The Sword Emperor Transmigrates

“…I have to say, I’m a little surprised,” Wade admitted, but his astonishment only lasted for a split second before his expression became neutral again, just like always. Every leader in the Seven Great Orders was a veteran who’d witnessed all matters of things, but Wade was among the most calculating.

If a meteorite were to land in front of him, he wouldn’t just stand there in shock and be late to react. He would immediately draw his sword.

It was exceptionally rare for him to be stunned.

“I don’t believe Demian and Audrey told you. Did you figure this out on your own?” he asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“How?”

Leonard responded with a blink, revealing his Dragon Eyes. They were extraordinary and potent, and the number of people with Dragon Eyes in the already small group of Cardenas family members with unique traits could be counted on one hand.

“I see. So you mean to say that you discerned their defects with those eyes of yours,” Wade muttered to himself. He wasn’t immediately convinced. “Demian also has Dragon Eyes, but he was only able to see their defects after he reached the Demigod Tier. That means that your talent or aptitude exceeds his or you are on the brink of reaching the Demigod Tier.”

His words caught Leonard’s interest. “Which one do you think it is, Commander?”

“I want to say it’s the latter, but it is undoubtedly the former,” Wade replied without considering it for even a moment. He closed his eyes, then opened them again.

There was a universal unspoken agreement that he was the most powerful knight in all the orders. No one in the Demigod Tier could deny the power and convenience of Dragon Eyes, but to them, it was nothing more than that. The ability to perceive the hidden aspects of mortals who were limited by causality and natural laws didn’t mean much to those who could bend those very laws.

“There are four powers that reside in you. I have a feeling that you will need five in order to cross the threshold. One could say that you are eighty percent of the way there, but as you may know, such mathematical measures are pointless when your goal is to break into the next Tier,” Wade observed.

He was right. This didn’t just apply to Transcendence and Demigod Tier experts; no matter the endeavor, it became harder to improve a skill the more it progressed. Even if the stairway on the first floor was the same height as the stairway on the tenth floor, there was inherently a large difference between the two.

This also explained why a young student who’d just started memorizing the Thousand Character Classic couldn’t immediately catch up with a great scholar who’d read all the books in the world. Even for a genius who reached the Apex Realm not long after starting out in martial arts, the process of reaching the Profound Realm would be much more grueling and time-consuming. If they made even one misstep on the way, whether they trained for another decade or a century, they would never be able to cross the threshold if they didn’t gain insight and find a solution through meditation.

Well, I’ve barely started on the Western God Style, let alone the Yellow Dragon.

Leonard realized that he was showing his nervousness and calmed his unsettled heart. This wasn’t like him.

He could only attempt to unify the Five Elements once he fully developed all their energies. It didn’t make much of a difference if he had one or four as long as he didn’t have all of them. This endeavor was even more exacting than unifying the essence, energy, and spirit, so he wouldn’t make much progress even if he rushed.

When Wade saw Leonard calm himself, he had a rare, faint smile on his face.

“You have full control over your emotions. Quite impressive,” he praised.

That was one of the prerequisites of reaching the Demigod Tier and being able to embody the Mindscape. Since it required a person to be able to overpower natural laws with Visualization, people who became a little distracted by trivial things couldn’t achieve it.

Wade spoke again, revealing what he’d deduced. “Even among those with Dragon Eyes, the trait does not always manifest in the same way. The reason you were able to notice the secret of the Golden Dragon Knights is because you have a power that Demian does not.”

Leonard realized what he was implying and narrowed his eyes. “You’re referring to the Dragon Heart.”

The Dragon Heart—the supreme dragon trait that only the greatest heads of the Cardenas family had awakened so far.

Wade gave a single nod in confirmation. “Dragon Blood Awakening is merely a way of awakening the potential dormant in our blood, which descended from our draconic ancestors. Dragon traits such as the wings, and even the eyes, are nothing more than paltry imitations. However, the Dragon Heart is considered the exception.”

The heart was in charge of blood circulation and was essentially the source of life. Along with the brain, it could even be a vital point even for an immortal being.

But the Dragon Heart went beyond that.

While Draconic Words were the most important power that allowed dragons to rule as transcendent beings, the heart was the most important organ in that aspect.

“Simply awakening a Dragon Heart transforms the body to become more like a dragon’s and significantly increases one’s physical capabilities,” Wade said.

The dragons’ incredible physical abilities were also why mortals didn’t dare to resist their violent oppression when the ancient era collapsed and the age of dragons began. Mages couldn’t scratch their scales unless they were at least Class 7, and auras that weren’t made of augmented energy slid off them like water. Considering that their abilities were inherently superior as a species, only people who were at least as strong as Masters could stand against them.

Leonard listened carefully as his suspicions were confirmed. “So that must mean that having a Dragon Heart allows one to awaken all dragon traits.”

“Theoretically, yes,” Wade said calmly, not refuting him. “Your Dragon Eyes likely became enhanced thanks to the influence of your Dragon Heart. Can you explain what the Golden Dragon Knights looked like to you?”

“…It’s hard to put it in words, but they looked neither human nor dragon.”

“Did they look unstable on the inside?”

“It wasn’t necessarily a matter of stability.” Leonard chose his words carefully before he spoke again. “Their souls and bodies were distorted in a bizarre way. It was as if two parts were carelessly molded together like clay, unable to separate again.”

“Distorted, you say. A very fitting term.” Wade seemed as if he’d expected Leonard to answer like that.

The Order of the Golden Dragon was known to the public as the Cardenas’ strongest fighting force, but there were multiple reasons why the mysterious group had to hide their true nature. They not only had to conceal their full power but also its source and cause. If the truth came out, it would cause an uproar within the family.

“I’ll speak plainly,” Wade said.

Finally. Leonard’s ears immediately perked up.

“For hundreds of years, the Golden Dragon’s long-held wish has been to ‘reincarnate’ Ancestor Cardenas.”

* * *

At the end of their long, long fight, the founding emperor and his three wives defeated the dragons and ended their rule. Then, the Arcadian Empire was founded.

The age of gods and dragons ended and the age of humans began.

However, Arcadia was in danger immediately after it was founded. It didn’t have its current vast territory and enormous population, and neighboring countries were scheming against it, discontented with the emergence of a new nation.

Arcadia should have been able to overpower them all with its Deification Tier warriors, but as Ancestor Cardenas began to die, burdened with the curse of her kin, their invulnerable defenses began to crack.

“Ragna, listen to me.”

Even as she was dying, she laid her life down for her lover. Knowing that her blood would grow weaker as it mixed with human blood, she told him to extract her blood for her descendants. Since it belonged to a swordsman who became as powerful as a god, her blood would instill in them a gift for martial arts.

While planning for the centuries ahead, she also came up with a way for something to temporarily take her place.

“I lost my body due to the curse, but not my soul. With Wickeline’s assistance, it should be possible for my soul to remain behind even after I die.”

Unlike mortals, who lived and died under the binds of worldly laws, transcendent immortals crossed over to another place when they died.

But Ancestor Cardenas had the resolve to shackle her soul for her to remain after her physical death, unable to completely depart from her lover and the empire when they were in danger.

“Her plan was possession.[1] Ancestor Cardenas would borrow the bodies of her descendants to protect the empire at times of crisis.”

Her and Ragna’s children were so formidable that today’s descendants couldn’t even begin to compare. They were almost as strong as dragons.

Needless to say, they had massive capabilities and potential, to the point that Ancestor Cardenas could temporarily channel the full power she had during her lifetime by borrowing their bodies. Not even half-dragons could easily take them down, so there weren’t many crises that required the ancestor herself to step forward.

“The problems began only after her blood began to weaken. As our family tree expanded, it gradually lost its purity.”

In addition to Ancestor Cardenas being the last dragon, there also weren’t many transcendent species that cherished humans. Otherwise, the founding emperor wouldn’t be revered as a miraculous man. As countless direct and indirect descendants were born, the Cardenas family’s manpower had increased by hundreds of times since the founding of the empire, but it was inevitable that the number of people who could bear the strain of becoming a vessel for her spirit would decrease.

“At first, a single descendant could channel her multiple times, but after a few generations, it reached the point where the ritual only succeeded once every few times Transcendence Tier descendants were sacrificed, if that,” Wade said.

No matter how powerful Ancestor Cardenas was, she couldn’t defeat and conquer all the enemies that came from the Celestial Realm, Demonic Realm, and otherworld. Perhaps she would be able to succeed if she were in peak condition within her original body, but it was impossible by possessing a descendant. The most she could do was face off against an army of enemies and obliterate their advance guard.

However, by some miracle, after she defeated godly enemies several times, they stopped stepping into the Middle Realm directly.

“The optimists believe that the monsters have given up, but I completely disagree,” Wade said. “I believe that they have merely delayed their invasion and are waiting until Ancestor Cardenas’ influence fades completely. To immortal beings, a thousand years is not a very long time.”

The Arcadian Empire and the Three Noble Houses had expanded their power throughout the centuries, and they could handle any Demigod Tier opponents. But it was a different story if their opponents were as powerful as gods.

The Order of the Golden Dragon was a group that existed for that worst-case scenario. They believed that it was more feasible to revive Ancestor Cardenas than for someone to reach the Deification Tier with their own strength. Their determination bordered on lunacy, which was why they continued to attempt the ritual.

“Each of the Golden Dragon Knights believed that they would be the one to resonate with her blood and the remnants of her soul, surpass human limits, and fulfill her wish. They all volunteered for the ceremony, but in the end, they only threw their lives away.”

“Is the abnormality of their bodies an aftereffect?” Leonard asked.

“Indeed,” Wade said. “When they tried to become her vessel, they awakened advanced knowledge of swordplay as well as enhanced physical capabilities and dragon traits that allow them to overpower Transcendence Tier experts. However, they can no longer progress beyond that, and they cannot defeat Demigod Tier experts. They are disposable like dolls, sacrificed in attempts to summon Ancestor Cardenas.”

Despite how much others revered the Golden Dragon Knights, they were ashamed of themselves, which was why some of them had become twisted to the point of becoming extremists.

They’d joined the order with the hopes of bringing peace to the world and honor to the Cardenas name, but not only did they fail, they also ended up looking like idiots, unable to grow any stronger.

It was the price they paid for their greed of the Deification Tier and for overestimating themselves. That one mistake ended in such tragedy.

“The Golden Dragon Knights tried to take you by force because they envied you for not giving in to the temptation like they did, and because you have the support of Knight Commanders,” Wade explained.

Though they wouldn’t have been able to refuse their assignment to the Golden Dragon as Leonard could, the decision to participate in the ceremony had been entirely their own. Even if they were coaxed into it, giving into the temptation of Ancestor Cardenas’ power was ultimately their own choice.

They deserve what they got, Leonard thought. As a martial artist, he felt sympathy for their inability to become stronger, but he couldn’t excuse the way they tried to place the blame on someone else.

His face hardened. Even if the Golden Dragon Knights had carried him away, Leonard would have never agreed to participate in the ritual, but the intention itself was so malicious.

However, Leonard still had one question left.

“Commander Wade, who exactly is the Golden Dragon Commander? Was there a Demigod Tier expert who survived the ritual?”

“No. Because those who reach the Demigod Tier manipulate their own unique laws from within, she cannot possess them. It is not even possible for them to become a vessel, let alone fulfill their wish. That is also why the Order of the Golden Dragon only recruits up-and-coming Transcendence Tier experts.”

Wade fell silent for a moment.

The Golden Dragon Commander was one of the Archducal House of Cardenas’ top three secrets, something so serious that only commanders were aware of it. It was so closely guarded that even finding out about it was enough for someone to be watched by the Order of the Light Dragon. Leonard was allowed to know because the majority of the Knight Commanders gave their approval. However, it felt a little uneasy to be the one to actually tell him.

But Wade didn’t hesitate.

“The Golden Dragon Commander is the remnant of Ancestor Cardenas’ soul that she left behind.”

1. The word used here is gangshin, a Korean cultural/spiritual term which refers to rituals used to summon a spirit, particularly by inviting them into one’s body. This is also the name of a specific ritual performed when honoring ancestors. The literal meaning of the characters is “bring down spirit/god.” ☜