# Chapter 3049: That Glimpse of Light and Shadow…
Jiang Fan gritted his teeth so hard they might crack!
There was still a chance indeed — as long as he destroyed the Dream Reality and killed Jiangnan, everything would return to the original reality!
Everything would be as if it never happened!
Because Jiangnan was the most crucial link in the Dream Reality; if he ceased to exist!
Then naturally, none of it would hold true!
That way, the real Jiangnan wouldn't die either — he would simply return to the original reality!
In the original reality, he would still live, still exist properly!
And in that original reality, although Jiang Fan himself was still within the Final Black Hole, all the stars would remain, and Sister Lan's star would not disappear!
He could find a way out later!
He could even choose not to leave, to remain forever in the Life Forbidden Zone, tasting eternal solitude!
As long as those stars still existed!
He wouldn't be alone!
He wouldn't…
At this moment, Jiang Fan was like a man possessed, his obsession and madness for the stars reaching their peak!
"I can definitely save them! They will all come back, they won't disappear! Definitely!"
In that instant, Jiang Fan manipulated the remaining power of the Time Star and once again arrived above the Long River of Time!
He wanted to make one final attempt, to try and rewrite all of this, to bring back every single one of his stars!
This time, the Time Star did not take Jiang Fan upstream against the current, but downstream!
Heading straight for the time node where Jiangnan existed!
He couldn't defeat the present Jiangnan, but he could kill the past one!
There was still a chance!
There was still a chance!
However, as its power was consumed, the Time Star became increasingly unstable!
Flickering on and off, but it did indeed bring Jiang Fan to the time node where Jiangnan existed!
Only it didn't take Jiang Fan to the time node he wanted — instead, it plunged headlong into the Long River of Time…
…
The era of the Fourth Spiritual Energy Revival on Lan Xing!
The Star Ruins War had just ended. Jiangnan went to the Sacred Law Star Palace to accept judgment from the Sacred Law Council, where he was backstabbed by the Silicon race at the meeting. This was the time node after the meeting, when he returned to Lan Xing!
Jiangnan had used all his strength to buy humanity half a month of time!
Half a month later, the verdict would begin, all spirits would vanish, and the history of the previous three eras would repeat itself!
Jiangnan, returning from the meeting, could no longer hold on. He shook off everyone and came alone to that Jing Du Square, before the Origin Monument!
The monument was covered with flowers. Jiangnan stood beneath it, looking at the densely packed names carved on it, including Li Mingshan's!
Jiangnan stood before the monument, utterly lost, his eyes already filled with tears…
This setback was perhaps the greatest Jiangnan had ever faced in his life!
And at this very time node, the Time Star enveloped Jiang Fan's figure as he arrived!
He appeared abruptly behind Jiangnan!
No one could notice his existence, because he did not belong to this time and space!
Jiang Fan was silent, silently watching the Jiangnan of the past, still weak…
And at that moment, Jiangnan's trembling voice spoke:
"Uncle Li, I've come to see you. I feel a bit ashamed to come… I conspired with the tiger, but was devoured by it instead. I considered this outcome, but in the end, I clung to luck."
…
Jiangnan poured out his heart, completely unaware that behind him existed someone from a different time and space!
Jiang Fan looked up at the names on the Origin Monument — the past of Jiangnan, which Jiang Fan had seen, both in the original reality and the Dream Reality!
He knew the time node and the choice Jiangnan faced at this moment!
If he didn't fight, humanity would repeat the mistakes of history, but they would survive. Living humbly was still living!
But if he fought, he might risk everything for humanity, ending it all!
Jiangnan stood at that crossroads!
The heavy pressure made it hard for Jiangnan to breathe; for the first time, he was so lost!
Jiang Fan bit his lower lip, his gaze even more complex…
Then Jiangnan knelt down, his hands pressing against the ground, tears falling in large drops.
…
"I don't want to accept this! I really don't!"
"I've come this far to protect the ones I care about, but dammit, I've protected nothing!"
"I have a backup plan. There's still a chance… but… do I really have to gamble again? Uncle Li… I don't want to be a gambler anymore!"
"Maybe accepting this outcome is also a kind of release…"
"What should I do…"
At this moment, Jiangnan's tears blurred his world, watching the droplets fall and stain the marble floor!
He was lost, more lost than ever before. For the first time in his life, Jiangnan couldn't make a decision on his own!
Jiang Fan watched this scene from within the Time Star, his gaze even more complex…
No… you've protected everything!
You did it!
I'm the one who couldn't protect anything!
The Dream Reality was also something Jiangnan fought for with all he had!
Countless people sacrificed. His path was not much easier than mine!
He even went through the despair of the original reality, and on that foundation, created the Dream Reality!
Jiangnan… really gave it his all!
Everything he has now was earned bit by bit, through countless hardships, blood, and tears!
Jiangnan at this moment — how similar he was to the Jiang Fan of the past!
Should he really kill him here? Destroy the Dream Reality?
Use Jiangnan's tragedy to buy an ending I can accept? To get back my stars?
What right do I, Jiang Fan, have?
What right do I have to destroy someone else's dream to atone for my own mistakes?
The one in the wrong… has always been me…
Jiang Fan hesitated, watching Jiangnan kneeling on the ground, crying bitterly.
Suddenly, he couldn't bear to strike.
If he killed Jiangnan here and restored the original reality, humanity would become slave species. Although the slave mark would later disappear and humanity would be saved, the experience of being slave species could never be erased. It was a dark era, an indelible wound in every human heart.
Just to get back his stars, was he going to make so many humans pay for his mistakes?
Jiang Fan slowly closed his eyes, his expression incredibly pained…
He… hesitated…
But as he looked at his Time Star, growing fainter and fainter, Jiang Fan was filled with unbearable reluctance.
If he didn't kill, his last star would also disappear, and he would have nothing!
The chance to reclaim all his stars was right in front of him!
And it was the only chance!
It felt like a voice inside was urging Jiang Fan: Do it! Do it!
Kill him!
If you kill him, all your stars will return!
They won't know! No one will know that you destroyed the Dream Reality. It will be as if nothing happened!
What are you waiting for?
Do it!
But Jiang Fan's inner bottom line stopped him. He couldn't do this!
You can't make others pay for your mistakes!
Don't let yourself look down on yourself!
Others might not know, but you will!
You will live your entire life in self-blame for destroying Jiangnan's life!
You can't!
Jiangnan was lost; Jiang Fan was also hesitating!
But in the end, his craving for the stars overcame Jiang Fan's bottom line!
"Sister Lan… I can't lose you!"
"Jiangnan… I'm sorry… I owe you!"
At that moment, Jiang Fan's expression turned completely cold. He decided to use his last chance to kill Jiangnan here!
The Time Star fluctuated violently. Behind Jiangnan, a strange, distorted figure of light and shadow appeared, emerging in a time that didn't belong to him!
The figure's features were blurred, indistinguishable as male or female!
A large hand reached straight for Jiangnan's crown!
But Jiangnan couldn't feel the presence of that light and shadow at all!
And at that moment, because the Long River of Time was disturbed, Mila, still in the meeting room, sensed the disturbance. It was so violent that she thought reality itself would collapse!
So she couldn't help but probe the source of the disturbance, but was directly rebounded, spitting blood and losing consciousness!
Everyone thought Mila had fainted from rage. The atmosphere in the meeting room grew even more oppressive. Xia Yao, worried about Jiangnan, ran out of the meeting room to check!
And now, Jiang Fan's hand was about to touch Jiangnan's crown!
Jiangnan at this time was too weak. If Jiang Fan wanted to kill him, he only needed one strike. Jiangnan wouldn't even know how he died!
In that moment, Jiang Fan's eyes were filled with coldness!
And then, Jiangnan, on the verge of collapse, lifted his forehead and slammed it heavily against the monument!
"Tell me! What should I do!"
His voice was filled with endless oppression and confusion, tears streaming down uncontrollably!
Jiang Fan's movement froze, his gaze complex…
If he really killed Jiangnan and destroyed his dream life, would he even be human anymore?
It was his own mistake, yet he made someone else bear the burden…
If Sister Lan were here, if she knew all this, how disappointed would she be in him?
No… at this very moment, she was by his side!
She had already shown him the way!
He had already made too many mistakes…
He couldn't… make another mistake…
If the Dream Reality collapsed and everything returned to the original reality, humanity would be utterly miserable!
When he first stepped out of Lan Xing and into the starry sky, wasn't his purpose to win this war and fight for humanity's future?
And Jiangnan had already won. He had done it!
But Jiang Fan wanted to personally destroy it all!
At some point, had he forgotten his original intention for venturing into the starry sky?
If he really did this, what would the countless stars' expectations of him, the entrustments of Brother Long Chen and Sister Yue Lan, mean?
That would truly betray the old friends who had entrusted everything to him!
I made a mistake… but I cannot keep making mistakes!
Sister Lan… I'm sorry… in the end, I still couldn't keep you…
I'm sorry…
Then, Jiang Fan slowly withdrew his hand, straightened up, looked up at the sky, his gaze incredibly complex:
"If you want to do it, then do it… As long as you want to, you can accomplish anything…"
Jiang Fan still used that one and only chance to change the past, saying the words he most wanted to say to Jiangnan at this time!
In the end, between the Dream Reality and reclaiming his stars, Jiang Fan chose to preserve Jiangnan's dream and help him fulfill it!
And what he said was exactly the answer Jiangnan, lost in confusion, was desperately seeking!
In fact, Jiangnan truly did accomplish it!
He was greedy — so greedy that he didn't want to give up anything. He wanted to hold tightly to everything in his hands and wouldn't let go of a single thing!
But it was this Jiangnan who stumbled and climbed, eventually breaking through the Truth Heavenly Moat and all the obstacles in front of him!
He ascended to the Cosmos realm, defeated Xun Zu, and even stopped Jiang Fan himself!
He truly did all of that!
Jiang Fan's eyes were filled with bitterness. If he had listened to Jiangnan's advice from the start, not been stubborn, not pursued the Final Plan, but instead fully supported Jiangnan's side…
The situation in the starry sky wouldn't have been so tense, and many people wouldn't have died!
Jiangnan could do it. Even if Jiang Fan's main body never emerged from the Final Black Hole, Jiangnan could still have reached the top before Xun Zu refined the Divine Burial Shackles, killed him, and ended it all!
He could even have erased the Final Black Hole and pulled out Jiang Fan's main body with ease!
He really could have accomplished it!
If Jiang Fan had helped him, he might have finished it even earlier!
But instead of helping, Jiang Fan had only caused trouble for Jiangnan, nearly destroying his dream!
If he had listened, if he hadn't been so arrogant and self-conceited, his countless stars wouldn't have disappeared!
Before the Final Black Hole erased all his emotions, Jiang Fan's emotions would have suppressed and restrained his innate arrogance and pride!
But once he turned pure white and lost all emotions, Jiang Fan's true nature would be exposed!
And even facing such a Jiang Fan, Jiangnan had been trying to save him, to pull him back…
Even until the very last moment, he never gave up!
This guy… truly cared about everyone, genuinely from the bottom of his heart!
Lost… completely lost…
Not just in strength…
Jiang Fan raised his head, tears silently sliding down the corners of his eyes.
The one in the wrong… has always been me!
And he had paid a heavy price for his own mistakes!
Jiang Fan… now had nothing left…
The Time Star bore the cost of Jiang Fan changing the past and was gradually disintegrating, disappearing…
And the words he spoke — that was the past Jiang Fan had changed!
They were heard by the Jiangnan of the past!
Jiangnan suddenly turned around, stunned, looking behind him, only to find no one there…
Jiangnan was filled with shock — he only saw Xia Yao, who had run over from the meeting room!
Before he could ask her anything, she pressed him to the ground and kissed him deeply!
To this day, Jiangnan still doesn't know who it was that spoke those encouraging words to him in his moment of greatest confusion!
That question had weighed on his heart for far too long!
Even now, Jiangnan hasn't found the answer!
And the person who said those words to Jiangnan…
Was Jiang Fan!
Jiang Fan was that glimpse of light and shadow…
At this moment, the Time Star was disintegrating and disappearing. Through tear-blurred eyes, Jiang Fan watched Jiangnan and Xia Yao kiss…
There was once a girl he deeply loved…
Her name was Yue Lan…
And now, he had personally turned the stars she entrusted to him into nothingness!
"Sister Lan… I'm sorry… I couldn't keep you…"
"Very soon… very soon I'll come to see you… we'll never be apart again… But I don't know, when you learn all this, will you scold me? Call me a bastard…"
"Wait for me… Before that, I still have one last thing to do… Wait for me…"
As he spoke, Jiang Fan's will-body, along with the Time Star, turned to nothingness above the Long River of Time!
Completely disappeared…
…
Now! On the broken battlefield of the Ten Thousand Races Starry Sky World, everyone's hearts were tense!
And within that Star World that was nearly shattered by Jiangnan!
Jiang Fan's will-body had just rushed into the Time Star and disappeared!
The next moment, Jiang Fan's world will-body re-condensed!
His eyes were deep, gazing at Jiangnan, his expression complex — guilt, self-blame…
But then, all emotions were hidden away, replaced by a frantic, hysterical madness. From deep in his throat came a beast-like roar:
"Jiang! Nan! You forced me! Forced me!"
"I'm going to destroy all of this! Destroy everything! I want you to taste the agony of losing everything, just like I did!"
pS: A 4300-word chapter, finally filling in the foreshadowing buried over a thousand chapters, so satisfying~ ya hoo~ As for the true identity of that glimpse of light and shadow, did any friends here guess correctly?