Chapter 937 - 297: Shadow of the Wandering

Cosmic Will?

Han Zhan glanced at him suspiciously, but upon further thought, it seemed to make some sense.

This is the River of Eternal Darkness. Anyone swallowed into it and able to survive until now couldn’t possibly be an ordinary person.

Could it be that the old man before his eyes is indeed the Cosmic Will devoured by the River of Eternal Darkness?

"However, this no longer holds any significance."

"Even if you figure out who you are, what difference would it make? It’s just exhausting the last bit of your spirit in endless cycles."

The old man spoke, shaking his head pessimistically.

From his words, Han Zhan caught another term, "reincarnation."

The end, death, rebirth.

"Endless cycles of reincarnation, endless cycles of death, repeating the process over and over, until the devoured is completely extinguished. This is the River of Eternal Darkness."

"And we are like the unyielding shadows on this river. There’s another name for us."

"Shadows of Wandering."

The old man’s words made Han Zhan fall silent.

A moment later, he looked up and asked again, "Are there many such wandering shadows?"

The old man nodded, affirming his question.

"The shadows of wandering are the regrets and obsessions of those who were devoured, condensed together."

"In the endless cycles of reincarnation, once their thoughts scatter, they completely vanish into the river."

"Once there were many, many shadows of wandering, so many that as small boats sailed out, the river was densely covered with them."

"But now, as you can see, the entire river surface of the River of Eternal Darkness is empty, far less than before, far less..."

So that’s how it is.

Han Zhan lightly nodded, but just as he was about to ask something more, the old man suddenly gestured with his hand.

"It’s time."

"What’s time?" Han Zhan was taken aback by the statement.

"The end of the River of Eternal Darkness has arrived. The end of death has also arrived. Young man, see you in the next cycle."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, a massive, silent, black vortex suddenly appeared in front of the swiftly sailing wooden boat.

In the face of this vortex, the small wooden boat was like a lone leaf in a vast ocean, utterly powerless.

The next second, the boat was swallowed by the vortex.

The river surface of the River of Eternal Darkness returned to serenity.

...

Han Zhan only felt his world spinning as he found himself on the wooden boat again.

He rubbed his slightly swollen temples.

The golden ticket had transported him here, the entire process frighteningly simple and brutal, leaving his brain in a moment of chaos.

"What am I here to do?"

"Ah, I need to complete the qualification test of Dawn Number One, passing through the entire River of Eternal Darkness."

Han Zhan shook his groggy head, trying to make his memories clearer.

The wooden boat began to slowly move forward.

The river surface of the River of Eternal Darkness was silent, with only the subtle sound of water and Han Zhan’s own heartbeat.

Thump! Thump!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Han Zhan suddenly froze, feeling as if he was under a delusion, compelled to turn around abruptly.

He saw a vague shadow of an old man appear in a corner of the cabin.

Though the old man seemed incredibly aged, his face had few wrinkles, just barely allowing his features to be discerned.

He had a familiar, almost recognizable demeanor.

"Who are you?" Han Zhan asked warily.

"Who am I?" The old man shook his head, "That doesn’t matter."

"All you need to know is that we’re on the same boat."

The mysterious old man suddenly tapped lightly on the boat’s window, humming a rhythmic tune in a hoarse, deep voice, full of world-weariness.

"Open the window and take a look at the river."

"We were born to die."

Han Zhan witnessed another cycle of the cosmos’s birth and extinction.

How strange, why use "another"... Han Zhan wondered to himself.

Just then, a massive black vortex appeared silently, quietly swallowing the small wooden boat sailing on the river!

...

Han Zhan regained consciousness on the wooden boat.

He rubbed his temples forcefully, now with a few more hints of confusion in his eyes.

"Where am I...?"

"Why am I here?"

The wooden boat cut through the waves on the river, when unexpectedly a figure appeared in one corner of the cabin.

It was an old man, energetic, with a face devoid of wrinkles, and Han Zhan felt an odd sense of familiarity looking at him.

Han Zhan opened his mouth, a low, hoarse voice sounding from his own throat:

"Who are you?"

The old man smiled as he looked over, shaking his head.

"Who I am doesn’t matter, what matters is we’re on the same boat."

The cosmos’s birth and extinction endlessly replay before Han Zhan’s eyes.

A vortex quietly appears, swallowing a solitary boat.

...

A silhouette appears on the wooden boat.

The young man across from him looked to the corner with a guarded gaze, demanding, "Who are you?"

"Who... am I?" this low, raspy figure asked, terrifyingly aged, full of wrinkles, even his features becoming blurred.

He looked down at his own hands, then raised his head, looking at the young man who questioned him.

"And you, who are you?"

"I am Han Zhan. Tell me, who exactly are you!" The young man continued to demand.

"Han Zhan, Han Zhan..."

The old man found the name familiar, but he couldn’t recall why.

"Han Zhan" merely smiled faintly at him, "Actually, who you are doesn’t matter, what matters is that we’re on the same boat."

"Look below the river surface, that’s the scene of the cosmos from its birth to extinction, how magnificent and majestic it is."

Hearing that, the old man opened the boat’s window and gazed at the river below.

Indeed, he saw the cosmos bursting forth from its Singularity, stars forming, life flourishing.

As he closely watched, he suddenly saw a scene that made his eyes lock onto it:

It was a young couple, handsome and beautiful, like a pair of jade figures.

They were steering a skiff, paddling upstream in a rushing golden river.

Upon witnessing this scene, the old man felt his cluttered mind burst open, as if an "answer" was about to emerge.

At that moment, the man across from him, claiming to be "Han Zhan," suddenly spoke, his voice as gentle as jade:

"Has future generations also acquired the ability to paddle upstream?"

"Let me take a look..."

After speaking, "Han Zhan" suddenly extended his hand, shattering the image on the river.

Ripples spread, creating waves.

Also causing the "answer" that was about to emerge for the old man to once again settle into silence.

In this brief moment of action and stillness, an antique artifact resembling a seal just happened to fall from "Han Zhan’s" pocket, sinking into the river, vanishing out of sight.

Watching this scene, "Han Zhan" rubbed his temples impatiently.

"To think they’d try to interfere with me this way, truly annoying."

"Cosmic Will."

He looked up, gazing into the endless darkness.

There was nothing there.