Chapter 460: with translation of chapter title

"Then I'm coming in." Sagara gave a light laugh and stepped into this realm.

Here sunlight poured down, trees were lush, the vibrant grass swayed slightly on the ground, the sky above was a blue so bright it was almost translucent, and bright yellow warblers perched on the branches.

On this side stood a massive tree winding toward the sky, and on its countless intertwined branches was an exquisitely crafted giant treehouse, as if it had grown from the tree itself, brimming with vital energy.

Vermilion torii gates layered one over another; sunlight fell on the shrine's eaves, illuminating the huge cherry tree in the garden, and the trunk of the century-old cherry tree was still wrapped in cotton-yellow rope.

Cherry blossoms snowed down as Sagara, clad in a gray-white robe, slowly passed through the vermilion torii, his pace unhurried, stepping one by one onto the steps strewn with blossoms, and he halted before the classical shrine.

Though the shrine wasn't large, it had been meticulously maintained, leaving no trace of time's passage; above, the vermilion signboard hung high in the shrine's center.

With golden long hair, wearing a white miko outfit whose cuffs were flame‑red, a shrine maiden stood inside the main hall; when she saw Sagara appear, she gave a slight nod, acknowledging him, then silently withdrew.

The hall's floor was still laid with tatami mats; this shrine enshrined nothing, or perhaps needed no offering—formerly the Takagi Shrine had worshipped a divine tree of unknown origin, but now she had changed her faith.

A man sat on the tatami, before him a small table held an exquisite fruit platter, but unlike any fruit known to humanity, the flesh inside was nearly translucent, its tempting aroma constantly tugging at humanity's deepest cravings, like a starving person beholding a sumptuous feast, stirring greed.

The man propped his chin on his hand, watching Sagara ascend the steps—or rather, a serpent, a dark blue coil spiraling in mid‑air.

"You're just one step away from becoming a god, aren't you?" Sagara sat down slowly before the man, who wore a white robe embroidered in poor taste with large patches of fruit patterns, giving him a somewhat childish air.

Few are worthy of being called a serpent by him; even the overlord of the Haehaeheim Forest is still far from true divinity, and even Loxiau, master of the alien beings who ate the golden fruit, is only roughly his equal.

Probably only the one standing before him could reverse‑infect the planet‑consuming, world‑devouring Haehaeheim Forest—a human from another world, the man named Jiang Xia.

"But this final step has stalled me for a while; if you could make the Haehaeheim Forest obey and stop resisting, I might not need to exert as much effort here." Jiang Xia picked up the crystalline flesh, put it in his mouth, and began to eat.

The fruit of the Haehaeheim Forest indeed has a special flavor; each tasting yields a different taste, and if made into a fruit dessert it might be even better.

"Too bad, that's the rule of life's evolution; although I am the incarnation of the Haehaeheim Forest, I can only influence the general direction—letting you compete is already a stretch, just as humans cannot fully control every organ of their bodies." Sagara chuckled, likewise tasting the peeled fruit.

These fruits, capable of mutating humans into rampaging alien beings, were to the two of them nothing more than simple food.

Needless to say, for Sagara the fruit is his power, while Jiang Xia purely absorbs energy cleanly.

"If it weren't for Loxiau violating the evolution rule by taking humanity's golden apple, and with your receiving the acknowledgment of this generation's Origin Maiden, all these factors combined allowed you to join this contest; otherwise a being like you might have been outright expelled. If Loxiau truly wanted to hoard it all, the Haehaeheim Forest would have to pick another suitable opponent." Sagara said.

"Nonsense, Loxiau's goal was never the golden apple but his deceased queen; you happen to hold that queen as your trump card, so even if he breaks the rules it avails him nothing." Jiang Xia said offhandedly.

He knew well that the queen belonged to the previous Origin Maiden, that is, Loxiau's wife, and that there was still one last chance to be summoned by Sagara.

In other words, as long as Sagara summons the previous Origin Maiden to meet Loxiau, Loxiau can only fulfill his duty as heir, handing the golden apple to the next Origin Maiden, namely Takagi Mai.

This was proven when, after Loxiau was ambushed and killed, the former queen reappeared, embracing him as they died together.

This already proved that the queen was not truly dead; a god‑level life cannot simply vanish so easily.

Even the Pattern‑Cursed Blade, personally slain by Ketsuya Geba, ultimately became an earth‑bound spirit through sheer obsession; though it was only a grudge, it was still him, and he could still converse.

Of course, by then the queen's trump card had lost its effect, because Loxiau had changed his mind and returned the golden apple to humanity.

From the start, the game's rules were never broken; Loxiau merely acted as custodian, and from Sagara's perspective everything was fated.

"Ah, you've found me—your power really is special." The discovered Sagara kept a nonchalant attitude and openly admitted his actions.

He lifted his head to carefully sense the power surging through this realm, and Sagara said:

"If I'm not mistaken, this realm possesses a power that shares my origin—not the Haehaeheim Forest, but something closer to a conceptual force."

"Oh, go on, I'm listening." Jiang Xia smiled faintly, inviting Sagara to share his feelings.

"Your power approaches the mythic concept of Eden, while its source likely pertains to the force of the fall, an omnipotent devil." Sagara said uncertainly, "On this planet I'm called a serpent, but I should really be called the ancient serpent, or Satan; although in various biblical versions the two aren't equivalent, there's no denying they are the same concept."

"Even so, you should only be able to obtain the biblical Eden, using power imagined by humanity; this is merely conceptual similarity, unrelated to the Haehaeheim Forest's power." Sagara expressed surprise, "Yet you have gained a status nearly equal to mine within the Haehaeheim Forest—a binding force stronger than the overlord's, actually able to counter‑infect this place—how did you manage that?"

The mythic Eden and the Haehaeheim Forest are conceptually the same; myth is myth, reality is reality, but now someone is using mythic lore to recreate something that exists in reality.

Not everything alluring or corrupting is the forbidden fruit, but the forbidden fruit is indeed full of allure.

Likewise, the Haehaeheim Forest is indeed this planet's human legend of Eden, but Eden is not the Haehaeheim Forest, and besides, this fellow is an otherworlder.

This is more fantastical than making a cooked chicken, via some technology, turn back into an egg capable of hatching chicks.

"This is thanks to our wise Yuansai family." Jiang Xia spread his hands, "Earth's memory may be weak, but its effect is extremely buggy."

"Weak" refers to insufficient development, inadequate memory compatibility, inadequate equipment, the human body unable to withstand it, and so on.

"The technology of humans from another world?" Sagara chewed on the term "Earth memory," as if he grasped something but couldn't precisely describe it.

"Yes, that's it." Jiang Xia made a grasping motion in the air, and dark‑green data coalesced in his hand, finally forming a stick‑like object similar to a USB drive; he tossed the memory to Sagara, who reached out, caught it, and sensed it carefully—in that instant he understood what Earth memory was: it recorded the process by which ancient humans regarded the Haehaeheim Forest as Eden and entered it into myth, and the memory contains two distinct concepts, Eden and the Haehaeheim Forest.

Actually, from Earth's perspective these two are in fact the same thing, merely developed in different directions.

Just like Nazca, divided into first, second, third stages, with many different totems—although their expressive power varies, they are all things possessed by the Nazca concept.

The memory produced from this world's memory contains concepts related to the Haehaeheim Forest.

As long as the memory has a suitable direction and the user develops it deeply enough, it can fully excavate the concept.

Through this memory one can wield the Haehaeheim Forest's power without the fruit, and continue tracing upward to the core of the Haehaeheim concept—the power of the serpent.

After all, the memory is merely a carrier; the key is Earth memory, and other Earths lack records of the Haehaeheim Forest, so even if the memory were developed to its peak it couldn't be used.

But now, the Earth database has been a great help.

Although it's only one‑hundred‑millionth of the original, like the difference between the sun and sunlight, there's no doubt this is the genuine article.

"No wonder you could build this place like this." Sagara remarked, feeling that since entering he had been slightly out of sync with his surroundings, needing to continually gather power to ensure he wouldn't be eroded by the same concept.

This place is likewise Eden; he is the ancient serpent of Eden, and there might even be a newly born ancient serpent here—if they clashed, it would be bad.

"Actually you don't need to be so defensive; once I move the entire Haehaeheim Forest, you'll become the ancient serpent of my world." Jiang Xia looked at Sagara, who was gathering power, and said with a smile.

"What?" Sagara blinked.

"Taking the golden apple isn't enough—you actually want to take me along too; what are you planning?" "I know that even if I take the Haehaeheim Forest away, the next round of evolution will still begin; that's your mission, and you're also a witness to the rules' observance, but I don't want it that way." Jiang Xia said with a smile.

"Do you intend to keep snatching golden fruits from other races like Loxiau did?" Sagara exclaimed, "That would violate the rules."

He has no means to restrain the man before him, unlike Loxiau, who would listen; this fellow won't heed him.

"No, evolution continues, and I'm not being unreasonable either; but don't you want to see what the endpoint of evolution will look like? As you see, I merely need the golden apple to break the limit—I'm not relying solely on its power; my evolution won't end, it will merely be a new beginning."

"Is ruling a planet considered strong? What about ruling the universe? In some cosmos a true creator deity of humanity can move celestial bodies with mere thought, and there are ways to guide human evolution into god‑like beings; there exist humans who can shatter and reshape spacetime with a single thought—don't you want to see that?" Jiang Xia curled his lips into a smile, using a tempting tone to speak of evolution's endpoint.

"How could there be a life that becomes a god without passing through the golden apple?" Sagara said incredulously.

He had in fact already believed it, because the living Jiang Xia before him was proof; he admitted that he was indeed drawn in by Jiang Xia's words.

In the long years, he had seen too many stunning victors, but the mission of the Helheim Forest had never ended, just like countless cycles of reincarnation.

If he hadn't seen unknown possibilities, it would have been fine; he would still, as before, pick what he liked, balance the combatants' levels, hoping for a splendid battle.

But all of that ended after he became a god; he could not involve himself in battles between gods, so it couldn't be called splendid or not.

But the appearance of these otherworldly visitors now brings a completely different situation—that is, parallel spacetime.

"Of course there is, and at first he was just an ordinary person, but one day he suddenly awakened power, then evolved at rocket speed, finally reaching the point where he could slay gods; he himself fits the concept of Evolution." Jiang Xia said lightly.

What he meant was actually possessing White God power Ashura; Jinshang Xiangyi, when he was preventing the Black God from destroying the world, truly reached the point of slaying gods, and that final strike directly blasted the Black God apart—but since gods have no concept of death, the Black God was reborn again.

Although the Black God was not eliminated, the White God's power reached its peak at that moment through Jinshang Xiangyi's heart.

Even the White God couldn't defeat the Black God, but humanity as the creator, combined with the White God's power, was enough to defeat the Black God—that is the pinnacle of idealistic power.

It is precisely because they are humans that they could possibly achieve this.

"If such a being truly exists, then as the incarnation of Helheim, I really want to witness it."

Xiangle stood up, wanting to leave, but when he had walked halfway, he suddenly turned back, felt around in his bosom, and handed over the thing he had taken from the World Tree Laboratory to Jiang Xia.

He would not favor any side; he wanted to guarantee the most basic fairness, at least on the surface.

"Then give this thing to you as well, although it's just a little toy, but it should be quite good."

It was a metal thin sheet, with a groove for storing seed locks inside.

"Genesis Core? Not bad, pretty good stuff." Jiang Xia took the core and smiled.

It wasn't because this thing could help him much, but because he suddenly remembered a bizarre joke.

The laboratory touted as the safest was robbed every day; various experimental subjects were stolen as soon as they were completed, and then, using these strange experimental items, a war was sparked.

You say right, Superman A Guang. (End of chapter)