437 Look at the Sun

Samuel roared painfully and his entire body squirmed. The uncontrolled music theory spread, sweeping from Samuel's surroundings to other places. The blood-red scepter melded into his body, changing his blood and flesh. He swelled without warning and withered. Countless tumors spontaneously grew out of his body and then rotted away instantly, leaving behind gaping sores. They healed under his vibrant vitality before starting a new round of torment.

He seemed to have become a blight farm. The abnormal flesh continuously appeared and disappeared; his body changed drastically. During this, Samuel curled in his seat, screaming with his mouth wide open. Sharp canine teeth sprouted from his gums.

The worst expected scenario did not happen—the scepter did not collapse before completion. However, no one had expected that the music theory would go crazy at the end. It was as if Samuel was controlling his scepter to self-destruct. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

Samuel…could not control his own scepter?

No, the scepter was rejecting him!

The moment it went into his body, it clashed with his music theory. It instantly destroyed his music theory; his symphony of predestination collapsed quickly as it tried desperately to escape from his body. The scepter shook. No matter how Samuel tried to control it, it upended him again and again like a wild horse.

His own scepter…was fighting against him?

Unbelievable!

All observing grandmasters snapped out of their shock. They rose and wove their music theory. Disordered music thundered and cast toward Samuel. The organ in the Central Church changed quickly. It began playing a hymn again. Layers of territories wove together to seal Samuel in!

Rays of light fell and tied Samuel up. They seeped in bit by bit. All music theory in their path was stopped forcefully. This was the reason why so many grandmasters came to watch and why the ritual was inside the Holy Resurrection Church. If the sublimation failed, the grandmasters and saints would work together to force the wild music theory down and soften the damage.

However, under the grandmasters' shackles, Samuel's scepter kept shaking. It tore at the restrictions, wanting to break free. Every struggle caused much of Samuel's blood to evaporate, hurting him even more. Inside the alchemy array, he had become a frail old man. All his white hair had fallen out.

The scepter…was sapping his vitality!

"Impossible…" He reached out, digging into his chest, and grasping the crystallized scepter. He yelled, "There shouldn't be any impurities!"

The scepter shook and cracked. He screamed. His entire body swelled and his skin cracked. Huge bat wings sprouted behind his back. Ghastly white bones were covered in bloody cartilage. They shook in pain.

Ye Qingxuan gaped at the scene. The scepter was controlling Samuel? It seemed to have come to life and was absorbing the master's life. It ate at his flesh to turn him into what suited it best. It was like an ill-fitting shoe forcing the foot to grow!

"There's a problem…" Amidst the chaos, Ye Qingxuan reached out. Moonlight perception threads shot from his hands. They snaked past the music score, through the shell of the alchemy array, and connected to the core.

The wild music theory was there.

Ye Qingxuan's interpretation method spun quickly, deciphering the array's operation principle. The large array contained hundreds of music scores and divided into four regions. It would be almost impossible to completely analyze it.

However, Ye Qingxuan did not need to look at all the details. He skipped past them and went straight to the main theme. No matter what part it was, he only looked for the abnormal section.

As the scepter lost control, the alchemy array would definitely be affected. It was possible to find it by seeing it as a black hound in a flock of sheep.

In an instant, he had deconstructed the first layer—the outer music note portion!

Next, he deconstructed the music theory operation and construction portion.

And then he deconstructed the elemental construction portion.

Finally, Ye Qingxuan found the problem in the 'activity portion.' It was the original blood! The elemental foundation of the scepter had revolted!

Amongst the red elements, something that was definitely not Samuel's was growing rapidly, sucking at his vitality, and forcing the scepter to change… It was as if a dying snake woke up in the arms of a farmer and bit him, injecting poison.

It dawned on Ye Qingxuan. Many problems could arise during a scepter's sublimation. However, the core element could not contain anyone else's aura! Unless the original blood was not Samuel's product…

Thinking of this, Ye Qingxuan's gaze turned pitiful. Samuel was more than ninety-years-old now and had been stuck as a grandmaster for so many years. The euphemism was that he had accumulated a thick foundation. In other words, he had made no progress in all those years.

A grandmaster was a high position too but there were hundreds of them. Who would care about Samuel, especially in the Sacred City?

This was only a frustration for other musicians. However, Samuel was extremely thirsty for power and strength. Seeing the seat of a saint so close and yet so far, it was more painful than being in purgatory. And even someone like Wolf Flute could become a Scepter!

Why couldn't he?!

The worst feeling in the world was that a priest could touch a nun's *ss when you couldn't… This logic was bad but Samuel, obsessed for his entire life, could not tell the difference anymore. Therefore, he chose to take a risk. He would create the original blood even if he needed to use an outer object…

Ye Qingxuan blanked for a moment. Then he became determined. Pushing Wolf Flute down, he grabbed a black dagger from his boot. He stepped inside and jumped past the restraining music score, going right to the array.

"Yezi, what are you doing?!" Wolf Flute was aghast. "The array is overworking. It'll explode if you disrupt it!" Before he finished, Ye Qingxuan spun the dagger around and stabbed down!

Boom! Boom! Boom! The expected explosion did not happen. Instead, there was a string of gloomy pops. Then the bloody mercury evaporated.

Ye Qingxuan covered his face. Hot wind swept by him. Under the dagger, the element that represented the original blood quickly fell apart. About to burst, the music theory now collapsed like a snake without bones. The array collapsed. Then the grandmasters' restraining music score descended from the sky and completely sealed the scepter's strength. The only sound in the dead silence was Samuel's screams.

Drenched in sweat, Ye Qingxuan tossed the broken dagger away and walked out of the array. Wolf Flute moved up and patted his shoulder. He looked pleased and not at all worried. "I knew you'd have a solution. You took the spotlight again!"

Ye Qingxuan smiled and collapsed onto his chair. Merely deciphering the entire array had taken all his energy. He felt as if he would black out soon.

The Central Church had become a mess. The Silent Authority quickly maintained order. Wolf Flute had a Choir musician come check on Ye Qingxuan. Realizing that he had just used up his energy, he was given a blanket and a cup of coffee. Then the musician left to take care of someone more important—Samuel.

Countless Choir musicians worked together and saved Samuel's life. However, he was now a bag of bones and on his last breath. His entire body was white like a bloodless mummy. He was barely conscious and barely breathing. After the emergency treatment, he was lifted onto a stretcher to be taken to the hospital. However, when the sunlight from the broken ceiling fell onto him, the unconscious man opened his eyes. An inhuman scream ripped from his throat.

Sunlight fell onto his body and burned him to crisp as if was melted iron. Getting strength from somewhere, he shot up. Crawling at an unbelievable speed, he escaped into the shadows. He screamed, "Thirsty! Water! Give me water!" The voice was as sharp as steel wires. While everyone was still shocked, Samuel shot up and pounced on a young musician. His sharp canines tore apart the young man's throat.

He drank to his fill.

With a crisp pop, the blood flowed into Samuel's body. He quickly recovered and became strong yet ugly. His entire body was still pale white and hairless. He looked like a ghoul.

"He has mutated," someone murmured.

Countless Silent musicians pounced. Wolf Flute sighed and patted Ye Qingxuan's shoulder. "Let's go. There's nothing for us anymore."

"Did Samuel fall?" Ye Qingxuan asked quietly.

"Possibly." Wolf Flute lit a cigarette and muttered, "Look at him. Does he still look like a human? His best case scenario would be working in the underground palace of the Judgement Tower for the rest of his life."

Ye Qingxuan was confused. "The Judgement Tower has an underground palace?"

"Probably not." Wolf Flute shook his head. "Everyone says there isn't one so I guess there isn't."

Ye Qingxuan understood what he meant.

"Stop spacing out. It's time for us to work." Wolf Flute turned and walked toward the carriage outside the door. "We've waited for so long. There should be an effect now."

Just as he finished, a second boom sounded. Ye Qingxuan looked back. In the distance, a plume of black smoke rose from the Judgement Tower, creating a big hole.

-

The Judgement Tower was littered with corpses. Charles gaped at the bodies outside the cell. The sight was familiar as if he had seen it before—perhaps in his hallucination or in real life.

They were the guards of the Tower. Though they were sometimes mean, they were mostly nice. Two of them had recently gotten married and had kids. When Charles tried to get close to them, they would give him some cigarettes.

Now, they were all dead.

The things he had hallucinated were now real. He sank into a daze, completely forgetting his true reason for being here. Something exploded and the steel door fell apart. Constantine walked out of the cell and stood in the puddle of blood outside the door. He opened his arms, letting the rescuers to put a black robe onto him.

"Wake up, Charles." Constantine studied the shocked Charles and reached out. "Let's go. I'll take you to see the sun."