But Fate...

Wangchuan River.

In the Nine Netherworlds beyond the reach of the living, Wangchuan, the lifeblood river running through the underworld, had flowed for hundreds of millions of reincarnations.

It was the river that washed away sins; it was oblivion; it was rebirth. Neither good nor evil, it was the cycle of the Heavenly Dao.

Joy, anger, sorrow, delight; love, hatred, grudges, and enmities; memories carved into the bones; obsessions sunk deep into the soul... all were deemed "impurities" of the soul, ruthlessly drawn out, cleansed, and dissolved by the waters of Wangchuan.

This was the shedding of dust. This was baptism.

This was what came after death. This was the underworld's welcome.

The river churned and surged. Within each wavelet were a baby's little face, a hillside covered in wildflowers, a brutal parting...

There was also golden ecstasy, deep-blue sorrow, crimson rage, sickly-green jealousy...

Countless memories and immeasurable emotions rolled, collided, merged, and settled within the river.

They became the mineral deposits of Wangchuan River, marking the countless joys and sorrows of endless living beings.

Ordinary people could neither mine nor touch them. It was the most magnificent memorial monument between heaven and earth!

The cleansed souls were light as nothing, rising to the surface and drifting to the shore. There, dazed and innocent, they stepped into a new world with hearts as pure as newborns. Both outwardly and inwardly.

Oblivion was an ending, and also a beginning.

The long Wangchuan River flowed without rest across the dark, vast lands of the underworld, with no end in sight. New souls bearing "weight" continually fell into it, sank, struggled, were washed clean, became "light," rose, and drifted away...

With its ancient torrent, it scrubbed away the past of souls, taking away joy and sorrow, and taking away proof that they had