Chapter 1451: Father and Daughter, Garland, and Gratitude

"It's just ahead."

Xia De and Yin Yi Yi Lu Na, who were also rushing toward the Guardian, noticed from afar the first round of exchanges between the church's Thirteenth-Ring Shushis and the Guardian using the Language of Sublimation. Yin Yi Yi Lu Na sat on the horse holding the reins, and Xia De hugged her waist from behind.

The two came from behind the Guardian, so they inevitably stepped into the black mud that had spread like an ocean earlier. But the undead skeletal horse summoned by the bone whistle possessing the power of an Ancient God could run directly on top of the black mud, and the terrain did not hinder their actions at all.

"We'll separate in advance in a while, don't go over together. I have the Golden Stone, Conservation, and Flowering Chalices here. Leave the Golden Stone and Conservation with you; you also know the formula for preparing spiritual medicine, just say you met someone from the Witch Council on the way. If any Thirteenth-Ring Shushi gets stained with black mud, use this to treat them. I have a new miracle that can directly treat the witches, you don't need to worry."

Xia De said in Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's ear from behind her. Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's ears were a little red, but her voice was calm:

"No problem, it looks like this is the end, I don't know what will happen this time."

"I didn't sense the fluctuation traces of Sister Daelin's Qi. The sister should have arrived earlier than us..."

Xia De was a little worried, but at this moment, in the direction where the battle was taking place in the distance, thousands of slender mud pillars made of filthy black mud suddenly rose into the air, and then, as if woven by a dexterous invisible hand, gathered into a black sphere in the air, trapping a figure inside. But immediately after, the black mud ball exploded from the middle, and Miss Xivi Aurora, a Twelfth-Tier Great Witch radiating light all over, holding the birch wood magic wand with a gem at the top that had been touched by Xia De, used the silver moonlight of the gem to evaporate the thousands of black muds that were trying to trap her again.

At this moment, she was like a goddess radiating light in this snowy night. The brilliant silver light at the top of the relic wand seemed to replace the moon behind the dark clouds at this moment, illuminating all directions, and even every strand of her brown hair blown by the night wind seemed to be glowing.

However, after repelling this attack, the witch did not counterattack but cautiously landed on the ground. Although Xia De and Yin Yi Yi Lu Na didn't know what this represented, the skeletal horse still carried the two toward that direction. When the distance was about right, Xia De pushed Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's back gently and then jumped off the skeletal horse. Without saying goodbye, they went to different directions in the snow.

At this location, disgusting black sludge had completely covered the ground, and there was no place to land at all. And most of the surrounding trees had been converted into gray. The forest where Xia De was located was not on fire, but the firelight not far away could completely illuminate the terrifying patterns on the stone dead trees; faces with closed eyes actually seemed to be growing out of the trunks of the stone trees.

Walking forward on the black mud, he thought there would be some obstacles, but he didn't expect to see the gathered witches before long, and Luvia was also here.

Seeing Xia De coming with the 【Night Watcher】, Luvia hurried over and hugged him. The other ladies had different reactions to this.

"Our doctor friend helped Siris and me, but he didn't get too close, fearing others would see him."

While hugging, the purple-eyed girl whispered in Xia De's ear.

"Where is Siris?"

Miss Galina and Miss Bernice were both there. Although Xia De could not see the figures of Miss Aurora and Miss Silvia, he could clearly feel the unique fluctuations of their Qi when they fought.

However, the young blonde girl was the only one missing here.

Luvia pointed to the front of the crowd with great worry:

"Over there, it seems your long-standing worry was correct."

"The situation is very complicated, no one can stop the Mad Guardian."

Miss Galina's face was a little pale; this was caused by the excessive consumption of Qi. The battle tonight had lasted all night, and both she and Miss Bernice needed to rest, only the Twelfth-Tier Miss Aurora and the newly arrived Miss Silvia were still in good condition.

"Are you injured?"

"I'm fine, Galina got stained with a mud spot."

Miss Bernice said, hugged Xia De gently, and then pointed to the red-haired witch. The Duchess of the North was leaning against a gray stone tree at the moment. Although she was disheveled, she still pretended to be strong in front of Xia De. She was the only one who didn't want to show her weak side in front of Xia De, no matter when.

"Xia De, the Chalice."

Luvia said briefly, and Xia De shook his head and walked toward the witch. The warm hug made the red-haired Duchess want to shed tears:

"I'm fine."

Even so, she still wanted to break free from Xia De's hug, but Xia De would not let her go:

"With me here, please rest assured."

Immediately after, Xia De pointed his finger radiating golden light at the gray-white part of her neck:

"Active Soil."

The curse obtained by absorbing the divinity of the earth was essentially a healing ability. For the loss of limbs and organs, Xia De could use soil to replace them, turning the soil into active flesh and blood. And for the petrification symptoms caused by the "Mad Earth," as long as they were not already dead and the soul had not disappeared, he could treat them.

Even if ordinary curses had similar effects of lifting petrification, their priority should not be able to exceed the "petrification" effect of the Mad Earth, but Xia De's curse came from the ancient divinity of the earth.

The location where everyone was now was the petrified river valley forest. Luvia's "Earth Power · Abundance Domain" and the power belonging to the 【Witch Council】 whose source Xia De could not see had opened up a small area without black mud.

And looking forward, the forest did not extend far before disappearing at the bank of the Ailong River in the night, and the strange empty plot surrounded by the forest and the river channel was the location where this Chosen One ritual was held.

At this time, a rough stone long table lay alone in the center of the empty plot. There were twelve seats that could be sat on beside the long table; this was placed in advance after the church knew the possible location of the Chosen One ritual.

And the Mad Guardian of the Earth was sitting alone at one end of the long table. On the desktop in front of him, black mud fluid, which was more terrifying than any filth so far, was wriggling, and the fluid was slowly shaping into the appearance of a black chalice.

The Guardian placed his hands on the desktop, letting the palms of his two hands face the terrifying fluid.

Because he had seen the real "Heart of the Earth," Xia De could almost tell at a glance that the essence of those black fluids was the power of the Heart of the Earth.

The snow was getting heavier and heavier, and the filthy power contained in the gray snowflakes could be felt even by a First-Ring Shushi. Gray snow stained the soil, polluting the earth; stained ordinary people, spreading various plagues; stained Ringed Shushis, and the subsequent low whispers increased the possibility of everyone going crazy.

Clearly, the petrified forest with gray snow and the river channel with floating ice had been stained by black mud, but only the black mud content on that empty plot was very small.

This was not because that piece of land was special, but because beneath the Guardian's feet, the filthy sludge had seeped into the soil, outlining a huge ritual base array on the ground. The overall ritual base array was circular, with the chalice in the center. And on the inside of the circle, ancient runes symbolizing flowers, grass, seeds, fruits, and earth and stone were slowly taking shape, outlined by black mud.

This was the ancient knowledge that the Guardians had obtained from the Heart of the Earth, and it was also the ritual that the crazy Guardians were trying to use to pollute the earth. And letting the Guardian perform the ritual was not because people didn't want to stop it, but because people couldn't stop it at this moment.

Surrounding that empty plot, twelve hill-like giants made of soil each maintained a different appearance, evenly dispersed around the empty plot at the twelve o'clock positions of the dial. Among those faces, Xia De could recognize Mr. Granger, Rathers, and Mr. Fleming, the original founder of the Stonemason Association.

All the soil giant clones had Twelfth-Ring life rings behind them, and facing the attack, not one of the twelve left their positions. Xia De vaguely understood that the power of all the clones was connected into one, and plus the Mad Guardian standing in the black mud was equivalent to standing in his own maze, so it was not impossible to block a full four Thirteenth-Ring Shushis and more than ten High-Ring Shushis for the time being.

After all, even a Guardian who had not yet gone crazy was not something an ordinary Thirteenth-Ring Shushi could compare to.

Fighting in the air at this time was Miss Maria, the "Nightmare Witch" whom Xia De had seen in the Battle of Pantanal, Ms. Triss Mitchell, the "Free Singer" from the Peace Church, and two witches from the Witch Council and some High-Ring Shushis Xia De did not know.

Everyone was concentrated on the edge of the petrified forest, the southeastern position of that empty plot. As the life rings appeared in the air one by one, the connected steam mist almost evaporated all the snowflakes that had not yet landed.

Due to the progress of the Guardian's pollution ritual, the space here was even hardened like soil, and the difficulty of using the Language of Sublimation was much greater than just now, so no one used the Language of Sublimation this time.

Miss Maria, the "Nightmare Witch," held a slender branch in her hand. Under the resonance of the heavy whisper elements, she raised the branch in her hand, letting it grow rapidly until a huge vine right arm floating in the air grew out, and the sorceress was lifting it from below to rise continuously.

That was definitely not an ordinary arm. Xia De, who frequently came into contact with the power of the Tree Father, even sensed the power belonging to the "World Tree" from it. The verdant light lit up the night sky, and even touching that light gave the feeling that all injuries on the body were about to heal. The black mud on the ground retreated briefly in that green light, and under the bare snow surface, actually, tender buds of plants drilled out.

The vigorous vitality different from the earth was displayed on the giant arm in the air. And Ms. Triss Mitchell, the "Free Singer," also landed on that arm, and then she bent down and pressed her hands on the arm.

The metal armor attached with the prayer of the "God of War and Peace" gradually took shape from the illusion until it completely covered that vine right arm.

Two Thirteenth-Ring Shushis joined forces, with the help of the giant right hand manufactured by a suspected angel-level relic, and in the next moment, they crashed from diagonally above toward the Guardian who was sitting at one end of the long table and slowly shaping the black mud chalice in the empty plot.

But as the twelve huge soil giant clones raised their arms together, the black mud around the empty plot gathered in an instant, forming a pitch-black rock shield above the empty plot together.

The huge crashing sound of "Bang~" was accompanied by the collision of Qi and energy. In an instant, Xia De even felt that his eardrums were about to be pierced.

But the physical collision was not the essence of this confrontation; the confrontation between the twisted earth and vitality determined the ending of this blow.

Green and black light streams, accompanied by the huge shock wave formed by the collision, spread toward the surroundings, and the splashing black mud hit the people around like dense bullets.

The petrified giant trees fell one by one, first stained with vitality to restore their original state, but then stained with black mud to petrify again, and switched rapidly between the two.

Xia De, who could completely ignore these black muds, immediately stepped forward to block in front of the ladies. The 【Night Watcher】 pierced into the ground, and the golden shield protected everyone inside.

Of course, the protection ability of the Hilton Seal was not actually that great, it was just that the divinity light in Xia De's soul was almost about to overflow immediately, which caused the miracle effect to be so outstanding.

The collision between filth and vitality caused the four elements to briefly cause strange phenomena in this area. Xia De, who was holding the sword in front with one hand, only felt slightly relaxed after Miss Galina and Miss Bernice behind him placed their hands on his shoulders, and then looked at his feet.

Green buds drilled out from beneath his feet, but in the blink of an eye, they petrified into stones. Then the stones were stained with black mud gushing from the roots, turning into pitch-black stone snakes, but the snakes were hit by green light chips and turned into real snakes, but before they could move, they were hit by the blown black mud into a pile of minced meat. The minced meat turned into soil, seeped into the ground, and merged into the earth again.

If this were not the suburbs, if it were not because the Orthodox Church had made arrangements in this area in advance, and the Guardian's power had also suppressed the spread of the power of this collision because it was too concentrated, Xia De even believed that the entire Randel Valley City would become history in this blow.

But this blow did not succeed in the end. The two Thirteenth-Ring Shushis of the church slowly landed back on the ground with the relic that was close to losing control, while the Guardian's twelve giant soil clone clones were broken into four, but new "giants" immediately walked out of the black mud to replace them.

The earth was the source of the Guardian's power, and the black mud continuously restored his power. Luvia's divination was right; when the Guardian stood on the ground, he was almost invincible.

After the smoke and dust dissipated, Xia De finally saw where Siris had gone.

In that empty plot guarded by the twelve giant soil clone clones of the Guardian, besides the Guardian's main body, Siris was actually inside.

The young blonde girl looked like she couldn't leave. She stood at the edge of the empty plot looking at the Guardian in the image of her father, and the Guardian, who was manipulating the black mud chalice with both hands, finally looked at her after the church's blow.

Xia De, who had pulled the 【Night Watcher】 out of the soil, wanted to rush over, but was pulled by Luvia:

"Believe in her."

The purple-eyed girl said.

"How did she get in?"

Xia De asked, and Miss Galina gave the answer:

"After the two of them joined us, everyone had been together, but in the blink of an eye, she disappeared. It is highly likely that the Guardian himself 'invited' her in."

The Guardian did not mean to harm Siris. He stared at the young girl. After a while, the position on his chest and back that had been touched by Xia De and Yin Yi Yi Lu Na with the "fragments of the Heart of the Earth" at the same time, the pitch-black color retreated slightly, and the eyes without any emotion actually produced the color of emotion.

The Guardian's stable body appeared with fluctuations like an illusion. He was still sitting there, with both palms facing the wriggling black mud chalice that was about to take shape, but his head above his shoulders swayed left and right, and the illusion produced by the swaying made him look like he had grown three heads.

And that illusion soon became reality. The upper half of the soul state of Mr. Rathers seemed to be "shaken out" by the Guardian's body, his lower body overlapped with it, while his upper body separated from that body.

In Siris' shocked gaze, the soul that had briefly separated reached out with difficulty toward her direction. At this moment, the clean white light on the soul had a brilliance that even saints could not possess. This was a trace that could not be forged, representing that even the world accepted their sacrifice and contribution.

"Siris."

The young girl never expected to see this picture at this moment, and Mr. Rathers, who reached out his hand, also tried his best to say a complete sentence during the brief moment of sobriety:

"The memory connection just now awakened me. The horn of the end must never be blown here. If you are willing, join us. We need normal souls to awaken the sleeping spark of consciousness."

The soul with only the upper half was separated from Siris by half an empty plot, but the holy white brilliance on the soul had drifted to Siris' side. That light not only illuminated the road ahead for her, but even let her see memories, those memories belonging to the Guardian.

"What is the situation?"

Yin Yi Yi Lu Na, who had joined the Sun Church's team, also saw the situation in the empty plot at this moment. And the team of the Five Gods Church was actually not gathered together, but scattered.

The leader in this team at the moment was Miss Maria, the "Nightmare Witch" of the Nature Church. Just now, she and Yin Yi Yi Lu Na, who had rushed over, joined forces to control the angel-level relic 【Withered Branch of the World Tree】 that was on the verge of losing control.

"The Witch Council has reported the situation. If a new Guardian is produced and voluntarily merges into the old Guardian group, then there is a chance to awaken the Mad Guardian."

Miss Maria said.

This lady looked about thirty-five years old and was wearing attire similar to Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's that was suitable for action and battle. The only difference was that she was wearing a garland made of colorful flowers on her head. Yin Yi Yi Lu Na had seen this lady in the Pantanal Wetlands and had a deep impression of her, especially those eyes that seemed to bring their own illusions.

No matter who looked into her eyes, they had to undergo an illusion resistance check, otherwise they would automatically fall into a deep sleep.

"Can it really be awakened?"

Yin Yi Yi Lu Na asked. She had actually heard Luvia mention this matter, but she didn't know all the details.

"According to the church's calculations, the probability is just very high. Even if the girl suspected to be from the Witch Council is the backup candidate for the Earth Chosen One, there is no guarantee of one hundred percent. After all, there is no precedent for this kind of thing."

The Thirteenth-Ring sorceress also looked at the silent Siris:

"Whatever she does now is her own decision. There has never been a lack of people willing to sacrifice themselves, but since she is not a member of the church, we will not encourage this kind of sacrifice."

Yin Yi Yi Lu Na nodded and handed out the two chalices she was carrying:

"After I got separated from the team just now, I met people from the Witch Council, and they gave me this. The Council already shared the formula for 【Universal Earth Medicine】 last time, this should be useful to us."

Miss Maria nodded and ordered people to prepare the medicine now, sighing softly:

"I even want to suspect now whether the base camp of the Witch Council is local. Their performance this time is too active... Oh, young girl, this is for you."

She took off the garland she was wearing on her head and handed it to Yin Yi Yi Lu Na, but Yin Yi Yi Lu Na hesitated and dared not take it:

"Miss Maria, this seems to be your Nature Church's..."

"Yes, the holy relic of the Nature Church. In the year 2201 of the Fifth Era, it was woven by my Lord's own hands during the divine descent. This is a true artifact, inherited by the Ringed Shushis who have mastered the Thirteenth-Ring divine art 【Revival of Nature's Spirit】 through the ages. At the same time, this garland itself also contains the flowers of the four seasons."

Miss Maria personally put the garland on Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's head, and then smiled and smoothed her messy hair:

"Balanced Chosen One, this time, I'm afraid you will need to balance the Chosen One. But don't worry too much, your church has already prepared..."

She whispered in Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's ear, and Yin Yi Yi Lu Na's embarrassed expression, which was shown because she had received too precious a gift, immediately became extremely serious.

And at this moment, Siris Rathers looked blankly at her father in front of her, and then lowered her head to look at her own hands.

The memories in the white brilliance were not forcing her or trying to change her mind, but were telling her the stories of the previous Guardians. Xia De had once wondered what kind of situation would make a normal person willing to sacrifice their life and even everything. Now Siris finally knew the answer, because people who came into contact with the Heart of the Earth could see the prophecy of the Heart of the Earth for the earth, the prophecy about that destruction, disaster, and the end of the world.

Voluntary sacrifice is not only for the race, for the earth, for the world, but also to protect all her relatives in the world.

Mr. Rathers stared at his daughter, and Siris finally turned back to look at the forest, as if she could see the person in the petrified dense forest in the snow:

"I..."

She finally shook her head gently:

"Father, I know this may sound selfish, but I want to walk my own path. And I promised someone, I cannot... I cannot do this. He also promised me that I don't have to do anything, he will help me solve all the trouble."

Mr. Rathers in the holy white light showed a kind smile. He did not ask Siris to do anything else, but finally said:

"You must live your life happily, you must be happy."

The soul was absorbed by the Mad Guardian again, and Siris, just like when she entered the empty plot inexplicably, only felt a blur before her eyes, and then actually saw the witches in the forest and Xia De. And the Mad Guardian sent her out, clearly because he didn't dare to kill Siris either.

The young blonde girl reached out and hugged Xia De, so Miss Galina and Miss Bernice both looked at Luvia, only to see that she was actually looking at the two with a gratified expression.

Since walking with Siris just now, the inexplicable guilt and sadness in her heart finally turned into joy at this moment. Luvia vaguely sensed the traces of fate again, seeing the arc of fate deflect because of Xia De.

And behind her, the phantom of the long-haired Luvia flashed by. She knew that Xia De had once again changed those destined tragedies that she had never been able to change.

The red-haired Duchess of the North and the blonde opera actress of the South looked at each other, and from Luvia's gratified expression, they each had relatively bold ideas.

PS: Asking for votes for the big chapter ===== CHAPTER 1452 =====