Chapter 59

"Plan?"

"Are you referring to playing house with that child, or are you talking about that clumsy script designed for humanity?"

'"Black," Chén Chén said with a mocking tone, though his expression showed no happiness.'

'"The funniest part is that we were clearly thinking the same thing."'

'"What I think is exactly what you think, what I do is exactly what you want to do, but you refuse to admit that you would do such a thing."'

'"The talent we have, the power we have, we are the masters of this body, this planet."'

'When he said this, his tone was not arrogant, but rather a matter of course.'

'Chén Chén in a human body merely silently watched another version of himself, watched this defective self, wondering where the problem lay.'

'After thinking, Chén Chén smiled.'

'"Since you can say something so confident, why have you hidden it for so long?"'

'"Because you know, you can't beat me."'

'"This "Chén Chén" before me is naturally Chén Chén himself."'

'It is neither a clone nor a creation from talent, but the true Chén Chén himself.'

'Comparable to a human, it is like a split-consciousness alter ego, and like Chén Chén, it can wield the power of Earth's true form, whether bodily permission or talent power.'

'"Just as the alter ego Chén Chén said, what he thinks is exactly what Chén Chén thinks."'

'Conversely, if Chén Chén merely experiences the existence of the alter ego, he can naturally fully understand why this personality exists and how it thinks.'

'"Indeed, I can't beat you."'

'"But I don't understand why you, who inherited so many weaknesses, are the true self, while I am the defect."'

'"Humans, monsters, the so-called life on this planet are merely a cycle in our lives, leaning toward certain parts of our bodies due to emotion; this is the emotional bondage of humanity on you and me."'

'"Your choice back then was wrong."'

'Chén Chén helplessly shook his head.'

'"So, which do you think is the real me, the one that ought to exist?"'

'———'

'Time returns to the night when Chén Chén became an Earth Spirit from a human.'

First is the feeling of death, that feeling is not unfamiliar to Chén Chén.

The brain gradually loses command over the body; consciousness seems to have lost gravity and floats up comfortably, forgetting the world's light, feeling, taste… and also gradually forgets to think.

Before death, death is the end of life, and life's instinct infinitely fears death; after death, however, it is the rebirth of reincarnation, a lightness that living life cannot experience.

Just like without Meng Po's soup, the process of life's reincarnation reaches the next cycle without losing so-called memory; when the Earth Spirit is born, the memory belonging to "Chén Chén" is retained.

Chén Chén is already to become a brand-new life, but is this brand-new life truly Chén Chén himself, or a new life form that has inherited the memory of the human named Chén Chén?

Whether body, soul, or mode of thought, they are more like the latter.

The portion of this life that belongs to Chén Chén is not much; those dots representing memory, for this vaster life, are like a drop of water falling into the ocean.

Not only that, this ocean is destined to receive more inflow in the future.

However, this brand-new life also differs somewhat from ordinary life.

For most lives, consciousness is not yet fully formed when they are gestated, and they also find it difficult to move.

And when the Earth Spirit is born, perhaps due to its own special nature, or perhaps due to the influence of Chén Chén's memory, even before the spirit itself is formed, it begins to perceive this world in advance.

Feeling the mountains and rivers from the original memory, feeling the white clouds and grey dogs in the sky, the continuous mountains underfoot, and the myriad life among the mountains and clouds.

Wherever the gaze reaches, lives: some are enjoying delicacies, some are fighting blood-soaked, some have just been born, some are enjoying quiet death.

All things in the world are so minuscule, like the tiny ants in memory, their faces indistinct, only seeing their tiny bodies doing some tiny things.

In the field of view, a tiny child gradually appears, carrying another familiar figure, evading, moving forward.

The Earth Spirit suddenly takes an interest, planning to help this poor little ant, after all the other ant on its back seems already dead.

However, these two little ants seem somewhat faithful……

"Chén Chén, don't sleep, you yourself said you can't sleep when on the brink of death (╥﹏╥)."

"My talent is so poor, how can I reach the realm you mentioned (╥﹏╥)."

"Besides, you didn't say what conditions are needed for resurrection; you should have said the important thing earlier, you idiot (╥﹏╥)."

……

How is this child managing to howl, cry, and walk for so long at the same time?

If she keeps crying, she might dehydrate before even getting there, huh.

The Earth Spirit probably recalls the identities of these two children: its former self… and the girl its former self liked?

The Earth Spirit temporarily cannot quite understand that feeling, but it doesn't hinder lending a hand to help this girl.

According to the novels in my memory, this world indeed has a means to bring the dead back to life.

But if such a day truly exists, then what is this existence of mine that possesses Chén Chén's memory? Am I Chén Chén?

I think, therefore I am; the end of consciousness is nothing but void, so such a question itself is meaningless.

Whether I am Chén Chén depends on whether I choose to become Chén Chén, to become my past self.

The Earth Spirit watches Jiāng Jiāng still moving forward; some kind of emotion, beyond the Earth Spirit's own sentient understanding, seems to be influencing it.

And this seems to be its own choice.

————

"So do you think you are that true self, the rightful master of this body?"

Chén Chén's human clone asked helplessly.

"Isn't it so?"

"The true self" countered.

Chén Chén shook his head to indicate negation.

"Just as you said, we all know the answer."

The so-called true self actually does not exist; the reason this situation has arisen is merely a byproduct of the divergence in consciousness when Chén Chén chose to maintain 'humanity'.

Becoming the present Chén Chén is the result of the Earth Spirit choosing to accept 'humanity', while this so-called 'true self' Chén Chén is merely a fleeting illusion that arose when the Earth Spirit made that choice, or it is the path that Chén Chén has already abandoned.

"Moreover, what you are becoming is not even a semblance of a so-called whole life."

Besides obtaining feedback from the leap of Earth life through the life link, there is another way of feedback: death.

In the cycle of life, the return to the origin, when a powerful life dies, it will feed back all the energy it obtained outside Earth to Earth's main body.

"'True self' precisely uses this point, quietly constructing a circuit of life energy to transform a large number of planet‑level monsters."

In the concept of the whole life imagined by the original Earth Spirit, the life cycle on Earth is also a process of the Earth's whole life, and the process by which the True Self Chén Chén drives and thereby obtains power within it itself violates the meaning of his existence.

"What's wrong?"

"Just like their internal digestive system, the life of Earth is our digestive system, drawing energy from the starry sky for us, filtering out the strong to absorb even more energy—that is the meaning of reincarnation."

"You're just afraid, afraid of the possible backlash these so‑called humans might bring; if you're afraid, why not choose a more obedient child?"

"You've forgotten, you're not human now."

"Besides, you've kept her by your side all along—isn't that because you're afraid, afraid that your virtual self named Chén Chén will be crushed by your true self?"

Chén Chén no longer argued with the True Self; he was indeed using Jiāng Jiāng to maintain his humanity that might otherwise be diluted, and his purpose was exactly as he had said.

But this guy in front of him is not the self Chén Chén has been wary of, or rather merely a reflection of that divinity.

"Looks like we can't convince anyone."

Chén Chén and the True Self are distinguished not because they chose different paths, but because different paths have shaped Chén Chén and the True Self.

Therefore, even if they each know what the other thinks, they can never mutually acknowledge each other's existence.

From the beginning, the only solution has been this one.

"The True Self" turned back into a pitch‑black shadow, shapeless and formless, without appearance or name, without self or name—that is the state the Earth Spirit ought to have, and also what the True Self wants to shape itself into.

But because Chén Chén has continually used Jiāng Jiāng as an influence, even the True Self that chose the path it deems correct inevitably suffers contamination by humanity.

It is also because of these contaminations that the True Self occasionally makes choices clearly contrary to its own path, and once the influence of "humanity" reaches a certain limit, the True Self before Chén Chén has even less power to resist—perhaps all it takes is a word or a gesture from Chén Chén for it to abandon its proper self.

And in order to fight to the death, the True Self must threaten to disrupt the plan, thereby opening this "not‑so‑fair gamble."

Chén Chén stepped forward, and the True Self came forward as well; Chén Chén extended a hand, and the True Self extended a "tendril."

The two figures met; the black side dissipated like a wisp of smoke, as if it had never existed.

Chén Chén drew a deep breath, viewing himself from the perspective of the Earth's true form; his appearance and demeanor showed no change, but looking more closely, in the deep, abyss‑like eyes there was another silhouette of Chén Chén.

"Is this, then, the complete feeling?"

———

"This war‑trial site is a place of strange encounter that the Sixth Chairman recently discovered in an adventure; many violent‑state monsters lurk there, plus some Nature Spirits that have mutated for special reasons, making it also extremely dangerous ground for the War God."

The one who truly introduces the trial site to all the trial participants is none other than the Lord of Longmen, who is also the principal of the Longmen Kindergarten, the Seventh Chairman of the War God Palace, and the primary incarnation of Xiao Yun, Dongjun.

Although he bears so many titles, appearing in this setting to serve as an introducer NPC for the group, Dongjun has already been labeled a supporting character by Jiāng Jiāng.

Of course, there are also many ordinary supporting characters, after all, during the last evaluation I seemed to still owe them a favor, and I inadvertently learned another of their names.

This is clearly a hidden NPC bearing a crucial clue.

"If you encounter life‑threatening danger in there, you can try to call for help via communication to me and the Divine Tree Jian Mu, although we may not be able to arrive in time."

"The content of this trial is to find a kind of wood‑seed crystal; each person only needs to obtain three wood‑seed crystals to pass."

Xiao Yun (Dongjun) said, producing a white crystal from his hand; the white crystal hovered in Dongjun's palm, seeming weightless, and even in daylight one could see specks of white light radiating from it.

"This crystal contains a certain amount of energy; if the body reaches a certain strength and absorbs it, there is a high probability of breaking through to the planetary level, which is also why many monsters have taken up residence here."

Upon hearing this, many martial artists couldn't help exclaiming that relying on such a tiny crystal could break through the War God stage, making such a treasure actually the trial's assessment content—truly somewhat unbelievable.

More people, of course, are concerned about whether this thing is useful to humans.

"As everyone expected, this thing indeed has the same effect on us humans, whether used at the opportunity to break through to the planetary level or in cultivation after the breakthrough, it will bring considerable benefit."

"Now that the war has begun, this is precisely the time to be exercising your powers; this war trial's timely assessment of everyone's abilities is also an opportunity, a chance to become stronger."

"Only by becoming stronger do you qualify to enter this war, and that also qualifies you to become a hero."

While speaking, the huge aerial warship of Longmen also slowly halted above Mist Island, its surrounding hatches opening to reveal an island wrapped in clouds and mist.

"Come on, everyone."

No sooner had the words fallen than several trainees took off on their personal flying devices.

"Damn, that fast."

"No face left."

The second batch, slower by a beat, also hurriedly followed.

Like Jiāng Jiāng, the final batch that moves at a leisurely pace consists of only a few people.

If one could find them within a quick one or two minutes, the trial requirement would be not three but thirty.

Make full preparations before setting out; haste makes waste, as the saying goes.

The more preparation, the better it is to have done it beforehand; next, one should record the specific characteristics of the mission target, the wood‑seed crystal, and so on.

Especially since we already owe Dongjun a favor, thickening our skin to gather a bit more mission information is no problem.

Especially since Chén Chén said……

Jiāng Jiāng was thinking when, from the side, Luofeng, who had also stayed behind, suddenly asked:

"Jiāng Jiāng, why don't we go together?"

Luofeng also knew that Chén Chén had already left ahead; aside from Chén Chén's relation, after spending this time together, Luofeng had come to regard Jiāng Jiāng as a sister, so naturally he should look after her.

Although Jiāng Jiāng's strength might not be inferior to his own, Luofeng still felt uneasy about a truly life‑or‑death battle.

Moreover, this kind of mutual competition… where one could be schemed against by others, is genuinely risky for someone like Jiāng Jiāng, a young lady with insufficient experience.