Silent Crown

“How are you?”

“Good, of course. Better than ever. So please don’t put me together with the high and mighty Yunlou family ever again.” The girl’s voice sounded disgusted. “You can go back now. The dirt outside isn’t suitable for you. If you want to be a white lotus, go and stay in the clean pond.”

The light in Yunlou Chaoyue’s eyes dimmed. “But you are…”

“I’m nothing!” Bai Xi raised her voice, full of aversion. “I’m a wild kid without parents. I don’t know anything about Yunlou City, and have nothing to do with the Yunlou family. ‘Your Highness’ need not worry. Now, I’m going home and you can leave too.”

“…” Chaoyue was quiet and lowered her head. After a long time, she whispered, “Thank you for saving me. If it wasn’t for Zhaodang, I would’ve died today.”

“I said you can leave. Do you not understand my Eastern language?”

Yunlou Chaoyue’s shoulder trembled. After a while, she nodded, “Then…I’m going now. Be careful.” She touched the high wall, as if wanting to touch the girl’s cheeks. After a long time, she turned and left.

Everything was completely still in the alleyway, except for the ash floating in the wind.

—

Behind the high walls, Bai Xi listened as Yunlou Chaoyue’s footsteps faded. After silence finally fell again, she collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion. As if her blood was boiling, fuchsia vessels bulged on her bare hands and face. One could faintly see her blood flowing like lava.

Metallic blood dripped from her nose. Some of the blood fell onto the ground and turned the stone red as if the blood were scalding. Other droplets were bone-numbingly cold. Some blood droplets were black-purple. They sizzled on the ground, leaving behind signs of erosion.

Beside her, a beautiful man with golden locks that hung to his waist leaned on his cane and watched her quietly. Seeing her pain, he offered her a handkerchief, but there was not any pity in his emerald eyes, nor was there any cruelty, but just an understanding that surpassed sympathy. The image of two black snakes entangled around each other was on the back of his hand. It was Hermes.

“Riding over the orchestra, pushing down demons from the three worlds…was it Taiyi?” Hermes said quietly in awe. “As expected from the most powerful of the Dragon Bloodlines.”

In the East, the Dragon Bloodline was a symbol of power because of the talent it contained. Taiyi was the best of the best. No matter where she was, as long as Yunlou Chaoyue made a sound, her voice would drown out all other sounds. The aether would only listen to her and ignore everything else. It was like an emperor’s ultimate, irrefutable demand.

It was because of this that she could easily destroy others’ music, even if the strength of the three adversaries had been comparable to hers. But it had not been Yunlou Chaoyue who had called forth Da Shao…It had been Bai Xi, who had been nearby.

“It is an honor to have seen both Taiyi and its equal…Zhaodang in one day.”

“Don’t put me on the same level as that little doll.” In the stillness, Bai Xi pushed herself up, panting.

Hermes offered her a tube of medicine. The girl pushed it away in aggravation, but he pushed it back stubbornly. “Don’t keep pushing yourself. You know the side effects of Zhaodang more than I do.” Using more patience than ever before, Hermes advised, “Just see it as taking advantage of me. It’s not like I don’t have enough money.”

“Are you kidding me?” Bai Xi’s eyes filled with annoyance. “You sent a message for me to come here just so I could take advantage of you?”

—

Twenty minutes prior, Bai Xi had received a letter after taking Ye Qingxuan to the hospital. The letter only had two lines, as well as Hermes’s stamp:

I know your relationship with the Yunlou family. I’ll be waiting in the alley outside the Academy’s South Gate.

“Actually, I just wanted to see Zhaodang.” Hermes shrugged. “You didn’t lose anything, did you? You even saved her life. As Easterners say, that’s better than a nine-level tower.”

“And now you’ve seen it. Are you happy?”

“Aw, don’t say that. I’m never unhappy with a pretty girl. I’m still your boss though. You have to think highly of me.”

“Ha.”

While Hermes was still sighing sadly, Bai Xi scoffed and turned to leave. Hermes sighed again and reached for her shoulder. “Wait…”

Crack!

In an instant, it was as if he had crossed a line and hot electricity jumped from Bai Xi’s shoulder! The electricity struck Hermes’s finger, creating a charred ring around the finger and splitting the nail. There was the smell of meat burning.

Bai Xi stumbled and turned to glare at him.

“As expected.” Hermes looked down at his hurt finger. Murmuring something, the wound healed quickly. He squinted at the aether wrapped around the girl’s body, finally certain that, “The back bite of Zhaodang is deep inside your bones.”

—

All descendants of the Dragon Bloodlines were born with specific talents. Some said that talents were gifts from the gods. But Zhaodang was a curse…It was an extreme talent of the Dragon Bloodlines.

Once awoken, it would go crazy in the aether. Wherever Bai Xi was would be cast into a black zone with wild aether. All aether would be uncontrollable, unable to be manipulated by anyone. But aided by it, even the simplest rune would be increased one hundred times its original strength. It would be powerful enough to destroy anything it touched, no matter who or what it was, including the one wielding it.

“You can’t control it anymore.” Hermes lowered his head, gazing at the bulging bruised vessels on the girl’s wrist. Under her practically transparent skin, the vessels pulsed angrily. The flow of blood sounded like a tidal wave. That was one of the side effects of using the talent—the mildest effect.

“I just want to chat with you. Why must you try to escape, Bai Xi?” Hermes sighed. “If Taiyi is the Emperor, then Zhaodang is the destructive civilian. Like wildfire, you can’t control it or restrain it.”

“I can control it!” Bai Xi interrupted.

“I found another similarity between you and Little Yezi. You both like to lie to yourself…” Hermes chuckled, as if laughing at a child’s naivety. “It’s useless, Bai Xi. You’ve felt it too. Even if you try to forget them, they won’t go away. The more you try to restrain it, the wilder it will become. Every time they awaken, it’ll only become more powerful.

“If you can’t control it, it will take your life, expanding like a tumor until you collapse from your own strength. You’re what, seventeen? You still look like a fifteen year old. Two of your most precious years were taken by it, and it will take even more…”

“None of your business.” Bai Xi glared at him coldly. Raising a hand, she wiped the blood away from her face with her sleeve. Transforming back the girl with the porcupine disposition, she no longer seemed weak. Her eyes arrogant and cold, she stated, “Sorry, but I don’t need you to worry about me. Now, if you don’t mind, please disappear and stop wasting my time. I have night lessons to attend.”

“Lessons?” Hermes laughed as if it were a joke. “Your Highness, who in Avalon has the qualifications to teach you? Abraham? A retired executioner? Just give up. Abraham can never teach you, but…” He looked at Bai Xi, fire in his narrow eyes. It was not lust, but was like an artisan studying rough diamond, overjoyed at finding treasure. “But I can.”

Bai Xi froze. She had never thought that her strange and mysterious boss would call her for that reason. She had been ready to end everything, but now she was taken aback. It had always been her dream to control Zhaodang and live freely. But now, it felt as if reality was joking with her, but she could not laugh. “Why?”

“Why? Haha, maybe this is fate?” Under the darkening night sky, Hermes turned around. Gazing at the fog, his eyes curved as if mocking something. “Some things are going to change, and someone or something will come find me. When it comes to that, I don’t know if the result will be what I predict. Something will be ended, or I will be ended.” Hermes raised a hand, waving away the annoying mist before him, his eyes focused and gazing faraway. “Before that, I want to find a student and pass down some things.”

“I can’t trust what you’re saying so easily.”

“I think it’s strange too, isn’t it?” Hermes shrugged, mocking himself. “So let’s use what I’m best at. A lot of people call me ‘the trader’ because I’m too lazy to hide and lie. Since the world likes to price things clearly, why don’t you make a trade with me? I get a student, and you get a new road to freedom.”

As Bai Xi remained silence, the man mocked a chivalrous bow. As if meeting a king, his grave tone had a tinge of mockery and his eyes were deep, as if seeing her future. “My princess, what do you say?”

—

Ye Qingxuan woke up in the deep night to find that he had been pushed to the edge of his bed. Helpless, he turned and saw the little girl that had taken over the center of the bed. He could only sigh and carefully move her foot away from his neck.

Bai Xi woke, glared at him, and flipped over to continue sleeping.

“Where did you go?” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “You came home so late.”

“Nowhere,” Bai Xi answered in a muffled voice, as if upset. “I’m tired and I want to sleep. Leave me alone.”

“…Why are you in my hospital bed?”

“There’s thunder and I’m scared.”

Ye Qingxuan looked out the window and saw sparkling stars in the clear night sky. Well, if she said there was thunder then there was thunder. He sighed and shut his eyes, curling into the corner that the girl gave him. In the stillness, there was only a centimeter between his hand and Bai Xi’s cheeks.

“Bai Xi?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t wipe your snot on my face the next time you cry.”

“Oh…”