Silent Crown

Unlike Jon who had been focused on chanting, the audience saw everything clearly. Ye Qingxuan had dodged at the exact moment the frost had shot out!? Like before, it was as if this were a planned performance. Ye Qingxuan stepped toward the left and only brushed shoulders with the frost!
“Jon, stop playing!” someone yelled angrily. “Get him!”
“Shut up,” Jon yelled back, losing his temper. “I know!”
“Let’s see what tricks you have up your sleeve,” Jon muttered from under his breath. He reached into his satchel again and pulled out a piece of metal. It was the size of a fingernail. The sharp thing emanated coldness. “If you can’t dodge this one, then you’ll have to lie down obediently!” he muttered, and began chanting.
“Objection!” Charles called, seeing the metal in his hands. “That’s too vicious! He’s using fatal runes! This is deliberate murder!”
Brian gazed at Charles coolly. “It is normal to have injuries in a duel between musicians. Your objection is irrelevant. Please do not disrupt the challenge again, or else you will have to leave.”
Within the ring, Jon had completed his chant. The metal in his hands floated up and spun in the air, producing a piercing sound. Formless strength controlled it. It spun at a crazy speed, building up strength like the bow of an arrow pulled taut.
This was Ghost Crossbow—the effect of Rune · Magnet, one of the most advanced Modifications runes. Magnetic force was used to build up strength and fire the metal piece. Its power was comparable to a light military crossbow!
As he chanted, Jon’s pale face flushed with excitement and effort. Gritting his teeth, he pronounced the last syllable and let the metal fly! The moment it shot out, the world went black for him. He had used up practically all of his energy to manipulate the aether. As he had fine tuned everything, he pushed the Ghost Crossbow’s strength to its max! It would even be able to pierce a slab of metal!
But instead of the pained cry that he was expecting, he heard shocked yelps. His innards twisting, he straightened and glanced at Ye Qingxuan. Jon turned as white as a sheet.
The metal had shot past Ye Qingxuan and crashed into an invisible wall. It warped instantly and fell to the ground with a crisp clank.
“He dodged it again?” Jon thought. “Impossible, impossible…” Jon stumbled backward as if he had just seen a ghost. In a confused daze, he mumbled to himself. As the audience laughed at him, he met Ye Qingxuan’s piercing gaze. He screamed hysterically, “Die!” Stumbling forward, he began chanting again, ignoring the fact that he was at his limit. The effect of Rune · Fire lit up in his palms.
He roared as he ran, clawing madly at the youth with flaming hands. There was no need to predict anything this time. Ye Qingxuan waited until Jon was close before stepping to the left. The burning palms pressed against the invisible wall of the snake circle and were extinguished immediately.
His energy completely depleted, Jon collapsed. Right as he blacked out, he finally heard what Ye Qingxuan was saying.
“…Three pounds for tomato and chicken fried rice, one pound for mushroom soup, two pounds for noodles, two pounds for butter…” These were not the syllables of a chant! It was the cafeteria’s menu! That guy had not been casting any runes that entire time, instead he had turned Jon’s tricks around, making Jon drag on until he had used up all his energy…
“You’re cheating!” Jon gasped out angrily from the floor. He forced himself to keep his eyes open and glared at Ye Qingxuan, almost in tears. “I don’t accept this! You cheated!”
“Ah, you found out.” The youth looked down on him and smiled mockingly.
“You—you…you’re shameless!” Even as someone lifted him and took him out of the ring, one could still hear his tragic voice crying, “Ye Qingxuan, you cheated! Put me down. I want to fight him…I want to fight him!” The last cry rang louder than ever. But then he fell silent and did not make another peep.
Under everyone’s dazed eyes, Ye Qingxuan watched calmly as Jon was taken away. Hearing his cries, Ye Qingxuan remembered something. He pulled out a strip of paper filled with words from his pocket and shredded it.
“Oh, I almost forgot to destroy the evidence,” he muttered. “I didn’t have enough time, so I had to cheat for the exam. Sorry.”
—
Outside of the ring, Edmund’s eyes were dark. “What the heck is this?”
Beside him, someone replied uncertainly, “Perhaps, maybe he really…”
“You want to tell me that someone who just became a student ten days ago can sense aether like a musician?” Edmund retorted. “Are you stupid?”
“Maybe he really is crazy like that…” the guy muttered.
Edmund turned around and his menacing glare shut the guy up. Clenching his fist, Edmund said, “No worries. If he wants to play, then we’ll play with him. This is only the fifth round. Send someone else up, but be smart about it.”
—
The next three were smarter than Jon and even forced Ye Qingxuan to start using runes and battle like a true musician. But Ye Qingxuan seemed to guess every move before they made it, and they were all were taken out by him. Even the way in which each of them lost was strange. However, Ye Qingxuan was reaching his limit as well.
It was like a high intensity relay race over a short period of time. After the fifth round, he faced three consecutive opponents who were much more skilled than him. To win, he had gathered together all of his potential so that he could quickly get used to a battle between musicians. His brain was aching, and his thoughts flew so rapidly that he was pushing his limit. But as if a god were helping him, Ye Qingxuan used Rune · Light to blind his last opponent just as he had finished his chant, and pushed him out the ring.
In the silence, Ye Qingxuan bent over, hands on his knees, panting in exhaustion. He had won the eighth round!
—
The audience cheered excitedly. The giant tide of the sound angered Edmund more and more.
In the beginning, people had just been curious as to what a new student could do. The first battle tactic had been enough to make jaws drop, but his uncanny ability to predict his opponent’s moves, and his senses were even more unbelievable. But what was even more exciting was that Ye Qingxuan clearly had the disadvantage in the three formal duels. But every time, he had been able to grasp the right timing, and his use of runes was so creative! Without a doubt, today’s stage belonged to Ye Qingxuan—the Eastern genius!
Faced with everyone’s cheers and praise, Ye Qingxuan blushed faintly. But he could not afford to be shy. He could only put on his poker face and confuse the opponent, making sure that none of them knew his cards.
—
“Kids these days are getting better and better at cheating. Didn’t know you could bully someone like this.” Dominic snacked on his peanuts and smiled cruelly. During all of the matches, he had never looked inside the snake circle. Instead, his eyes fell on the spot under Charles’ feet. As the situation inside the ring changed, the angle of Charles’s feet would change too.
“Since the aether is completely blocked outside of the ring, he’s reading lips and postures to see what the opponent is planning and conduct virtually. And the other guy has amazing reflexes. He even has the ability to leave the commander and fight by himself. Kids these days are impressive.” He sighed and murmured, “Abraham has some good students.”
—
“Next!” Brian glanced at Edmund and announced gravely, “This will be the ninth round.” His eyes said, “It’s the ninth round! When will you put this guy in his place?” It was his first day on the job. He hated Edmund for letting that d*mn commoner steal the glory from the honorable bloodlines on his first day at work. He could already imagine what the school board would say about this. They might even doubt his work ability!
Edmund grew pale. He knew what that Brian meant to say, “You caused this so you deal with it!” Clenching his jaw, Edmund nodded toward the boy he had bribed with a large amount of money. “Duncan, you’re up.”
The student named Duncan nodded. Cracking his knuckles, he walked out from the crowd.
Coming from a fallen elite family, Duncan was different from the others. He knew since birth that he had nothing other than his title. Becoming a musician was his only hope. He had extraordinary talent, and his family had sacrificed everything to train him. When he entered the academy, he was already at Rhythm level. Under his genius halo, he found respect, but he was also scared to lose this title and be seen the same as a commoner.
To climb higher, he needed money to buy better music scores and materials, so he had taken Edmund’s bribe. He would go up and leave Ye Qingxuan with just enough energy to be destroyed by Edmund. But how would he do it? He walked out of the crowd while he thought about it, but just as he was about to raise his hand, he heard an unexpected voice.
“I want to challenge him!” A girl standing in the very front raised her right arm and said fiercely, “He’s been annoying me since day one!”
As everyone gaped, Bai Xi sauntered out and beamed at Ye Qingxuan.