Integration

After considering it for a long time, Huo Hai ultimately decided to pretend he had amnesia. It could not really be called pretending, since the memories he had obtained were incomplete to begin with. Fortunately, he still recognized the two relatives before him.

Making every effort to look innocent, Huo Hai pointed at his head and said softly, "Grandmother, Father, I... I seem to have forgotten many things." As he spoke, Huo Hai clutched his head.

He inwardly cursed himself over and over. He could not even act convincingly. Really... He had never done anything bad before, and even speaking like this made his face burn. Fortunately, Huo Hai had always enjoyed a good reputation in the Huo Family and rarely spoke. His flushed face was taken as a sign of his illness acting up, and the two immediately panicked.

"Little Hai, what's wrong? Don't scare Grandmother!" The two were so frantic that they did not know what to do. They wanted to help Huo Hai, yet had no idea where to begin. Huo Hai's behavior just now had been far too abnormal. What exactly was happening?

"Right, quickly! Bring the spirit healer here!" Seeing Huo Hai apparently growing more and more distressed, Huo Kai finally remembered and roared aloud. The servants did not dare delay. Before long, the spirit healer, who had been resting, was brought over.

The spirit healer had no complaints. He was the Huo Family's spirit healer, after all, and had to come whenever summoned. Besides, if he could cure the illness, the rewards would be considerable. Huo Hai's condition puzzled him. He kept pressing and kneading Huo Hai's body, and after a long while, he wore an incredulous expression. "Impossible. Young Master is perfectly healthy. What is going on?"

"Healthy? You call Little Hai's condition healthy? He just said he has forgotten many things!" The old lady was unwilling to accept it and nearly raised her cane to beat him. If Huo Kai had not stopped her, the spirit healer would have been thrown out after a beating.

Huo Kai's expression was not much better, but he was still the head of the Lineage. "Healer, please examine him carefully. What exactly is wrong with Little Hai? In his state, how could he possibly recover?" The spirit healer also found it strange and cautiously asked several questions.

"Young Master Huo, you said you have forgotten many things. Then what do you still remember? Right, do you know where this is? And, for example, what did you do yesterday?" The spirit healer asked carefully, not daring to be the slightest bit negligent.

Huo Hai knew it was about enough. If he kept pretending, he might expose himself. After thinking carefully, Huo Hai said in a low voice, "I still remember my family. This is the Huo Family. And yesterday, I seem to have been struck by something electric. Other than that, I have forgotten a lot." Huo Hai's face was full of confusion, and this was not an act. With so many missing memories, there truly was much he did not understand.

After asking several more questions, the spirit healer raised his head and helplessly shook it. "Old Madam, Patriarch, I believe Young Master's brain was injured yesterday by the Thunderbolt Rat, causing damage to his soul and the loss of part of his memories."

Huo Kai frowned. The soul was not something ordinary people could affect. The Thunderbolt Rat was a lightning-attributed spirit beast, and lightning seemed to possess an innate ability to injure souls. But cases where someone's soul was damaged and yet they survived were exceedingly rare. Could Little Hai become one such person?

Huo Kai's expression grew uglier and uglier as he asked quietly, "Is there any way? As long as you can cure Little Hai, I will provide whatever resources you need." Huo Hai was the family's only heir. Nothing could happen to him.

Under the gaze of two people of such high status and authority, the spirit healer felt immense pressure. Yet he still forced himself to say, "You two, there is nothing anyone can do about a soul injury. Even the finest spirit healer can only treat illnesses; they cannot restore memories."

Seeing their expressions worsen, the spirit healer hurriedly added, "However, Young Master is completely fine now. In other words, apart from losing some memories, he has suffered no other harm. As for his memories, they can slowly be cultivated again in the future."

Only then did the two finally breathe a sigh of relief. At the same time, Huo Hai also relaxed. Thank goodness, thank goodness. I finally muddled through it. Even if they later discovered that he differed from the former Huo Hai, he could blame it on his missing memories. I'm truly too clever. I blended into this world so easily.

After a long while, the three of them discussed something for what seemed like ages. Huo Kai finally said, "Little Hai, rest well. If you need anything, just call for someone. There are maids waiting outside. Rest assured, we will definitely find a way to resolve your memory problem." With that, he took his mother and the spirit healer away.

Who knew what methods he would think of. Huo Hai did not believe they could truly restore those missing memories. His soul had already been completely shattered—how could it be restored? Even if they could restore it, Huo Hai would never allow it.

He owed the original owner of this body a favor, but surely he did not have to repay that favor with his own life. Having died once, Huo Hai cherished his life even more. Even if everyone else died, he still did not want to die.

"Bastard, I'm a bad person. How can I remember favors?" Huo Hai suddenly cursed himself. Since he aspired to be a bad person, he had to be bad to the very end. He had spent too long being a good person, and it had become a kind of habit. Suddenly trying to become a villain really was not easy. He truly wondered how those villains trained themselves.

Closing his eyes, Huo Hai began sorting through the memories in his mind. He had received part of those memories while unconscious, but had never organized them. After all, they were not his own, and Huo Hai did not know what they contained.

As he recalled them, Huo Hai gradually came to understand this world better. Strictly speaking, this was a world of spirit adepts where the strong were honored. This world revered cultivating one's own power rather than developing external things like technology, as Earth did. According to the memories, truly powerful spirit adepts possessed terrifying might capable of destroying heaven and earth, though he had never seen one himself.

There were many kinds of spirit adepts. For example, the spirit healer from earlier was a spirit adept who specialized in using his own spirit energy to heal the sick and injured. Those who became dedicated spirit healers either lacked exceptional talent as spirit healers or possessed no talent for other kinds of spirit adepts.

Huo Hai himself had fairly good talent as well. As a middle-tier Lineage in the Southern Cloud Kingdom, the Huo Family had its own spirit art. Spirit arts were cultivation methods for spirit adepts, divided into Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow grades, with each grade further divided into high, middle, and low ranks.

Ordinary people found it difficult even to encounter a spirit art. The spirit arts available outside were merely basic spirit arts—the Yellow grade. Such spirit arts could only allow one to cultivate to the Spirit Bone Realm; further breakthroughs were impossible.

The Huo Family, however, possessed its own Profound-grade spirit art. His father seemed to be an expert at the Spirit Adept level, already truly capable of using his own spirit power to execute all kinds of battle spirit arts. In the remaining memories, Huo Hai seemed never to have seen his father make a move, so he did not know just how strong Huo Kai truly was. But he ought to be very strong.

Without strength, one could not take a single step on the Spirit Realm Continent, much less support a Lineage. "Even a bad person needs capital. First, I'll cultivate the spirit art. No matter what, without strength, you are nothing."

After thinking for a long time, Huo Hai opened his eyes and sat cross-legged. After the spirit healer's treatment, his body no longer hurt at all. It even felt quite comfortable. With no one to disturb him in the room, this was the perfect chance for Huo Hai to test it out.

Following the spirit art in his memories, Huo Hai began drawing upon the spirit energy around him. This spirit art was something deeply imprinted in Huo Hai's soul. Even when his soul had been on the verge of collapse, it had still preserved the spirit art intact. Otherwise, if he had needed to learn it again, Huo Hai truly would not have known where to start. This body had already undergone a certain degree of cultivation.

He did not know whether it was because the previous owner had not put enough effort into it, but he had only just crossed the threshold of the Spirit Body Realm. The Spirit Body Realm was the lowest realm among spirit adepts, above which were the Spirit Blood Realm and the Spirit Bone Realm.

The so-called Spirit Body Realm was a stage in which one absorbed surrounding spirit energy to strengthen the body and make it more compatible with spirit energy. Cultivation at this stage could gradually make one's body stronger. A few ordinary people would be no match for them.

As the spirit art circulated, Huo Hai gradually felt as if his whole body were soaking in water. No, it was not water. This was an ocean of spirit energy. The Spirit Realm Continent was filled everywhere with boundless spirit energy. At the lower stages of cultivation, there was no need to seek out especially good locations. Any place that could ensure peace and quiet could be used for cultivation.

Gradually, a faint layer of light began to shine around Huo Hai's body. He was like a light bulb, specks of fluorescent glow spreading around him. From time to time, motes of light entered Huo Hai's body. These motes were the spirit energy particles he absorbed.

What on earth was the previous owner of this body doing? At this speed, he could reach the great completion of the Spirit Body Realm in a few months, then charge into the Spirit Blood Realm. How was he already this old, yet his cultivation had only just entered the threshold of the Spirit Body Realm?

As Huo Hai silently cursed, how could he know that after entering this body, his cultivation speed was far beyond what it had been before? Judging from this body's cultivation speed, there ought to be many experts in this world. It seemed he would have to keep a low profile when going out in the future. Do not refrain from doing good because it is small; do not commit evil because it is small.

Since he lacked the ability to commit earth-shaking atrocities, he would start with what was before him, start with the little things, and strive to become a true wastrel. Good people did not live long, while calamities lasted a thousand years. Grandfather, I will definitely follow your advice and become a true calamity.

As Huo Hai cultivated, he secretly swore this oath in his heart. If Huo Kai knew of such thoughts, who knew what expression he would wear? From this moment onward, a true calamity seemed to rise slowly like a glowing red star.

Yet the father and grandmother of this calamity knew nothing of it. They were still worrying over his health.