This time I chose Paladin.

Chapter 162 Reborn? (As if...)

Offering humanitarian concern on the eve of battle? Han Jiangxue had no interest in that. From the very beginning, her goal was to kill Xinhe!

She didn't consider the girl's past, present, or future—that wasn't something she wanted to think about. The fact was, this person was being used and was harming Gu Shi; nothing more. The only reason she could prevent the icy shock from hitting Hua directly was because the other girl was carrying two children!
Sinhe soared into the air without flinching, and beneath the vines and flowers, he revealed an almost compassionate smile. He let out a long howl, the sound resembling the vocalizations of some exotic ethnic groups, or a clear chirp.

The outer layer of the vines in the air withered rapidly, but the inner layer squeezed out energy to grow slender vines, a tender green tapestry about to catch him.

The snake egg flew in mid-air like a green star. Qiao Xing pounced from the side and above. Golden lightning was being drawn from Xuan Yun's peach wood sword. The stalkers leaped out of the shadows and rushed towards the hundreds of cultists...

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The old Taoist priest, who had been keeping his eyes closed, opened them.

He caught the blue light in his hand and took the flower and the children in her arms. With his other hand, he grasped the long sword in his arms—the sword was too heavy, and he was too old to lift it. He could only hold it and tapped Xinhe with the hilt.

A streak of azure light pierced through the shadows, striking the snake egg in mid-air. A small golden snake flew out from it, and Qiao Xing's short sword flashed past, severing the snake's tail with a silver slash!
Xinhe's expression changed for the first time. He shouted, and green light poured out from his body, wrapping around the small snake and pulling it into his arms, making it merge with him in an instant.

"Who exactly are you?" the old Taoist priest asked slowly.

He stared intently at Sinhe.

“Me?” 'Sinhe’s' smile returned to his face, but it was even more stiff than before.

Golden scales grew from his body, their sharp, blade-like sheen piercing through his skin, radiating a bright brilliance.

“I am Sinhe, I am sin, I am the aggregate of many lives. But you may also call me…” he said, “[The Cycle of Life and Death], the serpent god, the god of birds and beasts, the god of life. I create life, oppose life, destroy life…”

Amidst the bewildered and surprised gazes of the crowd, he clapped his hands with a smile, an expression somewhere between human and anthropomorphic appearing on his face.

"Of course, I am now just a part of the true cycle of life and death, like a green leaf on a tree. So, I am God and an apostle," he said. "As for who I am, whether I am 'me,' and whether I have a true self, that is a matter of opinion."

The real Singh died during the Blood Moon.

What has existed since then has always been a snake in human skin.

“I don’t see any,” Han Jiangxue said.

She stepped back to the old Taoist priest's side and glanced sideways at the extremely heavy sword.

“You’re just a monster,” she said calmly. “Monsters like you, no matter how big, strong, or smart, have no real thought. Just like artificial intelligence, no matter how human-like it may seem, it can’t truly think.”

'Sinhe' looked at her silently, his eyes gleaming with green light.

"You've already broken down?" Han Jiangxue revealed a clear smile: "What are you pretending to be human for? If you can't even accept your own essence, what are you talking about? Even the AI ​​on Earth is much stronger than you."

The roaring sound above grew louder and louder, the cave shook, and rocks and soil fell, with cracks seemingly spreading throughout it.

'Singhe' stood up from mid-air.

“You can insult me ​​as you please, but you cannot define what it means to be human,” he smiled. “Because you, as people today, are not human either.”

Wearing human skin, or half-human? Who knows who is truly human?

"What determines whether a person is human is their heart and mind," Han Jiangxue replied calmly. "Someone told me this, and I wholeheartedly agree."

"And words can be deceiving, Sinha. Sometimes, the words people utter based on memory and instinct only deceive themselves as well."

“Well said,” 'Singhe' laughed, completely abandoning any further debate, “but you’ll soon be food. And the principles of the planets, the secrets of the oceans, the truth of the skies, and even my existence are all irrelevant to you!”

‘Boom! ! ! ’

The cave collapsed, and a giant, brownish-gold serpent pierced through the soil, falling from the sky. It was extremely ferocious; its fifty-meter-long body naturally weighed in tons. When it crashed to the ground, the surface collapsed, and flying rocks shot in all directions!

That was the brown-gold python—its child, which had become one with Singh!

Amidst the earth-shattering tremors, a giant, wounded python coiled around Xinhe. The combination of the beast's ferocious aura and maternal instincts ironically created an even greater source of danger, while Xinhe wore a strange smile, innocent as a child and gentle as a mother's—

“It breaks my heart, my child,” it said. “I welcomed you with a downpour, and this is how you hurt me. You always do this…”

The monster, who called himself a god, was entangled in vines and hung in mid-air, seemingly flying, yet also appearing to be merely a puppet.

Heavy rain? The rainy season? The crowd took shelter from the rocks, a sense of melancholy rising in their hearts.

'Sinhe' stretched out a hand, and a long golden serpent crawled out from its spine, winding down its arm. It pointed the serpent at the dumbfounded flower and the branches she was tightly holding in her arms. Green light burst from the three of them, and vines sprouted from the earth and stones, delivering three daggers into their hands.

"Commit suicide," it commanded lightly, a smile still on its face. "Individuals like you are just wasting natural resources by living."

The old Taoist priest tried his best to control the long sword in his arms, but the blue light retreated steadily. He didn't speak, but just stared at the flower, shaking his head as he tried to do so, his face filled with a sorrowful plea.

Hua's body stiffened; it no longer obeyed her commands. Her fingers gripped the dagger tightly, slowly moving it towards her neck. She gave a smile, a sorrowful smile.

“I was so stupid,” she whispered. “I’m sorry.” Even though she had no recollection of any of it.

A sharp blade sliced ​​across their necks, and blood spurted from the arteries of all three simultaneously. Hidden in the darkness, Qiao Xing gripped his dagger tightly; Han Jiangxue's eyes widened; and the old Taoist priest, unable to bear it, closed his eyes and turned away.

A beam of light descended.

"Healing Spirit! Life Link!"

A voice rang out, and the radiance of the healing spirit temporarily stopped the bleeding of the little girl named 'Zhi', while the halo of life link fell upon the little boy.

Xinhe looked up sharply and saw a man standing at the edge of the gap created by the brown-gold python in the cave ceiling. He was a tall young man, almost entirely covered in blood. He wore black clothes and silver armor, and held a long sword in his hand. His pale skin was absorbing the blood clinging to his body. On his neck, a wound that had traversed an artery had healed in an instant.

Nie Weiyang stared at Xin He and snapped his fingers.

The life link switched targets, and the branch's injuries began to heal. But when he tried to treat the flower in the same way, the flower gave a bitter laugh and said, "Thank you."

She stabbed herself through the throat.

Crimson blood spurted out, and the injury would take her life in an instant.

Nie Weiyang's gaze slowly shifted, landing on the flower. 'Xinhe' laughed, "We meet again, Nie Weiyang… Surprised? Look, she's long wanted to die. Life is as heavy as knowledge; too many people can't bear such suffering…"

"From the past to the present, all those who follow me, worship me, or worship the Void-Crossing Demon? Or worship other 'gods'? — You know all of these people are not innocent; they have requests of us. Whether they want to gain something or want to abandon something."

"Everything that has thoughts is inevitably entangled by desires, so people worship me and hate me, the blood moon suppresses me and lets me go..."

Nie Weiyang remained silent, holding a long sword in his hand, quietly looking down at 'Xinhe'.

—In retrospect, the cycle of life and death was already beginning to awaken before the blood moon, and the rainy season was its instinctive 'welcome'.

The Blood Moon, the celestial body formed from the Hope Space Station, the planet's only satellite, has been watching all of this. It was supposed to work with the terrain editor 'Dream Eater' to suppress the planet's mutated triple cycle, but while it fulfilled its duty last time, it failed completely this time.

why?
Because—the actual permissions for the terrain editor have been lost. The Blood Moon is powerless to change this.

Now, everything is falling apart, and faster than ever before.

Did he really get reborn? This similar yet drastically different development, this unfolding disaster... isn't it some kind of archive inheritance?

The word "sealing" came to Nie Weiyang's mind.

He gradually came to understand everything.

He was not reborn.

What is being reborn is the world.

When the matter that constitutes all things is rewound, his soul, because it lies deep within the Netherworld, situated in the forest of human monuments, escapes this reset… No, it's not just that. From the moment he became the world's boss, he should have realized:

The new world granted him greater power, and this power, this power that fell upon the identity of 'Second Administrator', had already been registered much earlier.

That was the power that humanity had given him.

A dead person is given a gift from the endless dead, and from then on, he becomes the caretaker of the cemetery, the one who watches over the wisdom of the departed.

Now, Homo sapiens' enemy stands before him once again, the familiar gold so blinding.

"Creating life, opposing life, destroying life." These familiar words...

Rooted in the earth, like a snake, like a vine, like a hand. This familiar form…

"...Gold, Heaven, Lord".

Nie Weiyang's voice was low, hoarse, cold, and hard. A sudden realization exploded in his mind; he understood why he had insisted on going to Xunshan, and why he had to cause trouble for the Returning Sect at such a critical moment!

It's not just because of returning to the sect, and it's not just because of the Void Demon.

Rather—within the Chaos Sanctuary, the endless illusions and stories of chaos summon their Watchers, summon the Second Administrator! They are entangled in a vast conflict that descends from history and the stars, all of which beckons him, pulls him, and tells him: Be careful! That battle is not over yet!
Nie Weiyang slowly raised his hand.

He took off his sunglasses and crushed them. A crimson light, like blood, surged in his eyes, and a golden light, as intense as sunlight, burst forth from the depths of his pupils.

"'Sinhe'? [The Cycle of Life and Death]? A lackey of the Golden Heavenly Lord parasitizing this planet? I don't care what you are, but since you haven't woken up yet, your death is already sealed!" Amidst the horrified expressions of the crowd, and before 'Sinhe's' changed expression, Nie Weiyang's voice echoed in the shimmering cave: "I said it!"

Have I been reborn? If so. But what does it matter?

Whether people are alive or dead, whether the outside world is good or bad, I don't care now!
All I know is—

Today, you are doomed to die!

(End of this chapter)