I, the leader of the esoteric sect, am doing great things in the infinite world!

“Well said.” Li Lin clapped his hands to show that he was deeply moved. “But what Abraham was best at was saying no to those self-righteous guys.”

Arcana sighed, his expression unreadable: "Perhaps Mr. Abraham has some misunderstanding about our Reshaping Hand."

"Even spending some time at Walden Pond didn't change these ideas—but we'll have plenty of time to get to know them."

"Hmm?"

Li Lin chuckled lightly, his eyes flashing with disdain: "You don't actually think... I really don't have any backup plans, do you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, his dead fish eyes suddenly sharpened, his gaze as sharp as a blade as he stared directly at Arcana.

The historian smiled slightly: "I know your style very well. You can be even more authentic."

"Damn it." Li Lin's face showed displeasure and annoyance at being seen through.

The historian Arcana paid no heed to Li Lin's super-enlargement: "You represent flint... Why not be angry? That way I can taste your wrath against the injustice of the gods with a clear conscience."

Li Lin glanced at her sideways, then retorted sharply to Arcana: "Hello, I'd like to talk to you about our Heavenly Father and Savior Cthulhu."

The immortal smiled nonchalantly: "But right now you're neither angry nor particularly fond of it... Is it fearlessness, or simply apathy? You're seeking an opportunity for change—at least from this perspective."

Her eyes met Li Lin's dark ones: "At least a part of your blood and flesh, your body and soul, belongs to us."

Li Lin changed his posture: "...Continue."

His expression gradually faded, revealing a cynical indifference: "I hope you can actually come up with something interesting."

The atmosphere suddenly became heavy as the two sat facing each other on the small sampan.

“We are having an equal dialogue, so I will not use any other means to force you.” The Secret History Immortal raised his eyebrows, placed his hands on his knees with his fingers interlaced, “Your understanding of change and reshaping is biased—haven’t you noticed? Whether facing the tide or other injustices that exist in the world, you choose to ignore them... But the pursuit of change has always flowed in your blood, just like us.”

She pointed her finger at her temple and pulled out many thick, black threads, little by little, to remove the strange star-shaped staff from her temple.

Like a tide, black matter fell from between her staffs, passing through her gloved fingers and palms, landing on the ship and the sea, gradually spreading outwards.

"The more you suppress this anger, the more it becomes like magma underground. How long can you suppress it?"

"Among the thirty Diviners, the twins of the sea share one position, giving them a greater advantage than the other Diviners. But Xin Dan doesn't have this position, which is strange. How could He, as a Diviner, not have His own altar? What is He preparing in this history?"

The topic of Arcana shifted abruptly, and the calm in her eyes vanished. If her eyes had been as tranquil as Walden Pond, they now resembled a stormy Cape.

"Which chapter of history is this?" Li Lin suddenly asked.

The esoteric world has a rather bizarre concept: the existence of multiple histories. Dr. Natalia Long of the British Anti-Corruption Bureau once proposed a paper on the hypothesis of multiple histories, which was scorned and ridiculed in academic circles. But what is truly ironic is that the Silent Bookstore, which controls the printing and distribution of secret texts of the mystical world, attaches great importance to this.

Because multiple histories exist.

The further back we go in history, the more obscure its origins become, and the different sources they all have. Western history originated in "Eden"—that is, the woodland. This is why the woodland origin theory is popular in academia.

As for the history of the East, it originated from Fuxi and Nuwa, who "opened the heavens with a single stroke." Nuwa tore off Fuxi's snake skin and used her blood to record the earliest history, while Fuxi was reborn in the form of being skinned. Here, Nuwa is both the Red Cup and Fuxi is the skin of thunder.

An arrow might have struck King Huan of Zhou, or it might have struck Emperor Gaozu of Han; the Polish Elector's Sword might have killed the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, or it might have been delivered to the Führer's desk when Poland was partitioned by Germany and the Soviet Union; a gilded bell might have been stolen when the Louvre caught fire, or it might still be safely placed in the tombs of Roman nobles.

History is multifaceted because Sichen makes decisions at certain key points of disagreement.

For example, Alexander the Great never killed Darius III, and the Persian Empire never fell.

For example, Constantine XI received divine revelation and fought his way from Constantinople to the Ottoman camp, capturing the Ottoman Sultan and Vizier alive.

For example, the Industrial Revolution broke out prematurely, leading to chaos and war in Europe.

The astrologers make choices at crucial junctures in history, weaving the complex threads of history into the shape of a braid.

Arcana smiled, her voice echoing in Li Lin's ears.

"The Seventh History".

279 World Embers

The Seventh History is one of the lost histories.

“Continue,” Li Lin said.

Arcana placed his fingers, clasped together, on his knees: "Why would a Siren in the Seventh History relinquish his position? Twins have always done this, but who is the one who came first from the Sun responding to?"

One of Xindan's honorific titles is "He who came first with the sun." He has always been extremely harsh on contracts to an almost outrageous degree. Considering that the officials in charge of the lamps are more or less ruthless, it can be seen how merciless Xindan is in fulfilling contracts.

"Let's turn our attention to the distant future, to 1999, a time so far removed from this era. Why did the Foundation come from that era? They remained uninvolved in the previous purges. There's reason to believe that their 'Sichen' is a pawn that has signed a contract with Xindan and is about to advance in this era."

"They are willing to stir up a wave for this."

"Don't forget I said it was Si Chen who did it." Li Lin exposed him mercilessly.

“Perhaps.” Arcana didn’t argue with Li Lin about it. “The important thing is that they benefited from it.”

“Since there will always be an empty position for Sichen, why does it have to be the Foundation?” Arcana narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in them. “I want to know why.”

Why is Si Chen able to arbitrarily decide history? Why are those of them who know the truth unable to change it and forced to face such a terrifying and desperate reality?

It started with desperate questioning, and then turned into resentment and bitterness towards a certain superior.

Even with the rebellion of the Reincarnated Hand, the Sichen never expressed any opinion, just as people don't care about the anger of ants.

“So…” Arcana stood up and came to Li Lin’s side, her staff tracing across his chest. Her face was closer to Li Lin’s than ever before. “You belong to me in at least one part—the blood of resentment and the desire to change destiny within you.”

Casting is one of the nine pillars that support the world, or it is said that casting is the foundation of all phenomena.

If Nian, as a fiery being, brought the principles of forging—fire, shaping, power, and destruction—to their extremes, then the common ground between Li Lin and forging is not so obvious. Forget-Me-Not has always felt that Li Lin is definitely a moth drawn to a flame.

But if that were the case, the power of flint would not have chosen Li Lin, and Nian would not have had such a close relationship with him—their desires were aligned.

As an immortal being of secret history and a scholar of all histories, Arcana knew very well that the reason Li Lin continued the work of casting and burning was precisely because of his nature: change.

"You villains are really annoying." Li Lin's deep eyes gradually turned into dead fish eyes as he impatiently shifted his sitting position, causing the whole ship to bounce up and down. "Can't you learn from other villains? Being bad is being bad. It's better to do evil without any reason. Why do you have to find all these unnecessary reasons?"

"I never thought our cause was evil; it's just a difference in ideology."

Arcana then changed the subject: "And I know you...you once accepted a gift of ten thousand gold pounds from us."

Li Lin sneered and stood up. The small sampan swayed left and right, which frightened Li Lin so much that he calmly sat back down.

"Even if I die outside, even if I jump, I won't—"

“One hundred thousand gold pounds, every year,” Arcana interrupted Li Lin, “and fifty Spensrian bronze coins every month.”

Cash or bank transfer?

The unyielding Li Lin instantly recognized the opportune moment and became a wise man.

Arcana said the gold pounds would be deposited into a special account for him, and the Spentrian coins could be exchanged at official institutions or underground bars in various places. In an instant, the atmosphere between the two became heated.

“Not only that,” Arcana raised his hand to indicate that he could offer even more, “but if you wish, even the seat of a mortal bishop is not out of the question.”

Although Arcana interrupted him and talked a lot of nonsense, Li Lin should have gone to their stronghold in the middle of the night to smear the walls with excrement, but considering that the Hand of Reconstruction was so sincere, offering not only status but also money, Li Lin shamelessly chose to be tolerant and generous.

What can you do if you have money?

Li Lin couldn't help but recall the strange creatures he had encountered in the woods before, and a smug smile appeared on his face.

We could send someone into the woods to capture a different species, hire a few extraordinary individuals with the characteristics of both light and moth, and customize it to appear aloof on the outside but passionate on the inside, and to be completely obedient to its master...

The sudden rise in temperature around them interrupted Li Lin's thoughts.

The sea level plummeted, and in an instant, the surroundings were filled with high-temperature steam. Arcana, sitting opposite on the sampan, wore a helpless expression. Before she could speak, a ferocious dragon claw had already gripped her body in its palm.

At the edge of the dragon's claw, the sea, land, sky, and many other scenes spread outwards bit by bit, like broken mosaics.

This historical tributary, which has been diverted, is on the verge of evaporating.

The scorching steam from the seawater cools and turns into torrential rain at high altitudes. After the falling rain dissipates, howling winds arrive.

[Impact: Evaporation heat]

[The influence of third-order casting phases!]

This is the aura emanating from the edge of a volcano.

[A third-order influence! Power and danger intertwine and merge into one.]

After the dissipation of the foehn wind and torrential rain, there was a sky full of iron light hanging in the heavens.

It was an endless, suspended sword, its forged blade shimmering with a faint light, like an endless, cold starry sky.

A massive and majestic dragon emerged from the edge of the shattered world, its crimson and pure white scales sparking as it crossed the tributaries of history. Liquid orogenic copper, like a river, flowed down from its crown, melting everything it touched.

In the sky, countless iron stars trembled slightly, and a metallic clang resounded from the chest of a ferocious dragon with its mane and whiskers bristling, as if an unimaginable furnace was operating within it.

The clanging sound, like metal clashing, fell from the clouds. The golden eyes, molten from the year, stared directly at Arcana, which was held in his hand, revealing both pride and boundless rage.

Every Blazing One possesses such arrogance; even fellow immortals are seen as imperfect creations.

"Found you, you worthless thing—"

Separated by two rivers of history, events became reversed and disordered. The world shrank in an instant, as if it had been thrown into the forging ground of the daytime furnace. The steel starry sky with its endless boundaries and scale also crashed down. The two worlds were crushed into ashes in the palm of the year. Only the small boat where Li Lin was located floated in this chaotic cauldron that seemed to be boiling.

All that could be seen was destruction, nothing but destruction, except for the flashes of countless steel stars falling—each flash signifying a piercing, the whole world becoming riddled with holes from being pierced and cut... except for the dragon that stood amidst chaos and destruction.

She is surrounded by a massive and majestic bronze sun on her back, and wears a blazing triple crown. An endless stream of liquid orogen surrounds her enormous body. Just looking at her would drive the observer into an uncontrollable madness. Every flash of her tiny scales signifies the revelation of countless forging techniques. This is a "casting process" of such scale that it would put all the artisans in the waking world to shame.

It's as if the secret history itself was used as the material for reforging, and then turned into a weapon to kill its master!

After an unknown amount of time, the terrifying chaos finally subsided.

The surroundings lit up again.

"Look how awesome I am!"