Chapter 1 Knowledge Does Not Equal Wisdom, Erudition Does Not Equal Acumen

Whether it was Izhaks or Mimir present at the scene, both were experts in the realm of soul and spirit. There was no doubting their theoretical knowledge of various rebirths and memory inheritance. At least, if they were thrown onto Earth, no one would dare say they were more professional than them. However, regarding what happened to the husky spirit Lily, they were far from as insightful as Hao Ren...

Lily's "amnesia" about her "previous life" had nothing to do with soul transmigration. It was purely because the First Saint had inadvertently "reincarnated into the wrong womb"—a dog brain wasn't up to the task. As a result, the First Saint's soul was depleted in the process of modifying this new body.

Hao Ren could list a formula to explain this process: (Genius + Simpleton) ÷ 2 = Lily.

However, the person involved clearly didn't approve of this twisted reasoning. Lily was still clinging to Hao Ren's arm, constantly emitting threatening "woof woof" growls from her throat. Her teeth were gnawing on the rigid shield, her mouth flashing with golden light.

"That's enough," Hao Ren had to knock on Lily's head to remind this girl, "The established facts can't be changed. Besides, you've already accepted your husky race. What's so unacceptable about the reincarnation process at this point..."

Lily finally let go of her mouth and bared her teeth at Hao Ren: "I'm not hung up on reincarnation! I'm hung up on your foul mouth, landlord! How come everything sounds so bite-worthy when you say it?"

Hao Ren scratched his head, thinking, who the hell could come up with a euphemistic way to say "the First Saint mistakenly reincarnated into a dog's womb and lost all memory"!

"Uh, anyway, we've roughly figured out this process," Vivian finally had to interject to smooth things over, but her expression wasn't any calmer than everyone else's. Her eyes kept scanning Lily. "Big dog, do you remember anything more now? About your past life?"

As soon as she said this, Hao Ren became a little nervous. He couldn't help staring at Lily's eyes, and a question popped up in his mind: what would happen if Lily really regained all her memories of her previous life? What should he do?

Her years as the First Saint were clearly far longer than her days as a husky spirit. That enormous inheritance of memories was enough to completely change a person's inner self. If the First Saint's memories returned, would Lily still be Lily? Would she still be that dog girl who only knew how to eat her fill and who would admit defeat first even when fighting with a cat?

The thought of his familiar, happy-go-lucky Lily turning into a bitter, vengeful demon hunter leader made Hao Ren feel strange.

Lily, on the other hand, frowned and tried hard to think, her expression as muddled as usual: "I do remember quite a few things, bits and pieces, but I don't think anything has changed... It's like watching someone else's experiences. Hmm, no feeling, no feeling at all."

Hao Ren breathed a sigh of relief: those extra memories didn't affect her?

"It seems that the rebirth process changed her soul structure, and coupled with the fact that the inheritance itself is incomplete, she has no sense of identification with those extra memory fragments," Mimir opened his eyes, and a faint light flickered in them. He was observing Lily's brainwave changes. "Hmm... the soul fragments wandering in the Spirit Realm Clock Tower have returned to her, but it seems that besides restoring some bits and pieces of memory, there is no change."

After confirming that Lily was fine, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and at this moment, Izhaks suddenly received a message from Lanina.

"What's wrong?" Hao Ren noticed Izhaks fiddling with the magic stone device used for communication by the Demon King's army, and casually asked.

Izhaks showed a smile that kept ghosts and gods away and raised the communicator in his hand: "Lanina sent a message saying that the distortions in the Spirit Realm Clock Tower are receding, and Hassu has also regained his sanity."

Just as Hao Ren expected, the Godslaying Sword was the source of all the strange phenomena in the Spirit Realm Clock Tower. Whether it was the bizarre passage of time, the walking dead demon hunters, or the spatial structure dislocation of the tower itself, all were affected by that dark force. Now, with the Godslaying Sword sealed, the Spirit Realm Clock Tower began to return to its original state.

And if the guess was correct, in the next few days, those captured Elder Council warriors would gradually wake up.

Izhaks put away the magic stone device and clapped his hands: "There are many things to deal with. Why don't we meet up with Lanina and the others first?"

Hao Ren nodded, while in his mind he began to ponder how many more huge troubles were waiting for him. The development of the Corpus civil war event had completely deviated from the expected trajectory, and the ancient secrets revealed in the event and the important intelligence collected were enough to give him a headache for a long time. He could first sample those things related to the Creator Goddess and deal with them after returning home, but what about the part related to the demon hunters?

He glanced at Lily and Vivian beside him, and the two "Saints" immediately looked over as if they felt something. Two pairs of watery eyes blinked, one pair calm as water, and the other pair shining with a dazed light.

... Lily was the dazed one, but she was the most important one.

How should he tell the demon hunters the truth about the First Saint? Directly push this guy, who was still nominally a "werewolf," in front of the demon hunter cadres and let them call him ancestor? Hao Ren thought that doing so would easily get him beaten to death...

"Landlord, what are you thinking about?" Lily didn't know Hao Ren's inner turmoil at all. She wasn't even affected by those truths. This husky's mentality was indestructible, and no matter what happened, it couldn't affect her good mood. "Speaking of which, this mess is finally over. I wonder if that one-eyed uncle who always has a straight face will be shocked by the truth."

"You also know that these things can be shocking," Hao Ren glanced at Lily. "I'm struggling with how to end this matter. The Saint Group is now dead, the Elder Council has also been severely damaged, and the entire management system of the demon hunters can almost be said to be collapsing. Tsk, in this situation, it doesn't seem appropriate to tell them about you."

"Collapse therapy," Lily wagged her tail, indifferent, as if she didn't realize that she was the center of this matter. "Anyway, you can make the decision, landlord. I support you."

Hao Ren thought about it and decided not to discuss too profound questions with a husky.

The group prepared to go to the previous banquet hall and meet up with Lanina. After the others left, Hao Ren and Vivian stayed behind temporarily.

"Do you two have anything else?" Mimir's gaze fell on the two of them, his voice flat, with no emotional fluctuations.

However, Hao Ren noticed that after telling everyone about the events of that year, this giant's head had aged a lot almost in an instant, as if some spiritual goal that had long supported him had disappeared. Mimir's eyes concealed an undisguisable fatigue and turbidity.

"Thank you," Vivian was the first to break the silence. She sincerely thanked this old friend whom she had completely forgotten. "Thank you for telling us this, and thank you for your arrangements over the years—it must have been very difficult to make this kind of resistance in the whispers of that sword."

"No need to thank me, old friend," Mimir closed his eyes slightly. "I'm just doing what I want to do. I'm not interested in all the conflicts in this world, whether it's Odin in the past, or the demon hunters later, or whoever is in charge of this world now, these are not important to me. I just want to live in peace, but the Fountain of Wisdom has dried up, so this Spirit Realm Clock Tower is my new home—I just don't want this place to be destroyed again."

Mimir said, pausing for a few seconds in the middle. He opened his eyes and looked at Vivian: "Of course, I'm very happy to see you. I didn't expect you to really come here to turn the tide, because I don't quite believe in Betalis' unreliable predictions, but you still came... This is probably the only good news in thousands of years."

"It was him who turned the tide," Vivian shook her head and stepped aside to push Hao Ren forward. "I'm now... well, helping him with some things. He is my... friend, a very, very good friend."

Mimir's expression finally changed, and he looked very surprised.

Obviously, he had always thought that Vivian was the coordinator and commander of this event. He thought that Hao Ren was just a helper, but he didn't expect that the main player was him.

"Old friend, this is not like you," Mimir widened his eyes. "When did you start working under someone else? Is he richer than a country? Or is he penniless?"

The old giant thought for a long time and only these two kinds of people could be with Vivian: the first kind could afford to lose (temporarily), the second kind was not afraid of her losing (permanently)...

"It's complicated to explain," Vivian twitched the corner of her mouth. "We're not here to talk about this. Hao Ren, you say it."

Hao Ren nodded and looked into Mimir's eyes: "Giant, do you know where you come from?"