# 1651
Chapter 1644: Beware Chang'an City
"I don't know what kind of existence the Cthulhu Faction gods you mentioned are, but what is undeniable is that the 【Covenant】 also has its limits."
Chloe said seriously, "First of all, the 【Covenant】 only takes effect on the contracting parties and cannot extend to third parties... For example, if I borrow or lend ten taels of silver, that's an agreement between you and me. No matter how things develop in the process, it will only revolve around the two of us.
But if I make a 【Covenant】 with you, instructing Zhang San to return your ten taels of silver by noon tomorrow, it cannot be done, because Zhang San did not participate in this 【Covenant】.
Similarly, I cannot make a 【Covenant】 with you to determine the life or death of another person or race... unless I personally sign a 【Covenant】 with them, making them self-destruct, but they would never agree to that."
"Additionally, invoking the 【Covenant】 requires consuming a large amount of faith... I don't know the contents of the other two 【Covenants】, but just this one 【Covenant】 to travel back two thousand years to the past requires an extremely terrifying amount of faith power.
This one 【Covenant】 alone might require me to spend a hundred years collecting faith before I could possibly send you back at some point in the future."
Lin Qiye fell into deep thought.
The 【Covenant】 only affects the contracting parties, and invoking the 【Covenant】 requires faith power as consumption.
No wonder Yaldabaoth chose Chloe as an agent... The legendary 001 is indeed close to omnipotent, but without faith power as support, it would be difficult to unleash its powerful strength. Chloe's special constitution that allows surrounding creatures to unknowingly worship her can perfectly match this ability.
To unleash the greater power of the 【Covenant】, one must establish an ultra-large religion to continuously provide faith for Yaldabaoth and Chloe. The Western Holy Church was most likely born for this purpose.
But in this era, the Church doesn't seem to have appeared yet... Meaning Yaldabaoth's power is far from its peak at this time, and naturally cannot go seal the Cthulhu Faction gods.
"Then how should I get back?"
"I don't know." Chloe said helplessly, "This 【Covenant】 is only responsible for sending you back. How you get back is none of its business... I must make it clear beforehand that I currently don't have nearly enough faith to send you back to two thousand years later.
In this era, the only thing that might send you back is probably the second 【Covenant】."
Lin Qiye lowered his head to look at the second mark on his chest, his expression somewhat complicated.
If it was truly as Chloe said—that the 【Covenant】 that sent him back two thousand years required the accumulation of hundreds of years of faith—then even waiting for the current Chloe to send him back would take several hundred years... The only thing he could hope for now was that what the second 【Covenant】 stipulated was a return ticket from Western Han to the modern era.
"The curfew is about to begin, you should go back." Chloe said slowly.
Lin Qiye glanced at the sky outside. It was about to fall completely dark. Those crimson stars hung high in the night sky, with one of them shining particularly dazzling.
"Will you be staying in Chang'an for the next few days?" Lin Qiye asked.
"Yeah, we'll wait until the influence from those stars subsides before moving on to the next place. If you need anything, just come find me here."
Lin Qiye nodded and walked toward the door.
After talking with Chloe, Lin Qiye had figured out many things. The Han Dynasty ancient scroll appearing his name in the Night Watch's top secrets, the future Chloe choosing him to form a 【Covenant】 with, and what Huo Qubing told him at the bottom of the National Destiny Island... All of these pointed to a connection between him and the Western Han.
However, Lin Qiye hadn't yet figured out whether his actions in this period of history were predetermined. Were his actions an inherent part of history, or would they directly change the trajectory of the future?
Was it the "cause" of this past that created the "effect" of the future, or was it the "cause" of the future that changed the "effect" of the past?
The causal relationship between past and future was like a tangled ball of yarn, making Lin Qiye's head throb, but more questions kept popping into his mind.
Why was the future Chloe willing to spend hundreds of years collecting faith, just to send him to the Western Han?
Was it related to those crimson stars? Or did she want him to change something in this era?
Just as Lin Qiye was racking his brains, a series of mournful screams suddenly pierced the silence, echoing across the sky of Chang'an!
Lin Qiye turned to look. Near the city gate of Chang'an, a raging fire had already erupted, flames soaring into the night sky, and screams kept rising from within the city.
What happened?
Did an evil creature breach the city?
Lin Qiye frowned. Disregarding the curfew rules, he turned into a shadow and rushed toward the direction of the flames.
At Lin Qiye's speed, crossing most of Chang'an took only the span of a breath. The wind howled past his ears. In no time, he saw two groups of people engaged in fierce battle before the raging flames!
The attire of these two groups was different. Lin Qiye recognized the outfit of one group—they were members of the thirty-thousand-strong expeditionary army that had returned to Chang'an with Huo Qubing. The other group wore special armor and appeared to be the Yu Lin Army originally stationed in Chang'an.
At this city gate, the expeditionary army far outnumbered the Yu Lin Army. They each held weapons, swarming through the city gate, glaring at the Yu Lin soldiers穿梭ing through the battlefield. Like blood-crazed madmen, they roared as they unhesitatingly harvested the lives of the Yu Lin soldiers.
One after another, Yu Lin soldiers fell. Blood immediately dyed a corner of Chang'an crimson. Their defensive line was torn open in several places by the expeditionary army, and they retreated steadily. A large number of expeditionary soldiers had successfully broken into Chang'an City and were charging inward.
Unlike the fury on the expeditionary army's faces, the expressions of these Yu Lin soldiers were filled with bewilderment and terror. They seemed unable to figure out no matter how hard they thought—why would the expeditionary army suddenly attack the city?
Lin Qiye, seeing this, furrowed his brow. His figure directly crashed into the battlefield, and he grabbed a Yu Lin soldier's halberd with his bare hands.
Lin Qiye recognized this soldier. When he had been escorting the army's rear on their return to Chang'an, the man had spoken a few words to him. In Lin Qiye's impression, he was a rather quiet man, but now he looked blood-crazed, his expression terrifyingly distorted.
"What are you doing?! Who authorized you to rebel?!" Lin Qiye demanded in a low voice.
"Rebel? Lord Lin, we aren't rebelling!" The soldier's eyes widened. He stretched out his blood-soaked hand, pointing at the Chang'an City behind Lin Qiye. "Lord Lin! Hurry, get behind us! Beware the Yu Lin Army and the people of Chang'an City!
They... they've all been replaced by monsters!! They're not human at all!!!"