The world continued to change as more years passed.
Shang kept being isolated from the world, only hearing some news from Jerald.
Jerald's jovial and polite demeanor had vanished to a large degree after even his son had died.
Around 60 years ago, Jerald had been friends with basically all the different Dukes, had been on good terms with the Council, had George as a close friend, and had a son.
He had been at the prime of his life, and he had even owned quite a lot of Zones.
Everything had been going great.
And then, over the next 60 years, everything he owned began to vanish slowly.
He still had his personal power and wealth, but that was about it.
He only had one Zone now.
He was enemies with the Council.
He was enemies with all the Dukes.
George was dead.
Mattheo was dead.
Some of his close subordinates were dead.
And, worst of all, he knew who was responsible, but just like Shang, there was nothing he could do at the moment.
He could only swallow it until it was time.
Jerald's goal of becoming King had shifted.
Now, vengeance was above his goal of becoming King.
He wanted to kill all the people that had taken everything from him!
And the key to all of that was the weak little boy he had found inside one of his gardens around 60 years ago.
As more years passed, it became harder and harder for Jerald to keep up the mask.
At some point, he even started to completely ignore all the orders the Council sent to him.
This was already a grave violation of his position, and it was enough reason for the Council to take the Storm Eagle Zone away from him.
Yet, the war and impending civil war were the primary focus of the Council's mind. They couldn't afford to anger another Late High Mage with incredible power.
In fact, the situation was so bad that even two of the members of the Council had died on the frontlines.
They had been the victims of extremely elaborate traps with several exceedingly powerful High Mages attacking them at the same time.
Five years later, the Council did something that no one could have seen coming.
They offered Duke Whirlwind a seat on the Council.
The Skythunder Kingdom was rich with High Mages but poor with truly powerful High Mages.
There were plenty of candidates for being a Duke, but only very few for being a member of the Council.
With this move, they extended an olive branch to Jerald.
This essentially meant that Jerald's past conduct would be swept under the rug, and he could join the Council as a full member.
He would gain a vast amount of authority over the entire Kingdom.
However, this would also represent the stagnation of warriors.
Jerald was the only reason why there were even so many powerful warriors in the first place, and the Storm Eagle Zone still acted as a safe haven for all the warriors that didn't want to join the war.
There were several Circles traveling across the entire Kingdom, searching for warriors that hadn't been on the frontlines yet, and if they found one of the warriors, they would be forced to fight for the Kingdom.
They were everywhere except for the Storm Eagle Zone.
But if Jerald accepted the invitation, that safe haven would vanish.
What did Jerald do when the invitation arrived?
He didn't answer.
The Council sent three more invitations, but Jerald always blew them off, telling them that he needed more time to think.
Because of that, the Council was stuck in limbo. However, they would never forget this insult.
When the war calmed down, they would take care of Jerald.
By now, the relationship between the Council and Jerald had become unfixable.
As more time passed, the Council even sent out a decree that people should avoid the Storm Eagle Zone.
On the surface, it was phrased like an embargo because Jerald wasn't running his Zone like they wanted him to, but most people had already seen the truth.
Duke Whirlwind was one of the oldest and most powerful Dukes, and he could probably even look eye-to-eye with the Council.
Officially, Jerald was below the Council, but unofficially, he had assumed a position opposing them at the same height.
Two years later, the guards stationed at the borders of the Storm Eagle Zone had quintupled in size. There were even two True Path Stage warriors and a High Mage standing guard.
Whenever anyone under orders of the Council or another Duke tried to enter the Storm Eagle Zone, they would be dissuaded in a very rough manner.
One time, a messenger tried to pass the border anyway since he was delivering orders from the Council personally.
The messenger was executed on the spot.
Quickly after that, public outrage occurred, fueled by the Council.
They called Duke Whirlwind a deserter and traitor.
Traveling to the Storm Eagle Zone was made illegal, and powerful guards were stationed at its borders.
However, the Council still didn't dare to attack.
If they actually attacked, they would lose many High Mages, and they couldn't afford these losses during this intense war.
Everything had to wait until after the war was over.
Nevertheless, the Council sent several people to demand Duke Whirlwind to give the land he illegally occupied back to the Skythunder Kingdom, but the messengers were always turned away at the border.
The Council used these incidents as proof that they were the reasonable ones and that it was Duke Whirlwind that refused to let things end peacefully.
During such a dangerous time, Duke Whirlwind was not helping the Kingdom but putting its citizens in even more danger.
He was power-hungry, selfish, and had no concept of loyalty.
Jerald didn't react to these accusations.
Sadly, many people believed the Council, and over 50% of the people living in the Storm Eagle Zone left it.
Even more, most of these people were Mages.
If one only looked at the Mages, one would see that over 90% of them had left the Storm Eagle Zone.
In terms of True Mages, the Storm Eagle Zone now had only around 15 left.
Adepts and Apprentices had nearly vanished. Essentially only Adepts and Apprentices directly related to the 15 True Mages were left.
Adepts and Apprentices were not powerful enough to make a difference in the war, which was why they couldn't stand up for what they believed in. Some of them wanted to remain, but when faced with the Council's overwhelming power, they could only flee.
At least there were three High Mages left in the Storm Eagle Zone, including Jerald.
The other two High Mages had worked for Jerald for a very long time, and they trusted him with their lives.
Sadly, they were only at the Initial and Early levels.
However, when something bad happened, something good could come along with it.
The Storm Eagle Zone had become the safe haven of all the warriors, and as the tension between the Council and Duke Whirlwind increased, most of them chose Jerald's side.
At this moment, the Storm Eagle Zone had over 2,000 Commander Stage warriors, which was an insane number.
And it even had over 100 True Path Stage warriors.
100 True Path Stage warriors.
This was a ridiculous number for only one Zone.
Sure, the Skythunder Kingdom had over 400 High Mages by now, but that was for over 50 Zones.
100 True Path Stage warriors in one Zone was simply insane.
This was exactly why the Council didn't want to invade the Storm Eagle Zone yet.
Killing over 100 True Path Stage warriors and Jerald would result in catastrophic losses.
With so many warriors now refusing to fight on the frontlines, the casualties amongst the Mages skyrocketed.
By now, the Council didn't reside in their homes anymore but personally manned spots at the frontlines.
It had gotten that bad.
And while all of this was going on, Shang was training.
The world was undergoing a revolution.
But in the Caves, there was only silence.
Seemingly no time passed for Shang.
There was only himself and Sword.
Training day in and day out.
Fighting so many beasts.
Coming up with so many techniques.
The Caves were quiet since Shang had chosen a place where only very few True Path Stage warriors came to.
What was that place?
Where the Mid True Path Stage beasts lived.
Shang was already training against them daily.
He wasn't even at the True Path Stage yet.
