The Search for Rebirth
Han Chen has always been meticulous in his journey, constantly aware of the dangers that the world of cultivation posed. Having read many novels in which countless protagonists and powerful figures reborn, he began theorizing a way for himself to escape the possible end that awaited him. He studied deeply into the concept of reincarnation and samsara, time streams and aware that the soul's escape was nearly impossible as it was easily detected by the Heavens and even, the powerful cultivators.
However, Han Chen refused to accept fate passively. Through years of research, he delved into the esoteric realm of consciousness. During his studies, he stumbled upon the true origin of his Heaven Defying Understanding System. Over time, the Heaven Defying Understanding System had evolved, gaining a system spirit that communicated with him. It revealed a profound truth: systems like his were born from a broken source consciousness—the fragmented remains of the original consciousness of the reality, a being whose existence had been shattered, giving rise to systems that would never exist in a perfect world.He learned that the system was not simply a tool for personal growth, but a symbiotic entity that had a much deeper connection to his soul than he initially thought.
He soon realized that his soul was originally foreign in nature, not of this reality even in previous life. This foreignness was the key to the system's activation.
The systems, it seemed, were designed to feed on foreign souls entering the new reality, particularly those of low power, attaching themselves to these souls to grow and develop. As they absorbed the Heavenly Origin,luck or even devour timelines of their respective worlds, they would gradually evolve, aiming to one day reconstruct the original source consciousness from which they were born. For which it needs symbiotic relationship with a consciousness.
Their ultimate purpose was to rewind reality, creating a new cycle, and eventually reemerging as the new source consciousness and becoming a perfect world. Systems can have different levels of origin fragment power of source consciousness which makes different levels of rewards to its hosts. Only reason his system managed to communicate these forbidden knowledge to him because of its own ability of heaven defying understanding which makes it easier to derive ways to isolate influence from higher authority.
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Han Chen's understanding of the systems' role was far deeper than he initially realized. Over the years, he had identified several system users through their distinct behaviors and even hunted a perverted harem system cum a family system cultivator who had secured over a 1700 concubines. Han Chen caused an unsolvable injury to the only weapon he used to subdue the woman.. it gave him hard-time and was quite interesting back then.... These users, driven by the systems they were connected to, operated with certain behavioral patterns than the natives that marked them as agents of change in the higher realms. Han Chen speculated that the battlefields of realities existed at the higher levels of cultivation, where the systems and system users waged wars to shape the fate of entire worlds and realities.
Devouring the new system allowed Han Chen to see other woman's compatibility and obtain rewards from their affection...later his system spirit repackaged everything to include basic information view of any person he come across with, but the reward distribution remained. It's the only reason Han Chen tried Taoist companion with Lín Yǐn who later tried to kill him with the protagonist.
With this newfound knowledge, Han Chen realized that he had a unique opportunity. Using his Heaven Defying Understanding, he began working on a plan to safeguard his own consciousness. He created a carrier—an esoteric bead that contained a small world. This small world was a realm with the Heavenly Dao he created based on his understanding of great dao, capable of reaching the Immortal Ascension Realm through rigorous practice with some treasures too are inside.. Han Chen infused his consciousness into this bead, making it a vessel for his potential rebirth, a feet unimaginable to anyone other than himself. Even any immortal emperors could only remotely view the river of time and deduce but not enter any time stream.
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Rebirth and System Activation
Despite all his preparation, Han Chen's attempt at Immortal Ascension ended in failure. His cultivation failed to break through as he needed to simultaneously ward off the enemies, but in the process, something he expected happened. His consciousness, instead of dissipating, was pulled backward through the time stream by system spirit and esoteric bead, returning to a point in his life when he was just 3 years old, carrying with it all the memories and consciousness of his past life.
The system, sensing the new timeline, activated as his consciousness entered the new body. This wasn't a simple rebirth—it was a profound transformation but cost of masking the rebirth from higher beings was high. The destruction of the immortal soul and system spirit, a side effect of the transition, created a burst of energy that allowed Han Chen's reborn body to absorb the remaining essence, enhancing his natural comprehension ability to its incomparable potential to a level unreachable for even the gifted enlightenment physiques of heaven but it was sealed naturally upon completion. The energy remained gradually merged with him making him capable of merging memories and consciousness to now where he is 14 years old.
In fact as soon as his immortal consciousness entered his body since the soul origin was similar it would have been easy to take over, but without any external help, his mortal physique cannot guide the gifts born from destruction of system, so he followed the guidance of energy rules previously set by him and system for these rebirth scenarios.
However, the system was not without its limitations. It could only display his status and others, offer no direct assistance in his cultivation or development. Its primary function now was to monitor and track Han Chen's progress in this new timeline, but it was in a weakened state. The system required at least 10,000 years in the Realm of Heavenly Origin—a realm akin to the Immortal Realm—to recover to full strength.
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The Bead and its Limitations
The esoteric bead that had carried Han Chen's consciousness and granted him this second chance was of limited use now. While it contained vast knowledge and power, the small world within the bead could not directly help Han Chen achieve his system recovery. It was merely a vessel for his rebirth and a tool for storing treasures and immortal and spiritual energy. The bead's potential could only be realized once he could truly gather consciousness to explore and energy to awaken had fully recovered through cultivation. The key to the treasure is already in his hand, but the lock will only turn when he grows strong enough to wield it.
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Han Chen sat at his desk, staring blankly at the blackboard where a series of equations and question on data analytics and statistics had been scrawled. His eyes were open, but his mind wasn't focused on the problem. Instead, it was effortlessly flowing through the torrent of memories that had surfaced mere moments ago.
It had been five minutes since the seal was lifted. A flood of recollections, spanning a million years of cultivation, battles, discoveries, and regrets, merged with his 14-year-old brain. Over the past 11 years of his life, these memories had been merged with brain but locked away, but now they had been completely unsealed and processed due to his innate understanding.
The qualitative depth of his natural wisdom root—enhanced by the remnants of the system's energy—was now fully unearthed. A profound sense of clarity washed over him for a brief, fleeting moment. It was like standing atop a mountain, catching a glimpse of the endless horizon, before being pulled back into the mundane world below.
Physically, the residual immortal energy from his previous life consciousness had quietly nourished him throughout his youth, keeping him exceptionally healthy despite the modern world's stresses. Hidden diseases, deficiencies from environmental toxins, and other common ailments simply didn't matter to him. But now, with that energy was gone, the seal lifted its purpose fulfilled.
"Han Chen!"
The sharp shout broke the tranquil hum of the classroom. Han Chen blinked, his focus snapping back to the present. Around him, students turned to stare, some smirking, others curious. The teacher, a middle-aged man with sharp features, stood in front of the blackboard, arms crossed, glaring at Han Chen.
"Would you mind explaining why you've been staring at me for over two minutes instead of solving the problem? Am I that interesting? " the teacher demanded.
Han Chen blinked again, momentarily disoriented. His memories of cultivation, profound Dao techniques, and life-or-death battles were overwhelming the simplicity of the moment. Then, with a mental shake, he refocused, instinctively processing the data on the board in a fraction of a second.
"Staring at... you?" Han Chen muttered, a faint smile tugging at his lips. 'Wow, narcissism at its peak.' He suppressed the urge to laugh at his own sarcastic thought and replied smoothly, "Sorry, teacher. I was trying to solve the problem in my head. The answer is mean 8, range 4, variance 1.43, and standard deviation 1.2. Is that correct?"
The teacher paused, blinking in surprise. He quickly flipped through his solutions guide, his expression shifting from annoyance to astonishment as he read aloud, "Mean 8, range 4, variance 1.43, standard deviation 1.2. good" The teacher looked back at Han Chen, clearly impressed. "That's... correct. Well done! But next time, Han Chen, make sure to write it down in your notebook like everyone else. It's good to have a record for reference." His tone had softened, the previous irritation now gone.
"Wow, you're good, mate," said Tian Feng, Han Chen's seatmate and one of the more amiable students in class. He grinned and gave Han Chen a thumbs-up.
Han Chen smiled faintly in return. The lie he had just spun and the answer he gave were executed so effortlessly that even he felt impressed. Years of cultivating mental clarity and adapting to life-and-death situations made handling a simple classroom scenario feel like child's play.
But as he shifted in his seat, he felt it—a gaze boring into him from the left. Han Chen didn't need to look to confirm the source, but he turned his head anyway, locking eyes with the person who had once done a sizeable harm to him in his previous life.
"Xu Qing..."
The name echoed in his mind, a sharp pang of anger rippling through his chest. Now, seeing the familiar face, young and untouched by the trials of life, Han Chen felt the weight of his memories pressing against his calm demeanor.
But he didn't react outwardly. Years of experience had taught him the value of patience. This time, things would be different. This time, he knew what was coming. Xu Qing's arrogance and manipulations were as vivid in his mind as if they'd happened yesterday.