543 The Ocean Abyss of Suffocation

In midair, the flying giant snake was suddenly seized with pain. Strands of pain sprouted from its head, making their way into its wounds as if they were alive. They flowed along its bone marrow, causing its body to spasm, as its consciousness descended into a mania.

As a result, the torrential rains became heavier and heavier, as if clusters of stars were falling down. Countless raindrops gathered into a torrent of water, falling from the sky into the sea. In the blink of an eye, the fog had disappeared without a trace. As the snake's body was forced back into the sea by the torrent bit by bit, it struggled furiously and hissed towards the Indigo Moon hanging between the heavens and the earth.

Moonlight flowed.

Declaring that the long night had fallen, the first song of Winterreise, Gute Nacht, played. Endless hoarfrost, fine in texture, formed on the sea level. The tiny ice crystals collided with each other, making crisp, clear sounds, like a melody of winter.

Falling from the sky was a river that resembled tears. Ghostly flames emerged quietly, floating above it, and in the storm, shadows of crows circled the sky. Various imageries emerged one by one between the ocean and the sky.

The world had turned into a performance stage for illusions. They intertwined, dragging the Mountain of Nomadism into endless layers of illusions.

Gute Nacht, Die Wetterfahne, Gefror'ne Thränen, Der Lindenbaum, Wasserflut, Irrlicht, Einsamkeit…

The 24 songs of Winterreise were performed by Ye Qingxuan in a fluid manner, and his playing was surprisingly smooth. For the first time in his life, Ye Qingxuan played the songs so well that they sounded free of all inhibitions.

When the last song of Der Leiermann was completed, in the body of the Mountain of Nomadism, the aether waves fluctuating faintly were completely subdued. It crashed from the air into the sea, struggling with all its might, but it was unable to free itself from the illusions flooding its perceptions.

The spirituality contained in the 24 songs guided the music theories within. As if they were alive, they combined into one, evolving into an inescapable, terrifying illusion, completely trapping the Mountain of Nomadism inside.

At the moment, the ocean was what the Mountain of Nomadism saw.

For the first time, the creature born of the ocean found the ocean terrifying. Unlike the sea they were in, it was a desolate sea that it saw.

In the heavy snow, the dark and unfamiliar ocean swallowed it. No matter how hard it tried to swim and stay afloat, it felt like it was drowning in the sea, sinking bit by bit. It was sinking into the frightening trench hidden in the sea.

A source of terror lurked in the endless depths of the ocean.

Gazing at the dark rift that seemed to extend to the end of the ocean, an unprecedented sense of crisis and fear was instinctively triggered in the Mountain of Nomadism.

That was the abyss!

Abyss!

Other than Ye Qingxuan, no other musician in the same era nor that in the past could create such a realistic abyss in the illusion, nor would there be any in the future. From the remains of the former Dark Pope, Ye Qingxuan had drawn the Power of the Source, which had originated from the abyss.

Purely in terms of the understanding of the abyss, he had surpassed most dark musicians, even the high-ranking demons in the abyss and the dark ministers. What he had learned was the essence of Hyakume, the core of its spirituality, the music theory that even the dark branches of the abyss had never understood.

After Hyakume's fall into a deep slumber, no one else in the world could understand the abyss better than Ye Qingxuan. Therefore, he was able to create the illusion of the Ocean Abyss of Suffocation.

The school of magic placed the most emphasis on the passing down of illusions. Other than certain illusions that could be adjusted depending on the circumstances, the imagery created in most movements followed certain formulas, and some were even fixed. Therefore, most illusions were detectable, and tricks to crack them had been discovered.

Despite the said shortcoming, after going through modifications and upgrades done constantly by innumerable generations of illusionists, the variations hidden in the seemingly simple illusions and the knowledge behind them were the true essence of each movement.

To distinguish between skilled illusionists and the rest, one had to identify the music theory and the variations in the illusions created. Taking the imagery of the moon as an example, the Indigo Moon created by Ye Qingxuan was much more impressive than moons created by other illusionists, not to mention other imageries.

The list of differences between an illusion that had captured the essence of the movement and a phantom shadow lacking actual content was inexhaustible. Sometimes, although the ones inside an illusion knew that it is fake, they had no way of escaping, and could do nothing but remain trapped. Numerous schools of magic had chosen to keep the knowledge of the variations of each movement a secret, passing down the core music theory only.

For other schools, the imageries they passed down were derived from the core of their movement. After the apprentices learn each of them step by step, they would be able to master the core illusion of their school. For example, famous schools of magic such as Voodoo Catacombs, Phantom Swamp and so on, were famous for doing so.

The mysteries and music theory contained in the Ocean Abyss of Suffocation that Ye Qingxuan created at the moment were no less powerful even when compared to the imageries of those schools.

If one was to simply compare the magnificence and spirituality of the imageries, Ye Qingxuan's might even be just a little bit more superior than the rest. The only part it was lacking in was the constant upgrading done by tens of generations of musicians, who had nurtured the imageries with their spirituality.

This imagery alone would be enough for Ye Qingxuan establish a new sect within the school of magic. If he would like to do so in the future, a new department of the Royal Academy of Music would definitely be born.

A Master under the age of 20, the founder of a brand new school of magic… He was simply sensational. But at the moment, Ye Qingxuan had exhausted all his strength just to maintain the illusion.

The Mountain of Nomadism was too big.

Too insanely big.

Such a horrifying, humongous sea monster could only be nurtured in the ocean.

The mere act of supporting the entire illusion was almost enough to render Ye Qingxuan breathless. If not for the constant flow of aether drawn from the sea of aether by Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, Ye Qingxuan would have died from exhaustion. Fortunately, he had grown accustomed to controlling amounts of aether beyond the limit of his level since a long time ago. Although he was under pressure, at least he didn't commit any fatal errors.

At the moment, the Mountain of Nomadism in the illusion was sinking in the Ocean Abyss of Suffocation and was gradually assimilated by the illusion. With luck, its tenacity and soul would be extracted and incorporated by the illusion soon, making the Ocean Abyss of Suffocation more and more realistic.

Due to the terrifying magnitude of the Mountain of Nomadism, the nourishing effect it had on the illusion was of an incredible extent as well. If the illusion could consume more than a dozen sea monsters like it, materializing the Ocean Abyss of Suffocation, transforming it from a phantom to a real entity completely, was not impossible. Then, it could truly be compared to regions of illusion such as Voodoo Catacombs, Demonic Mountain and so on, becoming the sixth catastrophe-level illusion in the physical world.

Sadly, such an idea could only exist in one's thoughts.

Ye Qingxuan wasn't even sure if he could kill the Mountain of Nomadism completely with it. Judging from its size, the Mountain of Nomadism had lived for a few hundred years at least. Even a pig could have learned to climb trees if it had lived for a few hundred years. Who knew what else could this goddamn creature do?

Moreover, at the moment... the Mountain of Nomadism had also understood that most of its body had sunk into Hades. [1]

If it was to take no action, it would meet its demise for sure.

In the Ocean Abyss of Suffocation, the sea monster sinking in the depths of darkness let out a raspy cry, as it was overcome by unprecedented humiliation.

Since its birth, it had never faced a situation like this. The sea monster that had ruled the ocean for hundreds of years drowned in the sea… How ridiculous.

Under the pressure and darkness brought about by the petrifying illusion, the Mountain of Nomadism suddenly stopped struggling. As if it was enduring extreme pain, its huge body twisted and convulsed. Under the purplish-green scales, the blood vessels bulged, emitting a dark red glow.

It resembled burning blood.

The ice cold body was also ignited, giving out a frightening heat.

The next moment, the ocean roared.

[1] The expression means that the Mountain of Nomadism realized it was dying.