678 The Right Time (1/2)

”Get him, Old Phil!” At Ye Qingxuan's voice, a roar that shook the heavens and the earth rang out.

A dragon's roar.

The golden retriever leapt forward, stepping into the void. His form began to swell, and after three steps he had transformed into a giant gold dragon. A pair of giant wings swept out from his back, breaking through the many layers of The Witches' Dance's illusion before picking up Ye Qingxuan's.

He turned his head and the dragon's breath burst out.

Black fire spewed from the dragon's mouth. What looked like flames was actually the accumulated essence of destruction. Even light was disintegrated by his chaotic will. All matter and music theory were destroyed by his violent bestial nature and ground into dust.

After the dragon breathed, the projection of The Witches' Dance seemed to crawl out of the furnace. It screamed viciously as its flesh began to wriggle as it repaired itself.

Behind the dragon, Ye Qingxuan's flesh was rapidly recovering, and his body was whole again.

”You see? What I just said came true.”

Ye Qingxuan stood on the dragon's back with the Staff of Fate in his hands. He reached up and with a mocking smile tipped a nonexistent hat in a salute to the already enraged Paganini.

”This is the technique of the Ye family. How do you like it?”

Paganini did not answer, merely stretching out his index finger to pluck at formless strings, further developing the insane melody. His endless movement swept away the remnants of the dragon's breath in an instant and The Witches' Dance started once again, even fiercer than before.

The gold dragon flew high into the sky. Now, Ye Qingxuan was finally on the same level as Paganini. He was blessed by the power of the catastrophes. He was in concordance with the gods, coexisted with the world, and breathed in harmony with heaven and earth.

With but the slightest response he could pierce through the nine layers of the Sea of Aether, reach the realm of aether, and under the radiant Scepter of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth faintly touch the edges of the Originator.

He was resonating with the world.

This was a catastrophe.

Ye Qingxuan took a deep breath and held out his hands. Drifting snow fell upon his hands. Everything had a dreamlike quality.

As the ice crystals melted on his fingertips, fluttering snowflakes emerged from the void, drifting through the air as they fell. Among the gathering clouds, an endless waterfall of snow fell down into the world.

A blizzard was coming.

He could feel no warmth on his fingers, and a bone chilling cold suddenly appeared in his heart.

The incredible illusion was using this as a fulcrum to open up the entire Ultimate.

”Let's go on a journey,” Ye Qingxuan whispered. He began to drum his hands and sing softly, ”I came alone, I will leave alone. Now cold envelops the world, and falling snow covers my body. When I leave, I will make no decisions. On that dark road I will only find...”

As he sang hoarsely and stretched out his fingers, the endless falling snow transformed into a sheet of pure white that spilled between the two of them, covering the heavens and the earth.

At some point after the snow had fallen, the turbulent ocean and the Ultimate had disappeared, leaving only the white sky and the endless falling snow, with an endless road stretching out before them.

”Schubert...”

Listening to the song that drifted over from far away, Paganini suddenly understood.

This was the music theory that Ye Qingxuan had stolen! The quintessence that he had stolen from St. Schubert's Scepter! A poetic change drove the movement of the melody, creating a world that seemed both real and illusory.

Winterreise!

At this moment Ye Qingxuan held the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth which could power the Firebird endlessly. He used his essence to transfer his willpower into the aether, transforming it completely and turning his ideas into reality.

The Firebird and the School of Magic combined to make the illusions that Ye Qingxuan had learned from Lola come to reality.

Both real and illusory, neither true nor false.

Between his fingers the illusion seemed real. He used the false snowflakes as an initial fulcrum, and a massive illusion swept out along with the Firebird, pulling Paganini into this false world in a flash.

”You wish!” Paganini roared. The thousands of hands of The Witches' Dance stretched out and pulled apart the dark clouds, just like they were tearing a hole in the heavens. They were about to break through.

But waiting for him on the other side was a smiling Ye Qingxuan and a falling Staff of Fate.

”Wait a bit, it'll be alright in a second.”

Boom! The Staff of Fate pounded into The Witches' Dance like a hammer. The Firebird gushed out, choking up the transforming music theory. On the back of the dragon, Ye Qingxuan looked over at Paganini with a smile on his lips.

Paganini had probably already reacted.

After a normal person gained power, they would probably use it to get revenge for their former shames. But why was Ye Qingxuan messing with Paganini? There were more important things in front of him.

He didn't need to struggle with him.

The Ultimate was right before his eyes.

As long as he used the illusions to delay him, even if it was only for ten minutes it would be enough to make him fall short.

Ye Qingxuan had made up his mind to not struggle with him at all. He liberally sprinkled out the power that came from the catastrophe.

Then, he played ”Weathervane,””Frozen Tears,””Bodhi,””Will-o'-the-Wisp,””Spring Dream,””Crow,” and ”Whitehead” and the movement he was most familiar with, ”Holiday.”