Ch. 731..740
Chapter 731 731 – Nothing
Time continued to pass.
The Bolts were no longer distracted by Shang since Lucin had created an Isolation Barrier around him, but Lucin himself had noticed that he was sighing far more often than usual.
He just felt bad for Shang.
It was one thing to go through so much pain to become stronger, but it was something else to continuously go through so much pain for decades upon decades.
This wasn't an individual instance of painful training anymore. Being under so much pain for so long had essentially transformed Shang's entire life.
Yes, Shang was already quite old, but spending decades in pain was still something significant.
Every decade of pain was equivalent to about one year of pain for a mortal.
How horrible would it be to be under such pain for one year?
Just one day was already terrifying.
As Lucin continued watching Shang, he got the thought that Shang was actually impressively sane for someone that was living like this.
Under normal circumstances, one would imagine a quivering mass of terror, paranoia, fear, and irrational hatred.
Sure, Shang had these aspects, but they weren't so strong that they overtook his entire personality.
Nevertheless, Lucin could still feel that Shang had huge issues deep inside.
His body was like a machine that was piloted by ten crazy people with different issues and illnesses, but by averaging them out, the machine was still piloted in a somewhat normal way.
Frankly, it was a miracle.
Decades passed.
Eventually, Shang used up all the Furnace Pills he had, which took him a total of 100 years.
At this moment, Shang was around 860 years old.
If he were a mortal, he would be nearly 80 years old.
Shang had genuinely reached the last years of his life.
Over the past century, a couple of Clouds had arrived in front of the Isolation Barrier.
These Clouds had all wanted to talk to Shang.
They kept announcing themselves and knocking at the Isolation Barrier, but Shang never answered them.
Lucin had made it possible for Shang to see the outside, which meant that Shang could have noticed these Clouds and could have interacted with them.
But he never did.
Some of the Clouds even became angry when Shang kept ignoring them.
Yet, it was forbidden to attack someone without their consent, and that extended to someone's belongings and Magic Circles.
No matter how angry they got, they didn't attack the Isolation Barrier.
Shang had not seen all of them, but he had still taken note of a couple of them.
In his mind, every Cloud that had arrived had tried to lure him away from Lucin so that they could kill him.
Why else would they be here?
They just wanted to kill Shang and get his resources or kill him for some ideological reason.
All of them were his rivals!
All of them were his enemies!
All of them wanted to kill him!
Naturally, that wasn't the truth, but that didn't matter.
By constantly being in a heightened state of danger and by going through decades upon decades of nothing but intense pain, Shang's perception was bound to become warped.
When one experienced nothing but pain and darkness, how could one see the world as anything but filled with pain and darkness?
By going through this ungodly training for such a long time, Shang was bound to change.
Just to put this into perspective, Shang had been training like this for over 10% of his life.
One would only need to look at one's own life, take 10% of it, and go through so much time while being tortured like this.
Would that person still be the same?
This was the longest time Shang had been this isolated.
In the past, he had gone through a couple of decades of isolation, but he had still done a couple of different things during it.
In Area 23, Shang had fought some beasts, walked from one place to the other, talked to Jerald, and a couple of other things.
As a Named Agent in the Temple of Blood, Shang had left his training room from time to time. He saw others from time to time, bought new resources, did some missions, talked to the Keeper, and left the Branch.
In Icy Bastion, Shang had to run a town while training, which meant that he regularly had to communicate with others and deal with the management of the town.
This time, it was different.
Shang was doing nothing else.
There was no break.
There was no talking to anyone.
There was no buying.
There was no managing.
It was just Shang and his training…
For better or for worse.
Over the past century, Shang had developed thoughts and feelings he had never been able to imagine before.
Several times, Shang felt like he was approaching death, but not in the traditional self.
Shang didn't exactly feel like he was about to die, but like he was about to vanish.
It was like Shang's mind and personality had been close to disappearing from the world.
Whenever that happened, Shang felt like he was no longer inside his own body.
It was like he was watching a stranger go through all this pain.
It was like he was just an onlooker.
Without thoughts.
Without opinions.
And sometimes, Shang had the desire to just look away.
Yet, something deep inside of him told him that if he decided to look away, he would never be able to look back.
He felt like he would stop existing if that happened.
But he was just so tired.
There was so much pain.
It was so exhausting.
He just wanted to not care anymore.
Was going through that much pain actually worth it?
Was his goal worth so much pain?
He didn't know.
He just didn't know.
After Shang had recovered after his last session inside the Isolation Chamber, he simply stood up and walked out of it.
Absentmindedly, he put it away.
What was he feeling right now?
Nothing.
His power had grown, but for some reason, it just didn't feel great.
Shang wasn't even relieved that he didn't need to enter the Isolation Chamber again for several years.
There was just nothing.
Shang just didn't care anymore.
Chapter 732 732 – Nothing Matters
Shang looked at his body and realized that there was still a bit to go.
However, this time, it no longer seemed impossible to comprehend Void Casting.
Shang was already 80% done.
Only about 40 more years.
Only two or three more sessions in the Isolation Chamber.
Then, he would finally comprehend Void Casting.
Yet, Shang only absentmindedly focused on nothing.
He was just standing in the Isolation Barrier, doing nothing.
He wasn't training.
He wasn't thinking.
He was just there.
That was it.
He just didn't care anymore.
Training was so exhausting.
Moving was so exhausting.
Thinking was so exhausting.
Everything was so exhausting.
He just didn't want to anymore.
His past was suffering.
His present was suffering.
His future was suffering.
Why suffering?
Why did it always have to be suffering?
Why did the world put him through so much suffering?
In Shang's mind, there was no way out of this suffering.
It couldn't be stopped.
As long as he lived, he would continue to suffer.
What was the point?
…
Shang just kept looking at nothing.
And then, he slowly turned his head to the side.
A fleshy obelisk that had once been Shang's body had fallen over.
This drew Shang's attention to the hill he was currently on.
Flesh.
Blood.
Organs.
The Isolation Barrier wasn't wide enough for all the flesh that had accumulated over the past century, and the pieces of flesh and organs were starting to stack on top of each other.
That was when Shang noticed that he wasn't actually standing on the ground but on parts of his old bodies.
The air stunk indescribably, and it was filled with something terrifying and dangerous.
Shang hadn't noticed it before, but right now, he could feel something very profound in the air.
A hill that had experienced nothing but blood, suffering, and pain for a century in complete isolation.
None of the light, fresh air, or life could enter from the outside.
Everything was isolated.
It was like this was a small world.
It was like it was a small hell.
There was nothing bright, positive, or happy here.
And the air…
It was… strange…
Shang could feel that the air had gained powerful properties.
But what was this?
What was this force in the air?
Shang extended his right hand and focused on it.
Then, he willed some Mana in the surroundings to enter his hand.
In an instant, something happened to Shang's hand.
It began to turn grey.
And then, Shang lost control over his hand, and it just hung from his arm lifelessly.
Shang tried to move it, but it was impossible.
Shang tried to heal it, but that was also impossible.
His hand had died.
Yet, for some reason, Shang wasn't nervous or scared, and he just looked at his dead hand.
He didn't know what it was, but it felt profound and grand.
It felt mysterious.
Shang had never experienced anything like this before.
It wasn't like Darkness, but it also wasn't like Entropy.
It was different.
Some seconds later, Shang's hand turned black and began to decompose.
One had to remember that the bodies of such powerful people didn't decompose easily. After all, all of Shang's body parts were still on the hill, and they hadn't decomposed.
Yet, his hand was starting to decompose.
Shang just kept looking at it.
Over the next seconds, Shang's hand began to vanish as the natural decomposition reduced it to earth, liquids, and gasses.
Shang focused on his surroundings as the decomposition slowly crept up his arm, destroying more and more.
He could feel that if he absorbed more, he would die.
The surrounding Mana was dangerous.
And then, Shang got a thought.
How much of this Mana had he absorbed?
If everything in here had been filled with this kind of Mana, what effects did it have on him?
Of course, the ways in which Shang had absorbed Mana previously were very different from what he had done to his hand just now.
Just now, Shang had absorbed the Mana in the surroundings without converting it to his own Mana. In essence, Shang was using a simplified and weaker version of Void Casting.
Shang's natural process of absorbing Mana included the incorporation of Shang's will on the Mana as the first step.
Because of that, Shang's body and mind didn't decompose like his arm.
Yet, Shang had still absorbed who knew how much of this Mana. Sure, he had put his will on it, but did that mean that there was no effect?
Even when Shang was confronted with something this mysterious, for some reason, he still felt lethargic.
It was like he just didn't care.
It was too exhausting.
A moment later, Shang heard something, and he looked down.
His right cheek had turned into black liquid that was dripping down onto his decomposing chest.
Shang absentmindedly watched his face slowly start to decompose.
His chest had already halfway turned to a grey and black mud-like substance with several holes in it, and even Shang's leg started to slowly vanish.
Shang's body wasn't healing, and his life energy was vanishing.
But Shang didn't think anything of it.
It was like nothing unusual was happening.
This was just more suffering.
What difference was there between his body decomposing and consuming a Furnace Pill?
Who cares?
Shang just didn't care anymore.
It wasn't important what was happening.
Life, death, happiness, sadness, pain, relief, who cares?
All of that was just the same.
It was exhausting.
All of this was just so exhausting.
Shang's body fell over as his right leg collapsed into decomposing mud.
So what?
Standing or lying didn't make a difference.
Everything was the same.
Nothing was important.
The decomposition continued traveling across Shang's body, and it even started to reach his mind.
The further it continued, the more exhausting everything seemed to Shang.
He was just so tired.
He just didn't care anymore.
Whatever would happen would happen.
It didn't matter.
Just let it continue.
And slowly, Shang just stopped thinking.
He just silently continued decomposing.
It didn't matter.
Nothing mattered.
Chapter 733 733 – The Answer
And then, it was like something inside Shang twitched.
It was like a mortal had been sitting for a long while, and their leg just did a small twitch after being in the same position for a while.
It was a subconscious action of little importance or thought.
Yet, this little subconscious action was just Shang's mind activating his Domain of Entropy a tiny bit to clean his body and surroundings. It was just like when Shang was cleaning his clothes and body of blood.
It was simple and normal to Shang.
Yet, as soon as that happened, Shang suddenly felt like a dam of adrenaline had burst inside of him.
All of Shang's energy returned, and he felt alert and awake!
Shang immediately focused on his body and mind.
And then, his instincts were screaming at him.
He was nearly dead!
He was dying!
Over half of Shang's body had decomposed, and Shang's life energy had reduced to only 20% or so!
Immediately, Shang summoned a pill filled with life energy. He had bought a couple of those for emergencies.
He consumed the pill, and his body started to regenerate life energy at a rapid pace.
Shang focused on his body and used his Domain of Entropy to clean it of everything that didn't belong to him.
His body immediately stopped decomposing, and all the half-decomposed parts turned into black dust.
An instant later, Shang's body regrew.
The decomposition had stopped Shang's life energy from acting earlier, but when Shang had used his Domain of Entropy to get rid of whatever was causing this issue, Shang's life energy worked again.
Shang stood up again and took a deep breath.
Only now did he realize how close he had been to dying.
Did he care about living?
Of course!
He didn't want to die!
Shang couldn't come to terms with the fact that he had nearly let himself die just now.
It was like he had been someone completely different!
Shang focused on his body and mind, and he noticed something peculiar.
It wasn't only his body that had been healed by his life energy but his mind as well.
This meant that Shang had gotten rid of something foreign that had been in his mind.
'It must have been this mysterious Mana in the surroundings,' Shang thought. 'I just exited the Isolation Chamber, and even though I was flooded with life energy by the Isolation Chamber, my body and mind still absorbed a lot of Mana from the surroundings. After all, I was deprived of Mana for around two months.'
'Was this the reason why I was so lethargic and apathetic towards my own life?'
'Yes, all this training sucks, but I'm doing this for my goal! I'm already 80% there! I won't quit when I'm nearly done with all this Furnace Pill and Isolation Chamber business!'
'Yet, I was willing to just die just now.'
Shang focused on the mysterious Mana in the surroundings.
He decided to absorb some more of the Mana, and his energy quickly started to vanish.
It was like all of this wasn't as important anymore.
Nevertheless, Shang used his Domain of Entropy for a second again.
And all his energy returned!
No matter what kind of force there was in the surroundings, it couldn't compete with the power of the Abominations.
The Abominations were the enemies of existence itself.
Shang tried it several more times, and he kept focusing on what he was experiencing.
He was also experimenting with absorbing the foreign Mana without putting his will on it, which resulted in his body decomposing again.
But this time, Shang was in control of himself.
And eventually, Shang understood what was happening.
Yet, the understanding Shang had achieved this time was very weird.
It wasn't that he consciously knew what was happening and how it worked.
This time, it was just a feeling.
Shang just felt like something was supposed to do something specific.
It was very difficult to describe and explain.
One had to feel it to understand it.
Nevertheless, Shang managed to understand something.
He absorbed more of the mysterious Mana into his mind, but this time, there was no adverse effect.
It was just like any other form of Mana.
By now, Shang had already found out what this kind of Mana was and what he had been experiencing.
Death Mana.
The surroundings were filled with Death Mana.
Fire Mana heated things up.
Ice Mana cooled things down.
Wind Mana moved things.
Water Mana made things wet and created water.
Life Mana healed things.
And Death Mana killed things.
Just like how a person would die of hypothermia when being surrounded by too much Ice Mana, they would die and decompose when surrounded by too much Death Mana.
Of course, in comparison to other kinds of Mana, Life and Death Mana were very difficult to find and interact with.
Shang accidentally created an area filled with dense Death Mana by isolating this hill from the outside while filling it with blood, death, and suffering.
Mana from the outside could still enter since Shang needed Mana for his training, but the kind of Mana that entered depended a lot on the surroundings.
The oppressive and cold atmosphere kept all kinds of Mana away while attracting scattered pieces of Death Mana.
By accidentally absorbing Death Mana into his mind, Shang's mind started acting more in accordance with death.
Apathy, stillness, nothingness.
When Shang had used his Domain of Entropy, the Death Mana was turned to Neutral Mana, and Shang's mind recovered.
Shang had nearly died.
Yet, Shang was glad that it happened.
Otherwise, he would have never gotten the opportunity to comprehend something this profound.
By now, Shang's mind had reached the Late Archmage Realm, making it several times faster than it was previously.
Comprehending level one and level two Concepts was no longer something special to Shang.
And today, Shang had comprehended two Concepts.
The level one Concept of Death, Sickness, which represented the decomposition of Shang's body.
And the level two Concept of Death, Weakness, which represented the apathy and lethargy in Shang's mind.
Chapter 734 734 – Death Pit
Shang had comprehended two Concepts, and they weren't just any Concepts.
They were Concepts related to one of the two most mysterious Affinities in existence, Life and Death.
The Custodian only knew the first two Concepts of the Life Affinity, and he was one of the most powerful Mage Kings.
This showed how difficult it was to comprehend any Concepts related to these two Affinities.
How many people knew the first two Concepts of Death?
Well, how would one even go about learning about them?
They would need to interact with a lot of Death Mana without dying themselves.
Additionally, the comprehension of these Concepts was also very strange.
While any other Concept could be explained in words and with logic, these two Concepts couldn't.
It was just a feeling.
It kind of was a mysterious feeling of resonance.
Shang's personality was unique, and it wouldn't surprise someone if one said that Shang's personality fit the concept of death.
Shang and death just fit together.
This was another part that made it so difficult to comprehend death.
There weren't many people that could identify with death. After all, everyone became stronger in order to survive.
People wanted to live.
They wanted to keep their loved ones alive.
They wanted to keep themselves alive.
They didn't want to kill themselves.
But to comprehend death, the best way was to kill oneself.
Naturally, that was contradictory since one needed to be alive to understand something.
Someone that wanted to die would have an amazing affinity with death, but someone that wanted to die wouldn't be alive to realize this affinity.
So, the next best thing was to be apathetic toward life.
To be neutral.
This was Shang.
Shang wasn't seeking power to survive.
He wasn't seeking power to protect his loved ones.
Shang was seeking power for power.
His survival was secondary.
Because of that, Shang had a high affinity for death.
Shang knew all of this, and he had a thought.
'If the God hadn't forced the Entropy Affinity on me, would I have had an Affinity towards Death?'
'The God said that he chose me for a reason. He said that I was different from others.'
'Out of millions and billions of people from Earth, he chose me because there was something different about me.'
'Was that it?'
'I'm not sure.'
Shang thought about all of this for a couple more minutes, but he couldn't come up with any answers.
Eventually, Shang became restless.
He hadn't trained in over a day, and he felt like he was being lazy.
'Yes, I comprehended two powerful Concepts, but I don't have the time to incorporate them into my fighting style for now. My longevity is close to running out, and I still need to comprehend Void Casting.'
'First, I need to finish Void Casting.'
'Then, I need to reach the Sixth Realm.'
'When I've done that, I can focus on the Concepts of Sickness and Weakness.'
'Anyway, I'm out of Furnace Pills. I should get two Grade Seven Mana Crystals worth of Furnace Pills for the last push.'
Shang took to the skies and flew to the Isolation Barrier.
He touched it and noticed that he could go through it without any issues.
Shang left the Isolation Barrier and flew towards Fleros.
He didn't notice it, but while he was leaving, he was being watched by Lucin.
Lucin had a complex expression on his face.
Naturally, he had witnessed everything that had happened.
However, since he wasn't supposed to help any Clouds, he didn't interfere when Shang was about to die to the Death Mana.
He had watched with interest and nervousness as Shang had nearly died.
Lucin had already noticed that Shang was in danger several years ago.
While Shang hadn't known about Death Mana, Lucin had known about it.
When Lucin had created the Isolation Barrier, he hadn't thought that he would accidentally create a Death Pit.
In ancient times, some powerful Mages comprehended the Concepts of Death with the help of Death Pits.
These Death Pits were created by throwing others into deep holes filled with poison that slowly killed everyone that entered.
By torturing and slowly killing an uncountable number of beings, the hole would be filled with dense Death Mana.
Then, it would transform from a dangerous hole to a Death Pit.
Nowadays, the Judgement Palace was the only Empire with a real Death Pit, and they only had that one because it was older than nearly every living Emperor.
Naturally, this Death Pit couldn't be compared to the tiny hill Shang had filled with Death Mana.
The Judgment Palace's Death Pit was an endless abyss of hopelessness and sorrow.
The Judgment Palace's Death Pit required many corpses to keep existing, but the Judgment Palace was exclusively using corpses from criminals.
Nevertheless, the creation of new Death Pits was forbidden.
All of humanity was already fighting against the Abominations. They couldn't use people creating huge Death Pits by killing millions of beings every decade.
In a way, Shang had violated the law by creating something like a Death Pit, but he actually hadn't sacrificed anyone else.
He had made the Death Pit with just his own suffering.
When Lucin noticed that more and more Death Mana was gathering in the Isolation Barrier, he became unsure of how to proceed.
Lucin had created the Isolation Barrier, and it was only supposed to help Shang if someone broke the rules.
Yet, the Isolation Barrier had now put Shang in danger, but the danger was self-inflicted.
Naturally, Lucin wouldn't protect Clouds from themselves.
But he was the one that made the Isolation Barrier.
It was a very complex situation.
Lucin wasn't sure how he should proceed, and since this involved international laws, he decided to ask Queen Primordium for advice.
Queen Primordium told Lucin that he shouldn't interfere since Shang wasn't actually breaking any law. The way the law was worded meant that to break it, one needed to involve others, which Shang hadn't done.
However, Queen Primordium also told Lucin to keep tabs on Shang and to inform her if anything came of this situation.
And Lucin decided to do that just now.
Lucin might not know any Concept related to Death, but he could feel when someone comprehended a Concept.
He knew that Shang had comprehended two Concepts.
Lucin told Queen Primordium about this.
Queen Primordium thanked Lucin for the information and cut the connection.
For some seconds, Lucin only looked at his deactivated Communication Crystal with uncertainty.
Chapter 735 735 – Enemies
Shang went to Fleros and bought another two Grade Seven Mana Crystals worth of Furnace Pills.
Fleros had given Shang around 2,400 Furnace Pills ever since he had arrived in the Hibye, and Fleros still had difficulties wrapping his mind around the fact that Shang wanted more.
Sure, people wanted to become more powerful, but this was just too extreme.
Nevertheless, Fleros had decided to keep a stock of about 1,000 Furnace Pills, and that had been just enough since Shang had asked for 800 more.
Shang left again and flew back to his Isolation Barrier.
"Wait a second!" someone shouted.
Shang stopped and turned his head to the side.
A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes flew over to Shang.
She wore white robes that did their best to hide her curves but failed.
Shang didn't say anything.
"Hey, so, ehm," she said as she looked to the side uncertainly, her fingers twiddling with each other. "Don't you want to know why I stopped you?" she asked.
Shang could tell that she was an early Archmage, which meant that she had just recently been a High Mage Cloud.
Shang didn't say anything. He just remained silent as he faced her.
The Archmage grew nervous, and her face became a bit red. It was like she felt uncomfortable under Shang's intense… stare?
After a couple of seconds, Shang looked away again and continued flying.
When the Mage saw that, her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, wait!"
"What?" Shang asked with annoyance as he turned to her again.
Shang's aggressive tone made the Mage recoil, but she wouldn't stop now. "So, I've seen your fight, and I think you're really strong."
"I don't care," Shang said coldly. "Next time, just say that you don't have anything important to say."
Then, Shang shot away.
The Mage blinked a couple of times in shock.
"Hey, wait!"
But this time, Shang didn't wait, and since Shang was three levels above her, he moved far faster.
In just a second, Shang left the Mage's Spirit Sense and reached his Isolation Barrier.
He entered without any issues.
A couple of seconds later, the girl arrived in front of the Isolation Barrier.
"Hey, I just want to talk!" she shouted.
Shang didn't answer.
"Come out, please," she shouted.
Shang took out a Furnace Pill and consumed it.
The Mage continued begging for Shang to come out and talk, but Shang was busy turning into weird flesh figures.
Also, he didn't care.
After a couple of minutes, the Mage's Aura changed.
Earlier, she had seemed like an innocent girl, but now, she seemed like a cold and scheming empress.
Then, she left without saying anything.
Shang wasn't surprised in any way.
He already knew that every Cloud was his enemy.
All the other Clouds wanted to kill him, and every Cloud that wanted to interact with him was obviously only someone that wanted to lure Shang to a dangerous location to kill him.
All these Clouds were out to get him, and Shang knew that he wasn't safe around them.
He was forbidden from killing them, but if the opportunity presented itself, he would take advantage of it.
Every dead Cloud would be one less enemy.
The wealth he would gain was only secondary to getting rid of a threat.
If he could, Shang would kill all the other Clouds.
They were all dangerous!
However, Shang knew that he couldn't possibly do something like that. Just like the others, Shang had to follow the Lightning Manor's rules.
The pain continued.
From time to time, the Bolts threw some glances at the Isolation Barrier.
Some of them also asked Lucin if that sad warrior was still in there, and Lucin just nodded.
Was he still consuming Furnace Pills?
Lucin nodded.
The Bolts sighed.
20 years later, Shang entered the Isolation Chamber again.
Consuming Furnace Pills had become very easy for Shang, but entering the Isolation Chamber was still horrifying.
The terror and horror Shang experienced inside the Isolation Chamber always nearly broke him.
When Shang exited, he felt exhausted and empty again, but this time, he knew what had happened.
After getting rid of the Death Mana that had crept into his mind, Shang consumed the next Furnace Pill.
He was over 90% done.
Only 20 more years.
Only one more trip into the Isolation Chamber.
Just a bit more!
The frequency of appearances of Mages that wanted to talk to Shang became lower and lower. In the last 20 years, there had only been two.
It seemed like people started to realize that they wouldn't succeed in getting Shang to talk to them.
Years passed.
More and more red sludge that had once been Shang gathered on the hill.
By now, the Isolation Barrier was not acting as a room but as a barrel filled with red sludge made of flesh, blood, and organs.
The ground on the hill couldn't be seen anymore, and a several-meter-high layer of organic sludge was on top of the hill.
All of this represented Shang's suffering.
All of this represented Shang's ambition.
All of this represented Shang's willpower.
All of this represented Shang's sacrifice.
And all of this represented Shang's power.
This was Shang.
This was who Shang was.
And then, Shang used up his last Furnace Pill.
Shang's Mana Pathways had already stopped expanding a couple of Furnace Pills ago, but Shang wanted to be absolutely sure that the next trip into the Isolation Chamber would be his last.
Shang summoned the Isolation Chamber, and it landed on the sludge below it.
It didn't stand straight on the red sludge but was partially buried, skewing its orientation and position.
Shang didn't care and entered it.
The Isolation Chamber closed.
Inside the Isolation Barrier on the hill was a land filled with blood, flesh, and organs.
In the middle of this land was a cube of pure black material.
The only sound in this land was the occasional splosh of some flesh that slid down another piece of flesh.
For the next two months, this land remained like this.
And then, the black cube opened.
Chapter 736 736 – So Much Power!
The door to the Isolation Chamber opened, and a fleshy sludge was revealed.
A moment later, green water appeared inside the Isolation Chamber and coated the fleshy sludge.
At the same time, all the Mana in the surroundings flowed into the Isolation Chamber and vanished.
After a couple of seconds, a person seemed to materialize in the sludge, and they eventually stepped out.
Shang had recovered.
This period of being in the Isolation Chamber was just as horrible as all the previous ones.
Shang could deal with a lot of suffering, but the Isolation Chamber was still terrifying to him.
And now, he was glad.
He was glad that it was finally over.
Shang focused on his body, and he could feel his Mana Pathways.
They were so strong!
They were even harder and tougher than his bones!
In the True Path Stage, Shang had used his momentum to strengthen his Mana Pathways, and now, he had done the same thing again.
The momentum from comprehending a couple of Concepts and two additional Paths with Imposes had fully been used up to increase the power of Shang's Mana Pathways even more.
Six Paths.
Six Imposes.
Several Concepts.
World Connection.
All of this had been pushed into Shang's Mana Pathways.
And now, Shang's Mana Pathways were strong enough.
Shang took a deep breath and just enjoyed the sensation of his power.
Then, Shang took to the sky and flew out of the Isolation Barrier.
Now that there was no more Death Mana around him, Shang could try out his new power.
He lifted his right arm and clenched his fist.
WHOOOOM!
All the Mana in the surroundings shot into Shang's body.
Shang felt his Mana Pathways swell up.
The pressure inside them became more and more powerful.
In just an instant, the pressure became so powerful that Shang's Mana Pathways were close to bursting.
Yet, Shang trusted in his training.
He knew that this was a valid way to reach the next Realm, and the power of something like that couldn't be so simple.
So, Shang absorbed even more Mana.
Shang's Mana Pathways shook in stress, and several cracks appeared on them.
Shang didn't stop.
More Mana entered his body.
The shaking intensified.
Shang took a deep breath.
And then, something happened.
The Mana inside Shang's Mana Pathways vanished!
It was like a dam had been broken, and the Mana surrounding Shang flooded into him like crazy.
The surrounding kilometers of Mana were completely absorbed by Shang.
But it just kept going!
The surrounding 50 kilometers were absorbed.
The surrounding 500 kilometers were absorbed.
And when Shang absorbed the surrounding 1,000 kilometers, it finally slowed down.
Shang stopped absorbing Mana, and he took another deep breath.
Right now, Shang had just as much Mana inside his Mana Pathways as always, but something had changed.
Shang's Mana Pathways.
A tranquil blue glow surrounded Shang's Mana Pathways. It was almost like his Mana Pathways had been painted with a bit of blue paint.
Shang could feel it.
The power of his Mana Pathways had increased severalfold.
His Mana Pathways couldn't be compared to before anymore.
They were so incredibly hard!
And even more, they had expanded!
There were far more now!
Each Mana Pathway Shang had created in the past now had several more Mana Pathways come out of it, extending towards Shang's skin.
Shang's Mana Pathways had created a layer just below his skin.
When Shang saw that, he grew beyond excited.
Earlier, his Mana Pathways had already been harder than his bones, and now, they had become several times harder than before!
With every little part of his skin now being covered by his Mana Pathways, Shang realized that his defense had essentially quadrupled!
Even more, since every bit of his body was now covered with Mana Pathways, Shang's reaction time also increased!
Lastly, the sheer pressure of the Mana Pathways pushed all the Mana into Shang's muscles, organs, and bones, which meant that they were now filled with four times as much Mana as before.
This meant that Shang's speed and power had quadrupled!
That was an increase of an entire level!
On top of that, his defense also underwent a full-level increase!
This meant that Shang's body was on the level of the Initial Sixth Realm now!
But he was still in the Peak Fusion Realm!
And that wasn't even everything!
Shang felt that he could absorb an entire level of Mana for just an instant to strengthen his attack.
However, using this ability would cost around 20% of Shang's life energy.
Nevertheless, the increase in his power shocked even Shang himself.
Shang had expected to become far stronger, but he hadn't expected the result to be this good!
It was beyond shocking!
And he wasn't even at the Sixth Realm yet!
He was still at the Peak Fusion Realm!
This increase was ridiculous!
It was absolutely ridiculous!
It was like Shang was dreaming.
His power had increased by so much!
It had been worth it!
All the suffering had been worth it!
He made the right choice!
Shang almost couldn't believe it.
Yet, a couple of kilometers away, someone was looking at him.
It was Lucin.
And right now, his eyes were filled with deep pity.
What Lucin had just witnessed was tragic.
Why did things have to end like this?
Yet, maybe, if it were him…
Maybe he could do it?
But the chances were tiny.
They were minuscule.
Lucin took a deep breath and flew over to Shang.
"Shang," Lucin said.
Shang was distracted by Lucin's voice and looked over. "Yes?" he asked, not cold and emotionless for once.
Shang could feel Lucin's current mood, and he became confused.
"Shang, I need to bring you to Queen Primordium," he said.
Shang immediately became suspicious and alert. "Why?" he asked.
Lucin took a deep breath. "You accidentally made a mistake that could kill you."
Shang became shocked. "Mistake?"
Lucin nodded.
"Just now, you accidentally consumed the entire momentum gained by understanding your version of Void Casting," Lucin said.
Shang's mind stopped working.
"You can't reach the Sixth Realm like this."
"You're stuck at the Peak of the Fifth Realm."
Shang didn't move.
The couple of white hairs that had appeared on his head due to age just blew in the wind.
Chapter 737 737 – Momentum
Silence.
Shang didn't say anything for a long time.
He had consumed his momentum?
It was a simple sentence, but for some reason, Shang couldn't understand it.
What did Lucin mean by that he had consumed his momentum?
Shang had finally comprehended his version of Void Casting, right?
He needed that to reach the Sixth Realm, right?
And now, he couldn't reach the Sixth Realm?
But he was already 900 years old!
He only had a century left!
"What?" Shang asked after several seconds.
Lucin nodded. "You heard me correctly. You used up all of your momentum to transform your body just now. I couldn't see what exactly you did since my Spirit Sense can't look into your body, but I can feel that a monumental change has occurred."
"And such a monumental change can only happen by consuming a significant amount of momentum."
Shang couldn't focus on anything, and he felt like the entire world was vanishing around him.
That was impossible!
How?!
Shang's mind recounted everything that had happened in the last couple of minutes.
The passive increase of Shang's Mana.
The new ability to absorb an entire level of Mana and unleash it.
Slowly, Shang started to understand what had happened.
Earlier, he couldn't believe that his power had increased by that much. After all, his entire body was essentially already a level higher, and with the additional active ability, Shang could increase his power by another level for one attack.
In essence, Shang could unleash an attack two levels above himself just with those two things, which was ridiculously powerful.
And exactly that was the problem.
It was too much.
It was too powerful.
Shang had already known what his ability would be roughly.
He knew that he would gain the ability to absorb a lot of Mana and add it to his power.
This had been Shang's goal from the beginning, and this had been what he had worked towards.
So, where did that passive increase in Mana come from?
His momentum.
Just like Shang had used up the momentum of his additional Imposes and Concepts to increase the power of his Mana Pathways, he had now used up the momentum of his Void Casting to increase the power of his Mana Pathways even further.
Shang was supposed to stop, but he actually didn't.
Shang thought about what had happened again, and this time, he noticed something else.
When Shang had absorbed even more Mana back then, his body had actually been screaming at him.
It had been in unbearable pain.
Shang had absorbed too much Mana, and it was screaming at him that he was about to die!
Yet, Shang's unreasonable resistance to pain and danger had made him blind to his body's warnings, and he had just continued confidently.
So, instead of exploding and dying, Shang's body converted the momentum into even more power.
With all of this, Shang's Battle-Strength had essentially reached unprecedented levels.
But…
For how long?
Shang was already around 900 years old.
He barely had a century left!
He only had a single century to gain enough momentum to reach the Sixth Realm!
"Hey, wake up!"
Shang's head snapped to Lucin, who had just shouted.
"I know this is a big shock, but we don't have any time to waste," Lucin said. "Usually, I am not someone that protects Clouds from their own decisions, but I think your case is special due to the Concepts you comprehended and the way you have used up your momentum."
"You have probably gained incredible power with that move, but you also blocked your only path out of this situation."
"However, if we can make use of this situation and get you out of it, we might be able to gain an extremely powerful King in the future."
"Maybe we can make you powerful enough to resist King Sanctified Death."
"So, for the good of the Lightning Manor, I need you to pull yourself together and follow me to Queen Primordium," Lucin said.
Shang heard Lucin's words, and he realized that things might not be as dire as he believed.
Maybe, there was a way out of this.
"Yes, you're right," Shang said with a nod.
Lucin also nodded and summoned a small Transportation Plate below Shang.
"To believe that you would get to enter the Lightning Manor again after only a bit more than a century," Lucin said with a sigh.
Shang didn't answer, and the two of them shot toward the Lightning Manor.
For a while, Shang thought about all the possible ways out of this situation.
He just needed to reach the next Realm, which meant that he just needed enough momentum for a major breakthrough.
The quality of the breakthrough itself wasn't that important. By comprehending his own version of Void Casting, Shang's being had already entered a completely new level.
He just needed a way to reach the Sixth Realm.
And he already had a plan.
However, he still wanted to talk to Queen Primordium.
Maybe he was wrong, or maybe there was more to this entire thing. It would help to have a powerful Mage King take a look at Shang.
For a moment, Shang focused on Lucin.
If Lucin hadn't exactly told him what happened and if he hadn't immediately offered to bring Shang to Queen Primordium…
Things could have turned out horrible.
"Thank you," Shang said.
"No problem," Lucin answered absentmindedly.
He didn't think much of it.
Shang became silent again and focused on the surroundings.
He was telling himself that he was calm and that there was nothing he needed to worry about, but he was still worried.
The two of them broke through the Lightning Sea and reached the Lightning Manor in a timely manner.
After landing, the two of them entered the Lightning Manor and directly headed for Queen Primordium's room.
Lucin quickly used the Spell to inform Queen Primordium about what had happened.
Luckily, Queen Primordium opened her door after just a couple of seconds.
"Yes?" she asked.
"We have a problem," Lucin said.
Shang still couldn't see Queen Primordium, but he could feel that she was analyzing him.
Then, Shang felt the surrounding space shake intensely.
Chapter 738 738 – Maybe
The space around Shang shook due to Queen Primordium's shock.
As a Mage King, Queen Primordium had a very close connection to the world, and her perception could pick up things that even millions of Mage Lords couldn't.
Obviously, since Shang was here, this meant that Lucin's problem was related to Shang.
So, she analyzed Shang very quickly, and what she saw made her question reality for just an instant.
It was a being at the Initial Sixth Realm that was at the Peak Fifth Realm.
It made no sense.
The very thing that made up Realms was the amount of Mana one could have inside of themselves.
Many different Mages from many different levels knew many different Concepts and many different Spells.
The Battle-Strength of every Mage was made up of innumerable different things.
Yet, the Realm was always the same.
Sure, under some circumstances, one could have more Mana than normal, but that advantage would come with a disadvantage, which mostly was a weakening of someone's control.
Due to the amount of Mana in someone's being, a sort of pressure and Aura formed around that person, which told other people at what level they were.
A warrior with a Diamond Body might have more Mana than an Impose Stage warrior, but it wasn't nearly as ridiculous as an entire increase of a level. Even more, the instability of these warriors' control could also be felt in their Auras.
But Shang was different.
Right now, Shang was a walking impossibility.
He exhibited the pressure of someone in the Initial Sixth Realm, but he had the unmistakable Aura of someone in the Peak Fifth Realm.
There was no sign of any sort of disadvantage that came with having that much Mana.
It literally was just like Shang had four times as much Mana as he should have.
But that was absolutely ridiculous!
Queen Primordium had never even heard of something like that!
However, Queen Primordium was a Mage King, and her mind moved at speeds that no one could comprehend.
She quickly found a way this could have happened, and she realized how problematic this could be.
"You consumed your momentum?" she asked.
Shang and Lucin nodded.
Shang couldn't see it, but Queen Primordium was frowning as she bit her lower lip with her teeth.
This was bad.
This was really bad!
"How much longer do you have?" she asked.
"About a century," Shang answered.
REALLY bad!
Queen Primordium took a deep breath.
"Shang, I need to bring you to the Custodian again. Something like this has never happened before, but I think I've found some crucial information about your condition. However, I need the Custodian's opinion since I want to be absolutely sure."
Lucin and Shang nodded solemnly.
Lucin stayed in front of Queen Primordium's room while Shang and Queen Primordium walked to the Custodian's room.
Queen Primordium knocked, and the Custodian came out of his room.
"Vana, so nice to see you again," he said with a polite smile.
Then, he focused on Shang, and his eyebrows shot up.
"Oh my," he said with a troubled voice.
"That's bad."
Queen Primordium only looked at the Custodian. "I've never seen anything like it, but I think this condition is even more troublesome than I have initially believed, which is why I brought him here."
The Custodian looked at Shang for a couple of seconds as he scratched his chin.
Then, he nodded. "You're correct, Vana. Based on the Fundamental Mana Theory, the Seventh Law of Mana Conservation, and the Thread Theory, the total weight of our little friend's being has drastically increased."
Shang couldn't see it, but Queen Primordium narrowed her eyes. "Then, there's no way?"
"I've got a question," Shang suddenly said. "If I only need enough momentum to reach the Sixth Realm, wouldn't the comprehension of a level three Concept be enough?"
"Usually, yes," Queen Primordium answered.
When Shang heard the word usually, his insides seized.
"However, your case is special. You have added so much Mana into your being that your weight has increased by a level. Moving something heavy takes more energy than moving something light."
"A level three Concept would have enough power to throw someone through the gate to the next Realm, but your being has become too weighty."
"A level three Concept doesn't have enough force to push you to the Sixth Realm," Queen Primordium answered.
When Shang heard that, he had to take a deep breath.
Comprehending a level three Concept had already been nearly impossible. After all, Shang's mind wouldn't reach the Peak Fifth Realm within the next century, which meant that Shang would need to comprehend a Concept that would be powerful enough for an Archmage to become an Ancestral Mage.
Many Archmages would never be able to comprehend a level three Concept in a thousand years, and Shang would need to do just that in just a hundred years.
Yet, not even that was enough!
"I think two level three Concepts should be enough," Wester said.
Two level three Concepts.
The weight of Shang's current situation pressed down on his shoulders.
Shang had already thought about comprehending another Path and another Impose, but that would also take extremely long.
Sure, Shang had a more powerful mind and more experience, but comprehending a completely new Path still took a lot of trial and error.
Compared to comprehending a Concept, creating a Path was a lot of manual labor. It was just a lot of moving around and refining techniques.
In comparison, a Concept could be comprehended in a much quicker fashion since one only needed to understand how something worked.
Shang estimated that he might be able to comprehend a level three Concept in the last century. After all, he had already comprehended several Concepts, his mind had become quite powerful, and he had the Lightning Manor as his backer.
It should be possible.
But two?
Two was basically impossible.
"But there may be a way," the Custodian said.
Shang's head lifted, and he focused on the Custodian.
Then, the Custodian looked at Queen Primordium. "Haven't you told me something interesting about our little friend here just a couple of years ago?"
"With a lot of luck and a lot of hard work, he might only need to comprehend a single level three Concept."
"But it will be beyond difficult."
Chapter 739 739 – Old Age
Shang sat alone in front of a brightly shining stone in an impossibly dark cave.
Even though the stone was shining brightly, the light seemingly vanished after just a couple of meters, leaving deep darkness behind.
This was the Twilight Cave, and it was the best place for the Clouds to comprehend the Concept of Twilight.
Sadly, this place saw visitors only very rarely since everyone with a Twilight Affinity would prefer to enter the Twilight Dusk Family. Naturally, the Lightning Manor couldn't compare to the Twilight Dusk Family when it came to raising people with a Twilight Affinity.
The Twilight Cave was made of metal that gave off Darkness Mana, and the stone in the middle of the cave was made of metal that gave off Light Mana.
The Light Mana and Darkness Mana would clash and cancel each other out.
Naturally, to keep the Light Mana from being completely used up, the Lightning Manor needed to use up a lot of Light Mana Crystals, but they were willing to pay a lot for their Clouds.
At that moment, Shang's white hair hung from his head like straw.
In the last couple of decades, Shang's appearance had undertaken a drastic change.
His black hair had completely vanished, replaced by the typical white hair of a very old man.
Many wrinkles were on Shang's face, and some skin hung from his chin.
Shang was becoming old.
He had been in this cave for over 50 years now, but he still hadn't comprehended the Concept of Twilight.
Due to the order in which Shang had comprehended his Concepts, the Concept of Twilight had transformed to be as difficult to comprehend as a level three Concept.
Just like the God had said after the last trial, there was no inherent level to Concepts. It only depended on in which order one comprehended Concepts of a certain group.
Shang had told everyone that he had saved the Concept of Twilight for when he needed to comprehend a quick Concept, and this was the best time for it.
The Custodian and Queen Primordium didn't question Shang's decision. At the moment, the Child of Calamity and Shang didn't even connect in any way in their mind, and even if they did, the Lightning Emperor had already taken a look at Shang, right?
So, if the Lightning Emperor didn't identify Shang as the Child of Calamity, what made them think that they could?
Usually, the Concept of Twilight was either viewed as a level one or level two Concept, but it also didn't seem impossible that it could be a level three Concept.
In the end, they gave Shang free reign on whatever he wanted to comprehend and wherever.
Naturally, he would need to pay for whatever he used if he managed to survive.
For 50 years, Shang had been sitting in front of this stone, trying to comprehend Twilight.
Yet, it just wasn't that easy.
It was a level three Concept, and Shang's mind hadn't even reached the peak of the Fifth Realm.
Shang was absorbing all the Light and Darkness Mana into his inner world and kept fighting several powerful enemies to comprehend the Concept of Twilight.
But it was just so difficult.
It was so insanely complex!
Yet, Shang couldn't stop.
This was his only shot.
The Custodian had told Shang about the second level three Concept he could try to comprehend.
The level three Concept of Death, Purgatory.
Based on what he had said, the best way to comprehend Purgatory was to be as close to death as possible for an extended period of time.
Apparently, the Death Empress had once put herself into an intense and dangerous coma for a very long time via a Spell.
She would only wake up when she comprehended the Concept of Purgatory.
Otherwise, she would die.
Naturally, she had succeeded, but this had still been one of the most dangerous moments of her life.
Shang needed to comprehend two level three Concepts in just a hundred years, which would be almost impossible.
But that was exactly where the Concept of Purgatory came in.
Just like with the first two Concepts of Death Shang had comprehended, the level three Concept of Death could also be comprehended within a day.
However, it was extremely dangerous, and if Shang failed, he would die.
Just like the Death Empress back then.
But first, Shang needed to comprehend the Concept of Twilight.
Without it, the Concept of Purgatory would be useless.
So, Shang continued focusing on the Concept of Twilight.
Another decade passed, and Shang was now 960 years old.
Shang's Aura had become far weaker than before. It was almost like it was the weak flame of a dying candle.
Due to the weakening of Shang's Aura, his clothing also started to get exposed to the natural forces, tearing in several places and getting dirty.
The bandages around Shang's eye sockets had lost their firmness and began to droop a bit.
Shang's body had shrunk by quite a bit, but his back was still as straight as it had been 60 years ago.
He was still trying to comprehend the Concept of Twilight.
Another ten years passed.
Shang was now 970 years old.
The bandages around his head nearly fell off, and Shang's robes had become too big for his withered body, halfway sliding down his torso.
Shang's skin was no longer pure white, and several brown spots could now be seen all over his body.
Another ten years passed.
The bandages had fallen down from Shang's face, revealing his wrinkly and empty eye sockets.
Shang's teeth had already all fallen out, and his gums had receded.
Ten more years passed.
Shang was now 990 years old.
Shang's robes had turned into just a couple of stray pieces of cloth, basically covering nothing of his body anymore. He might as well have been naked.
Shang's Aura had become dangerously weak, and the surroundings in his Spirit Sense had started to distort.
It was almost like Shang was in a dream.
Everything seemed to flow into everything else, and many things stopped making sense.
And then, Shang fell backward, nearly breaking his bones in the process.
Shang now lay on the ground, just facing the top of the Twilight Cave. He was breathing heavily since his body was no longer absorbing enough Mana on its own, forcing him to inhale Mana by breathing.
However, right now, there was only one thing on Shang's mind.
The Concept of Purgatory.
He needed to comprehend the Concept of Purgatory now.
A couple of seconds ago, Shang had finally managed to comprehend the Concept of Twilight, which had taken him over 90 years to comprehend.
Even more, he might not even have succeeded at all if it hadn't been for his extremely warped perception due to old age.
In a certain way, Shang's old age had worked similarly to a Mind Flow Pellet, making his mind move to very different things.
He had finally comprehended the Concept of Twilight, and now, he was only missing the last Concept.
The Concept of Purgatory.
The only sound in the cave was the sound of Shang's labored breathing as he lay in front of the shining stone.
And then, more time passed…
Chapter 740 740 – A Sword
Shang just kept lying in the middle of the cave, breathing heavily.
He was so old.
He was so weak.
He was so tired.
Yet, there was nothing he could do but try to learn as much about his current situation as possible.
He had arrived at the end of his life, but there was still a way to extend it.
Shang hadn't achieved his goal yet, and he wouldn't stop trying to achieve it.
How many people knew the level three Concept of Death?
Extremely few.
The Concepts of Death were just as rare as the Concepts of Life, and the only two people Shang knew that had comprehended any of these Concepts were Queen Primordium and the Custodian.
The Custodian had comprehended two Concepts of Life.
But that was it.
Shang knew two Concepts of Death, which basically already put him on the level of one of the most powerful Mage Kings in the world.
Comprehending the level three Concept of Death would be even more difficult.
Yet, Shang wouldn't give up.
He never gave up.
Ever since he had started on his path to power, he hadn't given up.
This was his entire thing.
This was his entire personality.
Single-minded obsession with only one thing.
Undying and ceaseless effort towards one thing.
Shang had sacrificed so much just to achieve his goal.
But if he failed now, all of this would have been for nothing.
All these sacrifices would only have meant something if Shang actually managed to reach his goal.
Shang was not someone that was happy with what he had.
To Shang, there was no grey, only black and white.
Either he achieved his goal or not.
To him, dying as a powerful Cloud was worth just as much as dying to a Pest Cat when he had just arrived in this world.
For the first time in a long while, Shang actually thought back to his life on Earth.
It was so far away.
MMA fighter?
Phones?
Grocery stores?
What a weird world.
The things people came up with in a world without Mana.
Shang remembered working on getting enough money to enter college.
He also remembered how he had basically been a drunkard a year before that due to his destroyed ankle.
He once had a girlfriend, whom he had essentially chased off by constantly coming home drunk and being aggressive.
He had parents.
Parents…
What a strange and alien concept.
Family…
Then, Shang's mind wandered to the time he had died.
He had been so weak.
He couldn't even take out two robbers.
He remembered the God and how he had felt after entering Aterium.
The unknown forest.
The magical feeling of coming into contact with Mana for the first time.
The following training.
This had been so much fun.
Shang had only needed to train in isolation.
A couple of swings with his sword was all the training he needed.
When Shang thought about his sword, his weak Spirit Sense focused on the Subsis lying beside him.
"Sword, huh?" he said weakly in a scratchy voice.
Sword didn't answer.
Shang's mind returned to the times he had trained together with Sword.
They had talked and trained together.
It was so much fun.
And then, Shang was reminded of the first time he had truly used Entropy in the outside world.
Commander Wilbury.
Back then, Sword had shouted at him, saying that it didn't want to be alone.
"A mirror, huh?" Shang said.
Sword didn't say anything.
"You were always a mirror. You always showed me what I didn't see on my own."
Sword didn't say anything.
"I don't even know why I'm talking to you," Shang said.
Sword didn't say anything.
"A complex and fluid Magic Circle," Shang said. "The level two Concept of Life, Change, the level three Concept of Gravity, Compression, the level two Concept of Space, Distance, the level three Concept of Metal, Steel, and the most impressive of all, the level five Concept of Metal, Destruction."
Sword didn't say anything.
"By using all of these Concepts, you can create a complex Magic Circle that shows whatever would help the user the most."
"Back then, I wanted a companion."
"A friend that had just as much ambition as me."
"We talked, and we both worked towards the same goal."
"Because that's what I wanted," Shang said.
Sword didn't say anything.
"George's last wish was revenge, which was the last input his spear had received."
"Like a program, it did its absolute best to achieve that goal."
"And that's because it was a program."
"Just like you," Shang said.
Sword didn't say anything.
"I don't even know why I am talking to you right now. Maybe it's just a last bit of solace I wish for."
"Maybe, just maybe, I want to be proven wrong."
"Back when I consumed that Mind Flow Pellet in the Temple of Blood, I realized it."
"You're not actually alive."
"You've never been alive."
Silence.
Shang slowly and weakly opened his hand.
"Come," he said.
Sword flew over and obediently landed in Shang's hand.
"You're just a mirror."
"You're just me."
"You've always been just me."
"I'm just talking to myself."
Sword didn't say anything.
Or, more accurately, Shang's sword didn't say anything.
"What is it?" Shang said. "What is the thing I wish for the most right now?"
"What is my deepest desire?"
Shang weakly focused on his sword.
It vibrated weakly.
However, Shang understood it.
"What a useless answer," Shang said.
"It can be interpreted in so many different ways."
Shang became quiet and only continued breathing heavily.
What was he supposed to do with that answer?
No matter how he spun it, that couldn't resolve any of Shang's issues.
For the next years, Shang continued lying on the ground, becoming weaker and weaker.
He had no idea how to comprehend the level three Concept of Death, Purgatory.
He just couldn't tell what he should focus on.
Yet, again and again, Shang found himself thinking about the answer the sword had given him.
But he had no idea what the point of that was.
What was Shang's deepest desire?
"Peace, huh?" Shang said with a barely audible voice.
Shang was nearly dead.