Chapter 1: Reborn, yet as if not reborn

Heaven and earth steal from all things; all things steal from man; man steals from all things.

When the three thefts are proper, the three talents are at peace.

Therefore it is said: Eat at the right time, and the hundred bones will be in order; move the mechanism, and all transformations will be peaceful. People know its spirit and become spiritual; they do not know why its non-spirit is spiritual.

In the chaos, Ye Qin faintly heard someone speaking.

He struggled to open his eyes, but it felt as if a thousand‑jin boulder had fallen, breaking every bone in his body and crushing him to mud, the pain almost making him cry out.

Hiss—

Ye Qin snapped his eyes open, but what met his sight was a green‑like needle tip, completely covering his head, as if he were in the primordial Amazon rainforest, the surrounding plants extraordinarily tall.

However, his vision was extremely blurry, like severe myopia.

Ye Qin clearly remembered that he had accidentally slipped and fallen into the lake, so how could he be in a primeval forest?

Because he was so surprised, he ignored the pain in his body; he stared blankly for a while, then, through his blurry vision, saw that those plants were actually weeds.

When did the inconspicuous weeds by the roadside grow this tall?

Even if they were given hormones, they couldn't grow like this.

The trees not far away were unimaginably huge, their verdant canopies soaring into the sky, seeming to neighbor the blue sky and white clouds, straining to spread their branches and casting a cool shade.

An unknown object with a marble‑like striped texture, resembling a meteorite from outer space, Ye Qin stared at it for a while, but it was actually just an ordinary stone.

Moreover, there were flowers that seemed to be genetically mutated; a single petal could cover his entire body.

Although everything around him was familiar scenery, to his eyes it became extremely strange.

Ye Qin sucked in a breath of cold air, feeling as if everything had been magnified countless times, a strange sense of dissonance.

For someone with a fear of giant objects, all this surroundings seemed nothing short of a nightmare.

He instinctively tried to rise, but he could not straighten his body at all; instead, he accidentally tugged at his wound, a piercing pain like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart.

Hiss—

What's wrong with me?

He opened his mouth, but the sound that came out was an unconscious hiss.

Ye Qin quickly realized something was off; he tried to turn his head, but saw a flash of scorched black scales, and the feeling that something was wrong grew stronger.

He endured the intense pain, writhing his body, and heard a sound like a reptile softly sliding.

A bizarre, absurd thought rose in his mind.

Looking at the small puddle beside him, he endured the pain and crawled over.

The reflection that met his eyes was a thin, tiny black snake!

It turned out that the surroundings hadn't enlarged; he had shrunk, and his blurry vision was due to a snake's eyesight being naturally like that.

All the previous strangeness finally found an explanation.

Those eyes, unique to the Serpent Kind, carried the coldness of a cold‑blooded animal, and from sheer shock they had shrunk to the size of a pinprick.

His whole body was covered in black scales, and there were wounds—all traces left by lightning; even some flesh had turned up, solidifying into dark scabs, making him look extremely ferocious and terrifying.

Ye Qin could hardly believe that after falling into the lake he had transmigrated into the body of a snake!

For a moment he didn't know whether to lament his fortune or his misfortune.

Ye Qin couldn't swim, and after falling into the water there was no one else around; one could say it was certain death, yet he transmigrated.

But fate then played another trick on him.

At least in the transmigration novels he had read, the protagonist's worst possible start was still a human.

Good grief, here he wasn't even a person—he was a snake, and a dying one at that; it was practically nightmare mode.

The pain coming from his body reminded Ye Qin that all this was neither hallucination nor dream.

Looking at his reflection in the water, everywhere were traces of being scorched by lightning; what grudge, what resentment—it would have been better to just let him drown to death.

Transmigration and rebirth aside, becoming a dying snake—reborn yet as if not reborn.

Afterwards, there was nothing but waiting to die.

Ye Qin let out a faint sigh.

"If I had known this would happen, why would you make me go through this suffering again? Isn't this just playing with people?"

Heaven had already chosen the manner of Ye Qin's death, but at least he could pick a suitable burial plot for himself.

So that after he died, no wild beast like an eagle would swallow him whole, leaving not even a complete corpse.

Although he had become a snake, Ye Qin's inner self was still human; some notions could not be changed.

He could not now dig a grave to bury himself, unable to return to the earth, but at least he could find a place for interment.

"Fortunately, perhaps because I have a human soul? My vision has become much sharper, and I'm getting used to it."

As a snake, one normally relies on smell and touch; sight is almost useless, but perhaps because of the rebirth, his eyes have undergone some change, enabling him to make out vague shapes, like the feeling of myopia, but still better than being blind.

Ye Qin gritted his teeth against the pain and kept crawling; because his height was limited, he couldn't tell exactly where he was, so he could only act on instinct.

At first he was not used to the snake body; he felt he was about to twist into a pretzel, and calling it crawling, his speed was comparable to a snail's.

He moved for a while, managing only a dozen or so meters of crawling, but fortunately at least he didn't end up tying his body in knots or doing the foolish thing of coiling himself up.

Just as he was struggling to crawl, a chill rose in his heart.

No sooner said than done: a sharp whistle rang out, a splitting‑through‑the‑air sound came from above; Ye Qin instinctively lowered his head, and then his snake body darted to the side.

A burning pain came from behind.

He jerked his head up; a huge Eagle Falcon stood not far away, eyes gleaming, its icy‑glinting talons like a deadly hook, almost taking his life.

Ye Qin couldn't help swallowing his venom, fearing what might come; to a human eye, the Eagle Falcon before him was nothing at all.

But for a seriously injured snake, it was nothing less than a colossus.

Ye Qin dared not act rashly.

Although he had dodged the fatal blow, the Eagle Falcon before him would surely not let go of such easy prey.

He could be certain that as soon as he made any slight movement, the Eagle Falcon would launch an attack, at which point he would fall into an extremely passive state.

Moreover, the Eagle Falcon's flying speed in the air is extremely fast; even if he were uninjured, he might not be able to outrun it, and if caught by it, he would certainly be killed on the spot.

Ye Qin's only advantage is probably that he has a brain, but the Eagle Falcon does not.

Before he could think of a solution, the Eagle Falcon had already lost patience, its beast pupils constricted sharply—this clearly was a sign preparing to attack.

It wouldn't care whether there was a human soul inside the little black snake before it; it only knew it was about to feast.

In the animal kingdom, the weak are prey to the strong; survival of the fittest is the law of nature.

Its black wings fully spread, almost covering the sky in Ye Qin's view; the Eagle Falcon let out a sharp cry and swooped in again.

The powerful airflow churned by its wings was like an incoming blade of wind, full of suffocation and oppression.

Although Ye Qin knew he was severely injured and wouldn't live long, being swallowed whole by a bird would still leave no trace of his corpse.

He could absolutely not accept such a way of dying.

At the moment when a person is about to die, the potential that bursts forth is immensely huge.

Ye Qin quickly twisted his snake body, desperately dodging the Eagle Falcon's attack; the huge beak almost grazed him, missing by only a hair's breadth.

New book seeking recommendation votes, monthly votes, and by the way recommending a novel with an extremely novel idea:

《Instant Enlightenment God-Becoming Method, Building a Temple to Worship Myself》

Synopsis:

【If I build a Taoist temple or a shrine to worship myself, what would happen?】

"You are already worshiping your own physical likeness, offering it delicious food and drink every day, washing it spotless every day, dressing it finely every day, constantly thinking about enlarging the temple where that likeness resides, making its dwelling more comfortable, wanting others' attitudes to be more respectful, wanting to give more alms, hoping to let everyone in the world worship it. Going forth, the stars hold up the moon; coming home, flocks of swallows circle around."

"With such devotion, who could compare?"

"However, have you ever sought for yourself? Have you ever achieved anything?"

……

Li Qingxuan happened upon a wild shrine in the mountains, hearing the wind howl and thunder roar outside, seeing the dilapidated Mountain God statue flicker in and out of visibility amidst lightning flashes; in a daze he opened the Gate of Wisdom, after a round of self-questioning and self-answering, blessings came to his spirit, as if he had gained some insight.

From then on, the world gained an utterly ordinary temple; yet in modern society, a true god who wanders the mortal realm has appeared……

(End of Chapter)