393 Philosopher’s Stone (1/2)
His hand was in the fire but he could not feel the heat. The flames were not real—they were the brilliance of countless interwoven music theories. They seeped into his body at the touch, fusing with him and lighting the aether within him. They wanted to ignite everything and turn them into flames.
”Ye Qingxuan, what are you doing?!” Lola raged after sensing the strange situation in his body.
”Probably…flirting with death?” Ye Qingxuan chuckled wryly. ”Sorry, Lola. Thanks for taking care of me all this time. If anything happens, please help me take care of Bai Xi.”
”You think I'm your—”
Before Lola could finish, Ye Qingxuan cut off the Heaven Ladder connection. Her angry voice disappeared along with the strength. Without anymore obstacles, the flames swept into his body. Covering every vessel, they burned at the moonlight and aether in his blood, dismantling his life from the inside out. At that moment, he finally broke through the flames' outer shell and grasped the Double Snake Time Meter floating within.
Even under the intense pain of burning, Ye Qingxuan was still shocked by the beauty. It was definitely a masterpiece countless alchemists would go crazy over. The core was created by complex music theories, even more complex than a symphony of predestination. It was compressed into a tiny square inch of space. Flowing like water, there was nothing forced. It was a true piece of artwork and inhumanly perfect.
It not only contained Faust's power. After the music score was unfolded, it embedded perfectly into the Sacred Fire, adjusting the vast structure and manipulating the powerful operations. It also constructed another alchemy array on top of it to hide its true appearance…
The three overlapped in almost bizarre way but did not disturb each other. It was a perfect three-part whole.
”Life or death, it depends on this.” In immense pain, Ye Qingxuan clenched his teeth and prayed, Boss, if you have any heart, don't mess with me this time!
Taking a deep breath, he recited, ”All is faded. Only the tree of life is forever green!”
After all this time, he recited the activation code for the Double Snake Time Meter. Everything stopped. The dark emblem on the time meter lit up.
[Ultimate authority · Verification complete]
There was a sound in the daze. It sounded like Elsa's voice but it was supernatural and cold.
[Controlled handover, coherence begins]
Ye Qingxuan sank into a daze. Countless wings of light seemed to sprout from his back, connecting the sky, the earth, and everything else. His consciousness expanded, covering the world.
He saw the dark aether river streaming in the underworld; the brilliant star ring in the sky; the earth, wind, fire, and wind hidden in objects…everything in the world showed him their true nature. In the end, he even sensed the Originator.
That was the source of all; everything flowed from it. It was magical and hidden yet omnipresent. For millennia, so many musicians had never reached this close distance. He could use all of the power in the Sacred Fire. Everything was under his control. He could seemingly do whatever he wanted. It felt as if he had transformed into a Holy Spirit.
”The world is created such that it can create miracles!” A seemingly familiar voice rang in his ears.
Ye Qingxuan snapped out of his daze and looked down at his hands. The time meter was slowly disassembling. Countless parts dissipated. Finally, all that remained in his hands was weak firelight, flickering in the wind. It was hard to imagine that this flame carried all of the Sacred Fire's strength and brought him to the state of a god.
Now, this unimaginable power was in his hands. It was right in his hands and yet he sank into confusion.
Was it this easy? He only had to utter a sentence and could receive such a powerful gift. It felt unreal like a dream but he could feel that he was not dreaming.
It was reality. But it was unbelievable.