8 BEHEAD

Under the starry sky, Yue Huang made his way to Sigai City; looking at the strange glowing flowers at the side of his path, he reminisced about his days spent on Earth.

He only had one regret from before his supposed death: he wouldn't be able to let his mother have a peaceful life without worries.

He was sure that right now his mother must be heartbroken since the news of his "death" would have been made known to her.

This was probably the greatest regret in his life and could never be forgotten.

…

The path Yue Huang took to Sigai City was twisting through forests and mountains. Regardless, Yue Huang didn't seem afraid of being ambushed by beasts or bandits. The area around the city was patrolled on a regular basis by the city's guards, therefore if anything that could pose a threat to citizens or visitors were already eliminated.

Hence Yue Huang didn't need to worry about getting into any dangerous situations since the town where he previously was, was near the city.

Plus, from what he knew about the area, the guards took their duties very serious: They would provide a sense of security, while establishing their prestige and power at the same time.

….

In his previous life, Yue Huang wasn't much into sports or any extracurricular activities.

The only exercise he had ever done regularly was walking from his home to school and back. Other than that he did a few exercises during P.E class, but given his pathetic stamina, he couldn't manage more than a few reps.

But right now, he was surprised to find that even after walking for hours at a stretch he didn't feel too tired or sore.

At first he wondered if he was actually talented in cultivation and that's why he had showed great stamina. He was in a jolly mood after realizing his benefits, but after giving it a deep thought he felt something couldn't be right; the previous Yue Huang was never into cultivation, so it was strange if he possessed more endurance for no reason at all.

Could it be that residents of this world had stronger bodies than the people back on Earth? But that clearly shouldn't be the case!

Yue Huang had a lot of spare time to assess his condition during his walk to the city. Based off on the previous Yue Huang's memories, he remembered a bedtime story, told to him by his father. This story was something often told to the young kids of the Yue Family.

It recounted the life of an ancestor of the Yue Family, a man of righteous and brave nature. He would charge forth head-on into battle and neither use any underhanded tactics, nor back down from challenges and would face death without fear!

At first Yue Huang thought that it was a miracle in itself how this ancestor even managed to survive in the first place given his nature. From the memories of the previous Yue Huang, he knew that this world was a lot like how it was described in the novels, a cruel place where strength was everything.

Although the cultivation level of the forefather of the Yue Family wasn't mentioned in the story, from the feats he could pull off, Yue Huang knew he was definitely a top-notch expert of his time. But what troubled this ancient warrior back then was the fact that his sons and daughters didn't inherit his talents in cultivation.

So he made an extremely painful choice and crippled his own cultivation to use a forbidden technique which merged his Dao comprehensions into his blood.

The results were effective; the children he sired afterwards were more talented and physically stronger than their older siblings. Years later, they took over the Yue Clan and brought it to great heights.

But by that time their famous ancestor had mysteriously disappeared.

The story ended there. Yue Huang initially didn't think much about it but considering the stamina his body displayed, he connected the two dots together. Most likely, after years down the line, the Yue family's "martial blood" had become weak. Now it could at best ensure that inheritors of the blood have stronger bodies than normal people, which was already impressive since the effect of the blood was still passed down the line even after so many centuries.

The Yue Clan naturally knew of their heritage, but since the original owner of his body was never interested in cultivation, Yue Huang was not privy to the greater knowledge of the martial blood. As such he could only reference to the bedtime stories he was told and link a few things regarding the Yue Family's ancestor.

Yue Huang felt excited thinking about the "martial blood" flowing in his body. Or rather the body of the previous Yue Huang: But now that body belonged to him!

Perhaps his decision to enter this body was the will of heaven's itself? Maybe the heavens felt guilty about his previous, sad life?

Although he roamed for god-knows-how-long in an empty void after his ridiculous death and was tortured by some crazy lights at the end… he still felt grateful… the feeling of being able to live again… was ecstatic!

[Heavens have eyes!], he thought.

[After the tournament, I'll go back to the family and cultivate like a maniac!] Yue Huang firmly made his decision while clenching his fists tightly. As someone who loved cultivation novels, now that it became a reality, he wanted to cultivate and become stronger or else he would end up being bullied in this world too! If he ends up like this here too… then his life would truly be pathetic. That's why he resolved to give cultivation his all with a firm determination!

After about another hour of walking he finally beheld the magnificent sight of Sigai City and immediately proceeded towards the city gate.

"HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!" One of the arrogant guards on the lookout shouted when he saw someone rushing up in the dark of night towards the gate.

Immediately a whole unit of city guards left their guarding positions and surrounded Yue Huang who wanted make his way to the city gate.

"What...what are you doing? I just want to enter the city, why are you blocking me?" Yue Huang confusedly said. He didn't know why the guards suddenly surrounded him with swords pointing right at his neck. But he had no doubt that if he tried to flinch even a tiny bit, his head would be chopped off. The aura given off by these people told him that they were no kind saints.

"Intruder! How dare you try to trespass the city at night?! Don't you know that entry is closed off after dusk and anyone who tries to forcefully enter is beheaded?" said the same arrogant guard from before.

"There was such a thing?!" Yue Huang exclaimed while shock was written all over his face. A trace of anger flashed past his eyes, as he thought about this matter: Based on his memories, since his father was busy with formalities, it was the duty of his cousin, Yue Song, to explain him the rules and proceedings of the martial tournament and the city. Yue Song had told him that there was no curfew set for stepping inside the city walls and encouraged him to enjoy himself outside and sneakily come back at night.

Although Yue Huang wouldn't dare to call himself smart, he wasn't a dumb person either.

Clearly, his cousin had set him up. Judging from the personality of the previous Yue Huang, Yue Song probably knew that his cousin would leave the city because of the "boring" tournament and sneak back in into the Yue Family's resting quarters at night when it was over. And hence Yue Song probably used this opportunity to plot against the latter and have him beheaded for trying to trespass into the city after the curfew.

[Truly what an indigenous and a clean plan, using the city guards to do the killing whilst keeping himself completely unsuspected and out of the mess.]

[How scary! This Yue Song, what enmity did he have with the previous Yue Huang? He seems like one of those smart villains from the novels…quite alarming…]

[Looks like the previous Yue Huang wasn't the only black sheep in the family; turns out Yue Song too didn't have a white background, but lay unnoticed, quiet like a hidden viper!]

Yue Huang's mind worked fast… but the same couldn't be said about Yue Huang's words.

"I didn't know… please let me go! I'm innocent" Facing his possible death at any moment, Yue Huang choked on his words.

"Even if you are innocent, we have no choice but to decapitate you! This is the rule of the Sigai City. Nobody can enter the city after dusk… if you just stood by and waited we wouldn't have done anything! But you just had to try to step into the city! You can only blame it on yourself now", another haughty guard added.

Looking at the guards who were about to make a move, Yue Huang used the last means he had to save his pitiful life, he played the "young master" card and snootily shouted, "I am from the Yue Family! Even if you kill me, rest assured your families will accompany me to their graves! "

Hearing that the wimpy lad was from one of the four most prominent families of Tingxin empire, the faces of the guards twitched indignantly. But they had no choice, this was an ancestral rule of the city, even a toddler of Lushu Empire knew. Nobody would ever try to trespass into Sigai City after dusk, if they wanted to enter, they would have to wait until the dawn.

The guards exchanged glances with each other; they had a firm determination in their eyes.

Even if it was god himself who wanted to get in, they would resolutely try to kill him even at the cost of their lives! Then why would they care about this wimpy member of the Yue family?!

Just as the guard captain was about to chop off Yue Huang's head with his sword, he received a mental message, after which he suddenly halted in his actions and looked strangely at the young master in front of him.

At this moment Yue Huang had already closed his eyes, he was so scared, his body stopped moving and could only await death. But after a few seconds had passed, he surprisingly felt nothing.

[This isn't right… shouldn't I have been beheaded by now?], Yue Huang contemplated as he slowly opened his eyes again. All forces had went back to their guarding positions and only the captain of the guards, a bulky tanned-man with 3 stars pinned on his right chest, still stood at the same position and looked at him.

Both stared at each other silently.

Yue Huang: "…"

Guard Captain: "... You… can go in now."