469 No Answer (1/2)
Forty-six years ago, Yunlou Qingshu was born.
He was the third child and youngest of Yunlou Feijing. His mother was a courtesan of Yunlou City. He was not brought home until he was six-years-old. He had an elder brother and sister.
Twenty-three years ago, he was twenty-three years old.
On the day of his birthday, Yunlou Feijing died from poisoning. The same day, there was an attempted assassination on Yunlou Qingxi, the legitimate heir to the city. He did not die but his dignity was lost and he disappeared from then on.
Qingshu became the leader of the city. He inherited the title of Prince and controlled the land and sea hub between the East and West. This should have been the peak of his life, the most glorious day of his life. However, from that day on, there were constantly rebels revolting against him in the name of Qingxi. The people protested as well.
Aurora Empire would not send the decree to recognize Qingshu's position. Reaching that status as the youngest son and without any roots or connections, his planning, courage, and ambition were clearly terrifying. However, he lacked one thing…
”Deva's blood.” Understanding what Hermes was saying, it dawned on Ye Qingxuan. ”He's mixed and doesn't have pure blood. He's not even a musician.”
”That's right.” Hermes clapped in praise.
The inherited weapon of Yunlou was 'Dijun.' In order to control Yunlou, all family leaders had to be the strongest of the strong. When the late Feijing was at his prime, he could control the seas by himself. With his power, he was known as the king of the sea.
Yunlou City was also a war weapon created by thousands of Eastern alchemists. Its central core could only be activated by Dijun. Otherwise, it would be unable to fend off the phenomenon natural catastrophe Black Tide that appeared once every eighty years. However, not only was Qingshu clueless about music theory, his lineage was not pure either. Not even Dijun would acknowledge him, let alone Yunlou City.
When he killed his father and brother, there were only twenty-five years before the Black Tide. It was pressing.
And even worse…
”He couldn't prove that he is legitimate!” Hermes said. ”Not being acknowledged by Dijun or being a musician was one thing. However, his Deva's blood isn't pure either and his hair is speckled… The nine dragon bloodlines don't even acknowledge his position! As a family leader of the nine dragon bloodlines, it was the biggest humiliation to be equal with a mutt!
”One day without Aurora's decree was one sleepless night. If his wounded and escaped brother returned to the city, he would only need to wave a hand and the world would respond to him. Everyone would follow him. There are even sayings that Qingshu is illegitimate and will die in Qingxi's hands one day…”
Hermes paused and glanced at Ye Qingxuan. ”If you were him, what would you do?”
After a long silence, Ye Qingxuan shook his head. ”I can't do something like that and I wouldn't know how to act.”
”Then what do you think he did?” Hermes fluttered his lashes and kept dragging things out without hurry. When he realized that Ye Qingxuan was unresponsive, he shook his head helplessly and answered his own question.
”Since he was illegitimate, then he'd just give birth to a legitimate one, of course,” Hermes said. ”If he could give birth to a pureblood child, then the dragon bloodlines would have to believe him, right? Even those rebels would be unable to talk about justice then, right? So that's what he did.”
”That's what he did?” Ye Qingxuan furrowed his brows. ”How? If it's that easy to give birth to Deva's blood, all of the dragon bloodlines of Aurora would go crazy, let alone the Yunlou family.”
”You idiot.” Hermes shook his head sympathetically. ”Did you forget? He has a sister. A sister who was like a mother to him since childhood…”
Ye Qingxuan froze, a chill spreading over him. ”Are you saying that b*stard, he…he…”
”Yes, he raped his own sister,” Hermes said lightly. ”And his sister quickly became pregnant. He spared no expense to ensure that he would get a pureblood child. He spent almost half of Yunlou City's money. Since the womb, the child started using precious materials that even a Scepter musician would go crazy for.
”In the end, he received the pureblood he dreamed of. The baby's talent was so powerful it was like a monster. Even in the womb, it was a child with a promising future. Such great news, such celebratory news…hahaha!”
Hermes started laughing as if he just said a punchline but Ye Qingxuan could not laugh. ”Are you saying that Bai Xi is that…”
”Bai Xi is that child but that child isn't her.” Hermes shook his head. ”Yunlou Qingshu used his money, enough gems for thousands of people, to receive a child favored by the gods. But because of his horrible deeds, the child was also cursed.”
”What do you mean?”
”Two talents.” Hermes held up two fingers with sympathetic yet cold eyes. ”That child had two talents at once—two talents that were like fire and water. 'Taiyi' and 'Zhaodang.' Do you know what these mean?”
Ye Qingxuan froze.
How could he not know? He had read about these shockingly powerful talents from books about the East. Compared to these, Heaven Ladder was nothing. Taiyi and Zhaodang were the best of all talents.
One was glorious like the sun. It could control all aether and stop all demonic sound. If a musician used it, no other melody of music score could rise above it. This was the 'king' of all talents and the controller of all music scores. No musician could fight against it.
The other was aggressive as fire. It created a cacophony. In its path, all music theory would lose control and be dragged into the violent shaking, turning into a symphony of destruction. This was the 'demon' of talents, the destructor of all music scores. It would obliterate everything in its path, even the owner.
One was extreme auspiciousness.
One was extreme inauspiciousness.
If these two talents appeared in one infant's body, the infant would become their battlefield. Not only the infant, but even the mother and everything around them would be dragged into the war.
”If a god exists, this would be his punishment to Yunlou Qingshu,” Hermes said. ”He wanted a child so God gave him an unmatchable child. Unfortunately, this child was destined to be stillborn. But Qingshu could not allow it. For his future, he decided to…turn one child into two.”
”Two?” Ye Qingxuan froze. ”How is that possible?”
”How is it not?” Hermes asked in reply. ”Is it hard for a Choir musician to make an embryo? They would just turn the petri dish into the mother's uterus. Yunlou Qingshu found the best Choir musician to split the embryo into two. The two infants received Taiyi and Zhaodang respectively.
”This entire plan had no flaws other than the fact that it was painful for the mother. To be honest, I'm quite impressed with Qingshu. If he's a musician, I'm sure he would be on par with you.”
Ye Qingxuan frowned. ”I'm disgusted to be compared to him.”
Hermes shrugged. ”No matter what, ten months later, Yunlou Qingshu successfully received a perfect product and a damaged result—a pair of twin girls. Their mother named them. The first to be born was the successful sister. Her name was Yunlou Chaoyue. The second was the failure. Her name was…”
”Yunlou Baixi,” Ye Qingxuan gritted out.
”Yes.” Hermes shrugged. ”With Yunlou Chaoyue, Qingshu successfully received Aurora's decree to prove his status. He put all his hope of glory on Chaoyue. She received the best education since birth and used her talent to repay the father who raised her. She is a true princess.
”The other child who inherited Zhaodang wasn't so lucky. Zhaodang is powerful but is a horrible omen. With such a cursed talent, no one thought she would live until adulthood. In reality, if her mother did not fight to her death, Yunlou Baixi would have been drowned at birth.
”Your cousin grew up in isolation with her mother, becoming less and less loved by people until she decided to leave home… Actually, if I were Qingshu, I would be relieved that this eyesore was finally gone. Go, go, die outside. After all, Yunlou City only has one city. But since she was going to die anyway, why not recycle garbage? Find her and marry her off as a political bargaining chip.
”You know what happened afterward. Because of you, the Yunlou Baixi who was wrapped up in a pretty bow to be given to Anglo's prince turned into Bai Xi, your cheap cousin.”