✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿
Wei Songnan felt a twinge of unease in his heart and nervously swallowed his saliva.
He had no idea what the 'Temporal Management Bureau' was, but as someone who had transmigrated from another world, he couldn't help but suspect that the young man might know something.
Surely not? His identity as a transmigrator was both his greatest asset and most guarded secret. His sense of superiority stemmed from this identity alone.
Back in his own world, he was a mere commoner.
Now, faced with the possibility that this closely guarded identity could be seen through, how could Wei Songnan not be panicked?
"Temporal Management Bureau? I have no idea what you're talking about," Wei Songnan said, forcing himself to remain composed.
Qi Bai Cha narrowed his eyes: "So, you don't have a work permit either, do you?"
The Temporal Management Bureau is an organization under the command of the Supreme God. In the vast tapestry of countless worlds, each has its own guardian deity. Ordinarily, these deities respect each other's territories. Among these gods, the most powerful is the Supreme God, who presides over the three thousand worlds and serves as the leader of all divinities.
Ordinary gods each have the responsibility of guarding their own world within the realm of the three thousand worlds. The Supreme God resides in a higher dimension called the Pantheon and observes the operations of the myriad worlds. Should any world suffer flaws or deviations that its native deity cannot mend, the Supreme God selects a deceased soul from the three thousand worlds, binds it to the Supreme God System, and sends it to the problematic world for resolution.
Because gods cannot arbitrarily enter other worlds without being repelled by the world's consciousness, those chosen by the Supreme God are usually souls of deceased humans. These individuals are known as Divine Envoys and are part of the Temporal Management Bureau. They possess official ranks and work permits and have files recorded with all the deities of various worlds. Gods would usually expel or eradicate foreign souls, but if the soul is a Divine Envoy, they are exempted from such actions.
In short, if you have the proper credentials, you're safe.
The Supreme God System is the only officially developed genuine product. Being immensely powerful, the Supreme God can tear through dimensions to freely send Divine Envoys to different planes. After the transfer, the rift closes, causing no harm to the worlds involved.
However, there are many counterfeit systems in the market, such as various Favorability Conquest Systems, White Lotus Face-Slapping Systems, Revenant's Revenge Systems, etc. These systems are mostly developed by those with malicious intentions, aiming to harness the fortunes of the myriad worlds to augment their own power. These systems also select human souls as hosts. While they might offer the hosts a chance to reach life's pinnacle and fulfill regrets, they disrupt the original flow of history and sow the seeds of potential collapse.
Moreover, most of these developers lack the ability to tear through time and space themselves; they exploit existing spacetime loopholes for dimension-hopping. Except for the invulnerable Pantheon guarded by the Supreme God, all other worlds have spacetime loopholes to varying extents.
Worlds are fragile. The fall of gods, high-level battles, natural disasters, surges of dark energies, foreign invasions—all these can create spacetime loopholes. Once there are too many, the world starts to show signs of collapsing.
Outsiders who sneak in through these loopholes only widen the cracks.
Hence, gods must protect their worlds, continuously repairing these loopholes and expelling outsiders.
For millions of years, Qi Bai Cha and his companions have been tirelessly searching for and repairing these loopholes. Over time, his companions have gone dormant, some due to the exhaustion of their divine powers.
Qi Bai Cha never dares to rest; he occasionally feels overwhelmed but intends to wait until at least one god wakes up before he can comfortably switch shifts.
He is the last guardian deity in this world.
...No, that's incorrect. Qi Bai Cha suddenly remembers that there is another deity, a malevolent god, who has never slumbered above the nine heavens.
However, that one is a reclusive introvert who has never set foot outside his temple. Qi Bai Cha has only heard other gods discuss him once, mentioning his disdain for the world and complete lack of social responsibility and morality. Even if spacetime loopholes become plentiful enough to bring down the sky, that god would likely just clap and cheer, utterly useless.
Currently, he is the only deity available for this laborious task.
"Are you out of your mind? What business is it of yours what work I do?" Wei Song Nan snarled impatiently, trying to sidestep Qi Bai Cha and walk away.
Qi Bai Cha smirked.
This matter was indeed his concern.
It was all because of these outsiders that his workload had increased so much.
Did they think a god of snow had no temper?
"Hold on." Qi Bai Cha shifted slightly, blocking his path. "Since you lack proper credentials, I hope you won't take offense to what comes next."
He raised his hand, creating an invisible barrier around them, making them invisible to passing pedestrians.
Wei Song Nan, unable to see the invisible barrier, bumped his head into it and immediately clutched his forehead in pain: "Ouch!"
He turned around, his eyes filled with disbelief as he looked at Qi Bai Cha: "Are you also a dimension hopper?"
He learned from the system that he wasn't the only one bound to this 'quick-transmigration' ability, but this was the first time he'd encountered another of his kind.
Realizing the other party hailed from a different timeline and possessed such arcane abilities, Wei Song Nan concluded that he must be dealing with an even more experienced host.
"We're all in the same boat, why the rush to cross swords?" Wei Song Nan managed to squeeze out a forced smile.
Inwardly, he was frantically calling out to his system: "System! System! Help me! Don't I still have points? Instantly redeem the Earth Escape Technique!"
[Ding! You've spent 20 points to redeem the Earth Escape Technique.]
Wei Song Nan exhaled in relief, a smug smile returning to his face. "I don't have time to play with you anymore. Earth Escape Technique!" He aimed to phase through the ground and escape the barrier.
...A second later, nothing happened.
Wei Song Nan stood there, baffled.
Undeterred, he tried again, stomping his feet repeatedly. "Earth Escape Technique! Earth Escape Technique! Earth Escape Technique!"
Still no effect.
Panicked, Wei Song Nan thought, "System, redeem another Teleportation Spell!"
[Ding! You've spent 50 points to redeem the Teleportation Spell.]
Wei Song Nan yelled once more, "Teleportation Spell!"
Qi Bai Cha observed him calmly, unfazed.
"Instant Spatial Movement!"
"Invisibility!"
"Sword Flight!"
Having exhausted all possible escape tactics, and seeing the points he'd painstakingly accumulated over several worlds about to be squandered, Wei Song Nan gritted his teeth and used his last remaining points to launch an attack on Qi Bai Cha: "Fireball!"
Qi Bai Cha raised his hand. The fireball halted, harmless, at his fingertips. It turned into a block of ice before Wei Song Nan's incredulous eyes and vaporized into thin air.
"It appears you have a system equipped, one that provides quite an array of fascinating tools." Qi Bai Cha's years of experience in capturing souls from other worlds allowed him to quickly size up his opponent.
Wei Song Nan stammered in disbelief, "Who... who exactly are you...? How can I not escape from your... barrier...?"
"It's not just this barrier. Once I've discovered you, there's nowhere in this world you can run," Qi Bai Cha kindly informed him.
"My apologies," he uttered just three words, and Wei Song Nan felt a wave of intense pain as his soul was violently ripped from his body.
The system bound to his soul also started to screech in alarm.
[Warning, Warning, System is being forcefully detached—]
Qi Bai Cha stared at the two orbs of light in his palm. One was a white light, a human soul, emitting a foul stench that was anathema to the Snow God, signifying it was a soul tainted by wickedness. The other trembling entity, however...
The system, now a quivering pink light, pleaded, "Mercy, my Lord God!"
These unauthorized infiltrators feared most being discovered by a world's residing deity. It was a low-level system and had not previously been able to identify a god. Yet, after witnessing Qi Bai Cha's abilities, it now understood that it was in the presence of this world's guardian deity.
Qi Bai Cha ignored it, glancing down at the unconscious Wei Song Nan. "Still breathing."
"Poor child. Had I not intervened, another restless soul would have wandered the earth." With practiced ease, Qi Bai Cha placed his palm on Wei Song Nan's forehead and began to erase his memories.
This was the real Wei Song Nan; the quick-transmigrator who had possessed him earlier was an unknown entity.
While the Supreme God System would only transmigrate souls into deceased bodies, these unauthorized systems often enabled their hosts to seize the bodies of living individuals. During such transmigration, the native souls would be suppressed, forced to watch helplessly as events unfolded. Typically, the invaders would exit the world by committing suicide, at which point the original host would die as well, becoming a wandering spirit unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
For this reason, when Qi Bai Cha captured invaders who had seized living bodies, he would annihilate their souls. An eye for an eye. Only those genuinely ignorant of this situation, and who hadn't taken lives, might have a chance to survive.
The Snow God was no lover of slaughter, but to fulfill his duties, he was willing to stain the pristine snow with splatters of crimson and become cruel himself.
This was a god's gentle touch upon the world.
✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀✿