Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Half dragged by sect master Xuan Zi, a depressed Han Xuhan was forced to enter a small, empty cell with white walls and no windows. Master 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 and stabilize any sort of low-level dangers, hiding the process under the radar of the Heavenly Dao.

Several elders from the sect would gather outside and help with the process of stimulating his memory seal, which according to them, was a unique feature of every reincarnated being who had the touch of heavenly law in their fate.

While the whole process sounded fairly straightforward and harmless, Han Xuhan couldn't help but feel unsettled at how lackadaisical Xuan Zi's behavior was. He didn't seem very concerned about the dangers of the technique.

To him, it seemed, 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 be a harmless cultivator in his previous life, he was bound to attract disasters every now and then. Who could guarantee that he'd live long anyway?

Moreover, all of this jargon about the heavenly dao, twisting fates, inescapable punishments, and reincarnation was too much to handle at once. He could not even understand half the connections Xuan Zi made in his explanations and reasonings that followed.

The words were new, the concepts were mind-boggling, and the chain of events was adverse to his safety.

Terribly glum, Han Xuhan paced around the room while his thoughts raced. He had no reason to think that Xuan Zi was lying.

Why would an esteemed cultivator of the prestigious Crimson Snow sect bother to stage such drama with a mere mortal? At least most of his explanation had to be true. If that were the case, what was his life like in his previous incarnation?

Was he really a powerful cultivator in his previous life whose existence hadn't been tolerated by the heavens?

Although it sounded very cool to phrase it this way and could probably make every imaginative young man's blood boil in excitement and pride, Han Xuhan was just terrified, plain and simple.

The only reason he had wanted to cultivate was to become a prestigious expert and live a life full of luxury and laziness. He had no intention of achieving incredible feats and contending with the celestials above heaven for the position of godly status. What sort of a buffoon would bother to do all that anyway?

Such feats sounded cool in stories, but when he put himself in those bloody sagas, everything felt so dark and terrifying!

Now though, things were going in a direction he had no control of. He sincerely hoped that his past incarnation had been as low-key and charismatic as his current self.

Hopefully, he would turn out to be one of those unlucky fellows who got caught up in these hijinks of the heavenly dao and had no clue what had hit him before dying tragically young, preferably with a dozen tearful young maidens attending his funeral and lamenting about how they had missed their chance of expressing their love to him when he was alive...

Ahh...that would have been a beautiful scene.

But he immediately lost interest in imagining further as he realized that life must have gone on without him for those girls.

Those heartbroken maidens would have to forget their love for him and marry somebody else. It made Xuhan feel like a husband who has been cucked.

His sorrow overflowing, Han Xuhan decided to focus on more pressing matters, such as the murmurings outside.

"Seems like they're about to begin."

Preparing himself for the worst, Xuhan closed his eyes and sat down in the middle of the cell.

Soon, the voices outside quieted down and he felt a chill spreading inside the cell. It was as if countless predators were gazing at him hungrily.

His mind was suddenly assaulted by a great pang of unrest and fear. His thoughts turned chaotic and aimless. A sound similar to constant strokes of guzheng surrounded his consciousness. The volume increased and increased. Countless roars exploded within his head. The frequency of the guzheng had reached an unimaginable level, nearly making him clap his hands over his ears. He could feel a strange sort of detachment from his own body. Heavy shackles seemed to bind him and drag him back to his body while his consciousness felt like an explosive in its last moments.

CRAACCKK!!!

An inaudible, yet somehow terrifyingly impactful sound rumbled inside the cell.

Han Xuhan felt a rush of nausea while countless streams of information flowed inside his mind as if they had been waiting for just this moment.

Scenes after scenes, words after words flashed through him while he lay on his back, unable to move. As his consciousness became somewhat tranquil and free from all those pestering interferences, Han Xuhan began to process the information that had been freed from the seal. What he saw, however, was beyond anything he could have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Forget being the eyesore of the heavens, this...was... simply mind-numbing!