Ch. 941..950

Chapter 941 941 – More Danger, Less Danger

Shang already knew what he would focus on next.

After entering the Isolation Barrier, Shang summoned several extremely powerful Peak Abomination Lords.

Abomination Lords were incredibly powerful, and they could even win against Clouds in a duel, but Shang was on a completely different level, which was why he needed several.

Shang had already realized that he could even summon Abomination Kings, but he hadn't summoned one yet.

Summoning an Abomination King could theoretically put the entire world in danger in a way that Shang didn't want.

What if summoning an Abomination King opened the world to being invaded by more Abomination Kings?

The Lightning Emperor had told Shang that Abomination Kings had been the most powerful Abominations that humans had ever seen and that they had been quite rare, even back when Lucius had been a Mage Emperor.

One Abomination King required someone at the Ninth Realm to become active to deal with them before they exploded.

This meant that the Mage Emperors would actually need to become active, and at that point, the entire concept of the war would become irrelevant.

The appearance of an Abomination King would put everyone in such a panic that the Mage Emperors would personally attack other Mage Emperors just so that they could search for the Child of Calamity without interference.

All trust would break down, and even the Mage Kings would become unimportant and irrelevant.

The Mage Emperors would run rampant, and no one but other Mage Emperors would stand in their way.

Even more, the Mage Emperors might become so desperate that they would force the Lightning Emperor to release the Archivist. Maybe the Archivist could help.

And that would be bad for Shang.

After all, the Archivist had already realized that Lucius had been the Child of Calamity back then, and Lucius had been better at hiding his status than Shang.

It was likely that the Archivist would quickly find out that Shang was the Child of Calamity.

Sure, the Lightning Emperor was extremely powerful, but someone like Lucius could only jump a single level against the Archivist.

The Archivist was a Peak Mage Emperor, and Lucius could only win against him in the Late Mage Emperor Realm.

One had to remember that Lucius had a sixfold Spirit Sense.

The Archivist was so powerful that he might even be able to win against all other Mage Emperors at the same time.

So, everything considered, the Lightning Emperor and Shang decided against summoning Abomination Kings.

In fact, they would only consider summoning Abomination Kings when Shang reached the Sword King Realm, and even then, they had to be very careful that no Abomination Kings would appear anywhere else in the world.

Because of that, Shang was stuck fighting several Abomination Lords instead of an Abomination King.

After Shang summoned five Abomination Lords, he immediately restrained them with his mind.

By now, Shang's willpower had become so powerful that he could even suppress an army of Abomination Lords just by looking at them.

In his presence, they didn't even dare to absorb any Mana.

Shang willed the Abomination Lords to attack him with all their power, except for absorbing Mana and exploding.

In the past, it had been difficult to convince Abominations to attack him, but now, Shang had no issues.

The five Abomination Lords immediately attacked Shang, but surprisingly, he didn't use Sword Blood.

In his fight against the powerful Mage, Shang used Sword Blood, Blood Compression, and Sword Heart, which now represented his three main techniques in a battle.

By now, Shang's fighting style had completely transitioned from his Element-focused style to how actual warriors fought in the past.

Naturally, due to World Connection and Void Break, Shang was still many times more powerful than even the most powerful ancient warriors.

Shang took out his sword and slashed at one of the attacking Abomination Lords. He didn't use any techniques.

BOOOM!

The Abomination Lord's body was extremely strong, and both of their attacks clashed without any side winning.I think you should take a look at

Even more, the scales of the Abomination Lord were ridiculously durable, and Shang barely created a scratch in them.

The defensive powers of these scales were beyond ridiculous, even when compared to the already ridiculous strength of its body.

If Shang's goal were to actually injure and kill the Abomination Lord, he would need to summon his Death Edge and use Void Break to increase the power of his body even more.

After blocking the attack, Shang immediately used Void Break to gain enough speed momentarily to block the next four attacks from the other Abomination Lords. Since Void Break had strengthened his body, the other four Abomination Lords were thrown back.

However, Shang didn't get any break as the first Abomination Lord attacked again.

This was how Shang had trained for the last century before the Lightning Emperor had sent him to the frontlines to deal with that one Mage.

The five Abomination Lords were attacking him relentlessly, and Shang had to use Void Break perfectly to deal with sudden bursts of attacks. After all, Shang couldn't keep Void Break active all the time. His body needed a small break after every use.

If Shang used Death Edge and Void Break, he would be able to severely injure an Abomination Lord with a single clash, but killing the Abominations was not the goal.

For years, Shang passively defended against the Abomination Lords' attacks.

Surprisingly, while under this much pressure, Shang's mind and body felt better than normal.

Whenever Shang was in danger, his mind, soul, and body seemed to stabilize and show great efficiency.

Ironically, Shang felt closer to death when he wasn't in immediate danger.

The more he fought and the more danger he was in, the less danger he was in.

Shang preferred fighting for his life over not fighting for his life.

Not battling felt dangerous.

The less he was doing, the more it felt like death was coming for him.

He couldn't stop.

He needed to continue.

He wanted to continue.

200 years later, Shang was fighting seven Abomination Lords instead of five.

The way Shang was fighting had changed, and he had become better at dealing with them.

The biggest issue was to keep track of seven rapidly moving objects. Sure, Shang had a Spirit Sense, but the Abomination Lords were nearly as fast as him, and he had to keep track of seven of them.

200 years ago, the bottleneck had been Shang's physical power, but now, it was his concentration.

He could move fast enough to deal with all the Abomination Lords, but it was difficult to keep track of all of them.

Shang was constantly on the verge of collapse.

If he misjudged one of the Abominations' movements, it would hit him, and it was possible that Shang's mind would be too slow to order the stop of the subsequent attacks.

Death was not certain, but it was a real possibility if one of the Abominations hit him.

And yet, Shang kept perfectly blocking all the attacks.

Everything became more and more warped in Shang's perception, and he almost couldn't see the Abominations anymore.

However, he still reacted perfectly.

It was almost like he was seeing them without seeing them.

WHOOOOM!

Suddenly, Shang's Spirit Sense released a wave, and everything in his perception changed.

 

 

Chapter 942 942 – World Fusion

As the wave spread through Shang's Spirit Sense, the world seemed to change.

All the colors became clearer, and Shang could even see all the Elemental Mana with his Spirit Sense.

One had to know that feeling the presence of Elemental Mana didn't mean that one was seeing it. It was like feeling the wind. One could easily feel the wind, but it wasn't easy to see it.

But now, Shang could actually see the Elemental Mana with his Spirit Sense.

At that moment, Shang ordered the Abominations to stop attacking, and they did.

Shang focused on his new perception.

'This is not what I wanted to comprehend,' Shang thought as he looked at his new perception.

Even though this wasn't what Shang had intended to comprehend, he wouldn't refuse it.

'I can see Elemental Mana, but I can tell that the clarity of the Elemental Mana I see is equivalent to my Affinity with said Element.'

Shang could see Darkness, Light, Fire, Ice, and Death Mana very clearly, but the other kinds of Mana were not as clear.

He could still see them, but it was like he was looking at them through a dirty window.

The entire world had changed.

Earlier, Shang had seen the world like any other Mage or warrior.

But now, he could also see what Elemental Mana everything was comprised of.

Mana was the very reason for existence.

It made space, time, gravity, water, wind, earth, fire, everything.

Without Mana, there would be nothing.

And being able to see what kind of Mana everything was made out of was like being able to see atomic composition on Earth with no microscope.

The way Shang was viewing the world was a bit like double-vision.

If a human put two edited photos of the same room but with different colors and contents in front of their eyes, they could view the composite image of the room, and if they focused on one eye, that image would become clearer.

It was a bit like looking at one's own nose, which was constantly in one's vision.

Shang could see the world as normal, but he could focus on the elemental composition if he wanted.

Even more, Shang felt like his Spirit Sense had overcome some kind of barrier between itself and the world.

The world of his Spirit Sense and the actual world seemed to overlap and come together. They were not completely one thing yet, but it looked like they were in the process of fusing.

After looking at his new perception of the world for a while, Shang decided to see how his new perception could help him in battle.

Sure, the perception alone could help Shang in seeing through several Spells designed to hide the Mage, but Shang was certain that there was more to this than just that.

And sure enough, Shang quickly found the difference.

This new ability didn't increase Shang's power, but it increased something else by a lot.

Shang focused and used Sword Heart.

The perception and effective range of Sword Heart quickly reached a distance of 2,000 kilometers, which was Shang's range after reaching the Sword Lord Realm.I think you should take a look at

However, it rapidly continued expanding.

Eventually, it settled at a distance of 20,000 kilometers.

This was the range of a Mage Lord's Spirit Sense if it had a twofold range.

That made a bigger difference than one might think.

2,000 kilometers could already be viewed as melee range for Peak Mage Lords. Avoiding a Peak Mage Lord's attack from such a range was extremely difficult due to the speed of the Spell.

Because of that, most Peak Mage Lords fought at a distance between 10,000 kilometers and whatever the maximum range of their Spirit Sense was.

Peak Mage Lord Clouds generally fought at a distance between 20,000 kilometers and 40,000 kilometers.

With Sword Heart reaching a range of 10,000 kilometers, Shang had already entered the fighting range for normal Mage Lords and was halfway to the range of Mage Lord Clouds.

One had to remember that World Connection only allowed Shang to release very weak attacks from a 60,000-kilometer range.

Meanwhile, Sword Heart could release Shang's full power.

And that wasn't even everything.

Shang also noticed that the power of his World Connection attacks had doubled.

Naturally, with all of these clues, Shang knew exactly what he had comprehended.

'This is probably the next level of World Connection. World Connection is something that Domain Controllers need to reach the Sixth Realm, and whatever I have comprehended just now is probably what they need to reach the Seventh Realm.'

'It's actually quite surprising how well it works with Sword Heart.'

'If I manage to comprehend the next level, my Sword Heart might actually reach the full range of my Spirit Sense. At that point, it would be like standing beside everyone in my Spirit Sense's range.'

Shang slowly shook his head.

'I don't have time to learn everything. I need to focus on the non-essential Destinations for Warrior Kings first to give me the best conditions to comprehend the final Destination for Warrior Emperors.'

However, Shang still wanted to know what he had actually comprehended and called the Lightning Emperor.

After telling the Lightning Emperor about what he had learned, the Lightning Emperor told Shang what it was called.

"It's called World Fusion," the Lightning Emperor said. "Just as you expected, World Fusion is the level after World Connection. The level after that is called One World. Domain Controllers, as their name suggests, use World Connection to stretch their Domains with a weaker effect to the maximum limit of their Spirit Sense."

"With World Fusion, that ability becomes stronger until finally, their Domains encompass their entire Spirit Sense with their full power with One World," the Lightning Emperor explained.

"Speaking of, does it work with your Domain of Entropy?" he asked.

"No," Shang answered. "It has no effect on my Domain of Entropy."

The Lightning Emperor nodded. "That's to be expected. Entropy doesn't work on the same level as Mana."

After asking the Lightning Emperor about One World and how to learn it, Shang cut the connection and went back to training.

Just as expected, comprehending One World would take a long time. Shang would need to focus on fusing his Spirit Sense with the world. That was not something that one could do while comprehending Concepts or Destinations.

Sadly, Shang had to abandon One World for now and continue focusing on the next non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings.

The battle between Shang and the Abomination Lords continued, but this time, there were nine Abomination Lords.

 

 

Chapter 943 943 – Sword Focus

Shang continued training against the Abomination Lords for several more centuries.

Luckily, nothing of note happened within the next 700 years, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

The other Empires were rarely using Peak Mage Lords, and when they did, they only sent out average ones.

Naturally, the Lightning Manor could easily deal with these weaker Mage Lords.

The problem was that the war was going too smoothly for the Lightning Manor.

After years and years of barely being able to survive, the Lightning Manor could now defend itself easily, and the population of their Ancestral Mages was starting to increase again.

All of this was thanks to Shang since he had dealt with the most troublesome opponents and made it impossible for the Empires to send any powerful Peak Mage Lords into battle.

However, the smooth progression of the Lightning Manor put immense pressure on the other three Empires.

The three Empires had lost their chance at winning the war in the early phase when they had an overwhelming power advantage.

At this moment, the situation didn't look bad for the three Empires, but they could see toward which direction the line graph gravitated.

They had already used all their weapons, and Shang was still alive.

The only way to deal with Shang meant going to even greater extremes.

The easier it was for the Lightning Manor, the greater the chance that the war would intensify.

It was possible that the Mage Kings and Mage Emperors might actually get involved.

If they combined their powers, they could definitely kill the Lightning Emperor.

But what about Shang?

They would still be able to kill Shang when he was a Sword King, but when he actually got enough time to advance inside the Sword King Realm, things might become very troublesome.

Maybe, at some point, Shang could even kill the weakest Mage Emperor while he was still a Sword King.

And then?

Well, Shang didn't look like a very forgiving and magnanimous person.

They knew that if Shang managed to win against King Sanctified Death, their time had come.

Would they be willing to admit that they lost the gamble and willingly lay down their lives?

Of course not.

At some point, they would unite and kill Shang and the Lightning Emperor.

The Lightning Manor needed to do something to stop the other Empires from going overboard.

In essence, the Lightning Manor wasn't allowed to win the game. They had to prolong it and act like they could still lose.

But for now, things were still okay. The Empires would only get desperate when Shang was about to enter the grand tournament.

After 700 years, Shang finally managed to comprehend the very thing he had set out to comprehend.

A non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings that would help Shang comprehend the last Destination of Warrior Emperors.

Sword Focus.

As for what it did…

One of the Abominations shot at Shang just after he had comprehended Sword Focus.

A moment later, Shang used Void Break to strengthen his body and put his sword away.I think you should take a look at

Shang pulled back his arm and punched the Abomination Lord's arm.

BOOOOOM!

With a single punch, the Abomination Lord was thrown into the distance. Its scales were still in one piece, but its internal organs received some damage.

This was what Sword Focus did.

Sword Blood was the essential technique that each non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings used, and Sword Focus wasn't any different.

Sword Blood was usually outside the warrior's body during combat, and Blood Compression increased its power in this state.

In contrast, Sword Focus worked when Sword Blood was inside the warrior's body.

With Sword Focus, Sword Blood could enter the warrior's muscles, increasing the power of the warrior's body by a level.

However, every bit of movement would use up a bit of Sword Blood, and since Sword Focus could only be used while Sword Blood was inside the body, the warrior couldn't efficiently use Sword Blood or Blood Compression while also using Sword Focus.

Sword Focus was usually used to get close to an enemy that was fighting from long range or when the warrior was being ambushed.

For Shang, Sword Focus was extremely useful.

With his Beast Core, the strength of Shang's body was on par with a beast, but with the addition of Shang's transformation after comprehending Void Break, it was even a level higher, elevating the base power of Shang's body to the same level as an Initial Beast King.

When Shang used Void Break, his body reached the level of an Early Beast King.

And with Sword Focus, on top of that, Shang's body could now reach the level of a Mid Beast King.

Even more, creating a Death Edge didn't take a lot of Sword Blood, which meant that Shang could create a Death Edge and still use Sword Focus.

With this much power, Shang was certain that only beasts like the Thunder King would be able to resist his power.

Every other beast in the world was no longer a danger to Shang.

And as a for humans…

Nearly every Mage King had a fivefold Spirit Sense, and they all knew at least one level six Concept already.

Shang was confident in winning against an Initial Mage King, but an Early Mage King would be extremely difficult to kill.

Nevertheless, Shang had reached a level at which he could finally fight Mage Kings.

Mage Kings.

Shang still remembered the time the Starlight Queen had forcefully teleported Shang away.

Her power had been incomprehensible.

Shang also remembered when one of the Mage Kings had tried to kill him while he was in his Defender Flag at the border of the Judgment Palace.

Shang had been completely helpless back then.

There were less than 100 Mage Kings in the world.

And now, Shang could actually fight them.

Depending on how many Mage Kings exactly were currently alive, Shang might have actually managed to enter the top 100.

Right now, Shang might actually belong to the 100 strongest beings in the entire world.

He was so close to his goal.

 

 

Chapter 944 944 – The Last Step

Now, only one non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings was left.

After that, Shang would focus on the final Destination.

Shang took about 800 years to comprehend the last non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings.

Luckily, nothing of note had happened during that time. It was almost like the war was at pause.

The last non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings was called Sword Scattering, and it gave Shang the ability to disperse the power of Sword Blood over a bigger area without weakening it by much.

Sword Scattering was generally useful against fast targets. By increasing the area of the attack many times, it would become too big for the fast and agile target to avoid.

Sadly, it wasn't very useful to Shang since he was only fighting Mages.

Mages only had two extremes of speed.

No movement and Mana Step.

Sword Scattering was pointless when the enemy didn't move, and the range of Mana Step was simply too big for Sword Scattering to make a difference.

Sword Scattering would most likely be quite useful against many other Paths and even beasts, but those were of no concern to Shang.

Nevertheless, Shang still needed to comprehend it.

With the level five Concept of Laser, Blood Compression, Sword Focus, and Sword Scattering, Shang had theoretically comprehended enough to reach the Sword King Realm, assuming he had the available Mana.

Due to Shang's two transformations, he would also retain his sixfold Spirit Sense, but it would be the weaker version of it.

At this moment, Shang was around 10,700 years old, which was quite difficult for him to grasp.

'I feel like barely any time has passed since I sacrificed my legs. Yet, over 5,000 years have passed since then.'

'I have actually lived without legs for longer than I have with legs.'

The feeling of time passing could be very strange, but in Shang's case, it actually made sense.

For over 5,000 years, Shang had done nothing but train.

He hadn't really talked to anyone.

He hadn't come out of his Isolation Barrier for long.

It was simply the same thing every day.

And that was how Shang wanted to live.

His power was rapidly progressing.

He was barely 10,700 years old, and he was already done with the non-essential Destinations for Warrior Kings.

Shang had over 14,000 years left to comprehend the final Destination for Warrior Emperors and the level six Concept of Entropy.

Based on Shang's estimate, he would only need around 5,000 to comprehend the final Destination.

At that point, he would be ready to break through, but he would still try to comprehend the level six Concept of Entropy.

For the first time, achieving his goal didn't feel impossible.

Back when Shang was comprehending his four Paths, the goal had seemed almost impossible.

The same thing was true when Shang had been trying to comprehend World Connection.

It became even crazier with Void Break. Comprehending Void Break had probably been the most difficult thing he had ever done.

Comprehending the level five Concept of Transformation was of similar difficulty.

Comprehending Sword Blood hadn't seemed as impossible.

And now?

Comprehending the final Destination of Warrior Emperors didn't even seem difficult.

Shang's mind was far from its peak condition, but even that was enough for Shang to easily do it.

He only needed time.I think you should take a look at

'I've overcome the hurdle,' Shang thought. 'My past effort has finally borne fruit, and everything I need to comprehend becomes easier and easier.'

At that point, Shang remembered King Sanctified Death.

'He probably felt similarly when he underwent his second transformation and gained an Affinity for everything.'

But Shang quickly stopped thinking about a guy he had never met and actually focused on the final Destination.

'The final Destination is different for every warrior since it represents the culmination of their fighting style, personality, and everything they have ever learned. Because of that, there is no guide,' Shang thought.

'From now on, I can't follow the teachings of the ancestral warriors anymore. I need to create my own Path and my own techniques. I need to create something that perfectly represents me.'

This had been the most difficult hurdle for ancient warriors to overcome.

After a life of following the Path that their ancestors had created for them, they needed to create their own.

But for Shang, this was normal.

One had to remember that Shang had started out not knowing what he needed to comprehend.

After Shang had reached the True Path Stage, he needed to create everything on his own with no guidance.

He had had no idea what he actually needed to do.

The same thing was true for the Fusion Realm, and even in the Void Break Realm, Shang had created his very own Path by adding parts of the Mage Path to his own.

For some time, Shang had followed the teachings of the ancient warriors to comprehend the different Destinations, but now, it was time to return to creating his own Path.

Shang wasn't sure what he wanted to create right now, but he was used to this feeling.

WHOOOM!

All the Abomination Lords were turned into Entropy and Mana by Shang, and Shang just waited in the middle of his Isolation Barrier.

From now on, Shang would focus on his life up to this point.

Shang knew that he needed to draw out all the events and experiences of his life to create the perfect culmination of his existence.

From the beginning to the end.

He started as an MMA fighter, a very foreign and distant concept to the current Shang.

He used a long sword.

Then, his sword underwent several transformations.

In the True Path Stage, Shang used four different swords.

Colossal Sword.

Great Sword.

Saber.

Long Sword.

In the later Fusion Realm, Shang used two swords.

Addum.

Subsis.

Then, Shang used only one sword.

After that, his fighting style changed when he focused on the warrior Path.

In the past, Shang had been using his Affinities and Elemental Mana, but now, Shang was using his Affinities just to increase his speed.

This was where he was now.

What was the next step?

 

 

Chapter 945 945 – Agility

Shang thought for a long time about everything that had happened in his life.

He got a couple of ideas, but he wasn't quite sure which one he should pick.

Some of them aimed to combine all of Shang's powers to create a single unified ability, but Shang didn't like that idea.

He felt like there were still many things he could learn, and combining them now might make it difficult to combine powers he will comprehend in the future.

Shang's next thought was about combining his states, but that also wasn't possible since he had already combined all the states he had ever used.

For Shang, this wasn't about finding a way forward. After all, he had already done that so many times that it wasn't a problem anymore.

It was choice.

Choice was the problem.

Shang knew what he could do, but he wasn't sure which Path the best one was for him.

After thinking up several possibilities, Shang decided to resume physical training, and he summoned several Abomination Lords.

For starters, Shang only fought about 15 of them at the same time.

Void Break and Sword Focus made it rather easy for Shang to defend from their attacks. After all, his body was even more powerful and faster than theirs.

If there weren't so many enemies, Shang wouldn't even need to use any finesse or techniques.

Shang only had some problems when he was fighting 20 of them simultaneously, but it only became really troublesome at 25.

Shang decided to push himself and settled for fighting 28 Peak Abomination Lords.

28 Abomination Lords were already more than was buried inside the Lightning Manor.

The battle became more and more intense, and Shang quickly noticed where his bottleneck was now.

In the beginning, it had been speed.

Then, it had been his Spirit Sense.

And now, it was agility.

Shang's speed was pushed to the absolute peak. Just a little more speed from the enemies and Shang would get hit.

Shang's mind could keep up with all the Abomination Lords without issues, and Shang also had to use World Fusion to slow down several of the attacks.

The enemies were too fast for Sword Heart, but since World Fusion was instantaneous and since it strengthened World Connection, Shang could use it to slow and delay several of the Abomination Lords.

While Shang was moving his sword as quickly as possible with his arm, his mind was blocking and slowing over ten Abominations for every physical attack he blocked with his sword.

His sword always only barely arrived in time to block, and most of the time, Shang very awkwardly used his sword to block since it wasn't fast enough to assume an actually stable and fitting position.

Most of the time, his sword was still in the process of slashing forward when it hit the enemy's attack. The sword essentially didn't even get a real attack off and had to block attacks while its own attack was still in its preparatory phase.

This was like someone punching something that was only ten centimeters away from their chest.

It was like the Abominations hit the weak spots in Shang's blocks and attacks.

This made things extremely awkward and troublesome.

Due to the greater reach of Shang's sword, it took more time to reorient. As a comparison, swinging an outstretched arm from side to front took longer than just swinging a wrist.I think you should take a look at

BANG!

Suddenly, Shang's sword vanished, and he just punched the Abomination's claw with his fist.

His sword wouldn't have been fast enough to block the attack.

Due to Sword Focus and Void Break, Shang's body was stronger than the Abomination's body, and Shang managed to push it away.

Shang did the same thing with the next three attacks, and he suddenly noticed that he had more time than usual for the next block.

At that moment, Shang felt like he was getting closer to what he wanted, and he started to think about the fight while his instincts were automatically defending.

'Using my arm in a sword fight,' Shang thought. 'I haven't done that in a long time.'

Beginners only used the sword in a battle since they only considered their sword as a weapon.

More experienced swordfighters also used their legs and arms. A kick to the torso or legs could be devastating when the weapons were clashing.

When Shang became stronger, he returned to only using his sword again since his body wasn't useful anymore.

The enemies he was fighting could only be hurt by Shang's sword, and if he blocked their attacks with his body, he would be vaporized.

Additionally, Shang had plenty of defensive techniques.

So, in essence, Shang's body had become useless because it wasn't strong or hard enough. It could only be used to increase his speed.

But now, his body was actually useful again.

Shang's body had become strong enough to be of use again, and Shang's arm was undoubtedly more agile than his sword.

Sadly, Shang only had a single arm. If he had a second arm and legs, he could defend far more efficiently.

'Agility,' Shang thought. 'My sword is superior in everything except agility.'

'If I can improve my sword's agility, I can improve my swordsmanship even more.'

'But that's easier said than done. I can see only two ways. Either my sword needs to teleport or become liquid. Teleportation requires the level five Concept of Tearing, and it will probably also consume a lot of Mana.'

'And turning my sword into a liquid isn't possible. If I could turn it into a liquid, I wouldn't need to use all of these Concepts and techniques to combine my original four states.'

'Sure, I could transform my sword into just a handle and create a blade out of ice, darkness, fire, and light, but that will also destroy the advantage of my sword. A blade of ice can never become as hard as my sword. My sword uses materials several levels higher than my own, and I can't bridge that gap.'

'Increasing the agility of my sword won't be possible as long as it is a sword.'

"Stop!" Shang ordered, and the Abominations stopped attacking.

Shang remained silent for a while.

Just now, Shang had gotten an interesting idea, and he had to consider it.

Maybe…

Just maybe…

He could actually advance the condensation of his states an additional step.

 

 

Chapter 946 946 – Obvious Trap

After around 2,000 years of training, Shang received a message from the Lightning Emperor.

The Empires were using a Peak Mage Lord with a fivefold Spirit Sense again.

It was quite surprising that Shang hadn't been sent to the war for over 3,000 years. Usually, he fought in the war every century.

The enemies hadn't even used Peak Mage Lords with threefold Spirit Senses, and now they were using someone with a fivefold Spirit Sense?

Naturally, this was a trap for Shang.

Everyone could tell.

However, what was he supposed to do?

If he ignored the trap, the enemy would take out the entire Lightning Manor in just a century or two.

Shang had to deal with the attacker.

The Lightning Emperor very closely looked at the frontline and tried to find the trap.

He was absolutely certain that the enemy was not a Mage King and not a Mage Emperor.

The types of prepared Spells that a Peak Mage Lord could have were also not things that Shang would need to fear.

But then what?

Were the three Empires willing to just throw a future Mage King away?

For nothing?

Obviously not.

But then, what were they planning?

Not even the Lightning Emperor knew.

"I don't know what their plan is, but I will accompany you and stay right beside the Attack Flag, just in case," the Lightning Emperor told Shang.

Shang was reminded of something he hadn't thought of for thousands of years. He wouldn't have thought of that if he hadn't gone over his whole life multiple times to find a fitting final Destination.

"I can accompany you if you want, Shang, just to be safe."

"No, that's not necessary."

"I'm still coming with you, Shang. Just to be safe. And, hey, if it turns out that I'm incorrect, you can laugh at me for being too paranoid."

A memory from over 12,000 years ago.

When the Lightning Emperor had said that he would accompany Shang, Shang was reminded of when Jerald had said similar words.

It had been so long since Shang had thought of Jerald.

However, so much time had passed that there was no emotional connection anymore.

And yet, when Shang looked at the Lightning Emperor, he felt like he was looking at Jerald.

With the exception that the Lightning Emperor was superior in literally every single thing.

Shang pushed the unimportant thought away and just nodded.

In comparison to back then, Shang knew that having someone more powerful accompany him wouldn't hurt.

Three Mage Emperors and nearly 20 Mage Kings were trying to kill Shang.

Refusing help would be stupid.

The Lightning Emperor summoned a portal, and the two of them stepped through it.

As soon as they appeared, several Mage Kings and even the three Mage Emperors looked over.

Shang knew who was watching, thanks to his bandages, but they also weren't trying to keep their interest a secret.

Shang knew.

The Lightning Emperor knew.

The Mage Kings knew.I think you should take a look at

The Mage Emperors knew.

Everybody knew that this was a trap.

The Lightning Emperor stopped just outside the Attack Flag's barrier. If any Mage Emperor or Mage King were to attack, the Lightning Emperor would be able to intercept the attack.

None of the enemies stopped the Lightning Emperor.

Shang slowly flew toward the Attack Flag.

He was very confident in his power, and he was certain that there was nothing that the enemy could do to kill him. After all, the Lightning Emperor had made very sure that there was no Mage King or Mage Emperor in there.

Even if the enemy managed to hide something from the Lightning Emperor's senses, Shang's World Fusion would probably be able to see it. After all, Shang could see every kind of Mana.

Shang couldn't think of any possible way he could die in there.

And yet, the enemies were very confident.

After a bit, Shang entered the barrier, which quickly turned cloudy.

The Lightning Emperor narrowed his eyes and kept watch over his surroundings with his full focus.

No one was moving.

Seconds passed.

Eventually, even a minute passed.

The Lightning Emperor became nervous.

What was going on in there?!

Why hadn't the fight ended yet?!

The enemy Mage Kings only smirked in confidence.

While the Lightning Emperor became more and more worried, Shang was hovering in the middle of the barrier.

In front of Shang was a young girl with purple eyes and hair. She was a member of the Twilight Dusk Family, and just like the dead Queen Primordium, she had an Affinity for Space, Time, and Gravity.

In the future, she would become a top ten Mage King, almost certainly. After all, the Domain was the very Spell that made a Mage King that powerful, and with such an Affinity, she was sure to comprehend it in the future.

And yet, Shang could tell that the Twilight Dusk Family had already forsaken the person in front of him.

Just as expected, the enemies had hidden something that not even the Lightning Emperor had been able to see.

But Shang, with his World Fusion, had noticed it.

The person in front of Shang was actually already dead.

Shang hadn't been the one that had killed her.

At this moment, Shang could see Life and Death Mana coming out from her body, and most shocking of all, they weren't canceling each other out.

It was like the Life Mana and Death Mana were living in harmony, which was supposed to be impossible.

Just like Mana and Entropy, Life Mana and Death Mana canceled each other out.

And yet, here she was, right in front of him.

Someone that shouldn't exist.

While Shang just hovered in front of her, she just looked at Shang with a bright and joyful smile.

"I've heard a lot about you," she said with a polite and friendly voice.

"And I've heard a lot about you," Shang answered. "You even managed to fool the Lightning Emperor."

The girl didn't seem surprised that Shang had already seen through her identity.

"Thank you, but I just combined some Life Concepts with some Death Concepts," the girl said with a friendly laugh. "Also, this is not my real body. I just borrowed it."

"I wanted to meet you, Shang," she said.

"Likewise, Abaddon," Shang answered.

 

 

Chapter 947 947 – Two Sides Meet

The two of them just looked at each other.

Shang only had a neutral expression, while Abaddon, King Sanctified Death, had a friendly smile.

"Your soul is on the verge of collapse," Abaddon said with a smile.

Shang didn't answer.

"You only have about 50% of your soul left. You know, about 90% of Mage Lords die when I remove just 40% of their soul, and the record holder managed to survive with 55% of their soul remaining."

"But you are still alive with just 50%, and you can even fight. That's very impressive," she said with her friendly smile.

"How can your mind enter the barrier?" Shang asked, completely ignoring Abaddon's comment.

Abaddon just chuckled a bit. "Trade secret. If I were to tell you, I would need to kill you," she joked.

"You're going to try to kill me regardless," Shang answered evenly.

"No, why would I?" she said with surprise. "I'm here to talk to you, not to kill you."

"I told everyone else that I am going to kill you, but I actually just want to talk to you. Later, I will just detonate this body and act like you won. Nobody knows how my Spell works anyway."

Shang didn't show any reactions. "You're here to talk to me," he repeated with a deadpan voice.

"Just talk."

The purple-haired girl nodded several times. "Yep!"

"And what do you have to talk about?" Shang asked.

"I think we can work together," she said.

"Explain."

"We are both the enemies of the world," she said matter-of-factly. "All the Mage Emperors act like the world is infallible and that I will just be some kind of trial they have to overcome, but when they actually stand at the edge, they will realize that their convictions weren't as strong as they believed."

"I originally wanted to kill Adam and become a Mage Emperor, but then he got killed, and now his Mana isn't accessible to me anymore," she said.

Shang realized that Abaddon didn't even refer to his father as father. It was almost like they were strangers.

"I can kill a couple more Emperors, but I won't win in an instant, and several other Emperors will appear. If the Lightning Emperor hadn't attacked, I would already be a Mage Emperor."

"At that point, I would need to fight everyone except for mother, but as an Initial Mage Emperor, I might not win. Additionally, if the Archivist gets out, I will also die."

"They believe we are allied, but we are actually already fighting a war."

"Right now, all their focus is on you. You are their current enemy, and I am their future enemy."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Ever heard of that idiom?" Abaddon asked.

Shang didn't answer.

"That's why I'm here to talk," she said.

"And what's your suggestion?" Shang asked.

"The Empires want to stop you from reaching the Eighth Realm. In the grand tournament, they will put new rules in effect based on the old Mage Emperor's last words."

"He said that no other Path is allowed to reach the Ninth Realm again, and they will expand it to the Eighth Realm as well. Only Mages are allowed to partake in the tournament."

"You can't use weapons. You can't use your body."I think you should take a look at

"And when you join, they will send several Mage Lords with fivefold Spirit Senses at you that have been taught to perfectly counter you."

"I've seen their preparations, and I can tell you that you won't be able to win in these fights. You are not a Mage. I know that because I also wouldn't be able to win if I were in your position."

Shang was extremely powerful, but he only had a single level five Concept.

His opponents would all know a level six Concept and four or more level five Concepts.

Additionally, they had a lifetime of fighting as Mages and an incredible number of Spells.

Shang knew that he wouldn't be able to fight them, and if he dared to use his body or sword, they would immediately disqualify him.

On top of that, they might even make some sort of rule that would allow them to execute anyone that got disqualified. There were a lot of things that they could do to mess with Shang during the tournament.

"And your solution?" Shang asked.

"I will use my influence to give you a loophole," Abaddon said with a smile. "I will make it so that domains are allowed, and by the way it is defined, you will be able to use several of your techniques. That should be enough."

"Just the ability to use your Abomination Domain should help you win."

Silence.

The atmosphere rapidly changed and became cold.

The purple-haired girl just blinked a couple of times with her friendly smile.

Shang didn't show any outward reaction as he just hovered in front of her.

He didn't say anything.

"It's not difficult to tell," she said with a laugh. "I can feel all kinds of Mana, but I still can't tell what 90% of your body is made of. That's the same when I look at an Abomination."

"You probably sacrificed parts of your soul to survive dangerous situations in the past, kind of like a partial explosion of an Abomination. That explains why you are still alive and why you are missing so much of your body."

Shang didn't answer.

"I don't mind," Abaddon said with a casual laugh. "You probably already guessed my goal. Why would I care if people die? I am going to kill them all anyway."

"I am the enemy of the world."

"You are the enemy of the world."

"I will become a God."

"You will become a God."

"Let's just work together," she said with a smile.

"There's not enough Mana for two Gods," Shang said.

The girl's smile turned into a smirk.

"Wrong," she said.

"I can assure you that we can both become Gods," she said as her smirk widened.

Shang's mind focused on Abaddon even more, but he remained silent.

 

 

Chapter 948 948 – Abaddon's Plan

Shang remained silent for a while.

Abaddon also didn't say anything.

Nearly half a minute passed.

"Tell me," Shang said.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Abaddon answered. "You need to understand that I can't put all my trust in you. Trusting someone like you would be just as stupid as trusting someone like me."

"Okay, what's your plan?" Shang asked.

"First, I use my influence to give you a chance to win at the grand tournament," Abaddon said. "Then, we are going to fight at the Mage Emperor tournament."

"I am going to lose in the battle and concede. Before any of the other Emperors can do anything, mother will hand you the Inheritor Sphere, and you will absorb it to reach the Ninth Realm immediately."

"The other Emperors will immediately attack. They don't care that you have won. They are going to try to kill you regardless."

"The Lightning Emperor, mother, and I are going to fight the other Mage Emperors."

"I am going to kill one and get my Mana. We will both reach the Ninth Realm and with the Lightning Emperor helping us, the Archivist won't get out."

"We kill the Mage Emperors and become Gods. Mother and the Lightning Emperor will survive, and I will destroy the world. Mother, you, and I will comprehend the level six Concept of Death. I resurrect the world to comprehend the level six Concept of Life."

"Then, we leave and search for a greater world."

"That's my plan."

Shang remained silent for a while.

"What about the Abominations?" Shang asked.

"I don't care," Abaddon said. "As long as you keep them at bay until I get a chance to resurrect the world, I don't care. You can go destroy it after that if you want. Who knows, maybe we can learn even more by witnessing that?"

Shang thought for a while about everything.

He had noticed several things during his talk with Abaddon.

Abaddon referred to his father with his name, but he referred to his mother as mother.

Abaddon knew that Shang was the Child of Calamity, but there was something even more surprising.

Abaddon had said that Shang would also comprehend the level six Concept of Death.

This meant that Abaddon knew that Shang had a Death Affinity.

It was almost like Abaddon knew all of Shang's secrets.

Sure enough, Abaddon was an extremely terrifying person.

Even more, Shang wasn't certain whether or not Abaddon was lying.

The plan sounded extremely beneficial for both of them, and it was very logical.

It wouldn't be stupid to believe Abaddon.

However, the best lies were those that gave a perfect explanation.

What if the Inheritor Sphere had been tampered with by the Empress of Death, and when Shang tried to absorb it, he died?

There were several points in the plan in which Shang could get betrayed.

But just following the plan would also result in the best-case scenario.

Abaddon was as far away from trustworthy as it got, but his plan was basically perfect.

Yet, Shang also knew that he didn't seem any more trustworthy than Abaddon.

Abaddon trusting Shang should be just as hard as Shang trusting Abaddon.I think you should take a look at

Which meant impossible.

It was obvious that neither of the two would trust the other, and both knew that.

Both of them could only trust the other when they were in an advantageous position that would give them the victory if the other decided to betray them.

Surprisingly enough, Abaddon gave most of the advantages to Shang in the plan.

'This probably means that he has several contingency plans that he hasn't told me. He probably has a way to deal with me any time I might decide to betray him.'

'He might not even need me to become a Mage Emperor. It's possible that he has a way to become a Mage Emperor immediately if he chooses to.'

'Why take the risk to allow me to become powerful enough to become a threat?'

The purple-haired girl just looked at Shang with a friendly smile.

Shang just focused on her.

And then, the Life Mana emanating from her body vanished.

Shang's heart nearly stopped.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

An apocalyptic explosion of pure Death Mana came out of the purple-haired girl, tearing her apart.

Shang was completely consumed by the explosion, and he felt the Death Mana penetrate his mind and attach to his soul.

Shang's mind wasn't even able to give the command to use his Domain of Entropy before the Death Mana started to consume his soul.

At this moment, Shang felt like beings from the afterlife were trying to pull him toward them.

It was like their claws buried themselves into Shang's body and mind as they kept screaming and pulling at him.

Shang was in immense pain, even for him.

Shang felt himself getting torn apart again and again.

He was vanishing.

His mind was weakening.

He couldn't feel his body anymore.

He was dying.

Meanwhile, in the outside world, the barrier of the Attack Flag exploded with Death Mana.

The Death Mana was so incredibly dense and powerful that not even the Attack Flag could contain it, and the Death Mana flooded into the surrounding 300,000 kilometers, killing everything it touched.

The Mage Kings laughed victoriously as the Lightning Emperor narrowed his eyes.

BANG!

Several huge lightning bolts attacked the Death Mana, but it was so powerful and dense that the Lightning Emperor actually needed nearly an entire second to get rid of it.

The Lightning Emperor's mind fell into a sea of fear and anxiety as he saw Shang's body lying on the ground.

The Death Mana had been so dense that only Abaddon or Kali could have done this!

Shang was powerful, but the Lightning Emperor doubted that he could resist such a powerful attack. On top of that, this kind of Death Mana was targeting the soul, and Shang's soul was his weakness.

The Lightning Emperor saw that Shang was still alive, but it was like his longevity had run out.

Shang was so close to dying!

The Lightning Emperor immediately took hold of him and brought him to his library as the enemy Mage Kings kept laughing.

 

949 Chapter 949 - Faces in the Dark

Shang had no idea where he was or what he was.

An eternal darkness was engulfing him.

The darkness was seeping into his body and causing unimaginable pain.

The warping and moving darkness around Shang kept seeping in and out of his body. It was almost like Shang wasn't corporeal.

Faces appeared in the darkness.

They were smiling, crying, filled with hate, filled with love, and every other kind of imaginable emotion.

They screamed and laughed.

Millions of faces screamed and laughed as they passed through Shang's body, tearing him to pieces.

Shang was under unimaginable pain.

It had never been this bad before.

An eternity passed.

Shang still didn't know what he was.

Was he one of these faces?

Was he part of the darkness?

Shang had tried many times to escape, but the darkness around him was eternal and omnipresent.

Was the reason why he couldn't escape that he was simply part of the darkness?

But he didn't want to be part of the darkness.

It hurt.

It hurt so much.

It felt so horrible.

He had to leave.

He had to get away from here!

But it was impossible.

Pain and suffering were everywhere, and no matter what he did, it was impossible to escape.

It would only stop when he stopped existing.

Yet, as soon as Shang had that thought, something deep inside of him was violently revolting.

But it hurt so much!

He just wanted it to end!

No!

He couldn't let it end!

But it was so bad!

The inner conflict was eternal.

Shang wasn't sure why he existed or what he was, but he refused to stop existing, even if it was only filled with pain and nothing else.

He had to keep existing!

An eternity passed.

Nothing changed.

How long had he been here? He wasn't sure.

Ever since he had started existing, he had been in this eternal darkness.

Was this life?

What was life?

Shang wasn't sure why he had suddenly thought about a concept called life.

Where did that even come from?

Shang wasn't sure if he was alive.

Was he aware?

At that moment, Shang remembered something that came deep from within his memories.

Something he hadn't thought of in thousands of years.

"I think, therefore I am."

A quote.

Shang wasn't sure where this quote came from, but for some reason, he felt more secure in his existence.

He could think, which meant that he was aware.

Shang's existence was so vague and fickle that he hadn't been sure whether or not he existed, but now, he was sure that he actually existed.

He didn't know what he was or why he was, but he knew that he was.

The faces in the darkness kept tearing at him and moving through him.

The pain was constant.

It was horrible.

It had always been horrible.

It had never stopped being horrible.

Yet, why was it horrible?

Shang wasn't sure.I think you should take a look at

He just knew that it was horrible.

Something inside of him told him that feeling pain was bad.

Yet, with no reference, the feeling seemed pointless.

Was feeling pain really bad?

What was so bad about feeling pain?

What happened when he felt too much pain?

Would he stop existing?

Shang remembered that he had considered stopping existing due to the pain.

So, the pain was actually influencing his thoughts and directing them toward death.

Death.

Where did that come from?

First, Shang had suddenly thought of a concept called life, and now he was suddenly thinking about a concept called death.

Death...

Pain...

Pain was convincing someone to die.

At least, that was the only thing Shang could think of right now.

The faces in the darkness wanted to convince Shang to die.

What would happen when he died?

Would he become one of the faces?

As Shang looked at the faces, he could feel all the different emotions coming from them.

However, there was one thing shared among all of them.

Indignation.

Frustration.

Refusal.

The smiling faces were happy that they could cause someone pain, which made it easier to deal with their own frustration and indignation.

The angry faces wanted to share their hatred with others.

The sad faces were just lashing out because they felt so horrible.

All the faces hated Shang but showed it in different forms.

They were all individuals.

No face was like the other, and they were all distinct in appearance and personality.

And yet, all of them shared the same goal.

Force Shang to join them.

It was unfair that they were dead, and he was alive!

It was unfair that they couldn't do anything anymore while he still had his own destiny in his hands!

Why did they have to die?!

Why couldn't he have died instead of them?!

He didn't deserve to be alive!

They hated Shang because he was alive.

Slowly, Shang realized these things, and as he did, the pain became easier to bear.

Shang was still feeling the pain. In fact, it hadn't dropped at all in intensity.

Yet, one thing had changed.

Shang had become angry.

Just like them, he had become frustrated and indignant.

'So what?! You are dead, and that's why you want to kill me?! You think I feel bad for you?!"

"You died, and you deserved to die!

"You were weak!"

'Weakness is a sin!"

'And I refuse to comply with some weaklings that couldn't even protect themselves!'

Oftentimes, knowing that someone was trying to enrage someone made it easier to stay calm.

"They want me to become angry. Becoming angry is doing what they want."

This was often how emotions worked.

For Shang, something similar was happening.

He knew what the faces wanted and why they wanted it.

Dying would just be following their wishes.

Because of that, Shang's mind steeled, and he refused to give up and die.

Suddenly, something like an arm shot toward one of the faces and grabbed it.

The arm pulled back and moved the dark face towards Shang's opened mouth.

CRKSH!

950 Chapter 950 — Exodus

Shang bit down on the face, but it didn't do anything.

The faces could bite him, but he couldn't bite them.

Nevertheless, something had changed.

The face entered Shang's body, but it didn't come out again.

However, its presence still caused Shang immense pain.

Shang could feel the hatred of the swallowed face become more intense, which made Shang feel even more pain.

The face hated Shang's act of defiance.

That was why it wanted to cause even more pain to Shang.

No matter what it took.

Shang just gritted his teeth and grabbed another face.

CRKSH!

Another face entered Shang's body, and now, two faces were causing Shang eternal pain.

'Pain doesn't matter!'

'Pain has no power over me!'

'As long as I do not consciously decide to kill myself, the pain has no effect whatsoever!'

'Believing that pain is bad is the damaging part of pain!'

'It's a self-sustaining loop!'

'I believe that pain is bad, which makes it bad, and since pain is now bad, I believe it is bad!'

'I need to break the loop!'

Shang grabbed one face after the other and consumed them.

The faces inside Shang's body were screaming and screeching in hatred.

They were like an explosion contained in a bottle.

They wanted to kill him!

He needed to die!

He had to die!

Shang's mind became tenser by the second as he felt more and more pain.

However, Shang just gnashed his teeth and consumed more faces.

The more pain Shang was feeling, the angrier he got.

He hated the faces for hating him.

The faces had to die!

He would do his absolute best to cause the faces as much misery as possible.

He hated them so much!

It was hatred clashing with hatred.

Initially, both sides interacted with each other for different reasons, but somehow, it ended up with both of them hating each other because the other was hating the other.

The faces hated Shang because he was refusing to die because he hated them, and Shang hated them because they wanted him to die because they hated him.

Hatred.

Both sides wanted to stop the other side from existing.

Shang kept consuming more and more faces.

The pain got progressively worse.

Yet, the pain only fueled Shang's hatred.

The more pain he felt, the more hateful he became, and the faster he was consuming the faces.

Suddenly, the darkness around Shang seemed to change.

He was still consuming the faces, and he was so focused on this single task that he didn't even notice the changing darkness.

Somehow, the darkness became even darker.

Earlier, it had been like an eternity of darkness that stretched into infinity.

But now, it felt like everything was vanishing.

There was no eternal darkness anymore.

The darkness only stretched to a finite distance before everything completely vanished.I think you should take a look at

Space and time were ending.

The closer the end came, the stronger Shang felt.

Ethereal shadows appeared around Shang's body as he kept consuming the faces.

The shadows also started to grab the faces, and before long, it was like the faces were being funneled into Shang's body.

As the end of existence approached, the faces voluntarily entered Shang's body, but they didn't stop causing him pain.

The faces were afraid of the end.

They thought that death was the worst thing, but no.

This thing that was approaching was worse than death.

Eventually, all the faces entered Shang's body, and Shang just remained hovering in the darkness.

The pain he was feeling was unimaginable.

It was by far the worst pain he had ever felt.

And yet, it didn't matter.

Pain had become irrelevant.

It was like someone else was feeling the pain, not him.

It simply didn't matter how much pain he felt since pain itself was nonconsequential.

Finally, Shang could focus on the approaching nothingness.

Yet, Shang didn't feel like there was nothing.

To Shang, it was simply like a new space had opened.

Shang didn't move and was swallowed by the nothingness.

But nothing changed.

"Entropy," Shang spoke.

"Death Mana," he said as he focused on the faces inside his body.

Shang's memories were returning.

He remembered what he was and why he was.

All the concepts he had learned and his memories returned.

'I'm inside my mind. King Sanctified Death drowned me in Death Mana using the level five Concept of Death, Exodus.'

'An entire group, race, or species of people all collectively wanted me to die.'

'It starts with sickness, which transforms into weakness. Weakness turns into a state of near-death, purgatory, which then turns into real death.'

'Yet, Exodus is even more extreme. It is death that isn't fine with just itself being dead. It is so extreme that it spreads death.'

'Exodus is not leaving. It is trying to tear everything apart as it is leaving.'

'With the first four Concepts, Death Mana acts unmoving and lethargic, but with Exodus, it completely transforms. The Death Mana almost gains its own will, and it tries to convert as many living things as possible to death.'

Shang focused on the faces inside his body again. who were still screaming in hatred.

Shang's mind steeled, and he willed them to stop existing.

A moment later, all the faces vanished, replaced by a mass of black Mana.

Shang had erased the Concept of Exodus from the Death Mana, turning it back into regular Death Mana.

The pain vanished, but that no longer made any difference to Shang.

The mere concept of pain had lost all meaning and relevance.

Then, Shang focused on the surrounding Entropy.

'How did Entropy appear inside my mind? I‘m certain that my mind is constructed with pure Mana.‘

Shang shook his head.

'No point in thinking about that now. I should wake no first.'

Shang focused on the real world, and his perception changed.

Blurry colors appeared, which quickly transformed into the Lightning Emperor's library.

Shang's question from just now was very quickly answered by what he saw.

Shang saw a black sphere of Entropy lying on top of his head.

The Lightning Emperor was controlling an Abomination Lord to push the sphere into Shang's head.

When the Lightning Emperor noticed that Shang's perception had returned, he released a deep breath and fell back on his chair.

"Finally," he groaned.