269 The Cost of Sixty Years

"I like being honest and open." The dark musician nodded in agreement. "I just came on the parliament’s orders. For example, helping the Robin solve some problems. However, I feel that killing isn’t the only way to solve problems. Killing is the final solution but not always the best. Do you understand?"

"I agree greatly." Ye Qingxuan nodded. He suddenly felt he could identify with this man. "However, I’m sorry if you want to recruit me. I don’t plan on worshipping Hyakume."

"Hyakume isn’t the only one for dark musicians. There are many natural catastrophes. In comparison, my god is one of the stingiest. There’s a lot of work but not much money. The contract is long too. You can easily die if you’re not careful. The main work is mundane work, like being a loan shark. To be honest, anyone with a brain would avoid it." The dark musician laughed. "So it’s okay if you aren’t willing to become a follower. You just need to become a dark musician. What do you think?"

"Hey, giving your life and future to some weird thing." Ye Qingxuan laughed too. "Why would I jump into the abyss for no reason?"

"What’s that saying? There’s a great future in the abyss." The dark musician’s voice was meaningful. "I can help if you’re willing to sign with any natural catastrophe. Idealistic people like you will have high goals for natural catastrophes too, right? Let me guess, the highest order…is it the Three Outer Gods? The Three Saints? The Four Living Objects? I believe people like you would be a great follower to any of them."

"I reject." Ye Qingxuan sighed. "I reject you, Mr. dark musician who isn’t willing to reveal his true identity. I won’t accept any natural catastrophe."

"Then we’ll have to use the most barbaric method." The dark musician scratched his head in frustration and sighed. "I didn’t want this."

"There’s a question I need to ask though," Ye Qingxuan suddenly stated.

The dark musician nodded. "Please ask."

"Have you ever felt regret and guilt from your actions as a dark musician all these years?"

The man fell silent. After a long pause, he nodded slightly. "Mr. Holmes, a man is destined to feel guilt toward things you are powerless against. This is the original sin. No one can avoid it, other than gods."

"Really?" Ye Qingxuan chuckled. "That’s good."

"Huh?" The dark musician froze. He watched as the youth lifted the cane and slammed it on the ground.

Boom! The thud was heavy yet cold. A crazed melody sounded instantly. The song of hopelessness filled in all directions. The black flood had come!

He could not see, could not hear, and could not feel; he was tormented. Even his sound of heart was trembling. The black river swallowed the dark musician’s mind. However, the negativity pouring out of his heart was abruptly restrained by a powerful strength.

After the short confusion, he was already clear-headed again. The moment he felt something was wrong, he instinctively put his hands together.

Crack! A sharp noise sounded, echoing through the air.

Ten thousand tons of pressure dropped from the air, smashing toward where Ye Qingxuan stood. The stone tiles were pulverized, instantly creating a crater.

However, the moment he moved, the youth had already adjusted his steel skeleton and shot forward like an arrow. He was running! This boy acted when he wanted without hesitation, acting even faster than the dark musician. He was also better at escaping than expected, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Hehe, what an interesting opponent." The dark musician stared in Ye Qingxuan’s direction. He did not hurry over, but instead went to Ye Qingxuan’s original spot. He looked at the cracks on the ground. After a while, he dabbed his finger on the insignificant trace of blood.

The drop of blood moved as if it was alive. It coiled up his finger, finally swimming to his palm and pointing to the distance.

"Run, run, run quickly." Dark musician Naberius gazed at the city shrouded in fog and chuckled. "Barbaric killing is so boring. If it’s you, this will at least become interesting, right?"

-

Ye Qingxuan fled for his life in the fog, panting for breath.

Practice marathons, practice marathons, practice marathons. "Ye Qingxuan, why didn’t you practice for marathons? Look at you now, you can’t even run," he thought to himself.

He mocked himself in his head. Sprinting, he crossed dozens of meters in an instant and rushed deep into the darkness. His perception threads could sense that the strange dark musician was slowly but steadily following him. He needed Old Phil now but…he did not know where Old Phil was. His life depended on himself.

Boom! There was another muffled boom. The spot he was in instantly began a black wind tunnel. It sucked in everything within ten meters of the tunnel like a vacuum. Then it exploded; the air pressure shot up hundred-fold.

If Ye Qingxuan was a second later, he would be sucked into that hellish change. If he did not implode in the vacuum, he would be pressed into a meat pie.

The School of Modifications…

Immediately after, innumerable insects rushed out of the cracks in the tiles, charging toward Ye Qingxuan. His face changed and he began sprinting again. He did not want to see what would happen if he got bitten by things called by the Summoning…

The School of Summoning…

Immediately after, the ground before him began bubbling. Water demons covered in mud began climbing out continuously. Ye Qingxuan was stunned but immediately sneered and charged through them. Ripples spread through the illusion of the demons and quagmire, and the image collapsed.

The School of Illusion…

Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt dizzy. He wanted to gag as his heart pounded like a drum. The moonlight in his blood hummed; it flickered and extinguished by itself. It was hard to breathe and Ye Qingxuan spat something black out of his throat. The thing squirmed on the ground as if it was living.

It was a curse from the School of Choir!

There were thick layers of fog between them but the dark musician would not give up. It was as if Ye Qingxuan’s every move was in his control. This was the probe from the School of Revelations.

Ye Qingxuan lost control of his panic and fear. He also felt despair and the urge to go crazy, which he should not have. He swore inwardly. When did this *sshole plant the hint?

The School of Mind…

Modifications, Summoning, Illusion, Choir, Revelations, Mind…

Within a short few minutes, Ye Qingxuan had suffered attacks from the six major schools. They had been activated hurriedly but they were already enough to kill him. This d*mn guy had learned all of this! Other than the School of Abstinence, he was an expert in all six schools. How bored was he?!

"Mr. Holmes, are you scared?" The taunting voice traveled through the fog. "Are you thinking who would be bored enough to withstand the incompatibility and backlash of the different theories and forcefully learn the six schools?"

Ye Qingxuan leaned against the wall and panted without replying.

"It’s simple. It’s really because I was bored." Naberius’ voice floated from left to right like a spirit. This was an auditory illusion. "To be honest, when I was still young sixty years ago, I was a genius. Really, I was just like you right now."

"Ha." Ye Qingxuan flicked a coin forward. The music note carved onto it activated an auditory illusion, creating a snicker. Then the coin was swallowed by a giant snake that reached out from the fog.

Cold sweat seeped from Ye Qingxuan’s temple. As expected, this guy had no good intentions!

-

"Seems like I made you laugh." Naberius sighed in the fog. "I was once like you, hungry for power. I fell because of this and became a dark musician. I had no hesitation or moral torment. It was just a choice I made after deep thought. To a genius, the rules and sense that average people insist one are just jokes. Mr. Holmes, do you understand this?"

Ye Qingxuan flicked a coin and scoffed.

"Unfortunately, I was too arrogant. I thought I could trick the gods so I did something to the contract." Naberius sighed. "I succeeded and gained some more power. I also avoided being controlled by the gods and being transformed into a demon. But unfortunately, I failed too." He suddenly waved his hand. Wild wind blew forward under the piercing music, blowing past Ye Qingxuan. Everything in its path split apart as if hacked by an ax.

"This was Hyakume’s punishment to me. I will forever be restricted to the Resonance level. It has been sixty years! Sixty years! Sixty years is too long.

"It was long enough to make me die of boredom. I raised my music theory for all six schools to the Resonance level. It was long enough for my brother, far less talented than me, to become the king of dark musicians and fall in the hands of saints.

"Yet I am still paying for my crimes." He paused and said in a low voice, "To be honest, taking care of you is my final mission. Once complete, I’ll be free again."

Another coin rolled in the fog, bringing with it a mocking voice. "So were you bullsh*tting just then?"

"No, no, everything I said was the truth." Naberius’ expression as solemn but his lips curled into a fanatic smile. "I want to trick him again! Mr. Holmes, let’s play again! Losing isn’t scary. What’s scary is if you don’t have the courage to challenge him…I’m going to use my own ways to complete my last mission. I’m going to gamble my sixty years of fury to lie to the gods again! It will pay for my sixty years of torment!"