Silent Crown

Known as the Island of the Moon, this ravaged land was the result of the aetheric waves created in the real world.

It had once been the closest place to the Great Originator in the Physical World.

At the end of the Age of Dark, the Ultimate had used up all its power to give birth to the Holy Cauldron after its battle with Hyakume in the Great Originator, and thus had hidden itself away in the deepest depths of the realm of aether.

It was like the ashes after a great fire. It slowly gathered its power bit by bit from the Great Originator, returning from death to its original form.

Once, a ship had strayed from the shipping lanes controlled by the Church, and been lost in pursuit of a fleeting illusory moon. It had entered into the thick fog, but found only debris and wrecked ships.

And in that primordial silence they saw a projection of the Ultimate into the realm of aether-a burning vortex of destruction.

The survivors believed that they had seen the end of the world. They had fled in panic and spread that frightening legend all over the world. But for the projection of the Ultimate, this was merely its seedlings being watered.

It should have already received enough nourishment from the Ultimate to reappear three epochs ago, nearly a thousand years.

Up until the Church had put the Hecatoncheir into it, they had wanted to use the power of the Ultimate to kill the gods. But the Hecatoncheir had not died in the Ultimate, and the Ultimate had been affected…

After remaining silent for hundreds of years, it had once again emerged from the realm of aether with a massive force that pierced through the sea of aether, setting off a massive wave. It slowly sank down, like a massive fetus being born into the world…

“It’s appeared a thousand years ahead of time.” Ye Qingxuan stared out at the incessant ocean breezes, muttering to himself and waiting quietly.

Was it just that he didn’t know what was actually going to be born?

Wave after wave were set off from beyond the silver flame covered sea.

The first thing that met his eyes was the colossus to the east, clearly visible among the silver flames. It was like a forest growing out of the sea, with countless chimneys spitting out thick smoke and steam whistles shrieking.

It looked like this iron city was pulled by thousands of warships, its massive bulk only moving slightly forward as it sent out massive waves in all directions.

Now it had stopped outside of that sea area. All was deathly silent, as if it had suppressed all the waves. The wind was still and the sea was calm. There was only the sound of countless guns being raised, aiming at the sky and being locked in place, pointing in all directions.

It was like a giant staring down indifferently at everything around it. At any time it could bring down thunder and lightning.

It was an Asgardian weapon of war, known as the greatest warship in the world, the Sea Fortress. And it was surrounded by hundreds of warships.

Among them, waves of aether were set off one after another, clear for all to see. In the musician’s perception it was like they were surrounded by a field of stars. With a little bit of discernment, they were able to sense more than ten Masters…

It seemed that other than their blockade of the Commonwealth of Caucasian’s navy, the Asgardians had pulled all of their naval strength here.

They seemed determined to win.

But even so, in the face of such a situation there was no move they could make.

The Ultimate was clearly right before their eyes, but it had still not fully formed. The entire area was within the radius of the Ultimate’s power, so they could not enter it.

They couldn’t get it, they couldn’t enter it, they couldn’t bring it back with them…

They couldn’t even blockade it. They could only carry out this meaningless deterrence.

Ye Qingxuan could practically see the opposing commander’s frustration. He couldn’t help but laugh.

The Asgardians were not even the first ones to have come.

Something as powerful as the Ultimate could not be stopped simply by any country with a mind to blockade it.

As if they had heard a bell ringing out to announce an assembly, musicians were still arriving from all over.

Besides warships and merchant ships of all sizes, there were also numerous broken sampans that drifted with the tide. He had no idea how they had gotten there.

Waves of aether crashed out one after another. In order to avoid trouble, many people had shown the signs of their school and of the power that they could wield. The symbols and music theory of countless schools shone down from the sky. It looked like nothing so much as a grand exhibition.

In addition to all this, turbulences still rose up from within the sea.

Indistinct shadows could be seen drifting below the surface. These were the fantastic beasts raised by the School of Summoning, many of them strange even in the realm of aether.

Wild animals’ territorial consciousness was much stronger than that of humans. Although the sea was large, it was still not enough to accomodate all of these vast ocean beasts. Even though the Ultimate had not yet opened, the friction between them led to hostility, and some fights had already broken out.

The sea monsters bit each other, breaking through their carapaces. Pungent blood seeped out into the water, slowly drifting upwards and turning the surface a dark red.

Nor was up in the sky where the Mountain of Nomadism very peaceful. Many of the Masters and Scepters could not wait for their their carriages to be prepared, and so, trusting in their own flying ability, were simply flying over.

The struggle below the water was quite chaotic, and it was difficult to determine just how many monsters were down there. The musicians above the water maintained an appearance of peacefulness. The abilities of those gathered there were quite mixed.

They may have been flying up in the air, but they were no cowards.

Roughly speaking, there were ten or so Masters there, and even four Scepters hidden among the clouds. It was impossible to ignore their powerful presence.

They did not even need to employ their movements deliberately. By only revealing a small amount of their elements, their music theory was enough to distort the Physical World, allowing them to fly in the sky and overlook the whole area.

The arrival of the Mountain of Nomadism into this odd situation stirred up a lot of chaos. Almost everyone here was well-informed, how could they not have heard of the Grand Inquisitor who always appeared where the struggle was fiercest?

The Hand of God, Ye Qingxuan.

If nothing else, his talents and his so-called ill-fortune were enough to make them wary.

There was fear in everyone’s eyes, especially since he came with a mighty fleet behind him, and his expression was cold.

Shouldn’t they take the opportunity to deal with this threat before the Royal Navy arrived?

On the deck of the Mountain of Nomadism, the white-haired young man rubbed his hands together and seemed to glance over his surroundings casually.

Upon seeing the Staff of Fate that had suppressed the catastrophe, no-one could help but slam their eyes shut, as if they had been stung, and avert their gaze.

So be it, friends.

They despaired at the prospect of attracting his attention.

Even though this guy was only a Master, he was powerful enough to defeat any opponent under the Scepter level. As for those at the Scepter level…before they did anything they would have to take into account the iron rod in his hand, and the golden halo above his head.

One was the symbol of the Inquisition, giving him the power to chastise heretics, and the other was the the Chapter of Golden Victory of the Anglo Royal House.

With these two items, in addition to his power and skill, even the Scepters hesitated before drawing his attention, not to mention the other musicians.

And then, before everyone’s eyes, the dark warship swaggered in, ignoring the original situation and occupying a position at the front. A steel rope dropped down from it quickly, and a heavily armored knight and several purification musicians slid down it, forming a huge beacon to guide the Royal Navy above the surface of the water.

While this was happening, the other countries’ navies were rushing over in an endless stream, until at the end it seemed like the whole sea was covered in warships. It was a very chaotic sight.

It was like a market square on New Year’s Eve. People were lined up overnight, and even brushing their teeth and washing their clothes in the queue.

They didn’t know how long they’d have to wait for the market’s doors to open.

Up until evening the sea became more and more chaotic, but the Ultimate was still unchanged. Thunder still roared within its silvery vortex. No one knew how long they would have to wait for it to give birth.

Ye Qingxuan was pacing back and forth on the deck when suddenly he turned and looked to the north.

There was an lonely, clear noise.

It was like a soft song of sorrow in the middle of the night, so sweet, but with a hint of bone-chilling cold. Without realizing it, he became lost in the song, as if he had been embraced by the darkness and pulled down into an eternal slumber.

All of the musicians could not help but shiver. They turned their heads in shock, and saw a fog rising off of the water, and a small boat glide out silently from within.

The boat looked like it belonged on a lake, but it travelled across the sea, seemingly pushed along by the waves. Wherever it passed the wind calmed and the water quieted, turning the turbulent seas into still water.

Upon the small boat, a woman dressed in blue embraced a white jade pipa. Her head was lowered as she fiddled with it absentmindedly. The sound wormed its way into everyone’s ear, raising the hair on the backs of their necks.

It was clearly only a small boat, but it was faster than anyone could believe. In a flash it had already overtaken most of them, as if it was passing through a frozen world, and it came to the forefront before everyone’s stunned gaze.

At the stern of the ship, behind the girl playing the pipa, a helpless looking young man made a sign of obeisance to the musicians and laughed.

A longsword hung from his waist, from which hung a string of small bells. They knocked into each other, and the echoes of their ringing lingered on.

Both of them had hair as white as pure silver.

“They’re just pretending to be mysterious!”

In the water, the vast beasts were irritated. A cold humming sound rang out, and the shadow of a frightfully large mouth began to rise from the waves.

Seeing this, many of the musicians scrambled out of the way to avoid getting caught up in the destruction. But then, the quickly rising shadow suddenly shriveled up.

It was distorted, like it was being viewed through a lense.

A faint breath of that cold and gloomy pipa music lingered above the behemoth. In a flash, the beast began to twist around and shrivel up. In the end, it sank down back into the deep sea, nothing more than a dissolving, dissipating dry skeleton.

A few faint, sorrowful shadows could be seen being drawn in by the music. They entered into the white jade pipa like phantoms.

Everyone stopped holding their breath, only to find that the air was now cold.

As they stood there dumbfounded, the woman’s pale face seemed to appear from inside the pipa, coming from the underworld to get a glance at the world of the living. Everyone was chilled to the bone.

Seemingly unintentionally, she looked up into the sky at the shadow of the Mountain of Nomadism.

On the stern, the young swordsman reached out and grasped the string of silver bells on the hilt of his sword, snuffing out the bright and sonorous sound coming from his sheathed sword. He then cupped his hands in obeisance towards the sky.

On the deck, Ye Qingxuan smiled and nodded his head.

Just by seeing his white hair, the identity of the newcomer was self-evident. If he was not mistaken, the man with the sword was a member of the Yuan family of the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline. And the other was…

Sensing the resonance between the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and the white jade pipa, his eye twitched slightly.

The heiress of the Liu family-the Yaksa.