Ch. 841..850
Chapter 841 841 – Time's Up
For the last couple of years, Shang just focused on turning his Concepts into actual techniques.
And then, it was finally time.
Shang turned 1,800, and he waited for the redistribution of the Zones.
Once more, the Lightning Manor didn't reassign Shang's Zone.
Shang waited a couple of days to make sure that the war had resumed.
'It's time to leave,' he thought as he left the spot he had been sitting on for a long time.
The entire territory had recovered. One wouldn't be able to guess that just a couple of centuries ago, everything had been submerged by a sea of blood and Death Mana.
Shang flew to a distance of about 2,500 kilometers from the Defender Flag and stopped.
Then, he focused on his body and willed it to break through.
WHOOOOM!
In an instant, all the Mana in the surroundings was pulled towards him.
A couple of Mage Kings immediately took notice and narrowed their eyes.
The warrior was making his move!
Shang very quickly reached the Mid Void Break Realm, and he felt the Defender Flag starting to reject him.
Shang had become stronger than the Defender Flag, and it was warning him.
SHING!
A moment later, Shang pulled the Defender Flag out of the ground with his mind and put it into his inner world.
For the first time in a long while, the humongous barrier around Shang's territory vanished.
The Mage Kings immediately issued orders to their soldiers.
However, before any of their soldiers could react, Shang had already used several Mana Steps to leave his territory.
In less than a second, Shang had already entered the territory to his northeast, the four-star Defender Flag of the Judgment Palace.
The barrier quickly turned cloudy again, and the Mage Kings lost sight of Shang.
However, they also grew excited.
He had fallen for it!
He had fallen into their trap!
They knew that Shang would immediately charge into the weakest flag, which was the four-star flag.
So, they had put a very powerful Late Ancestral Mage with a fourfold Spirit Sense in there.
Shang would need to fight a level above himself!
And even if he survived by some miracle, he would only have two more hours to live.
After entering the new territory, Shang took a moment to recover his Mana and focus.
His opponent was probably in the middle of the territory, which meant that they were about 5,000 kilometers away from him.
He had some time to recover.
After a couple of seconds, Shang readied his two swords and flew toward the center of the territory.
Surprisingly, Shang didn't see anyone.
Was his opponent somewhere else?
But when he reached a distance of about 2,000 kilometers, he felt his bandages react.
His opponent was there, but he couldn't see them.
'They're using a barrier or Spell to hide,' Shang thought.
Just a moment later, Shang charged backward.
The feeling of being watched vanished, and it didn't return, even after Shang waited for a couple of seconds.
'Are they unable to move?' Shang thought.
Shang decided to move around a bit and enter his opponent's Spirit Sense again from a different angle.
Shang felt the feeling of being watched again and retreated.
After that, he returned to his original location and moved into the opponent's range again.
'They haven't moved,' Shang thought.
A moment later, Shang shot a couple of kilometers upwards and moved into the opponent's range again.
Shang remembered all three spots he had entered from. He knew exactly where the feeling had started.
And then, Shang used something terrifying.
Mathematics!
Trigonometry!
Shang was thousands of years old, and his mind was incredibly powerful.
These calculations barely took an instant.
Shang lifted his Addum.
And then, he swung down.
WHOOOOM!
The image of the Addum appeared on a spot about 2,000 kilometers away from Shang and slashed downward.
Meteor!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The surrounding 20 kilometers were turned into a burned crater!
SHING!
An instant later, a grey-haired woman appeared just 300 kilometers away from the crater.
Her face had turned white, and her eyes were widened with terror and shock.
If she hadn't used Mana Step just now, she would have died!
How did he find her?!
Her camouflage had been perfect!
Suddenly, she felt something terrifying approaching.
In the distance, she could see Shang swinging his Subsis.
SHING!
Out of instinct, the Mage used Mana Step again.
A moment later, the space where she had just been had warped drastically.
It was like an invisible spear had shot through that spot!
WHOOOM!
In the distance, all the Mana around Shang vanished, and he slashed with his Subsis again.
BANG!
The Mage felt something heavy and powerful hit her Mage Shield, and over 10% of her Mana vanished!
What?!
How?!
He was a warrior, right?!
So, how could he attack her from 2,000 kilometers away?!
This range was even crazier than the range of Mages!
The Mage noticed that she had already wasted quite a bit of Mana, and she decided to reset the battle.
She used three Mana Steps to move away and set up another barrier that would hide her in an instant.
She needed to recover some Mana.
Yet, just when she had set up the barrier…
BANG!
The same attack hit her again, and she lost even more of her Mana.
Around 2,800 kilometers away, Shang readied his Subsis once again.
600 years ago, his attacks hadn't been powerful enough to threaten Mages from such a distance unless he used a slow attack like Meteor.
But now, with the addition of his two Sword Hearts, his ranged attacks had become quite a bit more powerful.
This also gave Shang the ability to make use of his huge Spirit Sense.
At this moment, Shang could launch attacks at his opponent, who couldn't even see him.
From now on, the Mages would need to get close to him, not the other way around.
Shang's opponent panicked as she tried her best to find a way to hide from Shang.
BANG! BANG!
Yet, another two attacks hit her, and she realized with horror that she was out of Mana.
SHING! SHING!
The next moment, she saw Shang rapidly approach.
CRACK!
Her Mana Shield broke.
Shang rapidly used several Mana Steps to get close to her.
And then, he infused her mind with the Concept of Purgatory.
She had become a birdwatcher.
Shang had just used up all of his Mana to pull that off, but it was important.
If the fight ended right now, the Judgment Palace might suspect that Shang was even more powerful.
So, he had to save a bit of time.
But not that much.
Just one minute later, he killed her.
The enemy now knew that he was a warrior, and they knew that the fights wouldn't take that long.
One minute was already quite a long time for a battle.
Chapter 842 842 – Rebirth
The cloudy barrier vanished.
Yes, it didn't turn transparent.
Since the defender had lost, the Defender Flag had destroyed itself, which included the barrier.
WHOOOM!
The next moment, a new barrier appeared, but this time, it was not one of a Defender Flag.
This was an Attack Barrier.
Shang had just put down an Attack Flag.
At the same time, a second Attack Flag appeared on the territory Shang had just left behind, his old territory.
An Initial Ancestral Mage was attacking Shang's old territory.
Naturally, there was nothing Shang could do about it.
At this moment, several Mage Kings were paying attention to Shang.
Shang had destroyed another highly talented Mage, and he had even destroyed a Defender Flag.
However, he was stuck now!
After some minutes, no one had entered Shang's territory, and he knew that the Judgment Palace would let the countdown run out.
And then, they would simply send in another Initial Ancestral Mage to eat up that territory from under Shang.
After all, he couldn't use his Defender Flag anymore!
While the countdown was still going on, Shang looked at the borders of his new territory.
The south and southeast of his territory were still unassailable. That territory was the original territory of the Judgment Palace, and they had probably assigned High Mages or Archmages to it.
To his southwest and west was his old territory, which would soon be conquered by the enemy.
Shang noticed that the one-star barrier, which should now be at his northwest, had vanished.
Shang had a good guess as to where that flag was now.
That flag was probably with the Initial Ancestral Mage assaulting his old territory.
As soon as that territory got conquered, the Initial Ancestral Mage would put the flag down.
This would block off the west and southwest.
The next moment, Shang inspected his east.
There was a black-and-white barrier with one star.
This was no longer the territory of the Judgment Palace but the territory of the Twilight Dusk Family, and they had their own Defender Flags.
This only left the north.
And there was a two-star flag from the Judgment Palace.
Literally every single direction was blocked off.
Everything surrounding Shang's new territory was so weak that he wasn't allowed to attack.
He was truly stuck.
Shang didn't show any reaction on the outside and returned to the center of his new territory.
There were still around 55 minutes left on the countdown.
After some minutes, Shang summoned his humongous Isolation Chamber again.
He entered and closed the entrance.
The Mage Kings were curious about what Shang was trying to do, but they knew that there wasn't anything he could do.
Over 50 minutes passed.
Only two minutes were left.
The entrance to the Isolation Chamber opened, and Shang walked out.
A moment later, he put the Isolation Chamber away again and waited in the middle of his new territory.
Shang seemed the same as before.
Time passed.
One minute remained.
30 seconds remained.
At that moment, Shang's jaw moved just the slightest bit.
It didn't seem unusual.
20 seconds remained.
At that point, sweat started to pour out of Shang's entire body.
The Mage Kings looked at Shang with furrowed brows.
Something was going on.
15 seconds remained.
Shang's being seemed to burn and become unstable.
The Mage Kings were still uncertain about what was going on.
10 seconds remained.
BANG!
Shang shot towards the north as an insane amount of Mana gathered around him.
5 seconds remained.
At that moment, one of the Mage Kings realized what was going on.
"Immediately switch the Defender Flag to his north!" he shouted at the Mage King of the Judgment Palace.
The Mage King looked at the other one with shock.
What?
"He swallowed a Rebirth Pill!" the other Mage King shouted.
The eyes of the Mage King from the Judgment Palace opened wide in realization.
She immediately contacted the person to the north of Shang.
"Pull the Defender Flag out of the ground!" she ordered.
The Ancestral Mage grew shocked and confused.
What was going on?!
0 seconds!
WHOOOOM!
The attack flag Shang had planted vanished and converted the land below Shang to a territory from the Lightning Manor.
At the same time, Shang reached the northern edge of his territory.
The Mage in the northern territory stretched his mind towards the Defender Flag and pulled.
DING!
But he couldn't move it!
For some reason, he couldn't move or deactivate his Defender Flag!
And that was when the barrier turned cloudy.
The Mage Kings gritted their teeth.
They had been too slow!
However, who would have thought that Shang actually carried a Rebirth Pill with him?!
A Rebirth Pill was something quite expensive that was used to reduce someone's Realm, giving them a new shot at breaking through.
Rebirth Pills were very rare for one specific reason.
It required the corpses of Abominations to be created.
Reducing someone's level without breaking their Realm was not easy at all.
Getting someone from a Peak Ancestral Mage to a Peak Archmage was very easy. They simply had to destroy the Concept that held everything together.
However, things were not as easy when one just wanted to fall a level without falling a Realm.
Something like going from Mid Ancestral Mage to Early Ancestral Mage.
There was nothing specific one could destroy to make everything crumble.
One needed to wholistically reduce the density of Mana in one's entire body.
And that wasn't easy.
Yet, by using a couple of natural treasures together with Abominations, one could create a slower and more controlled explosion of an Abomination.
When Shang had swallowed the pill, a big part of his Mana was being used as fuel to create a field of destruction around him.
The Mana Shang had absorbed to reach the Mid Void Break Realm had vanished from the world.
And he had returned to the Early Void Break Realm.
This meant that he could attack the Defender Flag to the north now, which was exactly what he was doing.
Today, Shang would get rid of two of the five Defender Flags that the Judgment Palace had access to!
When the Mage saw his barrier turn cloudy, his mind stopped.
Did that monster to the south enter his barrier?
But he was only someone with a threefold Spirit Sense!
Chapter 843 Truly Stuck
Shang waited in the middle of his new territory.
The person that had defended this territory just now was busy watching birds.
Shang had very quickly realized that the person defending this territory wasn't very powerful, which was why he took advantage of that fact to waste some more time.
The longer he was here, the more resources the enemy needed to waste.
With this Defender Flag also destroyed, the Judgment Palace had lost two Defender Flags for their Ancestral Mages.
This was very problematic for them.
The fewer Defender Flags the Judgment Palace had, the harder it was to keep Shang contained.
A week later, Shang killed the person occupying this place and put his Attack Flag down.
Several Mage Kings immediately looked at him, but Shang didn't show any reactions.
This fucking warrior had made trouble for them for 600 years by now!
They were fighting a war with the Lightning Manor, but it felt like they were actually fighting two wars.
One against the Lightning Manor and one against this warrior.
Since Shang had destroyed another Defender Flag, the Judgment Palace now had even more problems in this territory.
The entire Judgment Palace only had this little Zone to wage their war, while the other two Empires had millions of kilometers of borders with the Lightning Manor.
This was also one of the biggest reasons why the Lightning Manor was still able to put up a fight.
The Judgment Palace could only attack with their Ancestral Mages since they could only fight in one Zone for now.
This made their High Mages, Archmages, and Mage Lords useless.
And this warrior was keeping a big part of their forces occupied!
While Shang was waiting for the countdown to end, he looked at his new borders.
To his south, where his old territory had been, was now a barrier with one star.
To his east was the territory of the Twilight Dusk Family with a barrier with 1 star.
To his west was the Judgment Palace's five-star flag.
And to his north?
The Twilight Dusk Family's five-star flag.
Shang had been pretty sure that the Judgment Palace would own the majority of the territory here since this was their only point of attack.
The Twilight Dusk Family had to distribute their forces over millions of kilometers. They didn't have the luxury to focus this much on this Zone.
Yet, here it was, the Twilight Dusk Family's Defender Flag.
'They probably attacked the Judgment Palace's territory to the north. They probably didn't collude, but the Judgment Palace probably won't strike back since this is a good thing for them.'
'One star and five stars, huh?' Shang thought. 'I am currently at the Early Ancestral Mage Realm again, and by putting this one-star flag south to me, they're probably hoping that I will reduce my Realm further."
'Every decrease of my Realm costs me 200 years of absorbing Abominations. Additionally, they now know that I have Rebirth Pills.'
'As soon as I reduce my Realm to the Initial Void Break Realm, they will probably immediately pull the Defender Flag back and replace it with the three-star flag. At that point, they wouldn't need to pay attention to me for 400 more years."
'Reducing my Realm would be a bad idea. That trick worked once, but it won't work again.'
'I think, this time, I am truly stuck. There are no more tricks I can pull.'
Shang slowly flew towards the southwest.
About 2,500 kilometers away from the flag, Shang stopped.
At this moment, Shang was positioned in such a way that he could keep watch over his flag, the one-star flag to the south and the five-star flag to the west.
The enemy already "knew" that he had a fivefold Spirit Sense, and they knew that he could see all three things at the same time.
A moment later, Shang took out a pill and put it in his mouth.
It was another Rebirth Pill.
However, Shang didn't swallow, and he also kept it isolated from his body with Mana.
At least, that was how he wanted it to appear.
In truth, he had already put it back into his inner world.
When the Mage Kings saw what was going on, they grew frustrated again.
With Shang waiting there, they couldn't pull a sneaky trick.
They needed to keep the one-star flag and five-star flag there, but they technically still had a three-star flag.
Yet, they couldn't use it.
They needed to keep the three-star flag ready in case Shang suddenly decided to swallow the Rebirth Pill and charge toward the one-star flag.
If they were not fast enough, Shang might snatch another flag, and on top of that, even if he didn't destroy it, he would travel away from the territory of the Twilight Dusk Family at the top.
That meant that three territories of the Judgment Palace would then surround Shang, which made it impossible to defend with their current Defender Flags.
So, the Twilight Dusk Family would need to conquer Shang's old territory, but they really weren't the biggest fans of stretching so far into the Zone. They were too busy with other Zones.
At this moment, Shang was the very reason why the Judgment Palace couldn't even use a single Defender Flag to fight the Lightning Manor.
Shang had destroyed two and was keeping three busy.
Additionally, he was also keeping two flags from the Twilight Dusk Family busy.
Every Empire had five flags per Realm.
Shang had destroyed two and was keeping five busy.
This meant that Shang, completely on his own, was dealing with half of the Defender Flags of all three attacking Empires.
The Empires had to contain Shang with a huge amount of money and resources.
It was like he was some kind of ancient evil that wasn't allowed to come back to the world again.
Eventually, Shang conquered the territory and planted his two-star flag down.
And everything returned to waiting.
Shang was constantly ready to attack if anything happened.
The Judgment Palace was ready to swap out the flags.
The atmosphere was tense.
It was a stalemate.
The one that made the first move would lose.
Nobody dared to move.
Chapter 844 844 Ancestral Hero
A couple of territories away from Shang, the Lightning Manor was fighting a desperate war.
Ever since the war started, over 50 Ancestral Mage Clouds had died, and only 30 new ones had been born during this time.
The number of Ancestral Mage Clouds was declining.
The numbers of Archmages were not that problematic, and the number of High Mages was no problem.
The Land and Sky Empire and the Twilight Dusk Family were playing the long game. They weren't putting a lot of pressure on the Lightning Manor, which meant that the Lightning Manor's forces weren't shrinking by much.
However, the numbers of powerful Mages in the other Empires were not only not shrinking but even growing.
Such huge wars allowed the creation of powerful geniuses through tempering on the battlefield. On top of that, the addition of valuable resources the Empires were selling at a loss caused even more powerful people to emerge.
Ever since the war started, the number of Ancestral Mages with a fourfold Spirit Sense in the Twilight Dusk Family increased by 20.
Same with the Land and Sky Empire.
All three Empires had started with about 100 Ancestral Mages with fourfold Spirit Senses.
And now, the Lightning Manor had 80, and the other two had 120 each.
From 100 against 200, it had transformed to 80 against 240.
The other Realms were not in trouble, but the Ancestral Mage Realm represented the future.
In the future, everyone would be fighting with Mage Lords, and these powerful Ancestral Mages would be the powerful Mage Lords of the future.
Luckily, the Lightning Manor had the warriors, who were starting to explode in numbers and power.
After so many years, there were now over 10,000 World Connection warriors and 20 of them even had threefold Spirit Senses.
The war had started 800 years ago.
For almost everyone, the war had been going on ever since they had been born. Only the very oldest Archmages and stronger remembered a time without war.
War had become normal to everyone.
A lot of people were even used to fighting on the frontlines.
Yet, there was one area that no one could get used to.
The southeastern Zone of the Lightning Manor.
While the fighting everywhere else was relatively calm, this Zone was a huge meat grinder.
The Judgment Palace was desperately trying to break through this Zone so that they could release their Archmages or High Mages in the neighboring Zone.
Naturally, the Lightning Manor was desperately trying to stop that from happening.
The Ancestral Mages had the highest casualty rate.
New Ancestral Mages that fought for the first time couldn't believe the number of fights happening here and the number of people dying.
Yet, the Ancestral Mages that had been fighting for longer had something different to say.
It used to be way worse.
It had been horrible near the beginning of the war.
Then, things had calmed down a bit.
After that, things turned absolutely horrible again.
And then, things changed.
The Judgment Palace was still attacking with as much fervor as before, but they were losing way more battles than before.
The reason was that they couldn't defend important chokepoints.
It was normal to create a tendril of conquered territories to isolate a number of territories from the other territories. After that, they could slowly take out one territory after the other.
This was how these wars were fought.
But 200 years ago, something changed.
The Judgment Palace stopped using Defender Flags to defend these chokepoints.
Because of that, the Lightning Manor could cut off the tendrils at the base, essentially surrounding the tendrils how the tendrils wanted to surround other territories.
After several years of massive failures, the Judgment Palace stopped using the tendril strategy and decided to conquer each territory one at a time.
That was much slower and less efficient.
Even more, the Lightning Manor still had their Defender Flags, and they were using the tendril strategy to conquer back some of their own territories.
The casualty rate for the Judgment Palace was far higher than for the Lightning Manor.
And everyone knew why things had developed this way.
The Ancestral Hero.
800 years ago, the Ancestral Hero had stood in front of the Judgment Palace on his own, and he had represented an immovable wall.
The Judgment Palace even needed to conquer some territories of their allies to get past him.
Yet, even though the Judgment Palace managed to get past the Ancestral Hero, the Ancestral Hero never died.
And he had never stopped battling the Judgment Palace on his own.
No one had seen him in 800 years.
Yet, all of them knew that he was alive.
The Judgment Palace seemed impossibly powerful on paper, but the actual power the Judgment Palace demonstrated wasn't as impressive.
Everyone knew why.
The Ancestral Hero was still causing problems.
Nearly no one that was still alive had actually seen the Ancestral Hero before since he had vanished 800 years ago, but everyone knew his name.
Shang Sword.
A warrior.
The ancestor of all warriors.
The most powerful warrior in the world.
His power was legendary.
His name was eternal.
What did he look like?
Was he a tall and handsome warrior with long and flowing black hair, wearing a golden set of plate armor, a shield, and a long spear?
Was he a wise and unfathomable sage of the sword?
Maybe he was a charismatic and beautiful man that laughed a lot with his friends?
A couple of people heard some descriptions from others that had actually seen the Ancestral Hero before.
Apparently, he was a mysterious, reflective, and taciturn blind man that trained all day.
A blind warrior?
This created a very mystical image in one's mind.
In fiction, blind swordsmen were often depicted as tranquil and humble masters of their craft. Initially, they always appeared like weak but friendly men, but as soon as they took out their sword, they would transform into powerful sages.
The Ancestral Hero was like that?
That was amazing!
Many Mages wanted to meet with this wise individual, and many warriors wanted to study under this kind master.
But for that to happen, they needed to save the Ancestral Hero from the clutches of the Judgment Palace first.
They had to save their beloved hero!
For years, they tried their best to create pathways to the Ancestral Hero, but the Judgment Palace was a powerful enemy.
Nevertheless, for the first time in a long while, they were actually winning back more territory than they were losing!
900 years after the war had started, the Lightning Manor was fighting back!
They were reconquering the territories they had lost!
The Judgment Palace fought brutally, but the people from the Lightning Manor could tell that they were desperate.
The Lightning Manor felt re-energized!
Their enemies were dying!
And then, something happened.
Something that wouldn't only shock the Zone but the entire world.
Chapter 845 845 Domain
Shang had been isolated in his newest territory for around 300 years by now.
Nothing had changed.
Shang was 2,100 years old now, and he was ready to break into the Mid Void Break Realm once again.
Sadly, he couldn't since he had no Defender Flag for that level.
He was stuck, and there was nothing he could do.
He could only wait.
At least Shang could fight the beasts in his inner world again since he was back in the Early Void Break Realm.
He had comprehended two further Concepts, the level three Concept of Fire, Incineration, and the level three Concept of Ice, Blizzard.
Now, Shang had comprehended all level three Concepts of his four Affinities, and he had even comprehended a level four Concept for the Death Affinity.
However, Shang wasn't actually focusing on these two Concepts. They had just come on their own.
Shang was actually focusing on the Concept of Temperatures, which was as difficult as a level four Concept now.
In a way, comprehending the level four Concept of Death was easier than comprehending the Concept of Temperatures since the comprehension of death was special.
On top of that, Shang didn't have the most useful things to look at to comprehend temperatures. He could only use a couple of beasts and his own fire and ice.
Naturally, Shang wasn't happy about being stuck here, but there was nothing he could do.
He could only train, even though it wasn't the most effective way of training.
WHOOOOOOM!
Suddenly, Shang felt like the world had stopped.
At this moment, Shang felt like his existence was about to end.
Death had arrived.
Something of incomprehensible power was coming for him at speeds that he couldn't react to.
Shang was frozen.
And then, Shang felt a small icicle appear at the edge of his Spirit Sense.
Just when Shang realized that the icicle had appeared, it had already arrived in front of his body.
This was the fastest thing Shang had seen in his entire life!
Its speed was beyond all comprehension.
The icicle was so incredibly powerful that Shang couldn't even defend.
Maybe, if he sacrificed an arm or a leg to entropy, he could destroy it, but he couldn't even do that.
The icicle was simply too fast!
Shang's entire life shot through his mind.
And then...
WHOOOM!
The icicle stopped.
Shang stopped.
Space stopped.
Time stopped.
Everything stopped.
Two fingers stretched out from beside the icicle and picked it up as if it were nothing but a toy.
"Oh dear," a voice reverberated throughout the world. "We can't have that now, can we?"
And then, the world resumed to move.
Shang's Spirit Sense, which had been suppressed until now, could finally act again, and Shang saw the person that had appeared beside him.
The Custodian was standing beside Shang with a friendly smile.
The surrounding Mage Kings released deep breaths.
They had been just as shocked as everyone else!
None of them had been prepared for this.
Slowly, all the Mage Kings turned to an old lady with white hair.
This was the oldest Mage King of the Judgment Palace, and she had been the one that had just attacked the warrior.
Literally not even a single one of the Mage Kings had expected this to happen.
Even if they had wanted to save Shang, they wouldn't have been fast enough.
This had been an ambush from a Mage King!
Yet, the Custodian had managed to react to the attack.
Although, probably even the Custodian couldn't have blocked this attack without expecting it, which meant that the Custodian had probably been closely watching over the warrior for a long period of time.
Nevertheless, they were still taken aback by the power of the Custodian.
The Spell he had used to stop reality was a Spell that only the top ten Mage Kings could perform.
This was the very Spell that determined whether someone was in the top ten or not.
It was simply called Domain because it was not a domain but THE Domain.
It was the most powerful and primordial domain in the world.
In order to cast this Spell, a Mage needed to know three insanely powerful Concepts.
The most powerful Concept of Space, the level six Concept, Dimension.
The most powerful Concept of Time, the level six Concept, Eternity.
The most powerful Concept of Gravity, the level six Concept, Singularity.
Only by knowing all three of these level six Concepts could one create the Domain.
This Domain gave one mastery over time, space, and gravity.
It gave one control over the fundamentals of the world, and the only way to counter Domain was to use Domain oneself.
Otherwise, the opponent would just be stuck and helpless.
Everyone knew that the Custodian was amongst the top three Mage Kings of the entire world. He was either second or third place.
All the Mage Kings turned to the Mage King that had just tried to kill the warrior.
The old woman released a helpless sigh. "I feared that something like this might- AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock and horror as a black mist with two cold eyes appeared behind her.
Before they could react, the black mist completely engulfed the Mage King, who proceeded to scream in pain and terror.
The Empress of Death had appeared.
After two seconds, the screams died down.
A moment later, a portal opened a couple of kilometers in front of the black mist, and the Lightning Emperor stepped out.
The other Mage Kings felt like the mist was looking at the Lightning Emperor.
The Lightning Emperor slowly extended his hand like he was waiting for something.
Naturally, the rules of the war couldn't be broken.
Anyone that broke the rules would die.
And one of the rules was that if a Mage King decided to intervene in the war, that Mage King would be killed, and the Empire that Mage King had belonged to wasn't allowed to keep their Mana.
Otherwise, an Empire would just make one suicidal Mage King after the other.
The Lightning Emperor was waiting for the Inheritance Sphere with the Mage King's Mana.
The black mist only looked at the Lightning Emperor for some seconds.
Chapter 846 846 1,000 Years
A couple of seconds later...
WHOOOOOOM!
A huge wave of Mana exploded out of the black mist!
The Mana was so insanely dense that even the Mage Kings were thrown back a little.
The brutally dense sphere of Mana expanded and expanded, stretching across the entire world.
It was like a huge droplet of water had landed in a small cup filled with water.
"The rules state that I can't keep the Mana," a cold voice came from the black mist. "They don't say that I have to give it to you."
Sadly, that was the truth.
This was what all the Emperors had agreed on.
The Lightning Emperor looked at the black mist for a couple of seconds.
Then, he stepped through the portal again and returned to the Lightning Manor.
The black mist also disappeared.
Nothing had been left behind by the dead Mage King.
She had completely vanished.
The Mage Kings released more deep breaths.
It seemed like the world would change quite a bit in the future.
Releasing so much Mana into the world would change some things.
Would there be a new Mage King or Beast King?
No.
Since the Mage King's Mana had been distributed across the entire world, the density hadn't nearly reached the level that someone could just break through without the help of an Emperor.
Even if a person theoretically had a twentyfold Spirit Sense, they still wouldn't be able to control enough Mana to break into the Mage King Realm.
In order to become a Mage King, one needed A LOT of Mana in their immediate vicinity. One needed something like 10% or so of the entire world's unused Mana, and the world didn't only comprise the Continent Aterium but also the Eternal Ocean.
Even a Spirit Sense with a radius of five million kilometers wasn't enough.
So, what did this mean?
This meant that there would be a lot more Mage Lords, Ancestral Mages, and Archmages.
The main reason was that a higher density of Mana also increased someone's comprehension ability.
One could compare this to being in an environment with bad air and an environment with good air. One could survive in both environments, but one would be much more productive in one of them.
This meant that even more geniuses would rise in the following years, and comprehending Concepts had become a bit easier.
The Custodian looked at Shang for a moment with a polite smile before disappearing again.
Shang took a deep breath and released it.
Luckily, the Lightning Manor had his back.
Shang was proving to be of incomparable value to the Lightning Manor, and the Lightning Manor reciprocated it by treating Shang like a treasure of incomparable value.
Both of them put in a lot of effort to defend the other.
Naturally, everyone could tell what had been going on, except for Shang, since he didn't know how the war was actually going.
The Mage Kings had seen that the Judgment Palace was being pushed back because of their lack of Defender Flags.
If they had just one more Defender Flag, they could use the tentacle strategy again, which would make things easier.
But there was nothing they could do.
What if the Lightning Manor could contact Shang and tell him when the Judgment Palace was using the three-star flag?
Shang could then attack the territory to the south, and even if the Judgment Palace managed to deactivate the Defender Flag there, the Twilight Dusk Family would need to conquer another territory of the Judgment Palace.
That would actually slowly close the Judgment Palace off from the front. On top of that, they couldn't just hand over a territory to another Empire since conspiring was forbidden.
They would need to put in an honest effort to defend that territory, which meant that a powerful Mage would die.
They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Lose territory near the front or let this crazy warrior rampage in the back of their frontlines?
This fucking warrior!
This fucking warrior had made so fucking many problems for them!
This entire war was failing just because of this one fucking warrior!
Sadly, the Mage Kings had been forbidden from colluding with others or breaking the rules.
Everyone knew that killing this warrior was worth more than the life of a Mage King at this moment, but no one could say it.
Also, who were they to suggest to an equal to commit suicide for the greater good?
Sending weaker people to die wasn't an issue since weaker people were supposed to die, but sending a Mage King to die was not something the Mage Kings were comfortable with.
In the end, one of the Mage Kings attacked.
Her life would be over in 1,000 years anyway.
So, she had attacked.
And yet, even such an old and powerful Mage King wasn't powerful or fast enough to kill Shang in front of the watching Custodian.
And now...
The Mage Kings just looked at Shang with a heavy weight in their chest.
Not even the sacrifice of a Mage King could stop him.
The Mage Kings from the Land and Sky Empire and the Twilight Dusk Family were looking at the Mage Kings from the Judgment Palace.
They had already expected that the war would continue for thousands of years, but only now did they truly come to terms with it.
The Mage Kings were no longer confident in the Judgment Palace, and they readied themselves for a more aggressive period of war on their borders.
The Mage Kings of the Judgment Palace were doing their best to fight the Lightning Manor, but it was just too difficult.
The missing Defender Flags was a huge disadvantage.
Another century passed.
The war had been going on for 1,000 years.
And one day, it finally happened.
The barrier to Shang's north vanished.
However, it was important to note that the barrier wasn't destroyed.
It simply vanished, which meant that the Twilight Dusk Family had retrieved their Defender Flag and retreated.
Just an hour later...
DING!
A barrier from an Attack Flag appeared north of Shang's territory.
The Lightning Manor was attacking the territory north of Shang's.
They were here to rescue the Ancestral Hero!
Chapter 847 847 Warrior Mage
Shang waited in the middle of his territory.
He had already noticed that things were changing since even the two barriers he was keeping watch over had vanished.
If only one barrier had vanished, Shang might have tried to do something, but since both had vanished, he suspected that the Judgment Palace was finally giving up.
Shang had been isolated from the real frontlines for a thousand years, but the Judgment Palace's desperation couldn't be more obvious. After all, a Mage King had tried to kill him,
which meant that the Lightning Manor was probably putting a lot of pressure on the Judgment Palace.
After seeing that the two barriers had vanished, Shang decided to check up on the other barriers around him.
That was when he saw the Attack Flag to the north.
This was the first non-hostile human contact in a thousand years, except for that little run-in with the Custodian.
Shang had spent nearly 50% of his entire life in this war.
A thousand years.
And yet, he felt no different from before.
In these 1,000 years, the only thing that had changed was Shang's power.
Everything else had stayed the same.
So, how did Shang feel toward friendly human contact after so long?
Ambivalent.
Uncaring.
Neutral.
It didn't matter.
Shang waited beside his Defender Flag until the countdown was over.
Eventually, a group of people entered Shang's territory.
Shang could see them from quite far away.
They were ten people, all of them in the Sixth Realm, two per level.
Surprisingly, there were also two warriors among them, and Shang could even tell that these warriors were not weak.
He estimated that they had threefold Spirit Senses.
Yet, there was one person that surprised Shang even more.
It was someone at the Peak Sixth Realm, and his Aura was quite unique.
Shockingly, he had the Aura of an Ancestral Mage but also the Aura of a warrior.
His mind seemed powerful, and his body also seemed powerful.
Shang felt like this man was on the cusp of getting a fourfold Spirit Sense. He was very close to becoming a Cloud, but he wasn't quite there yet.
The people were following this man, making it apparent that he was their leader.
The man carried a spear on his back that had the same markings as a Focus.
'A weapon that also acts as a Focus?' Shang thought with some surprise. 'A lot must have happened in my absence.'
When the group reached a distance of 1,500 kilometers, they stopped.
They could finally see the Ancestral Hero.
Only one person amongst them had seen him before.
For a while, the group just looked at the distant Shang.
To them, Shang stood unarmed and alone on top of a mountain. His old white robes were slightly dancing in the wind, almost like he was a ghost.
Yet, his Aura was the most shocking.
It was so... lifeless.
Neutral.
Unnoticeable.
All of this would make one think that Shang's Aura was very normal, but the opposite was actually true.
Shang's Aura felt like something ethereal.
Every Aura had some characteristics. An Aura was like a colorful pattern of someone's personality.
Yet, Shang's Aura felt like a patternless, white circle.
There was nothing to observe or learn from it.
He seemed like something that shouldn't be alive.
A bit like an Abomination.
"He's nothing like you described him," one of the Mages told their leader.
"He's changed quite a bit," the leader said with a confident chuckle.
The leader looked at Shang with a confident smirk.
Shang's head slowly turned to look at the leader.
The next moment, the leader felt like a powerful Abomination was looking at him.
The leader was three levels above Shang and also extremely talented, but Shang still felt like a brutal monster to him.
The force of Shang's Aura wasn't easy to resist, but the smirk of the leader only widened.
"Are you that surprised to see me again, Shang?" the leader asked.
The other people awkwardly watched.
Their leader had told them that he knew the Ancestral Hero, but the Ancestral Hero's reaction seemed quite different from what they had expected.
Their leader had made it seem like they were old friends, but the Ancestral Hero's Aura didn't feel friendly at all.
It felt more like the Aura of someone that wants to kill someone else.
Shang just looked at the leader for several seconds.
The leader was wearing a formfitting purple set of plate armor. It seemed very robust but also flexible.
The spear had several flowing designs on it, but its head was jagged like a lightning bolt.
The man had white hair, and he appeared to be filled with confidence.
"Agon," Shang slowly said, the tone of his voice cold.
"That's my name," Agon Skythunder said. "What an honor to have the Ancestral Hero call my name."
Naturally, Agon's voice was filled with sarcasm.
When the other people heard Shang's voice, it finally dawned on them that Shang was a human. His Aura had still been a bit confusing to them.
After a second, Shang turned his head away from the distant group.
"You were the one that told Jerald," Shang said.
Agon chuckled a bit. "I am, yes."
Shang remained silent for a couple of seconds as old memories shot through his mind.
The powerful King Skythunder.
The one who had told Jerald about Shang's deepest secret.
This had caused a lot of worries for Jerald, which ultimately culminated in his decision to confront and kill Shang, assuming he didn't have a great reason to endanger the entire world.
If Agon hadn't said a thing, nothing would have happened.
In a way, Agon was part of the reason why Shang had killed Jerald.
After thinking about all of these things, Shang transmitted something to Agon.
"Without you, I might not be alive today. Jerald was a hidden danger, and without your help, I might not have gotten rid of it."
"I presume I have to thank you," Shang transmitted.
Agon just smirked. "Is that your decision?"
Shang didn't immediately answer.
"What's the plan?" Shang asked the group.
Chapter 848 848 - Weapon Fusion
Agon just chuckled a bit.
"We conquer the three territories to the left and then another four to the north. After that, we will focus on defense," Agon said. "Are you fine with defending the tendril?"
Shang wasn't sure what Agon meant with tendril, but he could guess what he meant based on context clues.
Shang nodded. "I can deal with Early and Mid Ancestral Mages."
Agon also nodded.
Then, Agon took something out, which appeared in front of the distant Shang.
It was a purple medal with a storm cloud and a lightning bolt on it.
"Use this to communicate with others," Agon said. '"The Land and Sky Empire created something that disrupts Communication Crystals, which is why we are using these things now.
It's called a Transmission Medal. Make sure not to lose it."
Shang stretched his mind into the medal, and he could feel a deeply connected web of connections and Auras.
This was very different from Communication Crystals.
Communication Crystals weren't inherently connected to something. As long as one knew how someone's Aura felt, one could contact that person's Communication Crystal.
But the Transmission Medals had a sort of network that automatically showed Shang all of the different Auras that he could contact.
There were also identifications on all these Auras, telling Shang who it was and what their job was.
"Contact this Aura," Agon transmitted as he also transmitted the feeling of someone's Aura. "This is a Thunder working under the Starlight Queen. The Starlight Queen is responsible for this Zone, and her Thunders are the ones that give us orders."
"Tell the Aura that you are joining our mission and that you are willing to be on defense against attackers in the Early and Mid Ancestral Mage Realm," Agon explained.
Shang just wordlessly nodded and contacted the Aura.
"Report," a female voice from inside the Transmission Medal.
"I am joining the mission of Agon Skythunder and will be on defense against Early and Mid Ancestral Mages," Shang said.
"Are you Shang Sword?" the Thunder asked.
"Correct," Shang answered.
"Understood," she said. "Wait for orders."
The connection was cut, and Shang simply waited.
"Well then," Agon said with a confident smirk as he looked at his team. "You two, stay with him. The others, follow me."
The people nodded and followed Agon's orders.
One of the Peak Ancestral Mages and an Initial World Connection Stage warrior stepped closer to Shang and waited.
A short moment later, Agon left with the other people towards the west.
Shang remained silent as the other two people threw covert glances at him.
This was him!
This was the Ancestral Hero!
As time passed, the surrounding atmosphere grew more and more awkward.
Shang wasn't saying anything.
"You made the World Connection Stage, correct?" the warrior asked carefully.
"Yes," Shang answered flatly.
Silence.
"What do you think is better, World Connection or Weapon Fusion?" the warrior asked.
"I am not familiar with Weapon Fusion," Shang said.
"You're not?" the warrior asked in shock. "Oh, right, you've been here for a while."
"Weapon Fusion is when you deepen the connection with your weapon. It feels like the natural progression of the Impose. It-"
"Is it this?"
SHING!
Shang swung his Subsis casually, and a huge crevice appeared 40 kilometers away from him.
The other two people took deep breaths.
That had been so fast!
Even more, he had attacked something 40 kilometers away from him in an instant with such power!
However, the warrior was even more shocked than the Mage.
Yes, this was Weapon Fusion!
But wait, didn't the Ancestral Hero say that he didn't know what Weapon Fusion was?
Also, didn't he use World Connection instead of Weapon Fusion?
"Yes," the warrior said after a couple of seconds. "That's Weapon Fusion."
Shang just mindlessly nodded.
"How far can your Weapon Fusion reach?" the warrior asked.
"50 kilometers baseline," Shang said.
The warrior took a deep breath. "That means that you can stretch it to a distance of up to 75 kilometers by channeling your focus."
Shang didn't answer.
"I've already created three Weapon Fusions before I reached the Weapon Fusion Stage, but I can only attack something 15 kilometers away without channeling my focus. How can your Weapon Fusion stretch so far?" the warrior asked.
"World Connection," Shang answered.
The warrior tried to understand how this could work.
Combining Weapon Fusion and World Connection?
Some people had tried it, but it felt clunky.
Sure, these two abilities were related, but they couldn't properly be connected.
According to the Mages, these two abilities were of the same rank, making it very difficult to combine them.
One would need something stronger that had the power to combine these two.
But that wasn't possible in the Sixth Realm.
And vet, the Ancestral Hero had achieved just that?!
Sure enough, he was the Ancestral Hero!
The progenitor of all warriors!
The warrior kept asking Shang questions, and Shang just answered them as he waited.
The assault would only take a couple of hours, not enough time to start training.
Two hours later, the Transmission Medals of the three lit up with information.
The Transmission Medal transmitted a map into Shang's mind. He could see that he was in the middle of a long tendril stretching into the Judgment Palace's territory.
Just now, three territories on the tendril had turned red with different numbers, symbolizing the strength of the person attacking them.
The closest territory to them had been attacked by someone in the Late Ancestral Mage Realm, and the territory north of that was attacked by someone in the Early Ancestral Mage Realm.
Additionally, the recently conquered territory west of Shang had also been attacked by someone in the Peak Ancestral Mage Realm.
Shang could immediately tell what the Judgment Palace was thinking.
They wanted him to attack the territory north of his to force him to break into the Mid Void Break Realm. After that, they would attack with several people in the Early Ancestral Mage Realm.
BANG!
Shang exploded into the sky and shot toward the north at full speed.
The other two were looking at the departing Shang with shock.
But that was a Late Ancestral Mage barrier!
In an instant, Shang had already reached the barrier and passed into it.
The barrier turned cloudy.
Shang quickly reached his opponent, who had quite an intense Aura.
Yet, Shang continued getting closer.
Surprisingly, Shang's bandage didn't react until he was only 500 kilometers away from his opponent.
Someone with a onefold Spirit Sense.
BANG!
The eyes of the two people widened in shock when the barrier broke into pieces just two seconds after Shang had entered.
And then, the barrier beyond that also turned cloudy and broke a moment later.
Five seconds.
In five seconds, Shang had killed two Ancestral Mages and had halted two assaults.
The two people could scarcely believe what they had just witnessed.
Chapter 849 849 -Price
When the Mage Kings saw that Shang had destroyed both their attacks, they frowned.
They had hoped that Shang would fall for it.
A breakthrough could be achieved pretty quickly, but one couldn't just break into the next level during a fight.
During a breakthrough, the body would be altered, which would take a couple of seconds.
Defending during a breakthrough was extremely difficult.
So, as soon as Shang had attacked, he had essentially committed to the battle and couldn't change his mind.
After all, due to the way Auras could be disguised, it was impossible for the warrior to know how powerful his opponent was.
They hadn't expected the warrior to be this careless and just charge in.
If only they had sent someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
Then, this warrior would most likely have died.
Naturally, the Mage Kings didn't know that this wouldn't have helped.
As soon as Shang would have noticed a fourfold Spirit Sense, he would have immediately retreated before his opponent could even ready their Spells to attack him.
Then, Shang could have simply broken through at the edge of the barrier.
Nevertheless, the two barriers had been destroyed, and the base of the tendril had been defended.
There was still another territory being attacked near the tip of the tendril, but that was not something Shang could get involved in.
After destroying the two barriers, Shang simply stopped in the air after putting his two swords away.
Far away, the Thunder responsible for the assault looked with shock at what had just happened.
Sure enough, that warrior was extremely useful and powerful.
The other two people were still shocked by Shang's power, and they also just looked at each other.
Yet, a couple of minutes later, they noticed that the Ancestral Hero didn't return, which made them feel a bit awkward.
The warrior had far more questions for the Ancestral Hero, but he couldn't just walk over to him and talk to him during a mission, right?
In the end, the warrior could only accept that he couldn't talk to the Ancestral Hero anymore without making it weird.
Several minutes passed before the Judgment Palace made another attempt to stop the tendril.
Surprisingly, they did the same thing again, creating a barrier for someone at the Late and someone at the Early Ancestral Mage Realm.
Last time, they had gambled on the wrong chip, but this time, they would gamble on the correct one!
Just like before, Shang shot into the Late Ancestral Mage barrier.
And just like last time, the person in there had a onefold Spirit Sense.
BANG! BANG!
Shang destroyed another two barriers, returning to the two people on the southern end of the tendril.
When the Mage Kings saw that, they gnashed their teeth.
How had he done that again?!
No one would have expected the Mage Kings to send two useless Mages in a row!
On top of that, how was this warrior so crazy?!
If he gambled wrong, he would lose his life!
Every normal person would err on the side of caution and breakthrough. After all, if there was actually someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense in there, the warrior would die, but if it was a weak warrior, they might only lose a tendril.
A couple of minutes later, another two barriers appeared.
Shang entered again, and it was the same as last time.
The Mage Kings gnashed their teeth.
How was he winning those 50:50 coin tosses?!
At this moment, the Mage Kings considered sending in someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
Yet, surprisingly, it was a Mage King from a different Empire that stopped them from doing that.
"You guys keep losing whenever you try to pull one over him," the Mage King said. "Just give up."
The Mage Kings became even more frustrated, but in the end, they stopped.
They had to concede.
The grim reality finally settled in for the Mage Kings of the Judgment Palace.
The only way forward was to attack in a way that made it impossible for Shang to interfere.
Sadly, that was a terrifying price to pay.
This meant that they couldn't send in any Early Ancestral Mages or Mid Ancestral Mages.
40% of all levels in the Ancestral Mage Realm couldn't be used anymore.
Even more, they couldn't use the three-star flag since Shang would immediately destroy it as soon as it appeared.
The Judgment Palace was completely crippled when it came to fighting in this war.
They just watched as the Lightning Manor finished making their tendril, isolating a total of around ten territories, which would eventually be captured.
The Judgment Palace only had around 100 territories left in this Zone, which was ridiculously little.
Theoretically, there were about 2,500 territories in this Zone.
100 territories weren't a lot in this context.
After a couple of hours, the Mage Kings saw Shang walk back to the Lightning Manor for the first time in a thousand years.
He had caused so much damage.
He had killed several Ancestral Mages with a fourfold Spirit Sense.
He had killed even more with a threefold Spirit Sense.
He had killed many normal Ancestral Mages.
He had destroyed two of their flags.
He made one flag impossible to use.
He had been responsible for the death of over 30 million Archmages.
He cost the Judgment Palace 275 Grade Eight Mana Crystals.
He had also been the reason why the Judgment Palace had lost a Mage King.
On top of that, at the beginning of the war, he had been the reason why the other two Empires had lost so many powerful people.
Lastly, his constant presence had allowed the Lightning Manor to counterattack.
The singular impact of this one warrior was even greater than the entire Lightning Manor combined. Of course, this was only true for the Judgment Palace.
This warrior had singlehandedly turned the tide of the war in this Zone.
And now, the Judgment Palace had to find a way forward in this Zone.
They couldn't possibly allow themselves to be pushed into a corner. At that point, this warrior would do the same thing as at the beginning of the war and block everything.
This meant that they had to continue sending Ancestral Mages to their deaths.
Or alternatively, they had to give up on attacking the Lightning Manor and simply defend, which wouldn't be an issue since the neighboring Zone was for High Mages, and the Judgment Palace had so many powerful High Mages.
Both choices were painful.
Chapter 850 850 I Want You Dead
Shang returned to the Lightning Manor for the first time in a thousand years.
As he passed by the base of the tendril, he took a deep breath.
It felt weird not to be surrounded by enemies.
After a couple of moments, Shang decided to reach the Mid Void Break Realm.
He had fought long enough in the war. Now, it was time to increase his Realm and learn Concepts.
Now that Shang was no longer stuck, he could actually go through with his plan.
First, he needed to reach the Peak Void Break Realm.
After that, he would focus on comprehending the Concept of Temperatures.
And then, he would focus on his final goal.
The mysterious level five Concept of Entropy, the one that combined the Concepts of Twilight, Temperatures, Addition, and Subtraction.
By comprehending a level five Concept, Shang would be able to retain a sixfold Spirit Sense.
But wait, why a sixfold Spirit Sense? Wasn't breaking through with a Concept above one's level just enough for a fivefold Spirit Sense?
Yes, but Shang had a suspicion.
When he had absorbed the momentum in the Fusion Realm, he had probably elevated his "level of existence" permanently.
The power advantage of his body didn't disappear with each breakthrough, which meant that the raised quality was still there, and it should still be there when Shang reached the Seventh Realm.
The drawback was that Shang's spiritual weight had increased, which meant he needed even more momentum to break through.
After reaching the Mid Void Break Realm, Shang flew towards the Lightning Manor.
On his way, he saw several people readying themselves for battle, but Shang didn't interact with them or care.
A moment later, his new Transmission Medal rang, and Shang accepted the connection.
It was the Thunder from earlier.
"Shang Sword, you are required to battle someone," she said.
"I'm done fighting for now," Shang said.
Many kilometers away, the Thunder opened her eyes in surprise.
"Shang Sword, this isn't a question. This is an order," she said.
Shang cut the connection and put the Transmission Medal away.
The Transmission Medal began to ring again, but Shang didn't accept the connection.
Shang just kept flying towards the Lightning Manor.
WHOOM!
Eventually, a powerful Mage Lord arrived in front of Shang, stopping him.
"Halt!" he shouted.
Shang stopped.
"You have been drafted to join the frontlines!" the Mage Lord said.
"I refuse," Shang said.
The Mage Lord narrowed his eyes. "You do not have a choice in the matter."
For the first time in a very long while, Shang actually became angry.
He had given much more to the Lightning Manor than they had given him, and now, they were forcing him to give even more!
Shang's Aura darkened drastically, but the Mage Lord wasn't deterred.
He had seen many people throw tantrums.
"I promise you," Shang said slowly. "If you force anything on me, you and your superior will regret this."
The Mage Lord snorted. "Do you have any idea how many times I have heard that before? I don't care."
The Mage Lord readied a Spell to suppress Shang, and Shang's Aura only continued to darken.
Shang actually felt anger and hatred.
It had been so long since he felt such emotions.
Yet, compared to how his anger had been when he was young, this one was much colder and more apathetic.
Shang didn't lose control over himself, but he started to hate this Mage and the Thunder that ordered him.
"Stop!"
The Mage Lord paused as he noticed that someone else had appeared.
It was another Thunder, but not the one he was working under.
"Yes?" the Mage Lord asked.
The other Thunder, a young woman with icy-blue hair, just looked at the Mage Lord with annoyance. "Who are you working under?" she asked with a strict tone.
"Thunder Brighton," the Mage Lord answered.
"You are not taking him away or doing anything to him. Am I understood?" the Thunder said with an authoritative voice.
The Mage Lord was surprised, but he stopped his Spell. "Yes, ma'am."
The next moment, the Thunder looked at Shang with a sorry expression. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm going to contact the person responsible for this and make sure that this doesn't happen again."
Shang didn't turn to the Thunder and remained silent for some tense seconds.
"I want them dead," Shang said.
Silence.
The Thunder furrowed her brows. "Excuse me?" she asked.
"You heard me," Shang said, turning to her.
"I want those two dead."
The Mage Lord furrowed his brows, and the Thunder looked with disgust at Shang. "You don't have the authority to decide something like that. This is up to the Starlight Queen."
Naturally, the Thunder was disgusted that Shang had said something like that because of this little incident.
Errors happened, and the Thunder responsible for this entire thing would be reprimanded.
The issue was solved.
There was no reason to go overboard and demand two Mage Lords to be killed.
Was he a child?
Shang slowly turned to the Mage Lord.
"You and your superior will die," he said calmly and coldly. "I will make sure of it."
The Mage Lord grew angry, but he didn't say anything.
"Please, be on your way," the Thunder said in a cold tone to Shang.
Shang didn't say anything and continued towards the Lightning Manor.
After he left, the Mage Lord looked at the Thunder. "Why did you allow him to say these things to me?"
The Thunder looked at the Mage Lord with furrowed brows. "He's the Ancestral Hero."
After he left, the Mage Lord looked at the Thunder. "Why did you allow him to say these things to me?"
The Thunder looked at the Mage Lord with furrowed brows. "He's the Ancestral Hero."
This took the Mage Lord by surprise, and he couldn't say anything for several seconds.
And then, the Mage Lord clenched his fists in anger, but he didn't say anything.
He was angry at his superior!
Everyone knew of the Ancestral Hero!
Commanding him to do anything was already too much!
He had done so much for the Lightning Manor!
If he had known that the person in front of him was the Ancestral Hero, he would have refused the order.
But after the anger passed, a feeling of anxiety and fear settled in.
The Ancestral Hero said that he wanted the two of them dead.
The Thunder noticed the Mage Lord and just waved his worries off. "Don't mind him. He said that out of anger. I'm sure he will calm down. Also, this wasn't your fault since you obviously didn't know who he was."
The Mage Lord sighed and nodded. "You're right. Thank you, ma'am."
The Thunder nodded and left to make a report regarding what had happened.
The Mage Lord just sighed.
Nothing would come of this incident.
After all, this was the Ancestral Hero.
After some days or years, he would calm down.
Right?