Ch. 901..910

Chapter 901 901 – Fish

Shang's fight against the first beast was a rough one.

Naturally, Shang didn't use his full power since he couldn't even let a beast see his True Domain of Entropy.

Beasts hated Abominations just as much as humans, and if a beast saw that Shang was actually using the power of the Abominations, it might actually decide to kill him.

Shang had lost an arm, which had dropped his Battle-Strength by quite a bit, but thanks to his Domain of Entropy, his Battle-Strength had soared again.

Yet, without access to the Domain of Entropy, Shang's Battle-Strength reduced again.

This made this battle almost as difficult as an actual life-and-death battle. Sure, if necessary, Shang could use a bit of his Domain of Entropy, but it was a risk.

So, Shang wasn't in real danger as long as he wasn't forced to use his Domain of Entropy.

As for the tiny Domain of Entropy on his sword, nobody would connect that to the Abominations.

Almost all Mages wore clothing and trinkets that pulled Mana from the surroundings to them to increase the recovery rate of their Mana. It was so normal that nobody even talked about it.

It was as natural as having two arms and two eyes.

Shang's small Domain of Entropy didn't seem any different from those trinkets.

Even though the fight was very difficult, Shang still won in the end.

Shang unleashed his Sword Heart and hit the horse's neck, cutting it up to the bone.

Naturally, since Shang's sword had been filled with Fire Mana with an extreme of heat, it would have cut through the neck of the horse if he didn't stop it.

The horse's body was incredibly tough since it was nearly an entire Realm above Shang, but a melee attack filled with a void break of Fire Mana was extremely powerful as well.

The horse froze when the hole appeared in its neck.

"I won," Shang transmitted to it from a distance.

The horse didn't move for several seconds.

Then, it bowed its head and walked out of the Isolation Barrier without hesitation.

"Send only Late Beast Lords for now," Shang said.

The Thunder King didn't answer.

As Shang waited for his next opponent, he thought about the previous battle.

'If I had access to both my arms or my new Domain of Entropy, I could fight a Peak Beast Lord, but with neither of them, I'm stuck with Late Beast Lords.'

'I've overestimated my power a bit.'

After a couple of minutes, the next beast entered the Isolation Barrier.

Surprisingly, this one didn't have a Lightning Affinity.

It had a Water and Wind Affinity, but it wasn't actually that surprising to meet such a beast here.

Yes, this was an island filled with beasts with Lightning Affinities, but it was also surrounded by the Eternal Ocean.

Naturally, beasts with Water Affinities were abundant in the Eternal Ocean. Additionally, the violent lightning and the high mountains created powerful storms.

There were probably a couple of beast types that lived on the shores of the island. 300,000 years was long enough for plenty of different beasts to appear.

The new beast was a fish with sharp fins, which was just floating near the edge of the Isolation Barrier.

Shang wasn't sure if he had ever seen a fish outside of water, even though they obviously could live on land.

Shang assumed that they probably just preferred living and fighting underwater since land beasts didn't have it as easy fighting in the water.

Of course, there were also disadvantages for fish fighting on land. Due to their lack of legs, they couldn't accelerate explosively or rapidly switch directions.

However, during the fight, Shang noticed something.

As soon as the fight started, two slits appeared on the fish's belly, revealing two bird legs.

Then, its fins extended out of its body until they turned into scaly wings.

Lastly, its teeth grew at an angle until they formed a sharp beak.

However, its thick fish neck didn't change, making it seem like its bird head came out of its torso.

It had transformed into a weird bird.

A fish that could transform into a bird…

As soon as it transformed, Shang noticed that it was shockingly fast, and he was forced to rapidly swing his sword just to deal with its advances.

Additionally, its weird beak teeth were brutally hard, and it parried Shang's attacks like it was carrying a powerful spear.

Luckily, Shang's newest sword style could deal with every kind of enemy. It was explicitly designed to fight every kind of opponent that could possibly exist.

It had been a while since Shang had fought such an opponent.

Shang felt like he was fighting a powerful warrior.

Over the next seconds, Shang used Infection to scatter several spots filled with Death Mana on the fish bird's body.

Then, Shang fully focused on defending.

If Shang had used the Concept of Purgatory, he could have probably won very quickly since the fish bird was fighting with its teeth beak, which was part of its head.

However, Shang wasn't here to win but to increase the power of his sword style.

Shang had decided that he would gain enough momentum to reach the Seventh Realm by solely training with his sword, and that required a ridiculous amount of training.

Even comprehending the level after Sword Heart wouldn't be enough since that would be on the level of a level four Concept.

Shang would need to comprehend the following level if he only wanted to rely on a single weapon.

Shang used the next couple of minutes of fighting the fish bird to increase the pressure he was under.

He had already used up all his Death Mana, which made the fight that much harder.

Eventually, Shang snapped his fingers.

BOOOOOOM!

The right side of the fish bird exploded, scattering its flesh everywhere.

"This isn't the only one," Shang transmitted. "There are four more on your body. If I detonate all of them, you will die. I've won."

Then, Shang transmitted the locations of where the Death Mana was located, and the fish bird tore these parts of its body off.

A moment later, Shang detonated these parts away from the fish bird.

Shang nodded and motioned for it to leave.

Yet, the fish bird didn't immediately leave.

"I want to learn from you."

Shang turned his head to the fish bird.

It wanted to learn from him?

"You wield your weapon with finesse and impressive dexterity," the fish bird transmitted. "I feel it is similar to my weapon."

"You are far better at using your weapon than I am at using mine."

"Teach me."

"I am willing to serve you."

Shang didn't say anything for a couple of seconds.

 

Chapter 902 902 – Bird

Shang had never thought about teaching a beast how to fight like a warrior.

Usually, it was warriors fighting like beasts.

However, the Thunder King showed that it definitely wasn't impossible to teach a beast how to fight like a human. After all, the Thunder King was a Mage.

So, why couldn't the fish bird be a warrior?

It was definitely possible.

"No."

Silence.

"Please tell me why," the fish bird transmitted.

"I don't take on any students, and you are neither powerful nor wealthy enough to be of use to me," Shang transmitted. "Ask one of the Mages of the Lightning Manor when they appear. The Lightning Manor also has warriors that fight with weapons. Maybe they are interested in teaching you like they taught the Thunder King."

"Are these other warriors stronger than you?" the fish bird asked.

"No," Shang answered.

"Then, I don't care," it transmitted. "I am not learning from weaker beings."

"Suit yourself," Shang said. "Now, leave! You're wasting my time!"

The fish bird didn't seem like it wanted to leave.

At that moment, Shang's Aura intensified. "If you don't leave, I will kill you."

The fish bird could tell that Shang was dead serious.

After two seconds, it turned around and left the Isolation Barrier.

Shang recovered the Death Mana he had used, which was quite easy thanks to the level four Concept of Death.

About a minute later, Shang's opponent entered the Isolation Barrier.

His next opponent was…

The fish bird.

"I'm here to fight again," it transmitted.

Shang didn't immediately give an answer.

The fish bird was quite powerful, and it even knew about Shang's Infection now.

That probably made it even more powerful than in the last fight.

Additionally, fighting against it had helped Shang a lot since it was like he was fighting a powerful warrior.

"Fine," Shang said as he readied his sword again.

The two shot at each other again and clashed.

Due to the fish bird's superior power, Shang had to be on the defensive the entire time, parrying the attacks with his inferior power.

The fish bird tried to hit Shang again and again, but the human's weapon moved in such frustrating ways.

It was like it couldn't fully use all of its power.

It knew that one peck with its beak would turn the human into a pile of meat, but it simply couldn't land any hit.

Shang could land some hits, but he couldn't land any good ones.

Surprisingly, the problem was the small arena.

One would think that Shang preferred fighting in a close space, but in this specific case, it was bad for him.

Shang wanted to use his Sword Heart to hit the fish bird from the side since its massive beak basically covered the entire fish bird's front, making it really difficult to damage it.

Yet, Shang couldn't use Sword Heart since he didn't have time to gather his focus.

If the arena were bigger, Shang could use Mana Step to retreat and gather his focus.

Sadly, it was only about a hundred kilometers across.

So, Shang was stuck with launching several small attacks that didn't have a lot of power.

This was how he had managed to infuse the fish bird's body with Infection, but this time, the fish bird got rid of the surrounding flesh of any wound that was inflicted on it.

Shang thought about using his Concept of Purgatory but decided against it.

SHING!

Suddenly, a huge part of the fish bird's beak was destroyed.

Shang had used the level two Concept of Death, Weakness.

But the next moment, green water appeared around the beak, restoring it to its peak condition.

The fish bird hadn't used its Water Affinity before this moment since its natural recovery had been good enough.

When Shang saw that it could also recover from that attack, he became frustrated.

If Shang used his Domain of Entropy, he would win very quickly since the fish bird's beak would slowly turn into Neutral Mana, but he couldn't use it due to the Thunder King.

Shang had to use his all to resist the fish bird's assault.

Well, almost his all.

There were a couple of things he could use to land some good hits, but they wouldn't really help him in training his swordsmanship, which was his primary goal.

So, the fight just continued.

The fight continued for minutes, which was probably one of the longest fights Shang had ever fought.

Shang wasn't allowed to make any mistakes.

One mistake and the fish bird's beak would turn him into a pile of meat.

Eventually, they fought for over an hour.

Shang had never been in such a long fight before, and he felt more and more stressed as the fight dragged on.

Even more, the fish bird was getting better at using its beak!

In only one hour, it had already learned to parry!

One had to remember that dodging, parrying, blocking, and so on were things that even normal humans could learn.

As a Late Beast Lord, the fish bird had a mind on the level of a Late Mage Lord.

How long would someone like a Late Mage Lord need to learn to parry?

Because of that, the fish bird's speed of growth was incredible!

Just learning the basics of fighting was already increasing its power!

Naturally, Shang had already noticed what was going on.

Shang had refused to teach the fish bird, but he was doing exactly that.

His compliance didn't matter.

After just a couple of hours, the fish bird's techniques reached the level of a General Stage warrior.

Luckily, Shang could adapt to the fish bird's new techniques.

His sword was designed to counter everything, and Shang simply needed to counter the new techniques.

It wasn't very difficult for Shang to come up with counters for such weak techniques.

The main problem had always been and will continue to be the fish bird's power and speed.

However, the fish bird wasn't the only one making progress.

Shang was also making quite a lot of progress.

Additionally, since he constantly had to keep his concentration up, his mind was also moving far faster.

Yet, since he was that much more advanced than the fish bird, he was making zero progress in comparison.

Shang found a couple of opportunities to end the fight, but he decided against ending it.

Fighting against the fish bird was probably the most efficient method of making progress.

And finally, it happened!

And it only took a couple of months!

WHOOOOM!

The intensity of the battlefield increased in an instant.

Finally!

The fish bird had comprehended its True Path.

 

Chapter 903 903 – Tortoise

Even though the fish bird had created its True Path, Shang still didn't have more issues than before.

The fish bird was a Late Beast Lord. A couple of techniques from the Fourth Realm didn't make any difference.

The two of them continued fighting for about five years.

It seemed like creating an Impose wasn't very easy for the fish bird, and it would probably need another couple of decades to create one.

So, while the fish bird stopped improving in the fight, Shang continued to become stronger.

In comparison to the fish bird, Shang was already working towards comprehending something that would allow a normal warrior to reach the Seventh Realm.

After another five years, Shang wasn't on the edge all the time. The fish bird was still insanely fast, but his usage of his sword had improved tremendously.

Shang still didn't know what beyond the Sword Heart was, but he knew that he was making progress. Otherwise, he wouldn't be growing more powerful right now.

Ten years after Shang had started to fight the fish bird, his body suddenly transformed into a weakened husk.

Shang became slower and weaker, but thanks to his improvements, he could still resist the fish bird.

A couple of seconds later, Shang's body recovered, and he struck the fish bird's beak.

Nothing seemed to change.

Shang's body became weak again and struck the beak once more.

CRACK!

Suddenly, the fish bird's beak completely broke apart, and Shang stabbed his sword toward the fish bird's head.

Shang's sword only buried itself up to the fish bird's skull before it stopped.

However, if he wanted to, Shang could have killed it.

Shang had used the Concept of Purgatory to weaken the beak until he could break it.

The fish bird knew that it had lost.

"Leave," Shang said. "I don't want to see you for at least a century. If you appear in front of me again, I will kill you."

The fish bird looked at Shang with an unreadable expression.

CRK! CRK!

Then, it turned back into a normal fish, signifying that it wasn't interested in battling anymore.

Although, that might not have been the correct phrase. It definitely wanted to fight Shang again, but it also didn't want to die.

Shang had improved tremendously in the last decade, but he couldn't keep fighting the same opponent again and again. He needed variety to improve different parts of his swordsmanship.

A couple of minutes later, Shang's next opponent appeared.

This one was quite a tall and powerful fortress of a tortoise.

In comparison to the other beasts, this one wasn't the biggest fan of keeping its body size suppressed, and it took up nearly half of the Isolation Barrier.

This meant that the tortoise could barely move inside the Isolation Barrier.

'Earth and Metal Affinity?' Shang thought as he felt the Mana around the tortoise. 'I expected to only fight beasts with a Lightning Affinity here, but now, we got another outlier.'

Shang quickly noticed that this opponent would also be quite difficult to beat but for an entirely different reason.

In order to win against the fish bird, Shang needed to improve his speed and defense, but both things wouldn't help him a whole lot against the tortoise.

This time, Shang would need to increase his power.

As soon as the tortoise fully entered the Isolation Barrier, Metal and Earth Mana gathered all over its shell.

BOOOOM!

In an instant, rocks and pieces of ore exploded out of the turtle, right at Shang.

Shang didn't have a lot of trouble avoiding all the projectiles since they were not that fast, but he also couldn't completely relax. Just like with the fish bird, Shang couldn't allow himself to get hit by anything.

Even though it was shooting many projectiles at Shang, he actually had some opportunities to use Sword Heart since its assault wasn't as relentless and accurate as the fish bird's.

CRRRRRRK!

Shang hit the tortoise's neck, but he could only cut through about 10% of it.

Even more, the cut was sealed with a mixture of earth and metal just moments later.

The next time, Shang tried to hit the tortoise's body with a real physical slash, but the speed and number of projectiles increased the closer he got.

Sure, he could still get close and attack, but he couldn't gather enough power to actually injure the tortoise significantly.

The next moment, Shang decided to use Infection, but before it could reach any significant power, the part that Shang hit was cast off.

The tortoise's body acted like the teeth of a shark. All the rock and metal on its body kept expanding until it ultimately fell off.

Shang wasn't sure if this was normal for the tortoise or if someone had told it about Shang's attack.

Nevertheless, Infection became useless.

So, Shang decided to use Injection and place an Infection very deep inside the tortoise's body.

It took longer, but even that part eventually fell off the tortoise's body.

It was almost like the tortoise wasn't a beast but some kind of elemental construct.

When Shang got that thought, he decided to try something.

Shang used Needle to infuse the tortoise's head with Purgatory.

But nothing changed.

The tortoise didn't even show a sign of slowing down or being confused at all.

'I think this entire thing is actually just armor,' Shang thought.

'This probably means that the real beast is somewhere inside the tortoise.'

That was quite a clever tactic. As long as no one had enough power to penetrate the thick armor, the beast would be safe.

Obviously, this tortoise's goal was to win in a war of attrition. It couldn't be killed, and it wouldn't stop attacking.

As long as it kept fighting, it would eventually win.

At first glance, this seemed to be a perfect strategy as long as the enemy couldn't escape from the battle.

However, after knowing what was going on, Shang knew what he could do.

Suddenly, the air around Shang shone in a bright light before grey waves started to come out of his body.

And then, the tortoise stopped attacking.

Shang was just standing in front of the tortoise, but it wasn't doing anything.

BOOOM!

And then, it resumed attacking, but this time, it didn't perfectly target Shang.

It was shooting its projectiles in random directions.

 

Chapter 904 904 – The Level After Sword Heart

Shang was still visible, but the tortoise couldn't sense him.

That was because Shang had used the Light and Darkness Concepts to hide from Spirit Senses.

Yet, if one had eyes, they would still be able to see him.

But since the true tortoise was buried inside the thick layer of armor, it couldn't look at Shang with its actual eyes.

This essentially made Shang invisible to the tortoise.

At least until it somehow managed to look at the real world with its eyes.

And if it did that, Shang would very quickly realize where the real tortoise was.

The pressure on Shang's back reduced by a lot, but he still had to avoid the projectiles.

In a certain way, avoiding the projectiles now became even more draining on his concentration since he couldn't anticipate a projectile's trajectory anymore. After all, it was random.

But Shang still preferred it this way.

Shang recovered his Death Mana and used Injection to get as deeply into the tortoise as possible, but he could barely penetrate just a couple of kilometers of its ridiculously thick armor.

Once more, Shang couldn't win the battle because his Affinity couldn't be revealed.

If he could use his Domain of Entropy, he could dig through the tortoise's body while weakening the projectiles so much that his body could resist them.

Additionally, if Shang could use Fate, he could easily bisect the tortoise, which would allow him to pinpoint the location of the real beast.

But as things stood now, he didn't have enough power to break through the armor.

The stone and metal that the tortoise left in the arena quickly turned into Earth and Metal Mana again, which rapidly got reabsorbed by the tortoise.

Shang could try destroying the will on the Mana, but that wouldn't do a lot. The tortoise would just absorb more Mana from the ground and air.

After he considered all of this, Shang was actually glad that he had such an opponent.

This tortoise allowed Shang to work on his offense without being just a target dummy.

'The fish bird was a perfect opponent, and now this tortoise is also a perfect opponent. Is this just a coincidence?'

Shang wasn't sure.

It was possible that the Thunder King was sending in just the right opponents.

Shang continued fighting against the tortoise for several years, launching one attack after the other.

He was using the tortoise's armor as a way to gauge how strong his attacks were, and it proved to be quite helpful.

As the years passed, Shang managed to get deeper and deeper into the tortoise's body.

After 20 years, Shang managed to get two kilometers deeper than before. Assuming the real tortoise was in the middle of the bigger tortoise's body, Shang only needed to get through another six kilometers of armor.

Every time, Shang used a perfectly prepared Sword Heart with all his Death Mana using the Concept of Weakness.

Another 20 years later, Shang managed to get another two kilometers deeper.

In comparison to the beginning, Shang's attacks had become nearly twice as strong, which was a far bigger improvement than he had expected.

He wasn't using more Mana, and his body also hadn't grown in power.

And yet, somehow, his offensive power had increased by this much.

What had changed?

Shang analyzed the power of his attacks for a long time.

It was very difficult to say what had changed.

In comparison to learning Concepts, walking further down the Path of Sword consisted of less theoretical knowledge and more instinctual movements and feelings.

Shang just felt more comfortable with his attacks, and they also felt more "correct".

One time, Shang tested the power of his attacks without using any Death Mana, and what he saw shocked him.

Barely anything!

The power of his normal attacks had barely increased in the last 40 years!

At most, they were 10% stronger.

That obviously couldn't be compared to the 100% increase in power with Death Mana.

That was when Shang changed his thinking.

Shang was definitely making progress on the Path of Sword, but his progress wasn't as fast as he had thought. Or maybe, the progress just didn't have as much of an impact.

But when it came to attacks with Death Mana, his progress was astounding.

This meant one thing.

Shang wasn't only progressing on one Path.

He was progressing on two Paths, at least.

Shang decided to continue training like this, and ten years later, a subtle change occurred.

Shang's power stopped increasing.

His power had reached some kind of ceiling.

Yet, he continued training like this.

Ten years later, Shang's power barely increased by maybe 2%.

But Shang continued.

In the next 50 years, Shang's power increased by maybe 5%.

50 years later, maybe another 5%.

Shang had entered a rhythm, and he continued attacking absentmindedly.

Once more, Shang unleashed an attack without Death Mana.

Its power had increased by a bit, but not by that much.

However, after Shang felt his attack connect, he felt something.

There was something different about this attack compared to his normal attacks over a century ago.

When he had used Death Mana, Shang hadn't felt this difference since it was very subtle and since the Death Mana was overshadowing it.

Shang released another attack without Death Mana, and the subtle sensation appeared again.

There was something.

Something else.

Something Shang had never felt before.

It was a bit like Mana, but it wasn't Neutral Mana, and it wasn't any kind of other Mana.

No Neutral, Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Ice, Lightning, Metal, Light, Darkness, Space, Time, Gravity, Life, or Death Mana.

Thanks to his Transformation, Shang could feel all kinds of Elemental Mana, and he was sure that this kind of Mana didn't belong to them.

But it felt like Mana.

It had the properties of Mana.

Where did it come from?

Shang followed the feeling and watched as the Mana appeared on his sword.

He wasn't sure where it came from.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Shang rapidly attacked the tortoise in an avalanche of attack, trying to summon as much of this kind of Mana as possible.

This barrage of attacks continued for a couple of seconds.

And then, Shang realized something.

His mind was growing weaker!

This meant that this weird kind of Mana was using the Mana stored inside his mind!

So, Shang actively used the Mana in his mind and summoned the sensation of this new kind of Mana.

BOOOM!

It was like a floodgate had been opened, and a rapidly moving grey mist appeared around Shang's sword as he felt the Mana in his mind quickly diminish.

Now, Shang could feel the Mana very clearly.

It was Mana, but it wasn't any kind of Mana he had ever seen before.

It felt extremely sharp.

Just like a sword!

Sword Mana!

Shang lifted his sword and attacked the tortoise again.

BOOOOM!

All the Sword Mana on Shang's sword vanished, but the power of his attack had increased by over 50%!

Shang finally understood it.

His Mana entered his sword, which was then transformed into Sword Mana, and Sword Mana increased the power, reach, and sharpness of his sword without increasing its weight.

So, this was the level after Sword Heart.

Sword Mana!

But this was not where things ended.

As soon as Shang understood the existence of Sword Mana, something else also became clear.

Shang summoned his Death Mana and fused it with his Sword Mana.

Instantly, the Sword Mana turned black and stopped moving.

It was like a blade of obsidian had appeared around it.

Even more, the unstable Sword Mana and the unstable Death Mana seemed to connect with each other, creating something that was stable.

Shang attacked the tortoise once more, and what he saw shocked him.

His attack was as powerful as when he used Death Mana with the Concept of Weakness.

However…

The mix of Death Mana and Sword Mana on his sword was still there.

It hadn't been used up!

Shang refilled his storage of Death Mana. During that time, the mix of Sword Mana and Death Mana reduced by about 20%. It wasn't permanent, but it held for quite a while.

Shang put more Sword and Death Mana into his sword, but the mix of Sword and Death Mana only returned to its earlier amount. It wasn't possible to add more Sword and Death Mana.

But Shang quickly found the reason.

His sword could only create so much Sword Mana at once.

But the same wasn't true for Death Mana.

Shang added another layer of Death Mana with the Concept of Weakness on top of his sword.

Now, his obsidian-like blade also had a black glimmer on its edge.

Shang attacked the tortoise.

SHING!

And bisected it!

 

Chapter 905 905 – Weapon Infusion Destination

Shang cut off the front half of the tortoise, and immediately, the battle stopped.

Luckily, the true tortoise had been well in the back half since enemies tended to attack the chest and neck more often than the ass.

A moment later, Shang reappeared as he stopped using his Concepts of Light and Darkness.

"The fight is over," Shang said.

Then, Shang turned around and flew out of the Isolation Barrier. After the fight had ended, it no longer stopped him from leaving.

Shang's Spirit Sense locked onto the Thunder King. "I need some time to think, and I need to go back for a while. I will return later."

The Thunder King didn't answer. Apparently, it was still annoyed by Shang's earlier disrespect.

Shang simply took to the sky and flew towards the southeast.

On his way, he thought about everything he had just learned, and he realized something.

'Sword Mana is definitely the level above Sword Heart, but the infusion of my Death Mana in Sword Mana is not part of it.'

'This must be something separate.'

'Sword Mana on its own already increases my power by a lot, but with the addition of Death Mana, it became even more powerful.'

'It doesn't feel like something on the level of a level five Concept, but all of this is stronger than a level four Concept.'

'I believe Sword Mana is on the level of a level four Concept, and the infusion of Mana into Sword Mana is probably also on the level of a level four Concept.'

'It makes sense. Mages can comprehend different Concepts related to their Affinities, but if a warrior wanted a twofold Spirit Sense, they need to comprehend entirely different weapons.'

'That's like asking a Mage to comprehend a Concept from a separate Affinity.'

'There must have been a way to get a severalfold Spirit Sense without having to comprehend different weapons, and I think this might be one of those ways.'

One couldn't forget that Shang was literally creating his own Path and that he didn't know a lot about the different Paths of the past.

Shang knew some general things, but the specifics were still unknown to him.

Over the million or so years ever since the apocalyptic beasts had been killed, how many things had the different Paths created?

How much knowledge had been lost?

Was there a way to get a fourfold Spirit Sense while only using a single weapon in the True Path Stage?

There had to be.

Using different weapons for an increase of a Spirit Sense was part of the Weapon Master Path, not the warrior, barbarian, or even berserker Paths.

There must have been ways to increase someone's Spirit Sense without having to comprehend things from different Paths.

Mages could do this. So, why couldn't the other Paths as well?

After Shang left the island of the Thunder King, he used his pin to contact the Lightning Emperor.

"Oh, Shang! What's up?" the Lightning Emperor asked.

"I have comprehended two things, and I want to know more about them. You know about the other Paths, right?" Shang asked.

"Of course," the Lightning Emperor said.

The next moment, a portal appeared, and Shang stepped into the Lightning Emperor's library.

Shang walked over to the table in the middle and sat on one of the chairs.

"So, what did you learn?" the Lightning Emperor asked with a friendly chuckle.

Seeing Shang learning new things reminded the Lightning Emperor of his own youth.

He missed the times when he could see and learn new things.

Sadly, these times were over, but with enough luck, they might return in the future.

Shang summoned his sword and showed it to the Lightning Emperor, who looked at it with expectation.

The next moment, grey Mana appeared on the sword.

"Ooohhh," the Lightning Emperor uttered. "Weapon Mana."

Shang nodded. For once, his name and the actual name were the same. He was quite certain that Weapon Mana for a sword was called Sword Mana.

The next moment, the Sword Mana turned black and solid.

The Lightning Emperor's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Oh wow," he said. "You're a fast one."

"Do you know what this is?" Shang asked.

The Lightning Emperor nodded without hesitation. "Just to be sure, this is Sword Mana and Death Mana, right?"

Shang nodded.

"Back then, we called this Weapon Infusion," the Lightning Emperor said as a book flew over to him from one of his bookshelves.

"Weapon Infusion is on the same level as a level four Concept, and it's a non-essential Destination for Warrior Lords."

"Non-essential Destination?" Shang repeated.

The Lightning Emperor nodded. "Back then, warriors talked about their Paths in a more literal sense. They viewed their Paths as literal journeys."

"In theory, if we ignore the Mana shortage in Aterium, a Mage only needs to learn one Concept per level to become a Mage Emperor."

"Let's just use Lightning as an example. After a True Mage learns the Concept of Spark, they can become a High Mage."

"After they learn the Concept of Magnetism, they can become an Archmage."

"After the Concept of Shock, Ancestral Mage."

"Concept of Bolt, Mage Lord."

"Concept of Lightning, Mage King."

"Concept of True Lightning, Mage Emperor."

This was the first time Shang had heard the name of one of the level six Concepts, but he didn't comment.

"Instead of calling their checkpoints and requirements level something Concepts, warriors call them Destinations. However, they didn't call them Destination one, two, and so on. No, that would be far too easy and convenient," the Lightning Emperor said with a chuckle.

"Instead, they call them essential or non-essential Destinations and use the Realm they could reach after comprehending one of their Destinations."

"In your case, Weapon Mana is an essential Destination for Warrior Lords. That means that you must comprehend Weapon Mana if you want to become a Warrior Lord. Without Weapon Mana, you can't become a Warrior Lord since all the non-essential Destinations on the Warrior Lord level need Weapon Mana as a basis to work."

"Without Weapon Mana, you can't use Weapon Infusion, but you can use Weapon Mana without Weapon Infusion. That's why Weapon Mana is essential, and Weapon Infusion isn't."

Shang nodded. "I understand."

"Read it," the Lightning Emperor said as the book from earlier flew over to Shang. "It's a quick read."

Shang opened the book and rapidly read through it.

It barely took a couple of seconds since the content of the book wasn't hard to understand.

The book basically analyzed and explained Weapon Infusion, which basically answered all of Shang's questions.

 

Chapter 906 906 – Daring Idea

Shang thought a bit about his Weapon Infusion and if he should do more with it.

Weapon Infusion was a combination of a kind of Elemental Mana with Sword Mana. The result would stabilize the Sword Mana and give it the properties of the Elemental Mana.

This also explained why Shang's attack had been so powerful.

Shang had infused his sword with Death Mana using the Concept of Weakness, creating a blade with the properties of the Concept of Weakness.

Naturally, it was possible to also infuse it with other Elements. For example, Shang could also infuse his Sword Mana with the level three Concept of Incineration, which would create an intensely hot blade that could burn through whatever it hit.

However, just because someone could do something didn't mean that doing it was the most optimal thing to do.

According to the book, there were many applications for different Elements, but due to how Weapon Infusion worked, some Elements were better than others.

For example, infusing Sword Mana with Ice Mana barely made any sense. Yes, the blade would become very cold, but the actual damage it could deal was even worse than just using Sword Mana and Ice Mana simultaneously without combining them.

The same thing was true for Lightning Mana.

But there were still many Elements that were useful.

Especially the Metal Element.

The level one Concept of Metal was Sharpness, and infusing Sword Mana with the Concept of Sharpness was already very strong.

It straight-up just made the sword sharper without any side effects.

The book said that the level five Concept of Metal, Destruction, was the holy grail for warriors.

If a warrior were born with a Metal Affinity and managed to comprehend Weapon Infusion and the Concept of Destruction, they would become a fearsome opponent.

The level five Concept of Light, Laser, was also great.

Someone that had comprehended Weapon Infusion was most likely already a Warrior Lord, and a Peak Warrior Lord could already attempt to comprehend level five Concepts.

This was why level four and level five Concepts were all the rage when it came to Weapon Infusion.

Naturally, the book didn't even mention Life or Death Affinities. They were so rare and unknown that the author basically knew nothing about them.

However, Shang could tell that the level four Concept of Death was insanely useful for Weapon Infusion since it increased the power of the Concept of Weakness to insane lengths.

In a way, the Concept of Weakness could be considered a brother to the Concept of Sharpness. The Concept of Sharpness increased the power of a weapon, while the Concept of Weakness decreased the power of the target.

Sadly, infusing more than one Element wasn't possible with Weapon Infusion, but the book also said that it wasn't impossible.

The book just said that this was something for Warrior Kings, which probably meant that infusing more than one Element into Weapon Mana was a non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings.

Shang decided that it would be a waste of time to acclimate his other Elements to his Sword Mana.

Apparently, acclimating more Elements to Weapon Mana took, on average, about half as long as doing it with the first Element.

So, Shang would probably need like 70 years or something like that to acclimate one of his other Elements.

For what?

It wasn't like he couldn't use his other Elements any more.

Weapon Infusion simply increased the power of his weapon. He could still use all his other attacks while Weapon Infusion was active.

And the Concept of Weakness was undoubtedly the best option in almost every case.

Shang wouldn't spend his time on something like that.

Especially when there were a couple of other things Shang had seen in there.

When the book talked about the bad Affinities for Weapon Infusion, like Ice and Lightning, it also talked about a non-essential Destination where those two excelled at.

It was called Weapon Transformation, but the book didn't talk about it a lot.

However, the book had two comments about Weapon Transformation.

First, Weapon Transformation could increase the power of Weapon Infusion and vice versa.

Second, learning Weapon Transformation made it easier to comprehend the essential Destination for Warrior Kings.

Shang closed the book and turned to the Lightning Emperor. "I want to learn about Weapon Transformation."

The Lightning Emperor raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to comprehend everything yourself."

"I never said that," Shang said.

Silence.

The Lightning Emperor blinked a couple of times in surprise.

"The Custodian said he didn't want to influence my Path, which was why he didn't tell me anything," Shang said. "On top of that, there is nobody I could have asked. Lastly, I already knew what I wanted to comprehend most of the time."

"This time, I want to comprehend Weapon Transformation."

"After consuming my momentum, I can feel that I now need even more momentum to reach the next level. With just Void Break, comprehending Sword Mana and Sword Infusion would have been enough to reach the Seventh Realm."

"But now, after using up the momentum after comprehending the Concept of Transformation, I can feel that I am still missing momentum."

"I need a third level four Concept or something similar, and Weapon Transformation sounds like the best way."

"Huh," the Lightning Emperor uttered. "That makes sense, actually."

Then, the Lightning Emperor actually scratched his chin as he fell into thought.

"Say, Shang," the Lightning Emperor said after a while. "How long did you take to learn Weapon Mana and Weapon Infusion?"

"About 150 years or so. I should have something like 500 years of longevity left," Shang said.

"Two non-essential Destinations for Warrior Lords in 150 years," the Lightning Emperor said. "That's really fast. It's like a Peak Ancestral Mage comprehending two level four Concepts in 150 years. It's basically unheard of."

"What if you comprehend Weapon Transformation in 100 years? Then, you have another 400 years left."

"If you can essentially comprehend three level four Concepts in 250 years or so, wouldn't it be possible for you to comprehend a level five Concept in 400 years?"

"After you get Weapon Transformation, you should have enough momentum for the next Realm. At that point, you're not in danger anymore."

"So, why not try it?"

Shang remained silent.

Comprehending something as complex as a level five Concept in 500 years…

That sounded impossible.

And yet…

Hadn't Shang already achieved similar feats?

 

Chapter 907 907 – Refraction

BANG!

Shang cut through a huge beak, destroying it in one strike.

The beast in front of him immediately jumped back in shock and looked warily at him.

It was the fish bird.

Shang had returned from the Lightning Manor after dealing with a couple more Ancestral Mages.

As soon as Shang had returned, the fish bird immediately came back to fight him.

It had comprehended Impose, and it wanted to finally beat Shang. The last couple of times, it had come so close. With Impose, it should now be able to win, right?

Sadly, Shang immediately broke its beak with Sword Infusion.

Speaking of, Shang had decided to give his Sword Infusion a fitting name.

Death Sword.

Death Sword could remain active for the entirety of a battle, essentially turning it into a kind of permanent upgrade for his sword.

The speed of Shang's sword didn't increase, and its hardness or weight also didn't decrease or increase.

It literally only increased a single thing.

Sharpness.

With his Death Sword, Shang now had the least problems with beasts that focused on defense.

The fish bird had been an issue due to its speed but also because its beak had been too hard for Shang to destroy.

But with its beak destroyed, the fish bird stopped being a problem.

"The fight is over," Shang said emotionlessly.

The fish bird knew that it couldn't fight Shang anymore, but it was still difficult to come to terms with reality.

Their powers had been about equal 150 years ago, but now, there was an incredible gap between them.

The fish bird felt like it had completely transformed into a different beast after comprehending Impose. Its power had increased by so much!

In fact, it had already fought a couple of Peak Beast Lords and even won!

But Shang just destroyed it!

One had to know that the fish bird's beak was incredibly hard. None of the beasts had been able to break it yet.

But Shang just destroyed it.

The fish bird knew that it had to leave and that it most likely wouldn't get another opportunity to fight Shang.

"What can I do?" the fish bird asked.

Silence.

"What can I do to become even more powerful?" it asked.

Shang remained silent for a couple of seconds.

"Continue training," Shang said, "and you need to focus on your mind as well. Your weapon and your mind must be one."

"Now, leave," Shang ordered.

The fish bird quickly lowered its head and respectfully walked backward out of the Isolation Barrier, showing its gratitude.

Originally, Shang didn't want to help this random beast, but for some reason, he wanted to.

Maybe the beast's relentless efforts in training reminded Shang of himself.

In comparison to all the students he had accepted in his life, the fish bird had been the most hardworking.

All the students from Icy Bastion had always just wanted to go to their families and waste time with their loved ones.

While they were doing that, Shang had been training with his sword.

And the fish bird was just like that.

From what Shang could tell, it had been training relentlessly, and he even considered its speed of advancement passable.

Over the next couple of minutes, Shang fought five other Late Beast Lords.

While the battles didn't end instantly, they hadn't proven to be of any danger to Shang.

"Thunder King, send in Peak Beast Lords," Shang said.

"Fine."

Surprisingly, the Thunder King answered this time.

Maybe it was because Shang had actually given the fish bird a little helping hand?

Nevertheless, the Thunder King had answered, and a couple of minutes later, the first Peak Beast Lord entered.

Peak Beast Lords counted as the most powerful beasts in the world, except for the 50 or so Beast Kings.

The Thunder King's island probably had over 100 Peak Beast Lords, which was quite a lot.

Naturally, the Peak Beast Lords had brutal rivalries with each other, and they all wanted to become second in command.

When Shang saw the silver bird filled with lightning enter the Isolation Barrier, he could immediately tell that the Thunder King had sent in one of the weakest Peak Beast Lords.

Its Aura was supremely average.

And yet, the fight was more difficult than his fight with the fish bird.

The reason was that the bird fought from a distance while rapidly fleeing from Shang's attacks.

Naturally, due to the relatively small size of the Isolation Barrier, Shang could still hit the bird, but he could only use his weakest attacks with the longest range.

Sadly, Shang's Death Sword couldn't show its power with these attacks. It could only show its power with Sword Heart or if Shang physically hit his opponents with his sword.

Since the bird was always as far away from Shang as possible, Shang couldn't use either of these two things, leaving him with his unique ability to hit his opponents from 3,000 kilometers away.

Luckily, the bird's defense wasn't the best, and Shang's attacks eventually exhausted it.

Naturally, the bird had also attacked Shang with several powerful bolts of lightning from a distance, but Shang managed to deal with them with Refraction, an ability he hadn't used in a very long time.

Refraction split energy-based attacks apart, dispersing their power over a bigger area. It had originally been used with Shang's Colossal Sword.

However, the Refraction Shang had used just now was different from the Refraction of his Colossal Sword State.

Back then, Shang had only been able to disperse the powers with Light Mana, but now, Shang could also use Darkness Mana to destroy the will on the energy-based attack, making his ability to disperse attacks vastly more powerful.

Nevertheless, due to the vast difference in their Realms, Shang still received a couple of injuries, but they weren't a big deal.

Winning against the bird hadn't been that hard, which confirmed Shang's suspicion that the bird was one of the weakest Peak Beast Lords.

Its speed was pretty good, but its defense was weak. Additionally, the lightning bolts it had fired at Shang were also not the strongest.

Eventually, the bird left, and Shang waited for his next opponent.

 

Chapter 908 908 – Sword Transformation

Shang's next opponent was another beast with a Lightning Affinity, but it also wasn't the most impressive.

It was a white ape that was using a huge club. It mostly used its Lightning Mana to increase its speed.

Sure, the white ape was pretty fast, but its defense was horrible.

After avoiding a couple of attacks, Shang launched an attack of his own, and the battle ended.

However, Shang had felt more pressure in this fight than in the last since he had been forced to rapidly defend many times before he could launch his own attack.

The sheer power and speed of these beasts had reached such levels that Shang was immediately bombarded by an avalanche of attacks, and if he got hit once, he would explode into a shower of blood.

It was a lot of pressure.

Shang fought a couple more battles, and the beasts became more powerful and more dangerous.

He was going up the rankings of the island.

Eventually, Shang found some opponents that could genuinely threaten his life.

While his attacking power had reached levels where Shang could also kill these powerful beasts in one strike, his speed, and defense were brutally lacking.

"This is not the battle I want," Shang suddenly transmitted to his opponent.

The white wolf in front of Shang stopped attacking, waiting for an elaboration.

"Right now, we are evenly matched," Shang said. "However, you are not the opponent that will help me comprehend the thing I want to comprehend."

The wolf's stance changed to a casual one. "You are conceding?"

"If that is the only way to get a different opponent, yes," Shang answered. "I don't care about who is more powerful between us. I care about becoming stronger, and you are not the beast that can help me achieve this at this moment."

The wolf nodded.

It was in the middle of the rankings of Peak Beast Lords on the island, and it was only interested in keeping its ranking.

Having Shang concede was enough for it.

Killing other beasts was rare on these levels since almost all fights were between beasts that were evenly matched.

As long as one beast admitted that it was weaker than another one, there was no reason to kill it.

Peak Beast Lords couldn't become Beast Kings due to the Mana. Because of that, consuming other beasts no longer had any use or value.

Additionally, many of these beasts had known each other for a long time.

As long as the rankings were clear and everyone acted according to their ranking, there were no problems.

In comparison to most of the time, Shang knew what he wanted to comprehend and what abilities he would unlock.

And he also knew that this opponent wouldn't be very helpful.

The wolf left, and a white tiger entered.

After some seconds of fighting, Shang also conceded to this opponent for the same reason.

Finally, after five more opponents, Shang actually got one that would help him.

It was a Lightning Serpent, and it was essentially a superior version of the first lightning bird Shang had fought.

While its speed was a bit slower, its attacks were truly devastating, and it actually had a couple of ways to block Shang's weak ranged attacks.

Shang was under immense pressure immediately, and every attack he launched was blocked by the distant Serpent.

As of this moment, Shang couldn't possibly win since he couldn't even injure his enemy.

But that was exactly what he wanted.

Shang kept avoiding the brutal attacks from the Serpent for a long time.

Under normal circumstances, the Serpent would have probably changed its strategy against Shang after about 30 seconds of battle, but the Thunder King had told it that the Lightning Serpent's purpose was to increase Shang's power.

This also lessened the pressure on the Serpent's back, and it also became interested in increasing its own powers by trying to hit such a fast target.

So, the two of them continued battling.

After a couple of years, Shang actually had to subtly use his Domain of Entropy to destroy parts of the Serpent's will on its attacks since the Serpent was getting better at hitting him.

And that was where things remained for around 50 years.

The Serpent seemingly stopped improving, and Shang also seemingly stopped improving.

Yet, several things had changed during that time.

Shang's Death Sword was no longer just around his sword anymore.

By now, the black blade of Shang's Death Sword was warping and moving like a black fog.

It was almost like it was moving like normal Sword Mana again.

The Death Sword Mana kept extending from Shang's sword, blocking a couple of tiny bolts of lightning.

It was like Shang's sword had become a form of liquid that could float like gas.

And then, Shang finally managed to get Sword Transformation to work.

The next moment, all the Death Sword Mana around Shang's sword expanded forward and left his sword.

The area in front of Shang turned black, almost like he was using his Corridor of Darkness.

The black beam reached the Lightning Serpent, which quickly used a concentrated blast of Mana to divert it like it had done countless times to Shang's attacks.

But this time, the beam couldn't be pushed away or redirected. Instead, the black beam just became smaller.

The next moment, the beam hit the Serpent's body and cleanly cut through it!

It was almost like the gassy liquid was as sharp as a sword!

"I concede," the Serpent transmitted a moment later.

Beasts of this level could easily survive such an injury, but getting hit by this attack showed the Serpent that it could no longer win against Shang anymore.

Shang just nodded, and the two of them walked out of the Isolation Barrier.

Shang had finally comprehended Sword Transformation.

Sword Transformation was, as the name suggested, a way to transform the sword.

In this case, the word sword referred to the physical weapon in addition to the Weapon Mana.

While Shang's physical sword didn't change, the Sword Mana could now leave Shang's sword without dissipating.

This essentially created a ranged attack.

The reason why Shang hadn't been able to win against the Serpent was that his ranged attacks had been too weak, but with a way to hit the enemy with Death Sword Mana from a distance, Shang had gained enough offensive power to injure the Serpent.

At this moment, one had to remember that the other Paths used to be on the same level as Mages.

Someone that could only use Sword Mana obviously couldn't compare to a Mage Lord with a twofold Spirit Sense, making it seem like warriors were fundamentally weaker than Mages.

Yet, with Sword Mana, Sword Infusion, and Sword Transformation, couldn't the warrior launch a ranged attack with devastating power against a Mage while only using a bit of Mana?

Suddenly, the two combatants seemed equal again.

Just like how Mages had many ways to deal with warriors, warriors used to have many ways to deal with Mages.

There were a couple more non-essential Destinations for Warrior Lords that Shang could learn to increase his power even more, but he was out of time.

He only had about 450 years of longevity left.

Chapter 909 909 – New Deal

After leaving the Isolation Barrier, Shang planned his next course of action.

1

He knew what he had to comprehend next, but it wasn't certain if he would actually succeed.

Luckily, for once in Shang's life, he wasn't under life-threatening longevity pressure.

Shang could feel that he had gained enough momentum to reach the Seventh Realm.

If he wanted to, he could reach the Seventh Realm within the next couple of minutes.

This was already far better than when he had needed to comprehend the Concepts of Purgatory and Twilight to reach the Void Break Realm.

Naturally, reaching the Void Break Realm had been comparatively more difficult for Shang than reaching the Seventh Realm right now.

There were two reasons.

First of all, by going from the True Path Stage to the Fusion Realm, Shang's maximum longevity had only doubled, while going from the Fusion Realm to the Void Break Realm had quintupled it.

So, even though Shang had started very late in his life, he still had a lot of time remaining.

The second reason was that Shang had already reached a sixfold Spirit Sense.

If Shang had simply needed to learn a normal level five Concept, he would have probably finished even earlier since Shang had already elevated his level of existence.

And now, after undergoing his Transformation, Shang's mind had become much stronger, and his Affinity with basically everything had increased.

This made it even easier to comprehend things.

Another reason was that Shang already knew so much that he was becoming very good at figuring things out.

Finally, Shang was now truly making progress on the actual Path of a warrior, something Shang was incomparably talented in.

1

Supreme talent, an elevated body, an elevated mind, infinite resources, constant battle against powerful opponents, and not having to work for others.

All of these things combined resulted in Shang comprehending things on the same level as level four Concepts in less than a century.

Shang's life had been so very difficult, and he had sacrificed so much to gain all of these things.

But now, everything was paying off.

Shang was no longer under such intense pressure.

If this had happened to others, they might decide to relax and take things easy. Because of that, many powerful organizations and teachers wanted their people to be under more pressure. The added pressure would motivate people to work even harder than they would normally.

But that wasn't true for Shang.

Shang trained with 100% of his being without being under pressure.

That was why the presence or absence of pressure basically made no difference to him.

While Shang was traveling to the Lightning Manor, he was thinking of a good way to comprehend the essential Destination for Warrior Kings, but he wasn't sure if he could do it.

But he would try.

Shang dealt with a couple of Ancestral Mages again and returned to the Thunder King's island.

By now, the Empress of Death had also managed to break her contract, but that didn't make much of a difference since the Judgment Palace was still stuck assaulting a single Zone.

Sure, the assaults became more brutal, but the Lightning Manor was also going all out.

The Mage Kings were willing to spend far more resources than they were earning because they knew that Shang would join them in 450 years.

The Lightning Emperor would also soon be able to break his contract.

stay here at the longest."

At that point, the entire war would change, and Mage Lords would become the most important forces.

After returning to the Thunder King, Shang didn't immediately enter the Isolation Barrier.

"450 years," Shang told the Thunder King. "That's how long I will stay here at the longest."

The Thunder King didn't answer.

"During that time, I need you to do something. If necessary, I will ask the Lightning Emperor to increase whatever he is paying you to help me," Shang said.

"Yes?" the Thunder King transmitted.

"I need a constant supply of powerful opponents, but I also need my full focus," Shang said. "From now on, I don't want to be in life-threatening danger anymore. I want this to be a non-lethal fight. I won't kill my opponent, and my opponent won't kill me."

"Yet, I also want it to feel as realistic as possible. Because of that, I want to focus on the fight and not think about not accidentally killing my opponent."

"If I or my opponent are about to kill each other, I want you to intervene and stop us."

The Thunder King remained silent for a while.

This was very different from the earlier deal.

With the earlier deal, the Thunder King just needed to get a couple of opponents for Shang and keep the Isolation Barrier active. That wasn't a lot to do, and the Thunder King could do whatever he wanted.

But with the new deal, the Thunder King couldn't do anything else. He would be forced to closely watch over the battles for 450 years.

He was an entire Realm higher than the combatants, but he would still need to pay close attention.

"I want ten more," the Thunder King transmitted. "Tell that to the Lightning Emperor."

Shang nodded and contacted the Lightning Emperor.

After telling him that the Thunder King wanted "ten more", the Lightning Emperor said that the Thunder King would get what he wanted. However, the Lightning Emperor also said that if Shang or any of the Beast Lords died, he would personally kill the Thunder King.

"He agrees," Shang said to the Thunder King.

"Go in," the Thunder King transmitted. "I will stop either of you before you kill each other."

Shang entered the Isolation Barrier, and his next opponent appeared very quickly.

And sure enough, as soon as the opponent was about to kill Shang, a kind of forcefield appeared between the two.

The Thunder King had intervened.

Additionally, it only took a couple of seconds for the next opponent to enter the Isolation Barrier, and the fight immediately started.

After a couple of fights, Shang could finally fully let go and just focused on killing his opponents with his powers.

If one of his opponents died, he would no longer be at fault.

So, what were these things that the Thunder King had asked for?

Mana to create Peak Beast Lords.

It was very difficult for beasts to reach the Beast Lord Realm due to the low Mana density in the world, and since beasts very rarely had more than a onefold Spirit Sense, it was even more difficult for them.

That was why the islands of the Kings used stored Mana provided by the Empires.

While Shang was training, around 100 different Mage Lords gathered in a big plaza.

A moment later, they all swallowed some pills, and they focused their Mana onto ten spheres before them.

In a couple of minutes, all the Mage Lords fell by one level.

The spheres shone with dense Mana and were taken away.

The Mage Lords would return to their previous levels, but it would take a couple of centuries.

A couple of minutes later, the spheres were delivered to the Thunder King by Amarius.

With these ten spheres, the Thunder King could elevate ten more Ancestral Beasts to the Beast Lord Realm, increasing the overall power of his island.

This was what the Lightning Manor had paid for Shang's request.

 

Chapter 910 910 – Sword Blood

Shang continued fighting against the beasts, and he climbed the rankings.

1

Sword Transformation helped Shang against the beasts focusing on ranged attacks, but that wasn't all.

By no longer needing to focus on not killing his opponents, Shang could also fight much more aggressively.

Even more, Sword Transformation also helped Shang with a couple of faster opponents since it could also swirl around Shang for a moment.

As the years passed, Shang's mastery over Sword Transformation increased even more.

Sword Transformation held longer and flowed with more flexibility.

Nevertheless, using Sword Transformation still used up all of the Sword Mana Shang had gathered.

Every time Shang used Sword Transformation, he needed to reload his Death Mana and Sword Mana.

Sword Infusion and Sword Transformation were both stronger than just pure Sword Mana, but they were equal to each other.

Sword Infusion increased sharpness and reduced Mana spent.

Sword Transformation increased the range and flexibility.

Both were useful for something.

If both were used at the same time, it would increase the sharpness, range, and flexibility.

Sadly, it would use up all the Mana again.

With Shang's increased mastery of Sword Transformation, he began to win more battles.

Increasing one's power as a Peak Beast Lord was very difficult and took a very long time, and Shang's speed of growth was blazing compared to the growth of the beasts he was fighting.

After 100 years, Shang was already fighting against the 30 strongest Peak Beast Lords.

But then, Shang's speed of growth slowed down again.

The initial improvements were always faster than later improvements.

Another 100 years later, Shang was fighting against the top 25.

Another 100 years later, he was fighting places 22 and 21.

Shang was learning a lot about fighting with Sword Mana, and his Sword Transformation still continued to improve.

Yet, Shang was still unsure about how to comprehend the next level.

Shang's Sword Transformation held even longer, and Shang could even slightly change its trajectory after he had already fired it.

1

Shang knew exactly what he had to comprehend, but he felt that his progress was still very slow.

As things currently stood, Shang estimated that he would only arrive at his goal in about 600 years or so, and he had already trained for about 300 years.

This meant that all in all, Shang would have needed to train for 900 years to learn the essential Destination for Warrior Kings.

900 years was already brutally and shockingly fast. After all, Shang had a total longevity of 5,000 years. 900 years for that was nothing compared to what it meant to comprehend something on the level of a level five Concept.

It was definitely extremely fast.

And yet, it wasn't enough.

Shang only had 150 years left, and he needed about 600 if he continued advancing at this rate.

No matter how hard Shang tried, it just wasn't possible.

Training with the sword was the best way to become better at wielding a sword, and Shang was already doing that.

50 years later, Shang could see a way to reach the next level, but it only reduced his estimates to 500 years instead of the 550 they would have been now.

Shang saw the fundamentals of the next Destination, and he could finally tell how it worked in general.

Yet, figuring out how something worked wasn't the important part of training with a weapon.

Figuring out how something worked was for Mages and Concepts.

Destination worked.

In a way, Shang could already use it in a very basic and rudimentary Fighting with a weapon required feeling and practice on top of knowing how something worked.

Nevertheless, Shang continued.

Another 50 years later, Shang could feel even clearer how the next Destination worked.

In a way, Shang could already use it in a very basic and rudimentary way.

That increased Shang's power by a bit more, and he was now fighting places 18 and 17.

Nevertheless, Shang was now about 4,950 years old, and he only had 50 years left.

Shang knew better than anyone else how it felt to reach one's maximum longevity.

At that point, training would become impossible.

'Guess there's not much I can do,' Shang thought as he fought his opponent. 'Seems like I have to break through soon.'

Even though Shang was disappointed that he couldn't comprehend what he wanted, he would still survive.

Additionally, he had undergone a huge Transformation thanks to the Concept of Transformation.

The quality of his existence had increased even more, and he was well on his way to becoming the strongest being in Aterium.

He had already set plenty of world-shattering new records.

'Transformation,' Shang thought.

'The Concept of Transformation?'

As Shang thought about the Concept of Transformation, he also thought about what he wanted to comprehend.

'In a way, that is also a transformation.'

'Everything from this point on in the warrior's Path revolves around Sword Mana, and Sword Blood isn't any different.'

Sword Blood was the essential Destination for Warrior Kings, the next level of Sword Mana.

Sword Blood allowed the warrior to create even more Sword Mana, and the warrior's body would gain the power to store the Sword Mana in the body.

1

This would eventually result in the circulation of Sword Mana in one's body, changing the Sword Mana and allowing the warrior to control it even better while it was outside their body.

'I can try the Concept of Transformation,' Shang thought.

Shang stopped the duel and left the Isolation Barrier.

A moment later, he stopped on top of a mountain and focused on his body and Sword Mana.

Then, he used the Concept of Transformation on the Mana in his body.

It was extremely difficult, but Shang noticed that he could motivate his own Mana to transform into Sword Mana.

The Concept of Transformation wasn't made to create something like Sword Mana, but by changing the way Shang was using it, he could use it in this way.

However, Shang's pathways were breaking under the Sword Mana since they were not made to withstand such a powerful and sharp form of Mana.

1

After some years, Shang noticed that his pathways had become better at resisting Sword Mana.

That was when Shang realized that it was actually possible.

For the next decades, Shang created more and more Sword Mana in his body.

This worked much better than just training with his sword, and it was all thanks to the Concept of Transformation!

And then, 40 years later.

At 4,990 years old.