Chapter 1 (1/2)

Translator: Atlas StudiosEditor: Atlas Studios

In a certain huge cave.

Plink….

The moist water droplets on the damp rock wall slowly rolled down the edge of the wall along the engraving before finally falling into a light jade-green pool, creating ripples.

Beside the jade pool lay a woman dressed in an elegant green silk dress. Her eyes were closed, but she was clearly breathing.

The woman had a silver-white sword by her waist, and beside the sword was a pendant, which flickered with green light, making it stand out in the dark cave. Upon closer inspection, the silver sword and this jade pendant had the word “Mu” carved on it.

All of a sudden, the woman’s eyes fluttered open.

Because she had just woken up, Mu Yao was in a daze. Everything in front of her was unfamiliar and she could not tell what was going on. The only memory she had was of drinking Granny Meng’s soup at the Bridge of Helplessness.

Then, she had appeared here.

An intense pain struck her head, and unfamiliar memories flooded into her brain! It turned out that she had reincarnated into a woman named Mu Yao.

Mu Yao was the eldest daughter of the Imperial Consort of Tianlong. Unfortunately, the stars were not aligned in her favor.

The sorcerers and priests of Tianlong came forward to persuade the emperor to sacrifice this child. She was a jinx to the country, and would bring disaster to the country and people. She had to be eliminated!

The emperor was enraged!

The officials all urged the emperor to eliminate the child. They feared that the country would decline over the next ten years if they didn’t do so.

However, when the emperor and his concubine saw the fruit of their love, they couldn’t bear to give her up. Yet, neither could they withstand the protests of the ministers and the entire nation.

He had no choice but to fake the death of Mu Yao, who was less than a year old, and hand her over to his trusted advisor to raise her.

Mu Yao had been living peacefully in the Imperial Preceptor’s residence for more than a decade. However, when she turned 18 years old, her father suddenly announced that she was the eldest daughter of the emperor, leading to an outcry from the public, who demanded she be executed on the spot! These people even included those whom she had always regarded as her biological siblings!

Mu Yao had no way of knowing all of this. Before she died, she only knew that everyone thought of her as a jinx who would bring nothing but harm to the country. Her family, who had always loved her, also changed their stances. Not long after she was executed, the emperor passed away too.

After the execution, Mu Yao was thrown into the cave in front of all the citizens.

However, everything had been like a bolt out of the blue for Mu Yao before she died. She had always been living a peaceful life, yet she was inexplicably accused of being the daughter of the Emperor, and was even killed by her so-called parents.

However, the country had been flourishing for the past 18 years. The only taint would be the country being defeated at war by the Shuiguo army. But what did that have to do with Mu Yao?

Apart from this, Tianlong had always been fine. Why did everyone think of her as a jinx?

She had been executed just because of someone else’s baseless accusations!

Before she died, she had begged her parents not to hand her over. She pleaded with the public, convincing them that she was not a jinx to the country. She was just an ordinary eighteen-year-old girl.

She glanced at the familiar faces outside the execution stage with tears streaming down her face. But no one listened to her—not even her family who had always loved her!

Because they were her parents, Mu Yao didn’t dare to resist or run away before she died!

At the same time, a wave of grief washed over the woman and tears welled up in her eyes.

Her memories had merged with Mu Yao’s, but she was no longer as cowardly as Mu Yao had been in her previous life.

A cold glint flashed across the woman’s eyes.

‘I understand your pain. Don’t worry, I will definitely ask them why they loved me so much before I turned eighteen before everything changed overnight. They even reported me as the daughter of the Emperor and killed me! But I have to get out of the cave first.’ Mu Yao made a silent promise to herself and glanced around.

The cave was in the shape of a square. It seemed that she had been thrown here after her death.

‘But shouldn’t a dead person be placed in a grave? Why am I in a cave?’

Then, she saw someone in the distance!

Mu Yao tensed up.

In front of her was a man wrapped in white cloth. He was kneeling with his head slightly lowered as if he was unconscious, and his hands and legs were bound by long chains.

Mu Yao rose to her feet and looked around with a frown.

The long chains on the man’s limbs were fixed to the stone statue in the four corners of this space. These so-called stone statues were four identical Bodhisattva statues. However, the expression on the Bodhisattva’s face was not so kind and amiable. Instead, it had a ferocious look.

A strange look flashed across Mu Yao’s face and she felt a chill down her spine.

‘Why is this Bodhisattva’s expression like this?!’

Following that, the woman looked at the stone wall beside the Guanyin Bodhisattva statue. Each stone statue had a stone door that was as tall as two people, and each door had different words written on it: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter.

But what lay behind the stone door was not light, but darkness. From the depths of that darkness, the roars of unknown animals could be heard from time to time.

However, the strange thing was that these animals did not seem to be able to walk over. Perhaps, there was a wall behind this stone door, blocking this group of unknown animals.

Another possibility was that these unknown animals and beasts would be able to walk over if one could reach the place where the animals were from the stone door. Yet, these animals did not come over.

Mu Yao’s conclusion was that she was currently safe. After all, there was a man who had been here for a long time.

Mu Yao’s gaze returned to the man. Little did she know that the man had woken up.

At this moment, the man was looking at the woman with an ambiguous expression. Then, he realized that the woman’s gaze was on him. His low and hoarse voice sounded, “Woman, come and help me untie this.”

Mu Yao stood up at that moment and subconsciously drew her sword from the sheath on her waist, and the silver blade of the sword flashed with light.

She had not had the silver sword and pendant on her before she died, but somehow, they had turned up on her after death. Whatever the case, this was better than having nothing at all.

She swung the tip of her sword at the man in front of her and demanded slowly, “Who are you?”

Mu Yao then raised her sword as she walked toward the man.

As they got closer, Mu Yao finally saw that the stone wall behind the man was carved with countless images of two little people waving wooden swords.

Each line was made up of more than 20 different groups of five martial arts diagrams. In each picture, the two tiny figures’ sword techniques were different. On these tiny figures, there were the large words: “Hehuan Swordsmanship.”

More and more questions filled Mu Yao’s mind. What was this Hehuan Swordsmanship? And who was this man? Where was she in the first place?

As she drew closer to the man with her silver sword, the man’s eyes lit up.

“How dare you talk to me like that, woman?!” the man questioned angrily.