Silent Crown

Chapter 344 Nature of Danger

To Modifications musicians like Glen, his biggest enemy was no doubt the School of Anglo that specialized in both Modifications and Summoning. As the rising star of the School of Anglo, Gavin had become everyone's enemy at the start of the trial. However, he never appeared for some reason. He was replaced by a Revelations musician that had just entered the academy one and a half years ago. No one knew who he was. It was as if Anglo had no interest in the future Three Kings and had just sent someone over patronizingly. In other words, he was here to court death.

No one was sure if the position of a future saint and the crown that represented authority were unable to tempt Gavin? Or had that guy gone crazy?

"What do you mean?" Glen muttered after a pause. "Be straightforward. I hate going in circles."

"Do you know why Gavin didn't represent the Royal Academy of Music?" Colt stared at him coldly. "I received the news yesterday that the pride of the School of Royalty, the one that everyone had thought would be the next grandmaster, Gavin, had disappeared right before the trial. He just vanished.

"All evidence points to Ye Qingxuan. If I'm not wrong, Ye Qingxuan probably killed him. Even the Royal Musician Division doesn't dare collect Gavin's body. I also received a list of all Avalonian musicians that had died this year. I suspect more than half of them are connected to him.

"If we're talking about qualifications, you can't even get into top ten! Do you understand, Glen? Don't get any dangerous ideas. The deaths he's suspected of can fill up the entire Queen's Avenue. Adding you in would just mean a few more inches of land. He probably won't feel too bad. After all, it's just this much."

Colt reached out and drew a small circle in the air, marking Glen's future burial spot for him. The circle was merely enough to place a box of ashes. Glen stepped back involuntarily, shivering.

"I'll verify it myself." Glen's features twitched. In order to hide his anxiety, he turned to leave without arguing any further.

Colt watched him leave. Scoffing, he turned to side. "You've been watching all this time. Anything to say?"

A figure had appeared beside him at some time. "If I have to say something…I must say the rumors are really exaggerated. Don't believe them," the white-haired youth said sincerely with a pipe in his mouth. "I'm good friends with Gavin, seriously. Honestly, don't trust those rumors. And Queen's Avenue is so big. I can kill until my hand goes numb and it wouldn't be enough."

"Mr. Ye, stop joking around." Colt shot a meaningful glance at him. "I've experienced the nature of your danger."

Ye Qingxuan chuckled. He looked down at the embers burning in his pipe. "The nature…of my danger?"

-

Only footsteps sounded in the silent palace. Dozens of musicians stood quietly in the large expanse. Compared to this vast area, humanity's existence was so insignificant. Even everyone put together would not be as thick as a pillar here.

Now, it was as if they had entered a heavenly realm. Hymns floated from the stone door before them, catching the attention of gods. Unfortunately, this was not in the sky but in the underworld. Rather than heaven, it was Hades behind the door. It was a tomb that had been buried for centuries.

The musicians willing to work together and break the seal had come here long ago. It was more than half of the participants. Anyone with common sense understood that a single person was too insignificant in this large-scale relic. If they did not know that beforehand, they had all understood after the clay puppets taught them a lesson.

The loose union was built on the foundation of breaking Hades' Door. They had agreed to work together but everyone was still guarded. They did not get close to each other or make any conversations.

Within the crowd, before the door, Miller tugged Ye Qingxuan over and asked quietly, "Are you sure you can undo this thing?"

"Nope," Ye Qingxuan said casually. "How can I? I'm not even at the Resonance level. It'd be weird if I have confidence."

Miller's face practically turned green.

On the team, Sam did not care about anything other than formulas and music scores and Baro's stubborn brain did not work that well. The only one who thought was Miller from the School of Choir. After all, being the doctor required technique and he was more careful. However, he never imagined that asking a question out of curiosity would get him such crazy news. He yelped but quickly covered his mouth. "But you—"

"There's nothing bad about agreeing." Ye Qingxuan whistled. Patting Miller's shoulder, he murmured, "If you see things going bad or see my signal, just run. Otherwise, thing will probably get worse."

"Worse?" Miller froze. "How bad?"

"On the lighter end, the enchantment will self-implode, bringing down the entire palace to bury us."

Miller's face was stark white. "That's light?!"

"Of course," Ye Qingxuan said. "Hades' Door is a battle-scale object created by more than five grandmasters. It absorbs strength from the aether world through music theories. If we fail even more at undoing the seal, the disrupted music theory might get dragged directly into the aether world. Then it'll be strange if you don't get pulverized in the aether sea…"

Miller's features twisted. He shivered, imagining himself getting assimilated by aether and drowning in the aether sea, or falling into the strange yet famous aether world. However, he soon snapped out of it. "What will you do if we run?"

"Don't worry." Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder and smiled proudly. "I don't know about other stuff but no one's better than me at running away. No one."

-

Torre, clad in gray, soon walked through the crowd and gave Ye Qingxuan a sheepskin scroll. "This is the official agreement. Sign it if there aren't any problems."

The agreement ensured that everyone could work together without concern. They would not attack each other during the union. The terms were concise and detailed; the intervals and music theory within the music score were compact as well. Ye Qingxuan could not find any problems.

"As expected of discipline musicians." Ye Qingxuan nodded and signed his name, allowing the music theory within the agreement to flow into his body. Soon, he felt something cool against the back of his neck. It was like a blade.

This was an agreement from the School of Abstinence. If he went against the agreement, he would suffer from the backlash of the aether within his body. According to the terms, the aether would transform into iron and pierce through his neck.

In other words, he would be beheaded. This way, everyone could let down their guards and truly work together.

Ye Qingxuan was also an official Abstinence musician. However, the School of Stone Heart that he had inherited specialized in the construction of the sub-originator and territorial enchantments. That was in the 'field' category. He only had basic knowledge of the 'discipline' category of countering and agreements.

Torre just chuckled at Ye Qingxuan's compliment.

"You flatter me. It's nothing compared to your 'aether furnace.' We can discuss techniques in the future." He casually glanced at Ye Qingxuan's chest while speaking as if he could sense the immense aether and Abstinence music theory there. However, he had mistaken the sub-originator as the 'aether furnace' that could strengthen music scores.

Ye Qingxuan did not correct him.

After leaving the limitless supply of the Avalonian enchantment, the sub-originator could only provide him fifteen minutes of resonance. After that, he would need twenty-four hours to recharge. This was both his strongest and weakest point. Of course he would let others guess incorrectly.

-

Torre left soon after he signed the agreement. The man was still wearing the faded gray clothing and he did not have any alchemy equipment on him. He looked inflexible and strict.

Each step was thirty-five millimeters, not a millimeter less or a millimeter more. His steps seemed to be measured with a ruler and his speed was shockingly balanced. He breathed once every five seconds and blinked once every seven seconds—never a millisecond late.

An invisible rule board seemed to box him in, covering every detail. Every move, from how he walked to how he breathed to how his heart beat, was made with extremely fine precision.

This was the cost of becoming a discipline musician. It quantified everything, extending rules and music theory into every crevice of his life.

Casper, who followed behind him, emanated a wild aura. His bloodshot eyes seemed to be searching for someone to eat. One brother was like a wooden puppet. The other was a beast. Both were abnormal.

Ye Qingxuan quickly looked away and returned to staring at the stone door.

"Have you started interpreting?" Colt asked beside him. "How are you going to start?"

Ye Qingxuan was trying to find an 'entrance point' amongst all the strands of music theory within Hades' Door so he could start interpreting. This was the most important preparation step. All he did was take out a marker and draw two straight lines on the door. They intersected at the bottom right and was marked with a small dot.

"How about here?" He drew a circle around the dot casually as if doodling. "It's a seam that the alchemists had made while working together. It should be enough buffer."

Colt gaped at him. "You've already calculated before?"

"It's just preparation." Ye Qingxuan chuckled. "When do you prepare to start?"

"We shouldn't wait any longer." After a moment of thinking, Colt checked over all the preparation work. He pulled the 'anti-tune' sword. Slowly but surely, he stabbed it toward the door.

Three inches away, the door started shuddering and dust flew.

Boom!