The Sword Emperor Transmigrates-Chapter 253

From the next day onward, Leonard’s routine became incredibly disciplined.

Now at the Demigod Tier, he no longer needed sleep. Instead, he would meditate to calm his mind and open his eyes at dawn. After a few cycles of major circulation to assess his physical condition, he headed to the Golden Dragon Order’s training grounds to observe the knights engaged in personal practice.

Having greatly exhausted their energy twice in the southern seas, their swordsmanship lacked its usual sharpness, but the fiery determination in their eyes burned brighter than ever before. The taste of victory, long forgotten from those years of stagnation, had rekindled a passion buried deep within their souls.

Their skills have improved, albeit slightly. It seems like fighting well against an Outer God’s fragment allowed them to progress.

Thanks to Deification, Leonard was able to perceive their growth clearly. Even the Golden Dragon Knights who had been stagnant for decades, or even centuries, showed faint progress.

Just like Ancestor Cardenas had said, it seemed their potential for growth had not been entirely extinguished.

Though the path of sudden enlightenment may be closed to them, the gradual path remains open. If they can refine the insights left behind by Ancestor Cardenas and accumulate enough merit, breaking through to the Demigod Tier might not be impossible.

While the knights’ traditional training methods in swordsmanship and aura control would have required a millennium to yield results, the advanced martial philosophies of the Middle Plains’ murim provided a glimmer of hope.

Their martial arts scriptures, often resembling Zen koans[1], were tools to expand interpretation and bring them closer to the unspeakable truths. For the Golden Dragon knights, who had forgotten the way forward after surpassing their physical and spiritual limits, there was no better solution.

Thus, Leonard invested more time in lectures and discussions than in sparring or practicing forms, and the knights gradually regained their composure after being overly intoxicated by the thrill of victory.

Meanwhile, Heather, Leonard’s most recent disciple, was progressing at an astonishing pace.

“Master! I think I’ve completed the Nine Rivers Heavenly Wind Sword Art!” she exclaimed.

“Show me,” Leonard replied.

Heather unsheathed her dual swords, and a moist breeze swirled around her. She wasn’t controlling natural energy directly but was instead harmonizing with elemental spirits, drawing out the attributes of water and wind. The technique’s visualization was impressively vivid.

As Heather was a master of dual-wielding, the movement of her swords was seamless, and they never crossed each other’s path or faltered. In her hands, the Nine Rivers Heavenly Wind Sword Art was undoubtedly superior to what the Qingcheng First Sword could have demonstrated.

From the first form—Rain Shower, Wind Comb—to the twenty-seventh form—Wind, Rain, Water, Moon—Heather performed every move flawlessly. When her demonstration concluded, Leonard nodded in approval.

“You’ve reached a level where you can perfectly embody the form and intent of the technique. You’ve achieved the Ten Star level of the Nine Rivers Heavenly Wind Sword Art.”

Heather’s eyes widened in surprise. “You said martial techniques have up to Twelve Stars. Does that mean I still have two stages left to master? It felt perfect to me!”

“Exactly. Your demonstration was perfect within the established framework of the technique,” Leonard agreed. “Now, you have to transcend that framework itself, to reach the realms left undefined by the creator. For that, you need to come up with your own understanding.”

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The distinction between the Ten Stars and Twelve Stars lay here. The tenth stage represented the perfection of the known path—its ultimate limit. Beyond that lay the unknown—wilderness without signposts—where practitioners often regressed rather than advanced past the Ten Stars level.

Thus, when it came to the skill level of a martial art, it was common for it to end at Ten Stars.

“While anyone achieving the tenth stage of a technique will exhibit the same level of mastery, the twelfth stage is unique to the individual,” Leonard went on to explain. “If ten practitioners reached the Twelve Stars level of the Nine Rivers Heavenly Wind Sword Art, each would express it differently.”

“So it’s a level where I have to add my own insights?” Heather asked.

“Precisely. You need to refine the Nine Rivers Heavenly Wind Sword Art with your own understanding to achieve a higher level of swordsmanship. Until you do, you’ll be considered at the eleventh stage.”

From this point forward, Leonard could no longer guide her. The formation of a unique trait—a fundamental gateway to conceptual martial arts—was a deeply personal journey that one had to take alone. Heather would have to face her inner self and forge her own path.

Following this lesson, Heather shifted her focus to self-training, leaving Leonard with more free time than expected.

Unexpectedly, I’ve become rather idle.

With most of the martial theory lectures nearly finished and his sole disciple entering a cocooning phase, Leonard found himself unable to conduct rigorous personal training due to the strain of suppressing his Deification.

Thus, he turned to tasks he had been postponing—one of which was visiting old comrades. Having already reconnected with William and Heather, Leonard decided it was time to visit Belita and Dillon.

“L-Leonard?! I mean, Commander Leonard!” stammered the young man, once just a boy striving for mediocrity during their training days.

Dillon, previously known as No.4 in the training center, had now become an apprentice knight of the Order of the Light Dragon.

Dillon’s aura flow had become much more natural, and his martial achievements were nearing the Transcendence Tier. Leonard did not have to use his Dragon Eyes to see that.

“There’s no need for formalities. This isn’t an official visit. I’m just here to check on you, my old comrade. I was curious how you’ve been doing,’ said Leonard.

“...Is that so?” Dillon shrugged. “Well, I speak formally to everyone, so...”

“Come to think of it, you’ve been the same since our training days,” Leonard remarked.

Dylan and Leonard’s remained rather tedious, but it wasn’t bad for killing some time.

Despite his modesty, Leonard couldn’t help but notice how steadily Dillon had progressed compared to his own meteoric rise. Unlike Leonard’s rapid ascent, Dillon had followed the traditional path, diligently advancing step by step.

Leonard was also intrigued by the inside stories of the Order of the Light Dragon, as other orders wouldn’t really discuss things like that. It was only due to his rank as commander that Leonard could gain access to such information.

“I assume you’re going to see Belita after this?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, she’s not in the Forest of Swords. She’s back at her family estate. If you want to see her, you have to go there,” Dillon informed him.

Leonard frowned. “Why isn’t she at the Forest of Swords?”

Once joining one of the Seven Great Orders, no one was allowed to move to another place for personal reasons, not even direct descendants of Cardenas. Thus, Belita had left the Forest of Swords, there had to be a good reason for that.

“She was originally slated to join the Order of the Blue Dragon, but after the non-aggression pact with the Celestials, all admissions were frozen, leaving her in limbo,” Dillon explained. “With no official position, she returned home.”

“I see.”

Understanding the situation, Leonard took to the skies. The vast expanse of the Cardenas territory stretched below, but to a Demigod Tier warrior like Leonard, it was far from daunting.

He accelerated sharply, though without causing a shockwave that would disturb the ground below. As he tore through the clouds and scattered them, the azure sky was revealed—a clear path to his next destination.

As soon as he arrived, Leonard sensed another pair of Dragon Eyes.

“As expected, she’s awakened them, although she doesn’t seem to be able to control them perfectly.”

If Belita had been at Demian or Leonard’s level, she could have learned to suppress the aura of the Dragon Eye, making it nearly impossible for anyone else to detect them.

To see something was to influence it—just as only those with Spiritual Sight could comprehend supernatural phenomena, perception itself became a form of interference. For the Dragon Eyes, a power of superior blood, that influence manifested as an undeniable presence.

Thus, it wasn’t long before Leonard found Belita.

“Eh? Leonard? No, I mean... Golden Dragon Commander?”

“Let’s just drop the formalities when speaking in private. It feels weird to be treated like a superior by all my peers.”

“Ah, you’re still the same in that regard, huh?”

Belita smiled softly. Though she was now a graceful and refined woman while still retaining the same mysterious aura from her youth, Leonard remained as unperturbed as ever. To someone as cold as him, even overt attempts at charm would go unnoticed.

Belita, once the No. 2 cadet during their training days and the first among their peers to express goodwill toward Leonard, handed him a cup and asked, “Do you prefer black tea or coffee?”

“Either is fine. I’m not particularly fond of either, though.”

In his past life, as the wandering swordsman Yeon Mu-Hyuk, he had even resorted to eating mud cakes to survive. Even after rising to the pinnacle of the murim as a Creation Realm expert, he had never really cared for culinary pleasures.

Leonard was no different now. He drank the tea offered by Belita without hesitation and met her gaze.

After blinking a few times, he remarked, “So, your Dragon Eye awakened when you broke through the Transcendence Tier? Your control over it seems unstable.”

Belita’s usually calm expression shifted slightly as her eyes widened in surprise. “You can see that much?”

“It’s easy for those with Dragon Eyes to recognize another user. Commander Demian also saw through me the first time we met.”

“In that case, maybe I should learn a thing or two from our class prodigy? There are only four others with the Dragon Eyes in the family besides me, and they’re all too busy to spare the time.”

As the saying goes, “To see is to know.” Dragon Eye bearers often held high-ranking positions, leaving them little time to personally guide others.

Leonard had found the time to visit Belita only because the large-scale subjugation operation and his Deification had temporarily freed up his schedule.

“Well, that’s fine. If you’re okay with just the basics, I’ll teach you.”

“Wait, really? You’re serious?”

“The family head once told me that sharing knowledge among the bloodline of Cardenas is a given. Since I’ve been taught that way, I don’t mind sparing the time for you.”

Few things are as agonizing as having the will to learn but no one to teach you. As someone born into the remnants of a fallen noble house, left with no choice but to teach himself martial arts and wander across the world in search of knowledge back in the Middle Plains, Leonard deeply understood that longing.

Though it had been years since they last met, their conversation flowed naturally, with no awkwardness between them. They continued to talk until the sun had dipped below the horizon.

* * *

It was about a month after Leonard had begun to take a breather from his relentless journey. After reuniting with his peers, teaching the Order of the Golden Dragon, and overseeing Heather’s training while focusing on refining his own Mindscape, his life had settled into a routine.

But one day, Leonard frowned deeply as he looked into his Mindscape.

The fire energy that had reached the level of a god due to the Vermillion Bird's Descent is now encroaching on the energies of the other Four Symbols. My method of empowering the Black Tortoise seems effective, but even with my intervention, the balance can barely shift from a 70:30 ratio to 60:40 at best.

Leonard had hoped to restore balance through controlled breathing techniques and meditation, but now, that seemed nearly impossible. The only feasible solution appeared to be awakening the energy of the Black Tortoise to the level of a True God in order to rival the Vermillion Bird's Descent.

However, without the heightened focus from battle or the blessings of universal laws, attempting such a feat could trigger a catastrophic backlash. A single mistake could lead to an explosion that would obliterate everything within several kilometers.

Naturally, Leonard himself wouldn’t survive something like that.

“I’ll have to think about this more after my audience with the empress.”

Indeed, as Declan had mentioned not long ago, the time for Leonard to meet the empress of Arcadia was drawing near.

When it came to human societies and national powers, those at the Demigod Tier acknowledged them merely out of formality. However, the empress, a descendant of the founding emperor and effectively the commander-in-chief of this great war, was an exceptional case.

Unlike the self-proclaimed rulers of the Middle Plains who had plunged the world into endless chaos for their own greed, this empress was different.

“One Beloved by the World.”

The Archduke of Sword Declan had described the empress with those exact words.

1. A koan is a paradoxical anecdote or riddle without a solution, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and provoke enlightenment. ☜