About six months after Shang arrived in the Storm Eagle Zone, he prepared to officially return.
He traveled through multiple Zones in disguise until he arrived at one bordering the frontlines.
In comparison to the rich places all over the Kingdom, this Zone looked barren.
There were no farms, no trading hubs, and no cities.
There were only lots of warriors and Mages stationed here who were preparing for the next assault on the Grandmountain Kingdom.
This Zone was the Hurricane Wolf Zone, and the Zone bordering it, which belonged to the Grandmountain Kingdom, was the Explosion Gecko Zone.
Shang and Duke Whirlwind had already come up with a good plan to let Shang return.
Duke Whirlwind had told Shang that it had been quite a while since there had been any Abominations appearing in these two Zones. If Shang could redirect them more towards the Grandmountain Kingdom's frontlines, he could charge through without any suspicion.
But wait, wouldn't someone become suspicious if Abominations appeared around Shang?
No, why would they?
Abominations appeared all the time, and the Zones were already on high alert for the next wave.
The wave would be expected, not unexpected.
Duke Whirlwind had planned everything in detail with Shang, including what things the Skythunder Kingdom would find in his Space Ring.
Shang even changed Sword's appearance again to its Colossal Sword size. That would make it more believable for Shang to have blended in as a barbarian in the Grandmountain Kingdom.
Theoretically, due to the way the border was set up, Shang could cross it without being noticed, even without the Abominations.
The Hurricane Wolf Zone was filled with thin but incredibly tall spires, housing many flying beasts.
Shang only needed to climb one, "persuade" a beast to carry him, and fly to the Explosion Gecko Zone without anyone noticing. After all, these flying beasts kept flying across the border all the time. They were about as common as birds for the border guards, and they wouldn't look at them.
Inspecting every single flying beast that flew kilometers above their heads would require a tremendous number of resources, and the Grandmountain Kingdom was already short on resources concerning this frontline.
In the war against the Skythunder Kingdom, the Grandmountain Kingdom wasn't focusing on winning but on buying time and surviving. They were focusing their entire power on fighting the Blackshadow Kingdom while waiting for the Magic Purity Kingdom to deal with the Skythunder Kingdom.
Shang could get back to the Hurricane Wolf Zone from the Explosion Gecko Zone in a similar way, but in comparison to the Grandmountain Kingdom, the Skythunder Kingdom actually spent the resources to check the beasts flying towards them from the Grandmountain Kingdom.
They had caught quite a few spies that way.
If Shang returned via this way, it would look very suspicious to the Skythunder Kingdom. If Shang were an ally, why would he try to sneak into his own home, and how did he know about the beasts and how the defenses were set up?
So, while Shang could get to the Grandmountain Kingdom this way, he couldn't return the same way.
Additionally, Shang could just start "flying" with his Blasts since that tool was too good for escaping. Some of Duke Whirlwind's enemies might suspect Shang of having returned earlier and being responsible for the death of Kiva Orvis.
Taking all of this into consideration, this meant that Shang had to break through the frontline.
Only in this way would he not receive any suspicion at all…
Well, after he probably got thoroughly interrogated, but Duke Whirlwind had already set everything up for Shang to deal with that.
Due to the distance to Duke Whirlwind, the resident Duke wasn't involved in the conflict between the Council and Duke Whirlwind. His territories were so far away that it was pointless to involve him.
After all, even though the Council was united against Duke Whirlwind, they still couldn't allow anyone to talk to King Skythunder about this. The fewer the people that knew the specifics, the better.
Because of that, the resident Duke was not involved in this inner conflict at all.
He and his forces would be neutral in the matter.
After arriving at the Hurricane Wolf Zone, Shang quickly climbed one of the spires, grabbed a powerful bird, and used it to fly across the border.
He flew the bird right into another powerful beast and made it appear that both beasts had heavily injured each other in a fight.
Both of the beasts fell to the ground, and Shang kept himself hidden between their bodies.
After Shang landed, he put the corpses into his inner world and hid amongst the crevices of the Explosion Gecko Zone.
And then, he waited.
Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, a curious barbarian arrived at the spot, searching for the corpses. He had probably seen the two corpses and believed that he could make some money with them.
Shang used his Pseudo-Spirit Sense to check the surroundings and noted that no one was close.
BANG!
Shang exploded forward, killed the barbarian, and pulled him into a hiding spot in less than three seconds.
The kill was clean, quick, and efficient.
After searching through the corpse, Shang found the things he was searching for.
Shang pulled out a silver needle from his inner world and put it into the corpse's right biceps.
A second later, a light image appeared on the corpse's shoulder.
It was the insignia of this frontline.
This was a vital piece of information the Skythunder Kingdom had received during their long war, and they were waiting for a good opportunity to use it.
But today, Shang would use it.
After a while, the image disappeared, and the needle shone.
Shang stabbed his own biceps with the needle, and the same image now appeared on his biceps.
Shang put the silver needle away and focused on the heavy collar of the barbarian.
This frontline was not for the talented barbarians but for the criminals. Basically every single barbarian wore these collars here.
Shang retrieved a couple of exquisitely crafted tools and put them on the collar according to Duke Whirlwind's instructions.
Clink!
The collar opened on its own!
'Having a High Mage helping me makes a tremendous difference.'
Shang put the collar on his own neck and closed it.
After that, he put the tools away from the collar, and all its function resumed like nothing had happened.
After all of this had happened, Shang was supposed to destroy the tools, but he put them into his inner world instead. After all, Duke Whirlwind didn't know about Shang's inner world, and the reason why Shang was supposed to destroy the tools was to keep his Space Ring clean of any suspicious things.
Shang changed his outer appearance to appear more like a barbarian. He even got rid of the bandage that hid his empty eye socket.
By the end, Shang stood in the middle of the crevice with a bare upper body, nearly destroyed pants, rough hair, and a humongous sword.
Lastly, Shang took out a plate and recited a strange chant.
After Shang was done, the plate began to shine and vanish.
At the same time, Shang felt many different kinds of Mana envelop his body until they eventually vanished.
Shang didn't look any different, but something crucial was now very different.
Anyone that looked at Shang would think that he was at the Mid General Stage with an average Battle-Strength.
Only a High Mage would be able to see through it.
Was there a High Mage here?
Yes, but they couldn't be bothered with inspecting every single barbarian all the time.
They had people for that.
Shang went through his mental checklist and saw that he was done with the preparations.
He cleared the surroundings, prepared himself mentally, and walked out of the crevice.
He walked towards the frontlines in a leisurely manner.
It was almost like he was supposed to be here.
