Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 678 - 609 Cold Front

Golden City Mansion, study room.

Li Ang stared silently at the diary, its entries stopping just before the Qingming Festival.

It was now the fourth day after the Qingming Festival. He had returned to Chang’an with Chai Chai, not revealing the news of the Dream Eater to anyone. Chen Wanyi and the others from Taihao Mountain, who had gone to the Luzhou Inn to search for the Dream Eater, had returned empty-handed. The Luzhou Town Guard had concluded Jin Wusuan’s death was due to natural causes and did not investigate further.

And so, the incident concluded, no longer drawing anyone’s attention.

Except for Li Ang.

He had retrieved all his memories—not just those related to the photographs, but also another complete segment of his life’s memories, one that was distinctly missing Chai Cuiqiao.

One thing is certain, Li Ang affirmed to himself. That wasn’t a dream. It was something that truly happened.

Li Ang pursed his lips and picked up the Dragon Fall Spear, the size of a toothpick, from the desk. He had gained this transformed state of the Dragon Fall after destroying the bronze box. However, in the current timeline, that event hadn’t occurred; the bronze box still lay intact in the study’s secret chamber.

Moreover, his share of Mo Si was significantly reduced, requiring replenishment through the gold and silver collected recently. This meant both timelines truly existed.

Li Ang frowned, his Spiritual Sense unconsciously extending outward to observe Chai Chai, who was humming while hanging clothes in the courtyard. The Dream Eater set up Illusion Realms multiple times, altering memories, even modifying reality, he pondered. Could its real purpose be to acquire Mo Si and possess a true human body?

He had checked repeatedly over the past few days. Chai Chai’s body was completely normal, her memories perfectly matched his own, and she was unaware of the Dream Demon’s existence.

If I were to draw a conclusion, Chai Chai *is* the Dream Eater, or rather, a manifestation of it. No wonder I could never find her parents...

The fact that his little maid was actually an Ancient Demon God didn’t make Li Ang happy; instead, it brought only worry and anxiety. The lessons from the previous timeline were still fresh in his mind. He couldn’t possibly reveal the matter of the Dream Eater to the Academic Palace. Yet, without understanding the Dream Eater’s intentions and plans, he couldn’t find any peace of mind.

"I’m here again!"

Li Leqing’s voice rang out from outside the mansion. Chai Chai hurriedly set down the clothes-hanging pole to welcome her, while Li Ang subconsciously closed his diary, put away the Dragon Fall, and went out to the courtyard.

"These are Dragon Beard Cakes made in the palace," Li Leqing announced. "And these are Yun Doujuan."

As always, Li Leqing took out food containers filled with desserts from the Imperial Palace, picking out a few pieces from each. Chai Chai savored the delicate taste of the pastries, exclaiming with delight.

Li Leqing smiled as she fed the little maid. Suddenly, she noticed a fleeting, complex emotion in Li Ang’s eyes and asked, puzzled, "What’s wrong?"

"Nothing." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Li Ang smiled and waved it off, his mind inadvertently conjuring up scenes from the wedding at Furong Garden.

Li Leqing, unsuspecting, continued chatting with Chai Chai, discussing the novel Chai Chai had recently begun writing. The Lanling Newspaper, under Jin Jiang’s leadership, was becoming increasingly competitive. The themes of its serialized novels were also growing ever more varied. Consequently, Chai Chai had decided to take a different approach by adding elements of palace intrigue to her own novel. This inevitably involved portraying everyday life in the palace, such as the diet, clothing, and daily routines of the Emperor, concubines, and palace maids.

Although Chai Chai often visited the Imperial Palace, she wasn’t very familiar with these daily details. She worried about making mistakes, like writing about an "Emperor’s golden hoe," so she had been researching diligently.

"Why bother researching? Come on, I’ll take you to the Great Ming Palace!" Li Leqing immediately patted her chest, promising to take Chai Chai for a tour of the Great Ming Palace.

"Eh? Really?" Chai Chai’s eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help but start fantasizing. If some clueless Lanling Newspaper editor or reader dared to question her novel’s authenticity, claiming the depiction of the Imperial Palace was inaccurate, she could then casually retort, "I go there all the time!"

Thinking about the scene where she’d show off and put them in their place, Chai Chai couldn’t help but giggle foolishly. HEH HEH, HEH HEH HEH... Seeing her like this, Li Ang guessed the silly girl was lost in her fantasies again, feeling a mix of worry and amusement.

He worried that if Chai Chai went to the Imperial Palace, she might be detected by its Prohibitions.

After all, the Dream Eater is an Ancient Demon God capable of altering the real world; it should easily evade Prohibition monitoring.

Li Ang comforted himself in this way and watched as Chai Chai joined Li Leqing in the carriage.

Once the carriage had disappeared into the distance, he returned to his study and used a Mo Si Clone to contact Lu Yunan, informing him about the Dream Eater.

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone before Lu Yunan finally replied, "So something this important happened several days ago, and you’re only telling me now?"

Li Ang could only sigh in response. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lu Yunan; rather, being with Chai Chai day and night, he was constantly worried about the Dream Eater’s abilities expanding further.

Lu Yunan understood his concerns and didn’t dwell on it for too long, beginning to seriously analyze the situation for Li Ang. "So, the current situation is: you’re happy your little maid has returned, yet you’re worried about the Dream Eater’s intentions."

"Mm-hm."

Li Ang nodded. "In the previous world line, I saw with my own eyes how the Dream Eater extracted human Life Force to awaken. But over the past few days, I’ve sent Mo Si Clones to monitor the surrounding urban areas. I haven’t found anyone troubled by bad dreams or showing symptoms of having their Life Force drained by a Nightmare."

"Could it be repaying a debt of gratitude?" Lu Yunan continued, "Look, Jin Wusuan fished the Dream Eater out of the Endless Sea. Consequently, the Dream Eater helped Jin Wusuan attempt revenge. After failing, it adjusted the world line to let Jin Wusuan die in a beautiful dream, thus fulfilling its moral obligation. In the process, using your unwillingness to give up Chai Cuiqiao, it fabricated memories to make you willingly offer your Mo Si for it to rebuild its body. To repay the favor, it adjusted the world line again and accompanied you in the guise of Chai Cuiqiao. It’s sort of like the ’14 Promax 1TB Coldfront Blue version’ of the Snail Girl story."

"Huh?" The corner of Li Ang’s eye twitched. "That setup is a bit too much like a romance drama, isn’t it? And what’s with ’Coldfront Blue’? All evil will ultimately be brought to justice, you know."

"Hmph," Hearing Li Ang’s retort, Lu Yunan pouted. "You scumbag who changes world lines for your own selfish desires—you have the gall to criticize romance dramas?"

"Ah, well..." Li Ang, finding no words to counter, could only scratch his head.

It was true. To find Chai Chai, he had abandoned his wedding, sneaked into the Academic Palace, attacked the Master, and stolen the bronze box, violating Yu Law at every turn.

"See? Was I right?" Lu Yunan said with a smirk. "If it’s not about repaying a debt, then the Dream Eater staying by your side is quite intriguing. It has already obtained the most important and mysterious Mo Si from you. It could easily create a perfect Nightmare version of Chai Chai to accompany you while its real self roams freely outside. With its ability to modify reality, the Dream Eater would be incredibly hard to capture again, whether by Taihao Mountain or the Academic Palace. Unless... you’re carrying some other, even more significant secret."