The array worked? How?!
Elder Wu, whose whole life had been spent cultivating spiritual arts in the domain of memories, thoughts, and dreams, felt like he was trapped in a nightmare.
How did this amateur modify the array? He himself had examined it moments ago. There wasn't anything wrong with it!
Noticing the snide gazes and whispers among the remaining dozen Elders gathered around the cell, Wu Di took a firm mental stance—denial.
Hmph! I don't believe it! That guy must have cheated!
But he couldn't just interrupt the procedures at the moment. The operation was delicate. Under Xuan Zi's pointed look, he had to move to take over the other guy's original spot.
Controlling his bubbling fury, Wu Di focused on the task at hand. He had to power a secondary array to force open the memory seal.
"Should it be anything remotely risky, we'll have to follow the protocols, unfortunate for him...mortal fate is so pitiful at times," one of the younger Elders said, shaking her head with a rueful expression.
"When have the heavens ever been fair?" Xuan Zi spoke in a heavy tone.
Almost a little too quickly and smoothly, the memory seal was broken. Wu Di glared once again at the Elder replacing him suspiciously.
As the masters discussed the plausible scenarios based on their experiences, Xuan Zi perked up and hushed everyone.
"Use your observation arrays. The boy is about to recover from the shock of the seal-opening. The heavenly dao should have noticed that an anomaly has happened.
"Based on how much it had interfered with his fate in the past, an appropriate reaction would surely come. Gauge the amount of heavenly elements that are being assimilated around us.
"Record the intensity of the lightning strikes and heavenly laws that assault the walls of the cell. That should be more than enough to figure out whether this boy is a threat to us or not.
"Moreover, he himself might let slip some emotions now that he remembers his previous life. That should give us a clue too.
"Elder Wu, use your secret technique of reading people's thoughts. A mortal like him wouldn't be any different from an open book in front of that technique."
Wu Di nodded, feeling pleased that the sect master was trying to give him some face.
He focused his concentration on the boy, who seemed to be in a daze as he slowly sat up.
He couldn't read anything too significant from his expression. The boy seemed confused, still in denial and disbelief, and rather rattled.
All signs appeared quite ordinary for someone who has just experienced the memories of his last life.
Focusing his mind, Wu Di channeled his qi and released a wisp of his consciousness to invade the boy's thoughts on a superficial level.
The thing the boy was most confused about... was the source of his new memories.
A little unusual, but it didn't seem to be anything they needed to be concerned of.
The boy was also in disbelief because... he couldn't make sense of why he would not remember these things.
What a foolish lad! Didn't Xuan Zi explain it to him? The memory seal prevented his recollection!
The boy was suspicious of the validity of these new memories. He refused to see them as an immortal cultivator's legacy.
Eyes narrowing, Wu Di intensified the spiritual invasion into the boy's mind. He needed to examine the memories himself to get a proper overview.
Meanwhile, the remaining Elders of the group were focused on the aura of the heavenly dao, as it was supposed to come for the boy's life any moment now....
Except it didn't.
Minutes passed. There was not even the slightest fluctuation in the heavenly laws around them, let alone assaulting the walls of the cell.
Technically, the whole ordeal should have been over by now. But the heavenly punishment was inexplicably absent from the show.
"Erm...Master Zi, it can't be that..."
"Yeah, it seems like the boy isn't a particular threat..."
"But isn't this strange? It is absolutely certain that the heavenly dao has punished him before. Then how come it forgot about his reincarnation? This is illogical!"
The multitude of masters present was flabbergasted by this phenomenon, or more accurately, the lack of any phenomenon at all...
"...Elder Wu, has that boy revealed anything yet?" Xuan Zi asked, equally confused.
Wu Di opened his eyes and shook his head.
"It seems like we were overestimating the danger this boy could bring upon. There is absolutely no sign of heavenly calamities even in his previous life. He was actually a denizen of this very world.
"He grew up in an orphanage, learned to farm vegetables, never came into contact with the world of cultivation, and died in an ordinary accident."
"That means he could be one of the rare unfortunate fellows whose fate got mixed up in the chaos caused by a rogue immortal's reincarnation. The aura of heavenly calamities on his soul must be residues from that mix-up."
Everyone agreed with that conclusion. Xuan Zi was the only one who seemed unwilling to accept it.
"How did he die, exactly, Elder Wu?" he said.
"Collapse. The orphanage buildings collapsed in an earthquake. Almost nobody survived, by the looks of it."
A strange glow flashed in Xuan Zi's eyes. "Can you name the orphanage?"
"Yes." Wu Di shrugged, eager to show off his skills. "It was called the... Greatest Orphanage In The World."
Not just Wu Di, but also the other Elders around him wore a confounded look as the name was revealed. What kind of name is that?
Xuan Zi sighed, as if disappointed by something. Waving a hand, he said, "Continue with the follow-up procedures. There's nothing more to see here, it seems."
"What do we do with him after that?" One of the Elders asked.
"Since he's not a threat, should we let him leave?"
"Didn't they discover his abnormality during the recruitment ceremony? What was his result there?" Xuan Zi asked.
"This... Let me send a message to Lao Jun. He'll know."
The Elder took out an emergency messaging talisman and burnt it with a thought. After an unusually long wait, the talisman reappeared on his palm, as if conjured out of thin air.
"Well? What does it say?" Xuan Zi asked, his curiosity stoked by the silence of the Elder.
As the Elder looked back at him, Xuan Zi read the abnormal expression on his face and felt a churning in his stomach.
What the hell did this boy do there?