335 Just Watch

It was silent at night. A shadow stood amongst the clouds and wordlessly gazed at the city below him. Holding a notebook and a feather quill, he recorded silently. Endless stars were reflected in his Starry Eyes. Behind him, a silhouette emerged from the condensation. "Grandmaster Koch, how is everything?"

"As usual." Koch ripped out a piece of paper for the man. "A total of nineteen musicians have gone against the Sacred City's order and involved the locals during their personal fights."

"There are many kids who think too highly of themselves." The shadow in the clouds glanced at the notes and nodded. "They want to fool around when the Silent Authority's here? They'll have to pay for not following the rules."

Grandmaster Koch continued to look down. He finally stopped recording when the midnight bell rang out. His records were filled with various names.

Ye Qingxuan was the last participant to arrive before the deadline of midnight last night. Now, there were one-hundred and sixty participating musicians in Auschwitz. The group's average age was not even thirty, but there were more than twenty musicians above the Resonance level. The others had delved deep into music theory years ago. They were the elites of their academies and the stars of their schools…Torre Hauser, Sam, Casper Hauser, Colt Flagg, Ye Qingxuan, Baro, Arianna, Rebecca…

Grandmaster Koch gazed at the lines of names under the moonlight. Perhaps the new king of musicians would be born from this list. They were destined to shine.

-

The next morning, they were at the center of Auschwitz. If one looked down from the sky, one would see a yawning hole in the circular area. The eerie crack was like an eye in the earth staring up to the heavens. Within the eye was bottomless darkness.

According to scholars, Auschwitz was built on a complex but fragile geological rock formation. The smallest earthquake would cause a chain of disasters. If the crack enlarged, everything might be swallowed into it.

One could vaguely make out some rusted machines and the remains of a helicopter around the crack. Those were the digging equipment that the Chainsaw Fraternity gave to Romulus. They were only able to enter the mines with these things. However, they were abandoned when the relic was discovered. Now, only the scar-like hole remained.

At daybreak, the musicians gathered here, waiting to cross through the mine and enter the relic. Of course, many of them held mysterious maps and suspicious unreliable mine road maps. They did not know if the maps were useful but they only costed around two to three hundred dollars. They could use the maps as commemorative gifts.

Soon, the grandmasters supervising the trial appeared. After publicly taking away the dozens of rule-breaking musicians, the trial officially began.

The sealed entrance to the mine was opened.

Some musicians flew down, some started climbing, and others summoned phantom beasts that could fly. Seeing everyone use their tricks to enter, Ye Qingxuan casually got into the line for the lift.

The lift was a piece of equipment from before. It used to transport the miners and heavy machinery every day. It was dozens of square meters and could easily transport dozens of people and their luggage.

Beside him, Baro had wanted to summon his griffin and fly down. However, due to his promise, he followed Ye Qingxuan's command with a dark expression.

"You don't have to waste your energy at the start. Attracting attention at the start will make you a public enemy, right? The Sacred City won't care what we do once we're in." Ye Qingxuan carried his package to the very front. Compared to the other light travelers, he looked like a snail.

Sam eyed his own giant bag with a pained expression. "Is all of this necessary?"

Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder. "I hope a lot of it is unnecessary but you'll be happy to have it when we need it."

Sam sighed. He obediently put on the heavy bag and walked into the lift, lowering into the darkness under the loud rumbling.

Another rumble sounded under their feet. Blinding red light illuminated in the darkness. Fire was burning. Screams spread…

-

Far from the entrance of the mine, a middle-aged Easterner stuck his hands in his sleeves and watched the chaos with a smile. Beside him, a few white-haired youths and girls anxiously wanted to do something but could only stand there obediently.

"Sir, are we really not going to help?" someone asked softly.

"All is destined by the heavens so just let it be. Those who understand this fact will not stand under danger." Mr. Hu patted the youth's shoulder and remained still. "After all, this is not the East, and we are not locals here. For complicated matters, it is not good to be involved but there is no harm in watching…" He paused and watched as the white-haired youth enter the mine. "No harm in watching."

-

The chaos started in the entrance. Someone said that two musicians who were fighting for space in the lift were squished together, and one of them touched the other's chest. Others said that they kissed publicly and blinded the singles in the crowd. Others said that they already had feelings for each other and this was a well-planned conspiracy.

Anyway, many rumors came out of this event. And the end result was that there was a fight. It was an all-out fight! This meant that…other people were dragged in as well.

In the beginning, Ye Qingxuan saw sparks fly from below the lift and heard the commotion. Someone in the first batch awoke the music score sealed in his instrument, transforming aether into a hungry fire. It exploded in the center of the crowd!

Amidst the explosion, the lift began to shake furiously. The steel cable pulled taut and swept over Ye Qingxuan's head, popping in the air. Then there was a huge quake. People screamed and the lift visibly tilted.

Amidst the grating sounds of steel warping, three of the six poles under the lift cracked. The other three were warped under the music score's effect. Inside the mine, the riot had grown uncontrollable. As competitors, they did not have the grace of being friendly and calm. It was an everyday matter to fight now. For these musicians, survival of the fittest was the way! The intensity of the fight burned white-hot.

Under Ye Qingxuan's observation, dozens of aether waves shot out one after another in the darkness peppered with sparks. This meant that…dozens of musicians were part of this messy fight. Most of them were for self-preservation and covered themselves with shields. Then…they started messing with the others!

The Eye of Silence immediately sensed reactions from six different music scores: a sonata that got a head start, an overture that planned slowly, a symphony performed by multiple musicians, a concerto, a fantasia famous for explosive power… The high and piercing sounds was interwoven in indistinguishable cacophony. Chaotic aether were guided by the music theory and came crashing with the destructive music.

Boom! With an earth-shattering explosion, immense pressure shot out from the darkness of the mine and into the air, making Ye Qingxuan's vision go black. This time, he was unable to keep observing. The wobbling lift had finally toppled over!

The musicians quickly showed off their skills to escape the sinking ship. However, some were unlucky and did not prepare music scores for this situation. They had no time to perform one from scratch so they could only grab onto other musicians or equipment and pray.

The moment Ye Qingxuan felt the shaking, he was grabbed by someone. He felt a boom above his head and heavy wind whistled by. A griffin with a wingspan of a few meters had emerged from the air. With a caw, it began flying.

Its claws were agile like a man's hands. It hooked onto Ye Qingxuan's collar and grasped his waist. The other claw grabbed Miller, who had not yet processed everything. Baro and Sam sat on the griffin's back.

Seeing Ye Qingxuan's pathetic state, Baro huffed sadistically. "Who was the one that said it's best to save our energy—ah, f*ck!" The last half of his sentence was swallowed by a scream.

Metallic light surged like a thunderstorm in the darkness. Under the eerie bamboo melody, countless steel edges emerged out of thin air and swept in all directions like rain. Either meaningfully or not, they blocked the griffin in place.

"I told you…" Ye Qingxuan sighed and activated the shield on his ring, getting ready to charge. No matter how many times he had failed in Avalon, Ye Qingxuan still liked to act cool. However, he also had learned some things. If everyone else is suffering and you're acting all majestic, of course they're gonna come for you!

"Bro, don't hit my face!" He only had time to raise a hand and block his face.

The metallic light swept over with a roar. The griffin had just been summoned and Baro had no time to control other music scores. He could only yell, "Sam! What are you waiting for?"

"We-we're fighting now?" Sam finally realized. He was so excited he even stuttered. "You could've said so!"

The mass of iron had not come yet but the griffin suddenly cried out. Their altitude decreased as if an invisible hammer had pounded its head. This was because of the Copper Mountain!

The majestic yet wild melody shot out, extending the music theory, performing equations, and connecting the shaking aether. Then, a gale of red wind appeared in thin air. It transformed into a tornado that stretched from the sky to the ground like a wildly dancing snake. In the eye of the storm, Sam's eyes were ablaze with flames. They shone like lava.

Wild wind swept through. This was not the music score's effect; it was only the prelude.

This was…