Ch. 821..830
Chapter 821 821 – A Bird
A week passed as Shang only trained inside his inner world.
The confused man was still walking around, not knowing what was happening or where he was.
Shang returned to the real world and threw a glance at his opponent.
BANG!
The man was incinerated as Shang summoned a powerful storm of fire on his location.
Without a Mana Shield, Mages weren't exactly very durable.
After some seconds, the barrier became transparent again, and everyone could see inside.
The Mage King of the Judgment Palace looked with interest when the barrier lifted.
Sadly, there was nothing the Mage King could analyze.
She could only tell that a Fire Spell had been used just now, but that was it. This wasn't really a lot of information to go on.
However, one thing was clear.
That Early Ancestral Mage inside the Defender Flag was definitely strong.
In the last week, many of the people that had been standing behind the Mage King had left.
Originally, the Mage King wanted to have a bit of fun with the war and send in a couple of suicidal people that overvalued their own power.
But after having to wait for an entire week, she scratched that idea.
All the average and slightly above-average people had left within the last week, but there were still a lot of people behind the Mage King.
After all, as soon as they conquered that territory, they could attack more and more.
They might be in a sort of bottleneck right now, but that would soon change.
"Anyone wanna try?" the Mage King asked the people behind her.
There were only the equivalents of Boltlings and Clouds left behind the Mage King.
"I want to give it a go," one of them said.
The people were not really surprised. In the past week, they had had plenty of time to choose someone for the assault.
The Mage King looked at the volunteer.
It was a girl with red hair and narrowed eyes. The atmosphere around her seemed heavy and severe.
It was almost like she was ready to explode with anger.
"You sure?" the Mage King asked. She hadn't cared about the earlier guy, but the person that had just spoken up was quite a strong Mage with a threefold Spirit Sense.
"We already talked about it," a guy behind the volunteer said. "She gets to go first."
The Mage King looked at the guy for a bit.
Then, she nodded. "Sure. Good luck."
The red-haired volunteer readied herself as she summoned her Focus.
She definitely wasn't weak.
'Well,' the Mage King thought, 'even if she might not win, I doubt that guy can do the same thing to her as to the last guy. At least I don't have to wait a week again.'
After some seconds, the red-haired Mage took to the sky and shot into the barrier.
The barrier became cloudy again, and everyone returned to waiting.
Shang also noticed that the barrier had become cloudy, and he waited for his opponent.
Just a couple of seconds later, Shang could see her.
'Her Aura has been masked,' Shang thought as he felt the tiny pressure of a very average Mage.
He doubted that his newest opponent was just an average Mage.
However, there was a slight chance that this was actually really an average Mage.
In comparison to the previous fight, Shang didn't immediately launch an attack.
Instead, he pulled out his two swords and waited.
The distance between them closed.
3,000 kilometers.
No reaction from her.
2,500 kilometers.
No reaction from her.
2,000 kilometers.
No reaction from her.
1,500 kilometers.
No reaction from her.
eαglesnᴏνel She still hadn't seen Shang.
Or, at least, she was acting like it.
At this moment, Shang could feel the feeling of being watched emanate from his bandages.
His opponent tried to act like her Spirit Sense wasn't so powerful. In fact, she was acting very well.
However, in front of the bandages, she couldn't hide the true reach of her Spirit Sense.
Shang activated Comet and shot forward.
His speed reached terrifying levels, and the two of them very quickly reached each other.
Now, there were only around 500 kilometers between them.
The Mage readied her Spells and waited for Shang to reach her.
Theoretically, Shang was within her range, but she was quite sure that she couldn't hit him from this distance.
Shang pulled his Subsis back.
SHING!
Then, he rapidly used two Mana Steps to get to a distance of 100 kilometers.
The Mage narrowed her eyes.
Shang swung his Subsis.
WHOOOOM!
A corridor of darkness consumed the Mage.
Shang immediately moved through the Darkness, appearing just behind her.
At the same time, he used Void Break to consume the Darkness again, which he then shoved back into his Subsis.
Everything was so fast that the Mage had problems understanding what had just happened.
Why did her opponent get so close to her?!
Was he insane?!
It had been a long time since Shang had fought someone that hadn't known that he was actually a warrior.
When Shang appeared behind her, The Mage immediately unleashed all her prepared Spells at Shang.
DING! DING! DING!
Shang's Subsis destroyed the will on all three of the attacks and absorbed them.
The Mage immediately tried to use Mana Step, but Shang's Domain of Entropy interrupted it.
The Mage's eyes widened in terror.
Shang's violently burning Addum struck down.
CRACK!
The Mage's Mana Shield exploded.
Shang's Addum stopped just before hitting her.
An instant later, Shang's finger reached her forehead and infused the Mage's mind with Death Mana with the Concept of Purgatory.
Her eyes lost their light, and her pupils dilated.
The next instant, Shang grabbed her and threw her at the ground.
BOOOOM!
An explosion occurred at the place where she hit the ground, and Shang retreated into the distance at high speed.
Several seconds later, the Mage climbed out of the small crater she had created and looked around.
Why was she here?
Did she make that crater?
Why didn't she remember anything?
Oh, a bird!
She liked birds.
And then, she walked over to look at the birds.
Meanwhile, Shang refilled his Death Mana and waited.
This time, he wouldn't wait for a week.
Chapter 822 822 – Another Bird
Five hours later, Shang returned to the real world and focused on the confused woman wandering around his territory.
The last time, he had waited a week to waste as much time as possible.
But this time, waiting for an entire week wouldn't be the optimal course of action.
Last time, it was obvious that Shang would be superior to his enemy, but this time, he had fought against quite a strong Mage.
Waiting an entire week would unveil Shang's power as a Cloud to everyone.
There was still a high likelihood that Shang was only a Boltling.
The Lightning Manor could use him to lure out an enemy with a fourfold Spirit Sense and then directly attack that person with the strongest Cloud they had, killing one of the most talented Mages in the Judgment Palace.
For such a plan to work, Shang needed to be quite a strong Boltling.
Really brutal fights between even Mages on such a level could take up to twelve hours, but Shang decided to end the fight after five.
He didn't want it to appear too close.
Shang moved into the sky and spoke several complex words.
Whooom!
A Mana Shield appeared around him.
The next moment, Shang threw a big part of the Mana inside his mind away.
And then, he cast a Fire Spell, which killed the confused woman.
The cloudy barrier became transparent again, and the enemy Mage King looked at the distant Shang.
She could see that he was rapidly absorbing Mana, and with her very experienced eyes, she could also see that Shang wasn't even close to having a full tank of Mana right now.
Everything seemed like the fight had been relatively close.
Naturally, she was still skeptical.
Shang could be putting on a show.
However, the chances of that were low.
It was one thing to win against someone, but it was something completely different to win against them without killing them and keeping them alive.
Any error could result in a tragedy.
On top of that, chances were high that the opponent would just kill themselves as soon as they realized that they had lost. At least with such an action, the detonation of their Mana may take their opponent down with them.
In order to put on a show, Shang would have needed to win in a very controlled manner against his enemy without giving them a chance to kill themselves.
"Who's next?" the Mage King asked the people behind her.
This time, there was no immediate answer.
The people were talking with each other, deciding on who to send next.
Naturally, the more powerful ones left the weaker ones the initiative.
"I'll do it," a woman with icy-blue hair said.
The Mage King looked over and noticed that the new volunteer looked almost identical to the last one.
Were they twins?
The new volunteer also had a threefold Spirit Sense, but the pressure she exhibited was just a slight bit stronger than the previous one.
"Fine, but I don't want you to go like this," the Mage King said.
Everyone looked over at the Mage King with questioning gazes.
The Mage King summoned a piece of paper, which she then rapidly filled with writing.
It was a contract.
"I want to make sure that we are not being played with," the Mage King said as the contract floated over to the new volunteer.
The volunteer read through it and furrowed her brows.
This contract stated that if she lost the battle and five minutes had passed, she would have to kill herself.
She only needed to interface with the contract and summon its power, which would then rapidly disperse her soul.
Like this, she could end her life, even if all of her powers had been sealed away by the enemy.
The purpose of that contract was clear.
The Mage King wanted to find out if Shang was putting on a show or not.
If they fought for another five or more hours, it meant that Shang wasn't putting on a show.
However, if the fight ended within five minutes, it meant that Shang had been putting on a show all this time.
After some seconds, the new volunteer signed the contract and gave it back.
"You can go. Good luck," the Mage King said, looking back at the barrier.
Naturally, Shang could feel the Mage King's eyes on him, thanks to his bandage, but he didn't let it show.
The new volunteer took to the sky and shot into the barrier, which became cloudy again.
Shang waited for his new opponent.
Just like the last time, he waited until the bandage told him that he was being seen.
He noticed that his opponent had a threefold Spirit Sense like the last one.
This meant that his opponent had bought his display.
Shang charged at his new opponent, and just like last time, he used two Mana Steps and the corridor of darkness again.
CRACK!
The opponent's Mana Shield exploded.
Shang had won against her the same way he had won against his last opponent.
If his opponent had known that Shang actually wasn't a Mage, things might have played out differently.
After all, she would have expected Shang to get close to her very quickly, and she would have done her best to constantly widen the distance between them.
Because of that, Shang's fights were over very quickly and were quite easy.
One moment of surprise was all he needed.
Just like last time, Shang infused her mind with the Concept of Purgatory and retreated.
A couple of minutes passed, in which the confused lady looked at the beautiful birds again.
Outside, the Mage King narrowed her eyes as she looked at the barrier.
The five minutes had passed.
She looked at the barrier with intensity.
When ten minutes were up, she realized that her contract hadn't been triggered, which meant that the Early Ancestral Mage defending this territory was very likely a very powerful Mage with a threefold Spirit Sense.
Sure enough, this had been a trap.
The Lightning Manor wanted her to send in someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense, whom they would then proceed to kill.
The Lightning Manor was sneaky.
But they hadn't expected that she would see through their play.
She wouldn't fall for their plans.
She would continue to send in powerful Ancestral Mages with threefold Spirit Senses until they won.
And when they send out their Clouds, she would counter them.
Sadly, the Mage King didn't expect that Shang could use the Concept of Purgatory.
Contracts were very secure since they acted on the perception of the person.
If the person themselves felt like they were being a bit clever or tricky with the contract, the contract would consider that as breaking the rules.
In essence, in order to mess with a contract, one needed to mess with their soul and change their own perception and values.
That would mess with someone's mind, making it very difficult to continue practicing Magic after that.
This meant, at this very moment, the Mage with the icy-blue hair genuinely believed that she had a shot at victory.
Maybe, she would actually win?
The Mage King waited with excitement for the outcome of the battle.
Chapter 823 823 – So Close!
Five and a half hours later, Shang summoned his Mana Shield again and killed his opponent with a fiery explosion.
The barrier became transparent again, and Shang waited for his next opponent.
When the Mage King saw that Shang was still alive, she narrowed her eyes.
"Quite resilient," she muttered.
She looked at the people behind her. "Who's next?"
Three people looked at each other.
All three of them wanted to go next.
Based on what the Mage King had said, their opponent was very likely an extremely powerful Ancestral Mage with a threefold Spirit Sense. He was probably someone that barely failed to become a Cloud.
Nevertheless, there was still a very noticeable difference between someone like that and a Cloud.
All three were at the very peak of Mages with a threefold Spirit Sense.
At such a level, the strengths and weaknesses of fighting styles and Affinities played a major role.
They still weren't sure how Shang fought, but at least one of them should have a fighting style that would counter Shang's fighting style.
So, even if one or two of them died, at least one of them should win.
Naturally, all of them believed that they were the one.
"You go," the Mage King said to one of them.
It was a guy with grey hair and grey eyes. The world around him seemed to flow into him, which showed that he had a Gravity Affinity.
The guy nodded and walked forward.
'The last two had Ice and Fire as Affinities, which means that he doesn't care about this kind of fighting style,' the Mage King thought. 'Maybe we can get him with a Gravity Affinity?'
A moment later, the Mage King summoned another contract. "Same contract as the last one."
The guy read through the contract.
He wasn't the biggest fan of it, but he still signed it.
A moment later, he took to the sky and shot into the barrier, which clouded over again.
Some seconds later, Shang saw his new opponent.
This one's Aura felt like he had a fourfold Spirit Sense, but just like last time, Shang didn't trust his senses.
So, he waited.
When there were only 1,500 kilometers between them, Shang could feel his bandage alarming him.
At that moment, he realized that they had completely bought his act.
Shang shot at his opponent again.
A couple of seconds later, the two reached each other, and Shang arrived directly in front of his opponent.
But this time, he didn't absorb the darkness around him yet.
People with Gravity Affinities liked to scatter their will in the surroundings to manipulate the gravity. Absorbing all the Mana might contaminate it.
The man used several Spells to create a powerful gravitational field that tried to compress Shang into a tiny sphere.
This would put enormous strain on a Mana Shield.
That was when the man noticed that Shang actually didn't use a Mana Shield.
And yet, he could still resist the gravity!
Shang willed the surrounding darkness to flood into the gravity, weakening it.
BOOOM!
Shang's Addum exploded, scattering the Gravity Mana.
BOOOOOM!
Shang's Addum hit the man's Mana Shield, but without the added Mana in the Addum, the man's Mana Shield withstood the attack.
DING!
The next moment, Shang's Subsis hit the Mana Shield, but instead of pulling back, the Subsis kept touching the Mana Shield.
The man's eyes opened widely in shock, and he used Mana Step.
Yet, the Domain of Entropy stopped the Mana Step.
The man used another one, but it was stopped again.
And just when he wanted to use the third one, his Mana Shield vanished.
During all this time, Shang's Subsis had been using Darkness Absorb to suck the Mana out of the Mana Shield.
The man realized with horror that he was out of Mana.
BANG!
Shang's fingers "lightly" slapped the man's forehead, throwing him into the distance and creating another crater.
Some seconds later, a confused man walked out of the crater.
And then, he saw some cute birds.
Meanwhile, Shang returned to his spot and refilled his Death Mana.
This time, he had used quite a bit of his life energy. Negating two Mana Steps cost a lot of life energy.
On top of that, the Gravity Affinity of his opponent had made it a bit more troublesome.
Shang guessed that the opponent was also a bit more powerful than the previous two.
After some seconds, Shang decided on a time to wait.
This time, he would only wait three hours.
Why not wait more? After all, the opponent should be more powerful than the last ones, right?
Yes, but the opponent's fighting style was very different, and by waiting less time, Shang wanted to make it appear like he was strong against these kinds of opponents, giving the enemy Mage King more confidence in her next fighters.
Eventually, Shang killed the man again.
The Mage King looked at the victorious Shang and furrowed her brows.
She was quite annoyed that this single Early Ancestral Mage was causing so many problems.
This guy had killed one piece of trash and three talented Mages.
The other two volunteers felt excited when Shang won.
These three had been rivals for a long time, and with one of them gone, things were looking up for them.
Additionally, since Shang took less time to win against that one, they now knew more about his fighting style and grew more confident.
The Mage King called the next volunteer and made him sign the contract.
The next volunteer entered the barrier and shot toward Shang.
This time, Shang was fighting someone with a Lightning and Wind Dual Affinity.
That was a very fast opponent.
Yet, that fight ended extremely quickly.
Speed was the strength of this kind of opponent, but speed wasn't very important when they were literally standing within a couple of meters of each other.
Shang had zero problems.
This time, Shang decided to wait for nine hours.
Nine hours later, Shang used up almost all of his Mana and destroyed huge areas of his surroundings.
The nice forest had transformed into a collection of craters.
After summoning his Mana Shield, Shang tried his best to make himself appear stressed and exhausted.
Shang killed the birdwatcher and waited for his next opponent.
When the Mage King saw Shang, her eyes narrowed.
"Go, quickly!" she ordered the last volunteer.
She knew that Shang's Mana would be refilled when her volunteer arrived, but the same thing wouldn't be true for his concentration.
Shang had been fighting for over a day now without any pause.
He was very low on concentration.
The Mage King was certain that her next volunteer would win.
The next volunteer entered the barrier, which became cloudy again.
Almost immediately, Shang's entire act stopped, and he calmly waited for his next opponent.
Chapter 824 824 – He Got Me
Two days later, the barrier had become transparent yet again.
When the Mage King saw Shang, she almost killed someone just to vent her frustration.
Eleven!
This guy had killed eleven Mages with a threefold Spirit Sense!
Every time the fight ended, he looked more and more exhausted.
At this moment, Shang was violently clutching his head as his Mana Shield wobbled with instability.
He was nearly dead!
He was at his limit!
Just one more!
Just one more volunteer!
"Next one!" the Mage King shouted with frustration and anger.
Silence.
"Hurry!" she shouted, looking back at the people behind her.
Yet, all the people only looked at the Mage King with uncertainty.
They avoided her gaze like the plague.
"Where's the next one?!" she asked with a shout.
No one spoke up for several seconds, and the Mage King looked with shock at the gathered people.
"We don't think that he has a threefold Spirit Sense," a certain person standing behind nearly everyone said.
The Mage King looked over. "What?" she asked.
"We think he played us for a fool," the guy said.
That guy was one of the most powerful people with a fourfold Spirit Sense of the Judgment Palace.
He was a Peak Mage Lord and a genuine King Contender.
He had a 50% chance of being the chosen one for the next tournament from the Judgment Palace.
"But he's nearly dead!" the Mage King shouted.
"How long has he been nearly dead?" the man asked.
And then, the Mage King opened her eyes in surprise.
Yes, how long had he been nearly dead?
But then, how?!
Some seconds of silence passed.
The Mage King's arms shook in unending rage.
SLAP!
And then, she slapped herself with nearly all her power.
"I'M SO FUCKING STUPID AND ARROGANT!" she shouted in rage.
The couple of volunteers acted like they hadn't seen anything.
'I'm so fucking stupid!' she repeated in her mind. 'As soon as I thought that I saw through his plan, I ignored every sign of the opposite being true!'
'I believed that, as a Mage King, I was better in scheming than him and that I couldn't be outsmarted by some mere Ancestral Mage.'
'My arrogance is the reason why we lost so many powerful Mages!'
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
She took another one and exhaled again.
And again.
And one last time.
"He got me," she said quietly to herself.
At this moment, she could see Shang slowly recovering.
She wanted to immediately send someone in to take advantage of the opportunity.
Yet, she held herself back.
It was difficult to accept when one was wrong, but as a Mage King, she had that ability.
"Fine," she said with a calmer tone, turning to the volunteers again.
This time, she was looking at the ten people with fourfold Spirit Senses.
"Do any of you want to go next? Also, I need to know if you want to immediately plunge an Attack Flag into the ground after winning or if you want to retreat after that? Chances are that the Lightning Manor will counter with an even stronger Mage," the Mage King asked.
Earlier, she had simply commanded the people to charge forward, but now, she was actually talking to them and asking for their opinions.
This was the difference in the value of someone with a threefold Spirit Sense compared to someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
How many Ancestral Mages with a fourfold Spirit Sense were there in the Judgment Palace in total?
A bit less than 200.
They were rarer than Mage Lords by over 50 times!
They were extremely valuable.
The ten people looked at each other with furrowed brows.
It wasn't an easy decision to come to.
Their opponent definitely wasn't weak. After all, he had played with so many different Mages with threefold Spirit Senses.
Most of them wouldn't be confident in pulling something like that off.
But there was also a chance that he was just very skilled at winning without killing.
Was this an average Cloud or a very powerful one?
"If we assume that he has played with our perception the entire time," one of them said, "we can also assume that there have been even more tricks."
"For example, what if he actually reversed the duration of battles? I think it would be best for me to start."
"His shortest battle has been against someone with a Gravity Affinity, and he wanted to stop us from sending more by making it appear like that was his easiest opponent."
"I also have a Gravity Affinity, and I think I will win," he said.
The Mage King nodded. "Possible. Alright, I agree. Do you want to immediately proceed to attack after winning?"
"No," the Gravity Mage answered. "There are stronger ones, and I think I will only win due to having an advantage. I can kill him, but someone else needs to attack the actual territory after that."
The Mage King nodded. "Then, I wish you good luck."
This time, she didn't ask him to sign a contract.
There was no way that Shang could play around with someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
The Mage nodded and shot towards the barrier, which turned cloudy.
The war had been going on for nearly two weeks at this point, and the borders had become very messy.
There was fighting everywhere, and there were small lines leading into the Lightning Manor's Empire.
Over 100,000 people died.
It was a massacre.
The Land and Sky Empire and Twilight Dusk Empire were causing humongous problems for the Lightning Manor.
The Lightning Manor was using all of its resources to resist them.
Yet, one spot held firm.
The southeastern corner of the Lightning Manor held as firm as a mountain.
It was immovable.
It was impenetrable.
And only one person was responsible for that.
Shang.
Shang alone was keeping the Judgment Palace from joining the war.
The entirety of the Judgment Palace was being held back by one small warrior at the Initial Sixth Realm, who was fighting against people at the Early Sixth Realm.
But now, things might change.
The Judgment Palace sent the first Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense at Shang.
The conflict about Shang's territory reached unprecedented intensity!
Chapter 825 825 – Shang, The Mage
Shang noticed that the barrier had become cloudy a bit later than usual, which meant that things might have changed.
After a couple of seconds of waiting, Shang saw his new opponent.
Their aura was very weak, but as always, he couldn't trust his senses.
The only thing he could trust was his bandage.
When the enemy reached a distance of 2,000 kilometers, Shang felt his bandage react.
'So, they've finally sent people with fourfold Spirit Senses,' Shang thought. 'I guess I can't complain about the number of talented Mages I have killed.'
Surprisingly, the grey-haired man shot directly toward Shang as soon as he found him.
He was not putting up an act.
He essentially directly told Shang that he had a fourfold Spirit Sense.
"Fine," Shang said as he readied his swords.
In the distance, the grey-haired man narrowed his eyes.
This confirmed that Shang had a fourfold Spirit Sense.
He had truly played everyone.
An instant later, Shang shot forward with Comet.
The grey-haired Mage cast several Spells, preparing himself for Shang's arrival.
The two were rapidly charging at each other.
But then, just 500 kilometers away from the opponent, Shang suddenly stopped.
He lifted his Addum, and the world inside the barrier began to shake.
The grey-haired man immediately felt like he was about to die.
The opponent was preparing an insanely powerful Spell!
Shang slashed downward.
At the same time, above the Mage, an illusory Addum appeared, which was burning with insanely hot fire.
Shang was unleashing Meteor!
Meteor was Shang's most powerful attack without using Entropy, but it was also very slow.
The Mage quickly thought about some way to deal with the enemy's Spell.
Sure, Mana Step was always an option, but that would waste a lot of Mana.
Maybe release a couple of Spells to destroy the attack?
No, the attack was too strong.
In the end, the Mage decided to use Mana Step.
The Mage vanished, reappearing only 300 kilometers away from Shang.
'His primary attacking range is way longer than mine,' the Mage thought. 'I can't launch such a devastating Spell from such a distance. I should get closer to get him into my attacking range.'
'But his way of casting Spells is very strange. I've seen a couple of people that use weapons that are not Foci, but I've never seen someone not using a Focus that was this powerful.'
The next instant, the darkness around Shang's Subsis vanished, and he lifted his Addum again.
This time, Shang slashed forward with all his power.
WHOOOOM!
A small but brightly shining object launched from Shang's Addum.
Missile!
The man narrowed his eyes and moved his hand forward.
The next moment, a powerful gravitational field appeared in the attack's way, changing its trajectory.
It was about to miss the man by quite a wide margin.
At the same time, the man's Focus released a powerful beam of gravity, directly shooting toward Shang.
If Shang got hit by that, all of his organs around the beam of gravity would be pulled in and destroyed.
SHING!
Suddenly, Shang vanished as he used Mana Step.
And he appeared directly beside the Missile he had launched earlier!
Shang's Addum touched Missile, and the attack vanished.
The next instant, Shang pointed his Subsis at the opponent.
BANG!
A spear of darkness hit the man's Mana Shield.
It was Needle!
There were only a couple of kilometers between the two, and the opponent couldn't evade such a fast attack.
However, Needle didn't do a lot of damage. It barely destroyed 10% of the opponent's Mana.
Yet, at this moment, the man's eyes shone as he saw an opportunity to win.
He had anticipated that Shang would try to save his missed attack from earlier!
That attack had been insanely powerful, which meant that it cost a lot of Mana to use.
It would be a waste to just let it miss.
So, the man decided to tank Shang's attack and launch his own in return.
The man's Focus exploded with a terrifying amount of Gravity Mana.
Shang was immediately immobilized. Not even his powerful body could resist that attack!
And then, the man shoved his right hand forward.
WHOOOOM!
A terrifying wall of gravity shot at Shang.
CRACK!
The man smiled.
Shang's Mana Shield had just exploded, and Shang was shot into the distance!
It would be a miracle if Shang managed to survive.
After all, a Mage's body wasn't very powerful.
Shang was thrown into the distance, completely out of Mana.
The Gravity Wave seemed to have done quite a lot of damage as Shang spat blood. His body even withered in several places.
The man watched as Shang's body was thrown nearly a thousand kilometers into the distance, smashing through mountains and trees.
Eventually, Shang's body stopped inside a crater it made.
He was nearly dead.
His bones were broken in several places, and he looked like an old man.
His breathing was heavy and labored.
The man used a couple of Mana Steps to arrive above the dying Shang.
"You were really powerful," he slowly said. "You killed so many of our Mages."
"But all of this ends today."
Then, the Mage pointed at Shang and unleashed a powerful wave of gravity.
BOOOOOM!
The ground for several kilometers was pushed down, but the man only furrowed his brows.
200 kilometers away, Shang was spitting out blood.
"You're out of Mana," the man said. "Using Mana Step in such a situation will only delay the inevitable."
"Die with some honor."
The next second, fire and ice appeared around Shang as he shot into the distance.
The man only snorted.
This was a dying man's last gasp as he followed behind Shang.
Shang was pretty fast. In fact, he was even faster than the Mage.
But the Mage knew that Shang couldn't possibly keep moving so fast.
Moving at such speeds had to cost a lot of Mana.
And the chase continued.
The Mage kept flying after Shang, even needing to use Mana Step from time to time.
Luckily, the time between Mana Steps was long enough to regenerate all the used Mana.
For nearly a full minute, the man just kept chasing after Shang.
Eventually, the man's brows furrowed.
Shouldn't Shang be out of Mana by now?
Additionally, why did he still look so dead?
Every Mage would have shown some kind of recovery by now.
More and more questions appeared inside the man's mind.
And eventually, his eyes widened in realization.
The Concept of Purgatory!
Naturally, as a talented Mage of the Judgment Palace, he knew all about the Death Affinity. After all, this was the Judgment Palace's specialty.
As soon as he thought of the Concept of Purgatory, everything fell into place.
The man stopped chasing and cast a quick but complex Spell.
And his pupils shrank in horror.
Just now, he had used a Spell to make Death Mana visible to him, and he saw that his entire Mana Shield was covered in Death Mana that was using the Concept of Sickness!
This was literally a time bomb!
Naturally, Shang noticed that the man had seen through his plan.
In an instant, Shang's body healed to its peak condition.
Then, Shang snapped his fingers.
BOOOOOM!
The Death Mana covering the man's Mana Shield exploded, destroying nearly 80% of all of his Mana!
SHING! SHING! SHING!
Shang used three Mana Steps to get close. He had had enough time to recover the Mana in his mind since he wasn't using any to move.
CRACK!
Shang's Addum hit the Mana Shield with full force, destroying it.
The man immediately willed himself to explode since he knew that he was about to die.
Yet, Shang's Subsis moved too quickly.
The Subsis touched the man's head and infused it with Death Mana with the Concept of Purgatory.
Shang had recovered his storage of Death Mana in the last minute.
The next instant, Shang slapped the guy toward the ground.
And just like this, another birdwatcher was born.
Chapter 826 826 – One Guy
Shang refilled his Death Mana once more as the man looked at the cute birds.
This time, he had needed to put in quite a lot more effort on destroying his opponent's Mana Shield without killing them.
The other Gravity Mage had already posed a small problem to Shang back then, and that Gravity Mage had only had a threefold Spirit Sense.
In fact, Shang's current opponent had been right.
Gravity Mages were Shang's weakness.
Luckily, the lack of information from his opponents made these fights far easier than normal.
Usually, every person Shang was fighting knew that he was a warrior. Everyone in the Hibye knew each other, and they all knew that Shang was a warrior.
But here, things were different.
The Judgment Palace didn't even consider that someone as powerful as Shang could be a warrior.
Everyone entered the fight, assuming that Shang was a Mage.
Even when Shang used ranged attacks with his swords, they simply believed that they were very complex and strange Spells.
Naturally, in the last fight, Shang used that to his advantage.
He had even used Mana Shield to make it seem like he was a Mage.
Sure, when his Mana Shield exploded, his mind truly was out of Mana, but he didn't really care that much.
If necessary, he could just use his Corridor of Darkness to escape.
Could Shang have won without using these tricks?
Very likely, but Shang probably wouldn't have been able to corrode his opponent's mind with the Concept of Purgatory.
This was not just a normal duel between two people.
This was a war, and both of them knew that there was no way to exit this place.
Under normal circumstances, the loser didn't immediately kill themselves.
What if they could bribe or blackmail their opponent to let them go?
What if a third person came to save them?
There were too many variables.
But here, these things wouldn't happen.
Even if Shang wanted them to survive, he would have to pay with his own life due to the barrier.
So, the best way was to just explode.
Like this, the Gravity Mana the man left behind would tell his people that he had committed suicide, and it would unveil Shang's true power.
Also, he might take Shang with him to the grave.
But since Shang wanted to kill more Mages from the Judgment Palace, he used this elaborate ploy to mask his true strength.
Even more, his previous tactic of acting like he was nearly dead would work again since nobody would believe that Shang was so powerful that he had the luxury to put up such an act after fighting someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
Only someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense could do something like that.
But Shang couldn't possibly have a fivefold Spirit Sense.
Not only would the Judgment Palace have already heard of him, but they also refused to believe that the Lightning Manor would put their strongest genius into such a precarious, open, and dangerous situation.
This would give the other Empires a chance to send their own peak geniuses at Shang that countered him.
That would put the future of the Lightning Manor in jeopardy.
Meanwhile, Shang just waited inside the cloudy barrier.
Outside, the Mage King was looking at the cloudy barrier with narrowed eyes.
The two Early Ancestral Mages had already been fighting for nearly an hour.
This confirmed that Shang had played her.
A couple of remaining volunteers with threefold Spirit Senses took deep breaths.
To think that they had been willing to volunteer to fight someone like that.
At this moment, they were relieved and happy that the Mage King had decided to choose other people over them.
"I need another volunteer," the Mage King suddenly said to the people behind her.
The Mages looked with shock at the barrier.
No, the barrier was still cloudy.
"Just in case," the Mage King said. "In case the enemy wins, I need someone that immediately charges in without giving him any downtime. You know how exhausting it is to fight someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense."
The volunteers nodded and discussed amongst each other who would go next.
Being the first to fight Shang was bad since Shang had been rested.
But now, their chance had come.
They could fight an exhausted enemy!
After a while, they decided that a woman with a Metal Affinity would go next.
If the enemy actually won, it meant that he most likely was strong against people fighting with domains like Gravity Mages and Time Mages.
So, they decided to try a Mage that fought with physical attacks.
After a moment, everything was prepared, and the grey-haired woman readied herself to join the battle in case she needed to.
Suddenly, the Mage King took out her Communication Crystal and looked at it with furrowed brows.
"Yes?" she transmitted to the Communication Crystal.
"How long are you going to take?" an annoyed but polite voice came from the Communication Crystal. "Our plan was made with your help in mind. It's been two weeks, and we have taken devastating losses. So, how much longer?"
The Mage King gritted her teeth.
This was the Mage King responsible for the assault from the Land and Sky Empire.
"We are fighting someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense," the Mage King said. "He has been acting like a pig the last two weeks, and he ate eleven Mages with threefold Spirit Senses. It's not like we are wasting time here. We're also losing people."
"Wait," the Mage King from the Land and Sky Empire said. "You're not joining us because of one guy?"
The female Mage King gritted her teeth with more intensity as shame and rage washed over her. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth.
"So, you're telling me that you haven't even won a single fight in the last two weeks?" the other Mage King asked.
"Yes!" the Mage King shouted in rage. "I fucked up! I'm a shit commander! I know! It's not like I'm trying to be this shit, okay?!"
The other Mage King became silent after that outburst.
"How are you getting stopped by one guy?"
"Shut the fuck up!" the Mage King shouted in fury. "We just sent in a Gravity Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense! The problem should be solved within the next 24 hours!"
And then, she cut the connection as she steamed in unending fury.
The other Mages behind her didn't dare to say anything.
Chapter 827 827 – Counter
A couple of hours passed, and finally, the barrier became transparent again.
When the Mage King saw Shang, she gritted her teeth again.
At this moment, Shang's Mana Shield was showing signs of instability, and his body was slightly shaking, which was a sign of extreme anxiety.
However, he was still alive.
He had killed someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense!
That was literally worse than every death before this combined if one ignored the time Shang had actually won for the Lightning Manor.
"Go!" the Mage King shouted at the Metal Mage behind her.
The Metal Mage narrowed her eyes and charged into the barrier, which quickly became cloudy again.
Shang waited for his enemy.
Eventually, he saw her.
'Metal, huh?' he thought.
When the Metal Mage saw him, she narrowed her eyes and prepared her Spells.
Shang immediately shot at her.
Yet, surprisingly, she stopped relatively quickly.
Suddenly, she moved her hand from one side to the other in a rapid motion.
Shang felt his instincts screaming at him and jumped to the side.
SHING!
It was like a line had gone through space at the place where Shang had just been.
'That's troublesome,' Shang thought.
Mages could attack from far away, but it was very unusual for a Mage to attack from nearly 2,000 kilometers away.
Shang analyzed the cut that had gone through the space beside him.
'Not very fast and not a lot of power, but it would still injure me quite severely if it hit. It probably doesn't cost a lot of Mana.'
'But the attacking range is insane.'
When the Metal Mage saw that Shang managed to avoid her attack, her eyes narrowed further.
It wasn't easy to avoid this attack without using Mana Step.
The next moment, Shang shot at her while using Comet.
She readied another couple of Space Cuts and used them.
This time, she used three at once, but Shang managed to avoid those three as well.
This took the Metal Mage by quite a lot of surprise.
'How does he have so much control over his body's movement?' she thought. 'Did he spend years training his body just for that?'
As she saw Shang get closer and closer, she gritted her teeth and decided to change her approach.
These Spells had been extremely useful in the past, but this time, they were not as useful.
Instead, she readied several volleys of metal spears.
When Shang was only 200 kilometers away, she shot them directly at him.
DING! DING! DING!
Shang let go of his two swords and hid behind his Addum as he used several Blasts to stop himself from being pushed into the distance.
At the same time, Shang's hands moved at rapid speeds, catching several spears that were passing by him.
At that moment, the Metal Mage's eyes widened in shock.
What?!
How?!
As the volley passed, Shang came out from behind his Addum and threw one spear after the other at her.
Shang's body was in the Early Sixth Realm, which meant that he was essentially as fast and powerful as these Spells.
So, when Shang threw these spears, they weren't much slower or weaker than the ones the Metal Mage had thrown.
CRK! CRK! CRK!
The Metal Mage summoned a metallic grinder in front of her that destroyed the spears that were shot at her.
Even though she managed to react with impressive speed, she was still deeply shocked.
How could her opponent catch her spears like that?!
And then, Shang suddenly arrived in front of her.
She immediately used Mana Step to retreat.
But it failed!
WHOOOOM!
At that moment, an intensely burning Addum reached her Mana Shield.
Shang hadn't used up the stored Mana inside his Addum.
CRACK!
And the Mana Shield broke apart with one strike!
A moment later, another birdwatcher was born.
Shang refilled his Death Mana and retreated to his usual spot.
This fight had been much easier than the last one.
The reason why people with fourfold Spirit Senses were so powerful was that they knew so many Concepts that gave them extremely complex and varied attacks, added with a lot of creativity.
Their Mana storage or the power of their Spells weren't necessarily higher.
Shang couldn't use his body to really fight against a Domain made of gravity, but he could use his body to fight metal spears.
Instead of using complex attacks, Shang simply overpowered his opponent.
He just straight-up used muscles to overcome brains.
While the Gravity Mage had been a counter to Shang, Shang had been a counter to the Metal Mage.
The Metal Mage's impressive Spells had been useless against someone with such a strong body and controlled movement.
Meanwhile, the Mage King of the Judgment Palace was waiting with narrowed eyes.
"Do we have another volunteer?" she asked.
The hearts of the people dropped.
Could their opponent actually win again?
They had already sent two of the three big categories, domain and physical attacks.
The only thing left was energy, which was elements like wind, fire, and lightning.
Even more, the opponent should have been exhausted by the last fight.
Could he actually still win?
The people were talking with each other, but the mood was very different from before.
In the beginning, they had taken the opponent lightly.
Then, they had looked at the opponent as an equal.
But now, they felt nervous and a bit scared.
How powerful was this guy?
"I'll do it," one guy with red hair said.
The others looked over and nodded.
If even he failed…
This specific person was one of the strongest Mages they had.
He had a Fire and Wind Dual Affinity, and he could even use Blaze with incredible mastery.
This guy was probably within the top 5% of every Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense, and he was the strongest Early Ancestral Mage they had.
All the stronger Mages were at different levels.
He was truly the last straw.
If he failed, the Judgment Palace would have no one left.
Chapter 828 828 – Humiliation
BANG!
The Mana Shield of Shang's opponent broke, and his eyes turned confused.
Shang took a deep breath.
'This wouldn't have been so easy if I hadn't fought that shitty peacock in the trial. Luckily, I know how to counter this stuff now,' he thought.
The strongest Early Ancestral Mage of the Judgment Palace was now a confused birdwatcher.
Earlier, the Mage King had sent in that particular Ancestral Mage with fury and frustration.
Sending him in had essentially meant going all in.
They had already lost two Mages with fourfold Spirit Senses, and losing this guy on top of that would be horrible for the Judgment Palace.
And now, that person was a confused birdwatcher like all of Shang's previous opponents.
Outside, the Mage King and the volunteers behind her looked with gritted teeth at the barrier.
Their champion couldn't possibly lose!
He had to win!
Meanwhile, Shang just looked at the birdwatcher with his Spirit Sense.
'His aura is intense,' he thought.
Since the man wasn't using any Magic anymore, it was easy for Shang to feel the true power of his aura.
'He's probably one of the strongest Mages they have.'
'Getting three people with fourfold Spirit Senses is already more than I expected.'
'I don't think they will send a fourth one.'
'Additionally, they will most likely not believe me anymore.'
'I guess it's time for phase two of the Lightning Emperor's plan,' Shang thought as he slowly stood up from his mountain.
'Time to become famous.'
Suddenly, Shang's perception left the world as his mind stretched into the darkest void imaginable.
The world of the Abominations.
According to the Lightning Emperor's plan, Shang was supposed to reach the Early Void Break Realm now.
Why?
Well, there were only two possible outcomes after this battle.
One, the Judgment Palace gets handed the territories from the Twilight Dusk and Land and Sky Empires to go around Shang's territory.
Two, the true geniuses will be sent to attack Shang.
According to the Lightning Emperor, there was one Initial Ancestral Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense in the Twilight Dusk Family, and there was a Late Archmage with a fivefold Spirit Sense in the Judgment Palace.
The Empires could reduce the aggression of the war and increase the power of one of these two to fight Shang.
Shang was confident in winning against someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense one level higher than him, but the same wasn't true for someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense.
On top of that, Shang didn't need to act like a weakling anymore since everyone would suspect that he had a fivefold Spirit Sense.
So, Shang would now show his "true" power by acting like a domineering genius with a fivefold Spirit Sense.
Something like this was so insanely outstanding and rare that no one would even think about Shang having an even deeper secret.
When one already belonged to the ten most talented people in the world, no one would suspect this guy from actually being so talented that he would easily be number one.
This was Shang's job.
By being this open and this powerful, the other Empires would overlook him when searching for the mysterious super genius of the Lightning Manor.
After all, the Lightning Empire suggested the tournament in 50,000 years, which meant that he had some confidence.
There had to be an even greater genius than Shang, and the Lightning Empire obviously wouldn't openly show this genius to all the other Empires.
That would be stupid.
After reaching into the world of the Abominations, Shang pulled one of the Abominations out of it.
This barrier was perfect for hiding the Abominations from the Empires. After all, nobody could see through these barriers.
The Abomination appeared in front of Shang, and he absorbed it without hesitation.
The Abomination vanished, and Shang's body began to shake.
WHOOOOM!
Suddenly, Shang felt like something inside of him had changed, and his body rapidly absorbed an insane amount of Mana from the surroundings.
Shang had reached the Early Void Break Realm.
Now, his body was even stronger.
His physical power would be a level above the mental power of an Early Ancestral Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense.
Earlier, Shang wouldn't have been confident in taking down someone like that.
But now, there wouldn't even be a fight.
Shang's insane power would overwhelm his opponent's power, and his body could probably even survive a direct hit from such an opponent's Spell.
For the first time in a long while, Shang might be fighting someone that was on his level.
After reaching the Early Void Break Realm, Shang entered his inner world again to train.
The barrier didn't do anything to Shang since he was still within its limits as an Early Void Break Realm fighter.
Yet, Shang's power had reached insane levels when put in the context of an Early Ancestral Mage.
There was no longer any reason to act like someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
So, he might as well go all the way.
Several hours passed.
The Mage King of the Judgment Palace became tenser and tenser as hours passed.
Her nerves actually got the better of her a couple of times as she complained about the fact that all fights involving Shang took several hours.
Why did it always take this long?!
She nearly went crazy as over ten hours passed.
How could this fight be so insanely close?!
Fights rarely went on for this long unless the two combatants were at identical power levels.
But as more hours passed, her heart began to fall.
The people behind her turned white in shock and fear.
It had been 16 hours!
How had it been 16 hours?!
And as 24 hours passed, all hope was lost.
No fight between Early Ancestral Mages would go on for this long, and their champion had no reason to buy time.
This meant this fight was a repeat of the very first fight.
But it was so much harder to believe.
Their opponent was actually so powerful that he had effectively played with their champion?
Everyone knew that the barrier would remain cloudy for nearly an entire week.
And maybe, that wasn't so bad.
After all, they would need a long time to recover from this shock.
What a monster.
What an absolute monster the Lightning Manor had created.
After a day had passed, the Mage King slowly took out her Communication Crystal.
It was time to come clean with the Mage King from the Land and Sky Empire.
The Judgment Palace wouldn't be able to join the war without their help…
The entire Judgment Palace…
The strongest Empire in the world…
Was being hopelessly suppressed and held at bay by one guy in the Early Ancestral Mage Realm.
It was a humiliation.
Chapter 829 829 – Huge Problem
The Mage King from the Judgment Palace looked at the Communication Crystal with narrowed eyes and gnashed teeth.
It was so humiliating.
Some random guy in the Sixth Realm was stopping the strongest Empire in the world.
She quickly created a small Isolation Barrier around her to keep everyone from watching and listening.
Then, she contacted the Mage King from the Land and Sky Empire.
"Yes?" the Mage King asked after accepting the transmission.
The Mage King from the Judgment Palace took a deep breath. "The Judgment Palace can't join the war as things are right now."
Silence.
"What?!" the other Mage King shouted in shock and rage. "Explain!"
"We can't get through that one territory," she explained. "The guy defending this place has been playing us for fools."
"At this moment, he is buying time while fighting against the most powerful Early Ancestral Mage in my entire Empire! That's someone that might have a chance of condensing a fivefold Spirit Sense in the future."
"And he's playing with him! Winning is so easy for him that he can keep the fight going for an entire week, or maybe he already managed to win without killing his opponent."
"There isn't a single person in the entire Judgment Palace that can win against this person at this very moment," she explained.
Silence.
Many kilometers away, a young man with green hair furrowed his brows as he took deep breaths.
This was the Mage King responsible for the assault from the Land and Sky Empire.
"You think he has a fivefold Spirit Sense?" the man asked calmly.
"Very likely," the other Mage King answered.
The man looked towards the northeast. He wasn't close enough to the territory in question to see it, but he still looked in its general direction.
Someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense.
Was it really so smart to unveil someone like that?
People with fivefold Spirit Senses were closely protected since they represented future Mage Kings.
Killing someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense was like killing a Mage King.
It would be devastating for an Empire.
And yet, the Lightning Manor was openly putting this peak genius of theirs in a vulnerable position.
Sure, in the short run, there wouldn't be any danger, but in the long run, things would be different.
There were other people with fivefold Spirit Senses out there, and with enough preparations, they could eventually kill that genius.
"What's our plan?" the Mage King from the Judgment Palace asked.
The man just furrowed his brows more.
Originally, he was pretty appalled and angry at the Judgment Palace, but after hearing that they were dealing with someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense, most of that anger vanished.
In the future, they might get someone that could kill Shang, but it would take many years.
But for now, there was nothing they could do.
The Mage King had several powerful geniuses under him that he had full confidence in, but he knew how powerful someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense was.
After all, the Mage King also had a fivefold Spirit Sense.
Sure, these people were extreme geniuses, but the Mage King knew very well how much more powerful someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense was.
There was nothing they could do at this very moment.
"I have a plan, but I have to ask our Ancestor for permission first," the Mage King said.
After that, he hung up and took out a different Communication Crystal.
"What is it?" came the heavy voice of the Land and Sky Emperor, Brutus Cesar.
"Sir, someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense is blocking the Judgment Palace from joining the war. I am planning on handing over our two closest territories to the Judgment Palace so that they may attack from-"
"Impossible," the Land and Sky Emperor immediately said.
The Mage King was surprised by the sudden and direct interruption. "Sir?"
"According to the contract, we are not allowed to hand over our territories willingly," the Emperor said.
At that moment, the Mage King's eyes shone.
The Emperor had specified everything with the words "according to the contract".
Did that mean that he wanted the Mage King to hand it over but couldn't give an affirmative answer?
"Sir, what if the Judgment-"
"I said it is impossible!" the Emperor shouted with extreme strictness. "If I notice that anyone of our Empire has had some dealings with another Empire that results in the voluntary loss of one of our territories, I will personally kill that person!"
The Mage King became quite nervous and scared as he heard the threatening words from his Emperor.
"Of course, sir. It won't happen, sir," he said before cutting the connection.
The Mage King released a nervous sigh.
Well, that plan went out of the window.
Meanwhile, in an absolutely humongous tower, over 10,000 kilometers tall, a green-haired man put his head in his hands as he gritted his teeth in frustration.
The Land and Sky Emperor cursed the contract's strictness.
Of course he wanted to give the Judgment Palace a couple of territories so that they could join the war, but he couldn't even slightly show any inclination of supporting that.
He literally had to do his absolute very best to stop this from happening.
And if the Mage King willingly acted and handed some territories over, the Emperor would literally have to kill his Mage King.
Even more, nobody but the Emperors knew about the strictness and exact contents of the contract, and the Emperors were not permitted to tell others about the content.
'I have to break this restriction as soon as possible!' the Land and Sky Emperor thought in frustration.
Meanwhile, the Mage King contacted one of the Mage Kings of the Twilight Dusk Family, who then contacted Emperor Amon Gus.
Just like Emperor Brutus Cesar, Emperor Amon Gus made it very clear that this would go against the contract and that he would kill whoever broke the rules.
The Mage King could only sigh in defeat and tell the other Mage King that they also couldn't do that.
Both Mage Kings were troubled by this development.
The entire strategy was based on the Judgment Palace joining, and they had already sacrificed many extremely talented Mages to put pressure on the Lightning Manor.
Without the Judgment Palace, the other two Empires were in danger of overextending.
Eventually, they decided to pause the assault for now and told the Judgment Palace to find a way to join.
Without the Judgment Palace, they weren't willing to keep up the heavy pressure.
Naturally, this put the Judgment Palace also under immense pressure, and the Mage Kings gathered to find a solution.
The Empress of Death was too busy dealing with the contract, and they couldn't ask her.
Yet, even after a full day of planning, they couldn't find a solution that didn't involve breaking the rules or assaulting their allies.
Eventually, the Mage Kings gritted their teeth and actually asked their Empress what they should do, even though she told them not to disturb her.
The Empress of Death coldly looked at them with apathy.
And then, she gave them a solution to the problem.
It didn't break the rules.
It didn't involve attacking their allies.
But the Mage Kings didn't like it.
They didn't like it at all.
Chapter 830 830 – The Plan
Several days passed.
Shang exited his inner world and killed the bird watcher.
After a couple of seconds, the barrier turned transparent again, and Shang waited in the middle.
As always, Shang looked calm and emotionless.
And then, he waited for his opponent.
Silence.
The barrier didn't become cloudy, which meant that no one had entered the barrier.
Some seconds later, Shang's Communication Crystal rang.
"Hold your position! No matter what!" came an urgent but unknown voice.
However, based on the aura Shang had felt, he knew exactly who had just spoken.
Kiran, the Catastrophe King.
Before Shang could answer, the Communication Crystal became silent.
Shang tried to contact some people of the Lightning Manor, but his Communication Crystal couldn't reach anyone.
He was isolated.
Shang moved to the edge of his territory without retrieving the flag to look out of the transparent barrier with his Spirit Sense.
At the southeastern end, there was nothing too surprising.
It was just the start of the Judgment Palace Empire.
There were no powerful Mages that Shang could see.
Then, Shang went to the southern end.
There was the Land and Sky Empire.
There was also no one there.
After that, Shang went to the east.
There was the Twilight Dusk Empire.
No noteworthy Mages present.
And when Shang reached the north, he realized what had happened.
To the north of Shang's barrier, he saw a different barrier.
It was a Defender Barrier for an Initial Ancestral Mage, and it belonged to the Twilight Dusk Empire.
As Shang curved towards the west, he saw another barrier.
It was also a Defender Barrier for an Initial Ancestral Mage, but this one belonged to the Land and Sky Empire.
Shang immediately knew what had happened.
The two Empires had conquered the territories behind Shang.
These territories had been heavily defended by the Lightning Manor. Conquering them had probably cost these two Empires a brutal amount of resources and lives.
And then, after conquering the territories, they put two Defender Flags down that made it impossible for Shang to attack.
The huge Zone was still assigned to Ancestral Mages, even though a big part of it had been captured by the two other Empires.
They could have put down Peak Ancestral Mage Flags, but that would be risky.
What if Shang could break through rapidly and destroy their defenders?
Because of that, they decided to use Initial Ancestral Mage Defender Flags.
Like this, Shang couldn't even attack them since he was too strong.
This meant that it was impossible for Shang to go to the north, northwest, or west.
He could only travel to the southwest, south, southeast, east, and northeast.
However, by going there, Shang would be going into enemy territory.
And that was what they wanted, but not for the reason one might think.
Shang knew that the enemy wanted Shang to leave his territory.
In fact, the direction literally didn't matter.
As soon as Shang would lift his Defender Flag, an extremely quick Initial Ancestral Mage would probably swoop in and plant their Attack Flag down on Shang's territory.
At the same time, new Defender Flags would appear around Shang's territory, barring him from moving literally anywhere.
He was only allowed to move far enough to plant an Attack Flag into enemy territory.
Anything further, and Mage Kings would be allowed to kill him.
So, if he retrieved his Defender Flag, he would be encased by Defender Flags he couldn't attack.
If he entered them, he would die.
If he flew past them, he would die.
And if he waited for an hour, he would die as well since the territory would vanish under him.
This was their plan and also the reason why Kiran had told Shang to hold his position, no matter what.
As long as Shang's Defender Flag didn't move, he could survive.
But the other Empires were blocking all forms of communication. The single communication with Kiran had probably cost the Lightning Manor a ridiculous number of Mana Crystals, and Kiran had only been able to say two sentences.
Shang was alone.
He was alone and surrounded by enemies on all sides.
He was isolated from the entire world.
How did Shang feel?
He didn't care.
If anyone wanted to kill him, they would need to send someone stronger than him that was on his level.
And such a person didn't exist.
Shang felt just as safe as ever, maybe even more.
In this place, he was also protected from every powerful person.
People from the Lightning Manor couldn't reach him, and if powerful people of other Empires entered here, they would be breaking the contract.
After a while, Shang sat down in the middle of his own territory.
He could feel his bandages reacting strongly, but he acted like he didn't know.
At this moment, Shang guessed that he was probably being watched by over 15 Mage Kings.
They were probably all waiting to see if he would fall for the trap.
The Mage Kings watched Shang for several hours.
Surprisingly, even though he had obviously realized the severity of his new situation, Shang didn't appear nervous or scared in any way.
Several days passed.
Then, four weeks passed.
Shang didn't move.
The Mage Kings saw that there was no deterioration in Shang's calmness or mood.
He was just as relaxed as on the first day.
They realized that this plan had failed.
With heavy hearts, the Mage Kings of the Judgment Palace looked at each other.
And one by one, they nodded.
They would use the Empress' plan.
Sadly, that was the only way they could think of.
They contacted the other Mage Kings from the surrounding Empires, who agreed to the plan.
Some minutes later, more Defender Flags popped up around Shang.
One additional one appeared to the east and another one to the south.
Now, Shang was completely boxed in.
Literally the only way out was to the southeast, which was where the Judgment Palace was.
A couple more weeks passed.
Shang kept training inside his inner world.
And eventually, the barrier became cloudy.
Shang came out and readied himself for a battle.
But the barrier became transparent again.
Then cloudy again.
And transparent.
Cloudy.
Transparent.
Cloudy.
Transparent.
It took about a second for the barrier to switch modes each time.
Shang wasn't quite sure what was going on and went to the southeast.
And there, he saw what the Judgment Palace was doing.
He immediately realized what their plan was.