Back To the Past

Chapter Nineteen

Jiang Cheng's heart pounded in his chest, a relentless, deafening drumbeat as he paced the room. His steps were sharp and erratic, echoing off the cold stone walls, but they did nothing to drown out the storm of thoughts in his mind.

"What does he want?" he muttered under his breath, fingers twitching as though they itched to grab Sandu. "What the hell does he want?"

The questions wouldn't stop. What if we're not the only ones who can do this? What if someone else has travelled through time? 

The meeting that we held what if someone from there...

No, don't be an idiot no one would want to ruin their own clan's future.

His chest tightened suddenly, and for a moment, he felt like he couldn't breathe. His fists clenched at his sides, nails digging into his palms until they stung. It's impossible, he told himself. It has to be impossible.

"We were the only ones there." He muttered gritting his teeth.

But the seed of doubt had already taken root, spreading like poison through his mind.

"Everyone who was an enemy was dead," he said aloud. His voice was sharp, unsteady, almost a growl.

He started listing them, each name... a sharp knife in his memory.

"Jin Guangyao. That scheming bastard—gone. His own Sworn Brother killed him for killing Nie Mingyue. I saw him fall."

"Jin Guanshan. Crushed under the weight of his greed. That filthy bastard."

"Xue Yang." Jiang Cheng's voice caught, and his lip curled. "Rotten to the core, and he died just as he lived—violent and alone."

"Su She. A worm with no backbone. He's long gone. Even now. He's dead. Wei Wuxian himself made sure."

"Jin Zixun." The name brought a sneer to Jiang Cheng's face. "Arrogant fool. He got what was coming to him."

"Wen Chao. Wen Zuliao." He spat the names like venom, his grip on control slipping further. "Those cowards burned with their empire."

And then...

His breath hitched, and he stopped pacing.

"And Wen Ruohan."

The room fell silent, the name hanging in the air like a dark omen.

Jiang Cheng's throat tightened. Even after all this time, the memory of Wen Ruohan's reign left a bitter taste in his mouth. The tyrant had loomed over their world like a shadow, cruel and unstoppable. The memory of Lotus Pier burning down with his parent killed was still fresh in his mind even now. Jiang Cheng had given everything to see that sun fall.

Wen Ruohan was dead. He had to be. Maybe not now but like everyone else he was long dead before he got sucked into the past. Jiang Cheng knew it.

So why couldn't he shake the feeling that something was wrong?

The thought clawed at him, relentless. If he could travel through time—if they could—what was stopping someone else from doing the same? What was stopping someone from undoing everything? From bringing back the very monsters they had fought so hard to destroy?

Jiang Cheng's chest burned with frustration, anger, and something he hated to admit was fear. He raked his fingers through his hair, his breath coming in sharp, uneven bursts.

"No," he muttered, shaking his head as if to banish the thought. "It's not possible. It's not."

But even as he said it, his mind betrayed him with the image of those faces—the smirk on Jin Guangyao's lips, the sneer on Wen Chao's, the cold, calculating eyes of Wen Ruohan.