Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was a distant dream.
Bai Xi dreamed that she was singing.
In the dilapidated palace, under the setting sun, she saw a dim, yellowish light shining on the roof ridge, causing the broken shingles on the ridge to reflect the iron gleam.
Withered vines fell from the roof ridge, following the sun, dropping into the empty hall from the cracks.
The slender weeds were entangled with the white bones, and flowers bloomed from the hollow eye sockets of skulls.
The ministers in court dress had turned into skeletons, but even their skeletons were still kneeling on the ground, on both sides of the hall, worshiping the lofty throne.
They prostrated themselves in front of the supreme Empress.
The skeleton rang the bells, and the solemn and forbidding music seemed to be coming from the underworld, celebrating the arrival of the new ruler.
“Rise, my ministers.” Bai Xi stepped barefoot on the broken steps, looking down, but no one responded. The skeletons knelt on the ground, continue showing reverence to their ruler even in death.
In the silence, only the Empress sang softly, roaming around in the palace, dancing in the dim, yellowish sunlight. As she danced gently and charmingly, her sleeves fluttered in the wind, dancing along with the dust. Everything around her, all dilapidated and in decline, prostrated themselves below her toes.
Bai Xi looked around.
Everything was still and beautiful.
It all seemed very well.
It was just that she felt some insignificant… loneliness.
…
Bai Xi opened her eyes, woke up on her bed, and saw the light from the setting sun outside the window. It was not glaring.
The soft light shone on her wrist. After a long nap, the laziness she felt seemed bone-deep, making her unable to muster up enough enthusiasm to do anything.
“You’re awake?” The Empress sat in the chair, looking at the pile of packed luggage beside. “It seems like you are already done with packing. You are so eager to leave, it really breaks my heart.”
“What are you even saying?” Bai Xi turned over and gazed at the Empress, still lying in bed, her smile seemingly cheerful. “Since I returned to the East, Your Majesty has treated me as if I am one of your own. Now, although the palace is chilly and fairly deserted, it still feels somewhat homely to me. When I think about leaving this place, I naturally feel reluctant about it.”
The Empress lowered her head, sipping tea, and simply raised her eyebrows slightly. “Do you really mean it?”
“Of course I mean it,” Bai XI replied.
“At least your words sound pleasant to the ears.” The Empress put down the teacup and lifted her phoenix eyes to look at Bai Xi, full of pity. “All the while, even though your adoptive father is Bai Heng, I have never been wary of you, nor have I taken precautions against you. Instead, I passed on all my music theory and experience to you, giving you glory and power far surpassing hundreds of thousands of people.
“But now you are willing to give up everything I have given you and obediently go back to being a caged bird?”
“Such is ‘love’.” Bai Xi shook her head and sighed, a trace of mockery in her tone. “An old woman like Your Majesty will not be able to understand, I assume.”
“I am the ruler of my kingdom, of course I have my reasons for not paying attention to insignificant things like romantic feelings. But what about you, Bai Xi?” The Empress asked calmly, “When you hold the so-called ‘love’ in your hands, which hand could you use to hold the ‘power’ and ‘strength’ you want?
“And where will the things you obtain by relying on a man’s love go after you lose his love? You need to know, charming someone with beauty will not last long. ”
“Your Majesty has really lived up to your name, even the words you persuade someone to stay with are so unique.” Bai Xi giggled, propping herself up slightly, and leaned forward to look at the Empress’s indifferent expression, and said seriously. “Since Your Majesty is so reluctant to part with me, why not let me dine with you but stay with him?
“It would combine the best of both worlds, isn’t it a good idea?”
“What nonsense are you saying?” Without lifting her head, the Empress knocked on her forehead with her knuckles. “It seems that you have made up your mind to leave?”
“It isn’t a bad thing, is it? It’s good for both you and me.” Bai Xi lifted her head and rubbed the red mark on her forehead. Her smile was hidden below her palm, and her voice was soft. “Your Majesty has taught me so much, wanting to turn me into you… But all along, I have been watching you rack your brains and put in all your efforts for the sake for those pointless things. Your flustered state has only made me feel pity for you.
“Every time, I can’t help but think, why am I not the person sitting on the throne? How good would it be if it were me?” Bai Xi sighed softly, and she said, “You are definitely not as good as I will be.”
In the lengthy silence, the Empress looked down at the teacup, and after a long time, she began laughing softly.
“Is it so?” She murmured softly, “I can rest assured then.”
In her sighs, the sound of the armor parts scraping against each other rang out. In the rumble, the door slammed open, and two columns of forbidding soldiers rushed in. In a flash, layers of shackles trapped Bai Xi.
Flanked by the Praetorian Guard, the Empress reached out and flicked the dust off herself and bid farewell to Bai Xi. “Then, no matter what happens, you can at least achieve one out of your two wishes of ‘leaving here’ and ‘becoming the ‘Empress’.”
…
Ye Qingxuan heard the sound of thunder.
He opened his eyes and saw the ceiling above his head falling apart in front of his eyes.
At the moment, the entire roof was like bubbles deformed by the strong wind, distorting itself according to the tyrannical force, yet having difficulties maintaining its structure. In the end, it didn’t even have time to whine, and it met its end, falling apart.
Then only did the loud noise erupted.
As the girder snapped, innumerable pieces of broken tiles and pebbles dropped down. The four walls flew out as blasts of air swept across, leaving only a mess behind.
Amid the countless particles of dust flying around, Ye Qingxuan slowly got up, and the bed behind him finally collapsed completely.
Through the domain of Holy, he looked at the sky where a few musicians were floating in. He sighed softly. “What are these people trying to do?”
“Ye Qingxuan has presently rebelled. He has violated the laws of the country, disrespected the Empress, schemed against the throne with the rebels in secret, and harbored ill intentions…” In the sky, a musician unrolled the scroll and blabbered on for a good while, then looked at Ye Qingxuan coldly. “Marquess Changyu, if you surrender now without putting up a fight, you can still submit a plea to Her Majesty to revoke your title but spare your life. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing you no mercy.”
Ye Qingxuan tilted his head to one side and looked at the officers and soldiers surrounding and forming three layers around him. He was silent for a long time. HE couldn’t help but break out in inappropriate laughter.
“Is this considered ‘casting aside the bow once the birds are gone’ [1]? No, what about, ‘slaughtering the hound for meat after the cunning hare is dead’ [2]? Not really, hmm, if I have to put a term to it, it should be ‘burning the bridge after crossing it’ [3]?” He looked in the direction of the palace and curiously asked, “What for?”
You wanted Bai Heng, I’ve captured Bai Heng for you.
You wanted to wait till nightfall, I’ve waited till nightfall as well.
Yet you are stirring up so much trouble now…
Why bother?
“In the end, after all, we still have to fight.” He reached out and tied his long hair that had been hanging loose into a ponytail behind his head, nodding slightly. “Then, let’s fight.”
In the sky, the expression of the scepter musician in the lead was dark. “You refuse a toast [4] …”
Boom! After a glaring ray of light flew past, half of his bloody body fell from the sky.
Facing the rest, whose faces had turned ghastly white, Ye Qingxuan nodded slightly. “The first.”
He took a step forward, and countless stars rose from behind him. A brilliant and majestic aura rose into the sky, scraping against the invisible music theory in the empty air, and the sharp noise of metals colliding sounded.
The staff of authority of the King of Yellow and the power of the Great Wall clashed.
Under the blockade of the Great Wall, all aether ceased to flow, but under the propulsion of the staff of authority of the King of Yellow, the frozen aether was violently mobilized by an invisible force again.
It was as if water that had frozen into ice in a stone urn was forcibly stirred with an iron rod. Ice cubes fell apart, and a bone-chilling cold spread, and countless fine pieces of ice flew out in all directions.
Then, the melody of From the New World sounded.
Stars erupted.
Another spot of scarlet exploded in the sky.
“The second…” Ye Qingxuan murmured softly, and was done tidying his collar based on his reflection in the broken bronze mirror in the ruins. In the rumble, he advanced towards the palace in the distance, going against the iron-like stream of cavalry rushing towards him in the street.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! He seemed to be dragging an invisible behemoth around with every move, and the sound of countless strings snapping rang out one after another.
The Great Wall that was built and maintained by Aurora for centuries pressed down in the capital at the moment. The horrifying gravitational force that was enough to suppress a catastrophe was imposed on Ye Qingxuan’s scepter.
At the moment, even the existence of the Sea of Aether seemed to have become so far away, let alone the Net of Aether.
The element of the fragment of the Wheel of Balance that the Aurora had obtained was “maintenance.”
After incorporating the element of maintenance into it, the Great Wall had become almost indestructible, and the level of stability of its music theory had risen to an extent that humans had difficulty imagining, and it had no gaps at all.
The huge enchantment separating the inside and outside was shrinking at the moment, becoming a cage that trapped Ye Qingxuan.
Even though he had the authority of the King of Yellow in hand, the aether he could mobilize was becoming less and less…
Dozens of musicians in the sky were attacking Ye Qingxuan with all their might at the moment, disregarding their own life and death, forcing him to continue fighting back and waste the power of the Dragon Bloodline.
“That’s it, don’t stop!” The musician conducting the attack at the scene tightly clutched the scroll that allowed them to use the power of the Great Wall to block the attacks of Ye Qingxuan, and his expression was ruthless. “Even catastrophes have their limits. I don’t believe that he could still squander his power after the Net of Aether was cut off and he no longer had access to the strategic reserves of Anglo…”
At the very moment, he felt a cold gaze on him.
It was from Ye Qingxuan, who was on the ground.
It was not a murderous intent driven by embarrassment and anger.
It was an indifference and disregard for someone making a fool of himself.
Ye Qingxuan glanced at the commander, then withdrew his gaze like he couldn’t care less. Then he fished out the last pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and ignited a wisp of flame with his finger. After lighting the cigarette, he inhaled slowly, then exhaled a blue wisp of smoke towards the sky.
Despite being surrounded by thousands of soldiers on horses, he acted as if no one else was around.
The musician was provoked by the contempt in Ye Qingxuan’s eyes, his face becoming purple with rage, and he furiously gave the order to attack, “With the nets in the sky and the snares on the ground to trap you, let’s see how long you can continue being arrogant!”
Then, he saw it.
On the ground, Ye Qingxuan’s hand, which was holding a cigarette, slowly lifted and pointed to the sky.
In the frozen wind, the dark red glow of the flame flickered at his fingertips. The grayish-white smoke condensed into a line, rising toward the sky.
It was the last strand of aether contained in Ye Qingxuan’s blood.
Attached to the smoke, it turned into a speck of burning star and rose into the sky. After gathering the music theory of the New Testament sword, the star that contained endless electricity soared above the sky in a flash.
In the star, countless complicated alchemy arrays emerged. In the blink of an eye, the four layers of outflow, creation, formation, and circulation were completely constructed. In the space that was even smaller than the point of a needle, countless strands of music theory were shaking, connecting with each other, forming a structure that was almost impossible to observe with the naked eye.
Then, it exploded with a boom!
It was light.
It was a pure and violent light of music theory!
It was only maintained for an instant.
Light that had sparked for tens of thousands of times superposed. As it flickered in and out of existence, it formed the violent electricity of Gungnir. It went up, up, and further up… After tearing the layers of shackles apart, it disappeared in the blockade of the Great Wall.
However, the fierce light that was bright enough to be observed by the human eye passed through the illusion of the sea of clouds covering the Aurora, sending a signal to the steel warship hovering above the clouds—I’m here.
At the moment, the Mountain of Nomadism awakened from its slumber, the deck opened layer by layer, and even the armor on most of its hull fell off as the rivets broke.
Concealed by the armor and deck was the terrifying main battery that occupied nearly one-third of the hull.
At the moment, as the ship turned, it took aim at where the light was.
Hephaestus was started!
[1][2][3] Various metaphors that mean “casting someone aside when he has served his purpose.”
[4] The complete proverb is “refusing a toast only to drink a forfeit.” It means “showing no appreciation of favors offered by others and choosing to do things the hard way.”
