Han Xuhan was still slightly dazed when he was brought inside the ancient building by the extremely excited elder Mu.
"Tell me, young man, did you like flying like an immortal ?" Elder Mu asked on the way rather vindictively. Han Xuhan found the theory of the woman outside the building to be very possibly accurate.
But currently, he was more worried about his predicament. Elder Mu's sadistic tendencies didn't matter to him when he might just die any moment now.
His thoughts were interrupted when he was jerked forward inside a huge hall while the elder stayed back outside and shoved him in. Xuhan turned around in a hurry, only to see the thick and gigantic doors closing in and trapping him inside.
Immediately, Xuhan flattened his back on the door and turned around to survey the room he was locked in. With a shiver going down his spine, he realized that he was not alone.
An old man sat in the middle of the room, on the floor, seemingly lost in meditation. He seemed no different from your ordinary grandpa Wang from the neighbourhood. Rather flummoxed by the turn of events, Xuhan decided to stay silent and still.
But that silence did not last long. A few seconds later, the old man opened his eyes suddenly, startling the nervous young boy.
Meeting the old man's penetrating gaze, Xuhan had a premonition that that gaze could see through everything! Even his most secret thoughts wouldn't stay secret before those eyes...
Moving imperceptibly, Han Xuhan put his left leg in front of his right one, blocking his crotch area from that pervasive gaze...
However, the old man noticed and immediately became so incensed by the implications of his movements that the veins on his neck bulged for a moment before he could control himself.
"YOU!"
Seemingly lost for words, the old man gritted his teeth before calming himself and speaking again.
"Did elder Mu explain to you why you've been brought here?"
Hearing the cold question, Xuhan shook his head, which prompted a snort from the old grandpa.
"Understandable. That brat really needs another hands-on lesson on flying. Now listen attentively, I won't bother explaining twice."
Han Xuhan was simply relieved that his death didn't seem imminent yet. Nodding like a good boy, he did as he was told.
"Are you familiar with the concept of 'reincarnation' ?"
Xuhan nodded. It was a familiar concept among most mortals. Many religions and school of thoughts claimed it to be real instead of a simple afterlife with heavens and hells. After death, everyone's souls would forget their memories of past life and be reborn into another vessel. Of course, there were varieties of claims concerning how this whole rebirth process was operated, but Xuhan, being a standard orphan with no fixed religious bias, always had seen those claims from the viewpoint of a skeptic.
But right now, his beliefs were about to be challenged as the old man continued speaking.
"To those among cultivators who have stepped into the realm of immortals and above, the cycle of reincarnation is a very ordinary passage of life. To shed mortality, one must understand what the essence of mortality is. Every immortal cultivator has reincarnated once at least in their lifetime of cultivation. "
Xuhan's jaw fell open. Reincarnation was real?
"However, the heavenly law is not something that can be so easily manipulated to man's convenience. More often than not, the process of reincarnation goes awry somewhere and the world ends up with some oddities whose fate has been twisted and crushed into an unrecognisable state. This is akin to a punishment from the heavens to those who continuously challenge the dao of the heavens."
Sufficient to say, Xuhan's mind was already forming some strings with his current predicament to these new pieces of information. It couldn't be that...
"Yes," the old man nodded, looking pleased with his fast thoughts.
"You, boy, turned out to be one of those instabilities whose fate was basically screwed by the heavens in your past life. That bloodline test was also a precautionary step for us to detect the unfortunate freaks like yourself."
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Xuhan's face became pale as he realized that his luck was actually even worse than he had thought. It was one thing to be the descendant of a famous person who had a feud with a reputable sect like the crimson snow sect. At best, he'd just die tragically young. But to be directly placed among a randomly selected group of people who were the punching bag of the frustrated heavenly law, what kind of dogshit luck was this? What did he do in his past life to deserve this? Wouldn't he be tortured even after death?
"Hehe, don't piss your pants now. It's not that bad. As cultivators, we always have been an eyesore of the heavens. So being a victim of their unfair laws isn't all that uncommon among us. However..."
The old man paused as a ferocious glint appeared in his eyes. Xuhan felt a chill down his spine as if death itself was right around the corner. He could already make a few guesses as to where this conversation was heading.
"Existences like you are a very unstable factor to have around. Anyone with sufficient knowledge of the cultivation world knows that those who are the reincarnated versions of mighty cultivators from ancient times are always discriminated by the heavenly laws. They are the harbingers of apocalypse and destruction. If they manage to awaken the memories of their past life and get stronger, they often start bloodbaths and challenge the heavens, blinded by their vengeance and driven crazy due to how twisted the heavens have made their fates to be. This is also another form of punishment by the heavens on us mortals and immortals alike, whether we challenge heavenly laws or not, simply because we cultivate to become immortals."
"...I swear I won't do those things. Let's just forget that I took the test and let me leave while no one is looking..." Xuhan muttered unhappily.
The old man chuckled darkly.
"It ain't so simple as that boy. What if you awaken your memories after you return and realize that the heavens have greatly wronged you, such as killing your past life's daoist partner in a tribulation, or making your parents reincarnate into humiliating vessels such as animals or demons. How are you going to deal with that eh? Are you willing to let it pass off and bear the humiliation, hmmm?"
Xuhan numbly thought about it and found a tiny trap in the old man's words. If he said no, then it would mean he was definitely an unstable factor who might bring destruction to all living beings around him. As a reputable sect, Crimson Snow Sect would never let him off the hook. The small town he lived in was under the jurisdiction of this sect.
But if he lied and said yes, it would be a proof of a timid and cowardly nature, thus marking him as a person who was sinister and a scum who wouldn't mind sacrificing his and his family's dignity to survive. Would such a guy who could potentially become stronger be spared by anyone with a working brain? The risk was even greater in this case!
Xuhan stayed silent for a long time before speaking.
"Your words are very cleverly placed..."
"Call me Xuan Zi."
"Your words are very cleverly placed master Xuan Zi. You've placed many prerequisites in your question and made it impossible for me to answer without stepping into a trap. Those conditions about having my daoist partner killed in tribulation, or my parents being humiliated in their afterlife because of me...aren't these rather far-fetched? Are the heavens retarded or something? Unless I committed heinous crimes in my past life, why would they go that far to pick a fight with me?"
"How do you know that you haven't committed heinous crimes in your past life, boy? Hehe..."
"Master Xuan Zi, your questions have too many ifs. Such uncertainty cannot make for a good argument. If I asked you, what if you had been a great pervert in your previous life, and are the ladies of the sect really safe from your hands now that you're a powerful cultivator...?"
Xuan Zi was furious! Clenching his teeth, he closed his eyes for a few moments before regaining clarity.
"Indeed. That's a valid argument young man."
Xuhan noted how the old man had gone from addressing him as 'boy' to 'young man'. It seemed that he had avoided a calamity there. His back was already covered in cold sweat. He had a feeling that if his answer was simply either yes or no, he wouldn't be alive at this moment.
"If any of the celestials above heaven had met you in your previous life, they'd probably have enough reason to pick a fight with you, young man. After all, it has barely been five minutes into our conversation and I almost was angered to the point of losing control twice."
Xuhan coughed awkwardly and chose to ignore that comment from master Xuan Zi.
"Well, now that that's out of the way, we both seem to agree that it is of paramount importance that we know what you were in your past life so that we can judge whether to let go of you or not, eh?"
Xuhan sighed. He had seen this coming. Despite wriggling out of the trap set by the old man, it was inevitable that his answer would lead to this. Whoever this master Xuan Zi was, he was a crafty old fox who hadn't wasted his long life keeping his brain idle. No matter how intelligent Xuhan was, his experiences simply couldn't measure up to a cunning old cultivator like him. Defeating this guy with witty arguments was beyond all possibilities.
"I suppose so," he muttered despondently in the end.
"Hehehe. Then you shouldn't have any complaints against our technique of cracking open the memory seal of reincarnation and making you experience your previous life, hmmm?"
"That sounds dangerous."
"Oh, don't worry! The results are very simple. Either you awaken your memories and tell us what really happened in your previous life so that we can judge whether to 'terminate' the threat; and if it doesn't work, we'll have to take stricter measures. Shouldn't be a problem to understand the rules for a bright young man like you, hmmm?"
Once again, Xuhan realized that his wits were useless when his opponent was a cultivator with both power and wisdom. It was at that moment that he understood, cultivation was the only thing that could guarantee his safety in this cruel world where the heavenly laws had anger issues.