“Young Master! Please be reasonable. The Lord will get angry”
“Go away! Leave me alone!”
“Young master! Please have mercy on me. The Madam will punish me if I don’t bring you right away”
I gritted my teeth in anger and despair and refused to speak further as the girl on the other side of the door started to sound very desperate.
Why? Why am I in this position? What did I do wrong for me to suffer like this?
First, it was the sudden war between the USA, China, and Russia. Taking away my parents from me during the Nuclear bombing of Washington. Then, the war took away my wife as well during the invasion of New York. Then, it was the death of my friends and me during the push to reclaim Brazil from the Chinese forces.
I thought I would be able to meet all my loved ones after my death. But I was robbed of the legacy of my people.
And now, I have been robbed of my identity as well.
It has been an hour since I woke up, and I have already realized my current position.
Somehow, I have been thrown into another world.
My current name is Hengxing Haizi, the son of Hengxing Ba, the Grand Duke of the Heavenly Saint Empire.
An Identity that I refuse to accept even though the damned system has already erased my memory of my original identity.
Turns out, the strange pearl that burst out of my chest earlier and knocked me out with pain was some kind of a magic artifact that merged with my IAS and replaced it, creating a system that is suspiciously similar to what I remember from many trashy isekai stories I used to read before I enlisted. If it was just that, then I wouldn’t complain much.
But what it really did was replace my identity with my current body’s identity. It did not remove memories of my family or friends. Instead, it erased their names and faces from my memories. It even removed my memories of my own name. The only memory I have left of my previous identity is my face.
Worse still, are the memories of my current body.
From what I can gather, this world is some kind of a strange fusion between Western Fantasy and Xianxia. Humans are not the apex predators, despite the existence of the Cultivation system. Elves, Dwarves, Spirits, and Demons exist. Demonic beasts, the staple of Xianxia stories, also exist. Evil Cultists and Demonic Cultivators also exist.
What really caught my attention, however, is the position of my current body.
This country is called the Heavenly Saint Empire, the only human empire on the continent. Despite the clear presence of Cultivation, Chinese names and all the Xianxia staples like Sects, the kingdom is structured like something from Western fantasies or the Middle Ages.
The Emperor is the top dog, as usual. Below him, are the Grand Dukes, followed by Dukes, Margraves, Marquis, Counts, Viscounts, and Barons.
With the father of my current body being a Grand Duke, a position second only to the Emperor, I could already guess that the original would have been a really spoilt child. But my guesses were severe underestimations of the sheer stupidity and evilness of my current body.
At the tender age of 7, he had already committed atrocities like murder just because he could get away scot-free thanks to his family’s influence. As he grew, his violent and sadistic tendencies only grew.
By the age of 18, the atrocities and vile deeds he had done were already beyond my ability to count.
He was so universally reviled that even his own siblings were afraid of crossing his path.
From this alone, I could already recognize my current situation.
I am in the body of a classic Villain A from a generic Xianxia story.
But the real twist happened when the owner of this body was 30 years old.
In this world, Cultivation is divided into 14 ranks based on the density and color of the Qi that is used by the cultivator.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Jade, Earth, Sky, Heaven, Star, Spirit, King, Emperor, Saint, and finally, Demigod.
Incidentally, the reason the human kingdom is called the Heavenly Saint Empire is because it was founded 4000 years ago by a Saint rank cultivator.
Even a commoner, when given the chance, would reach the peak of Bronze rank by the age of 30. But the original user was still struck at the peak of Iron rank. The only reason he was not disowned by the family was due to the fact that he was the only worthy successor of the family. His older brother being a cripple disqualified him as a successor.
But, when the owner was 30 years old, his sister, Hengxing Qingren, married her senior brother whom she met in her sect a few years before. Within a year, she gave birth to a son whose cultivation talent was said to be a once-in-a-thousand-year miracle.
Immediately, the patriarch decided to make his grandson the future successor of the house and sent his useless son to the south to serve in the military.
Of course, as any stupid villain would do, the original decided to take revenge on his family and joined hands with a Demonic Cultivator cult.
By the age of 50, the original owner had risen to the Heaven rank, a cultivation level that only the emperor could rival, and directly wiped out the Hengxing family.
Then, just like a generic Xianxia story, the protagonist, who turned out to be the brother-in-law of the original, pursued the villain to the ends of the world, collecting peerless treasures along the way and even finding love again after the death of his wife and child, and finally found a good end by killing the original owner that was renowned as the Demon King.
But before he died, the original owner used his knowledge of the Demonic arts and successfully extracted one of the protagonist's bullshit artifacts, allowing his soul to go back in time to exact revenge.
Unfortunately, just as he managed to arrive in the past, I had somehow bumped into his weakened soul and directly obliterated his consciousness.
Then, the bullshit artifact somehow merged with my IAS in a mish-mash of a system and merged both of our souls into one.
Of course, my first action upon going through all these memories was to refuse this bullshit.
There is no way I am going to accept that my precious soul has been tainted by merging with this pathetic excuse of a human being.
However, after going through the system that has replaced my IAS, I had no choice but to accept the fact, leading to my anger and despair.
“Young Master, Please open the door. If the Lord is angered even further, he will end up punishing you”
Scream all you want, there is no way I am coming out of this room.
I was a soldier of the United States of America, a proud man that fought for freedom and to protect my people, and I refuse to accept the identity of this scumbag of a human as my current life.
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New Quest:
You who were a soldier, a protector of the people, have been placed in the body of a tyrant. Change your reputation and advance your power to stand proud in front of your loved ones.
Objective:
Achieve Region Reputation rank: Respected
Achieve Cultivation Rank: Bronze.
Reward:
10,000 Gold. Title: Young Master. 10 Stat points.
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I, Hengxing Ba felt angry. No, he felt Furious.
It has been nearly two hours since my wife sent our servant, Yue, to retrieve that good-for-nothing son of mine for dinner to reprimand him for his behavior today at the royal palace, but the bastard has now got the guts to even ignore my summons now.
It is truly ironic that I, the patriarch of one of the Three Great Clans, have been reduced to such a state that my own son doesn't care about my words anymore.
Looks like I have been far too lenient on this good-for-nothing bastard.
Seriously. All of his peers have already achieved the cultivation of Silver rank, bringing prestige to their houses as prodigies. Yet, this waste has not even reached the peak of Iron rank.
If it were not for the fact that my wife dotes heavily on him and will vehemently fight against me, I would have already shipped his ass to the Endless Wastes garrison to the south and had one of my trusted subordinates drive him into the ground with pressure to drill some discipline into him. At least, with military achievements, he would not turn the Hengxing family into a joke once he takes over.
I am seriously tempted to keep the title of patriarch for as long as I live, which would probably be for another 500 years thanks to my Sky rank cultivation. But as per tradition, I must pass on the title once the successor is 35 years old.
“Calm down, dear. He is probably worried about the consequences of his actions today”
At my wife’s worried words, I stared at her as I felt my emotions calming down a little before my rage reached a new level.
To think that trash is actually doted on so much despite being such a disappointment in both cultivation and character, I must punish him severely today.
“….Looks like little brother is not going to arrive today. You are wasting your time, Father”
I looked towards my eldest son, and my heart twisted with regret at his wheelchair-bound form.
I seriously regret sending him to the front lines all those years ago to gain experience. If it were not for his injury that crippled his body from the waist down, he would be the successor of the family instead. With his talents, cultivation-wise, character, and administration-wise, he would have been a beloved leader of the fief.
“Indeed. You should focus on how to get the family out of trouble from today's matter instead of concentrating on that wastrel”
My Daughter’s sharp words caused my wife’s expressions to twist in pain at the clear disregard that the two children had for their sibling.
I continued waiting silently, even after having finished eating and my children retiring to their rooms.
Finally, 6 hours, later, I couldn’t take it anymore and headed towards the brat’s room.
I must really beat some discipline into him today.