Chapter 266: Founding · Balance

Both Miss Anate and Miss Beiyasi took the water bottle from Xia De's hand. Because the consumption in the battle just now was too great, Xia De, who was nearly exhausted, could not produce much water this time, so he could only let the three of them treat those potentially fatal wounds first.

After doing this, he looked at that tree:

"One last thing, burn this tree."

The tree canopy rustled, but it dared not attack the three people under the tree. Xia De's divine overflow state had two minutes left to end; its approach was correct.

"What should we do now? I still don't understand; this is a Keeper-level relic after all, how can we destroy it?"

Iluna asked. Xia De stood under the tree, and the two ladies stood behind him. In the underground cavity, the giant tree radiating azure light was indeed beautiful, but it was better to destroy this thing.

"Just set it on fire."

The woman's soul appeared before them again, and she still only spoke with Xia De:

"My corpse was absorbed by the tree and almost merged with it. God's Favored One, you set the fire from the outside, and I will help from the inside. This is equivalent to the self-destruction of the Keeper-level relic 【Corpse Tree】, and this way we can eliminate this tree."

After speaking, she vanished again.

"Is it that simple?"

Miss Beiyasi still did not understand. Xia De understood that the other party probably felt the power that originally belonged to the Old God on his body:

"I'll set the fire; you two rest for a while."

While speaking, to prevent the headless corpse of the Silver-Eyed One from being burned together, Xia De bent down, wanting to pull the corpse to the side. But the vines were binding the corpse, not letting Xia De pull it to his side.

"Hmm?"

Golden light flickered in his eyes, and the tree vines retreated. Xia De pulled the corpse to his feet, raised his right index finger, and a flame appeared with a *poof*.

Subsequently, he blew at the flame, and the sea of fire spread forward.

"Oh my~"

Painful groans came from the tree trunk in front of him, and subsequently, it seemed to come from all directions. The flames licked the tree trunk, and subsequently, it rushed toward the entire canopy at an extremely fast speed.

The giant tree swayed, and the vines trembled constantly above the three people's heads.

Behind Iluna, the golden destiny ring slowly appeared, and subsequently, it deformed into a golden scale:

"Balance."

The power of the Chosen One spread to the surroundings, and the power of the relic was further suppressed.

The burning branches and fallen leaves crackled constantly in the sea of fire, but not a single burning object falling from the top of the canopy hit the three people under the tree.

They looked up at the giant tree overhead being swallowed by the flames in an instant, and the wailing sound that made the heart tremble came constantly from all directions.

And as the flames became more and more fierce, the wailing sound became sharper, and a bright white light appeared before them.

Miss Gina Angela Sewell, who died a thousand years ago, appeared again. The death of the 【Corpse Tree】 seemed to make her soul more complete. Appearing before the three of them at this moment, her transparent body radiated soft white light outward.

She wore white robes, was barefoot, and bowed slightly to Xia De:

"Thank you for your help."

"Were you a soul who stayed behind voluntarily to watch over it, or one who remained here because of an accident?"

The female diviner was very curious about this. The holy white soul shook her head under the crazily burning tree. The firelight illuminated the three living people, but there was only holy white light on the soul:

"I did not remain here; I have always been here, guarding this ruin."

"Then what will you do afterward?"

Miss Beiyasi also asked, looking at the surroundings hesitantly:

"This place has already been discovered by 【Mercury Blood】; I am afraid there will be more people breaking in in the future."

"Then, could you please transfer my master's statue, holy emblem, eighteen gold carvings, and the collected classics to the Orthodox Church, and ask them to keep them on our behalf? (Note)"

Miss Sewell asked the brown-haired female sorcerer. She recognized the sunlight gun and naturally knew that Miss Beiyasi came from the Orthodox Church:

"When my master awakens and the sect revives, we will reclaim these precious items."

"No problem."

Iluna nodded:

"But the church might flip through those materials; I hope you won't mind."

"No problem, as long as they are not damaged, you can copy them at will."

"And you?"

Xia De also asked. Although this fire was lit by him, it was completely beyond his control. In just a few minutes, the canopy had already lost at least two-thirds of its area. The temperature was rising, and fluttering black ash was falling toward the ground. Even the tree roots under the floor were ignited by this fire, showing firelight outward from the cracks.

It became sultry here, and also more stuffy. Fortunately, the ruin itself had a unique gas exchange function; otherwise, the three of them would sooner or later suffer from gas poisoning.

"I will leave and continue to walk on."

She said softly. Xia De and the other two ladies all looked on with reverence. Not many people could face death calmly, especially souls who had stayed in the world for a long time; they would even less want to leave... The two souls in the cemetery were exceptions; they had nothing left to worry about.

"In addition, my master's creation."

She looked at the 【God's Gift Box】 that Xia De had temporarily placed on the ground, and paused for a moment:

"God's Favored One, this item is temporarily kept by you. When the day of my master's awakening comes, please return it to its owner."

"No problem."

Xia De would certainly not refuse.

"In addition, I have nothing I can give you. The property of my companions and me was donated before this place was sealed. However, we each kept one personal item. I have no right to handle other people's relics, but my legacy belongs to you."

The holy white soul pointed to the tree trunk behind her. Amidst the crackling sound, the giant tree's trunk was licked by the flames, revealing the corpse hidden inside the trunk. That corpse was only left with bones, but the bones were crystal clear like precious jade. The tentacles inside the trunk were wrapped around it, absorbing power from it year after year, but now both were about to be completely eliminated by this great fire.

Xia De looked into the flames, not understanding what the other party wanted to give him.

Miss Anate's eyesight was better. She gave a light "huh," and subsequently, with a wave of her hand, a small piece of paper floated out from the corpse and tree trunk swallowed by the great fire.

Xia De stretched out his hand and clamped the flying piece of paper between his fingers. Luweiya and Iluna both stretched their heads to look. The side facing Xia De was an abstract pattern of the sun, moon, and stars, a strange combination of overlapping patterns.

"The back of a Rod card?"

Miss Beiyasi said suspiciously. In the firelight, the back of the card seemed to be flashing:

"But I remember, wasn't the issuance of Rod cards something from a few hundred years ago? Why would a sorcerer from a thousand years ago possess Rod cards?"

She asked Miss Anate, who came from the Divination Association. The latter's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, and her purple eyes looked at Xia De with a smile:

"I have already understood; have you guessed it?"

"Could it be..."

Xia De looked at the card in his hand in a daze. He did not flip it over to look at the front, but looked up and asked the soul before him:

"How did you get this card? Was it your god who asked you to collect it?"

【The Innocent Creator】 had once given Xia De the suggestion to collect all thirteen cards of the "Wondrous Impermanence."

Miss Sewell's soul shook her head slightly:

"No, this is my mother's relic; I don't know the specific origin either. Keeping it by my side was to commemorate my mother. I actually didn't know what this was before I died, but it has been immortal for a thousand years; this shouldn't be a mortal object."

Xia De's fingers moved slightly, and the card was flipped to the front. The front of the card only had white, black, and cold colors near the two colors.

A man wearing robes, whose face could not be seen clearly, opened his arms and hung upside down above the card. His right leg was straight, directly touching the upper border, and wooden tentacles were wrapped around his right foot, vanishing into the card's border. His left foot was slightly bent, resting on his right knee. His left hand held a very familiar bell, and his right hand held a scale. Below was the blurry appearance of a city, existing only as a background.

The upper right corner of the front of the card was marked with the number 7, and the upper left corner was a small flower symbol. Between the two, which was the center of the upper side of the front of the card, a black vertical line was drawn in a white circle; this was the symbol of the "Founding" series.

At the very bottom of the card face, there was a little blank space, where a line of small text was written:

【Using this card, if the points exceed 21, the points return to zero, all your hand cards are discarded, and you draw again.】

"Founding · Balance?!"

Miss Beiyasi said in surprise.

Xia De looked at Miss Anate, very puzzled by the coincidental appearance of this card. He corrected in a low voice:

"No, it's Wondrous Impermanence · Balance."

The sound of the crackling fire overhead became a little smaller. This abnormal great fire did not let many branches and leaves fall, but almost swallowed everything of this plant.

The faintness of the firelight represented that the 【Corpse Tree】 was heading toward the end of its life, but it also represented that the soul before them was about to leave.

"I hope this card is useful to you."

She said to Xia De, the smile on her face making the light around her body even more intense:

"Guarding the ruins alone for a thousand years, suppressing this relic, enduring darkness and loneliness, I think it is time to leave."

"You are truly a person worthy of admiration."

Miss Beiyasi praised. She also came from the church and knew what kind of piety this was.

"No, this is what I should do. The three of us voluntarily guarded the ruins and voluntarily accepted such a future. To this day, only I remain; this was not forced by others, this was my own wish..."

The firelight completely swallowed her corpse in the tree trunk, but those flames could not suppress the white light on her body.

"I have never regretted it."

Before the words fell, the three people and the soul looked up at the sky together. At this time, the tree canopy overhead had basically burned out, leaving only fluttering flying ash drifting. Suddenly, a beam of sky light descended from the sky, enveloping this holy white soul.

"Hmm?"

In the beam of light, the white light around Gina Angela Sewell gradually gathered behind her, turning into two pure white wings. At the same time, the golden radiance in the beam of light condensed into a bright golden ring above her head.

The three were dumbfounded.

"Then, farewell."

Miss Sewell was not surprised by her own changes, but instead looked worriedly toward the top of her head, that is, the direction above the ground.

Bowing slightly to the three of them for the last time:

"Greater danger will await you; please always believe in light, believe in justice. God's Favored One, good luck."

The voice was a bit distorted. She shook her head and stretched out her fingers to the three of them. The white light at her fingertips entered the three people's bodies respectively, and subsequently, she flapped the wings behind her, continuously rising in that sky light, and finally vanished without a trace.

The burning trees around them only had the last firelight left. Xia De and the two ladies maintained the action of looking up at the sky, and no one spoke.

After a long while, Miss Beiyasi asked in a low voice:

"Did she... become an angel?"

Miss Anate looked suspiciously at the sky where the light had already vanished:

"It's just like ancient mythology, a pious believer in... her god hasn't already departed? What I am more interested in is, where exactly will an angel go."

Xia De also looked at the stone wall overhead, and he didn't know what to say either:

"Even though so many incredible things have happened tonight, this matter is definitely the most incredible one."

After all, the other things had already been anticipated by the three before entering the ruins.

The firelight gradually extinguished, and the whisper elements gradually returned to balance in the surroundings. Under their feet was the headless corpse of the Silver-Eyed One, and further away, a mass of black stuff was buried in the ashes; that was the vampire's remains.

Having witnessed an angel appear and then vanish before their eyes, the three were very skeptical about whether everything they experienced today was real. But the feeling of the body could not be faked. The angel gave them treatment before leaving. Except for Miss Beiyasi's left eye, all the pain in their bodies and souls had vanished. Even the sleepiness after divine overflow had vanished because of this.

Of course, this was mainly because he actually didn't use much power.

Only, Miss Beiyasi's left eye still had no eye. Having sacrificed her left eye to obtain wisdom, then ordinary means could not restore that eye.

The firelight gradually extinguished. In the disappearing light, Miss Beiyasi also gradually became dejected. Even if Miss Anate promised to help her find a suitable magic eye, the young brown-haired girl was also a bit sad. She took out the eye patch she had prepared long ago from her pocket and put it on, revealing an ugly smile to Xia De and Miss Anate.

Actually, Xia De had just picked up the Silver-Eyed One's two silver magic eyes, but those originally belonged to the Silver-Eyed One, and she obviously refused to use them.

By now, all the tasks of going deep into the ruins had been completed, and the three were preparing to leave to prevent being blocked inside the ruins. As for the departed angel, the things that Miss Beiyasi was to transfer to the Orthodox Church for safekeeping were temporarily stored in the secret room of the ruins; anyway, 【Mercury Blood】 had not discovered them, so they would let the church recover them later.

The Keeper-level relic 【Stone Gargoyle No. 3765】 and the Keeper-level relic 【Mirror Behind】 were also left by them in the ruins, waiting for the church to recover them.

The gargoyle, nicknamed "Giant God Soldier," was simply too big for them to move, and the mirror was too dangerous. Therefore, these two items and the ruins themselves were left to the Orthodox Church, as the storage fee for the church helping to preserve the heritage of the 【Innocent Creator】 sect.