Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: 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.
Mu Yao saw that the man didn’t seem flustered at all when he saw the shining sword. In fact, he seemed a little arrogant.
Mu Yao narrowed her eyes.
Immediately afterward, a cold silver sword was pressed against the man’s neck. Mu Yao said in a low voice with a smirk, “Who are you? Don’t blame me for blinding you if you don’t answer my question!”
The man casually glanced at the woman’s vigilant actions. He saw that the silver sword and the woman’s jade pendant were faintly engraved with the word “Mu”. The jade pendant and the silver sword’s handle seemed to be engraved with something too.
The man smirked. “You can go ahead and try it. You won’t be able to get out even if you kill me!”
Mu Yao moved her sword closer to the man’s neck. A red mark had appeared on his neck. Blood would be shed if she were to move even the slightest bit closer!
Still, the man was as arrogant as ever under such circumstances.
Mu Yao smirked. “Are you trying to scare me? Judging from the rust on the chains and your pale and dried lips, you must have been here for a long time.”
The man merely smiled and raised his hands gently. As his hands moved, the sound of metal chains clashing could be heard in the cave.
“Yes, but so what about that?” The man was smug.
“That’s why you should be more polite when you speak to me. Whether or not I’ll undo this chain is entirely dependent on how I feel. Do you understand?” Mu Yao casually retorted him.
The man’s pupils instantly constricted. “You! How could you?!”
Mu Yao immediately replied, “Is that how you should speak to me?”
The exasperated man struggled moved his limbs, wanting to teach the woman a lesson. However, no matter how he tried, he could not break free from the chains!
Although the man had no memories, he felt that he would definitely have killed the woman right then and there if he had the powers to do so.
“Don’t waste your energy. Since I don’t know how to get out and you need me to unlock the chains, you’ll have to answer my next question,” Mu Yao said in a low voice.
No matter what, the man was more familiar with this place than her.
That set the gears in the man’s mind turning too. He had no idea how long he had spent locked up in this cave. Besides, he no longer had any memories in his head, and the spiritual force in his body had also disappeared.
If he wanted to recover his spiritual force, he would have to rely on this woman. No matter what, he had to suppress his temper and not make things difficult for himself.
The man gritted his teeth and sighed helplessly. “Ask away, woman.”
At the same time, the sound of a huge creature trampling on the ground rang out from all four directions in the pitch-black cave. Following that, the roars of unknown wild beasts rang out.
Mu Yao waved the silver sword in her hand in all directions.
“Who is it? Come out!” She yelled out.
The huge vibration of the giant creature’s feet on the ground grew closer and closer, and the sound grew louder.
“Woman, you weren’t so fierce just now. Are you scared now? Don’t worry, they won’t dare to come in with me here.” The man then looked up at Mu Yao and said casually.
Mu Yao didn’t believe him. Instead, she continued to raise his sword and slowly approached the source of the sound.
Mu Yao’s heart trembled with each step.
The sound was coming from behind the stone door with the word “Spring” written on it.
Seeing that Mu Yao was about to reach the door, the man widened his eyes and raised his voice. “Woman, don’t fool around! It’s dangerous!”
Of course, the man wasn’t truly concerned about Mu Yao’s safety. He was afraid that she would not be able to help him if she died!
However, Mu Yao couldn’t care less about the man.
The sound on the other side of the door grew louder and louder, and even the roars of the giant creature could be heard. The roar was followed by the sound of something pounding its chest.
Holding her silver sword tightly, Mu Yao raised her foot and was about to step across the door!
The man immediately stood up and rushed over. This action caused a series of loud metal chains to clang throughout the cave.
“This woman! Why is she so disobedient?!”
At the same time, Mu Yao had stepped one foot through the doorway! However, her foot was still hovering in the air.
The man wanted to do something but his limbs were restrained. Hence, he roared, “Scram! If you dare to come in, I’ll definitely kill all of you!”
Immediately, the loud noise behind the stone door grew smaller and smaller! The loud noise that had been so close just moments earlier gradually faded into the background.
All of a sudden, Mu Yao retracted her foot that was about to touch the ground. She retreated in a daze, her face covered in sweat as she panted slowly with her back facing the man.
Even though she had reincarnated with a sword in her hand, Mu Yao knew that she was just a mortal without any cultivation.
She had only stepped out because of her courage, but the aftereffects were quite strong. The handle of the silver sword was covered in cold sweat.
Mu Yao’s breathing gradually calmed down. Slowly raising her sword, she stood up and turned around, her cold gaze piercing straight through the man.
“Who exactly are you? Why are they so afraid of you? What’s behind this stone door?!” She gripped her sword tightly again.
Seeing that Mu Yao was safe and sound, the man let out a sigh of relief. However, the woman’s cold gaze pierced through his soul.
“Woman, I saved you but you want to kill me? Put yourself in my shoes and think about it. I’ve been trapped here for so long and finally met a living person. Of course, I cherish you. I don’t want you to go in and die!”
At this moment, the man knew that he was at a disadvantage. He tried his best not to force himself on such a woman. It was obvious that danger lay behind those doors.
Mu Yao smiled and a dark gleam flickered in her clear eyes. “I don’t think it’s that simple. If it was that dangerous, why did you stay here for so long?”
The man then said slowly, “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? It seems like you’re not trustworthy. You stopped me from entering just now, saying that it was for my safety, but who knows if you’re a human or a ghost?” With that said, she walked toward the “Spring” stone door with her sword.
Seeing that the woman was really about to walk in, the man became anxious. “The exit isn’t behind this stone door! Definitely not. Neither are the other three stone doors!
If you want to leave this place, I can teach you swordsmanship! As long as you can learn the skills I’ve drawn on this wall, we can leave together! ”
Without any hesitation, Mu Yao trudged on with her sword.
“I gave you a chance to make me trust you. Besides, you’re chained up. How do you know if the exit is behind this stone door?” Mu Yao questioned.
The man was anxious because he really wasn’t sure if there was an exit behind the four stone doors. If this woman left and never came back, he would lose his chance to escape for the rest of his life. Those skills were his last hope.
Seeing that the woman was about to walk through the door again, the man shouted in a moment of desperation, “Woman! I’ll tell you everything, but don’t be in a hurry to go in! That’s definitely not the way out.. Besides, if you leave, you won’t be able to go back the way you came!”