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---Chapter 452 ---
A deathly crimson ray bloomed from Xu Deming's Mechanical God Armor, illuminating the chamber with a dreadful, suffocating aura.
'My life... Is this where it ends?' Ye Ziyun crossed her arms and closed her eyes, quietly accepting her death. Though regret lingered in her heart, she knew she had done her best.
"NO! NO! NO!!" Xu Deming screamed from the top of his gear-filled lungs. Cruel, unadulterated hatred spewed from his heart because the Slaughter God's manipulation had completely shattered his sanity.
"HAHAHAHA!" The Slaughter God's joyful laughter reverberated through the space.
In contrast, Han Yuan merely clicked his tongue in annoyance. 'Fucking cockroach, why can't you just accept your damn fate?'
BOOM!!
An explosion comparable to a God-Slaying Ammunition detonated within the chamber. The blast swallowed everything, rapidly expanding to engulf the entirety of Glory City across its hundred-mile radius.
Yet, the devastating destruction Slaughter God imagined never came.
As if a thick mist had blurred reality, tiny fractures webbed across the sky. The world crumbled into pieces like fine glass, revealing a perfectly unscathed Glory City.
Clank! Bam!
Deep underground, Han Yuan sat calmly atop the ruined Mechanical God Armor, idly tossing the 'heart' that housed Xu Deming's soul. A third, gold-colored eye manifested between his eyebrows, gleaming dimly in the flickering light of the chamber.
As for the piece of crimson soul left behind by the Slaughter God, it had long gone into the eternal torture of White Emperor's Gourd.
"W-What happened?" Ye Ziyun blinked in utter confusion.
"I thought I just..."
"Died?" Han Yuan remarked indifferently. "Ziyun, oh, poor Ziyun. Have you still not grasped what kind of existence you decided to follow?"
He glanced at the ruined armor. "Sigh, do you really think mere Slaughter God, whom I have already defeated once, could make a comeback like that?"
"If I can break him once, I can do it again... and again. Until there is nothing left of him."
He sighed. "It's just annoying. I really don't want to abuse my power—it drains me, after all."
What Han Yuan had just performed was one of the ultimate legacies left behind by Venerable Yao, the Phantasmal Eye, a higher power capable of turning reality into illusion.
It was an inherently broken ability, but it consumed a colossal amount of spiritual energy, a resource Han Yuan loathed to waste unless faced with a 'real' emergency.
Fortunately, unlike generic clichés, he didn't have to pay with his life or soul, and his spiritual energy would naturally recover with time.
"Ziyun thanks Lord Han for saving her life," Ye Ziyun directly said, bowing courteously. A profound awe washed over her. Only now did she realize how absurd Han Yuan's power was. He could effortlessly defy death itself!
But following such an individual came with a price, and she knew this was merely the beginning. She owed him a debt she couldn't possibly repay, for he had saved not just her, but every soul in Glory City again.
As for Xu Deming, she could only look at him with pity, or perhaps it was a camaraderie of similar misery. The Slaughter God had played them all like fools.
"I made a promise, and I won't let you down." Han Yuan nodded lightly.
In Han Yuan's hand, the metallic 'heart' glowed faintly. "W-Why did you save me? Just let me die..."
"I cannot accept that my masterpiece, the Mechanical God Armor, was sabotaged by that hateful fiend."
"He knew everything..."
"He knew my past, my life, even my death..."
"Everything was a lie. A joke! Hahaha, a joke!"
"You are a joke," Han Yuan commented dryly.
"After all, you were never the real Xu Deming. You are merely a replica, a confused fragment of a soul copy created by the Slaughter God to infiltrate and deceive the leaders of Glory City. "
"He thought he was clever, but my eyes see straight through the lies."
Han Yuan turned his gaze toward the massive coffin at the back of the room. "As for the real Xu Deming... he has been sitting right there the entire time."
"Here we go." Han Yuan casually gripped the coffin's edge and channeled a surge of spiritual energy.
A hidden mechanism clicked, the heavy latch slid open, and the lid parted to reveal a block of Ten Thousand Years Profound Ice. Frozen within was a handsome man clad in majestic purple robes.
"This is..." Ye Ziyun felt her mind going numb. From start to finish, she had trusted the puppet's words, only for reality to upend itself yet again.
"Well, Ten Thousand Years Profound Ice? Not a bad material to seal a body," Han Yuan noted, inspecting the crystal. "However, the sealing method is incredibly amateur. Then again, what did I expect from the Slaughter God?"
With a casual snap of his fingers, a wave of intense heat enveloped the ice. It melted instantly, turning into a gentle steam that was swiftly swept away by a summoned breeze.
Cough! Cough!
The purple-robed man coughed profusely, his trembling hand reaching out to grasp Han Yuan's sleeve. "Y-You actually saw through the puppet's disguise..."
"The real Xu Deming, I presume?" Han Yuan looked down, his expression unreadable.
The man smiled bitterly. "It feels strange to hear it put that way, but yes. I am Xu Deming."
"I am the first City Lord of Glory City... and the Head Researcher of the Sun Moon Federation's Mechanical God Division. I arrived here from nearly forty thousand years in the future."
"If you were sealed, how do you know what happened?" Ye Ziyun asked, staring at him in bewilderment. Though weakened, the aura radiating from his body still made her feel instinctively threatened.
Xu Deming sighed. "It is a long story, but I will make it short. Most of what the puppet told you was actually true."
Han Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Your consciousness could pierce through the seal to observe the outside world?"
"Spiritual energy cultivation is incredibly advanced in my era," Xu Deming chuckled weakly. "While I never made it far into the Divine Domain realm, I reached the pinnacle of the spiritual field, a prerequisite for any true Spirit Engineer."
" Sensing through a coffin made of spiritual-interference material is difficult, but not impossible."
He took a deep breath, feeling weakness all over his body. "As I said, the puppet's backstory regarding my time travel, reincarnation, and the founding of Glory City is accurate."
"And the Ice God?" Han Yuan probed.
Xu Deming nodded heavily. "Yes."
"But the puppet didn't tell you everything, nor did he know everything."
"I was ambushed while attempting to break through to the Divine Level. The Slaughter God severed a portion of my soul and fused it into a crude, half-assed replica of my Battle Armor, which is honestly no better than a glorified trash can."
"He couldn't copy my entire being because I had already turned my very soul into a spirit guidance tool."
"How is that even possible...?" Ye Ziyun gasped, the very concept of what Xu Deming had done defying her understanding of spirit guidance tool.
Xu Deming snorted, a flash of pride crossing his pale face. "It is entirely possible, girl."
"Do not underestimate the creativity of a Spirit Engineer, especially us from the Mechanical God Path!"
"We do not merely abandon the weak flesh for cold metal to ascend to heaven! We embrace the mechanical form down to the very fabric of our souls."
He looked up at Han Yuan, a genuine, reverent laugh escaping his weak chest. "Haha! And thanks to you, my friend... I finally see the flaw in my design!"