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Join the ServerJawoon stepped through the gate and arrived at the center of the heavenly palace, Manhwijeon, where the Heavenly Emperor resided.
On the golden throne at the highest point sat a youth who still looked young, lounging in an unrestrained posture.
His beautiful face wore a bored expression that didn’t fit it.
When Jawoon entered the hall, the youth turned his head to look out the window.
Jawoon knew the youth was not looking at him, but he still clasped his hands and bowed.
“I pay my respects to the Heavenly Emperor.”
“……”
The Emperor did not even acknowledge him.
Only then did Jawoon realize he had used the ceremony from when he was the Blue Dragon.
He straightened his back, then raised both hands to his forehead and slowly knelt down.
Bending over, he placed his hands and forehead on the floor.
“This lowly servant, the master of Cheonryeongji, dares to have an audience with the Heavenly Emperor.”
“You looked into Dongseol Pond.”
“……”
Jawoon stayed prostrate, for he had not been given permission to raise his head.
“It’s been a while since you saw your original form. Don’t you have the urge to go back?”
Jawoon remained silent.
The Emperor finally gestured and said:
“Ah, I didn’t say to get up. Rise.”
Only after the Emperor’s command did Jawoon get up.
Since he couldn’t just stand anywhere, he remained on his knees, head bowed.
“Master of Cheonryeongji, answer my question. Did you not wish to return to your original body?”
“I…”
Of course he wanted to go back.
The pain of having his soul forcibly torn from his original body was so great that even Jawoon, who had lived since the primordial age, couldn’t even scream properly.
Even now, the memory of that pain sent cold sweats down his back.
He recalled the intense desire he’d felt the moment he saw his original body sleeping in Dongseol Pond.
He clenched his fist.
Just as he was about to answer, the Emperor spoke.
“It’s only natural that you would. Being separated from one’s soul and original body is an indescribable agony, a loss. Half of one’s origin is gone, so who wouldn’t desire it?”
The Emperor slowly fanned himself with the five-colored fan in his hand.
“Moreover, the body you have now isn’t even a dragon’s, but borrowed from an imugi. Forcing a dragon’s soul into an imugi’s body must be agonizing.”
That was true.
No matter how much power had waned, Jawoon had been a dragon since birth.
The Emperor had taken his soul, which had given up its original body, and forced it into the body of an imugi that had died without becoming a dragon.
The flesh couldn’t withstand a dragon’s soul and collapsed, and each time it did, the soul immediately regenerated the body.
His body was even now endlessly repeating destruction and regeneration.
Though his mind threatened to crumble under the endless pain, the spirit that had once been the Blue Dragon God endured.
“It’s been so long that I’ve adapted; the pain is not severe.”
“Hmm. Still, a Blue Dragon God who once ruled the eastern realm suffering like this pains my heart.”
The Emperor spoke as if he had forgotten that he himself had imposed the punishment.
Jawoon kept his head down.
“Master of Cheonryeongji, raise your head.”
Jawoon slowly lifted his head.
“Look at me.”
Raising his gaze from the floor, he met the Emperor’s eyes.
The youth smiled and said:
“I intend to give you back the seat of the Blue Dragon.”
The Emperor looked down at Jawoon, who did not promptly thank him, and with a dissatisfied look, tapped his knee with the edge of the fan.
“The Blue Dragon seat has been empty for ten thousand years. The Vermilion Bird has been toiling, but it’s nothing compared to when there was a ruler of the east. So for the peace of the world, I want you to return as the Blue Dragon. What do you think?”
Jawoon looked quietly at the Emperor and asked:
“What is it that you wish?”
The Emperor covered his mouth with the fan.
His eyes curved like crescent moons as he smiled beautifully.
“Don’t you know best what I wish?”
“If it is a command to give up Neungso’s Spirit Jade, I never will.”
Jawoon’s answer made the Emperor wave his hand as if annoyed.
“Ah, I knew you’d say that. So I thought of something else.”
He smiled again.
“You only need to give me one trivial thing.”
“……”
“Are you not going to ask what it is?”
At that smiling question, Jawoon kept his mouth tightly shut.
He knew that whatever the Emperor wanted would break his heart.
Jawoon pressed his lips together, as if he believed the Emperor would not speak if he kept silent, but the Emperor simply smiled and thwarted his small hope.
“Give me your name.”
With that, the Emperor waved his fan toward Jawoon.
A light breeze from the fan tip carried energy and flowed to Jawoon.
The energy wrapped around Jawoon, brushed his chest, and went back to the Emperor.
At the same time, two characters left Jawoon’s chest.
“You are my Blue Dragon, so you need nothing other than the name of Blue Dragon.”
Jawoon saw the characters slipping out of his chest.
Written in gold, they drifted slowly away from him on the breeze.
“After all, it’s a name given to you by a mere human. Nothing precious, nothing important.”
‘If you are so pleased, please treasure it, Neungso-nim.’
A voice from long ago surfaced.
At that moment, Jawoon drew out his hairpin and cut deeply into the palm of his already wounded hand.
His hair fell loose and flowing, and with a hand instantly soaked in red, he grabbed the two shimmering characters.
The Emperor’s smile stiffened.
The characters trembled as if they wanted to escape Jawoon’s hand and go to the Emperor, but Jawoon’s grip didn’t budge.
Blood dripped from his hand to the floor.
The Emperor clicked his tongue and folded his fan.
Only then did Jawoon press his hand, clenching the characters, against his chest.
The red blood stained his clothes.
Jawoon looked up at the Emperor and said:
“To this servant, it is more precious and more important than anything else.”
The Emperor frowned.
“If you wish to seat me back on the Blue Dragon seat, then return Neungso’s Spirit Jade.”
For ten thousand years, the absence of a ruler for the east had been quite troublesome for the Emperor.
Still, he couldn’t just entrust the seat to anyone.
Anyone without the proper power would die, unable to withstand the power contained in the name of Blue Dragon.
Hadn’t he tried several times?
Famous beings from the Four Seas had challenged to inherit the position of Blue Dragon God, but none of them lasted even half a day.
And so, the Blue Dragon seat remained vacant for ten thousand years.
“And if I don’t return it?”
“This servant would be content with the position of master of Cheonryeongji.”
The position of master of Cheonryeongji was not low, either.
It was the master of Cheonryeongji, which connected heaven and earth.
But compared to the seats of the Four Guardians, it was utterly insignificant.
“…Leave.”
At Jawoon’s decisive words, the Emperor swallowed his anger and waved his hand.
Jawoon gave a perfect bow and retreated backwards out of Manhwijeon.
After leaving Manhwijeon, before Jawoon could even catch his breath, someone came looking for him.
A tall man dressed impeccably in black clothes bowed to Jawoon with a grim face.
“Hyeonmu.”
“May I ask why?”
His low voice asked his question before even a greeting.
Jawoon had known for a long time that Hyeonmu was not one for words.
So he intentionally answered with a question.
“What reason?”
“Why you have not returned as the Blue Dragon.”
Since Hyeonmu’s domain, except for Cheonryeongji, was the closest place to the heavens, Hyeonmu usually served as the Heavenly Emperor’s guard.
So Hyeonmu must have overheard the conversation between the Emperor and Jawoon.
“Did I not say? I cannot return to the Blue Dragon until I have Neungso’s Spirit Jade back.”
Hyeonmu’s brow furrowed.
“I cannot understand why you are obsessed with that insignificant human’s soul. Hasn’t it already been ten thousand years?”
“Because I promised to wait.”
With an expression of disbelief, Hyeonmu shook his head.
“Do you know what the Heavenly Emperor wants? He simply does not wish to have his possessions taken by others. This entire world belongs to the Emperor, does it not?”
He looked at Jawoon as he said those words.
“We are beings bound to the Heavenly Emperor. It has been so since the Heavenly Mother first created the Celestial Emperor. Is it not our duty to protect the Emperor, lead the twenty-eight constellations, and guard the four cardinal directions of heaven and earth? Why would you defy that natural order?”
Despite Hyeonmu’s unusually long speech, Jawoon only answered calmly.
“What can I do? I have encountered a bond stronger than the natural order.”
Feeling the pain in his hand belatedly, Jawoon frowned and looked down at it.
Neither the wound torn by the barrier nor the one he’d inflicted himself had healed, still revealing the raw red flesh.
Seeing the wound, Hyeonmu placed his own hand over Jawoon’s.
As the larger hand passed over, the wounds all instantly healed and vanished.
Jawoon clenched his brow slightly, but his expression returned to normal before Hyeonmu could notice.
“Thank you.”
“…Even this trivial wound won’t heal?”
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Read : The Phantom of the Library
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