471 Troublesome Task

"Not me." Wolf Flute shook his head and moved aside. "Someone wants to see you."

Ye Qingxuan saw the old man with a lowered head among the various clergymen and nobles. Ye Qingxuan knew him.

Constantine?

After the sermon, the pope would give him the archbishop's red robe before everyone's eyes. At that time, he would be the most well-known cardinal of the Sacred City.

Why did he come to meet Ye Qingxuan at this time?

"Mr. Ye, there's a small problem," Constantine said directly. "Wolf Flute suggested you to me, thinking you would be able to help. Hopefully, you will."

"Help?" Ye Qingxuan was confused. "To be honest, I can help in many aspects with my skills but none of them are what a cardinal would be interested in."

People like Ye Qingxuan were famous, but in the eyes of a cardinal, unrelated to any musicians, he could only help kill some people. Was Constantine planning on getting a killer to make some drama in the Sacred City before he took office?

"Don't worry. You will definitely be able to help." Wolf Flute did not dare to smoke in this formal event so he could only chew gum. "You just need to find someone in this square."

In this square? Find someone? Ye Qingxuan glanced back at the mass of people and laughed involuntarily. "Wolf Flute, do you know how many people there are here? Probably tens of thousands! Unless you want me to find a dwarf or giant, it'll be impossible to find someone."

"What a pity. That person isn't a dwarf or giant." Wolf Flute stood beside Ye Qingxuan as if enjoying the scenery. His lips opened and a voice poured into his ears like thunder. "His name is Gaius."

"Wait!" Ye Qingxuan almost yelped. Eyes opening wide, he asked quietly, "Didn't he already leave?"

Wolf Flute shrugged. "He might come back."

"Gaius would never leave," Constantine sighed. "He would never let me live until I became a cardinal. He'd never let me, the ex-deputy commander, be blessed by the pope in front of the entire world's eyes."

"It's just changing jobs! Why is he so petty?" Ye Qingxuan's expression twisted. "Can't he just let it go? Why does he have to kill you?"

Constantine could not help but shake his head. "Do you know what it means for me to betray the Revolutionaries?"

After a moment, Ye Qingxuan asked curiously, "An extra traitor?"

Rather than becoming angry or responding to Ye Qingxuan's irony, Constantine answered, "Let's put aside the horrible consequences or whether their reputation will be damaged. You must know that no interior of organizations is all united, even something as idealistic as the Revolutionaries.

"There's an Eastern tale of using thousands to buy horse bones, right?" he asked lightly. "To the king, I'm just a horse skeleton. Yes, my betrayal will damage the Revolutionaries greatly but they might be able to withstand it. However, they have to face something else after I betray them."

There seemed to be a fire burning in Constantine's eyes. He said in a low voice, "Whether it is the political significance or the plan right after, if it is done correctly, they can destroy all of Gaius's efforts now and ruin him!"

Hearing all this, Ye Qingxuan suddenly had a headache. Why did he keep getting into things like this?

"Gaius might not come though, right?" he asked. "This is just your guess."

"There's been at least ten assassination attempts on me these days. There was one when I was just coming here." Constantine stared at the crowd as if looking for that familiar face. "I know Gaius just as he knows me. He will come. If he wants to kill me, this will be his last chance."

-

A few minutes later, Constantine was taken inside for preparation. Ye Qingxuan glanced at Wolf Flute. "So you gave me a troublesome task again?"

"Isn't it good that I always think of you for work?" Wolf Flute asked in return. "We don't actually need you but adding you in helps give you more stuff in your CV. And it's not just you. Do you know how long the Silent Authority spent to make this trap? There are at least four hundred men hiding in this square, all working under the Silent Authority. If Gaius is found, you won't need to be on the front lines."

"It sounds pretty set in stone already?" Ye Qingxuan asked.

"Who knows?" Wolf Flute shrugged. "It's Gaius after all. No one can be sure."

Ye Qingxuan looked back at the reverent faces in the sea of people. He could not help but ask, "If Gaius really comes, he'll do something big. At that time…what will happen to all these believers?"

Wolf Flute glanced at him but did not reply. Ye Qingxuan understood.

"Right," he murmured, frowning. "Who knows?"

-

Ye Qingxuan quickly returned to the crowd and found Bai Xi.

"I'm going to look for Charles," he said quietly. "And you go back to the embassy. Don't stay here."

"What's wrong?" Bai Xi glanced at him in confusion.

Ye Qingxuan petted her hair. "Be good. I'll tell you later."

Bai Xi glared at him unhappily. Though she was unwilling, she still followed Ye Qingxuan out. Forcing their way through the crowd, Ye Qingxuan stuffed her inside the embassy's carriage.

The carriage went off into the distance.

"You want me to go too? What about you?" Lola asked. "Are you going to get involved?"

"I have to at least find Charles. If they kill him, it'll be a seriously sad death." Ye Qingxuan waved his hand. "Don't worry. I'm just helping instead of going to my death. If anything happens, I'll be the first to run. No one would catch me."

"How come you're only confident when talking about running?" Lola sighed but the faint figure disappeared.

"To be honest, I wish I know," Ye Qingxuan muttered to himself.

He walked toward the crowd and suddenly, there was an explosion in the distance! The ground shook. Under the boom, a tall tower in the distance broke in half. Flames and smoke rose to the sky. Pained cries traveled over. The square instantly fell silent. Everyone looked up in shock, staring at the pillar of black smoke.

"Keep alert! Do not become disorderly!" Wolf Flute's voice came through. "Someone will take care of it. We must watch the square! Watch everyone around you!"

Under the explosion, panic had spread to the square. Heads all shot up and the commotion was impossible to keep down. Even at the podium, the pope stopped speaking.

And then he reached out.

And a miracle descended.

Ye Qingxuan instantly felt a large undercurrent in the depths of the aether sea, far below his sensory range. It seemed to be an echo coming from the deepest part of the aether world. Focusing on it, he could hear a glorious hymn in his ears.

A spirit emerged from thin air. It was born from nothingness.

Ye Qingxuan could not observe the detailed process or even imagine it. He could only guess the miraculous method from the waves in the aether sea.

It was like creating a soul in an instant.

The spirit filled with benevolence and gentleness flowed in everyone's hearts. Without sound, it instantly soothed the panic. Then the King of Red pointed and time flowed backward.

The black smoke in the sky disappeared and the flames extinguished. The giant broken tower was pushed back up by an invisible force. Countless bricks flew back from all directions, instantly becoming seamless.

Light shone from the void. Falling on the wounded, the blood flowed backward and the injuries healed. Broken bones regrew and the torn limbs went back to normal.

Other than those who had died immediately, everything was back to normal.

Yes, things were exactly how they had been, neither better nor worse. It was so precise that every detail was recovered without missing a single millimeter!

It was this precise control that terrified Ye Qingxuan. With Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, he could do precise manipulation on a small scale. However, what the pope had done was more than a hundred times out of his range.

This was not a competition of strength but a grasp on music theory and control of aether.

Now, Ye Qingxuan finally understood the terrifying difference between common musicians, saints, and the three kings. Even at the Scepter level, a musician's power depended on the music theory system constructed in the Holy Cauldron's Originator.

Saints who were given a title could use the entire system's power directly.

But the three kings…they had melded into it and become one with it! Their bodies were the physical incarnate of the musician path and the mysteries of aether. They were the projection of the Originator in the human world. Every move was like a miracle.

The prepared chaos was instantly extinguished.

"Therefore, what excuse do we have to not be in awe?" The pope's sermon continued. The calm and holy voice rang in everyone's ears, shaking their souls. "Look up at the blazing sun, look down at the vast earth. This is a portion of all miracles. We are not attacked in this dark world, we are not attacked in the chaos… Then why are we so arrogant toward the only truth?"

Under the somber words, the believers grew lively. They fervently yelled out the names of saints. The sound waves transformed into a tide that swept in all directions.

Ye Qingxuan stood outside the crowd but he still felt his body shaking from all the sounds. The square was loosely guarded outside but heavily guarded inside. Though the enchantment did not restrict musicians, it was undoubtedly under the surveillance of the Central Church.

And not only were the high levels of the Church here today, there were also officials from the various nations. There was more than one Scepter too. What did Gaius have planned if he dared to come?

Deep in thought, something suddenly flashed through Ye Qingxuan's mind and he winced.

"Wolf Flute." He glanced at the young musician guarding beside Constantine in the distance. "Do you still remember how we were suspecting that there's a mole in the Silent Authority?"