The Swordmaster Wants To Live Peacefully [EN]: Chapter 357

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully – Episode 356

Swordmaster Wants to Live Peacefully 356

The Jade Emperor Palace (2)

Gods are an exceedingly arrogant bunch.

Meteor Shower had shattered the heads of numerous gods until now, but even with their heads broken, they don’t seem to bother patching them up. There are still many who believe they are superior.

They are the kind of beings who shout, ‘Humans are weak!’ while leaking brain fluid from their shattered skulls, even though it was a human who broke their heads.

“I wonder how long that confidence will last…”

“It will last until we kill you all.”

“Huhu…”

The Jade Emperor Palace’s envoy’s body began to bulge and swell, emitting light in all directions as if it would explode.

Before Meteor Shower could fully detonate, he flicked his finger to isolate the space.

A massive explosion occurred within the space created by his aura. If Meteor Shower hadn’t isolated it, the entire building would have been blown away.

Soon, he compressed the aura more and more, making it small enough to fit in his hand. He squeezed the sphere tightly, eliminating even the aftermath of the explosion.

Yu-wol and Jeanne, who arrived late, watched Meteor Shower’s back as he sat down. Yu-wol asked,

“Master Seong-woo! Are you alright!”

“There was an explosion just now…!”

It was an enormous roar, but there was no trace of the explosion in the room.

Meteor Shower dusted off his smoking hand and said,

“Yu-wol, Jeanne, summon everyone. From now on, we will begin defenses against the Jade Emperor Palace. They have declared war.”

“…! I understand.”

Yu-wol and Jeanne went back outside, and Meteor Shower, left alone, clenched his fist and muttered,

“Then, I should prepare too.”

The time has come to perform the postponed ritual.

***

There are two Holy Shrines on the Korean Peninsula: the Jade Emperor Palace, located in the otherworld of the Korean Peninsula, and the Sword Fraternity, located in the present world.

From the Jade Emperor Palace’s point of view, the Sword Fraternity is an extremely troublesome eyesore.

Their foundation was the Korean Peninsula, and their divinity was formed through the faith of the humans living there.

But suddenly, the Sword Fraternity appeared and carved out a part of the Korean Peninsula to make it their own land. Naturally, they were furious.

It was something that affected their Holy Shrine and their divinity. If Meteor Shower had built a Holy Shrine in another country, they wouldn’t have been so confrontational.

It was unavoidable for Meteor Shower as well. This was the land where he was born and raised, and Sehyun City was the only land he was confident he could completely control.

Meteor Shower returned to the highest point of the Sword Fraternity. He stood once again in the place where he had inherited the memories of the Otherworld and Samjeong, looking down at the Sword Fraternity and raising his head to look at the universe.

His eyes, filled with red light, pierced through the Holy Shrine of the Korean Peninsula, which exists in the imaginary space behind the universe.

A huge castle came into view.

The Holy Shrine of the Korean Peninsula, which he had visited once before, showed off its majesty, revealing its strength.

“I will not let you have your way.”

*What do you think I have been building up until now?*

Of course, it was to stop guys like you—to cut down and kill those who try to manipulate the world as they please with their powerful strength.

He glanced down at the Sword Fraternity for a moment and chuckled as he muttered.

“I don’t think I’m the one to say this…”

We can’t lose to those who only use humans as pawns.

Humans are not pawns; they are humans living with free will.

After contacting Kim Yun-ju to confirm, the envoy of the Jade Emperor Palace who died was a shaman from the Osaek Mudang Association [Five Colors Shaman Association, a group of shamans].

He was a Diver [someone who can travel between worlds] who opposed the Jade Emperor Palace’s opinion, but the Jade Emperor Palace forcibly controlled him and sent him to the Sword Fraternity as an envoy.

To prevent such things from happening, Meteor Shower was determined to thoroughly crush the Jade Emperor Palace.

“It would have been easy if we could have a one-on-one battle like we did with Olympus…”

The situation was different from when they fought Olympus.

From the beginning, the Jade Emperor Palace seemed to be planning to crush the Sword Fraternity mercilessly with all their might.

However, according to Kim Yun-ju, factions were divided within the Jade Emperor Palace, so it wouldn’t be their full strength.

There would be some divinities from the Jade Emperor Palace who would stand by his side and fight.

That was enough.

The rest can be taken as a handicap for being too strong.

“Well, shall we begin?”

To do that, of course, all swords must become his strength.

As he raised his hand, blue light gathered like fireflies, forming the shape of a sword. It was a cone-shaped sword specialized for stabbing rather than cutting.

May (五月) [Fifth Month], Yonggwang (龍光) [Dragon Light] revealed its appearance, trembling and spitting out its slender sword name.

Meteor Shower firmly gripped the handle, as if he had been waiting for it, and closed his eyes.

“Yes, show me your memories.”

*What are you holding?*

*What do you want to show me?*

*I will accept everything.*

***

Those who were summoned for the war with the Jade Emperor Palace were skeptical. It wasn’t the first war they were fighting, but the opponent was the Jade Emperor Palace.

It wasn’t comparable to Olympus or Yggdrasil, but it was still a large Holy Shrine.

All the representatives of the guilds who gathered were Koreans who were born and raised on the Korean Peninsula.

If they had to fight against those who appeared in history books or biographies, there was no way they wouldn’t feel resistance.

“…I’m curious, but if we fight against a place called the Jade Emperor Palace, what are our chances of winning?”

“It wouldn’t even be 10 percent, would it? We have gained some divinities on our side, but the Jade Emperor Palace is a Holy Shrine full of divinities.”

“Is that the case even if Oppa [term used by a younger woman to refer to an older brother or male friend] is here?”

“Master Meteor Shower will survive alone and kill the Jade Emperor Palace, even if we all die. But if we all die, can we call that a victory?”

Yu Ji-woo realized that she had asked a foolish question in response to Medea’s answer.

She was reminded that Meteor Shower’s purpose in gaining strength was not only to cut down his enemies but also to protect them.

As Yu Ji-woo closed her mouth, Medea continued.

“Our victory is that no one dies. It will be a very difficult war in which we have to defeat the Jade Emperor Palace in that state. If a few more elders of the Witch Society had reached divinity, our chances would have been a little better…”

Medea’s gaze briefly lingered on the witches of the Witch Society.

Some avoided her gaze.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do if it doesn’t work out. The Sword Fraternity’s barrier is strong. You can assume that it won’t break unless someone inside releases the barrier or the entire Holy Shrine collides with it.”

The barrier installed throughout the Sword Fraternity is an unprecedented great barrier in history, and it was built by mobilizing the knowledge of the witches.

By overlaying Meteor Shower’s divinity, its strength is enough to withstand even a few great divinities rushing in to some extent.

The Sword Fraternity is taking a defensive battle, trusting in the barrier they can take. But that would make effective combat impossible.

“We will gather the opposition forces of the Jade Emperor Palace before the war breaks out.”

“If you’re talking about the opposition forces of the Jade Emperor Palace…”

Those who were sitting down found it difficult to understand what Medea was saying.

*Where on earth are the opposition forces of the Jade Emperor Palace?* They thought she was talking about attracting gods from other Holy Shrines.

But Medea shook her head as if that wasn’t the case.

“It wasn’t just the gods who disappeared when the world of the gods came to an end and the age of mythology ended. There were other beings besides the gods who hid in the other side when the world of gods and humans was cut off.”

In ancient times, there were not only humans and gods. There were also beings close to humans and beings close to gods.

There were also beings who did not belong to either humans or gods.

As the age of the gods came to an end by a human, those beings also moved away from humans.

Just as the gods headed to the Holy Shrine, they headed to the other world where human hands could not reach.

Medea was saying that she would find them and make them allies.

“Is there a way to find them?”

“We have already identified a few places. Now, all we have to do is go and negotiate.”

Medea smiled at Baek Woo-hyun’s question. There were quite a few such beings on the Korean Peninsula.

Beings called goblins who use powers that ignore causality.

The descendants of bears and tigers who once wanted to become human.

Or beings called monsters.

“If we can win them over, our chances will be very high.”

The time has come to give a blow to the gods who ignored humans.

***

When he slowly opened his closed eyes, it was a very deep sea where not a single ray of light could be seen.

The deep sea (深海).

It was a place where he couldn’t even guess how deep the sea was. All he could feel was the pressure, the flow of the water, and the traces of huge creatures circling around him.

Meteor Shower realized that there was something in front of him and focused his eyesight.

Then, the outline that gradually revealed itself was a huge sphere the size of three or four basketballs combined.

He immediately recognized what it was. It was a dragon’s egg.

“Does your memory start here?”

Meteor Shower created May, Yonggwang, after hunting a dragon and extracting its teeth.

A single sword made using only teeth without using other minerals.

Perhaps that’s why May seemed to have the dragon’s memories, not just the memories ‘after completion’.

Meteor Shower sensed that it would be a long journey. The sea dragon he had hunted was an ancient dragon (古龍) that had lived for thousands of years. It might take even longer than it did with Samjeong.

The world in memory and the time in reality flow differently, so he wouldn’t be late for the war with the Jade Emperor Palace….

Before that, Meteor Shower’s mind might be exhausted first.

“Let’s do it.”

He had endured the long time of the elves. What couldn’t he do with a dragon?

After deciding that he would accept all the memories, no matter how long they were.

Meteor Shower reached out his hand toward the yellow-eyed dragon that was slowly cracking and scattering bright yellow light from the inside.

***

The hatchling of the sea dragon, who had just hatched from the egg, moved its body here and there as soon as it was born and looked around.

The sea dragon’s mother had already disappeared. Dragons are intelligent beings and independent creatures, so they do not raise their offspring.

They only watch over them until they are born, and then they are left to fend for themselves after they are born.

There are some individual differences among dragons, but most of them are hands-off.

That’s why dragons *are* dragons.