Chapter 178
Damon: “…”
He advised himself many times in his heart that this was a subordinate that Lord Nighold valued very much, he must not act on impulse, this was a subordinate that Lord Nighold valued very much, he must not... Damon took a deep breath and suppressed the anger in his heart.
"Whose side are you on!" he roared, "What good will it do you if the old court I'm in charge of is destroyed?"
"There's no benefit." Di Zhangqing shook his head, as if wondering why he would ask such a speechless question. Di Zhangqing asked sincerely, "Can't I just want to have fun?"
Damon: “…”
This is a subordinate whom Lord Nighold values very much. He can't - can't do anything!
The magic wand appeared in Damon's hand in an instant, and the surging wood element was multiplied in the cloud ruins, turning into a fierce attack that directly hit Di Changqing.
Even though he was extremely angry, Damon still retained a trace of calm in his heart. He beat up his colleague, but he was not disabled and his life was not lost. At most, he would be punished by Lord Nighold and asked to pay compensation - so be it, he really couldn't swallow this!
Facing the terrifying wood element, the invisible sofa beneath Di Zhangqing suddenly rose up, and he nimbly dodged it: "Hey, hey, hey? No way, Damon, you are so petty!"
Di Zhangqing dodged in an almost impossible manner: "Now if I tell the truth, I will be silenced?"
Damon: “…”
While he was even more angry at not being able to beat anyone, he also became wary of Di Changqing's strength. This colleague who often left his post and disobeyed discipline... turned out to be so strong?
Is this why Lord Nighold values him so highly?
Faced with such a huge power gap, Damon quickly calmed down and decided not to waste his magic power. He looked up at Di Changqing who was flying high in the sky: "Why do you say that the Old Court will be destroyed?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Di Zhangqing was still flying high. He was also worried that Damon was deliberately using this topic to distract him and trick him into coming down to get beaten. "The man I just pointed out is called Gu Hongying. He is the reincarnation of Bai Ze from the East and represents the human race. You have locked up Olivia in the 'Birthplace of Nighold', which is 10,000 meters below the ground. You won't forget his last name, right?"
Olivia usually goes by her real name, and few people know her last name. Olivia's full name is——
Olivia Asgard.
In mythology, Asgard represents the land of the gods, that is, the realm of the gods, where all the legendary gods live.
After Di Zhangqing pointed out the identities of these two people, especially Gu Hongying's identity, Damon's face became uglier than ever. Leaf-like patterns began to appear between his brows, and his body began to become unstable. Then... Di Zhangqing suddenly came down, patted him on the shoulder vigorously, and blocked the agent's transmission.
Damon was nearly knocked to his knees by the force of his hand.
He angrily said, "What are you doing!"
"You are so mean to Lao Dong..." Di Zhangqing almost shouted out a name that would make Damon explode, "Lord Nighold is loyal, I just can't bear to see you go down and die."
Di Zhangqing narrowed his red eyes, and the red at the end of his eyes was rich and bright red: "You know now, it's too late."
To severely damage the Old Court, someone needs to launch an attack simultaneously in the clouds a thousand meters above and underground ten thousand meters below. However, to completely destroy the Old Court, someone who can represent the human race needs to destroy all living things in the cloud garden a thousand meters above, which means "humanity has betrayed the gods"; and someone with the legendary mark of the gods needs to destroy the "birthplace of Nighold" underground ten thousand meters below, which means "the gods have abandoned humans." Only when both sides attack at the same time and the judgments are mutually established, will the Kingdom of Mist, which serves as a barrier, collapse, and the Old Court will be truly destroyed, and there will never be a chance to rebuild it.
The conditions for destruction are neither simple nor difficult, so they have always kept the method of destroying the old court hidden very well. Unexpectedly, today, due to some strange circumstances, this slightly harsh condition was met by people who did not know each other.
Di Zhangqing sighed: "Could this be the guidance of fate?"
"What a shitty fate!" Damon was very angry. After the bad news of the failure of planting Robert in Cloud Garden, the bad news of the complete destruction of the old court came one after another. "I don't believe there would be such a coincidence!"
"Someone must have known this secret method and then painstakingly designed it. Otherwise, how could the student with Olivia's mark bump into Robert who was taken away by my men, and was taken away together because he was not familiar with the counterattack magic circle!" After connecting all the seemingly coincidental coincidences one by one, Damon felt horrified, "Isn't it ridiculous that he can defeat my men but is not familiar with the counterattack magic circle? He was placed in the Land of Mist as feed, but he was able to accurately find the Cloud Garden and destroy it mercilessly. He must have practiced well in advance!"
"Damon" means devil, but Damon feels that the person who arranged all this is scarier than the devil - he has managed the old court for so long, and was getting closer and closer to success, but in this moment, everything turned into nothing!
"It doesn't look like a coincidence..." Di Zhangqing walked to the center of the Yunduan Ruins, his spiritual power surged, and he dug out small pieces of gravel from the ground. He used his fingertips to piece the gravel together, and it could be roughly seen that it was a stone tablet, but the patterns on it were completely destroyed and the meaning could no longer be discerned. "Too many coincidences will make it seem fake."
The fluctuations of spiritual power left on these rubbles... Di Changqing felt somewhat familiar - like the sword energy of the Lord of Kunlun Mountain, the sword energy that would make her weak for a long time after she used it.
"Damon." Di Zhangqing looked down at the rubble, as if he was looking through the cloud garden, through the land of mist, and into the ten thousand meters underground. "Do you think they can get out alive?"
They did meet the conditions for destroying the Old Court, but this does not mean that those who met these conditions can avoid the backlash of the Old Court's destruction. The most likely possibility is that those who destroyed the Old Court would perish along with the Old Court.
*
Since Damon disappeared from underground, the cracks have become more and more numerous and denser. Bella was so scared that she flew back. She had never seen such a terrifying battle since she was born. Now she wrapped her wings around Olivia's neck and trembled, burying her head in Olivia's golden hair, and let out a terrible wail:
"Wow wow wow - what should I do - the crow is going to die -"
Its drawn-out tone, combined with the cracks that filled the entire space, sounded increasingly unclear.
Olivia: “…”
He forcefully pulled Bella's wings off her neck and threw them onto the branch of the desert rose: "Bella, keep an eye on him."
Bella blinked her small black eyes: "The crow is scared——"
Olivia looked at the group of people who were depressed inside the protective shield and sneered, "There's no point in being afraid."
The terrifyingly dense water element poured out from the gem on the top of the magic wand without hesitation, forming a new protection around the protective shield. The red light of the previous protective shield had become very dim and even began to flicker.
No matter how powerful the protective cover is, it will be worn out during use, its durability will continue to decrease, and then it will completely fail.
The desert rose on Robert's branch, which had finally regained a little red color, suddenly turned paler than before.
It really makes me pale.
Not long after the water element formed a new protective shield, the red shield disappeared with a crisp shattering sound. The previously suitable temperature inside the shield suddenly dropped, making the people inside the shield shiver with cold.
Olivia entered the new shield he built after the red shield failed. He stood in the center of the shield, and the dark blue shield slowly rose. "Do you remember which direction the crack was when you came here?"
His tone of voice sounded calm when he asked the question, as if he was confident, but there were five people with him ten thousand meters underground... Olivia was not completely sure either.
Among those who were still awake, Robert was in the best condition because he suffered the least backlash. Robert raised the branch tremblingly and a pale flower bloomed somewhere.
Because the branch had no strength, it fell directly on Bella's head, scaring Bella so much that she screamed "Wow!" and the shrill cry echoed inside the protective shield.
Olivia flew in the direction indicated by Robert, controlling the protective shield. Even though the space was now shattered beyond recognition and it was impossible to fly back along the previous cracks, Olivia still chose the path they had taken when they came here—at least that path was confirmed to be feasible.
During the flight through the long or short cracks, except for Robert who was still awake and using the pale flowers to show the way, everyone else was only awake for a short while before falling into coma again.
The rift is like a giant maze that is 10,000 meters high and infinitely wide. As time goes by, the oppression and backlash on people become more and more severe.
The dark blue protective shield had gradually turned into light blue due to the collision of flying debris and sudden cracks.
The flowers on Robert's branches were no longer pure white—a few drops of Olivia's blood splashed on his flowers.
The old court is a relic of ancient times. Even though Olivia has lived for hundreds of years, she is still insignificant in the face of such a vast time. The ruins of time are pouring down, and no human power can stop them.
Bella fainted a long time ago, and Robert was awake less and less. Olivia was no longer as calm as at the beginning. The blood seeping from his pores stained his magic robe. His blue eyes were oozing red, and his pupils were like half blue and half red gems.
他感覺自己的意識正在渙散，在新裂縫猝不及防地出現時，他沒來得及操縱防護罩避開，淺藍近白的防護罩閃了閃，差點當場破碎。
奧利維亞被反噬與身體裏枯竭的魔力壓迫，吐出一口血。
他露出一個無奈的苦笑，沒想當教父和當老師，都挺高危。
奧利維亞無聲地嘆了一口氣。
無論怎麽說，他的倒黴教子和糟心學生們，他總得帶回去的。
……
虞荼是在越來越濃的血腥味中醒來的，醒來時他發現他變回了原形，紅色的防護罩被白色取代，白色的防護罩底部，有嫣紅的血跡。
血跡的最中間，奧利維亞站在那裏。
他黑色的魔法袍好像已經被鮮血浸透了，下擺正一滴一滴滴着血滴，手中精致漂亮的魔杖頂端的寶石已經出現了大塊的崩裂，看起來搖搖欲墜。
虞荼試圖揮動自己的葉子，但葉子動不了，他感覺到葉子上沾着奧利維亞的血，血已經凝固了。
白得近乎透明的防護罩外，幾乎看不見褐色的土地，像是黑漆漆的無垠虛空，即使隔着防護罩，虞荼也能感覺到令人心驚肉跳的危險。
奧利維亞的狀況肉眼可見的不好，小夥伴們全部陷入昏迷，他們也許根本就不能活着走出這裏。
已經快要看不見褐色的漆黑裂縫像鞭子一樣砸過來，虞荼看到防護罩閃了閃，出現了一道白痕，或許再這樣砸上幾次，防護罩就會徹底碎裂。
到時候奧利維亞老師會死，他昏迷的小夥伴們會死，所有人都無法幸免。
虞荼聽到奧利維亞的低咳聲，看到他捂着嘴的指縫間湧出新的鮮血，血裏隐約還夾雜着些許銀藍———那是人魚的本源血。
奧利維亞其實不用來的，是他們将他置于了險境。
虞荼想到顧鴻影使用的護符，制作護符的主人或許在很遙遠的地方也知道他遇到了危險，但無法趕來，又或者說哪怕趕來了，也只是給他們收屍。
希望太遙遠，救不了眼下。
虞荼想要動，但他渾身上下被一種恐怖的感覺壓迫着，這股力量促使他趴在地上，怎麽也起不了身。
他的力量是如此渺小，他無法動彈。
于是他只能看着奧利維亞的傷勢一點點重下去，看着他的生命之火一點點熄滅。
虞荼從來沒有如此清晰而絕望地認識到———沒有人能幫他們。
這個世界上沒有誰能在遇到危險時恰如其分地出現在需要受救助的人身邊。
沒沒有誰能永遠依靠。
沒有誰能正好都在。
絕望、不甘，惶恐、焦慮……種種情緒在虞荼的心間交織，讓他痛苦到蜷縮起來。
恍恍惚惚地，虞荼覺得身上好像有無數條鎖鏈正在收緊，又好像整個人被丢到沸滾的岩漿裏燙熟……
痛苦、只剩下無邊無際的痛苦。
他好像在迷迷糊糊之中看到了熟悉的東西，是奔湧的能量。
與靈力截然不同的能量。
能量比靈力更适合使用，更能千變萬化，只要有足夠的能量，他就能救下所有人！
虞荼好像清醒了一點，他不知道自己現在處于一種什麽狀态，也許是瀕死前的幻覺，也許是壓力過大精神崩潰的臆想，他甚至不知道自己現在究竟是茶樹苗的形态，還是人類的狀态，又或者是另一種虛幻的、無法描述的存在？
他伸手去夠那些能量。
這一瞬，他甚至忘記了他是虞荼，不是不夜侯，他的身體根本就無法容納那些能量。
擡手的痛苦比之前鎖鏈加身，岩漿沸騰還要痛苦上無數倍，虞荼恍惚間好像聽到了自己的哀嚎。
在痛苦之中，他腦海裏的念頭越來越清晰———
【人不能永遠依賴他人。】
靠山山會倒，靠人人會跑，只有自己擁有的、掌握的，才是自己的。
人的命運，只在自己手中。
虞荼拼命地擡手。
他夠到了那些能量。
于是此時，萬籁俱寂。
所有的痛苦一霎消退，讓人的感知都好像變得輕飄飄的，無處着力。
———有破碎聲。
不是那種透亮的玻璃被石頭砸碎的聲音，不是那種屋檐下的冰淩被風折斷的聲音，也不是精美的器物跌落在地上的可惜回響，而是一種盛大的，仿佛是什麽宏偉的規律在感慨的聲音。
是魚躍出冰面，是積雪化作流泉，是百川歸入海，然後沿途萬物複蘇。
于是那遙不可及的能量籠罩過來，祂們溫馴地環繞着他，從每一寸皮膚滲入到他的身體中。
虞荼的頭發慢慢變長，眼型開始變成丹鳳眼，左眼上出現了圓形金邊眼鏡，細細的鏈條垂下來，末端墜着一片葉子。
萬裏之遙的茶館裏，小灰忽然擡起頭來，它看到在毛茸茸的海洋裏沉睡的不夜侯忽然虛化，像一道影子一樣慢慢淡去，消失得無影無蹤。
而萬裏之外，白色的防護罩內，星星點點的光芒聚集，慢慢凝成一道人形。
虞荼睜開了眼睛。
很難形容這時候的奇妙感受，他能“看到”———
一米多高的茶樹苗蔫巴巴地趴在地上，好像被抽去了所有的生機與活力，但體內的靈力流轉正常；
髒兮兮且昏迷不醒的顧鴻影，看似只是陷入了尋常的昏迷，實則金屬性靈力狂暴，似乎在沖破某道桎梏；
枝條上開着慘白花朵的羅伯特，身體陷入了靜默，可意識卻在一次又一次試圖與這方詭異的空間溝通；
外表沒有變化的郝芝芝，內在的血肉與骨骼在無數次變幻重組，似乎在無意識地進行天賦鍛煉；
在角落裏的埃裏克，靈力流轉正常，可容納着感知的意識海裏卻掀起了滔天風暴；
重傷的奧利維亞看似還能支撐，可靈魂之火搖搖欲墜，好似幾息之間就會徹底熄滅……
所有人的表面與實質，都大不相同。
虞荼向前邁了一步。
星星點點的光輝由虛轉實，他從光裏踏出，像是一場絢爛的绮夢。
之前隔着白色的防護罩感覺到的心驚肉跳的危險感在此時消失殆盡，虞荼擡起手，碰到了防護罩。
防護罩上的白色飛快消退，生機勃勃的淺綠取而代之。
淺綠色的防護罩凝滞在這片近乎黑色的虛空中，防護罩內，時光回溯、時間倒流。
凝固的深色鮮血開始重新變成殷紅的血珠，血珠飛起來，融入到奧利維亞的身體中，銀藍色的血液重新回到那幾乎已經不再跳動的心髒裏，被鮮血浸濕的魔法袍再次變得幹燥，蒼白的肌膚紅潤而有光澤……地上灰頭土臉的四個人身上塵土消失，細小的傷口愈合，仿佛回到了最開始。
這是一場無法用語言形容的壯麗奇跡。
……
奧利維亞以為自己會死在萬米的地下，将【尼格霍德誕生地】變成自己的葬身處，但他沒想到，他竟然還能再次睜開眼睛。
簡直不可思議。
模糊的視線漸漸聚焦，奧利維亞看到了一個人——
這個人有一副很清俊柔和的東方面龐，黑發鳳眼，唇邊帶着淺淺的笑意，看起來沒有什麽攻擊力，略有些奇怪的穿着在整體氣質下，竟然相得益彰。
最奇怪的是，奧利維亞覺得他有些熟悉。
他記得自己的本源血已經随着重傷而流出，體內也因為魔力枯竭後還進行壓榨千瘡百孔，但現在，這些傷勢都好了，仿佛嚴重的傷勢只是他恍惚中的臆想。
奧利維亞眼瞳褪去赤紅，重新變回了美麗的藍色，他眨了眨眼，将手按在心口，人生中第一次感覺到了極大的疑惑。
奧利維亞難得茫然地扯了扯自己身上的魔法袍——幹燥的，低頭看腳下的地面——幹淨的，羅伯特的花上好像有點紅色，奧利維亞下意識地伸手搓了搓，是花回色了，不是他的血。
他到底是受傷了，還是沒受傷？
這一系列動作後，奧利維亞才想起來他并沒有向對面突然出現的、疑似救了他的人打招呼，這是一種很失禮的行為。
“您好。”奧利維亞說。
他終于想起來覺得面前這人有些熟悉的原因，他曾在有關東方的絕密資料上看到過一些記錄———
“不夜侯閣下。”
*
雲端廢墟上，谛長卿一直在擺弄着那堆不規則的碎石子，時不時還直勾勾地盯着腳下地面的震動，達蒙忍了又忍，最後還是問：
“你研究出什麽來了嗎？”
谛長卿笑眯眯地搖了搖頭：“沒有哦～”
達蒙呼吸一滞：“那你還興致勃勃地擺弄了半天？”
“這不是無聊嘛～”谛長卿撤去布置好的穩定陣法，于是碎石子在震動裏滾得到處都是，“雖然舊庭的毀滅已成定局，但我們留下來還是有意義的，比如見證他們到底死沒死。”
達蒙：“……”
他緩緩地吐出一口氣，努力讓自己的腦袋冷靜下來。
要習慣，要習慣。
“老巢都被人端了。”谛長卿坐在半空中，“達蒙，你好可憐。”
達蒙：“……”
想殺同事的心達到了巅峰。
Di Zhangqing clapped his hands to shake off the nonexistent dust: "The vibration is so severe even a thousand meters above, the result is probably not far away."
After he talked about serious matters, Damon couldn't get angry, so he could only say "hmm" softly.
Di Changqing smiled, then he strolled to the edge of the Cloud Ruins and looked down. Damon followed behind him and had the urge to kick him down.
"The view here is pretty good." Di Changqing seemed oblivious. He said with emotion, "It's all glowing down there~"
Damon: "...glowing?"
He had only experienced the old court being severely damaged, but not its destruction, so naturally he had no idea what the light in Di Changqing's mouth meant.
Damon took a few steps to Di Changqing's side and looked in the direction Di Changqing was looking—there was a light green light there.
Under the shining light, the gray-black mist under the Cloud Garden gradually turned into milky white, and then the light green light climbed up inch by inch along the milky white, like a tree, growing inch by inch.
Damon's eyes widened in disbelief: "Yuktrasir?!"
Di Changqing's eyes widened at first because of his exclamation, and then as if he had thought of something, he silently took a few steps back.
The light green glow grew stronger and stronger. As they watched, it seemed as if a tree broke through the ground from a depth of ten thousand meters underground, and grew to the clouds a thousand meters above. It stretched its branches and leaves freely, and wood elements surrounded it as if guarding a god.
"Connecting Nighold's birthplace, the Land of Mist, and the Cloud Garden..." Damon muttered to himself, "Could it be that Robert really turned into the seed of Yggdrasil and then grew into the World Tree in an instant?"
Di Changqing: “It’s not dark yet.” Then he began to dream.
After discovering the light green light, Di Changqing began to outline a small cross-domain teleportation array without hesitation. When the light green light turned into a tree covering the sky, Di Changqing's teleportation array was barely completed.
A silvery-white light mixed with a bit of inky black light was suspended in the air, slowly rotating counterclockwise, forming a door that was easy for people to pass through.
Damon was still standing at the edge, looking up at the shadow of the tree that blocked out the sun.
Di Changqing, upholding the last bit of comradeship, called Damon to go with him: "This tree is wrong, run quickly!"
"No!" Damon's eyes were filled with enthusiasm. "The Old Court is revived, and Lord Nighold's grand plan is about to come true!"
Di Changqing: “…”
He can't communicate with these workaholics!
He used his spiritual power to control Damon, making him stiff like a dumpling, and then carried Damon into the small teleportation array. Damon shouted loudly: "Put me down! That's the grown-up Yggdrasil!"
Di Zhangqing sneered and kicked Damon on the butt, kicking him into the teleportation array: "Fuck Yggdrasil! Whose world tree is a tea tree!"