Ch. 891..900

Chapter 891 891 – Transformation

Time passed.

After a couple of years, quite a big chunk of Shang's stump had already vanished into nothingness.

It was a strange feeling to lose a part of oneself.

It didn't even hurt.

In a technical sense, Shang never received an injury while he was doing this since he had always been in his peak condition.

And yet, experiencing something like this elicited a certain feeling of approaching doom in someone.

A normal human could see this like their arm slowly necrosing.

With every passing second, death would come closer to one's core.

But Shang just continued and kept watching the process.

Due to the long time he had watched the Abominations before, he had already made many connections.

Even just the name of the Concept had already helped.

Transformation.

It was one thing turning into another.

With Shang's normal Domain of Entropy, he was turning Elemental Mana into Neutral Mana, but he also had to use his body as fuel.

Meanwhile, Abominations could just turn every kind of Mana into nothing without paying a price.

It was almost like they were using the Mana around them as fuel to destroy the Mana around them.

Yet, something like this was impossible.

Shang knew that his abilities were superior to Lucius' abilities while they had been on similar levels.

Lucius hadn't had access to the Domain of Entropy until the Peak Ancestral Mage Realm.

When Lucius had comprehended the Concept of Transformation, he gained a Domain that would turn all kinds of Mana into Neutral Mana without paying a price.

What would Shang get?

He already had quite a good guess.

More years passed.

By now, Shang had been comprehending the Concept of Transformation for 50 years, and his stump had already nearly reached his elbow.

But Shang just continued.

Another 50 years passed.

By now, Shang's entire elbow was already gone, and he only had about 75% of his upper arm left.

On the flip side, Shang had already made sense of most of the Concept.

For the first time, the Concept actually seemed understandable and clear.

Even more, the several centuries of watching Abominations before this had not been in vain since Shang noticed that a lot of his guesses had proven to be true.

His progress was faster than expected, and that was thanks to the many centuries of watching the Abominations.

And then, 30 years later, he finally did it.

The black smoke stopped coming out of Shang's shoulder, and the life energy inside the crystals stopped being consumed.

Shang took a deep breath.

Lucius' image had expected that Shang would take about 200 years to comprehend the Concept.

But Shang had actually only needed 130 years.

It wasn't that Lucius had underestimated Shang's talent but that Shang had already spent several centuries watching Abominations.

Without that, Shang would have probably needed to sacrifice a chunk of his torso for the remaining 70 years.

Luckily, he only needed to sacrifice his left arm.

As of this moment, Shang's entire left arm was gone, just like his eyes.

This had been a brutal payment.

Shang stood up for the first time in a long while and directly noticed that his balance was off.

Seeing a blank space where his left arm was supposed to be felt unreal.

Shang felt like his arm was still there, and he willed it to touch his head.

But nothing happened, and nothing moved.

It was such a strange and alien feeling.

Then, Shang looked at his Subsis, which was lying on the ground.

Shang willed his left arm to pick it up, but nothing happened.

Shang had always fought with his Addum in his right hand and his Subsis in his left.

He couldn't swing both of them.

All the new techniques he had created relied on two swords.

Now, Shang only had one.

His fighting style had been crippled.

"How do you feel?" Lucius' image asked. There was a small inkling of empathy and pity in his voice.

Shang didn't look at him.

"It doesn't matter," Shang said evenly. "I have chosen my Path, and all these sacrifices push me closer to its fulfillment."

"Using two swords had been a temporary solution anyway."

"Ever since I created my four Paths, I had already aimed at one day combining all of them."

"First, there were four weapons."

"Then, there were two."

"And now, there will be one."

"I might not be able to realize the full potential of my fighting style, but the other option was death."

"I made the correct choice."

"And I would do it again."

Lucius' image turned blurrier.

"I hope you can fulfill your dream," Lucius said as he vanished.

Silence.

"My dream," Shang said in a voice that betrayed a feeling of disgust.

He hated the word dream.

Dream implied something great, happy, and fulfilling.

Shang wasn't sure if his goal fit with either of these three words.

But that didn't matter.

This was the Path he had decided to travel down, and he wouldn't stop until the very end.

His Path was for his existence, and his existence was for his Path.

Nothing else mattered.

A portal opened beside Shang, but he didn't walk through it.

There was something else he wanted to do first.

Shang took a deep breath and focused on the level five Concept of Transformation.

WHOOOOM!

The next moment, something seemed to break as an apocalyptic storm of Mana shot at Shang.

At the same time, the portal closed.

Over six million kilometers to the north of Aterium, a humongous storm of Mana appeared.

Whirlpools thousands of kilometers wide formed above a seemingly random point in the Eternal Ocean.

Millions of beasts died to the natural forces, turning into corpses, which then turned into Mana that flowed down into the ground.

And things didn't seem to calm down at all after that!

The storms became bigger and more intense, and after a couple of seconds, the surrounding 100,000 kilometers turned into a world of destruction.

All the Mana in the surroundings got pulled into the ground, and even the Beast Lords fled in panic.

None of the Beast Lords had ever seen such a gigantic storm of destruction.

Finally, about 30 seconds later, things calmed down.

The water evened out, and the wind stopped.

Many kilometers below the seafloor, Shang's mind returned to the real world.

He had consumed his momentum, but compared to last time, he did it on purpose.

 

Chapter 892 892 – 4,000 Years

Shang's logic was simple.

Lucius had had a sixfold Spirit Sense.

King Sanctified Death had a sixfold Spirit Sense.

The God probably also had a sixfold Spirit Sense.

So, the only surefire way to get past all of them was to attain a sevenfold Spirit Sense.

Shang only had about 850 years of longevity left, but this risk was exactly why anyone else wouldn't have made this choice.

The three other people had gone through a similar transformation, and if Shang wanted a true shot at pushing his Path to the extreme, he needed to do more than anyone else.

Especially since he was now missing an arm.

After everything had stopped, Shang took note of his surroundings.

Everything felt different.

Shang couldn't only sense the Fire, Ice, Light, Darkness, and Death Mana even clearer than before, but he could also feel the other kinds of Mana with clarity.

He could feel the Earth, Wind, Water, Lightning, Metal, Space, Time, Gravity, and even a tiny bit of Life Mana.

Shang knew what had happened.

Previously, Shang had had 100% Affinity for Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness, about 80% for Death, and about 10% for everything else.

Now, Shang had about 150% Affinity for Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness, about 130% for Death, and about 60% for everything else.

Shang didn't gain every Affinity, but he was now quite perceptive for every kind of Mana.

Additionally, Shang's mind had strengthened quite a bit.

It didn't completely reach the level of an Initial Mage Lord, but it was at least double as powerful as the mind of a Peak Ancestral Mage.

'Sure enough, the difference between a Mage with a fivefold Spirit Sense and one with a sixfold Spirit Sense is massive,' Shang thought.

Lucius and King Sanctified Death had most likely gone through the same transformation.

How powerful could someone like King Sanctified Death become after going through such a transformation?

Shang had expected that he had been more powerful than King Sanctified Death before going through this transformation, but he now realized that he had been overconfident.

How many powerful Spells did King Sanctified Death create?

How many Concepts had he comprehended?

The number was probably beyond shocking.

In fact…

King Sanctified Death probably knew even more Concepts than some Mage Emperors.

Once more, Shang realized that he had made the correct choice.

For now, this choice had put him at great risk since he only had 850 years left, but if he managed to get past that, this choice would pay dividends forever.

Shang had entered this place about 250 years ago, and in these 250 years, he had completely transformed.

Not only had he gained an even more terrifying Affinity, but he had also comprehended the Concept of Transformation.

The powers of the Concept of Transformation were even more powerful than Shang had expected.

WHOOOM!

Shang activated his Domain of Entropy, and all the Mana around him vanished.

Yes, it didn't turn into Neutral Mana.

It vanished!

And to top it all off, Shang didn't need to sacrifice life energy.

Sadly, Shang's Domain of Entropy couldn't stretch across his entire Spirit Sense.

Shang could only turn so much Mana into fuel to destroy other Mana at once.

If he wanted to use it at peak efficiency, it would only stretch for about ten meters.

Yes, ten meters, not ten kilometers.

It was pitifully small, but its power was insanely high.

Shang estimated that he could stand still, and every Spell an average Initial Mage Lord shot at him would turn into nothingness before touching him.

On top of that, Shang could also control his Domain of Entropy to only destroy Mana with a will on it.

This meant that Shang could use his Void Break without any danger since he would only absorb the Mana without a will on it.

Lastly, Shang could also make it so that his Domain of Entropy turned Elemental Mana into Neutral Mana. He didn't necessarily need to destroy the Mana.

He could if he wanted to, but he didn't need to.

However, that was only one part of the Concept of Transformation's power.

Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness were like four dots.

The Concept of Temperatures was a line that went from Fire to Ice.

The Concept of Twilight was a line that went from Light to Darkness.

The Concept of Addition was a line that went from Fire to Light.

The Concept of Subtraction was a line that went from Ice to Darkness.

All of these things created a square.

And the Concept of Transformation?

It hovered above everything in the middle, and it connected to the four Affinities.

The two-dimensional square had turned into a three-dimensional pyramid.

Earlier, one point had only been connected to two other points but not to all three.

Fire couldn't directly go to Darkness, and Light couldn't go to Ice, for example.

But Transformation could reach everything, and everything could reach Transformation.

Shang could now turn any of his four kinds of Mana and Neutral Mana into any of his other four kinds of Mana or Neutral Mana.

Except for Death Mana, Shang could essentially use and transform five different kinds of Mana into anything he needed.

On top of that, his Domain of Entropy could turn other kinds of Mana into Neutral Mana, which he could then transform into Mana he could use.

Shang remembered his fight against Mervin in the Trial after he fled from the Grandmountain Kingdom's Mages.

Mervin had attacked Shang in many different ways, and Shang hadn't been able to find an answer that allowed him to block all these attacks at the same time.

Then, Shang had managed to create an answer to all these attacks by creating four different Paths with four different weapons, but the problem had then been that he couldn't use all of them at once.

After that, Shang found a way to give an answer to everything, but he needed two swords.

But now, with the Concept of Transformation, Shang could answer everything with one sword.

As long as he created a fitting sword and fitting fighting style.

If he wanted, he could increase the size of his sword by using Ice Mana and increase the weight of it with Light Mana, allowing him to make use of devastating attacks while also essentially acting as a shield.

But Shang could also just rapidly move a tiny sword if he wanted.

And to top it all off, all manners of swords Shang could create could use all four of his Affinities.

Back then, Shang hadn't been able to think of a way to ever combine four different fighting styles into one.

It had taken over 4,000 years, but he had done it.

The Concept of Transformation.

Finally, Shang could create a Path that included all of his powers.

 

Chapter 893 893 – Return

Above the Eternal Ocean, a portal opened, and Shang stepped through it.

Shang had undergone a Transformation, but he looked the same as when he had entered, except for the fact that the left sleeve of his robes was empty.

Shang knew where he was roughly. He guessed that he was probably a couple of million kilometers to the north of Aterium, which was outside any kind of human Spirit Sense.

Shang assumed that Emperors had a Spirit Sense that could cover a million kilometers in radius, but that would only be true for someone with a onefold Spirit Sense.

Most likely, the Lightning Emperor had a fourfold Spirit Sense, which would allow him to oversee his entire Empire as long as he stayed near the middle of it.

Even if any Emperor were at the northernmost edge of the continent, they still couldn't see Shang.

Shang's next goal was clear.

He needed to create his seventh Sword Path, which should also be his last.

And then, Shang would push this new Path to such a high level that it would support his breakthrough.

Sadly, Shang couldn't remain in such an isolated place since he also had to ensure that the Lightning Manor survived.

So, Shang flew towards the south.

As the fire and ice of Comet enveloped Shang, he realized something.

His body didn't heat or cool as much as before, even though it hadn't become stronger.

But this small mystery was quickly solved.

Shang realized that his increased Affinities also made his body more resilient to them.

It wasn't too crazy. Shang guessed that his resistance to his four main Affinities had increased by about 30%.

That wouldn't do that much for a battle since an opponent that was actually dangerous to Shang would have to be so powerful that getting hit by any of their Spells would kill Shang ten times over.

However, this allowed Shang to use more Light, Darkness, Fire, and Ice Mana.

Due to all of that, his speed, defense, and offense increased by a bit.

Eventually, Shang reached a place from which he could contact the Lightning Emperor.

Shang took hold of the pin on his chest.

"You're back?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

At the same time, Shang felt his bandages react to a powerful presence looking at him.

And the next moment, the intensity of the presence increased severalfold.

Shang could feel the shock inside the Aura.

The next moment, a portal opened in front of Shang, and he stepped through.

Naturally, this portal led to the Lightning Emperor's library, and the Lightning Emperor was looking at Shang with a mixture of shock, pity, and anger.

"What happened to your arm?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

Naturally, the Lightning Emperor immediately noticed that Shang's soul had become weaker and that he had lost an arm.

"It was the price," Shang said emotionlessly. "The price to comprehend the Concept of Transformation."

"The Concept of Transformation?" the Lightning Emperor repeated. "Is that the Concept Lucius comprehended back then?"

"Yes," Shang said. "Lucius left behind some form of intelligent image in the trial, and I had a small conversation with him."

The Lightning Emperor's breathing quickened.

It had been so long since he had talked to Lucius, and he missed how it felt to talk to him.

"What did he say?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"He said he needed over 2,000 years to comprehend that Concept, and he had sacrificed Peak Ancestral Beasts and Initial Beast Lords to comprehend how Anti-Magic worked. In total, he sacrificed an entire Mage King of Mana," Shang said.

The Lightning Emperor took a deep breath.

"It took him 2,000 years?" he asked.

Obviously, the Lightning Emperor didn't care about the Mana Lucius had sacrificed. He was much more shocked that the immortal Lucius had taken so long to comprehend this Concept.

And yet, Shang had comprehended in 200 years?

That made no sense.

"Yes," Shang said, "but since I neither had the experience of comprehending Concepts nor the talent in Magic, I needed to comprehend it in some other way."

Shang wanted to lift his left arm to show that it was missing, but nothing happened.

Once more, Shang felt like this wasn't reality.

It was so bizarre to only have one arm.

"I sacrificed my left arm," Shang said. "According to Lucius' image, nothing is better than experiencing something myself."

"In exchange for my arm, I comprehended this complicated and powerful Concept in merely 130 years. It is a trade I am willing to make," Shang said.

Silence.

"What about your Battle-Strength?" the Lightning Emperor asked after a while.

"I don't know," Shang said. "I lost access to one of my weapons, but I am unsure if my Battle-Strength is higher or lower than before."

The Lightning Emperor became surprised again. "Higher?"

Shang nodded. "I consumed the momentum of the level five Concept."

Silence.

It was like a heavy hammer had hit the Lightning Emperor's mind.

Consumed the momentum?

In an instant, several things shot through the Lightning Emperor's mind.

Shang didn't have long to live.

He had undergone two transformations.

Shang was close to death, but he could reach a level of power that was unprecedented.

Lucius had only achieved a sixfold Spirit Sense when he reached the Mage King Realm.

Due to the Concept of Transformation and the insanely long time one had to train in the Mage Lord Realm, Lucius had managed to comprehend a level six Concept when he had only been about 17,000 years old.

Seeing that he had 8,000 years left, Lucius had decided to consume the momentum, and the following transformation allowed him to comprehend enough level five Concepts to reach the Mage King Realm.

Sadly, due to the incredible danger all Mages were in back then, Lucius didn't have the time to use up his longevity in the Mage King Realm and had to rapidly break through to the Mage Emperor Realm.

Lucius had only gone through one Transformation.

The Lightning Emperor wasn't sure about King Sanctified Death.

From what he had heard, King Sanctified Death had gotten his sixfold Spirit Sense in the Mage Lord Realm, one Realm earlier than Lucius.

Theoretically, King Sanctified Death could have gone through another Transformation when he became the Mage King Realm, but the Lightning Emperor wasn't sure.

Everything about King Sanctified Death's breakthrough had been kept secret, and only Kali and Adam knew what had happened.

Sadly, they had never told anyone.

But now, Shang had already undergone two Transformations.

And he could go through another one at the Peak Mage Lord Realm.

The Lightning Emperor's emotions truly felt how powerful Shang could become in the future.

Yet, before he could feel conflicted, he pushed the emotions to the side.

"So, what's your plan now?" he asked.

 

Chapter 894 894 – What Then?

"I want to create a new Sword Path with the Concept of Transformation as a basis," Shang said. "If everything turns out well, my missing arm might not even be an issue."

The Lightning Emperor nodded. "Do you need anything?" he asked.

"I need a Spell that makes it seem like I still have my arm," Shang said.

The Lightning Emperor nodded.

He didn't need to ask why Shang wanted that.

It was already strange that Shang was missing his eyes, but if he now also missed his arms, the enemies would ask even more questions, and maybe, they would even be able to connect Shang to Lucius.

At that point, they might even guess that Shang was the Lightning Manor's true trump card.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"In about a century, I need strong opponents. The best way to train is to fight. Due to the God's present, I have enough opponents up to the Early Mage Lord Realm, but I need Mid Mage Lords and Peak Beast Lords as opponents."

"Since my new Path is currently still in its infancy, these opponents are still too powerful for me, but in a century, I need a lot of them. Additionally, my opponents will notice that I won't be using my left arm in a fight, which will create questions. Naturally, I can't allow the secret of my missing arm to be leaked like this."

"That should be everything," Shang said.

The Lightning Emperor furrowed his brows as he tried to think of a way to handle all of this.

Usually, he would have just told Wester to deal with it, but the Lightning Emperor also didn't want to inform Wester about Shang's missing arm.

"I will try my best," the Lightning Emperor said.

"What about the contract?" Shang asked.

"The war one?"

"Yes."

"It's very robust," the Lightning Emperor said. "I'm barely halfway there, but some others are probably already ahead of me. For now, things are still fine, but in a thousand years or so, the war might become more intense."

Naturally, the Lightning Emperor couldn't directly say that he intended to break the contract.

Shang nodded.

The next moment, the Lightning Emperor spoke a long and complicated Spell.

A moment later, the image of an arm appeared on Shang's left side, which then solidified into a seemingly real arm.

Shang was surprised when he realized that he could move it around.

However, he also realized that the movement was slower, not as fine, and the arm was very weak.

"This is a fake arm," the Lightning Emperor said. "I used the Concept of Change to create something that looks and works like an arm, but its strength is weak, and I can't accurately connect it to your soul. It is only interpreting the signals from your nerves, which is vastly inferior to controlling your body with your soul."

"You can use it for very basic things, but you can't fight with it or lift heavy things. Additionally, you have to be careful that you don't destroy it. There is a small connection inside the bone that pulls life energy from your torso into the arm, which allows it to regenerate, but you have to be careful! If you break the connection, the arm will necrose and die, and you will need a new one."

"So, please don't use it for anything more than scratching your head or lifting a small boulder," the Lightning Emperor said.

Shang looked at his arm as he slowly moved it around.

Then, he grabbed his lower arm with his right hand and pulled the muscle off.

Shang noticed that he felt a slight bit of pain, and he also saw the arm regenerating.

"What did I just say?!" the Lightning Emperor shouted.

"You said it's fine as long as I don't destroy the connection," Shang said. "I had to see how strong it actually was."

The Lightning Emperor only looked at Shang with a dissatisfied expression, but in the end, he just sighed.

'It's about as strong as my body has been when I was somewhere in the True Path Stage,' Shang thought.

"Thanks," Shang said absentmindedly.

The Lightning Emperor only nodded, but he didn't say anything.

He was currently thinking about a couple of things.

The Lightning Emperor saw Shang as his friend, but he also knew that Shang was very different from Lucius.

Lucius was a nice guy that wanted to help everyone.

And Shang… well…

Shang was different.

After the Lightning Emperor had seen that Shang had undergone two Transformations, he actually started to think about the future.

Right now, Shang was much weaker than him.

But what when Shang actually became as strong as him?

Sure, the Lightning Emperor was willing to sacrifice a huge part of the world to go on more adventures, but he didn't want to destroy the entire thing, and he also didn't want to die himself.

When Shang had all the power in the world, what would he do?

What would happen to the world?

And then there was this other thing.

Maybe Shang was…

But then…

The Lightning Emperor didn't like it.

He hated having these feelings.

He just wanted the world to be simple and uncomplicated.

In the end, he could only sigh.

"Shang," the Lightning Emperor said slowly.

"Yes?" Shang asked back.

"Shang," the Lightning Emperor repeated, "assuming you reach the Ninth Realm and you become the strongest being in this world, what then?"

"When you kill the other Emperors and become a God, and after you have killed the current God, what then?"

"What happens to the world?" the Lightning Emperor asked. "What will you do?"

Silence.

"I will leave," Shang said. "I want to be the strongest, and if there is more out there, I want to become stronger than that as well."

"What if there is nothing?" the Lightning Emperor asked. "What if this world is all there is? What if you are already the strongest being at that point? What if you are stuck here, just like the current God?"

Silence.

"There must be existence for my power to matter," Shang said after a while. "Being the strongest is my goal, but being the strongest in an infinite void of nothingness is not something I want."

"So, I would try to get rid of the Abominations either way."

"Maybe I can somehow increase the Mana in the world, elevating its existence."

"I want power, but I don't want to be the only one that's powerful."

"I need enemies. I need life around me."

The Lightning Emperor looked at Shang for a while.

"What if you can't leave, there is no way to stop the Abominations, and there is no way to increase the Mana?"

"What then?"

 

Chapter 895 895 – Designing A Sword

"Then, what's even the point of this entire conversation?" Shang asked.

"If everything is hopeless to begin with, and all of existence is doomed to die to the Abominations either way, what point would any of my actions have?"

The Lightning Emperor looked with a complicated expression at Shang.

He realized that he had painted a very bleak picture. While he didn't think that everything would be hopeless and meaningless in that case, he could see that wanting an answer from Shang for such a hypothetical would be intellectually dishonest for judging his actual character.

In the end, the Lightning Emperor was kind of relieved by Shang's answers.

Shang was a very dark person with very dark desires, but he was still far better than King Sanctified Death.

Even more, even if Shang were… it didn't matter.

Maybe, he wasn't even the first…

The Lightning Emperor felt the conflict of his emotions rising more and more, but he just pushed everything to the side again.

"Please, contact Sarah regarding the war. I will deal with all the opponents you will need. The best thing you can do is to buy us enough time to survive to the next phase of the war," the Lightning Emperor said in an effort to end the conversation.

Shang just nodded wordlessly.

The next moment, a portal opened in front of Shang that led to his Isolation Barrier to the north of Aterium, and Shang walked through it.

When Shang arrived, he looked at his fake left arm again for a second before contacting the Starlight Queen.

"You're back, Young Master Shang," she said with a polite tone.

"I am," Shang answered. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"Not in this exact second, Young Master Shang, but please be prepared to join a couple of battles in the next hours. If everything goes well, Young Master Shang can return to training in peace," the Starlight Queen said.

"Okay," Shang said before cutting the connection.

A couple of hours later, a portal opened in front of Shang, and he simply charged through it right into a barrier.

The occupant readied themselves for a battle, but they were killed before they could even see their opponent.

This had only been a Peak Ancestral Mage with a twofold Spirit Sense.

Another portal opened as soon as Shang had killed his opponent, and he directly entered the next barrier.

In the distance, the Mage Kings grunted in annoyance as they ordered all the Peak Ancestral Mages to retreat from the frontlines for now.

After just an hour, Shang had pushed back all the Peak Ancestral Mages again, effectively disabling 50% of the Ancestral Mages of the enemy Empires.

"Thank you for your hard work, Young Master Shang. You can now return to training," the Starlight Queen transmitted to Shang.

"Can I have a portal back to my Isolation Barrier?" Shang asked.

"Young Master Shang, it's COULD I have a portal back, PLEASE," the Starlight Queen said with a slight chuckle. "Please, try to talk in a way that is befitting of your status, Young Master Shang."

"Make a portal," Shang said evenly, "or I won't show up for 500 years."

Silence.

Ten seconds of silence.

"Of course, Young Master Shang," the Starlight Queen said, but her polite tone had a slight undertone of tension to it.

Shang arrived in front of his Isolation Barrier and entered.

He arrived at the middle of his inner Isolation Chamber but didn't close the door.

Then, Shang retreated into his inner world, took out his Addum and Subsis, and focused on creating an entirely new Path.

The Addum had been a combination of Shang's Colossal Sword State and his Saber State, giving it its unique appearance.

The Subsis had been a reduction of the Long Sword State and the Great Sword State. Instead of combining them, Shang had made an even smaller sword.

Now, Shang had to combine his Addum and Subsis.

But what would that create?

Even more importantly, Shang needed something that could be used with all four of his Affinities.

First, Shang decided to gather all of the techniques he had created for all of his swords. His theoretical seventh sword should be able to unleash all of these techniques without any problems.

With the Concept of Transformation, Shang could easily transform Mana into whatever he needed.

Additionally, with Void Break, Shang could fill his sword with an incredible amount of Mana.

It was possible for Shang to fill his sword with Darkness Mana and then transform all the Darkness Mana into Fire Mana with an extreme of heat.

And then, Shang needed his sword to assume a form that would be the most fitting.

Yet, no matter how much Shang thought, he couldn't find a perfect form.

It was like he was back in his battle against Mervin, where he couldn't find a way to block everything at the same time since he couldn't move toward two spots at once.

That's when Shang realized that he was still thinking in his old way.

'I should think the other way around. It's not the Affinity that has to adapt to the sword, but the sword that has to adapt to the Affinity.'

Shang grabbed his Subsis.

WHOOOM!

Suddenly, Shang's right arm shook as it became very hard for him to keep his Subsis stable with only one hand.

The Subsis didn't seem any different from before, but at this moment, it was filled with Light Mana with an extreme of mass.

The very fast and nimble Subsis had transformed into an extremely heavy weapon.

But its shape didn't change.

The biggest issue was the size and weight of the sword. Shang needed his sword to be wide enough to protect his entire body, but he also needed it to be very light and sharp for a quick thrust.

The weight problem could be solved with Light Mana.

What about the width?

And then, Shang realized something else.

The width actually didn't matter at all since the initial purpose for the width wasn't relevant anymore.

 

Chapter 896 896 – Broken Contract

"We require your help, Young Master Shang."

Shang had just left his Isolation Chamber after 150 years when he immediately got contacted by Amarius.

"Yes?" Shang asked.

"This time, we need you somewhere else," Amarius said. "Please, leave the Isolation Barrier so that the Custodian can contact you."

"Sure," Shang said before cutting the connection and leaving the Isolation Barrier.

Some seconds later, the Custodian contacted him.

"What do you need?" Shang asked.

"I need you for the Mage Lord battlefield," the Custodian said.

"That's a first," Shang said.

"The Twilight Dusk Empire has started to ramp up their pressure in the Mage Lord battlefield recently," the Custodian explained. "I believe that the Twilight Dusk Emperor managed to get rid of the suppressive effects of the contract first."

"The contract is supposed to enforce that Archmages and Ancestral Mages are the most important in the war. That means that planning on taking over an enemy territory via only the Mage Lord territory wouldn't be in the spirit of the war."

"But with the restriction gone, the Twilight Dusk Family is going all out, sending out one Mage Lord after the other."

"At the same time, there have been instances of Initial Mage Lords purposefully falling back to the Peak Ancestral Mage Realm to fight in the Ancestral Mage Realm Zones."

"Reaching the Initial Mage Lord Realm at 2,000 years of age, comprehending Concepts for another 2,000 years with the mental strength of a Mage Lord, and then falling back down to fight for 1,000 years as a Peak or Late Ancestral Mage is a tactic that is obviously not in the spirit of the war."

"But they are doing that anyway."

"Additionally, we have found that some Ancestral Mages and Mage Lords are using tools created by several other Ancestral Mages and Mage Lords to gain an unfair advantage in battles."

"In short, the Twilight Dusk Family is putting an immense amount of pressure on us, and we can't use the same tactics since we are still suppressed by the contract," the Custodian said.

"Seems problematic," Shang answered evenly.

"It is," the Custodian answered. "I need you to destroy the one-star Defender Flag for the Mage Lord Realm of the Twilight Dusk Empire. It's defended by a very powerful Initial Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense, and she might even have several other small trinkets she can use."

"Sending in a Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense would be killing them."

"Are you confident in dealing with such an opponent?" the Custodian asked.

"No problem," Shang said.

This surprised the Custodian quite a bit.

Yes, Shang had already jumped levels against someone with a fourfold Spirit Sense, but this was a level jump that also included a Realm jump. There were many disadvantages that came with that, and the enemy probably even had several powerful single-use Spells.

Shang obviously wasn't stupid, and he should know all that.

And yet, he was this confident?

"Alright," the Custodian said. "Thank you for your service. Are you ready to depart?"

Shang nodded.

The next moment, a portal opened in front of Shang, and he charged through it.

In an instant, Shang shot into the enemy barrier, and the entire world seemed to freeze.

The Mage Kings were shocked.

Did the menace just charge to his death?!

Didn't he know how brutally they defended that flag?!

And then, the enemy Mage Kings became excited.

He was finally dead!

He couldn't possibly survive that!

Winning against the defender of this flag didn't need Battle-Strength but resources!

Inside the barrier, Shang stopped for a moment.

The territory that a Mage Lord could attack and defend was far bigger than an Ancestral Mage's territory.

An Ancestral Mage could only claim and defend a territory with a diameter of 10,000 kilometers.

A Mage Lord, on the other hand, could claim and defend a territory with a diameter of 100,000 kilometers.

This meant this barrier had a radius of 50,000 kilometers, and the Spirit Sense of a Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense was 40,000 kilometers. This meant that the Mage Lord could see almost the entire barrier.

And Shang?

With his 3,000 kilometers?

Not much.

Stuff like this hadn't been a problem in Shang's previous fights since the opponents in the Seventh Realm had always appeared right in front of Shang.

But this one?

No, Shang would need to get close.

Even more, Shang was actually in even more danger than one would think.

One had to remember that if any fight continued for over a week, both combatants would die.

So, if the Initial Mage Lord were willing to flee from Shang for an entire week, both of them would die.

This obviously wasn't possible when Shang was fighting Ancestral Mages since he could always see them, but a Mage Lord would be able to see him far earlier than Shang could see them.

Then, they could just move in a direction that Shang wasn't moving in while keeping their distance.

Shang's bandage told him when someone looked at him, but it didn't tell him from where they looked at him.

If Shang's opponent actually decided to go through with this tactic, Shang would most likely die.

But the chances of that happening were very small.

After all, the enemy wasn't prepared for Shang, had a fourfold Spirit Sense, didn't get any of these orders from their superiors, and was not willing to sacrifice their life.

It wouldn't happen this time, but it was important that Shang kept this in mind for any future fights.

After entering the barrier, Shang shot toward the middle.

Very quickly, his bandage told him that someone was looking at him, but Shang couldn't see the person in question.

Shang continued flying forward, but no one attacked him.

After a couple of seconds, Shang finally managed to see his enemy, but Shang didn't act like he had seen them already.

Only when he was 2,500 kilometers away did he act like he saw them.

It was a black-haired woman with a smirk on her face.

"You shouldn't have come here," she said with an arrogant voice.

Then, she summoned 20 small balls and broke them.

WHOOOOOOOM!

The next moment, 20 different powerful Spells at the Initial Mage Lord Realm shot at Shang.

Shang's opponent didn't need to cast any Spells.

Hundreds of Mage Lords had already done that for her.

She only needed to unleash them.

Battle-Strength didn't matter when someone was shooting an avalanche of Spells at someone else.

 

Chapter 897 897 – Domain Of Abominations

Shang just continued charging forward without stopping. It was almost like all these Spells didn't exist.

He didn't even evade to the side as all the Spells reached him.

WHOOOOOM!

But then, Shang's surroundings turned black.

Everything around Shang vanished.

Fire Mana, Ice Mana, Space Mana, Time Mana, Death Mana, Life Mana, and even Neutral Mana completely vanished.

Shang was literally permanently destroying part of the world right now.

The Domain of Entropy.

Or, more accurately, the True Domain of Entropy!

With the Concept of Transformation, Shang had finally gained the same Domain that Abominations used, something that not even Lucius had managed to attain.

And if there was one thing Abominations were known for, it was their sheer power.

If an Ancestral Abomination fought, it could even fight Mage Lords, and if it exploded, it could even injure Mage Kings.

Could this Mage Lord in front of Shang kill a Peak Ancestral Abomination?

Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

All the Spells that had been launched at Shang vanished.

Of course not.

This Mage Lord couldn't possibly kill a Peak Ancestral Abomination.

The Mage Lord's eyes widened in shock and disbelief.

What?

Where had all her Spells gone?!

She had just launched over 20 Spells of the Initial Mage Lord Realm!

How could her Spells all vanish?!

Ironically enough, the very thing that made this Mage Lord unbeatable in the Initial Mage Lord Realm was perfectly countered by Shang's Domain of Entropy.

The Mage Lord overwhelmed her opponents with quantities of Mana. Fighting her was like fighting 20 Initial Mage Lords at once.

But that didn't matter to Shang.

Shang's Domain of Entropy didn't care about quantity.

It only cared about quality and density.

Shang's Domain of Entropy could be compared to Earth's atmosphere during a meteorite shower.

It didn't make a difference whether there were two or two billion meteors. If the meteors were not big and resilient enough, they would all burn into nothingness.

Yet, just one slightly bigger meteor would get through.

What was more damaging?

A ten-centimeter-wide meteor or a billion one-centimeter-wide meteors?

Naturally, a billion slightly smaller meteors would be vastly more devastating.

But when they all hit Earth's atmosphere, only the single bigger meteor would ever hit the ground.

Shang's Domain of Entropy worked like that, and because of that, all of the Spells had been turned into nothing, even though the Mana that had been exhibited was greater than the entire Mana reserve of an Early Mage Lord.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

In an instant, Shang used several Mana Steps, stopping directly in front of the shocked Mage Lord.

Surprisingly, Shang hadn't even fully used half of his Mana.

Shang's mind had become more powerful, and with it, Shang's storage of Mana inside his mind had also increased.

Shang's Domain of Entropy surrounded the Mage Lord, and her face turned white as she noticed that her Mana was being consumed at an absolutely terrifying rate!

It was like a powerful Fire Mage was shooting a concentrated beam of fire at her Mana Shield!

When she realized what was happening, the Domain of Entropy had already consumed 30% of her Mana!

And Shang?

Shang just stood in front of her.

Doing nothing!

The Mage rapidly cast a Mana Step.

In the time it took her to cast a Mana Step, she had lost another 30% of her Mana!

She had lost 60% of her Mana just because Shang was standing in front of her!

And as her Mana shot out to create an anchor point in the distance for Mana Step…

It vanished.

Nothing could leave the destructive Domain of Abominations.

No Mana Step, Spell, person, or even a Spirit Sense.

As long as these things didn't reach the standard of an Early Mage Lord, they couldn't survive the Domain of Entropy.

At this moment, the Mage Lord was imprisoned in a world of darkness that she couldn't escape from.

She could only throw one last glance of horror at the expressionless Shang.

Her Mana Shield vanished.

And then, she vanished.

She had died to the Domain of Abominations, just like many powerful Mages before her.

However, this Domain was different.

The Mage Lord hadn't noticed it, but the Mana that Shang had been consuming when he had appeared in front of her didn't disappear.

Instead, every bit of Mana the Mage Lord had lost inside Shang's Domain of Entropy, including her Mana Shield and body, had turned into Neutral Mana, which had been pushed into the surroundings.

Since she had been imprisoned in a world of darkness, she couldn't see the storm of Neutral Mana that had spread throughout the barrier and beyond.

In fact, the watching people had noticed that an extremely dense storm of Neutral Mana had shot out of the barrier, and they were quite perplexed by that.

The reason why Shang had done this was straightforward.

A Mage King would notice if all the Mana stored inside a Mage Lord vanished from the world.

Whenever Shang killed someone, their Mana remained in the world.

It was stored in body parts, droplets of blood, a scattering soul, ash, or just directly returned to the world to return as Neutral Mana.

Naturally, the breakdown of this kind of Mana took a while, and it didn't create a storm of Mana.

Nevertheless, the Mage Kings could feel the presence of that Mana.

And if all the Mana of the Mage Lord had vanished, they would immediately become shocked and ask questions.

Deleting Mana?

That was something only Abominations could do!

And maybe the Lightning Emperor.

But as long as the Mana remained, regardless of form, the Mage Kings wouldn't connect Shang to the Abominations.

And yet, that wouldn't reduce their shock by much.

After all, Shang had just killed a fourfold Initial Mage Lord that had been loaded with unfair weapons.

Luckily, the Mage Kings didn't see in which way Shang had won, or they would have immediately planned to kill him, regardless of the cost!

An Initial Mage Lord with a fourfold Spirit Sense, someone an entire level above Shang.

Equipped with hundreds of one-time-use Spells.

Had lost to Shang.

And Shang hadn't even drawn his weapon!

 

Chapter 898 898 – Sword Heart Reached

The barrier slowly turned transparent, and the Mage Kings couldn't believe what they saw.

The menace was still alive!

And their own Mage was nowhere to be seen!

Then, they realized that the storm of Neutral Mana had come from the Mage Lord's corpse, and the shock in their mind doubled.

This wasn't something easy to do!

One couldn't just convert someone's existence into Neutral Mana!

At least not someone at that level!

Inheritor Spheres obviously could do something like that, but Inheritor Spheres were expensive and very advanced devices that could only be created and used by Mage Kings and stronger.

Doing something like that required over four different level five Concepts!

Shang was at the Peak Sixth Realm!

And he wasn't even a Mage!

How had he done it?!

How had he transformed an Initial Mage Lord into nothing but a wave of Neutral Mana?!

Also, how was he still alive?!

The Mage Kings didn't even communicate with each other since they were still trying to process the things they had just witnessed.

And after a couple of seconds, they realized something else as well.

The Twilight Dusk Empire had lost their One-star Mage Lord Defender Flag!

Just when Mage Lords started to become important to the war!

Meanwhile, Shang just turned around and flew back to the Lightning Manor.

If Shang decided to place an Attack Flag, the Twilight Dusk Family would send a sacrificial lamb in to waste time until the flag killed both of them.

Shang knew that this would be the one and only time he would be fighting a Mage Lord before reaching the Seventh Realm himself.

The disadvantage of having such a comparatively tiny Spirit Sense was too great.

"Good job," the Custodian transmitted to Shang.

Shang noticed just the slightest fluctuation and hesitation after the Custodian said good job.

The Custodian probably wanted to call him Shang, but then remembered Shang's demands and wanted to call him Young Master Shang, but then realized that addressing him in such a humiliating way wouldn't be appropriate right now.

So, the Custodian had just said nothing after good job.

The Mage Kings felt very conflicted about Shang since he elicited extremes of admiration and disgust.

He was incredibly powerful and was responsible for keeping the Judgment Palace out of the war.

But he was also apathetic, stubborn, disrespectful, and had outrageous demands.

It was like Shang was an omnipotent toddler.

They hated him.

But they were extremely impressed by him.

"Need anything else?" Shang asked.

"Are you confident in taking down more Initial Mage Lords?" the Custodian asked.

"No," Shang said. "If one of them decides to hide and run, I will most likely die."

"I understand," the Custodian said. "If you're not confident, sending you is too risky. I will tell Sarah to contact you."

"Sure," Shang said.

A couple of seconds later, Shang's Transmission Medal told him that the Starlight Queen wanted to reach him.

"Yes?" Shang asked in a neutral manner.

"Young Master Shang, I have heard from the Custodian that you are willing to support the southeastern battlefield?" the Starlight Queen asked with an overly polite voice.

"Get to the point," Shang said.

Silence.

"There are two Peak Ancestral Mages attacking. Go through the portal," she said neutrally.

A portal appeared in front of Shang, and he charged through it.

A couple seconds later, Shang had dealt with the two attackers, and a portal appeared in front of him without him asking for it.

Shang saw his Isolation Barrier through the portal and walked through.

The portal behind Shang closed, and he was alone in front of his Isolation Barrier again.

Then, Shang touched the pin hanging on his robes and contacted the Lightning Emperor.

"Hey, Shang! What's up?" the Lightning Emperor asked with a cheerful voice.

By now, Shang had gotten used to the Lightning Emperor's very casual manner of speech.

"My progress has, in a way, been very fast and very slow," Shang said.

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in his office.

"I already comprehended my newest Impose about 70 years ago, far faster than I expected, but I don't need my opponents yet. I found a way to make use of my current opponents until I comprehend Sword Heart, which should take me about 50 more years. But then, I actually need my opponents. Do you already have something in mind?" Shang asked.

"I dealt with everything," the Lightning Emperor said. "I got you a ton of opponents that won't talk about your powers to others whatsoever, but there are two restrictions."

"Which are?" Shang asked.

"First, you can't fight them near your Isolation Barrier. You gotta go somewhere else."

"Will I be safe from the other Empires?" Shang asked.

"No worries, that place already has a permanent portal installed and a Spirit Sense relay for my personal use. I can get there very quickly and can see everything," the Lightning Emperor said casually.

Shang nodded. "The other restriction?"

"You can't kill your opponents. You can decide if you want to give them permission to kill you or not, but you are not allowed to kill them under any circumstance. If one of them dies, everything will become very ugly," the Lightning Emperor said.

"I expected something like that," Shang said without any surprise.

"Good! Then, contact me again when you're ready. You can go whenever!" the Lightning Emperor said.

"Sure, thanks," Shang said absentmindedly as he cut the connection.

Shang entered his Isolation Barrier again and continued trying out his sword against the Early Mage Lords and Early Beast Lords in his inner world.

By now, the opponents were very easy for Shang to defeat, but as long as he didn't use any of his Elements or Mana, he could still fight them somewhat evenly.

About 50 years later, Shang comprehended Sword Heart for his new sword, and he left his isolation.

He quickly killed another Peak Ancestral Mage from the Judgment Palace before telling the Lightning Emperor that he was ready.

A moment later, two things happened.

First, a complicated and powerful Mana Circle appeared around his fake left arm.

The Mana Circle had a powerful restrictive effect on Shang's left arm, making it impossible for him to move it.

But that was exactly the point.

If anyone watched, no one would be surprised about Shang not using his left arm.

After all, it had been suppressed.

The reason probably had something to do with training.

Then, a portal opened in front of Shang, and he walked through.

Very quickly, Shang realized who his opponents would be, and he realized that there truly shouldn't be any big problems regarding his secrets.

 

Chapter 899 899 – The Most Powerful Beast

In front of Shang were humongous mountains, which were piercing the lightning-filled clouds.

Lightning exploded everywhere, and Shang could barely see any flora.

But the fauna definitely didn't disappoint.

Shang could feel many Archbeasts and a couple of Ancestral Beasts.

Shang immediately knew where this was.

'The Thunder King's island,' Shang thought.

The Thunder King was the Beast King that lived on the most northwestern island of the world, and it was part of the Lightning Manor's territories.

Naturally, the Thunder King couldn't possibly resist the Lightning Manor, so he could only go along with whatever the Lightning Manor wanted from him.

Luckily, the Lightning Manor wasn't very exploitative, and they actually had quite a good relationship with the Thunder King's island.

Many Sparks and Boltlings were allowed to travel to this place and fight the beasts, but there were rules in place that stopped extremely powerful beasts from killing them but also stopped the humans from exploiting the beasts.

Beasts were not nearly as ambitious as humans. As long as they could become stronger and could find a safe place to retreat, they wouldn't care for more.

Since Beast Lords were about as smart as humans, they also knew that humans vastly outclassed and outnumbered them.

This actually made them thankful to the Lightning Manor since it stopped humans from completely eradicating the island.

So, the Beast Lords were quite loyal to the Lightning Manor, and they were not interested in any sort of offer or bribe from another Empire.

They had food, their own place, and could fight in peace.

Even if every single Beast Lord saw Shang's powers, they wouldn't tell any human that didn't belong to the Lightning Manor.

On top of that, there were plenty of Peak Beast Lords to choose from.

An average Peak Beast Lord was about as powerful as an average Mid Mage Lord, but one had to keep in mind that an average Mid Mage Lord had a twofold Spirit Sense.

Fighting a Late Mage Lord for Shang would be extremely difficult, and there was a high chance of death for him.

Fighting a Mid Mage Lord was still difficult, but Shang would very likely win.

So, fighting a Peak Beast Lord was exactly what Shang needed, especially since beasts fought with their bodies.

The Lightning Emperor didn't tell Shang what to do, but Shang could guess what he should do.

Shang flew towards the northwest, towards the middle of the Thunder King's island.

On his way, Shang saw many Ancestral Beasts and even some Beast Lords, but none of them attacked him.

Shang didn't wear the enchanted amulet of someone that was here to fight in the wilderness, but he had the Aura of a Transmission Medal on him.

This meant that Shang belonged to the Lightning Manor but wasn't here to fight, which meant that he was here to meet someone.

If Shang didn't own a Transmission Medal, all the Beast Lords around him would have attacked in unison since he would be counted as an invader.

Naturally, there were some people that snuck onto the Thunder King's island to illegally kill rare and powerful beasts, but these people were very few.

If anyone that didn't belong to the Lightning Manor entered without wearing the special amulet, the beasts would alarm every other beast, and several Beast Lords would quickly arrive to deal with it.

Being a poacher was a very dangerous profession in this place.

After flying for a while, Shang felt something extremely powerful looking at him.

Naturally, this was the Thunder King, but Shang was too far away to see it.

Shang continued flying toward the northwest until he found his target.

The Thunder King.

The Thunder King looked surprisingly normal.

A purple eagle perched on the tip of the tallest mountain of the island. The eagle was barely five-meters-high, but the Lightning Mana flowing out from it was responsible for the most intense lightning storms in the middle 100,000 kilometers of the island.

The other lightning storms on the island were the product of the many Beast Lords with Lightning Affinities.

Except for its color and size, the eagle looked almost like a normal eagle.

Five-meter-tall beasts even existed at the Soldier Stage and were very common at the General Stage.

Compared to the Hadean King, the Thunder King didn't seem nearly as impressive.

However, Shang could tell that the Thunder King was stronger than the Hadean King.

The Thunder King had this special Aura of a supreme genius on it, something Shang had never felt before on a beast.

Additionally, Shang had felt its gaze on him when he had been around 400,000 kilometers away from it.

A beast with a fourfold Spirit Sense?

Shang had never even heard of that.

Due to its appearance, Shang was naturally reminded of the Storm Eagle.

Shang still remembered how he had felt when the gigantic Storm Eagle had shot over Warrior's Paradise.

And yet, the Thunder King was incomparably more powerful than the Storm Eagle from back then.

Shang could annihilate the Storm Eagle with a flick of his finger.

And the Thunder King could do the same to Shang.

As Shang looked at the Thunder King, he realized something.

The chances were quite high that Shang was actually standing before the most powerful beast in the entire world.

But how had this beast become this powerful?

Shang hadn't even heard of a beast with a twofold Spirit Sense.

So, how could there be one with a fourfold one?

"Are you that surprised?"

Shang was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard the Thunder King's transmission.

The Thunder King slowly turned its head to look at the distant Shang.

"The Lightning Emperor told me to come here," Shang answered.

"I know," the Thunder King transmitted.

The next moment, all the Mana for thousands of kilometers vanished, and Shang's mind became shocked.

Then, a huge barrier appeared at the foot of the mountain, over a hundred kilometers wide.

It was an Isolation Barrier!

And the reason why the Mana had vanished?

Void Casting!

Finally, Shang understood how the Thunder King achieved such a powerful Spirit Sense!

This eagle was a Mage!

 

 

Chapter 900 900 – The Last Sword

It was a Mage!

A beast!

A Mage!

"You're a Mage?" Shang asked.

"Can beasts not be Mages?" the Thunder King asked calmly.

"Can beasts below the Beast Lord Realm not be Mages?" Shang countered.

The Thunder King threw an emotionless glance at Shang.

If Shang hadn't come here under the Lightning Emperor's orders, the Thunder King would have killed Shang for his answer.

So, he did the next best thing.

He refused to answer any questions.

"Go into the barrier. I will send opponents to you. You are not allowed to kill anyone," the Thunder King said curtly.

Shang realized that he had annoyed the Thunder King, but he also didn't care a lot.

His question had already been answered.

Naturally, beasts below the Beast Lord Realm didn't have human intelligence. Sure, there were some beasts that acted like Mages, like Proto-Mages and the Serpents, but they were not Mages.

Proto-Mages weren't experienced or intelligent enough to create really advanced Spells, and Serpents simply followed their instincts.

But a Beast Lord was about as intelligent as a human.

So, why wouldn't a Beast Lord be able to learn Magic at that point?

Maybe the Thunder King had once asked one of the humans about Magic.

Shang could imagine a researcher, like the Myriad King, becoming very interested in a beast that wanted to learn Magic.

"Don't send anything below the Late Beast Lord Realm," Shang said.

The Thunder King didn't answer.

"If they have the power, they are allowed to kill me, but if any of them try to land cheap shots after I have obviously emerged victorious, I will kill them," Shang said.

The Thunder King didn't show any reaction.

Eventually, Shang entered the Isolation Barrier and waited.

Naturally, since the Thunder King had created the Isolation Barrier, it could still see what was going on inside.

The only reason why it had created the Isolation Barrier was to stop any potentially spying human from watching Shang fight.

Inside the Isolation Barrier, Shang waited until his first opponent arrived a couple of minutes later.

It was a silver horse with a long horn, its majestic mane crackling with lightning.

Shang was reminded of the Thunder Horse when he saw this one.

Obviously, the Thunder Horse couldn't compare to this one.

After all, this one was a Late Beast Lord.

Even though the Thunder King didn't answer, it had obviously listened.

A moment later, the lightning around the horse's mane intensified and gathered on its horn.

This was its way of politely telling Shang that the fight would start now.

BANG!

Suddenly, the lightning exploded forward.

At the same time, the Mana in the surroundings vanished as Shang used Void Break.

A vibrating darkness appeared in front of Shang, and the lightning the horse had shot over vanished.

The darkness vanished, and the horse saw its lightning being absorbed by a sword.

At this moment, Shang held a long and somewhat broad sword in his right hand.

It was about 150cm long and about 50% wider than his original long sword.

In fact, it looked just like his original long sword, just a bit wider and longer.

After many years, Shang had decided on this form for his newest and last sword.

Its tip was very sharp, allowing Shang to effectively use it as a thrusting weapon.

Additionally, it was long and wide enough to also have a lot of force behind it when swung.

However, it was obvious that there were still quite some issues regarding this new sword.

It wasn't wide enough to block Shang's entire body from view, and it wasn't small enough to move with maximum flexibility and speed.

So, how had Shang solved these problems?

By training in something new.

When Shang had created the blueprint for this weapon, he had first worked on something completely different.

He had worked on controlling his Affinities simultaneously but separately.

This was something that many Mages had learned in the High Mage or Archmage Realm, but something Shang hadn't touched before.

Naturally, Shang picked it up rather quickly and included it.

Shang had decided to permanently include the usage of Mana in his swordsmanship.

Without Mana, Shang's weapon would actually be quite heavy. It would be just as heavy as Shang's Addum would be.

However, by constantly storing a bit of Darkness Mana with an abnormal extreme of void, Shang could reduce the density and weight of the sword.

About 10% of a Void Break in Darkness Mana was constantly included in the sword to make it as fast as possible.

If Shang wanted the sword to be hefty and strong, he would transform half of the naturally stored Mana into Light Mana with an extreme of mass. This would result in 5% of a Void Break being stored as Light Mana and 5% being stored as Darkness Mana.

The weight and density difference would be nullified, returning it to its original weight, the weight of an Addum.

With just a tiny thought, Shang could transform the sword in his hand into something completely different.

On top of that, Shang had decided to include a tiny version of his Domain of Entropy.

Reducing and increasing the weight of something consumed Light or Darkness Mana.

That meant that Shang would need to refill it from time to time.

But by creating and using just the tiniest and weakest Domain of Entropy, Shang could make it so that his sword absorbed Neutral Mana, which it then transformed into Darkness or Light Mana.

As long as Shang's Domain of Entropy didn't vanish, his sword would be filled with the Mana necessary to wield it, and since Shang's Domain of Entropy had no associated cost anymore, it would only deactivate when Shang died.

And as for the insufficient width of his sword, it didn't matter anymore.

Any opponent that was dangerous to Shang had power to the degree that Shang would die many times over when hit.

Blocking his entire body with a sword didn't matter.

He had his Domain of Entropy, and he could evade.

With all of this considered, one could see that Shang's newest sword was something that only he could use.

It needed the True Domain of Entropy and a Light and Darkness Affinity to even work.

In the entire world, only Shang had all of these things.

Only Shang could use it.

At this point, it didn't matter what name Shang gave this newest sword.

It was unique and one-of-a-kind.

It couldn't and wouldn't be replicated.

Therefore, naming the type or kind of sword was redundant since it would be synonymous with the name of the individual sword.

And the individual name of the sword was also redundant to Shang.

After all, the sword wasn't its own being.

It was just Shang.

Shang Sword.