Shang followed the map and traveled through Zone after Zone.
It took him about two days until he finally arrived at the southwestern border of the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
In comparison to last time, Shang didn't need to slip past the border without being noticed.
This time, he could openly stride through the border.
As Shang approached the border, a couple of beasts noticed him and growled.
The Spiriters had to calm their companions down to stop them from attacking Shang.
It wasn't unheard of for a beast on this border to lose control and attack a warrior that approached.
These incidents were treated as accidents, but the warriors of the Skythunder Kingdom were certain that the Spirit Spring Kingdom had done that on purpose.
Because of that, all the warriors that traveled to the Spirit Spring Kingdom were instructed to be very careful near the border. As long as they managed to survive for a couple of seconds, the Spiriters would "heroically" leap in and stop their beasts.
After traveling through four of the five Kingdoms of the world, Shang had already seen the relationships between the Kingdoms with his own eyes.
While the public believed that this was a war between two united fronts, this couldn't be further from the truth.
The Blackshadow Kingdom hated the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
The Spirit Spring Kingdom hated the Blackshadow Kingdom.
The Spirit Spring Kingdom hated the Skythunder Kingdom.
The Skythunder Kingdom was wary of the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
This was definitely not a united front but a makeshift alliance that could crumble at any moment.
The only two allies Shang hadn't seen meet each other were the Magic Purity Kingdom and the Grandmountain Kingdom, but he guessed that their relationship was very similar.
The Magic Purity Kingdom was probably arrogant beyond belief just based on its policies and its name. They probably treated the Grandmountain Kingdom as lower people that did their dirty work.
The Grandmountain Kingdom was therefore probably also not the biggest fan of the Magic Purity Kingdom.
There was no peace, companionship, or harmony between the Kingdoms.
Every Kingdom hated every other Kingdom.
If there weren't this gigantic war going on, the Kingdoms would probably attack each other.
This was not a peaceful world but a world on the brink of breaking apart.
The only thing that kept the Kingdoms from falling into an abyss of bloodshed was their will to survive.
No Kingdom could stand alone against the others.
However, even though the Spiriters were more than willing to send their beasts to kill Shang, they didn't do so this time.
They felt that Shang was very dangerous.
Yes, it was an "accident" that some beasts went out of control and attacked warriors, but there were also "accidents" of warriors killing the beasts of Spiriters.
"Halt!" the most powerful Spiriter shouted from the back of her gigantic bear.
She was the most powerful person here, at the Late True Spiriter Realm.
In comparison to the border between the Spirit Spring Kingdom and the Blackshadow Kingdom, no truly powerful people were here. Even though the Spirit Spring Kingdom hated the Skythunder Kingdom, they knew that the Skythunder Kingdom wouldn't try anything sneaky. Because of that, they didn't need to station a powerful force here.
There were only three True Mages here, and they were all at the Early True Mage Realm.
If Shang had even been slightly noticed at the border between the Spirit Spring Kingdom and the Blackshadow Kingdom, his death would have been a certainty.
But this border was so weak that Shang could probably annihilate all the stationed forces here on his own.
So, even though the relationship between these two Kingdoms wasn't the best, it was obviously far better than the relationship between the Blackshadow Kingdom and the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
After Shang heard the command, he stopped.
"Space Ring," the Spiriter demanded.
Just like last time, Shang threw the Space Ring over.
The Spiriter looked through the Space Ring, and her eyes narrowed with hatred.
CRACK!
The Space Ring was destroyed in her grasp.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A sea of blood and corpses appeared around her as soon as the Space Ring was destroyed.
A horrifying stench went through the entire border.
The Spiriters' faces turned white, and some of them even began to heave due to the disgusting stench.
The beasts grew unruly and wanted to attack, but the Spiriters did their absolute best to keep them from attacking Shang.
They didn't want their companions to join the pile!
Shang coldly looked at the Spiriter that had destroyed his ring.
"I apologize," the Spiriter said coldly. "I lost control when I saw the contents. Naturally, we will replace your Space Ring."
She took out a Space Ring and threw it toward Shang.
It was just as good as the one Shang had had previously.
Shang evenly looked at the Spiriter.
Then, he willed his corpses to enter the new ring.
A moment later, the sea of blood and corpses vanished, only leaving behind a couple of big and bloody stains.
Shang knew why she had done that.
This was not an accident.
She wanted to show the people around her what kind of monsters the people of the Skythunder Kingdom were.
She wanted to get everyone to hate the Skythunder Kingdom by showing his deeds to them.
Shang was not a fan of being a public display, but he also didn't see it as such a big deal.
He hadn't lost any of his belongings.
Additionally, he couldn't just go around and kill everyone here without a very good reason.
Shang was so close to being home again, and he didn't want to be hunted by the Skythunder Kingdom as well for causing an international incident.
"You may leave," the Spiriter said coldly. "We apologize for the accident."
Shang didn't answer and walked past everyone.
Everyone at the border watched Shang with hatred.
The quiet noise of his steps echoed throughout the border.
And he walked past the wall.
He continued walking for another two minutes.
And eventually, Shang saw another wall in front of him.
On the walls, Shang could see a couple of Mages…
And warriors!
It had been so long since Shang had seen another warrior.
Ten years ago, Shang had been dumped at the western part of the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Yet, instead of traveling to the southeast, he had traveled to the northeast.
In the last ten years, Shang had traveled to all corners of the world.
He had been at the southern edge in the Skythunder Kingdom.
He had been in the west of the world by being in the Grandmountain Kingdom.
He had been in the north, in the Blackshadow Kingdom.
And now, he had been in the east, in the Spirit Spring Kingdom.
In the last ten years, Shang had traveled the entire world and had seen many different cultures and Kingdoms.
Not many people could claim to have traveled as far and wide as Shang.
From someone that had only known one part of the Skythunder Kingdom, Shang had become someone that knew the entire world, except for the Magic Purity Kingdom.
And now…
Shang approached the wall.
"Heeeey!"
The warriors on the wall lifted their weapons in a unified shout.
It was common to welcome their comrades back.
It was difficult to live in the Spirit Spring Kingdom as a warrior, and the warriors stationed here knew how hard it was.
Because of that, they always welcomed their comrades home with a cheer.
Shang looked at the wall with the warriors.
"I'm home!" Shang said.
