Sect Master Xuan Zi snorted, clearly not convinced by his logical breakdown of the premise either.
"How do you know that you haven't committed heinous crimes in your past life, boy? Do you perhaps retain any memories of your past life?"
Han Xuhan didn't want to answer that question. It might complicate things further. It would certainly not get him out of the trap dug by this man.
He needed to end this debate quickly, by hook or by crook.
"Master Xuan Zi, your questions have too many ifs. Such uncertainty cannot make for a good argument. I could place you in the same situation without any basis!
"Let's say, we contemplate the possibility that you were a great pervert in your previous life. So, are the ladies of this sect really safe from your hands now that you're a powerful cultivator...?"
Sect Master Xuan Zi's mouth opened and closed, but no words got out for a good few seconds.
"...That's too arbitrary. Besides, I do have a basis for suspecting that you're an anomaly messed up by heavenly order. Your ancestry test results confirm those exact attributes."
"Then as a cultivator, shouldn't you be supporting people like me? After all, the fate you're describing could happen to you too," Han Xuhan retorted.
Eyes narrowing, Xuan Zi stared at him for a few moments before saying with a strange smile,
"Indeed. That's a valid point when you put it like that, young man."
Han Xuhan breathed a sigh of relief. Although he hadn't thrown off the unfriendly attitude these cultivators had towards him, he was making some significant progress in self-defense.
His back was already covered in a thin layer of cold sweat. He had a feeling that if his answer had been simply either yes or no, he wouldn't be allowed to speak up till now.
While he was giving himself a mental headpat, Xuan Zi spoke again.
"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 was almost angered to the point of teaching you how to ride a flying sword."
Han Xuhan's face turned a bit pale.
Old man, you couldn't pay me to learn that under your tutelage! I've seen the damage you've done to Elder Rong!
"Well, now that that's out of the way, we both seem to agree that it is of paramount importance that we know about your past life so that we can judge whether to let go of you or not, eh?"
Han Xuhan sighed. He had seen this coming.
Despite wriggling out of the trap set by the old man, it was inevitable that even his safest answer would lead to this. Master Xuan Zi was a crafty old fox. He hadn't wasted his long life while keeping his brain idle.
No matter how 'informed' Han Xuhan was, neither his reading experience, nor his life experience could measure up to a cunning old cultivator like him. Defeating this guy with witty arguments was beyond his ability.
"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 recall your previous life, hmmm?" Xuan Zi grinned, knowing that the fish was hooked.
"That sounds quite dangerous."
"Oh, don't worry! The results are very simple. We shall awaken your memories and tell us what really happened in your previous life, so that we can judge whether to 'terminate' any threats or not.
"And if it doesn't work... uh, you wouldn't need to worry about your future. Shouldn't be a problem to understand the implications, not for a bright young man like you, hmmm?"
He wouldn't need to worry about his future if the technique failed? That meant he could be killed!
Once again, Han Xuhan realized that his arguments were useless when his opponent was a cultivator with both power and wisdom.
Cultivation was the only thing that could guarantee his safety in this cruel world where the heavenly laws had anger issues.
Half dragged by Sect Master Xuan Zi, a depressed Han Xuhan was led to the back of the temple and forced to enter a small, empty cell with white walls and no windows.
Xuan Zi made an attempt to patiently explain to him how this would work before he left, locking the door behind him.
Apparently, the walls were made of precious materials that could, to some extent, block the interference of heavenly elements.
Several types of cultivation arts, such as array grafting, talisman plants, and law fragments, had been used to enhance its capabilities, adding some extra functions.
Chambers like these were mostly used to perform unorthodox or forbidden spiritual cultivation arts, helping one in hiding the process from the radar of the Heavenly Dao. Cracking open Xuhan's memory seal was one such act.
Why the hell did an orthodox sect have a chamber like this?
Xuan Zi had laughed derisively when Han Xuhan posed the question, and then left without a reply.
Several elders from the sect would gather outside and initiate the process of stimulating his memory seal, supervised by Xuan Zi himself.
While the whole process sounded fairly straightforward and harmless, Han Xuhan couldn't help but feel unsettled at how lackadaisical Xuan Zi's attitude was. He didn't seem very concerned about the dangers of the technique.
To him, clearly, Han Xuhan's life wasn't worth much. After all, he was just another mortal mired by bad luck and an eyesore of the heavenly dao.
Even if he survived this ordeal and turned out to have a tame backstory in his previous life, the aura of heavenly punishment on his existence would not magically go away.
Who could guarantee that he'd live long anyway?
While he was pacing inside the cell, sweating profusely, someone else was drenched in cold sweat outside the cell.
"Elder Wu, is something wrong?" Sect Master Xuan Zi asked, brows furrowed.
Old Elder Wu laughed woodenly and doubled his efforts to activate the memory seal detection array. But for some reason, it simply wouldn't light up!
"Lao Wu, it looks like your age has begun affecting your skill, hmph!" One of his peers said from the back teasingly.
"You've been staring at that preliminary array for so long! Did you forget how to run it?"
"If you're so observant, why don't you come and show how to do it?" Elder Wu growled angrily. To his delight, the other guy fell for it!
Heh, let's see how you activate the array when it can't even detect the seal! If you can, I, Wu Di, will cripple my cultivation!
A minute later, the other Elder's temples become slick with sweat as well. Wu Di, enjoying the scene with great pleasure, almost laughed when the guy tried to explain his failure.
"It looks like something is wrong with the array. Give me a moment to fix the issue," he said as he started changing the constitution of the array itself.
Elder Wu had to stop himself from laughing his lungs off. Hoping to hide your failures, you blame an array? You even dare modify it without having the skill?
How bold, how bold!
It was true that a barber's scalpel was more stable than a surgeon's scalpel. This guy simply didn't understand the gravity of the problem!
Soon, the amateur Elder declared that his 'modifications' were complete! With an awkward cough, he tried to activate the array again.
Elder Wu choked on his own spit when a green light spread out from the wall of the cell.