Silent Crown

Chapter 267 Elegy of the Crow

It was as if a giant beast had quietly ‘seeped’ from the wall. Sensing Ye Qingxuan’s gaze, it looked down. One of its compound eyes lit up. And so rock-like material and color began spreading under the path of its gaze—the fossilizing gaze! This spider mother had the slight bloodline of the stone statue demon!

The moonlight struggled to maintain equilibrium. Where it met the gaze, powder would fall down. It was the dust bloated after turning to stone. Broken noises continuously came from the spider. The youth could vaguely see the menacing shadow of the spider slowly raise two pincers.

"This is kind of difficult." Ye Qingxuan rolled his stiff neck and gripped his cane. "It’s challenging!"

Boom!

-

Three minutes later, Ye Qingxuan was running for his life in the dead-silent street. The giant building behind him was covered in spider webs. Countless spiders rushed in all directions like a flood. They passed through some other demon nest, causing a commotion.

The guy who had started all this was squatting in a tight corner, wiping away his sweat. He let out a sigh of relief as he watched the chaos in the distance. As expected, he could not beat it!

He sighed. Once again, this strengthened his decision to take shortcuts and use tricks whenever possible and never fight face-to-face! Ever since the infamous Vengeful Spirit debuted, he had never fought straightforwardly. He had always relied on despicable tricks. He could not help it. His actual abilities were not enough.

Using tricks was more fun too; it was less troublesome. He just set it off and everything was fine!

Sighing, he caressed his cane. The gem Jiu Xiao Huan Pei had been sullied. It was ruined in his hands. He could only awaken its true strength when he became an official musician. A hat could contain so much music theory. Ye Qingxuan believed that the Ye family had put some good stuff into the instrument as well.

He did not need powerful scores like "Guangling Zhixi" or "Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute," but there should at least be "Changmen Yuan," right? There should be at least two or three copies of trademark Modifications scores too.

Ye Qingxuan felt much better from fantasizing about the impossible but beautiful future. But soon, a caw sounded again, shattering the silence. Furrowing his brows, Ye Qingxuan looked up slowly. On the withered tree above his head was a giant black crow. It was staring at him and screaming, attracting all the surrounding demons over.

This was how they lived. The crow could eat his decaying flesh after the demons killed him. Unfortunately, the demons living in surrounding neighborhoods were either attracted by the commotion caused by the spiders or were hiding in fear.

"Caw! Caw!" Seeing that no one was responding, the crow panicked. It cried louder, "Caw caw!"

Still, no one came. The only sound in the silence was the youth’s sympathetic whistling. He rose slowly and walked over, an eerie smile on his lips.

"Caw caw caw!" The crow tried to fly away, but Ye Qingxuan’s off-handed frost ray froze its wings together. It dropped to the ground and cried pitifully while curling up in a corner. Sadly, all cries for help were useless. The youth’s black shadow swallowed it. His smile was cold.

"You like to scream, huh?" After thinking for a bit, Ye Qingxuan pulled some ropes from his waist. Tugging it, he smiled in pleasure. "Then I’ll let you scream some more."

Five minutes later, the tortured and damaged crow was tied up and hanging from the youth’s cane. It trembled as it swung side to side.

Two mussed feathers fell amidst the cold drizzle. It looked so pitiful but the crow was much more obedient now. It knew when to scream and when to shut up.

"No wonder they say crows bully the weak and fear the strong." Ye Qingxuan sneered. He strode into an alley while holding the bird.

When he found a dead alley he liked, he hung the crow on the wall. After preparing everything, he pulled some beast traps out of his bag, placing them all over. Finally, he wiped his sweat in satisfaction. He looked up at the trembling crow and began hitting it with his cane.

"Scream! Hurry and scream! No one’s gonna save you even if you scream your throat out!"

And so the crow began to scream under the immoral torture. It did not scream stupid things like "Your throat out! Your throat out!" but it did have some effect. When Ye Qingxuan heard scattered footsteps from the distance, he hid into the shadows, gripping the ‘trick’ Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. He was happily waiting for the prey to fall into his trap.

-

Today truly was the day of misfortune for crows in Avalon’s Shadow. They used to be so loved, but today they were being hunted cruelly. A shameless black shadow was searching for these poor fellows and tying them up one by one. He would lure demons into his trap and then destroy them all. If he killed a crow, he would switch to another one. If the second one died, he would get a third.

In a few short areas, all the crows of South Buck had become victims. They had practically all died in this guy’s hands. The demons were confused too when they rushed forward at the signal only to find a seductively tied up crow. And then they would get hit in the back of the head.

Boom! Another primate demon fell to the ground. Before the shaking crow, Ye Qingxuan expertly pulled out his knife and slit the demon to let out the blood. After collecting the most valuable material, he kicked the thing into the sewer without hesitation.

After accumulating enough, he used one-time moonlight to purify them all!

The most valuable material to a primate demon was the two vertebrae. Ye Qingxuan soaked them in alchemy liquid and stuffed them into his bag. His bag was already filled to the point of bursting now.

Seeing that he had made ten-thousands of pounds in a few short hours, Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt that Avalon’s Shadow was a good place to get rich. He just had to catch some crows. If the demon attracted was too powerful, he could turn around and run, and catch another crow to start over. It was all gain and no pain! Unfortunately, his could not put more in his bag.

After purifying the last group of demons, Ye Qingxuan was tired enough to collapse onto the floor. He had used Moonlight multiple times in one afternoon. Indrah’s Eye took the burden, but he was still mentally exhausted. He decided to take a break and wait for Old Phil to contact him. However, he saw faint mist in the distance when he looked up again.

Stark white fog creeped in from every corner under the eternally-unchanging night. The heavy whiteness swallowed all commotion in its path, causing all to sink into deadly silence. The fog had appeared though there was no water vapor here. It was like the mist that shrouded Avalon in the morning, but it had a slight decaying odor and it swallowed everything.

He could not see his own fingers in the heavy fog. Thunder roared in the distance, resonating faintly.

Ye Qingxuan halted. He studied the white fog heavily. As more surged in, the song that had haunted his ears disappeared as if it had been strangled. The youth shivered at the thought.

Though the song disappeared, he felt that the animosity of this shadowy city had multiplied tenfold or thousand-fold. Each inch of air and earth was filled with disgust and animosity toward outsiders. He could barely even breathe.

"Traitor," someone spat in the fog. "Traitor…" The voice was old and hoarse. It seemed to be a roar that had traveled from far away and was filled with raw hatred. It repeated over and over, "Traitor…traitor…traitor…"

Ye Qingxuan froze. He subconsciously tugged his hat but the power sleeping within it seemed to have awoken. The fleeting sound grew clearer in his ears. He could hear the unclear yet spiteful murmur. It was a list of all the traitors; it was a declaration filled with hatred.

"Guinevere, Gawain, Percival…and Merlin. Merlin, you clown, you b*tch, demon…" The voice was filled with deep-rooted wildness and fury. "Traitors…all traitors…they’re all traitors!"

Ye Qingxuan felt a chill to the bone as he listened. To be honest, he did not want to know who was talking, but he could not help but suspect the undead king sleeping in the palace.

"Arthur, what exactly did you all do?" he muttered to himself, not daring to think. Perhaps the Shaman was right. Some secrets were too dirty and should sleep in darkness for eternity. Brashly going after them would lead oneself into danger.

In the few short hours, he had thought that he was getting familiar with Avalon’s Shadow, but now it was unbelievably unfamiliar now.

He could not sit here and wait. Even here, he could feel the breath of danger sweep past him. It was obvious that the closer he was to uptown, the more dangerous it would be.

After Avalon’s Shadow was covered in fog, it had transformed into an entirely different place.

He began packing immediately, throwing away everything unnecessary. With a lighter load, he walked quickly toward the city gate. He could not help but let out a breath of relief after brushing past the dangerous aura. He sped up but suddenly, he halted.

All was unclear in the silent fog. He could only see a few meters ahead, no matter how many Revelations scores he used. This was the limit.

Gazing around, he looked at the city’s serene silhouette in the fog. It was silent and cold as always. There was nothing wrong. But for some reason, he had a bad premonition.

"Is it my mind playing tricks?"