Chapter 166 Boom Boom!
Lian gritted his teeth.
“I won’t allow it.”
Hua Xiang’s voice softened as well.
“But if we don’t do this... you won’t even have the right to forbid it.”
The air froze again.
And that was when I finally realized—
These two weren’t arguing about the case.
They were arguing about the future.
About that future where the Blood Lotus Cult would eventually collapse if the key timeline deviations kept piling up.
And Liu’s death...
was the warning bell.
I spoke quietly.
“Lian... this isn’t something either of you can carry alone. And it’s not something you can stop just by protecting Hua Xiang.”
Lian remained silent for a long time.
At last, his throat moved.
His voice came out hoarse.
“...Let me think.”
He turned away.
Almost like he was running from the conversation.
Hua Xiang watched his back.
Pain flashed through his eyes for only a moment before disappearing.
Then he gave me a slight nod.
A signal not to push any harder.
I sighed and stepped out of the room.
After leaving Hua Xiang and Lian’s courtyard, I felt miserable.
My chest felt clogged up with something heavy.
I couldn’t calm down no matter what I did.
So I decided to go check on the two lunatics currently losing a fistfight against reality—Mu Cangli and Feng Yu.
After asking around, I learned they were being held temporarily in a secluded courtyard on the back mountain.
I was hurrying along a narrow path when I suddenly spotted Elder Luo striding out of Elder Qin’s residence.
And moving fast.
Way too fast for a man his age.
My heart stirred.
I immediately ducked behind a corridor pillar.
The plan was simple:
Wait for him to leave.
Then continue.
Because if he caught me again, I’d inevitably get dragged into another awkward conversation and somehow end up becoming his personal attendant for life.
Unfortunately—
the moment I poked half my head out—
a lazy voice floated down from above.
“Well, well. Little Gong. Why are you hiding here?”
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Looking up—
I saw Hua hanging upside down from the roof.
His feet hooked around a beam.
His entire body swaying gently in the air.
Like some ancient vampire bat that had cultivated enlightenment.
“What are you doing up there?!” I shouted.
My heart was still pounding.
“Of all things to imitate, why a bat?!”
Hua flipped effortlessly off the roof and landed beside me.
“Better view.”
“...Shut up.”
I quickly summarized everything that had happened between Lian and Hua Xiang.
The arguing.
The emotional self-sacrifice.
The near-death future discussions.
The general atmosphere of two people trying very hard to die for each other.
I expected Hua to immediately laugh and call them dramatic.
Instead—
he went quiet.
For a long time.
Then he said softly:
“Maybe... he’s right.”
I stared.
“What?”
Hua’s eyes darkened.
The usual carefree grin remained on his face, but something underneath it had changed.
“I followed Elder Luo and the others.”
“I overheard something interesting.”
My ears perked up instantly.
Hua lowered his voice.
“It turns out the imperial court’s sudden operation to seize the Dragonbone Order wasn’t entirely a coincidence.”
“Elder Luo leaked the information.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Hua continued.
“He wanted chaos during the transition between the old cult leader and the new one.”
“He wanted to weaken Lian’s faction.”
“Then gather power into the Council of Elders.”
“But the plan failed.”
He pointed at me.
“Because of you.”
I blinked.
“...What?”
“That sword block of yours happened at exactly the wrong time.”
Hua patted my shoulder.
“Hua Xiang and Lian weren’t injured.”
“The imperial soldiers failed to trigger large-scale unrest.”
“The situation was suppressed too quickly.”
“Elder Luo’s first scheme collapsed.”
“So he moved to Plan B.”
“The flying thief?”
I immediately understood.
“Exactly.”
Hua nodded.
“Elder Luo planted someone inside the cult to pose as the thief.”
“The goal was to dump all suspicion onto Hua Xiang.”
“But the thief was discovered too early.”
“The package couldn’t be disposed of.”
“And you just happened to be at Hua Xiang’s place.”
I froze.
“So the package landed on me.”
“Correct.”
Hua sighed.
“He wanted a flawless frame-up.”
“We accidentally knocked the whole thing off balance.”
“Yet he still achieved his objective.”
“Hua Xiang was arrested.”
“At the time, the younger Lian was in seclusion and unable to intervene.”
“Fortunately, despite being young, the cult leader was clever.”
“He anticipated something like this.”
“He left behind a Sacred Flame Order.”
“During his seclusion, any major decision within the cult had to wait for his personal judgment after he emerged.”
“The three elders couldn’t act unilaterally.”
Realization dawned on me.
“So that blocked them.”
“Exactly.”
Hua nodded.
“But Elder Luo couldn’t wait.”
“You know how old foxes are.”
“When one target doesn’t work out, they immediately find another.”
“So they planted a gu in Liu.”
I blurted out:
“To make him confess?”
“To make him die while declaring that neither the Cult Leader nor Hua Xiang could be trusted.”
Hua corrected me.
“That way, by the time the Cult Leader emerged from seclusion, the entire cult would already be in chaos.”
“Public support would be shattered.”
“And even if everyone had to wait for his judgment... nobody would believe his side anymore.”
Cold sweat crawled down my back.
“So their original plan...”
I swallowed.
“...was to clean everything up while Hua Xiang was unconscious?”
“Yes.”
Hua nodded.
“In the original timeline, Hua Xiang fell unconscious after taking that sword.”
“He couldn’t act.”
“The elders would have had complete control.”
“They could eliminate Hua Xiang first.”
“Then force Lian to step aside—or delay his succession.”
“Everything would proceed smoothly.”
He paused.
Then pointed toward the elders’ residences.
“But we barged into the story.”
“Hua Xiang never lost consciousness.”
“And now the entire timeline is a tangled disaster.”
“They’ve been forced to improvise.”
“The further they deviate...”
“The more dangerous things become.”
My legs suddenly felt weak.
“So this is basically...”
“A giant opera where one villain finishes singing and another immediately runs onto the stage?”
Hua raised an eyebrow.
“Entertaining, isn’t it?”
I stared at him.
“Then what act comes next?”
Hua stopped walking.
Something felt off.
He looked at me.
Then spoke quietly.
“Hua Xiang wants Lian to ascend successfully.”
“But the three elders won’t give them that chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know where Elder Luo was rushing earlier?”
Hua’s eyes grew darker.
“I suspect the elders are preparing another move.”
I immediately stepped forward.
“Against who?”
“Lian?”
“Hua Xiang?”
“Or—”
“I don’t know.”
For once, Hua looked genuinely serious.
His voice dropped to almost a whisper.
“But whatever it is...”
“They intend to remove every obstacle while they still can.”
“Then what are we waiting for?”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Let’s stop them!”
The force of the tug actually made him stumble.
Yet Hua avoided my gaze.
For the first time, hesitation appeared on his face.
“If Hua Xiang truly is the key node...”
“If making the ‘correct choice’ means being expelled from the Blood Lotus Cult...”
“Then the timeline can recover.”
I froze.
Hua continued.
“If we interfere now...”
“We’ll be changing history for real.”
“And once that happens—”
“That timeline may never return.”
“The illusion realm may become impossible to escape.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
For the first time—
I truly understood.
Maybe we weren’t trapped in the past.
Maybe we were trapped inside a piece of history.
A history that had to be pushed back onto its proper course by our own hands.
I opened my mouth.
But no words came out.
And then—
BOOOOOOM—!!!
A deafening explosion shook the entire valley.
A sharp screech followed.
SKREEEEEE—
From the courtyard where the younger Lian was secluded—
a massive plume of smoke erupted into the sky.
The smell hit instantly.
Acrid.
Burning.
Terrible.
Flames roared upward.
Scarlet fire climbed into the heavens as though it intended to burn straight through the Blood Lotus Cult itself.
The smoke stabbed toward the clouds like a giant black spear.
My heart stopped.
“What happened?!”
“Oh no—!”
“Hua Xiang and Present-Day Lian are still in there arguing!”
“If Younger Lian comes out of seclusion right now—”
“And sees another version of himself—”
“We’re doomed!”
“Doomed, doomed, DOOMED!”
Each sentence came out faster than the last.
My legs were already moving.
I sprinted.
Hua moved even faster.
One hand shot out.
He grabbed the back of my collar.
Effortlessly lifted me off the ground.
Then launched forward with qinggong.
The two of us became arrows fired straight toward the flames.
“You run too slowly,” Hua said.
“Shut up!”
“If the two Lians meet, are you explaining that?”
“...No.”
“THEN GO FASTER!!!”
The closer we got—
the hotter the air became.
The harder my heart pounded.
It felt ready to burst out of my chest.
And just as we were about to land near the burning courtyard—
several figures arrived simultaneously from every direction.
Most prominent among them—
the three elders.
And Hua Xiang...
was standing alone before the courtyard gates.
His robes whipped violently in the wind.
His figure looked pale.
Resolute.
Final.
My stomach dropped.
Something terrible was about to happen.