"Hey, kid, you kept me waiting for a long time."
Ye Qingxuan stood at the door and didn't come back to his senses for a long time. Hermes looked at his ghost-like expression and smiled with great pleasure.
Behind him, the huge silver vortex rotated silently, emitting faint fluctuations. Just under the whirlpool, a huge ritual composed of mercury, gems and various materials that Ye Qingxuan could not identify was slowly changing, absorbing the power of endless ether, opening a vague cave that seemed to lead to another world. .
This is the sublimation ritual.
Under the control of Hermes, the mercury in the ravine flowed silently, and the thick and heavy silver-white liquid glowed like a burning light.
Ye Qingxuan had no idea that the person who performed the sublimation ceremony for him would be Hermes.
"Are you scared?" Hermes asked with a half-smile.
"A little bit." Ye Qingxuan nodded honestly.
"Your principal spent money, so I came to take a look when I had free time."
Hermes shook his head and sighed: "I haven't been to this damn place for a long time. I didn't expect you to maintain it well. It's just that the newly built buildings are really ugly and have no taste at all. Just follow the original design drawings honestly. It’s so good, but I have to add more to it, tsk tsk tsk…”
Ye Qingxuan listened honestly as Hermes sprayed every corner of the Royal Conservatory of Music with blood. Until the end, Hermes looked down at the mercury flowing on the ground and was not worried at all. Poisoned, he directly put his palm in.
Pulling out his palm, the mercury emitted a burning glow and quickly dissipated on his fingertips. Hermes nodded with satisfaction: "The entire ritual is almost in sync. In addition to the sublimation ceremony, there is also the inheritance of the heart seal. The current musicians are really regressing. They can't even handle this kind of compound alchemy. How can you have the nerve to make a living? Hey, that white-haired kid over there, has you thought about what kind of heart seal to inherit? This place is a treasure trove, Bach's "Chaconne", Mahler's "Second Symphony - Resurrection" , "Nocturne", "Four Seasons"... even "Concerto No. 1" has more than a dozen pieces of various kinds. Since your principal has said that you can choose the resonance level at will, don't be polite to him. You didn't pay for it anyway, right? "
After hearing Hermes' words, Ye Qingxuan woke up from his daze, hesitated and said:
"—"Night on Barren Mountain""
He said, "I choose "Night on Barren Mountain" which bans factions."
Hermes's smile stiffened for a moment, and then it became weird: "It's really... very suitable for you..."
He originally wanted to say, "I didn't expect that the children born by mice can really dig holes." Like father, like son, etc. He really didn't expect that among such a large library of songs, Ye Qingxuan chose one. .
It's not that this score is very weak, but this movement is really awesome.
Not just because it is a movement for forbidden factions, but this movement was specially created for the fallen black musicians and demons.
These days, except for the Judgment Musicians who specialize in hunting down black musicians and monsters, almost no one chooses to practice this extremely difficult and unpopular piece of music.
At that time, its creator remained anonymous and mingled with the believers of evil gods and witches who worshiped natural disasters.
The so-called "Bald Mountain Night" is a carnival festival for the fallen. Bonfires are lit in the middle of the night on a certain day every year. Witches, followers of the evil god, and black musicians praise the evil god, offer blood sacrifices, and enjoy the gifts of the evil god. The flames danced wildly until dawn.
And at dawn, the creators lurking among them rose up, and together with the Judgment musicians lurking around, they completely killed the evil god believers who had been partying all night long.
They used the generous melody to announce the arrival of dawn and wipe out the evil gods, and created this movement based on it.
Only Judgment Musicians will practice this piece of music, because it is almost invincible when dealing with evil heretics. No matter what attribute the devil is, or what faction he comes from, a black musician will definitely be imprisoned by this piece of music as long as he carries the aura of natural disaster. Seal it, nail it to the stake, and burn it to ashes in the fire.
No matter how dark the night in the barren mountains is, it will be illuminated by the forest of burning racks.
However, if the target is replaced by a human, then apart from the original shackles and sealing effects, there will be no lethality.
"It's really...suitable for you."
Hermes hesitated for a long time before finally uttering these words.
Ye Qingxuan had already considered the choice of music for the Heart Seal inheritance.
Although he was not qualified to read many important movements in the large library, the catalog could still be seen. He simply copied the catalog and went to Abraham and Laura for advice.
After reading the catalog, Abraham marked several pieces from the Revelation and Change factions. Finally, he hesitated and marked "Night on the Barren Mountain" as Ye Qingxuan's alternative.
Laura's suggestion is that instead of strengthening your strengths, you should make up for your shortcomings.
In terms of pure destructive power, he already has the Eyes of Indra. Under the water of the blood of gods and humans, the thunderous rage that bursts out can allow him to directly leapfrog the battle.
Even if he were to acquire other pieces of music, limited by his own realm, he might not be able to surpass its effect in a short period of time.
In comparison, Night on the Barren Mountain is relatively biased, but it makes up for his own weakness of not being good at long-term frontal combat. Moreover, he can do whatever he wants without worrying about killing the enemy if he hits too hard.
After understanding Ye Qingxuan's plan, Hermes could only sigh: "Young people today are really amazing with their imaginations..."
"Okay, the ceremony is almost ready, you can go in."
He stepped aside and signaled Ye Qingxuan to go in quickly and not waste time.
Ye Qingxuan walked into it and felt almost suffocated in an instant. The ether flash that was about to condense into substance flowed in the air, thick and heavy, as if under dozens of meters of water, making him almost out of breath.
But after looking around, Ye Qingxuan made a new discovery and was shocked: "Wait a minute, where is the most important medium for the sublimation ceremony? Boss, you won't cut corners, right?"
"medium?"
Hermes looked at him askance, "Isn't it on you?"
With a buzzing sound, the palm-sized piece of stone flew out from the boy's arms, suspended in mid-air, sucking in the ether almost endlessly, and turned into a small sun.
In the light of the scorching sun, the cuneiform characters on it seemed to have undergone new changes, making him dazzled, shaken, and unable to control himself.
"Hey, kid!"
Hermes suddenly tapped his shoulder behind him, waking him up.
"Let's put the ugly words up front: the alchemy I'm good at is completely classical. There aren't that many safety measures, and it's definitely not a comfortable experience. Rather, the longer it lasts, The more torture you will suffer. During the ritual, you may see some unexplainable visions, or hear inexplicable sounds, or sense the vague outline of something terrible. If you are driven crazy by that thing, I But I will never be responsible. So, are you ready?"
“…”
After hearing this, Ye Qingxuan was speechless for a while and couldn't help but sigh:
"-To be honest, I can't wait. Can we start quickly?"
"Good boy, I knew you were a good man."
Hermes' palm pressed on the top of his head. His fingers were cold and without any warmth, like ice and iron, which made Ye Qingxuan couldn't help but shiver.
"There is one last question." Hermes suddenly asked: "You know that there is a high possibility of death during the sublimation ceremony, right?"
"Huh? Wait..."
Ye Qingxuan was shocked, and immediately his vision went dark, and he didn't know anything anymore.
…
…
At the moment when he fell into a coma, solemn singing and melody sounded from the sublimation ceremony. In the hoarse singing and majestic melody, the ether seemed to be burning, and roared back like a tide.
That huge power, like a flame, instantly fell on the young man's body. After burning all his clothes, it penetrated into his limbs and bones, causing him to twitch involuntarily and scream.
But his eyes were gone, as if his soul was no longer here.
It has risen to the sky or fallen into the abyss.
"You are born in the ether and pass away in the ether - you should also fear the ether!"
Hermes declared solemnly, he pressed the young man's forehead, his expression was neither sad nor happy, but seemed to be full of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy, just like the statue of the god engraved by the cult, which was awe-inspiring.
Behind him, twelve huge wings of light broke out from his attire, unfolding to cover the sky and the sun.
The wings of light waved silently, causing huge waves in the invisible sea of ether.
"Ye Qingxuan, the so-called sublimation ceremony is to purify the soul."
He stared into the young man's dim eyes and whispered in his ear: "In that chaos, you will see your true self."
…
…
Ye Qingxuan only felt that he fell into a nightmare again. In that long nightmare, unspeakable huge chaos swallowed him up.
He felt like he was involuntarily thrown up into the sky, out of the human realm, and into that cold and indescribable icy realm.
There was nothing there.
In a startling glance, it seemed as if something extremely majestic and gigantic was passing by him, as if it was the support of a god. And when he turned back inadvertently, he seemed to see a burning hell wailing at the bottom of the abyss beneath his feet.
In an instant, he seemed to realize: Perhaps, this is the "etheric realm" described in countless classics, the world observed from the ether, and the true face of all things.
But in this lonely flight, he suddenly heard a call from behind. He turned around in shock and saw a huge city slowly emerging from the darkness.
Under the illumination of the azure moon, the city was shrouded in fog, revealing a ferocious, sharp, huge and dark outline, like towering churches and palaces made of bones. The flow of blood formed roads and rivers, and countless vague shadows lingered in this city of the dead, unable to escape.
That's the Shadow of Avalon...
In an instant, Ye Qingxuan's body stagnated, and he felt it approaching quickly... No, he was falling there quickly, and it was pulling him!
Ye Qingxuan struggled hard, but was unable to do anything. As he fell rapidly, he felt the powerful force from the Shadow of Avalon tearing at his sanity, almost tearing him apart.
For a moment, he seemed to sense two selves, three selves, four selves... This was the prelude to schizophrenia.
A strong sense of crisis filled his brain, but at that moment, for some reason, an inexplicable line of characters flashed across his mind.
Those are wedge-shaped runes engraved on the stone.
Those inexplicable runes intertwined with each other in his mind to form unfamiliar musical intervals, constantly growing and expanding, from just a few characters to a masterpiece that seemed to have tens of millions of words.
In an instant, the huge amount of information almost overwhelmed his consciousness, and then, the rigorously structured and huge horror movement began to quickly gather and collapse.
Not to mention understanding the music theory involved, Ye Qingxuan had never even listened to it, and he couldn't even identify the specific direction.
In an instant, it grows to the greatest size, and in an instant, it collapses to the smallest size.
Ye Qingxuan could no longer observe that tiny spot. Even his consciousness was pulled into that tiny and almost non-existent point.
Before he fainted completely, he only heard a majestic chant that seemed to shake the world:
"—As above, as below, this is how all things begin!"
…
…
"ah!!!"
Ye Qingxuan screamed and jumped off the table, and the whole classroom was silent.
In the morning reading classroom, all the students who were reciting the text looked up, and even the drowsy teacher on the podium was startled.
Ye Qingxuan looked around in astonishment, not understanding where this place was. But in his mind, the memories of the past were disappearing as quickly as a dream.
He stared blankly into those eyes, at a loss.
"Ye Qingxuan, how many times have I told you, don't doze off when you read in the morning!"
On the podium, some bald teachers frowned: "Stand and carry it behind you!"
Only now did Ye Qingxuan realize that he fell asleep during morning reading and had that strange dream.
He lowered his head in embarrassment, picked up his English book, and stood obediently at the back of the classroom.
Perhaps it was because he had a good attitude in admitting his mistakes and his usual study attitude was quite serious. The teacher did not make things difficult for him and left after the bell rang.
Wang Qiang, his deskmate, came up and gloated with a smile: "Zi Zi, I have seen so many people dozing off, but I have never seen you make such a big noise while talking in your sleep."
"You didn't remind me!" Ye Qingxuan rubbed his eyes and yawned: "I played "GTB5" all night last night and accidentally fell asleep."
"You are a second model today and you are still so slutty? You are awesome."
My deskmate glanced at the words "88 days left before the college entrance examination" on the blackboard behind him and asked, "Do you still have gel pen refills there? Lend me one, I've run out."
"It's all in the pencil case, you can take it yourself."
Ye Qingxuan was in a daze.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? Got a fever?"
"I don't know." He shook his head: "I feel like I forgot something."
"Don't!" Wang Qiang was shocked: "I have to rely on you for my English during the exam! If you perform abnormally, what should I do?"
"What's the big deal?" Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes at him: "My grades were bad that time? Anyway, you can just turn on your phone then."
Wang Qiang shook his head, "It's said that it won't work this year. For this mock exam, the school is said to have blocked the signal, and the mobile phone can't receive any signal."
"You can't use your phone without signal?"
Ye Qingxuan looked at him sideways: "Turn on Bluetooth. Can't you just change the name of your phone to the answer when the time comes? Don't tell me that your phone doesn't even have Bluetooth."
“…”
Wang Qiang's expression suddenly became very exciting. He was stunned for a long time before he squeezed out a few words through his teeth: "Why the hell didn't I think of that!"
"Because you have a low IQ."
…
"This time, Teacher Xia from our school participated in setting the questions for this mock exam. Everything was strict and we tried to simulate the real college entrance examination. I hope all students can answer the questions seriously and don't cheat."
The head teacher said seriously: "Do you understand?"
"I understand." There was a sparse response from the audience.
Soon, the test papers were distributed to everyone. Ye Qingxuan took it casually and put it aside, unable to help but yawn.
For some reason, he was still looking out the window absentmindedly, as if he was immersed in some concentrated thinking, but he knew that his heart was empty and he was not thinking about anything.
Just in a daze.
I just feel like something is wrong.
"Answer the questions carefully."
The head teacher in charge of the exam gently knocked on the table and reminded in a low voice.
Ye Qingxuan's body trembled, and he nodded in confusion as if waking up from a dream. Then he lowered his head, looked at the test paper, and fell into a long sluggish state.
Not Chinese, not mathematics, not English, not geography...
What the hell is this