

“Very good.” Ye Qingxuan nodded, but didn’t respond further. Then he asked straightforwardly, “How many members are there in the Fifth Division at present?”

Xavier smiled. “Something happened, so we still have 374 people. But the situation is not good. We—”

Ye Qingxuan waved his hand and interrupted him. “It’s enough for the time being. Our ship was broken during the trip. I need a qualified engineer to repair the ship with my people. You can arrange it later. We hope that the ship can be repaired tomorrow, then we could set off as soon as possible.”

Xavier became silent and his smile froze.

“Mr. Ye, you just arrived, and I’m afraid you don’t know the situation here,” he said. “The enthusiasm of young people is worthy of admiration, so I understand your anxiety. But the Fifth Division has its own way of mobilizing and operating. You have not taken part in any specific actions, so you need some time to understand and adapt. Otherwise, if we make a wrong move, I am afraid that we will suffer a severe loss.

“If there is anything to be dealt with, we can discuss together. Since the supplies are insufficient and our people are in a poor condition now, we shouldn’t act rashly until the headquarters in Anglo give us further instructions.”

Hearing that, Ye Qingxuan could not help laughing.

He didn’t talk, but only tapped the table in front him with his fingers and stared at Xavier’s expression.

(Ye): He must have spent quite a long time preparing such a fluent and seemingly reasonable remark. He is more like a politician than operational staff.

(Xavier): Ye Qingxuan, you are too young and inexperienced. You haven’t even participated in any actions of the Fifth Division. You still need to do a lot of work. Moreover, the lack of supplies, the poor condition of the staff, you know nothing about those… In short—you know nothing!

As the silence stretched, Ye Qingxuan kept tapping on the table with his fingers. The crisp sound was like a small chisel that took away Xavier’s smile.

In the end, Xavier became awkward.

“Anything else?” Ye Qingxuan suddenly asked. “Any other excuses or reasons?”

Xavier’s face twitched slightly, for he was irritated by the tapping sound of the table. A flash of anger appeared in his eyes.

“Still not enough?” he asked coldly.

Ye Qingxuan smiled and shook his head. “I think you’ve been thinking wrong since the beginning…”

He got up, put his hands on the table, and bent down to overlook Xavier.

“I’m not negotiating with or begging you, and I’m not going to listen to your excuses. So, you don’t have to worry about finding a reason.”

As he spoke that, Ye Qingxuan lifted his hand and raised his middle finger to show Xavier his ring. “No qualifications or experience is required. I don’t have to prove to you if I am qualified. When Maxwell is not here, I am the head of the Fifth Division, and your commander. If I command you to repair the ship, then you repair the ship. If I command you to act now, then you act now.

“Before you talk with me, you have to know your position first, Colonel Xavier. That is an order!”

His harsh voice echoed in the air, and turned into a thunderous noise that made the entire room tremble and the wall hum.

A hint of aggression flashed in Xavier’s eyes, and he seemed determined to do something, but someone pressed on his shoulder with a hand.

It was the old musician.

The waves of music theory dispersed the noises in Xavier’s body and forcibly restored him to calmness, leaving him no longer unaffected by the hint in Ye Qingxuan’s words.

Xavier took a deep breath and stopped looking at Ye Qingxuan.

“It’s getting late, and you may be tired, Mr. Ye.” He squeezed his voice out of his teeth. “Have a good rest first! We’ll talk about the rest tomorrow.”

Ye Qingxuan glanced at the old musician behind him with a spurious smile.

After holding his gaze, he turned away without saying anything.

The door closed.

After a long time of silence, Xavier breathed a sigh of relief.

“Mr. Mandel, why did you stop me?”

“You were doing what he wanted you to do,” Mandel said. “Don’t forget who he is now. If you dare to do anything harmful to him, you’ll give him an excuse to kill you.”

He paused and looked in the direction that Ye Qingxuan had left. “He will never hesitate.”

Xavier’s face turned purple with anger. “How dare he!”

Although saying so, Xavier actually knew very well.

Of course he would dare to kill me.

The Fifth Division is not a politician institution. It is a violent institution, a manufacturing plant for executioners and killing tools. It is now in a state of emergency, so the wartime regulations are used. If Ye Qingxuan gets a chance, he will never be soft on me.

Xavier sat in his chair silently and smoked the last few cigarettes. His face couldn’t be seen clearly in the flickering light.

“I’ve arranged that room for him to live.”

He suddenly said, “Master Mandel, it’s up to you next.”

“Well, you made a wise choice.” Mandel nodded. “Just relax and have a good rest. Tomorrow, he won’t be a threat.”

Xavier snuffed out the cigarette.

“I hope so.”

–

–

In Ye Qingxuan’s room in the Cloister of Cavern, a middle-aged man with a face full of whiskers leaned on a chair and wiped his beard bedewed by the liquor after finishing the whole bottle.

“Grand Inquisitor, this is different from what you said to us,” he complained. “Your subordinates don’t seem willing to transfer the authority to you. Moreover, I’m afraid that you are not welcome at all.”

Saying that, he shrugged his shoulders and looked at the doorway. “My crew has been guarded, and my ship has been thrown out, exposed to wind and rain.”

“Rest assured, Captain Igor, my promise remains valid.” Ye Qingxuan, whose was resting on the bed, opened his eyes and said, “Go back and rest. When things are over, if you are not satisfied with your reward, I can give you more.”

Igor sighed reluctantly. “To tell the truth, I’m very satisfied with the reward that you’ve promised, but I just have some doubts on… the value of your name in those people’s hearts. If you are not sure, we can run. Anyway, the ship is still there, right?

“All my sailors know how to fight. It’s okay for them to break through here… You don’t have to puff yourself up at your own cost. If you are killed tonight, who should I ask for the final payment?”

Ye Qingxuan smiled. “Mr. Igor, are you Asgardian?”

“I prefer to say that I am the son of the sea, although the sea is sometimes a bitch.” Igor shrugged. “But I am indeed Asgardian. Yes, you will know that from my name.”

“Then you should have heard a proverb.” Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes and whispered fluently in Asgardian.

“The real authority will not be in the hands of the thieves for a long time, it will choose the owner who could match with itself. Those who could survive after drinking the dragon blood are the strong ones. Am I right?”

Igor stared at him with a frown for a long time, then he shook his head and sighed.

“I hope so.”

It was late at night, in the basement of the Cloister of Cavern. There was a stove, from which smoke of sulphur slowly and consistently crawled out and soon spread into the whole basement. At the same time, many different illusions of hell appeared in the dancing fire.

The hydrargyrum was flowing in the groove on the ground and formed a complex Alchemy Array. The array extended in all directions and even spread to the ceiling. At last, it gathered around the bizarre “stove.”

With the smoke and the array, the whole space of the basement was twisted and became non-physical magic world. The music theory of the School of Abstinence filled this room and began absorbing the energy from the aether stove. All the rules of the Physical World changed completely, and this place became a projection of the Aether World.

In the basement, the old musician Mandel was playing his Mandolin. The string trembled, making a peculiar sound.

Throughout the centuries, the School of Dinar had been studying the peculiar creatures in the Aether World. The members of the School of Dinar were good at the Path of Domain of the School of Dinar. They even created a new tactic, which was “construction of the magic land.”

The musicians of the School of Dinar knew quite a lot about the Aether World and the peculiar creatures living there, and they knew how to exchange valuable things from the Physical World with things from those creatures.

Mandel, the strongest master of the School of Dinar, was an expert on these creatures, and possessed various precious materials and treasures.

In only a few days, starting from this basement, he successfully turned the whole Cloister of Cavern into his own “magic world,” where he was the dominator.

He had promised Xavier that he could definitely kill Ye Qingxuan. But his peer did not think so.

“Mr. Mandel, I think we should change our plan,” the young stenographer suggested, from where he stood in the corner. “The original plan may not work now.”

“Why, in particular?” Mandel asked.

“We never thought Ye Qingxuan could come here so fast.” The stenographer sighed. “Up until now, we have made many arrangements with the precondition that Ye Qingxuan would not come so quickly. Now he is already here, all our efforts become futile. The Fifth Division was built by Maxwell, so he is the boss here. I do not think Xavier will dare to contradict Maxwell.”

“Ye Qingxuan is just a dead man trapped in the fog.” Mandel sneered. “Once I kill him, we can go on as planned.”

“Master, I think you should be more careful,” the young stenographer said. “If we mess this up, the members of the Fifth Division of Anglo will do everything they can to fight against us. “Fleur-de-lis,” the evaluation system, said that Ye Qingxuan is of the master degree. Besides, he has the bloodline of Lancelot and the royal family as well. He also has a close connection with the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline of the East.”

“Wouldn’t that be better?” Mandel asked coldly. “If we succeeded, Earl would take back his throne again. If we caught Ye Qingxuan, it would be easier for us to attack Anglo.”

“Things are not as easy as you think.” The stenographer shook his head. “You have been living here for too long, so you have no idea how many changes have taken place outside. Ye Qingxuan is… not an ordinary man.”

The sound of the mandolin suddenly stopped. Mandel slowly turned around and stared at the young stenographer.

“Auden, to be honest, I hate Anglo and this place as well. I am already too old, and I have promised the Earl to help him get this business done. I do not want to waste my time here listening to your bullsh*t. Remember, you are just a stenographer, and your job is just to serve Maxwell well…” Mandel said coldly. “It is not in your place to judge me.”

The young stenographer did not reply.

Mandel turned his back to him and began to sprinkle the spices in his hand into the stove. With the sound of mandolin echoing in the basement, the dancing fire changed its color and made some strange sounds, as if there was a mouse singing in the fire. But when he looked carefully, there was nothing there.

In fact, it was the peculiar creatures from the Aether World. Mandel had been feeding them for a long time. Usually, these creatures could cause lots of trouble, but for people who knew how to control them, they could be much of help.

After hearing what Auden had said, Mandel was becoming more and more alert about Ye Qingxuan.

Usually, the older one got, the more he was afraid of death as well as mysterious young men. It had been such a long time since he had gotten involved in this sort of business. This time, he wanted the mysterious books and some precious spices which the Earl had promised to give him. He did not want to lose his life.

Then he took out a cloth bag, picked out some spices, and carefully threw them into the stove. Suddenly, the fire went up and became more bizarre. Strong smoke spurted out.

There were many peculiar creatures in the fire, opening their mouths and moving restlessly like mice.

“They keep walking and walking and are hated by people. No one wants to take them in,” the creatures sang. “No one knows them. Many people ask them where do they come from and who they really are. They have no place to stay…”

As this bizarre song echoed, the whole basement was gradually shrouded by thick white smoke.

All of a sudden, Auden heard a string break and saw old Mandel taking off his clothes. His body had turned half-transparent and looked rather scary. Mandel had broken his own consciousness into pieces, and beastliness controlled his mind, as his body was became more like a monster at the same time.

Throughout history, all the schools had studied catastrophes. For the members of the School of Dinar, they did not need to sign a contract with catastrophes, and could easily get superpowers or gifts from these creatures.

At last, Mandel completed his transformation and temporarily became a peculiar creature of the Aether World, a “nightmare.”

He happily raised up his head and breathed in the horror permeating the air. Then he sneaked into the darkness and disappeared.

Late at night, in the silent and lifeless cloister.

The nightmare, like a ghost, traversed the wall, and moved forward silently.

In the swaying firelight, the translucent nightmare inhaled and exhaled with grey breath. When it took a step, it moved a long distance, as if it was flying through the shadows.

The School of Dinar, which had inherited the Classical School directly, could be ranked into the top three schools of the present day, just because of its history and inheritance. Not to mention, the cabala and the music movements exchanged from the oddities of the Aether World during the long years also made them even more mysterious.

In addition to skills like the “construction of the magic land” that combined with their research and could exert effects of the scepter field level ahead of schedule, the “incarnation of the oddities” used by Mandel now was also a secret of the school.

Those who used the “incarnation of the oddities” could detach themselves from their human body and reveal the essence of themselves with the appearance of an oddity. What they could obtain was not only the various abilities of oddities, but also the improvement of their essence.

For example, they could perceive the “vision of soul” of living things directly through the matter. All creatures with self-will would show their own essence in their eyes.

At the moment, in the eyes of Mandel, the entire translucent cloister shone the faint light of fire. That was the fire of thoughts and consciousness in the color of violent red, silent blue, or fearful yellow… On the contrary, nearly no thoughtful purple or peaceful green was left there.

As he inhaled heavily, the streaks of firelight converged in front of him and got fainter after being swollen by him.

He fed on the consciousness and emotions of others, and turned them into his own power.

Just after a moment, the nightmare had condensed several times, as if it had really come to the Physical World.

However, while he moved silently, he suddenly stopped.

Above the narrow promenade was darkness.

He stood in the corner, staring silently into the depths of the hallway, and at the shadow of nothingness.

Through the holes on the wall of the hallway, a moist sea breeze came from the outside.

The vague moonlight fell through the holes and to the ground, which turned into a straight light that illuminated the moss and cracks in the corner.

Under his gaze, something moved a step in the shadow of nothingness, and broke into the moonlight.

Then, in the place where the moonlight shone, a vague body appeared.

It seemed that the body was wearing the moonlight.

However, there was still nothing coming from the body itself.

Through the illumination of the moonlight, the features of the blurred face could be easily recognized. So, Mandel’s eyes were getting more serious.

“Ye Qingxuan?” he asked.

“Yes.” The comer nodded, and in the corner of his mouth was a cunning, irritating smile. “Why do you come here this late? May I help you?”

Why do I come here ?

Mandel no longer hid his own purpose. He just reached out his hands, showing the enormous aether waves and power.

On his back, the snakeskin-patterned emblem of the School of Dinar appeared slowly, revealing his identity.

Declaring war!

That was the etiquette among ancient musicians before the dueling, through which they could demonstrate their school and strength to their opponent, and have a fight in a formal way.

In other words, he already regarded Ye Qingxuan as an opponent who was strong enough to compete with him.

This was the first time that Ye Qingxuan had met a musician who adhered to ancient rituals. He hesitated for a moment, showing a hint of helplessness.

“The school?” he murmured.

In the name of which school should I fight?

Although he came from the Royal Academy of Music in Anglo, he was not a member of the Royal School of Anglo, which was good at summoning or changing skills.

He inherited the music theories of the School of Stone Heart, but the school had long been dissolved, and he had changed the things left behind beyond recognition.

Although he was the descendant of the dragon, and he might belong to the School of Mount Yu for some reason, he still didn’t know what the School of Mount Yu represented or even its emblem.

In the end, he sighed and drew a random emblem to show his identity.

The next moment, Mandel, without any hesitation… started fighting!

As if numerous invisible crows flapped their wings, countless black feathers fell through the air and to the ground.

The Song of Bird.

Ye Qingxuan’s expression suddenly changed, and he quickly stepped backwards, escaping from the spreading darkness from which the illusions of countless crows came out. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands?

The beastliness contained in the music theory transformed into crows were completely different than what Ye Qingxuan had known.

Although the music theory appeared as crows, the interior nature of it was quite different from the essence of the birds in the Physical World, for it resembled the heaven catastrophes with the air of the Aether World!

No one could know how many covenants of the oddities were controlled by Mandel.

Ye Qingxuan had already taken precautions, but he did not expect to be deluged by the terrible number of oddities of such strange and uncanny means…

Summoning tens of thousands of bizarre creatures of the Aether World was beyond the limitation of humans, or even the masters!

The loading capacity of the Symphony of Predestination was limited! That was why the scepters, which were covered by the elements and represented endless power, were so attracting for humanity.

Does he want to fight till death when we first meet?

Ye Qingxuan did not expect Mandel to start fighting so straightforwardly.

In a flash, he was enveloped in all directions.

Therefore, it was impossible for them to avoid the blade of the sword.

Ye Qingxuan sighed, reached out, and smote forward with the sword of moonlight.

Endless miserable croaking suddenly burst out.

The blood-like mist spewed from nothingness into the air, and dispersed immediately. Broken and withered feathers of crows filled the air and quickly collapsed into dust.

The crow tide suddenly stopped in front of Ye Qingxuan.

However, countless crows still flew toward Ye Qingxuan, hovering around him. Those invisible crows revealed their bleeding eyes, as if they had been hungry for a long time. They peered into the music movement in Ye Qingxuan’s body, like seeing food in the real world. Even with only a slight negligence on his part, they would drill into his body and enjoy a satisfying meal…

In the chaos, an icy coldness suddenly hit the back of Ye Qingxuan’s head. He suddenly turned around, but saw Mandel, who should have tried hard to maintain the crow tide, stepping out of the shadow behind him and pressing on his head with his palm.

Among those five fingers was endless darkness.

It was like the sky in the long night with shining stars, under which many illusions constantly emerged, as if countless oddities were drinking and having a grand feast on the ground.

Summer Night!

The busy and odd summer night among the five fingers was an extremely exquisite “construction of magic land.” The feast of the ancient oddities and musicians reappeared in the form of a music movement, the natures of the Aether World and the Physical World merging into the dark night, sending out a terrible gravitational force.

Anything close to it would be pulled into the boundary between the real and the virtual world, sunk into the summer night and finally evaporated with the arrival of dawn!

That was a terrible force even stronger than the crow tide…

Pushed by Mandel, the force was gently sent toward Ye Qingxuan.

In the chaos, Ye Qingxuan pointed with his fingers and transformed himself into a vacuum in a flash. Nature interference! Immediately afterwards, the Holy!

Summer night crashed into Holy.

Horrible waves burst out after the collision between the two completely different masterpieces of the School of Abstinence. In a mere instant, the walls were destroyed, the hurricane was torn apart, and a large hole was chiseled in the entire Cloister of Cavern.

But Ye Qingxuan didn’t give Mandel any chance. The sword of moonlight swept through and hit directly on the Symphony of Predestination of Mandel. When the two collided, the friction of music theory caused the pressure to soar.

The Symphony of Predestination of Mandel was not extraordinary, and even could be described as common. It had the strong features of the Classical School, but it paid no attention to the linkage and convergence of music theory.

In other words, although the power was strong, its own structure was not stable, with disordered rules and many loopholes.

Ye Qingxuan had confidence in destroying the Symphony of Predestination of Mandel completely by infiltration and destruction!

However, at that point, Ye Qingxuan finally noticed the waves in Mandel’s body that extended to the distance.

In the perception of Mandel, all the living creatures in the entire cloister converged with him in the secret land of the basement, sharing his pressure and providing him with a constant supply of strength.

In other words, everyone in the Fifth Division had become his aether furnace!

Although most of the people who were not musicians couldn’t bring too much strength to Mandel, they were the best floodgate to share his pressure.

They could be killed by ten times pressure, let alone one hundred times pressure…

There was no difference in the consequences for those who were sharing the pressure.

Now, Ye Qingxuan finally realized what he was doing, and that he intentionally let Ye Qingxuan perceive his trump card!

To defeat him, Ye Qingxuan needed to kill all the people that pulled into the secret land and shared the pressure with him.

When Ye Qingxuan won, he would only get an empty ruin.

“What a trump card!”

Ye Qingxuan squinted his eyes and stared at Mandel, who was smiling strangely.

Seeing that Ye Qingxuan was about to stop fighting, Mandel laughed. Although he already had the game in his hands, he did not want to force Ye Qingxuan too hard. Instead, he decided to offer him a choice.

He mighty want to cooperate with him…

Just as he opened his mouth, the pressure from Ye Qingxuan suddenly surged!

The moonlight was like a torrent, impacting on his Symphony of Predestination.

The friction between music theories increased the pressure by hundreds or thousands of times. The aftermath of terror wiped out one tenth of his aether furnace.

That was to say that Ye Qingxuan personally killed dozens of members of the Fifth Division in a flash!

What was more, the offensive was getting more fierce, without mercy or scruple!

“Are you crazy!” Mandel was shocked. “Do you know what you are doing! Even if you win, what can you get in the end?!”

“Nonsense.” Ye Qingxuan smiled, without any burden or hesitation, moving forward with the strong thought of killing him. “Victory, of course!”

At that moment, Mandel was covered with coldness.

Also in the deep night, only the sound of the stove burning could be heard in the quiet room.

In the glittering light, Ye Qingxuan was leaning on the bed. Lowering his head, he was browsing through the thick, heavy books. Only the rustling of the pages could be heard in the silence.

Lola showed up in the shadows in the corner. Seeing him at such ease, she slightly raised her long and thin eyebrow. With a sneer, she said, “You look so full of confidence!”

Raising his head, he held his chin in confusion. “Anything wrong with that?”

“Are you really planning to lead this bunch of guys directly into the mist to save the world?” Lola asked in disbelief. “Do I have to remind you how stupid it is?”

“How come? I am not a lunatic.”

“You look no different from a lunatic.” Glancing at him, Lola said coldly, “It’s right to save the world, but you should at least have a plan, right?”

“Don’t worry. I do have a plan.” Lowering his head again, Ye Qingxuan continued his reading. “Anyway, now that Anglo has become silent, I’m afraid the Fifth Department is the only force that can change the situation. It is the result of Maxwell’s painstaking effort. If it is out of control, there’ll be no hope for us at all.”

“That’s your plan? Relying on a bunch of killers and spies? Different people have different skill sets and they are not applicable to all situations. Ye, the world of spirits and demons is totally different from that of humans. They are no help even they are experienced executioners or invincible warriors.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Still reading the book, Ye Qingxuan gave a meaningful smile. “They will be helpful. Very soon.”

Silence fell again. Only the rustling of the pages of the book in Ye Qingxuan’s hands could be heard.

Seeing him so absorbed in the book, Lola couldn’t help but curl her lips. “What are you reading?”

“This?” Waving the book in his hand, Ye Qingxuan smiled. “It is about the music theory of a music school called ‘Dinar.’ It originated from the old schools in the dark age and has been developing itself in Burgundy, quite isolated from the outside world.” With Ye Qingxuan turning the pages, some vague moonlight shone on the empty pages. The moonlight outlined subtle yet thickly dotted words and music theories which were flowing on the pages, making refined images that were so true to life. It was like the research notes of some musician, detailing the music movement and research of his.

The images were like a tide that converged with thousands of flying birds, or a marvelous summer night of feasts, drinking, and clamor… Ancient yet strange rituals that turned humans into nightmares, and research on many sorts of weird things, even communication and trading methods with beings in the world of Aether that were unknown to men.

Along with the pages, the young musician described in the book gradually got old and finally became the old musician in the illustration at the end of the book.

After several hundred years, the book coexisted with the oddities and even transformed into oddities itself, somehow becoming a living creature of the Aether world.

“Inherited from the classical school of Fusion of Essence?” Lola sneered, “This sort of outdated research from the old times has been replaced by subdivided segments from long ago. Is it not eliminated yet? There is nothing to study in this dead-end subject. Is there?”

“Some of the theories are quite interesting, though.” Ye Qingxuan shrugged. “What a pity! Their research is in the wrong direction; however hard they work and ponder over it, it will never get them anywhere. When the sense of novelty is gone, it is of no use at all.” Closing the book, he yawned. “Get some sleep now. We need to get up early tomorrow.”

Lola disappeared into the shadows.

Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes and fell into sleep.

–

Bang! In the basement, Auden fell on the ground, feeling powerless. Along with a sound of cracking of the head, Mandel’s body lay on the ground. Scarlet and grey liquid spurted out onto Auden’s face, painting his face a grey-white. Warm brain fell into his mouth; the salty and fishy taste making him want to vomit.

Feeling sudden darkness falling over his eyes, he almost fainted. He became totally lost… What the f*ck happened? Since the end of his ritual, the old man had been standing there as if he had lost his soul, the Aether around him fluctuating. Sometimes he was like talking to some invisible man, but there is total emptiness in his eyes.

It looked as if his soul was stolen.

Until just now, his head blew up, his body twitching all over.

As Mandel was dead, the Aether stove crackled without a sound. The fire went out, leaving only irritatingly stinky smoke spreading all over the room. The oddities dispersed, screaming in a low voice. Mercury fell from the ceiling as if it was raining. It was bitterly cold.

Auden shivered. He got up from the floor and staggered out.

This place is too dangerous to stay.

–

In the morning, Xavier woke up. Damp sea wind blew through the door, and the quilts were so damp that some moss was growing on them.

He took a deep breath and rubbed his face, feeling relaxed. Maybe it was due to the assurance of master Mandel, he had the best sleep that had been lost to him since quite long ago. It was like he had been given a new life; no tiredness at all.

Then there was a knock on the door. “Colonel, breakfast is ready.” The man outside said, “Do you want your breakfast to be served in your room?”

“No.” Xavier got up and said lightly, “I’ll go to the dining hall. You go and ask Mr. Ye to go there too.”

The man left.

This way, he could enjoy the scene of Ye Qingxuan’s body being dragged out during breakfast. The corpse of royal blood may well be nobler and should be good as a side dish.

He took his dagger and shaved in front of the mirror in the living room. Then he looked at himself in the mirror—as majestic as iron.

Xavier nodded with satisfaction.

This was the last day of bitterness. No trouble would remain after Ye Qingxuan was dead. It would be appropriate to embrace his new life with such a good look.

Ignoring the cracks of the mirror, he went out. It was so quiet in the Cloister of Cavern in the morning. In this lightless sea, only the torches on the wall were burning. One could not even tell whether it was morning or evening.

Many people were already up, sitting in the aisle and in the rooms. The chef pushed the breakfast cart over and poured some boiled plaster-like food into their iron cups. The food was shoveled with spoons into their mouths before it got cold. After days of torment, everyone got pale. Lowering their heads, they sat in the corner like prisoners in total silence.

It was almost time.

Pondering over the plans for the next step, he went through the aisle and pushed open the kitchen door. Then he saw Auden sitting in the corner. The clerk-like man sat on a stool, restless and pale, curling himself. Seeing Xavier, he managed a smile but evaded his eye contact.

Xavier paused in shock. A chill ran down his back, almost freezing him.

Something was wrong, but he couldn’t tell what it was. He could only sense that it was bad.

Then, he heard someone speaking from the seat for the host: “Sorry that I took your seat.” The white-hair young man sitting in the chair that had been his was leisurely cutting the tender beef on the plate.

“I was quite hungry, so I didn’t wait for you. Please don’t be angry.”

“Ye…Qingxuan?” Xavier trembled, his face twitching.

All of a sudden, it was like an invisible nightmare had caught him and drained all of his strength, leaving fear in his heart and darkness covering his eyes. He stepped back subconsciously. Yet he didn’t notice that there were two men standing at the door. They looked at him coldly, saying nothing.

“Sit.” Ye Qingxuan pointed at the seat opposite to his. “We have mushrooms on the boat, so I told the cook to make some soup. It is good. Have some while it is hot.”

Xavier was paralyzed. He stood where he was for quite long and then, with effort, he moved forward and pulled out the chair to sit. A bow of hot soup was served. He could smell the fragrance of cream from it. He took a spoon but hesitated to eat anything. Pretty soon, there was a layer of frozen oil on the surface of the soup. What a waste.

“You’re not hungry?” Looking at him, Ye Qingxuan stretched out and took the bowl. “Give it to me then. I’m not full yet.”

Xavier wanted to say something, yet failed to make any sound. In the silence, only the sound of Ye Qingxuan eating soup could be heard.

After a long time, Ye Qingxuan put down the spoon and gave a satisfactory sigh. “Too much cream, but delicious. What a good cook. After such a long time sailing at sea, it is so reviving to eat a bowl of hot soup like this. It is very good. It is a pity that you don’t want any.”

Xavier didn’t speak. He put down the spoon, his figure trembling.

“I just found out that this position is really good. It’s just opposite my room.” Ye Qingxuan took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth. He said quite casually, “It would be quite good if there were a frozen body dragged out from the room while having breakfast.”

In the silence, some rustling was heard from outside of the door. Someone carried a headless corpse from the basement and slowly dragged it along the corridor to somewhere far away. Then, a splash was heard, like something was dropped into the sea.

“Now that we have had breakfast, let’s talk business.” Ye Qingxuan looked at Xavier’s pale face closely, then said gently, “Business about the Burgundians.”

Xavier’s last hope was put out. His face went greyish pale. It was like he had become old in an instant. He almost fell from his chair.

Ye Qingxuan tossed two passports and a traveler’s manual on the desk. The manual, with a cover featuring beautiful scenery at some port, was weathered due to frequent reading. He smiled.

“Calais is a beautiful place. It is spring all year with warm wind from the sea. You can see the harbor through the window, and wild cats napping on the roof.

“You’ve chosen a nice place for yourself. You have a house there and a money order from the church. You can spend the rest of your life comfortably and even have the money for a decent funeral. You can live there happily, free from all danger and wars.

“I have to say, you’ve sold your colleagues for a good price. They will thank you from hell.”

“Enough!” Xavier finally spoke. Clinching his fists, he stared at Ye Qingxuan angrily. “You know nothing at all! I did that because…”

“It doesn’t matter at all what it was for.” Ye Qingxuan interrupted him, obviously having interest. “I don’t want to hear your difficulties or excuses. You betrayed them anyway. Right?”

“Colonel Xavier, I’ve read your file.”

Ye Qingxuan tapped on the empty soup bowl with his fingers. The humid wind condensed into water drops and fell on the wooden desk, leaving a slender flowing trace.

“Over the years, you’ve done very well in Burgundy. Maxwell also thought highly of you. In two years, you can be transferred to the military staff section and become the youngest official who possesses real power. The Fifth Division has always been good to you, but your choice disappointed me very much.”

“Disappointed?” Xavier’s face twitched out of shame or anger. He squeezed out a voice between his gritted teeth, his eyes bloodshot.

“Do you really think that you are qualified to feel disappointed about me? I’ve made great contributions to Anglo! Six serious injuries on the battlefield in East India! Do you know how many things have I sacrificed for this country? All my friends died, leaving me alone in this world!”

He looked at Ye Qingxuan with contempt in his eyes. “You wimpy kid! You were born with a golden spoon, all you can do is command and criticize. You made me wait here like a dog with just one word, and let me wait to die in the sea?

“Do you really think that you are the only one to save Anglo? You wish! You were lucky, when Anglo disappeared, you were just hiding in the Sacred City! Where were you when Anglo was in the most urgent need of salvation?

“Maxwell is already dead, how many people do you want to bury for your so-called loyalty?”

The sharp screaming reverberated between the stone walls, and the soup bowl shook slightly. Xavier gasped heavily and spat on the ground scornfully.

Ye Qingxuan looked at the floor without saying anything or refuting him. He waited silently until he felt a hint of embarrassment and panic.

“Are you finished?” Ye Qingxuan raised his eyes and stared at him, as if he was looking at a spoiled kid who was rolling on the ground, and he wouldn’t do anything even though the kid screamed and cried.

When Xavier finished crying and was too tired to move, Ye Qingxuan finally said, “Just relax, Xavier. Fearing death, being weak, and escaping are not ridiculous. You don’t need to be so angry. But you must understand that you can’t take it for granted, and it is not worthy of praise.”

Ye Qingxuan’s voice was gentle and slow, without any anxiety.

However, the voice contained no warmth at all, and it mercilessly took away all the heat in Xavier’s body. The cold infiltrated into his bones bit by bit and froze the marrow.

“Shut up then.”

“For your family, yourself, important missions, saving the country, rising up one day… or even for Anglo! People can do wrong things for many reasons, but the only thing that can’t be changed is that you have made mistakes.

“‘Mistake’ is the ‘wrong deed’ that cannot be changed, no matter what excuse you use to cover it up. You must get your punishment for your mistakes. Otherwise, the existence of ‘correctness’ will lose its meaning.”

In the silence, Xavier opened his lips and was about to say something. But he was deprived of the ability to speak, as if his throat was frozen.

Ye Qingxuan reached out and opened the notebook at hand. He scanned the confession records one by one, and casually asked, “When did Xavier get in touch with you?”

In the corner, Auden shivered and answered fearfully, “Fifteen days ago.”

“Oh, pretty early.” Ye Qingxuan smiled. “The Kingdom of Burgundy seems to have been longing for those things for a long time. Once Angelo disappears, he can’t wait to come out and take over the legacy. He must have gotten a lot of good stuff through the connection.”

Xavier stared angrily at Auden with bloodshot eyes.

Auden shrank backwards, dodging his sight. “He was the one who took the initiative to contact us. He also said that he was willing to cooperate with us and help us to occupy the entire periphery of the Fifth Division. Our earl valued that very much, so he sent Mandel and me here apart from others.”

“Did he?” Ye Qingxuan finally figured it out and nodded. “It seems that the people of the Burgundy Division have all fallen into the enemy’s hands. What a heavy loss! For the first time in years, the Fifth Division suffered such a heavy blow. If Maxwell were still alive, he would feel very shameful and might have resigned already. Well done.”

The last sentence was obviously a praise, but it made Xavier quiver. Cold sweat oozed out of his pores, sticking to his skin and giving off the smell of fear.

After reading the confession, Ye Qingxuan raised his head, with no emotions in his eyes.

Indifferently.

“Seventeen secret bank accounts, more than a few million pounds, three tons of black gold stored as the treasure to restore the national power, two secret storages of military equipment… the entire list of underground members of the South…”

“Do you know where those things come from, Xavier?” he whispered. “Over a hundred years, hundreds of commissioners and countless people died in order to defend those things.

“The Royal Knights held a secret state-level funeral for them. On a deserted island, the mountains and plains were full of tombstones that covered two entire graveyards.

“More than half of the tombs were empty, some of them contained incomplete bodies. They died for the lives of more people.

“Maxwell once ordered me to swear to them that one day, after taking over all this, I’d make their sacrifice and death valuable. Those are the fruits of their hard work at the cost of their lives. Now they are all ruined at your hands, all of them.”

Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes, trying to control his anger.

“All of them.”

Xavier opened his mouth with all his strength and said, “I don’t—”

Boom!

A hurricane burst out of nowhere.

In the loud noise, the fragile desks and chairs were destroyed. The soup bowl fell to the ground and was crushed. In the corner, dust rose and fell down again.

Xavier’s voice suddenly stopped, because a hand grasped his neck and pressed him against the wall.

Then he saw those dark eyes.

“I said, shut up!”

But Xavier squeezed out a smirky smile on his face. “Look at your confidence… You don’t know anything yet, Ye Qingxuan. You don’t know what happened in that mist!”

Regardless of the gradually increasing pressure from the hand, he exhausted all his strength to say, “Anglo is finished! No one can save it! I saw it clearly through the telescope! The monster will destroy everything! Including you!”

“Monster?” Ye Qingxuan frowned.

“Do you want to know what that monster is? Hahaha…” Xavier looked at him with ridicule. “I will not tell you, Ye Qingxuan. I have lost the game already; you can torture me by any means, you can even kill me, but I will not tell you anything. One day, you will experience the same desperation that I did. By then, you will find that you have no way back… Hahaha!”

Bang!

Ye Qingxuan loosened his hand and let him fall down. Xavier knelt on the ground, trying hard to gasp and cough. Then he wiped off the snot and tears, and said with sneering eyes, “Come on, Ye Qingxuan. What do you want to do? Show me your power. Let me see what you’ve learnt from Maxwell.”

“You want me to kill you?” Ye Qingxuan looked down at him indifferently. “Rest assured, I will not.”

He reached out and touched Xavier’s hair, with inexplicable sympathy in his eyes. “I promise, you will get the proper punishment, in the right place. But before that, I will let you witness it all”

Ye Qingxuan paused and smiled. “In the best place.”

Xavier was stunned, and didn’t know what Ye Qingxuan wanted to do. However, when he was about to say something, he was hit on the head from behind by someone with a stick, then he fainted on the ground.

Soon, he was dragged away.

Ye Qingxuan returned to his seat, looking at the messy ground and waiting quietly.

After a long time, a middle-aged man named Niven appeared at the door and knocked.

“Mr. Ye, according to your instructions, the ship has been repaired.”

“Very well.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “Did everyone get the medicine? If the medicine is not enough, I will make more.”

“The doctor is giving them injections,” Niven replied. “Most people have already recovered. The musicians examined them and said that the parasites had lost their activity. They will be fine after a good sleep. But four of them…are impossible to cure.”

Ye Qingxuan remained silent.

Under the order of Ye Qingxuan, the Fifth Division had entered the quiet period. All activities had ceased, and there would be no more activities or responses unless he received the order from headquarters.

In other words, the Fifth Division had entered a state of suspended animation.

The losses might be enormous, and suspended animation could change into “real death” after a long time, but further loss of power in the chaos could be avoided, at least.

Most of the losses caused by Xavier’s betrayal were the supplies and reserves in the bank. However, the truly precious talents and channels were hidden here and weren’t impacted too much.

That was why Xavier planned to attack here.

Nearly 400 special commissioners were left: the talents of the Fifth Division.

These commissioners from various departments specialized in force and destruction. Most of them had the basic qualifications of a musician, and had undergone special training including assassination, poison, mechanical engineering, first aid, etc.

Each of them was carefully selected by Maxwell, so they had absolute loyalty to him. They were the internal forces of the Fifth Division, and the “organists” who were awarded the badge by Maxwell himself.

Apart from their own capabilities, the secrets kept in their brains were even more precious than their lives.

In order to obtain complete power, Xavier had to implant the parasites into people untraceably through slow transformations and penetrations, relying on the oddities summoned by Mandel to control them.

He had to weaken their defenses bit by bit, and take control of them in the end.

But the consequence was that some people couldn’t tolerate the transformation, so they lost control mentally and became psychotics. Those who realized his schemes had been sequestered at the excuse of mental disorder, and had even been killed after interrogation and thrown into the sea.

The Cloister of Cavern enclosed by the sea had become a prison.

If Ye Qingxuan had come back two weeks later, all the commissioners would have been brainwashed and become the puppets of Burgundy.

The Fifth Division would have completely collapsed.

Even now, it was still too late for some people.

The medicine Ye Qingxuan gave them was made of 99% saltwater and 1% his blood. The blood, rich in stone of sage and purifying music theory, was the best antidote.

Upon entering the human body, the power in the blood would multiply automatically to kill all parasites and supply with the body with energy, Qi, and blood.

Those in good condition would sleep all their problems away after taking the antidote, while those in poor health may have symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea. In the worst case, they might get seriously ill due to the rebuilding of their immune system.

For those who had been infected for too long, no cure was possible. For them, there was nothing that Ye Qingxuan could do. The purifying medicine, however, would end their endless nightmare and suffering, and wake them up from the madness for a short time.

They would live their last hours with a clear mind.

And then, they would have to face their death.

“It’s cruel. Right?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

“It is redemption,” Niven answered from the door. On his fingertip, an organist emblem was spinning swiftly.

“Appropriate manners, neat looks, and free will are the essence of human nature. Maxwell once told us.

“I like it. It is also true to an organist. For us who are always hiding from exposure, this emblem is our only comfort. It is the only glory and consolation for us. It must not be stained or fall into dirty mud.”

He paused, and then said gently, “To die with dignity, is better than to live in filth and evil.”

…

That afternoon, a simple funeral was held for the dead on the top of the Cloister of Cavern.

Ye Qingxuan, holding the Holy Bible, hosted the funeral. All secret service members were there to mourn the six dead organists. The funeral was so simple that there was not even a flower for the dead.

In the pattering rain, the dead were laid in shabby coffins. The rain dropped onto their faces, making everything wet. It was so sad.

“Audette, Sylvester, Warren…” Looking at the faces of the dead, Ye Qingxuan muttered, “It’s a pity that you can’t see the beginning and the end of this war, that you can’t enjoy the praise of fervent poems and songs, or a glorious death that will be noted in history.

“Today, you will say goodbye to all suffering in the human world and enjoy peace in the realm of death. Your death may not be able to make more people live, but your mission and duty will never die and shall be passed down forever.”

Closing his eyes, he lit the fire. The fire rose up from the oil, fierce and wild, evaporating the rain. It devoured the face of the dead and embraced everything in its arms. Pale smoke dispersed slowly, like the souls of the dead rising up to heaven.

“May your souls never die,” Ye Qingxuan muttered.

All organists, lowering their heads toward their dead companions, sang in their course and low voice, which lingered in the narrow and dark space between the sky and the earth.

“Long lives the elegy!”

…

After the silent mourning, Ye Qingxuan turned around and looked at the crowd behind him with the light, carefully watching the face of every one of them.

For most of those people, it was the first time that they had met Ye Qingxuan. When they saw his face, they were worried if he could accomplish this mission that was too huge for anyone since he was so young himself.

Ye Qingxuan stepped forward. He refused the umbrella Niven held up for him and let the rain fall onto him. Standing in front of the crowd, Ye Qingxuan let them stare at him.

“I suppose you already know me. I am Ye Qingxuan, temporarily in charge of the Fifth Department after Maxwell went missing. It was I who gave the order to send you here. It might be said that all the suffering you’ve had these days was because to this.”

Facing their eyes full of doubt, Ye Qingxuan remained calm. “I know what you are thinking about. I don’t look like a qualified commander or leader, nor am I like Maxwell, who you all have faith in. Your doubt and concern are all understandable. It is normal that you feel upset.

“Yet, nothing can be changed for now. I nor you have another choice. And more unfortunately, more suffering is coming after this short break.”

Ye Qingxuan smiled pleasantly. “Perhaps you don’t want to hear this from me. Perhaps you’ve come here for some noble cause. However, I don’t like those dignified yet hollow slogans. So, let’s get ourselves some other reasons.”

Pointing at the lightless sky and the dark sea, he continued, “Dear sirs, we don’t know what lies in front of us. It might be death for all of us. What I’m leading you to is a war; a war through which you can reclaim your country from the mist!

“Our enemy is this ocean which devoured Anglo. Compared to it, we are no more powerful than the dirt in the air, nor do we have any real chance of winning. We are going into this mist and back to Anglo, to retake our land and our country from this monstrous world. But before that, I have something to tell you…”

In the eyes full of astonishment, he raised the ancient, unpolished ring. The emblem engraved by the stone sword was awoken, glistening with red-hot light. The light pierced through the air like a sword.

“By the name of the stone sword, what I promise you here shall be honored!” Ye Qingxuan proclaimed solemnly, his voice like thunder, echoing in everyone’s ears. “I assure you that every one of you will participate in this war. I assure you that the sacrifice of every death will be meaningful and that everyone who follows me will die with dignity.

“I assure you that if we win, everyone who is dead will be remembered by this country and everyone who survives will become a hero. Alive or dead, you will be forever remembered in the history books of Anglo. If we lose, we will bury ourselves in this lightless sea and reunite with the souls of the heroes in the realm of death!”

In the silence, Ye Qingxuan muttered, “Long lives the elegy for us.”

The organists answered him with their hand over their heart. “We will follow your order, sir.”

The organists from all over the world lowered their head in front of the young man. They half knelt in the rain to offer their loyalty.

There was no more hesitation.

“Very good.” Ye Qingxuan nodded gently, smiling. “Dear sirs, please enjoy this long journey to death with me.”

…

Ten minutes later, on the deck of the iron ship.

The realignment of the ship was over, and the engine was warmed up. Everyone was in position and the last batch of supply was moved from the Cloister of Cavern to the ship. Standing at the ship deck, Ye Qingxuan watched the scene quietly.

“The speech just now, to be frank, really sucked.” Igor stood beside him with a big cigarette in his mouth, smoke coming out of his nose.

“Is it really that bad?” Ye Qingxuan forced a bitter smile. “I am still not good at this.”

“Don’t worry. It might’ve been bad, but it worked.” Igor couldn’t help but glance at Ye Qingxuan again with an odd stare as if he was checking out something dangerous. “Mr. Ye, has anyone told you that you are really good at dealing with lunatics?”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Sort of.” Igor shrugged.

Pretty soon, the last man was on board. The Cloister of Cavern became quiet again; as quiet as a grave. The handling of the supplies was finished, so was the inspection of the ship. Yet, looking at the ship, Ye Qingxuan felt there was something short. He patted on his head and finally remembered the order he had given to Igor.

“Captain, where is our new figurehead?” He said to Igor, “I’ve been waiting for so long.”

“As you commanded, my lord.” Igor grinned. “This is the only one of its kind, I assure you.” He waved his hand and several sailors went. Pretty soon, the just-finished figurehead was carried out with a thick layer of dust-cloth over it, keeping everyone from seeing what it looked like.

With the assistance of the hoister and pulleys, the new figurehead was installed on the bow of the ship very soon. Inside the dust-cloth, the figurehead was like a living thing, struggling with all its might, which made Ye Qingquan and his crew pleasant.

The rope that tied up the dust-cloth was undone, and the cloth was blown up into the sky by the heavy wind. The thing under it was finally revealed, gasping for air.

Seeing Ye Qingxuan with his blood-red eyes, he shouted desperately in his hoarse voice, “Ye Qingxuan, you will die miserably!!!”

On the bow, Xavier, tied up on the cross, was struggling in an attempt to get out of the chains. But his limbs were merged into iron by some sort of magic of alchemy. Welded on his body like a turtle shell was a sharp iron plate, on which someone wrote with paint: I am a defeatist.

With the iron structure, he replaced the bronze woman statue. As the new figurehead of the ship, he would break the waves and be the first to sail into the dark sea.

“How do you like it?” Patting the new statue, which he considered to be his masterpiece, Igor asked Ye Qingxuan, who nodded in admiration.

“This is like a piece of art, my captain,” Ye Qingxuan said.

“Haha. I knew it.” Igor laughed heartedly. “I was born to be a f*cking artist!”

“Ye Qingxuan! I curse you! You will be damned! Sooner or later!” Xavier shouted desperately from the bow of the ship. Seeing the dark sea of surging waves, he became aware of his own fate. His face twisted with terror, he screamed with all his strength, “Kill me, you pussy! You pervert! Lunatic! Psychopath! I curse you! Curse you!!!”

“It’s so good to see you in such a good health.” Looking at Xavier calmly, Ye Qingxuan said, “Enjoy our journey, Mr. Xavier. As I promised, you will witness everything from the best position.”

In the midst of the screaming and cursing, Ye Qingxuan turned to Igor with a smile. “Set it off, my captain. I can’t wait to go.”

Igor nodded and tossed the cigarette under his feet. Stomping on the cigarette butt, he waved to the bridge. “Turn to the North!” To Anglo! To Alderney! Weigh anchor! Set sail!”

The steamer tooted. The iron wheel gave out a loud and sharp sound, tearing apart the eternal silence of the darkness like the roaring of a giant beast. The noise almost deafened everybody’s ears.

The iron anchor was raised slowly out of the sea. The shaking of the iron wheel caused turbulence in the sea. Propelled by the engine, the wheel drove out the water and tore up the waves.

They were singing, tweeting and shouting.

They sailed into the deepest part of the lightless sea.

Darkness devoured everything.

In the beginning, there were still stormy waves and heavy rains.

Even if the aether engine operated at full capacity, the ship could only sail at a speed of 20 knots.

Except the necessary sailors, all the rest of the passengers were ordered to get into the cabin and waiting for the storm to end. After an unknown amount of time, the storm began to dissipate.

When the stormy waves calmed down, they had already passed through the thick fog and sailed into the depths of the Lightless Sea.

Even at midnight, there were still no stars.

The sea was dead and calm, without any waves. The cold wind blew from afar and into the bone marrow of those on the ship, a bitter chill they could hardly bear.

Here, the breathing sound was hard to notice, as if it had been diluted.

In the darkness, only the lonely lights were shining, illuminating the fairway ahead.

On the deck, Ye Qingxuan sat in a wet chair and looked at the silent sea under the searchlight, pondering something in silence.

After a long time, Igor, who handed the rudder to the first mate after finishing the shift, took his precious liquor to the deck and sat beside Ye Qingxuan.

“Mr. Ye, you don’t want to sleep?”

“I can’t sleep.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “The cabin walls are so thin that I can clearly hear the snoring sounds from the next room. Captain Igor, your ship is passable.”

Igor felt helpless. “Don’t be so picky, Mr. Ye. It’s just a clipper, not a fortress on the sea like one of Asgard’s ships. It doesn’t have a name, ’cause it was launched as soon as it was built. In order to contain over 300 people for you, I even had my captain’s lounge torn down. You should be more lenient, and put up with the sound of snoring.”

After he spoke, he shook his liquor. “Have a shot?”

“I’d love to.”

The liquor rippled in the glass.

Ye Qingxuan held a glass of liquor and looked at the sea. “When I was outside of here, I thought that it would be stormy waves everywhere. I did not expect it to be so quiet.”

“Yes.” Igor sighed. “It is like sailing in the Styx.”

“Actually, they are not the same.” Ye Qingxuan thought for a second, then shook his head. “I’ve seen the Styx; it’s not as big as this.”

“Haha, Mr. Ye, you’ve got a sense of humor.” Igor laughed and didn’t believe him.

Hearing that, Ye Qingxuan didn’t care, but just asked, “Did you shut down the main engine? I can’t hear the operating sound of the first wheel set. Can we arrive in Alderney tomorrow at such speed?”

“It’s okay. We’re lucky! We caught a free ride.” Igor shook his head carelessly and pointed to the sea below.

After reading through the perception thread, Ye Qingxuan was stunned.

“An ocean current?”

“Yeah.” Igor nodded.

To navigate the sea, one had to be familiar with the flow of ocean currents.

“Each year in winter and summer, this current forms from East India, and flows through the Asgard Channel with a large number of spawning fish, then passes by Anglo and Caucasus, and finally travels on to the East. Her name is ‘Igni.’ In the Highland language that means ‘the daughter of the sea.’”

“I see.”

“The arrival time that we predicted is tomorrow, but with her, we may get there in four hours or so,” Igor said. “However, I heard that few people were willing to go to Alderney. That was a deserted island on which there was no city but some trees. It was not close to the main fairway, and even can’t play the role of a hub. Mr. Ye, I thought you were busy saving Anglo, so why do you want to get there?”

“To try my luck,” Ye Qingxuan replied calmly. “That is a fiefdom of my friend. If he didn’t lie to me, I should be able to find a way there to save the country.”

“…”

Hearing that, Igor shrugged. “Then I wish you luck.”

To be honest, he wished that Ye Qingxuan would be outside on the sea every day and couldn’t go deep into the center. He had spent a lifetime in saving money. He owed a heavy debt, and finally got a new ship from the shipyard in the Sacred City though a lot of relationships.

Now the world had changed, and almost no one needed to rent a ship.

He counted on it to make a fortune.

“Although Ye Qingxuan’s payment was sufficient for me to repay the loans, and I could even earn an additional large sum of money. But who would be complaining about having too much money?”

“Therefore, it would be better if they circle around the island several times and go home.”

“Of course, that is impossible.”

Thinking about that, he couldn’t help sighing.

“The world is tough. After having shaken off my bad reputation, I still have to earn money at the risk of my life. What is the difference between this and being a pirate on the Illusion Islands before?”

He shook his head and took a shot. Then he no longer thought about that and chatted randomly with Ye Qingxuan.

“Mr. Ye, you rarely put out to sea, right?”

“Well, although I grew up in Anglo, there aren’t many opportunities for a boat ride.” Ye Qingxuan took a sip and said softly, “When I first arrived in Avalon, I took a ship like this, but that one was very old and crowded. One hundred pounds for one bed in the bottom tank, ten days of board, a public toilet, no bathroom. Ten days, that almost drove me crazy.”

“Most of the ships are like that.” Igor shrugged. “When I was young, I dreamed of having a boat that only belonged to me. I could sail it, with my woman, wherever I wanted to go. Unfortunately, I’ve got the ship, but I haven’t found my woman. I should have gotten some prostitutes on board. At least we could have some fun now.”

“Speaking about that, you reminded me of something.” Ye Qingxuan smiled. “There was a special service on the ship that I took previously.”

“Oh?” Igor’s eyes lit up. “How special?”

“Thirty pounds.” Ye Qingxuan raised three fingers. “Only thirty pounds, and you could enter the captain’s sheepfold and stay with the sheep there for half an hour… I didn’t understand at the time. When I heard the sheep bleating in the room, I felt that everyone was so kind and caring. Later I heard that someone thought thirty pounds was too expensive, so he quietly shaved the wool off. Then, the captain got angry and people couldn’t stay with the sheep anymore.”

Hearing that, Igor slapped his sighs, “Oh, what a pity!”

Ye Qingxuan was silent for a moment and smiled cunningly. “However, the sailors told us that although there were no sheep, you could also go for the captain…”

“Hahahaha!”

Igor almost laughed his yellow teeth out of his head. “To the great captain.”

“To the great captain.” Ye Qingxuan made a toast and drank the glass, then put the empty glass on the bench. Igor was about to pour more liquor, but saw Ye Qingxuan waving his hand.

“I’m bad at drinking, it’s already enough.”

“What a pity.” Igor didn’t mind, boozing directly from the bottle. “The rest is mine.”

In the silence that followed, he finished the bottle and threw it into the sea. Suddenly, he asked, “It’s hard to play vicious, right?”

“Hmm?” Ye Qingxuan looked up. “Why do you say that?”

“Because you don’t look like a villain.”

“Maybe I am.”

Igor sighed and pointed to his own wrinkled face.

“Mr. Ye, I’m forty-five,” he said. “I have been sailing on the sea for thirty years. The people I deal with every day are the sailors who escaped on a ship after committing a crime, and the bad guys who are about to get off the ship and commit a crime. I’ve seen many bad guys, and you’re not one of them.”

Ye Qingxuan kept silent for a long time, and scratched his head. “Is something wrong?”

“Vicious people hate this world. Because the world is not good to them, they could only be good to themselves. But Mr. Ye, when you look at people, where does the sorrow and sympathy in your eyes come from?”

“Presumably you read that wrong.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “I take so many people to meet death for my own sake… If I’m still not a villain, then what kind of person am I?”

Igor thought for a moment and spoke with a serious look which showed that he was not telling a joke.

“Probably… a saint?”

Ye Qingxuan was shocked for a while, but suddenly laughed. “Am I such a kind person in your eyes?”

“You are not bad, you are just arrogant.” Igor got up and patted him on the shoulder. “A madman like you always thinks that he can change everything, so he show so much mercy and sympathy to the world.”

“Do you want to talk for another few minutes?”

“No, I’m sleepy.” Igor waved. “You should go to sleep too, Mr. Mad, and think about how to toss this world tomorrow.”

As soon as he stopped, a loud noise suddenly burst out.

Boom!

A horrible snarling suddenly rose out of the dead sea.

The anxious silence turned into boiling craziness, and countless bubbles floated out of the sea. Something rose from the depths of the dark sea, rolled up a few meters high, and hit the hull bottom fiercely.

The steel wheels that weighed hundreds of tons almost overturned under the terrible impact, and drifted like duckweed.

Igor’s feet slipped in the fierce turbulence, and he was thrown out by the shaking deck.

He screamed and fell towards the dark, boiling sea.

A hand suddenly reached through the air and grabbed his collar. The next moment, a strong force, like a rolling winch, hauled him up and pulled him back to the deck of the ship.

Igor fainted and almost passed away.

In an instant, he passed by Death.

He panted in fear, looked up and saw Ye Qingxuan in front of him, but he felt so strange about him.

It seemed that something terrible was awakening in his body. It was operating with a large sound, burning vigorously, spewing out grand power stronger than an aether furnace.

His dark eyes were ignited with cold moonlight.

Like a resurrected saint who walked down from the base of a stone statue, he looked majestic even without any jewelry or laurels.

“I’m sorry, Captain Igor. I’m afraid you can’t sleep tonight.” Ye Qingxuan looked at him and pointed to the dark sea beneath them. “When you finish pissing your pants, can you tell me what the hell that thing in the sea is?”

The area of the sea that Ye Qingxuan pointed at was no longer quiet. A sudden wild wave burst out of the surface. The glaring beam of a searchlight pierced through the darkness, lightening up an area with a terrible green color. It was the skin of something. Looking closely, one could see scales the size of a thumb, but no one could believe it because it was so huge. The nightmares of all of the sailors put together was nothing compared to it. In the searchlight, what they could see was only a tiny fraction of it. In the deep sea where the searchlight could not reach, it crept swiftly.

It was a sea snake; a sea snake of astonishing size! The iron ship, which weighed hundreds of tons, was no more than one-fifth of its length! Compared to it, the ship was like a little baby in the hands of a giant.

In one instant, the huge body of the snake wound through the dark sea. There was an enormous eye passing quickly into the darkness. The eye was greyish-white in color and had no pupil at all. It was looking at them as if it were looking at dust.

“Moun-mountain of Nomadism!!!” Igor seemed paralyzed and fell down instantly. His eyes were full of despair as if he had seen the most terrible nightmare. He screamed, “The legend is true! God damn! I should have known it! We are going to die, Mr. Ye. We are doomed!”

Ye Qingxuan slapped him. “We are not dead yet, Captain,” he said. “It was saying ‘hello’ just now. It has not begun yet. Get your crew in position, and get yourself together. Then tell me what the hell this Mountain of Nomadism is.”

Waken up by the slap, Igor struggled to get up and snatched something to stabilize himself. He didn’t dare to get close to the side of the ship, not even daring to look at the monster.

Ear-piercing alarms sounded. In a few seconds, everyone was woken up and ran quickly to Igor’s position to wait for the enemy. When they saw the enemy, everyone was seized by desperation.

“That thing…it really exists.” Igor’s face was pale. Biting his teeth, he said, “I thought it was only a legend, a joke made by some drunkard to steal people’s money. The story was passed down from hundreds of years ago. It should not exist in this world. It’s… a nightmare.

“Some lucky people have seen it from afar. They saw it swallowing a whale hunting ship along with a whale into its stomach, leaving the sea blood-red… It must have gotten here by following the ocean’s current! People say it was the ‘son of the ocean’, following its sisters to shepherd its mother fish.”

“Don’t panic. You call yourself ‘son of the ocean’, don’t you?” Ye Qingxuan glanced at him. “Though it is your big brother, it is only older than you. There is nothing to fear.”

“I…I was not her real son!” Igor wanted to cry, but fear had deprived him of his tears.

“Watch out!”

Boom! A terrible impact was felt again. The ship quivered with sharp sounds of twisting iron and steel. The Mountain of Nomadism splashed huge waves that crashed down on the ship. Amid the enormous shock, there was one moment everyone was tossed up in the air. Then, the ship was flung into the air. The next second, the ship fell into the huge wave, causing a massive splash.

Screams came from everywhere.

The body of the ship was torn up, leaving a huge crack through which the sea water began to pour into the ship, tilting the ship to one side. Along with the sharp sound caused by friction between the Mountain of Nomadism and the iron ship, the giant snake suddenly twisted its body. At the same time, it raised its long tail covered with barbs, then smashed down on the ship. Its move was so powerful that the sea seemed to be torn up by the strong wind it caused.

It was like hitting a rat with an iron bar.

The tail was flung upon them with horrible force. Even three ships combined together would be destroyed by one strike.

At that moment, Ye Qingxuan pressed his hand on the deck.

The Holy!

The glorious anthem sounded. Glamourous golden light, like flowing water, enveloped the whole ship, which suddenly became as sacred as a holy temple.

With the music theory as the pry lever, the rules governing the physical world began to twist under the weight of the Symphony of Predestination. As the music movement was formed, Ye Qingxuan felt the horrible force inflicting on the enchantment.

No one knew how terrible the Mountain of Nomadism’s strength was, as the barrier of the Holy anthem was even shaken under its impact. Yet the balance constructed by the inner music theory offset it in an instant. Even the sea water in the ship was turning back under Ye Qingxuan’s willpower. Everything was getting better and cheers came from inside the ship. Yet, after only a few seconds, Ye Qingxuan’s face nearly turned green.

The consumption of power was so astonishing… The moment the Holy appeared, he had begun to feel the horrible pressure from the lightless sea. Unlike the rejecting force in the physical world expected by Ye Qingxuan, it seemed that the whole lightless sea was fighting against the enchantment of the Holy.

It was as if the sea was alive, reacting to the invasion of foreign bodies.

This place had turned into something like the World of Dark, or even more powerful than that. Like the realm of some catastrophe, no other enchantment was allowed to exist.

This was not good; it was very bad.

In the School of Abstinence, which Ye Qingxuan was best at, more than half of his willpower was used on the path of domain. Now that the path of domain was rejected, it was like he had lost one of his legs.

What’s more, a sea monster like the Mountain of Nomadism was in no way an ordinary creature. It was quite similar to the snake that twined around the whole world and was the ace of spades in the School of Dragon Stone in the School of Summoning. It was in no way weaker than the monsters created by the skillful musicians of the School of Summoning.

Undoubtedly, the blood of Catastrophe flowed within it. It might be the sibling of some catastrophe or the incarnation of some catastrophe who was preparing to descend upon the world. Besides its monstrous strength, it definitely had some other horrible power. Even the beasts modified by the breath of monsters could spit fireballs.

Passive defense would not work.

Definitely not.

In one moment, Ye Qingxuan made up his mind. If he only took the defense, he would run out of strength fighting against the lightless sea.

He had to attack; drive it off or kill it!

“Organists in position, sir!” Several seconds later, four men, who had just put on their clothes, ran onto the deck. One of them had thrown up many times due to seasick. He was pale.

“Musicians?” Ye Qingxuan asked. “Can they really be of any help?” Pretty soon, he was relieved to see the shine of the musicians’ music theory.

Four of them were Resonance musicians; two were from the School of Modifications, one from the School of Revelation, and one was even the Son of Phoenix from the School of Anglo Royalty.

They not only had the skills of summoning but also those of modifications! They were really professionals.

At this moment, the School of Modifications was so much more useful than Ye Qingxuan.

The School of Modifications was now much more useful than Ye Qingxuan!

Even three resonances was enough to repair the holes in the hull and temporarily strengthen the ship.

As for the Son of the Phoenix, who had vomited so much that his face turned extremely pale, Ye Qingxuan dropped him on the bridge and let him direct from there. Out of those present, he understood the nature of the heaven catastrophes and beastliness the most. He would definitely find a better way to deal with the Mountain of Nomadism than Ye Qingxuan would.

After the appearance of the Holy Grail, the Mountain of Nomadism changed his sloppiness and contempt. Dark green liquid poured from his pores, and dyed the vast sea. Then, the seawater began to evaporate, turned into a thick mist, and swallowed them.

Soon after, Ye Qingxuan discovered that the metamorphosed seawater had an pervasive erosion effect apart from the violent poisonousness.

The holy light of the outermost layer was darkened under the erosion of the dark green vapor.

If the musicians of the School of Choir saw such a fierce poison, they would crazily delighted.

Ye Qingxuan now also had a crazy impulse.

Fortunately, Captain Igor didn’t disappoint him this time.

“Cannonball!”

Knowing that this time they would either die or win, Igor no longer panicked.

The ferociousness that had accumulated for more than 30 years on the sea exploded, burning his eyes red like flames. “There’s a cannonball in my ship!”

Ye Qingxuan was shocked. Cannonball?

“Will that work?”

“Most of the cannonballs on board are meant for hunting whales or driving away demons. Although the power is enormous, it could only be said to be passable in this situation.”

“Maybe it can’t even shoot through the scales of the Mountain of Nomadism.”

“Would a person be terrified by an embroidery needle?”

“What’s more, the stuff is so cumbersome that it will be difficult to move and take a long time to install.”

“It’s possible to shoot a fixed target, but if we use it as a weapon now, I can only say that… half a loaf is better than no loaf at all.”

“Have a look first!” Igor knew clearly what he was thinking. He opened the secret room in the bridge and pulled out the safety bolt.

A roaring sound suddenly rang from the inside of the hull. Through the glass on the bridge, Ye Qingxuan saw the deck suddenly open. The folded mechanical structure hidden within shook violently and unfolded with a sharp rubbing sound. The grease filled between the gears, and the hub was melted by high heat, squeezed out of the gaps, and sprinkled down.

Within a few seconds, an exaggeratedly giant cannonball had already broken through the unlucky figurehead erected at the prow of the ship.

After an aether engine was installed in it, high-heat aether waves ran through the alchemy matrix, glowing like burning lava. The entire cannonball was bathed in flames.

“Is that a cannonball?” Ye Qingxuan was dumbfounded. “You told me that it was a cannonball?”

“That giant weapon was obviously made by the psychopaths of the Chainsaw Fraternity to destroy the ‘point-to-point siege matrix’ of a city wall!”

“That is a legion-type weapon, right? It was born to destroy strong barriers. The Chainsaw Fraternity calls it the ‘Keel,’ because it contains power as strong as an evil dragon’s.”

“Since its first test shot when it tore a crack through an entire city, all the finished products were divided by the countries. Then the government prohibited the reproduction, transportation, or the sale of the weapon.”

“But when did Igor hide the giant weapon in the hull?”

“Under the supervision of all countries and the shipyard of the Sacred City…”

“It’s a merchant ship!”

“What is he doing with this monstrosity on his ship?!”

“This is a second-hand stuff that I bought from Caucasus. It really took me a lot of work.” Igor rubbed his hands excitedly and said, “Well, actually, it was abandoned equipment. It will break after one more shot or two… Mr. Ye, you’re not going to report me to the Sacred City, right?”

Although saying that, he didn’t worry at all.

They were rats on the same boat; they would die together if they couldn’t win. Moreover, what Ye Qingxuan wanted to do was much more unacceptable than he did.

Igor was now very grateful for the wise decision that he made previously.

He saved money for years, and had just gotten rid of his bad reputation. Igor didn’t want to slip-up and fall into the trap again.

The pirates were the ones who knew the pirates the most.

The peers were the ones who knew their peers the most.

Unexpectedly, when the ship was launched into the sea for the first time, he took over a life-risking mission for money, and sailed to Anglo. This terrible, precious stuff would be first used to shoot the Mountain of Nomadism of legend.

Now, although hearing the good news, Ye Qingxuan still felt depressed.

Not enough.

The power was still not enough.

The power of the point-to-point attacking matrix was based on the design of the “triple composite overload filling,” fueled by the massive supply of power of a military aether furnace. Its overloading capacity was three times stronger than that of the other weapons, which greatly reduced its service life, but gave even a single shot terrifying, destructive power.

A civilian aether engine couldn’t let it exert its full power, or activate part of the matrix.

Moreover, they only had one chance…

At this time, the weak musician next to him—the Son of Phoenix, who finally finished vomiting, got up against the wall and raised his hand faintly. “Sir… When I came from the Indian Branch Office, I brought a ‘cup of virtue’ with me.”

“We could definitely win this time!”

Ye Qingxuan was shocked at first, and then suddenly became overjoyed. He had never expected that there would be so much good stuff in the ship.

The seven cups of virtue included honesty, hope, generosity, justice, courage, temperance, and tolerance. One of them was here in the ship!

“The minister said that we might use it… so I brought it here,” the Son of Phoenix said anxiously. “But the Indian Branch Office only has the cup of temperance, and I don’t know if it’ll work.”

The “cups of virtue” sounded like a beautiful name, but it was actually a joke in Anglo.

The seven cups of virtue were seven notorious, large-scale weapons for biological alchemy. No, they should be described as the alchemical makers.

As long as the aether supply was sufficient, they could create all kinds of evil things without restriction.

Humans were always keen on creating things to destroy their counterparts.

For example, the “hope,” the best of them, was sealed by the Anglo’s Royal Fleet and included in the blacklist. At first, the Royal Fleet guaranteed that they would never use it in war.

It was said that in just five minutes, one teaspoon of the turquoise gas it produced could kill all the living things in half a city.

Although it was already a pleasant surprise to have one cup of virtue, Ye Qingxuan still felt disappointed when he heard its name of “temperance.”

It was given the name because of the terrible concentration of the poisonous liquid it produced.

But making it exert its power required a considerable amount of poisonous liquid—at least a few hundred milliliters at a time.

If the liquid was poured into the headwaters of a river, all the water systems, river banks, and crops that relied on water irrigation within tens of kilometers would be completely destroyed.

According to current observations, the contaminated land was impossible to restore.

That was why Anglo placed the temperance cup in the biggest colony, India, as a deterrence to evil thoughts. The spices and tea produced on the fertile black soil there each year supplied more than half of the Western World. Food was the lifeblood of Anglo. If the land was lost, it must be completely destroyed, and not allowed to fall into enemy hands.

“Temperance? That will do.” Ye Qingxuan stretched out his hand and the Son of Phoenix clumsily took out a metal box from his backpack and cracked it open. There was a cup which seemed to be carved from a human skull.

“I’ll go and gather the musicians,” said the Son of Phoenix.

“No need for that; it’s too slow. I can do it myself.” Holding the cup like a sword, Ye Qingxuan chanted the initializing incantation which was a national secret.

“Today we raise the cup to celebrate; may all the fertile lands yield wheat.”

The sound of mud gushing was heard. In the empty cup, sticky grease -like liquid was steadily gushing out. The speed of the liquid was incredibly fast, with small bubbles popping out with it. There was nothing odd about its appearance, yet it made people nervous and fearful.

Land and grain were the prerequisites of life. If they were lost, the world would suffer from terrible plague and famine, which meant endless starvation and torment.

Even the Son of Phoenix, who had been keeping it, stepped back in terror, swallowing his own saliva.

The Temperance was horrible, yet the speed at which Ye Qingxuan was making it was even more horrible. Normally, it would take several masters to drive the process to make the venom, but now it was flowing out like a fountain.

“What are you waiting for?” Igor was the first to recover from the shock. “Get a bucket! A bucket!”

The dust bin was emptied and placed in front of Ye Qingxuan, who tilted the cup so that the sticky liquid poured out of the skull cup into the bucket. The bucket was almost half full in no time.

When the bucket was put down, it was replaced by the musician of the School of Modifications into a kind of strange metal that was rich in oil to isolate the toxin. Though the toxin was completely isolated, the floor underneath the bucket turned a greyish-green and quickly rusted due to erosion.

“Enough! That’s enough! No More!” When the amount of venom reached two-thirds of the bucket volume, Son of Pheonix asked Ye Qingxuan to stop. He carefully picked up the bucket and maintained the balance among the metals. It was only a short while, yet he began to sweat all over.

Ye Qingxuan’s face also turned slightly pale. He put away the cup and stepped back. Catching his breath, he said, “It’s your job to do the extraction. The rest of you go and fix the ship body. Captain, I’m not familiar with sea battle. You are in charge now.”

“Now that we have a ballista, we can fight back.” Igor’s eyes brightened up and he shouted, “All crew members, get in position! Turn on the main engine, the secondary engine, the third engine, and the fourth engine! All of them! Put all the fuel in the furnace, save none of it! Distribute 30% of power to charge the Keel!” Then he paused, looking at Ye Qingxuan.

Ye Qingxuan nodded. “I’ll distract the sea monster. No problem.”

Hearing that, Igor spat some saliva into his hands and rubbed them together, feeling a fire burning in his chest. The fire was so vigorous that his blood-shot eyes were almost radiating light.

“Well, in that case, let’s do some chasing then!” said Igor.

…

One minute before the barrier of the Holy was withdrawn, the wheelset was ready. The warm-up of the “point-to-point attacking matrix” keel was finished and the overload charging was in progress.

The organist engineers had finished the main structure of the special arrow for the ballista and were making final adjustments. Several pharmacists wrapped up in protective clothing carried the iron bucket and poured the sticky liquid into a narrow opening carefully. It was as they were facing the worst enemy ever. Every time there was a little shaking, they turned pale due to fear.

30 seconds before withdrawal, three musicians of the School of Modifications were in place, and the repair of the ship was finished.

The construction of the main parts of the reinforced matrix had begun.

The alchemy matrix drawings stored in the form of scrolls were quickly engraved on the deck. The key parts were forged to form the basic circulation. Based on that, the active layer, the creation layer, formation layer, and the outflow layer were all taking shape.

Ten seconds before withdrawal. Overload drive of the main aether engine began… Enormous pressure flow that exceeded the maximum capacity was charged into the energy loop. The whole ship cracked and almost exploded due to the sudden increase of inner pressure. The steam whistle hooted. Super-hot aether flow burst out, leaving a trail of fire in the sky above the lightless sea.

The aether engine was in “overload drive” mode now.

A dark light beam pierced through the surface of the sea, like molten lava that escaped from the earth, emitting dark red light when it bloomed under the sea.

This was caused by the blades which were rotating at incredible speed, by which a huge tide of aether with an ultra-high temperature and rainbow-like light was generated.

Three seconds before withdrawal, as if he was going to give up on himself, Igor opened his best wine and drank a mouthful of it, then he shattered the bottle on the deck and closed the brake valve.

Full open!

Boom! Enveloped by the holy halo, the ship quaked and shrieked, generating a deafening boom which sounded like a bell ringing from heaven.

No longer floating in the sea, it began to charge forward at full speed. The Mountain of Nomadism hit the barrier with all its might, its venom eroding the holy halo. The barrier was quivering.

Then, the halo went out.

Sensing that the barrier had gone, the Mountain of Nomadism hissed and threw itself into the dark green toxic fog, shoveling huge waves with its mighty power. In the next instant, with its greyish white eyes, it saw that its poisonous fog was swirling in the high-pitched sound of the steam whistle.

Then, the greyish-green poisonous fog was pierced through by the searchlight, which suddenly lit up like the burning eye of a giant monster.

Everyone was shaken to the core. Then, they felt a big bang from the ship’s body.

It was as if the ship had collided with a reef. Then, there was an earthshaking shriek. Shock, anguish, and anger were all mixed up in the shriek.

It was the Mountain of Nomadism; the Mountain of Nomadism was shrieking in pain.

At that moment, riding the sea tide, the iron ship rushed forward like the god of war on fire. With the hooting of its steam whistle and the rhythm of battle, it broke out of the mist and rushed straight at the huge face of the Mountain of Nomadism. Then, it crashed into its face without any hesitation.

The sharp edges of the ship instantly collided with the scales on the snake’s face and cut open its flesh, exposing its bones which were of a greenish-white color. The demon was now in hysteric fury.

The iron ship rushed toward the Mountain of Nomadism at full speed. Driven by the ocean current as well, it reached the incredible speed of over 90 knots! It was as if it were riding the wild wind! Even the sea wind was cut off by the ship and howled angrily.

The whole ship was quaking, with every part cracking painfully. It seemed as if it would collapse at any moment.

“Captain, we have to slow down!” The second mate in charge of the wheelset was panicking. “The fourth engine was already dead! If the overloading continues, we’ll explode!”

“To die by fire?” Igor smiled. “That’s not so bad.” The fire in his eyes was even brighter due to the liquor he drank. They were so red it was as if they were glowing.

“I know it can go that fast! It really can! Go faster!” He shouted, “Faster!”