Silent Crown

Chapter 360 Dusk of Hell

Ye Qingxuan bent down in the mysterious temple and stared at the thing that was half his height. It clearly did not belong here and had been brought in by someone else. The copper kettle-like object seemed like a lotus. It was delicate and detailed without a single seam throughout the body. Ye Qingxuan cautiously put on a mask and gloves and opened the lid. He counted the grooves of varying sizes.

"Dispatch pool, fusion pool, cultivation pool…"

Fungus grew in many of the grooves due to the long period without maintenance. The cistern was murky and smelled horrible. The detailed inner paths were clogged and rust covered everything. This priceless cultivation kettle had been completely damaged due to the lack of care. As a specially-made alchemy equipment, it was useless to regular musicians. It could neither be used as a weapon nor perform any music scores. It was only used as aid for some Choir musicians. Its main use was…growing viruses!

With his last shred of hope, Ye Qingxuan reached out and scraped off a remaining white dot from the bottom of the kettle. He observed it with his Eye of Silence, magnifying it one-thousand times. He could vaguely see that countless dead viruses had dissolved but there was still a tiny bit of lively 'survivors.'

As an outsider, Ye Qingxuan did not understand what they were. The Eye of Silence was not professional equipment either, and could not determine how the virus was made or what effect it had.

He only knew one thing: this virus was identical to the one he saw in the church! Understanding this, his gut dropped.

The virus that had exploded a few years ago and contaminated all of Auschwitz had come from this cultivation kettle. This site also contained traces of the King of Yellow. Everyone on this planet knew that the current King of Yellow was a once-in-a-century genius. In addition to high attainments in alchemy, he was also unparalleled in his studies of the School of Choir. Knowing this, who would believe that the King of Yellow did not create this virus?

Ye Qingxuan believed it. He did not dare to not believe it. If the King of Yellow really did do it, then he would have to think about what the Sacred City was doing…

The Romulusians had already been driven to barren Auschwitz because of their demon blood. However, the various nations still viewed them as a cancer that must be removed no matter the method…

Caligula had once showed him the scales on his leg, saying, "We've already paid too much for the sin we were born with."

At that time, Ye Qingxuan did not understand what Caligula had meant but he seemed to know now. If all of this was due to the Sacred City, then…

"If you're so powerful, why don't you just become a god yourself?" Sighing, Ye Qingxuan thought for a bit and pointed his cane at the kettle. Under blinding electric light, the cultivation kettle quickly melted, distorted, and finally turned into unrecognizable liquid.

The words carved onto the Eye of Silence were true. Sometimes, knowing the truth was not an easy thing.

Ye Qingxuan decided to let this secret rot in his gut. It affected too many people. He could not tell anyone; he could not even let people discover that he had been here. He did not want to suddenly die in his sleep.

The countries did not keep assassins for fun. Plus, there was also a nightmare that hung above the heads of all musicians—the Silent Authority.

The only thing he could do was leave this place immediately and find an excuse to bring Caligula and Elsa to somewhere else. He believed that the Fifth Department could easily hide the two.

Before leaving, he took one last glance at the statue. It seemed to be looking down at him too. Its face was half-hidden in darkness and its lips were curled into what looked like a mocking smirk.

Ye Qingxuan quickly looked away. He closed the door and extinguished the holy fire. Looking back, there was no trace of the secret room. However, when he was carefully getting rid of his traces, something above him rumbled. Dust fell down and a giant crack appeared in the ceiling.

"An earthquake?" he muttered subconsciously.

But then he felt the blood boiling as it flowed through his veins. Moonlight flashed uncontrollably. It had sensed the overwhelming breath of the abyss…"Dark musicians!"

Stunned, he gaped at the Eye of Silence. The Deva's blood sensed aether with music theory from the abyss appear endlessly. Both near and far, he could sense nearly one hundred dark musicians!

There was also a distorted ripple in the sky that he could feel even through the rock layer in the underground palace.

He sprinted out of the palace.

Just below the entrance of the mine, a burnt body fell from the sky. Boiling blood fell like rain.

Ye Qingxuan looked up. He could see through the ghastly crack that the black sky was red from the flames, bright as morning. It was like dusk in Hell.

-

With no time to hesitate, Ye Qingxuan quickly started climbing out. When his head peaked out, all he saw was a mass of killing.

Torre was surrounded by a group of beasts. He tore through them. When he saw Ye Qingxuan, his eyes brightened.

"Ye Qingxuan, did you see Kasper—" Before he could finish, countess cold lights flashed past. The silver nails turned red in the air and pierced Torre's throat. A horn rang out and flames exploded, burning him to crisp.

Ye Qingxuan waved emotionlessly and retrieved his nails.

"Trying to fool me with illusions?"

The corpse fell down. The thing had no face. As the vitality was sapped, it stiffened. The soft scales that continuously changed colors quickly withered. Finally, it became a pile of black ash.

"Faceless actor." Ye Qingxuan bent down and picked through the ashes until he found half a bone. The skullcap looked like a mask with a mocking smile. These were the children the dark followers created with the Dark Gaia's power. Different from cannon fodder like the strays, the faceless actors were the best demon assassins born with illusion powers.

They could imitate someone pretty well with just a mere glance from the distance. One would not be able to distinguish the differences in a hurry. Plus, these things specialized in the imitation branch of the School of Illusion. They could imitate practically all music scores without any flaws other than a reduction in strength.

They could act as one's lover for years without anyone realizing, let alone acting as a musician.

However, no matter how they changed, they were still demons and would activate the moonlight from dozens of steps away. In a hurry, they were unguarded against Ye Qingxuan. He easily cast Night on Bald Mountain, which he had saved in Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, and used the power of the stakes to kill the faceless actor. Otherwise, there would be more trouble.

He did not know what the demon would do if he dragged things on. The disguises were nothing to him but…what about the others?

Ye Qingxuan looked around. Under the Eye of Silence, he saw that Auschwitz was covered in red light. He seemed to have gone to another world and fallen into the lair of dark musicians.

"Will the others be okay?"

-

"Garbage!" Glen huffed as he was surrounded by demons. His armor was red-hot and blindingly bright. Under the song, dazzling flames shot out from under his feet, swallowing the incoming demons. The fire was more powerful than an incinerator.

The demons were practically cremated instantly but these things continued to crawl out of holes and walls like bugs. They just kept coming. If one died, ten more would appear. After eating the ashes of their dead, their bodies expanded and grew more menacing. They kept swarming over, surrounding Glen.

"Glen, don't delay!" Not too far away, Torre was killing with Kasper. He looked back and said, "Go first and regroup with the others."

"Doesn't matter how much of this sh*t there are." Glen grabbed a random demon. He closed his iron grip and turned the struggling demon into dust. Laughing wildly, he unsheathed his long sword.

Musicians rarely used swords because to them, regular weapons were incomparable to music scores. However, Glen's school was unique and combined music scores with swordsmanship. Paired with a sword and armor, they looked more like warriors than musicians. They fought as wildly as warriors too.

With his sword out, the fire everywhere was stifled. Wild wings wrapped around the blade, almost tangibly. One could faintly see a blurry layer of whiteness. As the blade swung, the invisible wind cracked the earth apart. Blood sprayed.

Glen jumped into the mass of demons, cutting apart everything in his way. He struck with his sword, creating splatters of scarlet. Within an instant, the demons were all cleared away.

Amidst the bodies, Glen sneered. He sheathed his sword and turned toward Torre. "Look at these—" Before he could finish, the flesh scattered on the ground pounced onto him like a living thing. Caught by surprise, Glen was swallowed whole. The flesh had instantly become rotten and sewed together crudely. The stitches were made of white bone and looked mournfully abnormal.

The sewed up corpse roared. Its giant 'head' twisted and locked onto Torre. A beam of scarlet fire lit up in his abdomen. It screeched and Glen, covered in fire, broke out of it.

However, the armor that covered him had been eroded by the terrifying acid. Even his skin was gone. All that remained was a layer of desolate red.