352 Skull of Truth

The youth's eyes were determined. Opening his hand, he let out a beam of blazing light.

The sun had descended. Without warning, countless mirrors refracted the light, practically turning into the sun and blinding everyone. Amidst the pained cries, Ye Qingxuan hurled a mass of metallic wind and thundering rain toward the saint's body.

There was an blast. The saint's body exploded into dozens of pieces! Good friends had to learn how to share!

Countless people cried out in shock and anger. Chaos ensued. However, people still rushed against the blinding light to snatch up the broken pieces.

Sam was first. He descended with flames and reached into the mass of light, grabbing with two hands. Various pieces fell into his pocket—the left arm, a rib, and the heart!

The three-headed hound burst into action. All three mouths opened. Taking a deep breath, they swallowed all the shards of the scepter and escaped quickly because all the other musicians had swarmed over.

Broken pieces flew in the air.

With a rumble of thunder, a musician with dreadlocks broke through the air with shocking speed. He left behind white air waves in his path. The guards on his hands and feet were bright red from the friction. Everything blocking him were upended. Pushing against the dazzling light, he grabbed two things before he was swallowed by a thunderstorm. When he rolled out, he was charred black and no longer able to compete.

A giant hand appeared from a crack. It grabbed the saint's right leg before disappearing.

Baro's flying Sycle flew across sneakily and bit a crystal that had fallen from the saint's chest. It quickly disappeared, hiding its achievement. A handful of groups acted at once, dividing up the saint's right leg.

With an angry roar, a three-meter tall black giant ripped open his clothes and jumped from the crowd. He kicked a competitor aside and snatched half of the left hand. After a few jumps, he was out of the crowd. His body shrunk and his manmade muscles scattered in the wind. Miller walked out, cheekily putting his loot away and taking out a transparent test tube. The liquid inside the tube was clearly not something good.

He shook it before the musicians who had crowded around him with evil intentions. He acted as if he was going to break the tube. The others froze in place, features twisting.

All the musicians fell into chaos during the messy battle. One musician had lost his temper and plunged his dagger through another's back. That competitor collapsed and he froze in place as well. Metallic light spewed from his throat, wrapping around, and his head fell to the ground.

Violators would die.

The majority pined after the saint's spine. As a few musicians dueled, the spine was lifted by an air current. It flew in an arc overhead and landed outside the crowd. It landed perfectly into someone's hand ss if it was a coincidence.

"I'm so lucky." Colt seemed to have planned to stand there. Faced with everyone's shocked eyes, he sighed softly and collected the vertebrae without any effort. He subtly stole a glance at the white-haired youth on the other side of the crowd.

Ye Qingxuan remained in his spot, watching as everyone fought over the precious saint's body. He smiled and put his hands behind his back as if he was not interested at all.

There was a circular bulge in his bag though. The cover showed a strand of burnt hair. The saint's most valuable body part—the Skull of Truth—had entered his bag without anyone realizing.

Every part of a saint's body had different uses according to the saint's territory and scepter when he was still alive. For example, some saints' rings could provide the ability to breathe and live underwater. The hearts of others could be implanted into another musician's body, allowing him to be practically immortal.

However, the similarity of all saints was their skulls. Carved with their symphony of predestination and all their spirit, these skulls were known as the Skull of Truth. It could only be used once but if the schools were compatible, the musician could borrow the saint's remaining power and receive a mysterious experience.

Lifting the fog of reality, the musician could see the true appearance of the aether sea. After this experience, he would receive a large majority of the saint's previous enlightenments, allowing him to take a giant step forward in music theory and knowledge.

In Ye Qingxuan's opinion, special alchemy equipment and supernatural abilities were incomparable to the development of one's own abilities. If he could use this opportunity well, he might be able to answer the Seven Questions for Musicians and reach the Resonance level.

Seeing how Ye Qingxuan had taken his treasure so easily, Colt did not blow his cover. Instead, he just said, "You didn't even have to let out your hidden ability. Seems like you're more powerful than I thought."

Ye Qingxuan just smiled meaningfully. "Try a few more times. There's always hope." Hope my ass! I don't have any hidden abilities, alright? It'll be funny if you can force it out of me! You want a hidden ability? Here, I have a whistle that the weird grandmaster gave me. You want it? Take it! he thought.

During the intense fight, everyone took turns pulling tricks and finally, they finished cutting up the saint's body.

Sam called Baro over, giving his loot to him and said something to Ye Qingxuan. After Ye Qingxuan nodded, his eyes rolled and he passed out. Beside him, Miller had already prepared various medicines and music scores. He put all of them on Sam for emergency treatment. Seventy percent of his body had been severely burnt, and he had extreme blood and energy loss…

There was a cost to being the incarnate of a spirit. Sam had only entered the Resonance level recently. He was still too unfamiliar with Distortion level strength. The stronger the power, the more difficult it was to control. The scarier the music score, the worse the consequences of losing control. One incorrect music score could cause a catastrophe.

Baro summoned a bear to take Sam away. An invisible Sycle guarded them. He looked at Ye Qingxuan and asked, "What now?"

Ye Qingxuan looked back at Hades' Door. It had cracked open. "Now we'll see what's behind it…"

Colt, Torre, and Ye Qingxuan, who had walked over casually, stood before Hades' Door. They stared at each other but no one took a step forward. One saint's body was already hard enough to deal with. What if they walked in and six saints climbed out of their coffins?! It was not that probable, but what if?

Colt smiled at Ye Qingxuan and broke the silence. "You first?" According to the rules, Ye Qingxuan should go first and pick what he wanted. However, he was the one who set the rule so he did not have to follow it.

Thinking a bit, he looked at Torre. "You first?"

Torre smiled. He carried his unconscious brother without any intentions of moving. Instead, he looked to Colt. "You go."

They had gone in a circle but Colt was not surprised. He had expected this. He was the most observant of the three and would definitely know if there was danger behind the door. The other two were unable to rule out the possibility of something hiding there. Colt only had to pretend a little for them to scare themselves.

Hearing their words, Colt smiled. Seizing the chance, he walked toward the door. His frail figure disappeared in the darkness. There were no more sounds. All was silent.

Technically, Colt should give them a sign no matter what he found. It was inevitable for them to think the worst after such a long stretch of silence.

Just as Ye Qingxuan and Colt stared at each other awkwardly, there was an angry roar.

It was Colt. It was like a wild roar after losing all sanity, filled with unrestrainable shock and hysteria. Ye Qingxuan and Torre froze before sprinting into the darkness.

They quickly saw Colt. He was rooted in the darkness, his eyes dark and furious. Veins bulged on the hand that gripped his wooden staff. This was the first time Ye Qingxuan saw him lose control. He could not even control his aether waves anymore. If this was a black zone, he would have imploded from the backlash of the music theory.

Furrowing his brows, Ye Qingxuan looked around. He froze as well.

Torre looked in silence; only his expression changed. After a long while, he sighed. "I've used up all my ideas," he said before turning to leave.

In the darkness, Ye Qingxuan focused on everything the Eye of Silence would sense. After a while, he took a torch from his pocket and raised it up. Under the illumination, Ye Qingxuan scanned every inch of the dark hall.

The walls were covered in paintings of heaven. The colors had faded after the thousands of years and had become speckled. The angel's faces were unclear. When they looked down at the newcomers, their gazes were blurry and muddled, as if they were looking here from long, long ago.

Eleven statues stood in the hall among countless dust and cobwebs. These eleven Romulusian gods had stood here for thousands of years and had become damaged beyond repair.

This place was like an abandoned temple. It had been years since anyone had come to worship.

There was an altar under the various statues but the sacred fire had long been extinguished. All that remained was white ash. The fire watcher's chair beside it had rusted and one could vaguely see the image of the saint sitting there.

There was nothing else here. There was none of the noble graves that they had expected, nor any challenges. There were not even any spiders. There was only an empty temple. It was terrifyingly still. There were no paths either. This was the end of the underground palace.

"So what's this?" Ye Qingxuan gaped at the giant broken statue before him. After a long while, he threw down his torch and glanced at Colt. "Did you discover any secret paths or hidden rooms or any other traces?"

Colt turned around. There was mockery in his dark eyes. "Would I be like this if I did?"

Who knows? A tricky b*tch like you can do anything… Ye Qingxuan thought. Of course, he could not say that out loud. Otherwise, Colt would have flipped out. But despite the fact Ye Qingxuan could still crack jokes, he was disappointed as well.

The Eye of Silence did not detect any hidden rooms or secret paths. There were no double layers either and there was nothing behind the paintings. Ye Qingxuan cut some pieces down, only to find yellow dirt. There were no messages in the paintings. The ground was smooth and had been cut from stone, just like the statues.

He reached for the broken 'probe' he had found in the palace. Poking the ground, he discovered that there were hundreds of meters of dense stone underneath. There was no empty space at all. That meant there truly was nothing hidden here. That posed another question…

Ye Qingxuan sank into deep thought. Where did the King of Yellow go?