(Check my new anime-based fic called 'Solo Leveling: My Unique Gift is Self-Hypnosis?' Let me know what you think of it!)
I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the latest chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Patreon Link: Patreon.com/NineClouds69
--- Chapter 445 ---
"So, what is going to happen next?" asked Snow Empress.
"My connection with the new fixed timeline is going to disappear soon, and we would probably go back to the future any time now."
The Ice Empress hugged Han Yuan's arm like a koala, "That's right, what is going to happen now, Glory City, Han Yuan?"
Han Yuan shrugged, "Who knows?"
"What?" Everyone gave Han Yuan a look of disbelief. Even the White-Eyed Phoenix Lord and Jade Phoenix Lord couldn't help but blink their eyes in confusion.
"Oh, come on, don't give me that look." Han Yuan rolled his eyes at them as he crossed his arms. "I am not an omniscient being, and my connection to Beta got temporarily shut off because of the difference in space-time dimension."
"Not to mention, returning to the future would cause another rift, if not, turbulence in space and time until everything mended back to normal."
"All we can do is come back and wait."
"Is that so..." Snow Empress mumbled to herself. Even then, she couldn't help but become curious about the bright future that Glory City was about to experience.
It should be glorious, right?
...
While Han Yuan and his companions are debating the return to the future, Beta opened his eyes and found himself sleeping on a soft bed.
Beta sat up and rubbed his sore neck, "Damn, I actually fainted because of overconsuming my energy reserve. Not cool."
"Not cool at all."
"You're pretty cool, actually..." Someone commented while entering the room.
Beta glanced in the voice's direction, "You're..."
"The City Lord?"
"Ye Ziyun, right?"
Ye Ziyun smiled, "That's me."
"How is your recovery, Young Hero?"
"Just a little exhausted." Beta answered as if fighting Slaughter God was a mundane task to him, which caused Ye Ziyun's toes to curl slightly.
"How is the city? I hope no one gets injured because of me."
"Fortunately, there is no casualty in your fight against the Evil God. And I am very thankful to you for saving my city and people." She answered with a polite bow.
Beta waved his hand casually, "Alright, there is no need for such a gesture because I didn't do this for your sake."
"Even then, you still saved us." Ye Ziyun argued, maintaining a calm smile on her beautiful face. "We are indebted and infinitely grateful for your heroic act."
"We, residents of Glory City, still know how to repay a favor."
"..." Beta's mouth twitched.
"Just go straight to the point. Do you really think I don't know you have something in mind?"
"We wish to follow you." Ye Ziyun stated directly.
"I knew you weren't native to the Douluo Plane. Your cultivation system, power, and technique, while having some similarities to ours, are more mature and efficient."
"Not to mention, you're able to defeat a divine being without being one yourself."
"A divine-like feat with mortal flesh and ambition."
"It's hard not to be shocked and captivated by such power."
"Of course, I didn't say this because I am power hungry."
Beta was helpless. "You know you can sit down first if you want to discuss heavy topics like these."
"Oh, thank you." Ye Ziyun conjured an ice chair and sat upon it naturally.
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that? Considering you're the owner of this place." Beta commented in response.
Ye Ziyun countered wittily, "If you permit us to follow you, the Glory City and its residents will become yours."
"You're really hell-bent on this matter, huh?" Beta doesn't know what to say anymore.
"It's a matter of survival," Ye Ziyun confirmed her resolution. "You might not know, but the Glory City doesn't have any other paths of survival than following you right now."
"The outside world is just as chaotic, and we could barely survive on our own."
"I am afraid that other divinities would have set their eyes on the Divine Artifact again, causing the same suffering."
"If possible, I would like to hand this Divine Artifact to you, but it was bound to my soul and others."
"All I could give you is my allegiance."
Beta stayed silent for a moment before accepting, "Very well, I will bring you and your people to another plane, but bear in mind..."
"I have a truth to tell you first."
"Truth?" Ye Ziyun tilted her head slightly.
"Yes, the truth." Beta nodded calmly as he told Ye Ziyun about her future self's struggle and suffering to save Glory City from its inevitable doom.
Ye Ziyun's ice-cold face turned into one of pain when she heard that her future self had undergone countless sufferings to give Glory City a sliver of a chance of survival.
At the same time, Ye Ziyun's cold heart is also burning with rage because of all the sufferings caused by the Slaughter God and the Asura God.
"Then, what is going to happen to me in the future?" Ye Ziyun forcibly calmed herself down by circulating the Ice God's force in her mind.
"You're essentially changing the past, which makes her existence null in this new timeline."
"That won't happen..." Beta replied confidently.
"I didn't change the timeline; the disaster that befalls the Glory City still happens, and you still contracted the Ice God's Heart."
"However, you and she have become completely different due to this exact reason."
"You are still Ye Ziyun. Your humanity, while suppressed, is still there."
"The future you are now, Snow Empress. She is a spirit beast through and through, blessed by heaven and earth."
"So, in essence, this new, fixed timeline is still connected to the future."
"B-But I could feel that I've become a spirit beast myself." Ye Ziyun raised her palm, feeling the ice-gold blood coursing in her veins.
"Fortunately, that is reversible, though I don't recommend you doing that at all." Beta assessed carelessly. "Your physique, especially your blood, has gone through divine baptism, becoming that of Ice God's."
"Your talents have reached an unparalleled level compared to others. If you become a 'normal' human again, that would be a waste of heavenly resources."
"Is there a way to stabilize my condition?" Ye Ziyun asked hopefully.
Beta gave her a nod, "There is. As long as you leave the Douluo Plane, the Ice God's blood in your veins wouldn't transform you into a spirit beast as the Douluo Plane's natural order and become part of you instead."
"And since you decided to follow me, I have some good news that my plane doesn't have that kind of suppression."
"Your bloodline could even reach a higher level."
"But that doesn't mean I can simply bring you and others there without a consequence."
"We still have to leave the Glory City behind here and some traces of your existence, so that it will leave a trace in the Douluo Plane's history."
"In short, you can't bring anything other than knowledge and yourself to prevent a change in the future, thus allowing history to get traced back here."
"It will fix the timeline issues and the existential crisis you worried Snow Empress would face."
"I see..." Ye Ziyun understood what Beta meant.
Yet, deep down, she was pained to leave the Glory City just like this. She glanced at the window and saw the ruined city in melancholy. The city holds sentimental values for many people.
Yet, if that's all they need to do to survive and have a bright future, then they will do it. The heart of Glory City doesn't lie in the city itself, but in the people!
"Please take care of us, my lord!" Ye Ziyun stood up from her seat and bowed once more.
Beta gave her a weary expression and then replied helplessly, "Fine, I accepted this bow of yours."
"From now on, I will lead the people of Glory City to a bright future."
"That's a promise..."
"Mm." Ye Ziyun smiled in response. It was a smile of trust.