Shang didn't hesitate for long. "Okay," he said.
The Sweeper nodded. "The Ancestral Beasts don't dare to fight too much. They can all feel the power of the Eternal Maw in the distance, and they fear that they might attract its attention by fighting."
"The Archbeasts don't mind too much since they know that they won't attract the attention of the Eternal Maw. You might have to fight some Archbeasts, but you should be powerful enough to deal with most of them."
"If any of them prove to be too powerful, simply come back to my Spirit Sense, and I will deal with them for you. You should be able to survive for a while with Mana Step and Mana Shield," the Sweeper said.
Shang only nodded.
"I'll be waiting here," the Sweeper said.
Without saying anything further, Shang flew towards the east.
Thanks to his huge Spirit Sense, he could avoid nearly all the powerful Archbeasts without any problems. Sure, he entered plenty of Spirit Senses of Ancestral Beasts, but just like the Sweeper said, they only quietly remained in their spots.
Additionally, Shang was still wearing the cloak the Sweeper had given him, which helped him even more in staying hidden.
Shang continued traveling for a couple of minutes. Since he didn't need to avoid every single beast, he didn't need to zigzag around and could just go toward the east in a straight line.
By now, the Sweeper was no longer in Shang's Spirit Sense.
The world around Shang became browner as fewer and fewer plants appeared. The Ancestral Beasts also became fewer and fewer.
But the number of Archbeasts actually shot up.
While the Ancestral Beasts had to be careful, the Archbeasts didn't, and Shang could see more and more.
'Not there yet,' Shang thought as he continued.
Suddenly, Shang's instincts began screaming at him.
Shang couldn't see any beast that was attacking him, but he felt like he was under attack.
He immediately realized that he was being attacked by one of those beasts that could hide from Spirit Senses.
While Shang was essentially invisible to Spirit Senses, these kinds of beasts were extremely good at looking through that kind of camouflage. On top of that, they often used their eyes to hunt.
Shang couldn't see or feel any kind of attack coming his way, but he trusted his instincts.
Shang immediately pointed his open hand to the ground, a bit to his left.
While the Sweeper was not inside Shang's Spirit Sense anymore, it didn't mean that Shang wasn't inside the Sweeper's Spirit Sense.
The Sweeper was more powerful, had a greater Spirit Sense, and could even hide from Shang.
It was possible that she was watching him at this moment, and Shang didn't want to show his true power or fighting style.
The Mana in Shang's surroundings moved and shot toward the direction where Shang was pointing his left arm to.
CRR!
The Mana immediately hit something and was blocked, allowing Shang to perceive the attacker simply by looking at where the Mana couldn't move to.
It was a huge snake, nearly 200 meters long.
200 meters was obviously humongous, but for an Archbeast, that was on the small side.
Ancestral Beasts were often several kilometers big, and Archbeasts were mainly between 200 and 500 meters long. 200 meters was the lower end of the spectrum.
But Shang had already expected that. These kinds of ambush hunters were often not the biggest.
While the snake was charging towards Shang with its widely opened maw, Shang inspected it calmly with his Spirit Sense.
'Should be an Early Archbeast,' he thought. 'It isn't that fast, and it doesn't give off a very strong feeling of threat.'
'Shouldn't be a problem.'
The Mana surrounding the snake gathered in front of Shang's hand in an instant. The Mana was so fast that it seemed like time and space didn't matter to it.
Then, Shang shoved his arm forward.
BANG!
The snake suddenly hit something and stopped in the air. It was like it had suddenly hit an invisible barrier!
The snake hadn't been injured, but its charge had been completely stopped.
Shang had used his World Connection to compress the Mana in the surroundings and created a shield.
While Shang's body was weaker than the Early Archbeast's, his World Connection was of a higher Realm than the Archbeast. The Early Archbeast couldn't compare to Shang's World Connection.
After the snake hit the invisible shield, Shang pulled his right hand back and formed a blade with it.
Then, he chopped.
The Mana in the surroundings gathered on Shang's hand and slashed forward like a humongous but invisible blade.
CRACK! BANG!
The invisible blade broke the snake's scales and threw it into the brown ground. By now, there were nearly no trees around, and the world looked more like a dead wasteland.
A huge cloud of dust exploded from the spot where the snake landed on the ground.
It would seem like the snake had died, but Shang knew that it was still alive.
After all, this was a beast a level above him. While his World Connection was very powerful, he couldn't just kill a beast above his level with a slap.
Shang formed a tip with his index and middle fingers.
The Mana of the world gathered in front of Shang's fingers.
Then, he stabbed toward the spot where the snake was.
CRACK!
A beam of concentrated and invisible Mana shot forward, hitting the snake, which had just tried to fly out of the crater it had just created with its body.
The beam hit the snake on the top of its head, breaking its scales and cracking its skull.
BANG!
The snake hit the ground again.
Shang gathered more Mana and stabbed forward again.
CRACK!
This time, the snake's skull broke apart, destroying huge parts of the snake's brain.
Although severely injured, the snake was still alive, and it was clumsily trying to flee.
Shang formed a fist, and the Mana transformed into a huge and heavy blade.
Then, he swung his fist downward.
BOOOOM!
The cracked hole in the snake's skull completely broke apart, and its entire skull collapsed onto the snake's brain.
The snake hit the ground, and its body spasmed for a couple of seconds before stopping.
It had died.
