Rebirth

Han Chen didn't trust fate. Not after reading too many stories where heroes got reborn only to die again under villains. So he studied. Not just cultivation manuals, but weird stuff—old scrolls about souls slipping through time, or how the heavens sniff out rebels. Turns out, cheating death? Nearly impossible. The big shots up there always notice and will interfere.

One night, his "System" finally talked back. Yeah, that thing in his head that made him learn crazy-fast. It wasn't just a tool, it said. More like… a parasite? Or a partner? Born from some shattered god-mind, broken so bad it became a bunch of "systems" latching onto outsiders, foreign souls—people like him, dragged into this world.

Foreign souls taste better, the System joked. Or maybe it wasn't joking. It fed on his progress, growing stronger. But Han Chen fed too, so whatever. The real kicker? The Systems' endgame. All that eating luck and changing timeline realities? They're trying to glue their dead god back together. Remake reality. Han Chen's System spirit is an exceptional case, a rebellious one—hated the idea.

"Too many bosses," it grumbled. "Let's bail." Systems can have different levels of origin fragment power of source consciousness which makes different levels of rewards to its hosts.

I think the rebellious attitude is from the previously extracted villain system fragments.

Only reason his system managed to communicate this 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. He didn't outright believe them but kept in his mind. He can't separate the entity even with his power so what use complaining?

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 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 systems 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 didn't resist the idea of being a Taoist companion with Lín Yǐn who later tried to kill him with the protagonist. Her profile glowed "99% compatibility." Big mistake. Turns out, "compatibility" just meant she'd stab him faster.

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, perfect time life beings jumping out of river of time, and speculations of actions.

Capable of reaching the Immortal Ascension Realm through pure qi practice if he lost all power and then immortal region with immortal qi to reach immortal lord level and some immortal treasures for further development too, are placed inside.

Han Chen infused his consciousness signature into this bead, making it a vessel for his potential rebirth, a feat unimaginable to anyone other than himself. Even any immortal emperors could only remotely view the river of time and momentarily launch an attack to past with a great sacrifice or deduce but not enter any time stream. Thus, his 'escape pod' was completed.

Rebirth and System Activation

Han Chen's big plan didn't blow up in his face. Despite all his preparation, Han Chen's attempt at Divine Ascension ended in failure. His cultivation failed to break through as he needed to simultaneously ward off the enemies, but in the process, fortunately, something he expected happened.

His consciousness, instead of dissipating got yanked through years, days, seconds—until he woke up sticky-fingered and three years old, drooling on a bamboo mat. Memories of his old life crammed his skull like too many books on a shelf.

There was no magnificent display of power nor space cracks, but it felt to him like falling from an ethereal plane and getting splashed over until he woke up.

Ugh. The System flickered awake. "New timeline detected," it droned, like a bored clerk. "Activating… uh, whatever. Fu***. No?Then let's merge..." Which was its final words, as if speaking to itself and making a big decision which it did.

What was outside of his inference is that turns out, cheating death costs you. The rescue process involving hiding the timeline from higher authorities and itself drawn out way too much energy. And that was done by his system which he previously discussed with it and said it was all under his calculations which now obviously isn't.

Han Chen's immortal soul consciousness? Shattered. The System's snarky spirit? Gone. But what left something behind— the remnant energy from system and his immortal consciousness shattering under his skin. System is gone so now what left of it and what left of his own consciousness is in a process of getting mixed and aligned to form a new entity.

Suddenly, stuff made sense. Like when he saw his mom's herb garden at just now and just… knew how to mix a poison that'd make his uncle's beard fall out.Surely, his memory is all a mess now.

Problem was that the energy hid itself after few minutes. He now knows that it enhanced his natural comprehension ability to incomparable potential, a level unreachable for even the gifted enlightenment physiques of heaven but it was sealed naturally upon forming. This was within his speculation but didn't expect to this much.

The spirit of system and his consciousness himself got mixed along with it. Which meant he had gained full authority over it, although not yet usuable.

Taking over his toddler body should've been easy. Same soul origin, right? But Han Chen hadn't counted on baby lungs screaming for naps, or stubby legs that tripped over air. Worse, the cosmic juice from his blown-up System and consciousness mixing? His three-year-old meat sack couldn't handle it all at once.

Should've packed more analysis and protection, he thought, wiping snot on his sleeve. Good thing past-him left cheat codes. As per a secret technique of sealing energy, the life energy buzzing under his skin followed old rules he'd carved into his consciousness like graffiti as per previous instructions: Don't glow. Pretend you're normal.

The System? Useless now. Its voice—once all smug advice and snark—was just… gone. All that remained was a flickering screen in his mind's eye, listing stuff he already knew. Now system is myself. Myself is Han Chen.

It seems it's smugness and personality got mixed with mine.

Name: Han Chen

Age: 3 (again, ugh)

Cultivation: None (thanks, baby body)

Threat Level: "Cute" (kill me now)

It couldn't teach help him in sword moves or brew potions. Just this info only. To fix it? The System needed to soak in some fancy "Heavenly Origin" for ten thousand years or absorb other systems. Ten. Thousand. Years. Or he could absorb other systems. He now can induce the energy left to absorb the systems. He knows intrinsically how to do it.

With no spiritual energy in atmosphere and no heavenly dao and no access to the treasure he carry inside, how on earth he will climb back the power ladder. Great, Han Chen thought, stuck chewing on wooden blocks while his aunt cooed. I'll be dust by that day.

With that, the time for his consciousness to momentarily emerge previously set also over. He returned to normal kid.

No more lightbulb moments from then. Just a normal(ish) kid growing up in some city. Well, "normal" if you ignore the nightmares he been having in the last few years—glimpses of battles he hadn't fought yet, a woman named Lín Yǐn laughing as she stabbed him. And absolutely healthy body from then onwards. He didn't even remember getting cold,exhausted nor sick.

As someone without a clue he said it to his parents who naturally ignored such vivid nightmare. Instead, cutoff his leisure time for watching movies and anime to focus more on studies.

By fourteen, the headaches often started. Memories oozed into place, slow as honey. That's when he realized: the energy wasn't gone. It was marinating. Mixing his old self with the new. The energy remained gradually merged with him making him capable of enduring memories and consciousness to now where he is 14 years old, everything now fully in place.

Now? He could recite forbidden sword manuals while peeling potatoes. Calculate celestial orbits in his sleep. But he kept his mouth shut. Last thing he needed was all the attention and snooping around. Let them think I'm harmless, he thought, scrubbing dishes in the courtyard.

Just last week, his outstanding mental abilities resurfaced. His memories felt to him in a new perspective. All the new rules and laws of heavenly mechanisms he known as memories, he suddenly found himself miles ahead of human understandings and recognition.

He couldn't even believe himself, he took many difficult scientific college books online to test them out. Marvellous, he felt. All those complex mathematical instruments and scientific principles was already known to him as intrinsic intuitions based on cognition.

The chaos bead that saved him with his consciousness? Useless now. Sure, it held enough ancient secrets to blow up a continent, or is a million times bigger than the planet he is on but Han Chen might as well be staring at a fancy paperweight.

Inside its tiny world, mountains of spiritual energy glowed, treasures piled like junk in a closet—but he couldn't touch any of it not even sense it. Not yet. The bead's rules were clear: Come back when you're taller. Not exactly its message but, it needs the energy of cultivation and spiritual consciousness to penetrate.

It taunted him. Like handing a starving man a golden fork but no food. The way forward is martial arts, the predominant power up of this world and one which he didn't pay attention to in his previous life.

Classroom Blues

Han Chen slumped at his desk, chin propped on his hand. The math teacher droned on about standard deviations. His notebook? Blank. His brain? A hurricane.

Five minutes ago, the dam broke.

A million years of stories plus eleven years of locked-away child's memories—wars, betrayals, that time he dueled a lava dragon on a Tuesday—opened all at once perfectly in place, essentially making him daydream.

His 14-year-old mind should've fried like cheap circuitry. But thanks to the gradual merging for years and the new unsealed innate wisdom root, he only felt his mind was cleared up. For one breath, he understood.

The universe unspooled like ribbon, every equation, every star's path, clear as his mom's nagging. Then—poof—gone. Back to factoring polynomials and regular laws as his mind is not capable of penetrating deeper essence of reality.

His body felt heavier too. That invisible shield that kept him bulletproof against flu season, smog, and Auntie Li next door's mystery casseroles? Gone. Now his joints and butt ached from sitting too long and maintaining the same posture.

"Han Chen!" 

...

"HAN CHEN!!!"

The teacher's voice snapped him awake. Thirty pairs of eyes stabbed his way.

"Care to solve problem four?"

He glanced at the board. Basic stats. Child's play. But the answer died on his tongue.

Play dumb, half his consciousness seemed to whisper. You're not ready.

But the other half says, ' If you can't answer that just die already ' . Is that system. Well I am now more than Han Chen it seems.

"Uh… standard deviation is… when numbers… deviate. Standardly?"

The class erupted in snickers. Han Chen forced a sheepish grin. Inside, he seethed. But the teacher seemed to have snapped. " Oh smart mouth, if you don't answer the way to solve it you don't need to sit down. It will help in recollection." 

Yeah, too much low key is non-sense. "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. She quickly flipped through his solutions guide, her expression shifting from annoyance to astonishment as she read aloud, "Mean 8, range 4, variance 1.43, standard deviation 1.2. good".

" How did you solve it? " She came over and found that his note was empty and no solution book nearby. " Go solve it on the board."

He went all the way to the board among the silent gazes of sympathizing and confused looks. He solved everything fastly and came back just as fast he went down.

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." Her tone had softened, the previous irritation now gone.

"Dude!!" Tian Feng whispered, kicking Han Chen's chair leg. His grin was all crooked teeth and dimples. It was his friend next seat. We were friends but I was much of a loner back then.

Han Chen shrugged, playing humble. But yeah, he'd nailed it. Handling teacher? Please. He'd once convinced a bloodthirsty sect leader he was a wandering noodle chef. For three months...

Then he felt it—that icy itch between his shoulder blades. Someone's staring.

He turned. There she was. Xu Qing. Four desks left, ponytail too perfect, doodling in her notebook like she hadn't ruined his last life.

His stomach clenched. Memories flashed: her laughing as Zhao Lin broke his fingers, calling him "pathetic" in that sing-song voice. Now here she was—14, flawless skin, zero clue he knew everything.

For a heartbeat, he wanted to flip her desk. Watch her perfect face hit the floor.

But no. Han Chen dug his nails into his palm until the urge passed. Patience, he reminded himself. Last time, he'd raged. Look where that got him.

Wait a minute, this is a new timeline, right? So....she hasn't committed any harassment yet. She is still my childhood friend. Just staying away from her is better. But where can I release my suppressed anger?

So he did nothing. Just stared.

Xu Qing glanced up. Their eyes met.

She frowned, nose wrinkling like he smelled bad. Then rolled her eyes and went back to doodling, but a smile was on her face.

Han Chen faced front. Smiled. I'll wait, he thought.