179 Past Mistakes (2/2)

”What…is this?” Ye Qingxuan pressed a finger onto the aether ball and fell into a confused daze after confirming that Lola was not cheating. She could not even be compared to a student now!

”It’s simple,” Lola stated. ”If your symphony of predestination was destroyed, you’d be like this too.”

”Impossible!” Ye Qingxuan insisted.

-

On the musician path, ninety-nine percent of musicians were stuck in the Musician level for life because of the Barrier of Knowledge. That was the first obstacle. But following that, there was an endless stream of challenges.

Like going against the current and retreating rather than moving forward, the road would only become more and more narrow—more and more dangerous. Sooner or later, one would venture into uncharted darkness and continue in solitude.

The Resonance level, the Disturbance level, the Distortion level…Every level required a tremendous amount of resources and hidden rituals to break through. And finally, the road would come to a dead end. Here was the limit of humanity. After it was a sheer cliff over an abyss of darkness.

Only one out of every ten-thousand musicians could break through the abyss and create their own ‘scepter’ to become a saint! These musicians either had incomparable power or were absolutely brilliant geniuses. What they used to break through the abyss was the power brewed by their soul—the symphony of predestination!

This was a music score created by upgrading a musician’s sound of heart and tenacity. It was unique and represented the musician’s soul. Their tenacity, thoughts, and heart were all contained within.

If destroyed, it was not just the music score that was destroyed, but also the musician, his life and all its essence. This represented the overturn of one’s sanity. One’s personality would become unstable.

But the mental breakdown was only the beginning. After that, one would die from the backlash of one’s symphony of predestination. There was no cure.

For centuries, so many musicians had rushed forward in an attempt to break through the last obstacle, but ended up scattering like ashes with his symphony of predestination. Countless people had left behind examples of mistakes. They were all bloody lessons to be learned.

If Lola’s symphony of predestination had truly been destroyed, then the thing before Ye Qingxuan should be a cold tombstone. Ye Qingxuan had seen an example with his own eyes—the Royal Musician Claude.

Only his sound of heart had been destroyed, but he was instantly crippled. If he had not found a doctor from the School of Choir, he would have died. If it was the symphony of predestination that contained everything?

”Don’t scare me, Moriarty!” Ye Qingxuan looked into the Professor’s eyes and said coldly, ”If your symphony of predestination had been destroyed, the best situation would be dying from psychosis.”

Lola laughed. ”It’s normal to be suspicious…”

She was speaking lightly, but Ye Qingxuan’s vision blurred. His collar was grabbed by her and he was yanked forward before he could react. He saw Lola’s pale face and dark eyes. There was a tinge of blood in her eyes. The angry blood-color was like flames, burning away her rationality day and night. She was constantly at the border of insanity. Then strands of blue-green veins appeared on her white face. She looked fierce yet fragile, as if she would break apart at the slightest touch.

”Death from psychosis?” She laughed. Her sneer was cold and twisted, devoid of any grace or elegance. ”How far do you think I am from being a psycho?”

Ye Qingxuan did not reply. Which was the real her?

Tortured day and night by the backlash of her symphony of predestination, she was constantly at the verge of mental and physical breakdown. On this wire, death was on the left and psychosis was on the right. Beneath her was a bottomless abyss. They were only a hair’s breadth away from her.

In the long silence, Ye Qingxuan looked away first and surrendered. ”Sorry.”

”It’s okay, I forgive you.” Lola slowly loosened her grip and tidied his collar for him. Her eyes softened. ”Don’t worry. You’re my only companion in this world—I’ll forgive you no matter what you do.” Ye Qingxuan was silent. ”Aren’t you curious how I survived?”

Lola returned to her seat and lifted the red tea that contained drugs. Her trembling hand finally stabilized. Don’t forget, I’m not the same as the average person. The natural talent of the moon spirits kept me from dying on the spot.” She smiled, revealing her slightly sharp canines. ”To be honest, I never thanked my demonic bloodline. To live, I signed a contract with the Indigo Moon, but my power can never return to how it was. It wavers with the moon phases, sometimes strong and sometimes weak.

”My old injuries still haven’t healed completely. A large portion is used so I can manage to maintain my sanity. Ye Qingxuan, don’t you think it’s laughable? At my strongest point, I was only a step away from the Scepter level. But now, I’m sometimes weak as a child. For example…you can reach over and strangle me now.” She raised her chin, revealing her neck to the youth. Her neck was long and pale. It seemed that one could grasp it completely it with one hand. And if one tightened slowly, she would die. So easy.

”How about it? Do you feel the urge?” Lola smiled tauntingly.

Ye Qingxuan did not look. Instead, he asked quietly, ”Are you injured because of my father?”

Lola fell silent. After a long while, she sighed softly. ”That was in the past.”

-

”As you know, I have the moon spirit’s blood in my veins. I was born as a demon. This was my original sin. My original name was very long. You can just call me Moriarty. Lola is actually an alias.

”My father was killed before I was born. My mother was human. The musician thought she was raped by my father and did not see that she was pregnant, so he brought her back to the human world.

”Then I was born. When I was three, my mother passed away. I was taken by an elder of my clan. I returned and stayed there for a long time before coming back out. Later, I became your father’s student. Someone with demonic blood became the heir of the natural enemy of demons, the Moon of Purity…it sounds like an incredible joke.

”Because of this, I severed ties with my clan. I designed a battle for them to think that I was killed. After that, no one knew I was a moon spirit, except for my teacher. After a while, he got married and I went to travel and study.

”When I came back, I found that everything was different. Teacher had disappeared and you and your mother were exiled to the frontier. At that time, I wanted to find out the truth. But in the end, I fell to this state. I could only change everything and sneak back into Avalon to investigate what had truly happened back then.

”Until now, I still haven’t solved many mysteries. I just know that he has some relationship with Avalon’s Shadow.”

A pregnant pause.

”…That’s it?” Ye Qingxuan’s mind was muddled.

”Yes.” Lola nodded. ”That’s how simple things are. How can there be complicated matters to speak of?”

”But it’s too simple.” The youth furrowed his brows. ”It’s suspicious.”

”You think I’m lying?”

”Not exactly lying, but you didn’t tell me everything.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. ”How did you meet my father? Why did he accept you as a student? What did you find out? And who destroyed your symphony of predestination? You didn’t talk about any of this. Don’t say that they don’t matter. And…” His gaze as he looked at Lola was strange. ”You fell for him?”

”…” Lola froze and grew angry.

Ye Qingxuan nodded in understanding. ”It seems that you fell for him.”

”That was one of my many mistakes.” Lola looked away, finding excuses for herself. ”Superstitions are engraved in a demon’s beliefs. And anyway, I was young…”

Ye Qingxuan had no words and did not want to keep insisting on this awkward topic, so he changed the subject. ”After all these years, have you found anything from the parliament? I just know that he taught in the academy before.”

”Yes.” Lola’s expression changed slightly. ”Later, he worked in the Royal Research Institute, but they don’t have his files. His documents during his career are in the Arkham Asylum.”

”Where?” Ye Qingxuan’s expression darkened. ”Did he participate in the forbidden technology for mutations?”

”Back then, it was only a secret department of the Institute, specifically for researching the habits and structures of demons and finding the essence of natural catastrophes. Later, he was assigned elsewhere and the department was abandoned too. The mutations came after. As what he did afterward, I can’t find anything else.” Lola sighed in regret. ”You should know that he rarely went home for a time.”

”Where did he go?”

”I don’t know.” Lola’s eyes were cold. ”But undoubtedly, it’s the place that killed me.”

Ye Qingxuan shook his head and corrected her, ”He’s still alive.”

”He’s dead.” Lola raised her voice, eyes growing troubled. ”Ye Qingxuan, accept reality. I saw with my own eyes…”

”He’s still alive, I can feel it,” Ye Qingxuan repeated. His expression was determined. ”This isn’t refusing to accept reality or fantasizing. I can only say that he’s still alive in some corner of this world.”

After a long silence, Lola asked softly, ”Are you sure?”

”To me, the only good thing about the Dragon Bloodline is that we can sense each other. When I entered the Student level, I felt the resonance between us. So Lola, rest assured. Someday, I’ll yank him out with my own hands.”

”Yank him out?” She felt that something was wrong. ”And then what?”

”And then?” Ye Qingxuan smiled and flexed his fingers, face full of anticipation. ”We’ll talk after I beat him up.”