Ch. 931..940
Chapter 931 931 - Four Emperors
BANG!
Following the lightning bolt that pierced the barrier, the entire structure crumbled.
BANG!
Five more lightning bolts shot through another section of the collapsing barrier, striking the edges of the Domain of Entropy.
It resembled lasers targeting the periphery of a puddle.
At those spots, the Domain of Entropy vanished instantly.
The five lightning bolts then moved in a circular path, converging towards the center of the Domain of Entropy.
Within an incredibly short span, they reached Shang's body and split into numerous smaller lightning bolts.
Shang's body was enveloped in highly destructive lightning, yet the skillful control ensured that he didn't suffer any burns.
The Domain of Entropy completely disappeared, revealing Shang's body, now naked except for his bandages.
His left arm, legs, and a bloody hole in place of his lower limbs were all that remained.
His body was mere skin and bones, with dangerously weak life energy.
Immobile, but still alive.
This entire sequence occurred in a mere 0.1 seconds, while the barrier continued to crumble.
Fortunately, no one could see Shang at that moment.
The Lightning Emperor knew the importance of keeping Shang's condition as secretive as possible, which was why the initial lightning bolt had created a bright and impenetrable domain of lightning.
However, he also understood that he couldn't keep everything isolated for too long, or the other Emperors would accuse him of tampering with evidence.
So, the Lightning Emperor approached Shang and covered his mutilated body with a large piece of white cloth.
This cloth blocked Spirit Senses and only provided a rough outline of Shang's body.
At that instant, an oppressive black spot appeared on the Lightning Emperor's bright domain.
He immediately deactivated his domain, revealing an aggressive black cloud of Death Mana hurtling towards them.
The Empress of Death had arrived - Kali.
The Lightning Emperor calmly stood next to the white cloth concealing Shang's body.
Kali emerged from the black cloud, her eyes cold as she looked at Gregorio.
Soon after, Brutus Cesar and Amon Gus also appeared.
"Explain," Kali demanded coldly.
"You explain," Gregorio retorted, his narrowed eyes concealing his simmering anger.
"I have nothing to explain," Kali replied emotionlessly. "You are the one who destroyed a Defender Flag."
"After it failed to deactivate," Gregorio countered.
"Are you implying something?" Kali asked.
"Yes, I am," Gregorio affirmed. "I am certain that my warrior's opponent was a Mage King."
"A Mage King," Kali repeated, showing no amusement. "And how, pray tell, could a Mage King enter a Defender Flag?"
"Because the flag was either defective or tampered with," Gregorio explained.
"What nonsense," Kali scoffed.I think you should take a look at
"If it's nonsense, then summon all the Mage Kings from your three Empires. If no Mage King was inside, they should all still be present, right?" Gregorio challenged.
"Fine," Kali responded in a calm yet cold tone.
She glanced at Brutus Cesar and Amon Gus, who nodded in agreement.
In short order, all the Mage Kings from the three Empires assembled beneath the four Emperors.
Once they were all gathered, Brutus Cesar furrowed his brows, and Kali looked at Amon Gus with an even colder expression.
"You're missing one," Kali stated.
Amon Gus turned pale.
He tried his best to contact the missing Mage King, but he couldn't get a response.
"I... can't find him," Amon Gus admitted with a serious expression.
"Seems like I'm not the only one with traitors among us," Kali remarked.
Amon Gus remained silent.
"Is this how it's going to be?" Gregorio questioned. "Will you all pretend this wasn't planned?"
"It wasn't planned," Brutus Cesar asserted. "At least, I had no involvement in it."
Kali nodded in agreement. "I wasn't aware of this either, but I will conduct an internal investigation."
She then turned to Gregorio. "Expect an answer within the next 50,000 business years."
Gregorio only stared at them with narrowed eyes, refraining from saying anything.
The white cloth next to Gregorio began to levitate.
"Stop," Amon Gus interjected. "Now that we have entertained your investigation, it's time for you to entertain ours."
"Show us the body," he demanded, pointing at the floating body beneath the cloth.
Immediately, the atmosphere darkened as Gregorio and Amon Gus locked eyes.
"Don't push it," Gregorio warned with a dark and menacing tone. "I know what's going on. You know what's going on. We all know what's going on."
"You crippled one of my most powerful people," Gregorio continued. "You lost a Mage King, and you severely and permanently crippled one of my future Mage Kings."
"Drop it."
Silence ensued.
The three Emperors stared at Gregorio as the tension in the air escalated.
"I don't appreciate baseless accusations," Amon Gus stated, "but I will drop it this once. After all, we were once friends."
Gregorio's cold eyes met Amon Gus' cold gaze for a moment longer.
Then, Gregorio took to the sky and flew through a portal with Shang's covered body.
The three Emperors also departed from the battlefield.
Although they had all been aware of the incident, Emperors couldn't perfectly discern truth from lies while conversing with one another. However, their intuition was generally accurate.
All three Emperors believed Gregorio's words about Shang being permanently crippled, despite not knowing the specifics of how it happened.
This meant that they hadn't sacrificed a Mage King in vain.
One could say that the mission had been a partial success.
Chapter 932 932 - Trust
Inside the Lightning Emperor's library, a large piece of white cloth began to shift.
The cloth moved aside, revealing a torso with a head and an arm, floating in the air.
Blood dripped from the left and bottom sides of the torso, forming a pool on the ground.
This was Shang, and he remained silent for a while, pondering what had transpired and his new condition.
The more Shang sacrificed to Entropy, the greater the impact on his Battle-Strength.
While losing his vision was a minor issue compared to losing an arm, the loss of an arm was still less significant than losing both legs.
Shang's entire battle style relied on swift forward movements, powered by his legs.
With the loss of his legs, his acceleration had likely dropped significantly.
Evading attacks would also be much more difficult.
For a Mage, losing their legs wouldn't pose a major problem. Mages typically relied on their minds and Spells for movement, as their physical speed was insufficient for combat.
And now, Shang found himself in the same position.
It was a heavy blow, indeed.
However, Shang only lamented the loss of his legs for a brief moment.
Afterward, he immediately began contemplating ways to develop his power in a manner that didn't rely on his legs.
He had done the same when he lost his left arm.
After creating his last Sword State, the loss of his left arm became inconsequential to his current Battle-Style.
While his current style was built around leg movements, Shang knew he could adapt and develop a new approach.
"You seem calmer than I expected," the Lightning Emperor remarked from behind his desk as he glanced at Shang.
Shang didn't respond immediately.
"You saved my life with your pin," Shang eventually said.
The Lightning Emperor chuckled softly. "That was the intention," he replied. "I knew it was only a matter of time before a Mage King attacked you."
Then, the Lightning Emperor's expression turned serious. "However, I didn't anticipate an altered Defender Flag."
"The Mage King claimed that it was jointly created by the three Empires," Shang replied.
The Lightning Emperor nodded. "I suspected as much. I have already ordered an inspection of all Attack and Defender Flags. It appears that two of the Defender Flags of Ancestral Mages and Archmages have been lost."
"Lost?" Shang repeated.
"Yes," the Lightning Emperor affirmed. "The Land and Sky Empire, as well as the Judgment Palace, have lost their Defender Flags."
"Presumably, they will be considered destroyed."
"In a sense, you destroyed three Defender Flags five years ago," the Lightning Emperor added.
"Five years ago?" Shang inquired.
The Lightning Emperor nodded. "Your soul suffered further injury. You have already lost almost half of your soul to Anti-Magic. Humans are not meant to survive with only 50% of their soul intact."
"The fact that you're still alive is nothing short of miraculous."
"Your soul was realigning and adapting to make it possible for you to survive with what little remains."
"That process took approximately five years."
Shang fell silent as he delved back into his thoughts.
"What are your plans?" the Lightning Emperor asked after a few seconds.
"To adapt my fighting style to accommodate my new situation," Shang explained.
Upon hearing that, a small smile appeared on the Lightning Emperor's lips.
"I'm glad you're adjusting so quickly," he said.I think you should take a look at
Shang didn't respond.
Instead, he pointed his head towards the ceiling, lost in contemplation.
The Lightning Emperor observed Shang with a raised eyebrow.
For over five minutes, Shang remained deep in thought.
"I don't want to bring about the destruction of the world," Shang suddenly declared.
The atmosphere in the room shifted at once.
"What do you mean?" the Lightning Emperor inquired, his voice carrying an undertone of apprehension and unease.
"I don't desire to bring about the end of the world," Shang reiterated. "My goal is to gain power, but what use is power if there's nothing left around me?"
"What value does power hold without a world to wield it in?"
"You trust me," Shang continued. "You have supported me."
"You have saved my life on numerous occasions."
"I sense no ill intentions coming from you."
The Lightning Emperor felt a tinge of nervousness.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
Shang turned his head to face the Lightning Emperor. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You are aware of my secret."
The Lightning Emperor took a deep breath.
Silence hung in the air.
"You know," Shang went on, "there was someone I once trusted with my life, but that person betrayed me and tried to kill me after learning my secret."
"You already know my secret. I'm not sure if you have truly faced that realization or not, but if you had truly intended to kill me, you would've done so already. You had all the time and opportunity in the world," Shang asserted.
In the next moment, a letter materialized in Shang's hand, and he tossed it to the Lightning Emperor.
"You know I am the Child of Calamity," Shang revealed.
The Lightning Emperor took another deep breath.
Shang was right.
The Lightning Emperor had been aware for a long time.
The moment he learned of Shang's Anti-Magic, he had suspected the truth.
Yet, he had never truly confronted it.
And then, Shang sacrificed his legs, forcing the Lightning Emperor to confront the reality.
Upon awakening, Shang had a realization.
His Spell, Humanity, was not active.
It hadn't been active during the five years he lay in the Lightning Emperor's library.
The Lightning Emperor couldn't have failed to notice that Shang was the Child of Calamity.
Despite all this, Shang was still alive.
The Lightning Emperor read through the letter from Lucius that Shang had just thrown to him, and he took another deep breath.
Lucius had also been the Child of Calamity...
Deep down, Gregorio had already suspected Lucius, but like with Shang, he had refused to face it.
"What now?" Shang asked.
The Lightning Emperor remained silent for a long while.
Chapter 933 933 - Experiments
The Lightning Emperor remained silent for a while, and Shang patiently waited for him to speak.
Finally, the Lightning Emperor sighed, accepting the situation. "What's there to do?" he asked with a tone of resignation. "I've known this all along, but I didn't want to face it."
The Lightning Emperor glanced to the side, seemingly lost in thought.
"Anti-Magic doesn't exist. It's merely the power of the Abominations. I should know. Lucius taught me a little about it."
"He taught you?" Shang inquired, sounding somewhat surprised.
The Lightning Emperor nodded. "Yes, he gave each of us a lesson in what he called Anti-Magic. I was the only one who gained anything from it. I learned how to transform Mana into what you call Entropy. Unfortunately, the Mana I use is consumed entirely, and I can only release about 30% of the stored power."
"People know that I killed Adam, but they are unaware of the extent of the destruction I caused. Well, the people there know, but those in the Lightning Manor don't. They aren't aware of the details," the Lightning Emperor explained.
"You can use Entropy?" Shang inquired.
"Entropy?" the Lightning Emperor repeated.
"That's what I call it," Shang clarified. "I need a Mana vacuum to demonstrate."
The Lightning Emperor raised an eyebrow, but he obliged and created a barrier around Shang, pushing all the Mana out.
SHING!
The Lightning Emperor took a deep breath upon seeing a High Abomination appearing beside Shang.
While he had accepted that Shang was the Child of Calamity, witnessing him summon an Abomination was still shocking.
Moreover, the Abomination didn't even act hostile; it simply stood next to Shang obediently.
The Lightning Emperor had never considered himself a villain. He valued honesty and fairness above all else.
However, now he found himself conversing with someone who could control beings destined to destroy the world.
It made him uncomfortable to support someone like that.
Shortly after, Shang used his Domain of Entropy to split the High Abomination into Mana and what he called Entropy.
Shang's hand reached for the ball of Entropy and held it.
"This is what I call Entropy," Shang explained.
The Lightning Emperor examined the ball of Entropy with interest.
"We know that Abominations aren't composed entirely of Mana, but we've never managed to separate the Mana from the other force," the Lightning Emperor remarked. "Shang, you've created something that only Lucius has seen before."
"May I take a closer look at it?"
Shang nodded. "Keep Mana away from it, or it will explode."
The Lightning Emperor nodded in return, and the ball of Entropy floated towards him, with the Mana vacuum following.
He then recited several complex words, creating abstract Mana fluctuations.
The ball of Entropy started to heat up, causing the Lightning Emperor to furrow his brows.
He continued chanting Spells, but the ball of Entropy kept increasing in temperature.
After about a minute, the Lightning Emperor summoned several devices that Shang had never seen before.
However, as soon as one of these devices touched the ball of Entropy, it vanished.
Another minute passed, and the Lightning Emperor let out a sigh of frustration.
"How am I supposed to test this ball of Entropy?" he muttered, sounding half-rhetorical. "I've only learned one thing: it destroys any kind of Mana it touches."
"And, well, almost everything is made of Mana," the Lightning Emperor added helplessly.
DING!I think you should take a look at
Shang tossed a hard piece of ore beside the ball of Entropy.
The Lightning Emperor raised an eyebrow, but he noticed that the Entropy was drawn to the ore.
"They're attracted to each other?" he remarked.
Shang didn't need to respond; the Lightning Emperor's mind worked rapidly, and he made several deductions.
"So, there might not even be a reason why the Abominations come to our world," he theorized, reaching a conclusion similar to Shang's.
Naturally, he arrived at a similar idea.
"Possible," Shang agreed. "Maybe the God can't even control the Abominations."
The Lightning Emperor furrowed his brows. "But he gave you your Affinity, and you can control Abominations, right?"
"Yes, but my control isn't absolute," Shang admitted.
The Lightning Emperor became increasingly intrigued. None of the Children of Calamity, apart from Lucius, had managed to become as powerful or learn as much about Abominations.
"I can control and summon them," Shang explained, "but I can't dismiss them or prevent them from appearing. If I sense an Abomination wanting to appear in Aterium, I can redirect it to somewhere else, but I can't stop it from appearing."
The Lightning Emperor scratched his chin.
"And you think even the God can't do that?" he asked.
Shang nodded. "I'm not entirely sure, but it's most likely."
The Lightning Emperor continued experimenting with the ball of Entropy for some time.
After hours of testing, he managed to learn a couple more things about it, but the nature of Entropy remained difficult for him to grasp, as it was unlike anything else in the world.
Then, the Lightning Emperor asked Shang to recount his life story without any secrets.
And Shang complied, revealing everything to the Lightning Emperor.
As Shang divulged his story, his thoughts drifted to a person he hadn't thought about in a while: Jerald.
Conversing with the Lightning Emperor reminded Shang of the genuine care he felt from both of them, but their actions and approach were quite different.
Shang's relationship with Jerald had felt like a bond between brothers before things fell apart.
In contrast, his connection with the Lightning Emperor felt more like a friendship and business partnership.
They both wanted something from
each other, and their conviction and power vastly differed.
Jerald was weak, always had been. After seeing what Shang had seen and learned, he could tell that Jerald hadn't been anything extraordinary.
At best, Jerald might have become a Boltling in the future.
However, every single Cloud was far superior to Jerald in intelligence, motivation, and talent.
Jerald could have never followed in Shang's footsteps, and Shang was aware of that.
Moreover, Jerald lacked decisiveness. He should have either informed the Lightning Manor about Shang or done nothing at all.
Instead, he devised an elaborate scheme and played a role for Shang.
As for the Lightning Emperor, he was already at the pinnacle of the world, possessing hundreds of thousands of years of experience.
Or perhaps...
The Lightning Emperor was simply more selfish than Jerald.
Chapter 934 934 – Mine
After Shang told his story, the Lightning Emperor nodded.
He was quite surprised that Shang had actually met the Starlight Queen when he had been so young.
When Shang was done with his story, the Lightning Emperor fell into thought.
Shang didn't say anything.
Eventually, the Lightning Emperor nodded. "I think we can make the world a better place."
"What do you mean?" Shang asked.
A moment later, several transparent figures appeared in the air between them, and Shang could also see a map of Aterium.
Then, Shang saw a small figure representing him flying to one spot of the Lightning Manor.
A second later, a huge Abomination appeared, which was then surrounded by a big black pylon.
The pylon was put under the Lightning Manor's Empire.
The same thing repeated another nine times.
In the end, ten Abominations were buried beneath the Lightning Manor's Empire.
After that, time seemed to rapidly pass on the transparent map, and many Abominations appeared all over it.
The Abominations exploded in the other Empires' territories, but none of them appeared in the Lightning Manor.
Shang knew why the pylons existed, but they became obsolete when Shang became more powerful.
But now, they could be put to use again.
The biggest issue had been that capturing the Abominations had been extremely difficult.
After all, they exploded as soon as anything went wrong.
Nevertheless, the Empires managed to capture a couple of Ancestral Abominations, but not nearly enough to stop more Ancestral Abominations from appearing.
Even more, the stronger Shang became, the more Ancestral Abominations appeared.
The Empires essentially raced against time.
But with Shang here…
"I already calculated the estimated spawn rate of Abominations based on your breakthroughs," the Lightning Emperor said. "As long as you put ten Abomination Lords into pylons, we should be safe from Abomination Lords. When you reach the Mid Sword Lord Realm, you need to put away another ten Abomination Lords."
"Naturally, we can't just directly do that, or everyone will become suspicious. We need to do this slowly, and we also need a cover. I will simply say that I have been studying Anti-Magic to learn more about Abominations and that I've finally managed to create something usable."
The Lightning Emperor chuckled a bit. "Well, I've been doing something like that anyway, but I don't think I would have created anything even close to that useful."
"I'll let everyone put up an Empire-wide Magic Circle with Magic so complex that not even the other Emperors would be able to discern what it does within the next fifty millennia."
"We'll just act like this Magic Circle stops powerful Abominations from spawning. With time, we can also isolate Ancestral Abominations, stopping them from appearing. I can simply act like I improved the Magic Circle."
"We can save trillions of lives like this," the Lightning Emperor said with a smile.
Shang nodded but didn't answer.
He was busy thinking about what kind of effect this would have on the war.
The Abominations made problems for everyone, and the stronger Shang grew, the stronger the Abominations became.I think you should take a look at
Abomination Lords were still extremely rare, but they appeared, and they could even threaten Mage Kings if they got the chance to detonate.
This put all the Empires under enormous pressure.
All their Peak Mage Lords and Mage Kings had to be constantly ready since any Abomination needed to die within three seconds of appearing in the world.
If the Lightning Manor didn't need to pay any attention to them, they could effectively double the power of their army.
"That's not a problem," Shang said after a while.
The two of them ironed out the details of the plan until they had nothing to talk about anymore.
When the room became silent, the Lightning Emperor felt a bit uneasy as a question he had already asked several times popped into his head once again.
"What will you do if you become a God?" he asked.
Naturally, he wanted to hear Shang's answer again after knowing that he was the Child of Calamity.
"Kill the God," Shang said. "After that, I want to get rid of the Abominations. Even if there is no way, my Spirit Sense would cover the entire world, and I could turn every Abomination that appears into nothingness."
"And then, I want to go further."
"There has to be more out there than just this world."
"I want to know what's out there, and I want to become even more powerful."
"The Abominations will most likely also disappear with me. I'm pretty sure that I just act as some kind of beacon for the Abominations, and the stronger the beacon is, the more Abominations can come into the world."
"If I'm gone, a new Child of Calamity will probably be born, and everything starts again."
"However, even if there is no way for me to stop the Abominations as a God, I am certain there is a way as long as I become even more powerful."
"Maybe there are High Gods, or Ancestral Gods, or Divine Gods out there. At some point, I should gain the ability to stop the Abominations."
"I promise that I will get rid of the Abominations."
"I was born in this world, and it is my home."
"This is where I have embarked on the path to power, and I don't want to lose it."
The Lightning Emperor smiled a bit when he heard that.
Shang obviously didn't care for the world because there were people in it, but because he viewed it as his home.
If someone sold their house to others and left, they still wouldn't want to see their old home get demolished.
They didn't care about whoever lived there, but they cared a bit about the house.
That was how Shang viewed the world.
This was his.
This belonged to him.
And he didn't want to destroy what belonged to him.
Wasn't that already better than the God or King Sanctified Death?
"I'm happy to hear that," the Lightning Emperor said.
Chapter 935 935 – Evolving War
The war continued, but Shang was nowhere to be seen.
The Mage Kings knew that they hadn't killed Shang, but they knew that they had permanently crippled him. They didn't know how exactly they had crippled him, but all three Mage Emperors had confirmed that the Lightning Emperor had been truthful.
Maybe it was whatever allowed him to survive until the Lightning Emperor appeared?
The warrior had managed to survive for nearly two full seconds under the assault of a Peak Mage King.
Something like that was way too powerful for someone in the Early Seventh Realm.
The Lightning Emperor had probably given the warrior something that could defend him from a Mage King, but it couldn't be that powerful.
Even if a child had a gun, it would still need to hit the attacking eagle with it.
A warrior in the Early Seventh Realm couldn't be fast enough to hit someone like a Peak Mage King.
Even more, the amount of Mana had to be limited. In two seconds, a Peak Mage King could kill a Peak Mage Emperor if they just stood still and didn't move.
This meant that the warrior must have used something that allowed him to survive for a couple of milliseconds longer.
Naturally, the warrior couldn't have killed the Mage King.
Obviously, the Mage King had died to the Lightning Emperor's lightning.
But he still managed to survive against a Peak Mage King for a while.
Had the Lightning Manor developed some kind of secret technique that could exchange health for defense?
They weren't sure, but that also wasn't as important.
The important thing was that the menace most likely wouldn't appear for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, the Empires were still careful.
In the beginning, they avoided using Early and Mid Mage Lords, but after a century, they used a couple of them.
Shang didn't appear.
So, they used a couple more after another century.
And then, something strange happened.
The Lightning Manor started to build an Empire-wide Magic Circle.
Naturally, the other Mage Emperors demanded an explanation since this could violate the rules of the war.
Yet, the Lightning Emperor remained vague, but he assured them that this wouldn't impact the battles at all and that it wouldn't even touch or interact with the barriers, flags, soldiers, or the battlefield.
After a couple of years, the Magic Circle had been finished and activated.
It consisted of many smaller Magic Circles that were scattered across the Empire.
The other Empires had no idea what the Magic Circles did.
When the Emperors took a look at it, they also couldn't tell. It was written in a completely different form of Magic, which they confirmed to be the Lightning Emperor's personal Magic.
If someone this powerful had enough time, they could completely redesign the way they interacted with the Concepts and the world.
This allowed someone to streamline the processes of how Magic worked towards their personal battle style.
This could be compared to Shang creating his own Mana Pathways instead of using the ones that had been built by the world during his breakthrough.
The Emperors knew that they would need a long time to understand the Magic Circles, and without knowing if it was even worth it or not, they didn't waste their time on it.
With time, they would find out what the Magic Circle did anyway.
A century later, the Catastrophe King appeared on the frontlines of the Lightning Manor for the first time.
The Catastrophe King, Kiran, had been fully committed to getting rid of the Abominations inside the Lightning Manor, which was why he hadn't been part of the war before.
The fact that the Catastrophe King had appeared on the frontlines meant that the Lightning Manor was desperate.
The other Empires continued pressuring the Lightning Manor, but they didn't go all-out.I think you should take a look at
With the Catastrophe King here, the Lightning Manor would lose many of their towns and cities, destroying their infrastructure and making it more difficult for Mage Lords to appear.
After all, the Abominations wouldn't just stop appearing.
The resistance the Lightning Manor put up had also increased by a lot, and the other Empires knew that they had to take things slow.
The Lightning Manor was obviously overextending and fighting in an unsustainable way. As long as they waited, the Lightning Manor would eventually run out of steam.
Another century passed.
The Lightning Manor was still resisting.
500 years passed.
The Lightning Emperor changed his huge Magic Circle, and the other Emperors still had no idea what it did.
Another 500 years passed.
The Empires had become suspicious.
How was the Lightning Manor still resisting this much?!
The Abominations should have caused devastating damage to them!
The other Empires were already starting to have difficulties with the Abominations.
By now, one Mage King of every Empire was on constant duty to supervise the Empire for the Abomination Lords. As soon as one of them appeared, the Mage King immediately needed to summon portals to kill them.
They couldn't even waste a single second.
Then, another two Mage Kings per Empire were busy supervising the lands for Ancestral Abominations and Archabominations.
This meant that three Mage Kings of each Empire were constantly busy because of the Abominations.
That was nearly half of all Mage Kings of the Land and Sky Empire and the Twilight Dusk Empire.
Additionally, they also needed to keep several Peak Mage Lords ready.
However, there was one thing that gave them hope.
If they already felt this horrible, how horrible did the Lightning Manor feel?
Both sides were still experiencing heavy casualties, but the Lightning Manor still managed to hold out, and their defense didn't weaken.
After a couple of thousand years of war, the four Empires were not what they used to be anymore.
The Lightning Manor only had five Mage Kings left.
The Twilight Dusk Family also had five.
The Land and Sky Empire had six.
But the Judgment Palace was hit the hardest. Gregorio had killed two of their Mage Kings back then, and they had lost two more during the war.
From 14 Mage Kings, they fell to ten.
Before the war, the Lightning Manor had about 7,000 Mage Lords.
Now, they were down to 5,000.
The other three Empires experienced similar losses.
Even more, the brutal losses in the Ancestral Mage battlefields made it more difficult for new Mage Lords to appear.
And things only got worse since now the Abominations also started to destroy more and more.
The speed of new Mage Lords appearing had slowed down while the rate at which they were killed increased tremendously.
By now, almost no one was thinking about Shang anymore.
Chapter 936 936 – Specter
In the next 500 years, another monumental change took place.
The Judgment Palace had stopped resisting the Tower of Climate, and the Towe of Climate had claimed the eastern 10% of the Judgment Palace's Empire.
The Tower of Climate had sustained losses, but they weren't nearly as heavy as the other four Empire's losses.
Resisting two Empires at once had been too taxing for the Judgment Palace, and they decided to deal with the Lightning Manor first.
For now, the Tower of Climate could have these territories, but they would get their revenge when the Lightning Manor was gone.
Another 500 years later, the Empires really started to feel the stress.
There were five times as many Abomination Lords appearing as 2,000 years ago, and the number of Ancestral Abominations had also multiplied.
By now, two Mage Kings had to look out for the Abomination Lords since, in very rare cases, two Abomination Lords could spawn at the same time in different spots of the Empire. It only happened once every 200 years or so, but even that was too much.
Whenever an Abomination Lord exploded, all land in the surrounding 100,000 kilometers was completely annihilated.
It was a horrifying disaster.
The vast number of Mage Lords the Empires had to choose from when planning an assault had shrunken by a lot, and they had to make concessions several times.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Manor was fighting with all of their forces.
It was almost like Abominations weren't an issue for them.
But how was that possible?!
Eventually, the Empires came to a decision.
They would create a unified force that would test every single being in the Seventh Realm to check if they were the Child of Calamity.
That also included warriors and beasts.
Over the next years, they traveled to all Empires and performed blood tests on everyone.
The Lightning Emperor had also given them a vial of Shang's blood, but the test was negative.
Naturally, the Lightning Emperor had ways to fake such a test.
Sadly, the Empires couldn't find the Child of Calamity.
However, they found something else.
They finally found out what the huge Magic Circle in the Lightning Manor did.
They couldn't find any traces of Abomination Lords or Ancestral Abominations in the Lightning Manor, which shocked everyone.
Naturally, the other Empires immediately demanded an answer, but the Lightning Emperor just said that this was what his huge Magic Circle did.
It stopped Abomination Lords and Ancestral Abominations from appearing, and it even predicted where weaker Abominations would appear.
The ability to predict where Abominations came from had worked back when Shang had still been weak. Back then, they had simply used the Pylons to measure the waves the Abominations gave off, which would tell them where a new Abomination would appear.
Sadly, that ability had become useless as Shang's strength increased.
But now, the Lightning Emperor had made it usable again.
The other Emperors immediately demanded to know how it worked, but the Lightning Emperor refused.
They wanted to collectively fight and kill him, and now they wanted to know how his Magic Circle worked?
Fuck them!
The Emperors weren't stupid, and they knew that they couldn't force the Lightning Emperor to comply.
So, they were stuck with the current status quo.
Additionally, it wasn't even so bad since they would soon be able to break through the Lightning Manor's defenses.
A thousand years passed.I think you should take a look at
Around 4,500 years had passed since Shang had his run-in with the Mage King.
And now, the Empires were on the attack.
The Mage Lord with a fivefold Spirit Sense that had comprehended a level six Concept from the Land and Sky Empire had become a Mage King.
At the same time, the talented Mage Lord from the Judgment Palace finally comprehended her level six Concept, and she would become a Mage King in the next tournament, which would take place a thousand years from now.
But until then...
She decided to do what Shang had done and attack one territory after the other.
Naturally, a Peak Mage Lord with a fivefold Spirit Sense that knew a level six Concept was invincible.
The Peak Mage Lord with a fivefold Spirit Sense from the Lightning Manor hadn't comprehended a level six Concept yet, and they couldn't win against the attacker.
They still needed more time.
With the Mage Lord's added pressure, the Lightning Manor was starting to lose territories again.
Additionally, they also lost many of their Mage Lords since they had to take the initiative to reconquer their territories.
Even more, they couldn't use Peak Mage Lords anymore since the impossibly powerful Peak Mage Lord would just kill them.
It was brutal, and the Lightning Manor was under enormous pressure.
There was no one that could possibly resist her, and the Lightning Manor was forced to fight several unfair fights.
And then, someone appeared.
Or… something appeared.
It looked like some sort of specter or demon from legend.
A white cloak completely hid the head and face of the being, even blocking Spirit Senses.
The white cloak extended over the torso of the being, but then, there was just nothing.
It was like the specter had no legs, and its body just ended after the torso.
Even more, there was also no left arm coming out of the torso.
The only thing everyone could see was the right arm, which was encased in the white cloak.
Only a pale hand was visible coming out of the cloak.
Lastly, the left part of the cloak was crimson red and wet. It was almost like the shoulder of this being was constantly bleeding and seeping into the white cloak.
Naturally, the ripped parts at the end of the cloak were also crimson red, with blood endlessly dripping down.
It was terrifying.
What was this?!
Suddenly, the specter shot forward in an extremely unnatural way.
It was like reality, space, and time were moving around it.
Its movement was unnatural, but one thing was sure.
It was fast.
Really fast!
Before the specter entered the barrier that the Mage Lord with the fivefold Spirit Sense had summoned, it summoned a long sword.
The Mage Kings couldn't react to the appearance of this specter.
Chapter 937 937 - Speed
Shang's appearance had changed quite a bit.
Wearing normal clothing was no longer fitting for him since he had no legs and only one arm. Because of that, he had decided to just wear the white cloth that the Lightning Emperor had put on him.
The cloth was amazing since it only allowed Spirit Sense to exit but not enter. Naturally, it wasn't as effective as Entropy Ore when it came to isolating something, but even Mage Emperors wouldn't have it easy to look through it.
Another reason why Shang had decided to wear this cloth was that he couldn't realistically hide the loss of his limbs anymore.
Hiding the loss of an arm wasn't difficult with the Lightning Emperor's master over the Life Concepts, but hiding the loss of two legs was basically impossible.
Everyone had seen how Shang moved, and when he suddenly stopped putting strain on his legs, it would only create more suspicions and questions.
Because of that, Shang decided to take on a persona that didn't make him seem human anymore.
And maybe, that was actually accurate.
The more abnormal he seemed, the less the individual issues with him would be questioned.
The Mage Kings and Mage Emperors knew that Shang had been crippled in some way, and appearing like this made it more difficult to guess the specifics.
Was Shang crazy now?
Had he lost his mind? Stuff like that.
After entering the barrier, Shang didn't stop.
He kept shooting forward at incredible speeds.
Over the last 4000 years, Shang had advanced to the Peak Sword Lord Realm, and he had also worked on a way to fix the issue with his speed.
That was when Shang decided to take a look at the Space, Time, and Gravity Concepts.
Thanks to his Transformation in the Void Break Realm, Shang had a 60% Affinity for Space, Time, and Gravity now.
That was already better than almost all people.
At this moment, Shang's mind was nearly as powerful as the mind of an Initial Mage King. Together with his increased Affinities, comprehending the first couple of Concepts for these three Affinities wasn't difficult.
The level one Concept of Space, Warping, which allowed someone to warp space, making it more difficult for an enemy to move inside.
The level two Concept of Space, Distance, which allowed someone to shorten or lengthen the space between them and their opponent.
The level three Concept of Space, Distortion, which strengthened the effects of Warping. This Concept could also interfere with the manipulation of space by someone else.
Even the level four Concept of Space, Fragmentation, which allowed someone to split space apart. This was the very Concept that transformed the Space
Affinity from a controlling one into a very offensive one.
The level one Concept of Time, Acceleration, which allowed someone to speed up the time of themselves and their surroundings. The more Time Concepts one knew, the stronger its effect.
The level two Concept of Time, Deceleration, which allowed someone to slow the passing of time in their surroundings. Together with Acceleration, this could create a horrifying difference in speed.
The level three Concept of Time, Flow, which allowed someone to control the other two Concepts with more control, giving them the ability to switch the times so rapidly that someone might shoot past someone or misjudge someone's trajectory.
The level four Concept of Time, Instant, which allowed someone to speed up their mind for a short moment in exchange for Mana, making it seem like the world had frozen. This gave someone the ability to plan even in the most stressful scenarios.
The level one Concept of Gravity, Weightlessness, which allowed someone to reduce the weight of something. Shang was using this Concept in conjunction with Darkness Mana to control the weight of his sword.I think you should take a look at
The level two Concept of Gravity, Pressure, which allowed someone to compress the surroundings, making it more difficult for them to move.
The level three Concept of Gravity, Compression, which strengthened the effect of Pressure even more.
The level four Concept of Gravity, Core, which strengthened all the other aspects.
With these twelve Concepts, Shang had solved his issue.
Usually, when someone didn't have a Space, Time, or Gravity Affinity, they would wait to comprehend these things until they became Mage Kings.
After all, even with no Affinity, their minds were powerful enough to understand these things anyway.
After losing his legs, Shang had been stuck with moving like Mages, which meant moving his body with the power of his mind.
Shang's way of moving still hadn't changed, but it had been optimized to a scary degree.
The Concept of Weightlessness would vastly reduce the weight of Shang's body.
The Concept of Distance made Shang move through four times as much space as without it.
The Concept of Acceleration sped up Shang's personal time.
And that wasn't even everything!
Shang had also comprehended the level four Concept of Light, Dawn, which increased the powers of his Light Concepts even more.
And the level five Concept of Light, Laser, which gave Shang 10% of the speed of light, and it also gave him a way to transform Light Mana into destructive lasers!
When Shang moved at his full speed now, his cloak would shine in a white light, but due to the distortion of gravity, time, and space in his surroundings, the light appeared ethereal and ghostly.
With all of these Concepts, Shang's speed was even faster than it would have been with just his legs.
His weakness had vanished, replaced with strength.
Of course, Shang had comprehended a couple more things as well, but these weren't relevant to his speed.
Since Shang was now a Peak Sword Lord, he was already focusing on the non-essential Destinations for Warrior Kings, and Shang had already comprehended one of them.
When the barrier had turned cloudy, the black-haired Peak Mage Lord frowned.
Someone dared to attack her?
Nevertheless, she would be ready.
She readied-
Her eyes suddenly widened as she saw a ghostly figure shooting at her.
It... it was so fast!
How was it so fast?!
Was this a Mage King?!
Chapter 938 938 - Sixfold Spirit Sense
The Mage Lord had just barely readied her Focus when Shang had already nearly reached her.
SHING!
The Mage Lord used several Mana Steps to gain some distance, but Shang was already shooting after her with scary speed.
The Mage Lord quickly realized that this couldn't be a Mage King since the Attack Flag would have reacted to the figure since it was obviously using Mana to move this fast.
Additionally, the Mage Lord couldn't even tell who or what this was.
Was this a Mage?
It had to be a Mage, right?
Nevertheless, she knew that she had to go all out. After all, the Lightning Manor wouldn't send someone to attack her as long as they weren't confident.
She remembered that the Lightning Manor had some kind of secret weapon that they wanted to use against King Sanctified Death in the future.
Was this the secret weapon?
If so, this might be the most difficult fight of her life.
Immediately, she unleashed her full power.
Just when Shang was about to reach her again, everything became dark.
Shang's Spirit Sense didn't work anymore, and if he had eyes, they also wouldn't work anymore.
On top of that, Shang felt his body slowly becoming weaker.
This was Shang's first time genuinely fighting someone that knew a level six Concept.
This was the level six Concept of Darkness, Eternal Darkness.
Eternal Darkness stretched the powers of darkness across a vast area.
Luckily, creating Spells that included such powerful Concepts wasn't easy, and the Mage Lord hadn't yet created one.
Because of that, she could only use the Concept as it was.
No matter what Shang did, it was impossible for him to see anything with his Spirit Sense.
WHOOOOM!
That was when Shang activated his Domain of Entropy.
The darkness around him vanished, but more darkness followed.
It would take a while for Shang to get rid of all the darkness.
Then, Shang felt over 30 Spells getting absorbed by his Domain of Entropy.
Apparently, his opponent had used some of her one-time-use Spells.
However, they couldn't get through his Domain of Entropy.
For about half a second, no Spells hit Shang.
WHOOOOOM!
And then, a concentrated beam of Darkness and Death Mana reached Shang.
Just when it entered Shang's Domain of Entropy.
Instant!
Shang used the level four Concept of Time, Instant.
The entire world froze, and Shang's Mana was rapidly being depleted.
However, this moment allowed him to plan everything and tell exactly in which direction his opponent was.
Time resumed.
ssssssss!
It was like two rapidly spinning drills hit each other.
The concentrated beam of Darkness and Death Mana rapidly vanished as it hit and destroyed a black cloud of smoke.
This was Shang's Death Sword Mana.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
The next moment, countless cuts in space appeared in the 10,000 kilometers in front of Shang.
It was like every cubic meter had a cut going through it.
This was a technique Shang had developed that combined his World Connection with the level four Concept of Space, Fragmentation.
DING!
One of the cuts hit something.
The next moment, a cloud of black smoke burst out of Shang's body and gathered around his sword.
In an instant, the cloud formed a black blade, but compared to Shang's normal Death Edge, this blade was over 100 meters long and thin.
Shang thrust forward.
And the thin blade shot out of Shang's sword directly at the spot where his World Connection had hit something.
BANG!
The thin blade broke apart after it hit something.
Naturally, someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense had ways to increase the power of their Mana Shield.
What Shang had just used was the non-essential Destination for Sword Kings he had comprehended, Blood Compression.
With this, Shang could compress Sword Blood into a small and powerful form, giving it some of the attributes of Sword Infusion.
As soon as the blade broke apart, it turned into black smoke again, but instead of retreating, it swarmed around the spot it had just hit.
Shang felt his Sword Death Mana rapidly getting depleted, which meant that his opponent was putting up a strong fight.
But not for long.
After a bit, Shang's Sword Death Mana broke through something and stopped getting depleted.I think you should take a look at
The next moment, the darkness around Shang vanished.
And then, the barrier turned transparent again.
Shang wasn't surprised or excited.
He knew how powerful he was, and he had entered the fight with one purpose in mind.
Testing his speed.
Shang hadn't used Mana Step.
Shang hadn't used Sword Heart.
Shang had simply run at his enemy and attacked her in a straightforward manner.
A Peak Mage Lord with a fivefold Spirit Sense that knew the level six Concept of Darkness and the level five Concept of Death.
And yet, Shang hadn't even truly tried.
If he wanted to, he could have used World Connection from a great distance.
But he didn't.
As the barrier turned transparent, the world turned silent.
This... thing was still alive.
But the barrier had turned transparent.
It was very difficult for the Mage Kings to come to terms with their new reality.
This had been a future Mage King.
This wasn't someone that had a chance at becoming a Mage King.
No, this had been someone that would have definitely won the next tournament.
And she had died?
To this?!
What even was this?!
But just a moment later, the Mage Kings realized what this was when they saw the sword hanging from the thing's right hand.
This was the menace?
What happened to him?!
They knew that they had crippled him in some way, but they still weren't sure how or why.
Even after seeing him.
The next moment, the specter's hood moved, and it looked towards the Judgment Palace.
At this moment, the Mage King responsible for the frontlines in the Judgment Palace felt her back shudder.
It was looking at her!
But how could it see her?!
She was over 200,000 kilometers away!
However, that wasn't the most shocking part.
She felt a little threatened.
She felt like this thing might have a slight chance of killing her!
But how?!
She was a Late Mage King!
The next moment, the specter turned around and flew back to the Lightning Manor, its way of movement still extremely bizarre and unnatural.
What had happened?!
This was the menace?!
But how had the menace become this powerful?!
This thing had destroyed one of the most powerful future Mage Kings that existed!
And then, a possibility appeared in the Mage Kings' minds.
This thing was so strong that it could win against such a powerful Mage Lord.
Did this mean...
Did this thing have a sixfold Spirit Sense?
It was difficult to believe, but that was the most likely possibility.
Sadly, they could only grit their teeth in frustration.
They were out of options.
They had already used several Mage Kings in ambushes.
They had already used their changed Defender Flags.
The Lightning Emperor had already finished dealing with the contract, which meant that he could watch over the menace 24/7.
And lastly, the war was going badly for the three Empires.
The Abomination Lords were causing heavy losses, and the Lightning Manor wasn't experiencing nearly as many losses.
They wanted to attack the Lightning Manor with all their power.
But it didn't matter!
They had already used everything!
And for the first time, the Mage Kings actually felt like they had a possibility of losing this war.
939 Chapter 939 – Not the Biggest Problem
There was nothing the other three Empires could do.
After nearly 8,000 years, the secret weapon of the Lightning Manor had finally been unveiled.
Some of the Mage Emperors and Mage Kings had suspected that the Lightning Manor had someone with a sixfold Spirit Sense. After all, why would the Lightning Emperor ask for a war and a grand tournament otherwise?
The Lightning Emperor had to be confident, and only someone with a sixfold Spirit Sense could hope to resist King Sanctified Death.
And yet, the truth had been far more shocking than even that.
A warrior.
A warrior with a sixfold Spirit Sense.
When they had learned that Shang had achieved a fivefold Spirit Sense many years ago, they had already been beyond shocked.
After all, the warrior Path had been destroyed.
There were no inheritances.
There were no teachers.
And the only information about the ancient warrior Path was with the few Mage Emperors.
The Mage Kings and Mage Emperors didn't believe that the Lightning Emperor had created such a genius. After all, doing so went against many of the established and ancient rules.
The Mage God had said that no other Path was allowed to reach the Ninth Realm again, and the Lightning Emperor was the Mage God's closest companion. He would respect the Mage God's decision the most.
On top of that, creating such a genius artificially would cost wealth accumulated for thousands of years. Not even the Judgment Palace was willing to spend that much money.
Lastly, this was a warrior. Why would anyone want to teach and nurture a warrior like this?
Warriors as a whole were quite useful, as the war had proven, but a single warrior genius wasn't very useful.
This meant that this warrior must have been born naturally, and he must have come into contact with the Lightning Emperor later.
And yet, it was still more than shocking that the Lightning Emperor was actually willing to bet his entire Empire on a single warrior.
Now, one had to keep in mind that all of these things held true for a warrior with a fivefold Spirit Sense.
But now, they knew that Shang had a sixfold Spirit Sense.
There were no adjectives that could describe the unreality of this situation.
It was on the same level of absurdity as finding a pig that had become a Mage Emperor.
King Sanctified Death's talent was held in the same regard as the Mage God's talent.
King Sanctified Death might have become more powerful than the Mage God had been at his level, but one had to remember that King Sanctified Death had an unprecedented Affinity and the backing of two Emperors as soon as he was born.
Meanwhile, the Mage God needed to earn everything himself.
With the same backing, the Mage God might have been more powerful than King Sanctified Death.
But this warrior.
What was up with this warrior?!
He essentially managed to reach such a level without any guidance, and he also shouldn't have had any notable quantities of resources in the first five Realms.
And despite all of this, he managed to reach the same level as King Sanctified Death.
Despite all this, only very few Mage Kings from the Judgment Palace realized the true extent of Shang's power.
These few Mage Kings knew that Shang might actually become even more powerful than King Sanctified Death.
These very few Mage Kings knew that King Sanctified Death had achieved his sixfold Spirit Sense when he had become a Mage Lord, and his Aura had undergone another change when he had become a Mage King.
Yet, as they all thought back to the start of the war…
What if Shang had had a sixfold Spirit Sense in the Sixth Realm?
It was possible. After all, Shang's current Aura had a similar intensity to King Sanctified Death's current Aura.
But King Sanctified Death was a Realm above Shang.
What about when Shang becomes a Warrior King?
Would his Aura undergo another change?
The thought terrified them.
However, instead of feeling fear or anxiety, they actually felt like they had dodged a bullet.
Look at the current Shang.
He had no eyes.
He had no left arm.
He had no legs.
The fluctuations of his soul felt disjointed and jittery.
The Mage Kings hadn't been sure how they had crippled Shang or in what way they had crippled him, but the Judgment Palace had a couple of people with Life Affinities, and they could tell.
Shang's soul was severely injured.
They could tell that Shang's soul was on the verge of breaking apart.
Shang's soul was like a weak old man walking down the street with shaking legs.
The man could continue walking, but if a small animal ran into his legs, he would collapse.
They were certain that Shang was haunted by a constant feeling of weakness, disorientation, fatigue, stress, and anxiety. On top of that, his soul would have to be under constant, indescribable pain.
How difficult would it be to train in such a state?
A feeling of tranquility and inner peace was paramount for Mages. Stress and anxiety could easily distract someone's mind while they were focusing on something. Naturally, pain would be even worse.
And when it came to training as a warrior, Shang had it even worse.
After all, he was missing half his body. How could he achieve mastery over his body when he was missing half of it?
While Shang kept charging through several battlefields, the Mage Kings were meeting with their Mage Emperors, who then talked to each other.
They now all knew their target.
They knew the Lightning Manor's trump card.
Yet, it had become very difficult to deal with the trump card.
They had sacrificed Mage Kings to deal with new Mage Kings from the Lightning Manor.
They had sacrificed Mage Kings to deal with Shang, unsuccessfully.
They had used their changed Defender Flags.
They had lost several Mages with fivefold Spirit Senses.
They had lost a significant portion of their normal Mages.
And to top it all off, the Abomination Lords and the great number of Ancestral Abominations were causing untold damage to their Empires.
The Abominations were so devastating that they had probably cost the Empires more than fighting the Lightning Manor.
It was so bad that all towns had been abandoned.
All of them.
Every single one.
Ancestral Abominations were so powerful that only the absolutely most powerful Peak Ancestral Mages could hope to kill them, but only after a long fight, in which the Ancestral Abomination had the time to gather enough Mana to detonate.
Because of that, Ancestral Mages were no longer powerful enough to secure a settlement.
Only strong Mage Lords could guarantee the safety of a settlement.
Sadly, there were far more towns than there were Mage Lords.
So, every town had been deserted.
When possible, the citizens entered the big cities, but how could the cities hold all the citizens from all the towns?
Because of that, over 90% of the weakest people of a town had died.
At some point, the leadership of the town retreated to a city, and when the next beast attacked, the town would be destroyed, exposing the people to the wilderness.
And, well, only Ancestral Mages could survive in the wilderness without help.
If one wanted to visualize their impact on humanity, one only needed to look at a map of their
country, pick out the ten biggest cities, and then eradicate all other villages, towns, and smaller cities.
So, despite the huge war and Shang's presence, they were actually not the Empires' biggest worries.
The Abominations were.
Chapter 940 940 – Weakness
Shang floated from one battlefield to the other.
The three Empires had been going all out, but Shang stopped their advances.
Naturally, as soon as everyone had noticed that Shang had won against the powerful Mage Lord, the remaining Peak Mage Lords with fivefold Spirit Senses gave up their positions.
In an instant, all the Defender Flags for Peak Mage Lords vanished from the battlefield.
When there were no more Attack Flags, Shang stopped moving for a bit.
His hood just turned to look in the direction of the Judgment Palace.
Shang naturally couldn't see it, but he felt like there was a powerful presence there.
However, Shang wasn't sure if what he felt was actually genuine or if his damaged soul was giving him hallucinations again.
Just as the Mage Kings had expected, Shang was in constant pain, but that wasn't actually the problem.
The problem was that Shang's mind sometimes lost clarity, and the world appeared blurry and confusing to him.
The constant paranoia Shang was feeling due to the way the Custodian had repaired Shang's warrior body wasn't helping.
Shang was like a mortal that hadn't slept for two days, hadn't drunk anything for a day, and hadn't eaten anything for a week, while constant life-ruining events happened around him.
Concentrating and focusing was very, very difficult.
It took so much effort to concentrate.
It reminded Shang of the time his longevity had run out. Concentrating felt nearly as exhausting as staying alive had been back then.
It was so bad that Shang couldn't even move and comprehend Concepts at the same time.
In the past, Shang comprehended Concepts by training with his sword and trying to manipulate the Concept with it.
This no longer worked.
Moving and trying to understand something took too much focus at once. Shang could now only do either of the two, not both.
Additionally, it had become more difficult to comprehend the Destinations for warriors.
Fighting with a sword included the entire body, not just the sword.
A sword alone was just a sharp piece of metal that sat on the floor.
Swordsmanship was how someone could use their body to manipulate a sword as efficiently and effectively as possible.
Someone without legs could still wield a sword, but there were several moves they couldn't use.
Since Shang could fly, this restriction wasn't as bad, but there was still a certain sense of inertia to Shang's movements since he lacked the explosive power of his legs and hips to shift his weight.
Shang was the most powerful he had ever been, but in a certain way, he was also the weakest he had ever been.
For a while, Shang just faced the distant Judgment Palace.
No one could tell what Shang was thinking about.
Shang's figure put fear into every watcher, including allies.
Shang's old appearance had already felt barely human, but now, there was nothing human about his appearance anymore.
His Aura felt so dead and so cold.
King Sanctified Death's Aura felt peaceful but decisive to others. He felt like a warm older brother that would protect one while being cruel to an enemy. Naturally, that Aura didn't reflect King Sanctified Death's actual personality, but the vast majority of humans couldn't feel his true Aura.
Being liked and leaving a good impression was helpful to King Sanctified Death, which was why he exhibited such an Aura. It was simply the most efficient thing to do.
But Shang just felt dead.
He was a visitor amongst the living.
He didn't belong here.
He should be dead.I think you should take a look at
He felt like someone that was fighting against life and death.
It was like the living wanted to push him away, but he refused to go.
It was like the dead wanted to pull him in, but he refused to come.
Both sides wanted him to be dead, but he just refused.
While everyone was looking at the unmoving Shang, something else was happening in Shang's mind.
Shang didn't even know he was facing the Judgment Palace.
His mind had become cloudy again, and he felt his consciousness wane.
The entire world spun in his Spirit Sense.
His body began to morph and distort.
Confusing and unexplainable dark thoughts swam through Shang's mind.
Beneath his hood, Shang clenched his teeth, and the world snapped back to its usual appearance.
Shang turned around and flew towards the Lightning Manor.
"Thank you for helping," the Starlight Queen transmitted.
For once, she didn't call him Young Master Shang.
When the Starlight Queen saw Shang after he had lost his legs, she genuinely felt bad for him.
The fluctuations of his soul were horrible and full of pain.
In her entire life, she had never seen anyone that lived a more miserable existence.
And despite all of this, Shang had contributed more to the war than anyone else, including her.
She still despised Shang's personality, but she just felt too bad about making fun of him.
So, she decided to simply talk the bare minimum without politeness or ridicule.
Shang just nodded a bit, his hood making it barely visible.
The next moment, a portal appeared in front of Shang, and he flew through it.
The portal led to Shang's Isolation Barrier.
However, Shang's Isolation Barrier had been altered.
Naturally, neither the Lightning Emperor nor Shang trusted Amarius with the knowledge of Shang's true identity, which was why the Lightning Emperor destroyed Amarius' barrier and created his own.
Now, only the Lightning Emperor could look into Shang's barrier.
On top of that, since the Lightning Emperor knew everything about Shang now, Shang actually didn't need to enter his Isolation Chambers anymore.
He could simply summon the Abominations inside the Isolation Barrier without the Isolation Chambers.
This also helped the Lightning Emperor in gaining new knowledge about the Abominations, which was always valuable.
As soon as Shang arrived, he took out his sword.
For thousands of years, Shang had focused on Concepts to deal with his lack of speed, and he had only started focusing on the Sword Path a thousand years ago.
It had taken Shang only a thousand years to comprehend a non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings.
Someone in the Seventh Realm had a total longevity of 25,000 years.
This meant that Shang would only need 4,000 years to get a fourfold Spirit Sense.
This was faster than every living Mage Lord.
And now, Shang would focus on the next non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings.