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--- Chapter 451 ---
"What do you mean by the Ice God is still alive?" Han Yuan's expression turned solemn.
Xu Deming emphasized each word, "It is exactly what I said. The Ice God is still alive and well to this very day. Her life is far too vast to end this early. Even twenty thousand years from now, she won't necessarily die..."
"After all, she is a unique lifeform, bound neither by life and death, nor space and time."
"T-The Ice God is such an existence?" Ye Ziyun whispered, unable to believe what she was hearing. Because the Ice God's Heart had chosen her, she could perceive things others couldn't.
She knew the Divine Artifact was powerful, and she had paid a heavy price to wield even a fraction of its strength, but she had never understood its true origin.
Xu Deming wore a complex expression before answering, "It's really hard to explain. The Ice God, in a literal sense, isn't actually a divinity that merely mastered the law of ice." "Ice God is an alien creature that arrived at the Douluo Plane by mistake, but due to her hereditary powers, she was able to bypass the rules of this world and become a divine being. However, that divine being was merely one of her avatars."
He turned his gaze toward Han Yuan. "Have you ever heard of the Ice Elves?"
Han Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Ice Elves... Is the Ice God part of the Elven lineage?"
Xu Deming nodded. "Technically speaking, yes. But she was also a member of the Ice Star Titan Tribe and the Winter Dragon Clan, making her a hybrid of three incredibly powerful backgrounds."
"This allowed her to manifest the traits of these separate tribes, living three different lives and experiencing entirely different paths of cultivation."
He paused, letting the information sink in for them. "What Ye Ziyun inherited is the Ice Elf's lineage, which is the purest manifestation of cold—essentially no different from a pure spirit of ice elements. At the same time, the Snow Demon Titan of the Extreme North is an inheritor of the Ice God's Ice Star Titan bloodline."
"Which leaves the Winter Dragon Clan," Han Yuan connected the dots, his voice low. "A Clan of True Dragons that dominate the laws of space, time, and winter. It's a clan completely detached from the native Dragon Clan of the Douluo Plane, isn't it?"
Xu Deming smiled. "Exactly. The Winter Dragon Clan hails from a starry sky far outside our own, spanning countless galaxies away."
"That distance also means they are incredibly resilient and possess a terrifyingly long lifespan."
"So, while the Ice God's divine inheritance in this world was shattered due to a conflict in the past, her true self is alive and well, sleeping deep within the Extreme North in her Winter Dragon form."
Han Yuan's mouth twitched slightly. 'To think she bypassed a large-scale divine war entirely by just sleeping through it... This Ice God is something else.'
"Wait, then why don't you ask for her help?" Ye Ziyun gazed at Xu Deming intensely, a flicker of hope in her eyes. "If she is that powerful, wouldn't Glory City be saved?"
Xu Deming shook his head helplessly and let out a heavy sigh. "That sounds wonderful in theory, but unfortunately, the Ice God is too elusive... and frankly, incredibly lazy."
"She would never make a move unless I had something of equal value to trade with her. And the things I possess? They don't even catch her eye." He tapped his mechanical head, causing a series of dull, metallic thuds.
"Yes, you heard that right. The plane-crossing device, and many other secrets I hold right here, are completely worthless to her."
"Then... what is the point of 'me' becoming her priest?" Ye Ziyun smiled bitterly, clenching her hands tightly as a wave of dread washed over her. In that moment, the power of the Ice God's Heart felt less like a blessing and more like a curse.
"It seems our guest has already guessed why..." Xu Deming fell into silence, shifting his gaze toward Han Yuan, noticing the subtle shift in the young man's expression.
"Lord Han...?" Ye Ziyun looked at Han Yuan, her eyes dimming.
Han Yuan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Strictly speaking, the Ice God divinity itself was only one of her avatars. Since she chose to cast away that divinity, she must have had a reason. It could be an escape tactic. Or... she was looking for a replacement. In other words, a scapegoat."
He placed a reassuring hand on Ye Ziyun's shoulder. "Of course, that doesn't mean you are going to become that scapegoat."
"That role belongs to the Snow Empress, not Ye Ziyun."
"Moreover, the Ice Elf lineage of the Ice God defined the Snow Empress's very birth. No wonder she is such a pure manifestation of heaven and earth energy. But this setup isn't necessarily a bad thing for you."
Han Yuan looked back at Xu Deming. "The Ice God's remaining avatar is only that Winter Dragon, right? The persona that fused the Elven and Ice Star Titan lineages perished, leaving only this dragon form behind."
"That is correct." Xu Deming looked amazed by Han Yuan's swift deduction. "The Ice God completely cast away her identity as a divine being and chose to remain a slumbering dragon. Right now, she goes by the name of Hanlong Nuji."
"Nuji... Nu as in female, Ji as in empress," Han Yuan muttered, his brow twitching. "A bit cliché."
"But she has the power to back it up," Xu Deming chuckled softly. "Even I don't know the upper limits of her strength. Like you, her cultivation system is completely different from the Spirit Masters of the Douluo Plane. Her bloodline alone would put every native spirit beast here to absolute shame."
Han Yuan raised an eyebrow. "That strong?"
"Yes, Hanlong Nuji is exactly that strong!" Xu Deming nodded firmly. "But then again... she is incredibly lazy."
Ye Ziyun could only feel a sense of profound helplessness. She slowly uncurled her fingers, realizing that regret was pointless. Regretting the past wouldn't bring back those who had already perished in the war.
Xu Deming continued his account. "As my lifespan neared its end, I ultimately chose to seal my mortal body and transfer my soul into this Mechanical God Armor, slumbering for ten thousand years.
"But who could have predicted I would be awakened under these circumstances?"
"What a cruel irony. I thought I had fully accepted my fate, only to find out my miserable existence was part of someone else's scheme."
"Wait, are you saying your original body is still intact?" Han Yuan abruptly interjected. "You didn't entirely convert your physical form into this Mechanical God Armor?"
Xu Deming shook his head bitterly. "Although I reached the realm where my martial soul could fuse with my Battle Armor, merging living flesh with machinery is an entirely different level of difficulty."
"So, I chose the safer method, using only a portion of my origins as the binding agent."
Han Yuan rubbed his chin, pondering the mechanics. "I see. As a method of preservation, that is actually quite viable..."
"Wait, First City Lord," Ye Ziyun interrupted, her confusion deepening. "Have you ever contacted the subsequent City Lords after you entered hibernation?"
Xu Deming tilted his mechanical head. "Hmm? I was awakened a few times, yes. But they only asked for advice on how to govern Glory City and how to further develop the Spirit Guidance Tools."
"But there is absolutely no record of such meetings," Ye Ziyun dropped a shocking revelation, her voice trembling. "We didn't even know you were slumbering here all this time."
"What?!" Xu Deming's processors seemed to short-circuit for a brief moment.
He immediately accessed the core spirit within his Mechanical God Armor, scanning his history logs, only to discover something horrifying. Someone had deeply tampered with his internal systems.
Before Xu Deming could react, Han Yuan suddenly placed his hand directly over his core part.
Sensing a deep, hidden anomaly, Han Yuan violently injected his own spiritual energy. With a sharp pull, he dragged a malicious, crimson aura out of the armor. The sheer malevolence of the energy made both Xu Deming and Ye Ziyun shiver in instinctual terror.
"No wonder it felt so familiar," Han Yuan grimaced, staring at the writhing red energy. "So it was the Slaughter God..."
He looked up at the machine. "Xu Deming, you've been played. The Slaughter God has been fooling you and the generation of City Lords all these years, using you to provoke another plane so he could find a way to break through his own limits using your efforts."
"No... No, no, no!" Xu Deming clutched his mechanical head as a sudden, violent crack echoed within his consciousness. "This can't be true!"
Suddenly, a calm, mechanical, monotone voice droned from the depths of the Mechanical God Armor.
[Warning: Self-Destruction Protocol Initiated!]
The robotic voice was instantly drowned out by a distorted, manic laughter echoing through the chamber.
"HAHAHAHA! ALL OF YOU, DIE!"