Ch. 831..840
Chapter 831 831 – Pit Of Death
At the southeastern corner, Shang saw a Mid Archmage enter.
An instant later, they exploded into a shower of gore.
Then, an Early Archmage entered and exploded.
The barrier only restricted more powerful people from entering. If they so chose to, weaker Mages could also fight the defender of the flag.
The Judgment Palace was sending in one fighter after the other, which immediately committed suicide.
Of course, there was a certain limitation to the rules. Only people within one Realm of difference were allowed to fight. That rule was to make sure that no weak and innocent people were accidentally killed since very weak people didn't necessarily know what was going on.
This meant that no one below the Early Archmage Realm was allowed to trigger the barrier and "fight" Shang.
So, every single person that entered and exploded was at least an Early Archmage.
Every single second, an Archmage from the Judgment Palace died in Shang's territory.
As time passed, Shang could feel something change.
The Death Mana in the surroundings was very slowly increasing in density.
'They want to turn my territory into a Pit of Death,' Shang thought.
'They are insane.'
Turning a barrier with a diameter of 10,000 kilometers into a Pit of Death powerful enough to kill an Ancestral Mage was beyond crazy.
Even if they used high-grade "bodies", such as Archmages, it would literally take millions upon millions to achieve that.
The Judgment Palace was using a very specific way to kill these Mages, which resulted in the density of their bodies and blood to reduce.
But in exchange for that, the volume increased drastically. Every single explosion coated the surrounding kilometers in a thick sheet of blood with lower density.
With this method, the Death Mana would corrupt a greater area, getting rid of the other kinds of Mana sooner, which resulted in vastly increased efficiency.
They were literally planning on turning Shang's territory into an ocean of blood that would retain Death Mana with great effectiveness and efficiency.
The Judgment Palace was willing to exchange several million Archmages for Shang's life.
At maximum, there were 100 million Archmages living in the Judgment Palace's Empire.
And even with all their advanced methods of producing Death Mana, they would probably need to sacrifice over 20 million.
20% of all Archmages in their Empire.
For Shang.
Were all of these people volunteers?
Probably not.
It wasn't easy to surprise or shock Shang, but the Judgment Palace managed to do it.
Their plan was insane, but it would most likely work.
Sure, Shang knew three Concepts of Death, which allowed him to gather Death Mana and essentially throw it out of the barrier.
However, that would unveil one of Shang's secrets.
His mastery over the Concepts of Death.
Shang was already proudly posing as someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense, but if he showed that he had mastery over death to a certain extent, the other Empires might actually suspect him of being the Lightning Manor's true genius.
What if Shang were the one that could fight King Sanctified Death in the future?
At that point, Shang's value would rise from being equivalent to a Mage King to being equivalent to a Mage Emperor.
At that point, the Judgment Palace might actually decide to sacrifice a Mage King to deal with him.
If a Mage King decided to launch a Spell at Shang from a relatively close range, not even an Emperor would be fast enough to block it as long as they weren't specifically waiting for that attack with rapt attention.
Sure, the Mage King would be killed as a result, but it would have been a worthwhile exchange.
So, Shang couldn't possibly show that he knew about the Concepts of Death.
And being surrounded by Death Mana?
That was still dangerous.
Even to someone like Shang.
With enough density, this wouldn't be any different than an Isolation Chamber filled with Death Mana.
At some point, Shang would just die.
Shang continued to watch his territory getting rapidly filled with blood and guts.
He knew that, in one year, all of this would turn into an area of absolute death.
It wouldn't be easy to survive.
But Shang knew that this was also an opportunity.
'I've been trying to comprehend the level four Concept of Death. Maybe being surrounded by so much Death Mana will finally allow me to comprehend it.'
'Nevertheless, I'm not certain if that Concept will make me immune to the powers of so much Death Mana. No matter what I do, my body can't survive on Death Mana alone. That would be contradictory to the very existence of Death Mana.'
'It truly is problematic.'
'For now, there's nothing I can do but wait.'
After thinking that, Shang returned to his usual spot and waited.
Inside his inner world, Shang was summoning extremely powerful beasts one after the other.
Originally, Shang had been planning on waiting to comprehend such complex Concepts until he reached the Peak Void Break Realm since he would also have a much more powerful mind at that point.
But now, he couldn't wait anymore.
He had to die over and over again.
This was a huge danger but also a big opportunity.
In the past, Shang had avoided dying inside his inner world as much as possible due to a couple of reasons.
First, getting accustomed to dying might decrease the emotional pressure during a real fight to the death.
Second, continuously dying might make Shang extremely paranoid, warping his perception of the surroundings.
But now, there was no other way.
The second problem was no longer relevant due to the removal of his warrior body. In Shang's mind, the entire world was already out to get him.
As for the first problem, Shang had noticed that the emotional pressure had already reduced drastically.
Shang was as calm fighting a nearly hopeless battle as fighting an easy battle.
Sure, dying over and over again would make it even worse, but the tradeoff wasn't so bad anymore.
So, Shang just kept dying.
Over and over again.
And as he died inside his inner world, the real world also turned deadlier and deadlier.
Chapter 832 832 – Advanced Death
The Judgment Palace never stopped.
Every second, without fail, they would send in the next Archmage to die.
Shang kept focusing on comprehending the level four Concept of Death, but even while constantly dying, it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.
One month after it started, around three million Archmages had already died in Shang's territory.
The entire ground had already been transformed into a literal ocean of blood, and only a couple of mountains poked out of the ocean.
Rotting guts and pieces of human bodies could be seen floating inside the ocean.
Yet, there were no insects or scavengers present.
The density of Death Mana already didn't allow such weak beings to exist.
Shang sat on one of those mountains, but the blood was already starting to touch his legs when there were higher waves.
This ocean wasn't nearly as smooth as the real ocean.
No, this ocean was chunky, muddy, and disgusting.
It was like someone had filtered the majority of the water out of a sewage pipe and filled a pool with everything that remained.
Except that this was redder but also not really that red since the coagulated blood turned black.
The ocean of blood even had a thin black skin.
All in all, it was quite unpleasant.
Another month later, no piece of land could be seen anymore.
Naturally, all the living beings, except for Shang, had also died already.
Shang hadn't moved and was completely surrounded by the blood.
He already needed to filter out the Death Mana that was trying to enter his body and mind.
Not doing anything wouldn't immediately result in his death, but it would slowly poison him over a long time.
A couple of months later, Shang actually had to put some effort into filtering the Death Mana.
It was like he was no longer breathing automatically but manually due to the effort and focus it needed.
Shang was reminded of when he had been trying to comprehend the Concept of Purgatory.
He had felt very similar back then.
Shang just kept focusing on the level four Concept of Death as more time passed.
Eight months after the start of the Judgment Palace's plan, Shang couldn't train inside his inner world anymore.
Staying alive in the outside world consumed literally all of his focus.
Shang already noticed that his mind was being altered by the Death Mana.
Even though Shang was doing his very best to filter out all the Death Mana, his filter wasn't perfect anymore.
His body and mind were consuming slight bits of Death Mana without him wanting to.
Ten months after the start, Shang was starting to lose more life energy than he was gaining.
By now, the Judgment Palace had already sacrificed over 25 million Archmages, which was insane.
The barrier had already fully been filled with blood, but the barriers the other Empires had built around Shang's barrier kept forcing the blood into Shang's barrier.
More Archmages entered and died.
Funnily enough, they didn't even need to kill themselves anymore.
As soon as they entered, the Death Mana would kill them faster than they could kill themselves.
The Death Mana kept consuming more and more.
With every Archmage it consumed, it became more powerful.
Even more, the Death Mana had taken on very strange properties.
Shang had been around a lot of Death Mana back when he had trained in his own little Pit of Death, but he had never felt anything like this back then.
The Death Mana in here had… evolved?
Changed?
Shang wasn't certain what the right word was.
The Death Mana was less apathetic and more aggressive.
In a way, Shang felt like all the dead Archmages were trying to take him with them into the afterlife.
It was like all the hate-filled and aggrieved souls that had died here were banding together to kill Shang.
All the hatred and regrets were combining to create some kind of primordial force that wanted to end all life.
Life was not allowed to exist.
Shang could now see the difference between his little Pit of Death and a real one.
The power, quality, and level of the Death Mana here were incomparable to the one from back then.
His little Pit of Death might have been enough for Shang to comprehend the first two Concepts of Death, but it wouldn't have been enough to teach Shang the Concept of Purgatory.
But the Death Mana that was around him right now felt very similar to the Death Mana he had experienced after his longevity had run out.
This was how it felt to die.
It was like some kind of force was trying to pull Shang from the living into the realm of the dead, which was exactly how he felt whenever he was severely injured in his inner world.
His life was ending.
He was being forcefully pulled away from the living.
Shang's mind started to turn blurry, and it became very difficult to discern what he was actually thinking about.
And yet, the feeling was different from back when his longevity had run out.
Back then, the feeling of death came from inside.
This time, it came from the outside.
It produced the same results but with a different starting position.
This taught Shang something about death that he couldn't have comprehended on his own.
Another two months passed.
The Judgment Palace still hadn't stopped sending in Archmages.
It had been a full year, and they had sent in nearly 35 million Archmages.
By now, Shang could barely stay alive.
And, for once, he actually wasn't calm anymore.
Back when his longevity had run out, surviving had been a matter of will.
But not this time.
No matter how strong someone's will was, being blown into pieces would result in their death.
And this was the same.
Shang WOULD die.
Even more, Shang felt that he wasn't ready to comprehend the level four Concept of Death yet.
His mind was just too weak, and his experience of comprehending Concepts was too little.
He needed to do something!
But what?
Naturally, Shang found a way, but it would be risky.
Chapter 833 833 – He's The Child Of Calamity!
Outside of Shang's territory, several Mage Kings from the enemy Empires were watching him.
Sadly, there was a huge Magic Circle that stopped everyone from the Lightning Manor from looking over, which meant that Shang's current state was completely unknown to them.
The Mage Kings saw that Shang would only be able to survive for a couple more days, at most.
It was already extremely surprising that he managed to survive until now, but it wasn't impossible.
The Mage Kings from the Judgment Palace were especially interested in Shang.
They had sacrificed over 30 million Archmages.
That was about a quarter of all Archmages living inside the Judgment Palace Empire.
It was a mass genocide that hadn't been seen in a long time.
Naturally, not everyone was happy with the plan.
The other Empires complained and said that creating Pits of Death was against the law.
The Mage Kings of the Judgment Palace admitted and said that the other Empires were right.
In the future, they would pay whatever the other Empires deemed to be a fitting price.
But for now, they would continue to create this Pit of Death.
Since this was an action sanctioned by an entire Empire, the fines coming toward them in the future were more than brutal.
The fines would probably be in the hundreds of Grade Eight Mana Crystals.
But all of this would be worth it as long as Shang died.
Killing Shang represented killing a future Mage King.
The Mage Kings were watching Shang the entire time, just waiting for him to die.
Soon.
Soon, he would be dead.
SHING!
And then, time seemed to stop as something happened.
The eyes of the Mage Kings widened in shock.
What?!
Are you serious?!
Now?!
Inside the barrier, something appeared.
It was a humongous being made of black scales, muscles, and tentacles.
It was an Ancestral Abomination!
As soon as it appeared, all the Death Mana immediately rushed toward it.
Usually, Death Mana didn't move for anything, but as soon as an Abomination was present, the Death Mana was attracted to the Abomination like any other kind of Mana.
The emotions of the watching Mage Kings went crazy.
Would the Abomination kill Shang?
A huge amount of blood and Death Mana was absorbed by the Abomination.
And then…
It walked towards the south.
Abominations didn't immediately explode when they appeared.
The normal way Abominations operated was to absorb a lot of Mana first to prepare for their eventual explosion.
This was the most crucial moment.
It was necessary to kill the Abomination before it could absorb a lot of Mana.
Otherwise, it would explode, even if someone managed to kill it.
After absorbing enough Mana, the Abominations usually walked in one direction, using their Domain to destroy all the Mana around them.
They would only explode when threatened.
Naturally, the Abomination had absorbed around 50% of all the Death Mana inside the barrier before walking toward the south.
When the Mage Kings saw that, they gritted their teeth.
This lucky bastard!
It wasn't unusual for Abominations to appear inside these barriers. These barriers appeared randomly and quite frequently.
Additionally, due to the chaotic forces operating on the frontlines, predicting the appearance of an Abomination was extremely difficult.
This wasn't even the first Abomination that had appeared in one of the Zones.
There had been hundreds in the last year.
But there had only been about five Ancestral Abominations. The others had been Arch Abominations or High Abominations.
The Mage King responsible for the assault from the Judgment Palace nearly exploded in frustration and anger.
Really?!
Now?!
Here?!
Why?!
As the Abomination walked towards the south, it eventually encountered the barrier.
It extended one of its claws and touched it.
The barrier shook under the stress and eventually broke apart.
Shang's flag blew into pieces, and the barrier was completely destroyed.
As soon as the barrier vanished, a humongous storm of fire devoured the Abomination.
WHOOOOM!
The storm of fire suddenly expanded to a size of nearly 500 kilometers wide, but it quickly pressed together again.
One of the Mage Kings had killed the Abomination and used his Fire Mana to contain the explosion of the Abomination.
Ancestral Abominations were powerful, but a Mage King was incomparably more powerful.
The Mage Kings looked on as nearly 80% of the Death Mana had been pushed out of Shang's territory after the barrier's destruction and the explosion.
30 million Archmages…
Sacrificed for nothing.
"I refuse to believe this was a coincidence!" the Mage King from the Judgment Palace shouted.
The other Mage Kings looked at her.
"The timing was too perfect!" the Mage King shouted again.
Then, she pointed at the distant Shang.
"He's the Child of Calamity!"
"I want him tested!"
The other Mage Kings furrowed their brows.
The Child of Calamity.
They had almost forgotten that the Child of Calamity was the very reason for all these Abominations.
The Mage Kings looked at each other and nodded one by one.
One of the Mage Kings took out a Communication Crystal and contacted his Emperor.
Brutus Cesar furrowed his brows when he heard about what had happened.
The Child of Calamity?
Finding and eliminating the Child of Calamity was the highest priority.
It was even more important than winning the war.
Naturally, Brutus Cesar wanted to do nothing but get rid of Shang, but he had to be honest.
So, he contacted Kali, Amon, and Gregorio.
The Spirit Senses of all four of them reached the place where Shang was currently.
In order to make it fair, all four of them would investigate Shang.
All four of them looked at Shang.
At this moment, the feeling of being watched reached new heights of intensity.
Shang felt like he was inside a dimension filled with nothing but humongous eyes that were looking at him.
A couple of seconds later, the Mage Emperors were done with their investigations.
There was nothing unusual about Shang's Affinity.
They concluded that he had a Dual Affinity of Light and Darkness with quite a lot of talent in the Fire and Ice Affinities as well, but that was it.
He had certainly won the lottery in terms of Affinities, but he wasn't the Child of Calamity.
Chapter 834 834 – Hidden Plan
A moment later, the Emperors also agreed to have the destroyed flag replaced.
Abominations didn't belong to the war, and their involvement should not be a factor in the outcome of the war.
After that, the Emperors returned to dealing with the contracts in their minds.
A couple seconds later, the flag in Shang's territory vanished, and a new one appeared out of thin air.
The flag was stabbed into the ground by the mind of a Mage King, and the flag activated again.
The barrier reappeared.
At this moment, Shang was still lying on the ground, nearly dead.
He wasn't faking his current state.
The Death Mana had permeated his body and mind, and it was very difficult to get rid of it without unveiling his knowledge of the Concepts of Death.
Nearly all the blood filling Shang's territory had vanished, but the world was still colored red and black.
There was still no other life besides Shang in this barrier.
Shang would need a while to recover.
The Mage Kings looked at each other.
"We might have a chance now," the Mage King from the Judgment Palace said. "The density of the Death Mana has drastically reduced, which means we can send someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense in. He can't possibly win in such a condition."
The Mage King from the Land and Sky Empire furrowed his brows. "Didn't you hear what the Emperors said?"
"So?" the Mage King from the Judgment Palace asked.
"He has a Light and Darkness Dual Affinity," the Mage King from the Land and Sky Empire said. "You should've fought your fair share of Darkness Mages. You know exactly how fast they can regenerate from their injuries just by absorbing the Mana from other Mages."
"He only needs to unleash a quick Spell that drains a bit of Mana from another Mage and transform it into life energy. After that, he only needs to win with a Mana deficit."
The Mage King from the Judgment Palace gritted her teeth. "It's still worth a shot!"
"Shut up!"
The Mage King's head shot back in shock.
She hadn't expected such a direct rebuke.
"Are you that stupid?!" the other Mage King shouted with a strict and furious tone. "I've kept myself in check all this time as respect for the Judgment Palace, but even I have a limit!"
"In the last year, we lost over 25 people with a fourfold Spirit Sense! 25!" the Mage King shouted. "On top of that, we lost over 3,000 people with a threefold Spirit Sense!"
Then, he pointed at the Mage King from the Twilight Dusk Family. "They lost just as much as us!"
"And you know what? Over 70% of these losses are from the two first weeks of the war!"
"Why did we lose so many? Because we were fucking waiting for the Judgment Palace!"
"We were waiting for you!"
"You guys had a single fucking job!"
"Join the war!"
"That was it!"
"Yet, not only didn't you manage to accomplish that in a full year, but you even needed nearly two weeks to tell us that it wouldn't work!"
"Your ridiculous pride and arrogance of not admitting when you are beaten have cost all of us invaluable people and resources!"
"I've had it up to here with your idiotic decisions!"
The Mage King of the Judgment Palace only looked at the other Mage King with shock and embarrassment.
How long had it been that anyone had ever dared to talk to her like that?
She wanted to kill that Mage King so badly.
And yet, she knew that he was right.
She had messed up.
The rage towards herself and the people around her reached new heights.
She gnashed her teeth and narrowed her eyes.
"You say I have one job?!" she shouted.
"Fine!"
"I will accomplish that job!"
"I hope you don't regret it."
"If the Judgment Palace doesn't join the war by tomorrow, I swear that I will commit suicide!" she shouted.
The other two Mage Kings were taken aback.
"Now get the hell out of here before I do something I will regret!" she said with the most venomous tone imaginable.
Then, she cut the connection of her Communication Crystal and looked away from the distant Mage Kings.
The other Mage Kings looked at each other for a second and decided to retreat outside her Spirit Sense.
She would commit suicide if the Judgment Palace didn't join the war by tomorrow?
That certainly could be considered quite a promise.
Two hours of silence passed.
The other two Mage Kings were not certain what she was planning.
BANG!
And then, one of the Mage Kings of the Twilight Dusk Family looked to the south in shock.
One of his Defender Flags had been destroyed!
Someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense had defended that Defender Flag!
DING!
A moment later, an Attack Flag was planted in that territory.
When the Mage King saw the color of that Attack Flag, fear and anger entered his heart.
The Judgment Palace!
The Judgment Palace had killed one of their strongest Mages and was attacking one of the most important territories!
This was one of the territories bordering Shang!
The Mage King quickly contacted the one from the Land and Sky Empire, who then looked at his territory bordering Shang.
It was cloudy.
Someone was currently fighting one of his most powerful Mages!
He could already tell who it was.
The Mage King looked at the territory with narrowed eyes.
"Try your best to get it back in case it's lost," he ordered one of his Peak Mage Lords.
"Yes, sir!" the Mage Lord shouted before he went off to arrange everything.
They wouldn't give up these territories without a fight!
Yet, deep inside, the Mage King let out a sigh of relief.
'At least you did that right, stupid bitch,' he thought. 'I should never have trusted you to handle things on your own. I should have done that from the very beginning.'
Naturally, since no one was allowed to voluntarily hand territories over, the battles had to be genuine and do their very best to retain them.
So, instead of coming to an agreement regarding the territories, the Mage King angered the other Mage King until she attacked out of pure anger and humiliation.
On top of that, the other two Empires lost Mages with fourfold Spirit Senses and even Defender Flags, which were extremely rare anyway.
Lastly, they would even try their best to stop the Judgment Palace from actually claiming the territories, which would probably mean sending another Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense in to die to the Judgment Palace.
They would have genuinely tried their very best to defend from the Judgment Palace.
And they would most likely fail.
After all, the Judgment Palace was the Judgment Palace, and they had a lot of extremely powerful people.
'Finally, the Judgment Palace will join the war,' the Mage King thought.
'Took long enough.'
Chapter 835 835 – Isolated
Over the next couple of days, Shang's body recovered.
The Judgment Palace stopped sending in new people, which was not what Shang had expected.
He had expected that they would either send someone to kill him or restart with killing Archmages. After all, they couldn't possibly be this unlucky again, right?
Yet, it seemed like they had abandoned their plan.
When Shang was fully healed, he flew through his territory to look at the surrounding barriers.
That was when Shang saw that the colors of the surrounding barriers had changed.
Shang was now encompassed by the Judgment Palace.
Interestingly enough, the Judgment Palace had effectively used all their Defender Flags to stop Shang from moving.
A year ago, they had been prepared to intercept Shang, but that was probably no longer the case.
Instead of constantly having to keep an eye on him, they decided to simply build him in and ignore him.
Covering the east and northeast was a barrier for Ancestral Mages with four stars.
Covering the north and northwest was a barrier for Ancestral Mages with one star.
Covering the west and southwest was a barrier for Ancestral Mages with five stars.
And the south and southeast were covered by one with three stars.
Shang couldn't leave his territory unless he decided to assault another territory.
Naturally, three of the four barriers were essentially impossible for Shang to tackle.
The one-star one was just straight-up impossible, and the four and five-star ones probably had people with fourfold Spirit Senses defending them.
Shang could jump one level against someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense, but not two nor three.
The only one Shang could attempt to attack was the south and southeast one since it only had three stars, representing a Mid Ancestral Mage.
However, attacking and conquering that territory would move Shang further into the Judgment Palace instead of away from it.
After that, since he couldn't defend two territories at once, the Judgment Palace would conquer the territory he just left behind, making it even easier to bunker him in.
Even more, assuming Shang continued, he would eventually reach a Zone that wasn't meant for Ancestral Mages to fight, which would stop his advance.
At that point, the three Defender Flags from the other directions would probably have moved, enclosing him in the corner.
This reminded Shang a bit of chess.
Shang was stuck.
However, that didn't mean that he was useless.
Shang was keeping several powerful Ancestral Mages busy, and on top of that, the Judgment Palace used four of its five Defender Flags for the Ancestral Mage Realm to stop him from interfering.
The Judgment Palace only had the two-star flag remaining.
Shang had already showcased the power of a well-placed Defender Flag.
Just by existing, Shang was essentially blocking several strategic weapons from being used.
And this was how things would stay.
Shang would remain here, and the opponent would ignore him.
Shang couldn't join.
The four Defender Flags couldn't be used.
Yet, there was one thing that made this trade quite detrimental to the Lightning Manor's enemies.
The assignment of the Zones.
The Zones had been assigned one year ago, and the Empires would be allowed to reassign them every century, which would be coupled with a temporary ceasefire.
Now, the question was, who would get to decide which Zone? After all, the Zone Shang was currently in was a square with a length and width of 500,000 kilometers.
What if big parts of the Zone belonged to different Empires? Who would get to decide?
There were two rules.
First rule: In order to change a Zone, one Empire had to control over 50% of it. If there was no Empire controlling over 50% of the Zone, the Zone would stay the same.
Second rule: If the original owner of the Zone still held control over a territory inside a given Zone, they still had control over it, no matter how much they owned.
The second rule was implemented to give the biggest geniuses of each Empire more importance.
And the second rule was also the reason why Shang would continue to be a pain in the ass for the attackers.
As long as Shang remained in his territory, the attackers couldn't change the Zone to something more favorable to them. They would need to send in more and more Ancestral Mages.
If they truly wanted to conquer this Zone, they needed to produce someone that could kill Shang.
But that would probably take a long time.
This meant that Shang was stuck here.
The war would continue without him.
And how did he feel about that?
Great!
Finally, he could return to training in peace!
Just to be sure, Shang still kept an eye on the outside world for another couple of days.
However, nothing was happening.
No one was entering his territory.
The barriers surrounding him weren't moving.
Even more, the feeling of being watched became weaker and weaker.
After these couple of days, Shang only felt a couple of careless glances from some powerful people every couple of minutes.
Naturally, no one knew about the secret of Shang's bandages, which meant that they also wouldn't know whether Shang knew they were looking at him or not.
In short, this meant that the Judgment Palace truly stopped caring about him and what he was doing.
Shang's territory had essentially transformed into a forbidden area.
As Shang walked through his dead territory, he felt a profound feeling of isolation.
These 10,000 kilometers belonged to him.
No one would enter.
No one would exit.
He was alone.
And he wouldn't have it any other way.
Eventually, Shang summoned his humongous Isolation Chamber.
This drew a couple of curious glances from the Mage Kings again.
What was he doing with that?
For a couple of days, Shang only remained sitting in the middle of his Isolation Chamber, the entrance barely open.
The Spirit Senses had to weasel their way in through the little crack, making it a bit uncomfortable and difficult to look inside.
But they kept looking.
They wanted to know what Shang would do.
Yet, nothing happened.
He was just sitting there.
Eventually, the Mage Kings started to look away again, but they frequently looked back.
BANG!
One small moment, when not a single Mage King was paying attention, Shang summoned an Ancestral Abomination and immediately shut the entrance.
The Mage Kings immediately looked over when they felt the entrance shut, but they had been too late.
They hadn't noticed the Abomination in that split second.
In the Isolation Chamber, Shang absorbed the Abomination and continued sitting in the middle for a couple of hours.
Eventually, the Isolation Chamber opened again, and the Mage Kings looked inside.
Shang was just sitting there.
The same as before.
The Mage Kings grew interested again and looked at him.
Nothing was happening.
He wasn't doing anything.
A year passed.
He still wasn't doing anything.
BANG!
The door closed again, and the Mage Kings cursed each other.
Why had no one paid attention?!
Some hours later, the entrance opened again.
Shang looked the same as always.
The Mage Kings furrowed their brows.
What was he doing in there?
Why did he even have such a huge Isolation Chamber?
Was this one of the Lightning Manor's plans?
Chapter 836 836 – Century
Years passed.
Shang had no idea what was going on outside, but nothing changed in his little world.
Every day, he just kept fighting against the most powerful beasts he was allowed to summon inside his inner world.
He kept dying over and over, but sometimes, he managed to win.
Every couple of months, he would summon an Ancestral Abomination when no one was paying attention and absorbed it.
As more years passed, Shang even accidentally comprehended more Concepts just due to the sheer number of fights against powerful beasts.
Shang had learned the level two Concept of Light, Particle, which worked on the mass-aspect of light.
Sadly, as a level two Concept, it wasn't that useful to Shang. It only increased the mass aspect of his Light Mana by a bit.
Shang also comprehended the level two Concept of Darkness, Blindness, which worked on the brightness aspect of Darkness Mana.
With that, Shang wouldn't need as much Mana to suppress an enemy's senses inside a domain or corridor of darkness.
Just like the Concept of Particle, it wasn't that useful.
Shang also comprehended the level one Concept of Ice, Icicle.
This Concept increased the power of Shang's icicle-based attacks by a bit, but it wasn't really worth mentioning.
Eventually, a hundred years had passed.
In Shang's world, nothing had changed.
This century had passed without anything happening inside Shang's little world.
Shang had kept track of the time and paid attention to what the Lightning Manor would do.
This was the best time to communicate with Shang.
If an Empire decided to change the assignment of Zones, the current defenders and inhabitants of that Zone needed to vacate.
This meant that if the Lightning Manor decided to assign this Zone to Mage Lords or Archmages, someone would come to retrieve Shang and the Defender Flag, bringing him back to the Lightning Manor.
Eventually, the day had arrived.
And passed.
And another day passed.
And another one.
That was when Shang realized that the Lightning Manor didn't change the assignment of his Zone.
This meant that they were happy with how things were currently.
Having Shang in this spot tied up a lot of resources of the Judgment Palace.
They obviously wanted him to stay there.
The sheer value that Shang brought to the Lightning Manor in this war was absolutely insane.
He had killed so many talented Mages, had cost the Judgment Palace millions of Archmages, had cost them 275 Grade Eight Mana Stones in damages for the Pit of Death they made, and he was even locking up valuable Defender Flags and talented people.
One single person in the Sixth Realm had achieved all of that.
Even more, he was a constant dormant threat to the Judgment Palace.
If they decided to give him a bit of freedom, Shang might manage to fight his way back to the Lightning Manor's territory.
And then?
That would be even worse!
At that point, they couldn't possibly use Early or Mid Ancestral Mages to attack.
If they did, Shang would just tear through them, one at a time, only needing some seconds per Ancestral Mage.
That would make things even more difficult!
Due to Shang and the heavy defenses of these territories, the Judgment Palace had already lost a lot of valuable Ancestral Mages, and they would prefer attacking with anything other than Ancestral Mages.
Especially due to what had happened in the last century.
As soon as the Judgment Palace managed to join the war, it put immense pressure on the Lightning Manor with its Ancestral Mages.
With all three Empires putting so much pressure on this corner Zone, it would fall quickly.
Except, there weren't three Empires.
After the other two Empires had lost so many of their talented people, and since they also weren't the biggest fan of the Judgment Palace killing their talented Mages to join the war, they took it very easy for the next years.
This meant that the Judgment Palace had been the only Empire putting immense pressure on the Lightning Manor.
And the Judgment Palace had lost A LOT of Ancestral Mages due to the lack of support from the other Empires.
They really didn't want to fight with their Ancestral Mages right now, but they had no other choice.
They hadn't managed to enter a different Zone yet inside the Lightning Manor.
The Lightning Manor was throwing so many Ancestral Mages at them just to stop them from entering any other Zone.
Eventually, the Judgment Palace also calmed down with their aggression.
They could produce talented Ancestral Mages far faster than the Lightning Manor.
Even more, the Lightning Manor had to deal with two other Empires at the same time.
In the long run, they would outlast the Lightning Manor.
Also, after the century passed, a bit of their locked-up resources became available again.
When Shang looked around his territory again, he noticed something.
The three-star barrier to the southeast had vanished, replaced with nothing.
However, Shang wasn't really surprised.
The territory to the immediate southeast belonged to the Judgment Palace, which meant that the Lightning Manor had no sway over it.
When it was time to rearrange the Zones, the Judgment Palace had probably changed their northwestern Zone from Ancestral Mage to something else.
This meant that Shang wasn't even allowed to assault that territory, which also meant that the Judgment Palace didn't need to use that specific Defender Flag anymore.
Now, the Judgment Palace only needed three Defender Flags to contain Shang.
Yet, except for that, nothing else had changed for Shang.
Shang still had no idea how the Lightning Manor was doing or what it was doing.
He remained stuck inside his little isolated world.
By now, all the Death Mana had vanished, and life had come back to Shang's world.
The huge craters had been filled with water, creating huge lakes.
The wastelands had turned into a place swarming with animals and plants that could survive in a low-humidity environment.
And other parts had transformed into steppes.
There were even a couple of small forests.
A century was a long time.
Yet, this wouldn't be the only century that would pass for this small world.
Chapter 837 837 – Change Of Plans
More years passed, and Shang continued battling with the beasts inside his inner world.
During the battles, he comprehended a couple more Concepts.
For example, he comprehended the level one Concept of Fire, Kindling, which made his fire a little more efficient.
Sadly, just like with the other Concepts he had comprehended in this little world, it wasn't that useful.
Then, he comprehended the level two Concept of Ice, Freeze, which made it easier to lower the temperatures.
Surprisingly, this wasn't useful at all for now, but it would prove quite useful soon.
After Shang had comprehended that Concept, he actually actively sought out the level two Concept of Fire, which quickly came to him.
Just a couple of years later, Shang comprehended the level two Concept of Fire, Heat, which made it easier to heighten the temperatures.
As soon as Shang had comprehended it, he realized that the two level two Concepts of Ice and Fire were not useless at all.
By increasing the intensity of cold and heat, Shang's Comet became even more powerful, increasing Shang's speed by about 20%.
Some of his attacks had also grown more powerful, but that wasn't worth mentioning. At most, they increased in power by 5% or so.
After seeing these results, Shang reevaluated his mindset.
'There might be something to this,' Shang thought as he inspected his new abilities.
'I didn't expect that comprehending two irrelevant and weak level two Concepts could have such an effect on my power.'
'Usually, I focus on comprehending something specific, which I know will increase my power drastically. That's how I managed to gain a sixfold Spirit Sense.'
'Yet, my focused efforts may have made me miss out on a couple of small powers.'
Shang clenched his right hand as he held it in front of him.
'In the past, I was always under immense time pressure due to my limited longevity.'
'But now, I have so much time.'
'Maybe, instead of trying to reach the Peak Void Break Realm to search for a way to reach the next Realm, I should just train without focusing on anything at all.'
'I didn't understand a lot in the last years, but for some reason, winning against the beasts became easier.'
'This means that something else is happening.'
'Somehow, my power is increasing in a way I can't quite quantify.'
'Maybe, there's something else that I am making progress on.'
'Since I have no idea about the old Paths and what kind of Paths I can choose, I might be comprehending something that I don't know exists.'
After thinking for a while, Shang eventually made his decision.
'I'll wait for 600 years in total. Originally, I wanted to reach the Mid Void Break Realm when I became 1,400 years old, but I think I will continue training like this until I'm 1,800 years old.'
'I'm not taking advantage of the power of my mind, but I think it's worth it.'
'Especially since I won't be able to properly train anymore after I reach the Mid Void Break Realm.'
'The Affinity Wheel can only summon beasts up to the Mid Beast Lord Realm, and if my power continues to increase like this, the majority of those won't be a true danger anymore after I reach the Mid Void Break Realm.'
'After this level, the Affinity Wheel will become mostly useless.'
'I should make the best use of it.'
Shang nodded.
After that, he returned to his inner world to train.
Shang decided to continue training without focusing on anything.
He knew that he most likely wouldn't find a true path forward, but his foundation would become wider, and his powers might evolve in ways he hadn't thought of.
So, Shang just kept on fighting the beasts.
Eventually, the second century was up, and Shang had reached the age of 1,400 years old.
Shang felt that he no longer needed to absorb any more Abominations.
If he wanted to, he could reach the Mid Void Break Realm.
But he didn't break through.
He decided to fight for 400 more years in his inner world.
In the last couple of years, the feeling that he was comprehending something had increased by quite a bit.
It was like there was something close.
Something he was about to finally understand.
The Empires reshuffled their Zones again, and once more, the Lightning Manor didn't change Shang's Zone.
Shang inspected the three barriers surrounding his territory once more.
Nothing had changed.
So, he continued training in his inner world.
By now, the Mage Kings had lost nearly all interest in him.
Every couple of days, one of them remembered that Shang existed and threw a curious glance, but then, they would look away again.
They had grown used to seeing Shang there.
He was an unsolvable problem, and his presence was annoying.
This was the most annoying and problematic Early Ancestral Mage they had ever seen.
But there was nothing they could do.
Shang just continued to train.
In the next century, Shang comprehended only one Concept, but it was a good one.
The level three Concept of Light, Beam!
This Concept increased the speed of Shang's light-based attacks, giving him a tiny bit of the speed of light.
Naturally, Shang's attacks didn't reach the speed of light yet. In fact, they weren't even close.
However, the little bit he had received from his Concept was already quite a lot for him.
The speed of Missile and Radiation increased by a lot!
But that was all he had comprehended in this century.
Now, Shang was 1,500 years old.
The war started 300 years ago.
The Lightning Manor still hadn't changed the Zone.
So, Shang just continued training.
SHING!
One day, something suddenly happened.
It was just like any other day inside Shang's inner world, and Shang hadn't expected anything to happen.
But then, something appeared inside his world, just 2,000 kilometers away from him.
Shang quickly noticed that something had changed, and his Spirit Sense looked at the source.
Shang was a bit surprised at what he saw.
It was an Arch Abomination.
It had… just appeared.
Randomly.
Without Shang's order.
Shang saw the Mana in the surroundings flow towards it and frowned.
SHING!
Shang swung his Subsis a tiny bit, and the Abomination turned into tiny cubes of meat, which were then eaten by the surrounding Mana.
There was no use in keeping that thing alive.
To Shang, this was an inconsequential event.
Something that didn't change anything and something he didn't care about.
Yet, moments later, he felt the feeling of being watched reach high levels of intensity.
It was like the Mage Kings were looking with shock at him.
Which they were actually doing.
Chapter 838 838 – He's A Warrior?!
"He's a warrior?!" one of the Mage Kings shouted in shock.
Right, up to this point, none of them had ever seen Shang fight since the barrier turned cloudy every time.
But Abominations didn't trigger the barrier, which was why the Mage Kings could see everything that had happened in there.
With their experienced eyes, they could tell that Shang wasn't using a Spell but a certain Domain-power related to his body.
Additionally, he had swung the sword with insane speeds, and there had been no magical forces at play.
This guy was a warrior!
Wait, he was a warrior?
He was a warrior?!
A warrior had killed that many Mages with fourfold Spirit Senses?!
A fucking warrior cost the Judgment Palace this many lives and money?!
A shitty fucking warrior was annoying all of these Mage Kings without them being able to do anything to him?!
Naturally, over the last 300 years, they had come to know the warriors very well.
The warriors were one of the biggest reasons why the Lightning Manor was putting up such a great fight.
Many resources that Mages needed to reach high levels of Battle-Strength were extremely rare and highly sought after, which meant that a certain number of resources could only produce so many Mages with high levels of Battle-Strength.
Yet, almost all of these resources were not that useful for warriors.
On the flip side, the resources that the warriors needed weren't that useful for the Mages.
This meant that the Lightning Manor could essentially create twice as many highly talented people.
The average warrior was still a bit weaker than the average Mage, but that difference wasn't that pronounced anymore.
One could say that out of ten battles, the Mages would win six and the warriors four.
There was still a difference, but it wasn't as great anymore.
Even more, the Mage Kings had already noticed a couple of warriors with threefold Spirit Senses.
Luckily, these warriors were still rather new, and they were still at the True Path and Impose Stages.
The warriors were becoming a bigger problem by the day.
But now, there was this fucking super warrior with a fivefold Spirit Sense!
This was not a future problem but an immediate problem!
"Is that why everyone lost?!" the Mage King from the Judgment Palace shouted in newfound anger and hatred.
"They all expected that they would fight a Mage, but they were actually fighting a warrior!"
All the Mage Kings knew how significant such an advantage was.
If the combatants had known that Shang was a warrior, they would be very careful to keep their distance from him.
Even more, they wouldn't ration their Mana since fights with warriors ended very quickly.
Fights between Mages were endurance battles but fights between Mages and warriors were very short but intense battles.
If one of two boxers in a ring decided to take it slow, they might receive a heavy punch to the face at the start of the fight, which could end the entire fight.
Knowing that Shang was a warrior was very important!
The Mage King from the Judgment Palace immediately wanted to send someone in to fight Shang, believing that her Mage would win with this newfound information.
However, the other Mage Kings stopped her.
He still had a fivefold Spirit Sense.
On top of that, they were certain now that Shang was the reason for the existence of all these troublesome warriors.
He was probably the one that came up with these powers, Stages, and Paths.
Someone that could create something completely new while also being so talented to reach a fivefold Spirit Sense was not someone simple.
He was probably a genius on par with the top five Mage Kings.
However, by choosing to become a warrior, he had ruined his future.
Creating a Path up to this point was impressive, but that was nothing compared to what was in front of him.
Creating something like a Warrior King was not something that just one person could do in their lifetime.
Something like that required the accumulation of knowledge and experience across generations of talented individuals.
Also, would the Emperors even permit the existence of a Warrior King?
After the initial shock, the Mage Kings were actually relieved.
They had feared that Shang would become a troublesome Mage King in the future.
But now, they didn't need to worry about that anymore.
Eventually, Shang would just die.
He would never reach the Mage King Realm, which meant that he would never truly become a danger.
Sure, he might be annoying now, but that was it.
"Wait! I know who that is!" one of the Mage Kings from the Twilight Dusk Family shouted.
The other Mage Kings looked at him.
"The Lightning Manor bought him and all the other warriors about 800 years ago for 13 Grade Eight Mana Crystals!" he said.
This took the other Mage Kings by surprise.
13 Grade Eight Mana Crystals?
They looked at Shang.
Him?
For 13 Grade Eight Mana Crystals?
That was a good deal!
This guy was essentially the creator and progenitor of an entirely new Path that was close to rivaling the Mage Path in the first six Realms.
When the Mage King of the Judgment Palace heard about the 13 Grade Eight Mana Crystals, the 30 million dead Archmages and the 275 Grade Eight Mana Crystals they had to pay shot through her mind.
She grew angry yet again, but she didn't say anything.
In the end, they decided to leave things as they were.
After a bit, Shang realized why the Mage Kings were now so interested in him.
He hadn't intended to out himself as a warrior, but he also didn't regret it.
He knew how Mages thought, and he knew that showing that he was a warrior would actually lessen the killing intent aimed at him.
Shang just returned to his training.
More years passed.
Eventually, Shang comprehended something.
And this time, it wasn't a Concept.
This time, Shang comprehended something completely new!
He finally knew why he had felt like he was about to comprehend something for so long!
Chapter 839 839 – Physical Range
Inside his inner world, Shang had just unleashed an attack that had killed a humongous beast, cutting it into two pieces.
For a time, Shang only looked at his Addum.
What had this attack just been?
Shang ignored the Affinity Wheel for now and thought about his sword.
He noticed that many more things made sense now.
Somehow, his understanding of his weapon had reached a certain level.
Shang slowly moved his Addum through the air, and he felt like he could reach any place he wished with his Addum.
It was strange.
It was almost like his sword was several kilometers long.
After a couple of minutes, Shang used the Affinity Wheel to summon an Initial Beast Lord.
The Initial Beast Lord was a metallic tiger that appeared over 500 kilometers away.
Yet, Shang almost paid no attention to the Beast Lord.
Instead, he focused on his Addum.
Shang lifted his Addum to the side and tightened his grip.
Then, he focused.
As soon as Shang started to focus, he felt like he could see some kind of circle.
The circle had a radius of 25 kilometers, and Shang felt like everything inside this circle was reachable.
Shang could feel his mind and willpower concentrate more on the Addum.
It was like all his being was flowing into his Addum.
As time passed, Shang could feel everything inside the circle start to shake under his willpower and focus.
The next moment, Shang willed the circle to grow bigger.
The intensity of the circle lessened, but the size of the circle increased.
The more Shang focused on his weapon, the more he felt his mind burn.
It was like he was overdrawing his concentration or something like that.
The focus required became more and more intense.
Yet, Shang's appearance didn't change.
He just continued to focus.
If there was one thing Shang had, it was willpower.
The circle became bigger and bigger.
Eventually, when it reached a radius of nearly 200 kilometers, Shang could feel the metallic tiger enter the circle.
As soon as the metallic tiger entered the circle, it suddenly felt an immense feeling of danger.
It felt like it was walking through the territory of an aggressive Beast King!
In the distance, the metallic tiger could see that the earth around the human was starting to crumble and levitate. On top of that, the space around Shang seemed to vibrate with intensity and pressure.
It was almost like there was a deep rumbling going through the space.
Nevertheless, the tiger continued running forward.
Inside Shang's mind, he looked at the tiger.
Then, he compressed the circle again, but he always kept the tiger inside the circle.
The closer the tiger got to Shang, the more intense the surroundings became.
Eventually, when there were only 50 kilometers between them, something happened.
WHOOOM!
All the Mana in the surroundings vanished as Shang used Void Break.
Shang's Addum had already been loaded with a full Void Break, and he was using this new Void Break to increase the power of his body.
The circle in Shang's mind was shaking violently.
It was almost like it was about to break apart.
Shang's Addum began to burn with invisible flames.
And then, he slashed.
WHOOOOOM!
50 kilometers away, the tiger's body fell into two pieces.
All the intensely burning Fire Mana on Shang's Addum had vanished, and the surroundings had also completely calmed down.
The concentrated and unstable power had been unloaded by Shang's attack.
Shang took a deep breath and swung his Addum around a bit.
Shang didn't feel very different from normal.
The only difference was that he felt like his control over the world around him had strengthened.
SHING!
Shang released a slash, and a huge crevice appeared in the ground nearly 3,000 kilometers away from him.
'My normal attacks have also increased by quite a bit,' Shang thought. 'I guess I could kill a Mid Ancestral Beast with that, and if I use Void Break, I can most likely kill a Late Ancestral Beast.'
The next moment, Shang summoned a Late Ancestral Beast around 2,800 kilometers away.
Shang used Void Break and slashed to the side.
BANG!
The Late Ancestral Beast exploded into pieces.
Shang frowned and looked at his sword.
'I see,' he thought as he noticed the intense Fire Mana on his Addum.
'I still can't instantly transport the Mana from my weapon, which was why this kill wasn't as smooth.'
'However, if I use that circle…'
Shang lifted his Addum again and poured his focus into it.
The world around him rumbled again, and Shang felt his mind burn once more.
SHING!
Shang swung his Addum, and 100 kilometers away from him, an extremely deep and smooth crevice appeared.
The Fire Mana on Shang's Addum had disappeared.
'So, that's the difference,' Shang thought.
This new thing that Shang had comprehended had two effects.
First, it increased the power of his World Connection.
Second, it gave Shang the ability to channel his focus and willpower into his weapon, which allowed him to create an extremely powerful attack.
The longer he channeled, the more focus he could use to either increase the range or the power of the attack.
Even more, this attack worked just as if Shang were directly in melee range.
In fact, the attack could actually reach the same level of power as an actual physical attack from Shang.
But from several kilometers away.
One had to remember that a physical slash from Shang's Addum with fully loaded Mana was just as powerful as Meteor.
This meant that this attack could unleash the power of Meteor!
Yet, just like with everything else, there were drawbacks.
The reach of this circle wasn't nearly as great as the reach of Meteor.
Shang could use Meteor from thousands of kilometers away.
On top of that, to reach the power of Meteor, Shang needed to channel his focus for quite a long while.
Lastly, the more focus Shang used, the more difficult it was to concentrate.
Focus was a limited resource.
So, if an opponent saw Shang load up this attack, the best way was to just walk out of range.
If Shang continued to channel, he would waste all his focus, and if he stopped channeling, all the focus would go to waste.
Still, this attack essentially increased Shang's physical range to a size of 25 kilometers.
This meant that Shang no longer needed to bridge these last 25 kilometers.
'I guess this is the purest Path for warriors,' Shang thought as he looked at his Addum.
'First, they establish a Path. Second, they step along the Path and create their Impose. Third, they build upon their Impose and gain this ability.'
'This is a Path for someone that only uses a single weapon.'
'One weapon to destroy everything.'
Shang looked away from his Addum and looked at the distant crevices.
'I want something to happen, and it happens inside of my Spirit Sense. The power in the distance might not have reached insane levels, but it has increased.'
'However, my physical body can essentially reach every spot within 25 kilometers of me.'
'I intend to swing my arm, and the world follows.'
'I would want to call this Intent, but I remember that the Custodian once said that the warriors of old called Impose as Weapon Intent. Since this is the advanced form of that, I think I should just call it Weapon Heart, and since I focus on swords, this should be Sword Heart.'
Chapter 840 840 – Many Paths
After comprehending Sword Heart for his Addum, Shang decided to focus on comprehending Sword Heart for his Subsis.
He had trained both of them nearly equally, and comprehending Sword Heart for his Subsis only took a couple of years.
Now, Shang had two Sword Hearts.
The power of his World Connection had increased yet again, but it didn't make that big of a difference to before.
However, his ability to focus had become more effective.
Now, the starting size of the circle had a radius of 50 kilometers, which meant that Shang could essentially physically attack someone from 50 kilometers away.
Even more, the standard attack, without having to gather a lot of focus, was now just as powerful as Shang's physical attack, and he could increase the power even more.
This meant, as long as Shang was 50 kilometers away from the enemy, he could instantaneously unleash a nearly unavoidable attack that had the power of Meteor.
Sure enough, training without focusing on anything had allowed Shang to comprehend something that increased his power.
Sadly, it wasn't useful to Shang's Realm.
Shang needed to comprehend something that was on the level of a Mage King to retain the power of his Spirit Sense.
Sword Heart was something that Impose Stage warriors would comprehend to reach the Sixth Stage, the Heart Stage.
Sword Heart was on the same level as World Connection.
Even if Shang comprehended the level above Sword Heart, it would only increase his potential Spirit Sense from onefold to twofold.
Shang could only get back to a fivefold Spirit Sense with something that a Warrior Lord would use to become a Warrior King.
And this was obviously not the way to go.
It took too long.
Even more, Shang had two weapons, which would make this even harder.
Shang still needed to find something that could increase his Spirit Sense and his Realm.
But for now, he didn't search for that.
For now, he would continue to train aimlessly.
Eventually, another century was up, and Shang turned 1,600.
The war had been going on for 400 years.
Shang's little world had completely recovered by now.
There were many different landscapes, animals, plants, and beasts.
The Lightning Manor still didn't change the assignment of Zones.
So, Shang continued fighting in his inner world.
The next thing he managed to comprehend was the level three Concept of Darkness, Consumption.
Consumption increased the power of Darkness Absorb by a lot, and it allowed Shang to cancel even more of the opponent's will while using less Mana.
It was definitely quite useful.
But that was all he comprehended in that century.
Shang turned 1,700.
The Lightning Manor still didn't change anything.
When Shang realized that the last century had come, he decided to actually focus on something.
He decided to focus on the level four Concept of Death.
He had died so many times, and he had also come into contact with extremely powerful Death Mana.
He knew that he was close to comprehending it.
So, instead of fighting, Shang summoned one powerful Mid Beast Lord after the other, and he didn't even resist.
He died.
Very quickly.
Again and again.
He was eaten, pecked apart, bitten, eviscerated, exsanguinated, crushed, drowned, frozen, incinerated, torn apart, poisoned, shocked, cut, pressed together…
Eventually, all of this stopped mattering to Shang.
Dying became normal.
Was dying actually really so bad?
Whenever Shang noticed that he was having these thoughts, he did his best to rectify them.
Dying in here was fine, but dying outside was not fine.
Dying outside meant that everything would end.
Death in here was different from true death.
And that was when Shang realized it.
This was why he hadn't comprehended the level four Concept of Death yet.
Dying in here didn't represent dying outside.
Shang's mind replayed the things he had felt after coming into contact with the powerful Death Mana.
There was definitely a difference between that Death Mana and dying in here, emotionally speaking.
Even though Shang had grown used to dying, just the thought of coming into contact with this powerful Death Mana filled Shang's mind with fear.
'Getting accustomed to death?' Shang thought with ridicule.
'Dying in here is not a true death.'
'How can I ever get accustomed to death when I've never actually died?'
And finally, he understood everything.
The level four Concept of Death, Death.
Yes, the level four Concept of Death was the state of being dead.
A level four Concept.
Something that an Ancestral Mage would use to become a Mage Lord.
Shang was still in the Early Sixth Realm!
This truly put into perspective that Shang's mind was no longer his weakness.
Comprehending a level four Concept in the Early Sixth Realm was something that only Clouds could do, the most talented Mages in the world.
Was Shang very talented in Magic?
No.
It was just that Shang's mind was extremely focused, and that it was constantly in an extreme state of comprehension due to Shang's insane willpower.
He just never stopped learning.
He never took breaks.
He never took it easy.
He was a perfect machine.
After comprehending the level four Concept of Death, Shang decided to rework his techniques.
He now had Sword Heart and another Concept of Death to work with.
His Realm hadn't benefited, but his foundation and Battle-Strength had increased tremendously.
Additionally, Shang had an idea of what he could do to retain his Spirit Sense.
Shang had been a warrior up to the True Path Stage.
After that, he had comprehended World Connection, which deviated from the path of a warrior.
According to the Custodian, World Connection had been used by World Manipulators.
This meant that Shang had the base of a warrior, but channeled all of this into what World Manipulators used.
After that, Shang comprehended Void Break, which was something that Berserkers used, but Shang had also changed it somewhat to fit his own style.
This meant that Shang had already borrowed from three different Paths.
On top of that, Shang was using several weapons, which meant that he was even treading on the Weapon Master Path.
Four Paths.
And for the next breakthrough?
Why not borrow from yet another Path?
And wasn't there a very noticeable Path he hadn't borrowed from yet?