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--- Chapter 468 ---
"And here I am... All alone," Xu Deming sighed, staring down the empty, echoing hallway. "Brother Han, why must you torture me with riddles right before leaving?"
"You look pathetic, iron human."
An amused, sarcastic voice cut through the silence. Xu Deming narrowed his eyes, tracking a slender figure stepping out from the shadows of the corridor. He feigned a look of grand surprise. "What is a lazy dragon like you doing here in my Glory City?"
Hanlong Nuji shrugged casually, walking toward the time traveler without a hint of fear. "I was instructed by Han Yuan, well, Beta, to seal this place using the Ice God's powers. We are preserving it in history."
She leaned closer, her eyes flashing. "Did you really think he would just leave the city exposed? Not with the sheer amount of secrets buried here."
"I see..." Xu Deming nodded slowly as pieces of the puzzle connected.
Even so, he was amazed by Han Yuan's accomplishment. He knew this lazy dragon wouldn't leave her comfortable cave unless something truly extraordinary caught her attention.
"Moreover," Hanlong Nuji added, a mysterious smile playing on her lips, "I am here to introduce a new partner. Someone who will help you return to your original time and space. Meet Gamma, another avatar of Han Yuan, though he's technically a newborn."
"There is no need to add that last part, Blue Dragon Lady!"
A sharp, familiar voice echoed through the hall. Xu Deming scanned the area, but it wasn't until his modified soul detected a faint, shifting outline that he saw him.
A young man, bearing a striking resemblance to the Han Yuan who had just departed to another plane, materialized in the room.
"This... You're Brother Han's avatar?" Xu Deming stammered in disbelief.
The young man smiled. "Yup. You can call me Han Yuan, too. After all, the 'me' you knew was just another avatar as well: Beta."
Xu Deming rubbed his temples, a massive headache brewing inside. Even though he had entirely transformed his body, soul, and spirit into a living Spirit Guidance Tool, the sheer absurdity of this situation pushed his processing limits.
"Wait... don't tell me you're the 'me' Brother Han mentioned right before he vanished?"
"Bingo. That's me," Han Yuan chuckled.
"Yeah, I had the same reaction when I realized how terrifyingly powerful this guy's main body must be," Hanlong Nuji chimed in, wearing a helpless expression. "Just imagine all of them merged into one. The Godking Realm is supposed to be the pinnacle of this world, but I doubt the powerhouses of that realm could even dent him."
Han Yuan shook his head gently. "Let's not exaggerate."
"I know our collective strength, but this world still manages conceptual laws that could pose a threat to me. I would rather ensure everything is flawless before I truly move to take down a Godking."
"That... wasn't a denial." Hanlong Nuji gave him a weird look.
Han Yuan ignored Hanlong Nuji and fixed his gaze on the time traveler, his smile turning sharp. "Especially, a certain Godking you, Xu Deming, would love to beat the absolute shit out of."
Xu Deming's eyes widened, a spark of raw fury and hope igniting within them. "Tang San... You can get me to Tang San?!"
"I was going to say the Asura God, but Tang San counts," Han Yuan noted with a nod.
"Then please... let me follow you, Brother Han!" Xu Deming shouted right away. Caught up in a wave of excitement, he lunged forward to hug Han Yuan, but stopped abruptly when he realized the 'Han Yuan' lacked a physical body.
"Uh, please maintain your distance. I have a severe aversion to being touched," Han Yuan replied instantly, stepping back.
"But you let me touch you," Hanlong Nuji teased, her eyes dancing with amusement.
"Shut up, Blue Dragon Lady! You did that without permission!" Han Yuan glared at her, causing the dragon lady to pout and turn away.
He cleared his throat and turned back to Xu Deming. "My target is that exact alternative future."
"I have business to settle there. However, I lack a proper guide for that era. This woman beside me is just going to act as an idle guardian, likely napping through most of the journey."
"Hehehe, you know me so well!" Hanlong Nuji laughed proudly, resting her hands on her hips.
Ignoring the shameless lady, Han Yuan looked straight into Xu Deming's eyes, his tone turning dead serious. "So, in exchange for navigating you back to your proper space and time, you will become my loyal ally."
"Is that acceptable?"
"Yes. Beyond acceptable," Xu Deming answered without any hesitation. "I will give you my absolute loyalty, so long as I can finally go home."
Han Yuan read the sincerity etched into the man's face. It wasn't born out of a sudden devotion to Han Yuan himself, but rather a desperate, burning longing for his home era.
But that was more than enough. It was the perfect leverage.
He didn't know how badly Beta had swindled this guy, but traversing to an alternative future of the Douluo Plane wasn't an impossible feat. He could always delegate the heavy lifting to the [Task Master System].
'...Well, I'm certainly not sweaty enough to do it myself,' Han Yuan thought, knowing Beta had already done the brutal work of shattering the dimensional walls between the Douluo and Dou Qi Planes to get here.
Calming his thoughts, Han Yuan glanced at the dragon. "Alright, then. Blue Dragon Lady, do your job. Seal this city with your domain over the laws of ice."
He paused. "But don't go completely overboard. Just lock the city within a cycle of a perpetual snowstorm, connected directly to the Extreme North."
"Easy!" Hanlong Nuji snapped her fingers. Instantly, a chill deeper than the void itself flooded the space as the law of water manifested at her command.
At first, tiny drops of water crystallized in the air, falling from the sky in rapid succession until they spun into a roaring, blinding snowstorm. The temperature plummeted toward absolute zero.
"By the Blue Dragon's Breath... let the law of ice blanket this city, never to thaw for thousands of years."
As her voice fell, an invisible, massive dome fell, seamlessly bleeding the entire space of Glory City into the vast, frozen expanse of the Extreme North.
From that day forward, Glory City rested in eternal winter, lost to the rest of the world.
"Only someone with my true, legitimate blood, including that little girl's new lineage, can break this seal and enter," Hanlong Nuji murmured after a moment, exhaling a white mist.
"Is that to your liking?"
Han Yuan activated the Eyes of Truth, slowly scanning the complex web of restrictions. He smiled and nodded. "Perfect."