As the ambush of Wan Castle goes on and Cao Ang gives his horse to his father, the world around him becomes distorted and bizarre. He was still at Wan Castle, and yet he knew that he was no longer at the same place. Confused and disoriented from the sudden change, he still fights his way through the new enemies and flees for safety.

Cao Ang later joins the coalition, and is surprised to see that his family had suddenly grown older - even his little brother is older than he is now. Nevertheless, he resumes his utmost of loyalty to his father and fights against the Demon Army, even after finding out what fate awaits him when he returns to his own timeline.

Following the hypothetical Wan Castle where Ang, Anmin, and Dian Wei all survive the attack and Zhang Xiu's revolt fails. Cao Cao and Lady Ding never divorce. Cao Ang continues to live as heir, and he must learn to become the leader that he needs to be as the Cao family continues to rise in power.

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He still would have died had he not been found at a river by a young woman. Fortune smiled upon him that day, for she knew who he was; he had gone out of his way to help her family numerous times before. She struggled to take him back to her home, but out of sheer determination she managed. From there, Cao Ang was tended to and he gradually opened up about what had happened to him.

While he could have returned to his family long ago, he did not. Cao Ang suffered terribly from PTSD and survivor's guilt. He thought of those he had been laughing with not long ago laying dead and covered in ash from the flames that swallowed the castle. He remembered the pain of the arrows piercing him, and the realization that he was going to die, and how terrified he was.

But the most important detail to him was that he had felt the unease, he suspected something was amiss, but he had said nothing. Ang thought that he could have prevented it. Vivid nightmares dragged him into a depression, as the urge to end his life grew - he believed he did not deserve to be alive, for he could have voiced his suspicions. Yet he hesitated each time he contemplated it.

'Surely,' he thought, 'though I do not deserve it, there is a reason I am alive.'
Months after Wan Castle he finally recovered from his wounds, and he decided that he had to push through the negativity that threatened to swallow him. He must choose a path.

Although he knew his family would take him back in without a doubt, he did not return to them. He recalled his ways when he tried to do so much good for the world, and the smiles on the faces of strangers that he helped. It was the purest, most sincere thing he had ever seen - and that, he decided, was what he wanted to do.

Cao Ang changed his name to Li Ang (李昂) and now lives as a wanderer. Never settling down in one place, he continues his past ways by helping any he can along the way, while earning coin as a mercenary or temporary worker. Away from his family, while he remembers his studies, he becomes more adept in combat. As always, his specialty is in his double cross sword, however it is not the same one he had before. He became quite a well known sellsword and a hard worker, but never picked a side.

It has been years since Wan Castle, and he adjusted to his new life well. He misses his family dearly, but never reaches out to them. He doesn't quite understand why himself, but every time he thinks about it, he feels dread in his heart. Whether his path will cross with his family one day, or they will always be apart, he hopes they will fondly recall the man who died at Wan Castle.