After dealing with both corpses, Shang flew back to the branch.
He got past the roots of the Yellow Sunbreaker and entered.
Trapper still sat in the middle of the branch, and when he saw White Ghost return without Ice Princess, he knew what that meant.
He felt a complex mix of emotions.
He was frustrated that he hadn't been the one to "dominate", "conquer", and "ruin" Ice Princess.
He was angry that Shang made it forever impossible for Trapper to realize this dream of his.
He felt glad that the arrogant bitch Ice Princess finally got what was coming to her.
But more than anything, he felt shocked about White Ghost's power.
White Ghost could kill Ice Princess on his own?
But then, he realized something.
It probably wasn't White Ghost that had killed her!
White Ghost had probably only watched her while a Sweeper took care of everything.
However, Trapper still became much more careful in front of Shang.
This was now the second time when someone from their branch had died after going on a mission with White Ghost.
By now, Trapper was sure that White Ghost was the Keeper's most-trusted Named Agent.
From now on, Trapper would make sure that he never showed even the slightest inkling of betrayal in front of White Ghost.
Shang stepped past Trapper without paying him any heed.
Then, he stopped in front of the Keeper.
"I completed the mission," Shang said. "Since Ice Princess is dead, I should get the entire reward."
The Keeper didn't immediately react.
After some seconds, she turned around, but instead of only turning her head a bit, her entire body actually turned to face Shang.
When Trapper saw that, his eyes widened.
The Keeper very rarely moved from her position. Since she was the Territory Lord, nearly her entire mind was occupied with thinking about bigger things than just this branch. Because of that, she rarely reacted to anything happening in this branch in any major way.
After all, she had to overlook dozens of branches.
A bit later, her eyes focused on Trapper, who moved his body back by a bit.
"Go into a training room and activate an Isolation Barrier or leave the branch for a bit. I will call you back," she said.
Trapper looked at Shang for a bit with confusion and shock.
"Sure thing," Trapper said before entering one of the training rooms and activating the Isolation Barrier.
Now, only Shang and the Keeper were left…
Or, more specifically, Shang and the Territory Lord.
"Your talents are wasted here," the Territory Lord said.
Shang didn't answer.
"I want to talk with you about your future. I think we can make better use of your talents someplace else."
"Usually, I lead this kind of discussion with everyone that can fight with a Mage two levels above themselves. The important part here is the word fight. Winning is not necessary."
"Being able to fight someone two levels above yourself means you can jump 1.5 levels. Being able to win against someone like this means you can jump 2 levels."
Shang didn't say anything and just listened.
"I knew that you could jump two levels for a long time. Under normal circumstances, that would be more than enough for me to have this talk with you."
"But I'm not a Mage," Shang interjected, "right?"
The Territory Lord nodded solemnly.
"We have never accepted any non-Mage in our inner circle since they are all too weak. Additionally, joining the inner circle means that the Temple of Blood will lose a mountain of resources. We are investing in new people in the hope that they will one day become Mage Lords and lead the Temple of Blood."
"So, even if you could jump 1.5 levels, investing more resources into you will most likely end in a net loss for us."
"You traveled to the Sky Lantern so that you may gain inspiration on how to reach the next Realm. I know that all too well."
"Yet, even when you gain inspiration, you can't guarantee that your plan will actually work, and you also can't guarantee that your Battle-Strength won't suddenly fall significantly."
"Additionally, even if you knew of a surefire way to reach the Sixth Realm with an incredible Battle-Strength, you can't guarantee that you will be able to do the same thing with the Seventh Realm."
"Investing in powerful Mages is already risky, and investing in you would be even riskier. In fact, investing in you would be akin to throwing a bunch of Grade Seven Mana Crystals into the wilderness and hoping that there would be more of them the next time we look."
"It's not realistic."
"But things are different now," the Territory Lord added. "You took care of two Late Archmages in a very short period of time. Even more, one of them was the daughter of the Wildfern Family's Treasury Master."
When Shang heard that, he took a deep breath.
When he had heard the target's name earlier, he had already suspected that this might have some consequences.
However, Shang hadn't expected that he had killed someone this important.
The Wildfern Family was on the same level as the Natural Selection Company, and they had four Mage Lords.
Their Treasury Master was one of those Mage Lords.
And Shang had just killed a Mage Lord's daughter.
Even though Shang had the backing of the Temple of Blood, this was still very dangerous to him.
It was possible that the Temple of Blood's neighboring territory, the one on top of the Wildfern Family's territory, would suffer severe setbacks due to this.
The Treasury Master of the Wildfern Family might directly come out and patrol his territory, killing every single member of the Temple of Blood he could find.
In an act of desperation, the Temple of Blood might even decide to sacrifice Shang in hopes of appeasing the Treasury Master.
"You're not stupid," the Territory Lord said. "You know that this situation is problematic."
"I know that it is not your fault. I was the one that misjudged your power, and I was the one that sent you on the mission."
"However, all of that doesn't matter."
"I'm strong."
"You're weak."
"Even if I came forward and decided to take all the blame, the Temple of Blood would still make you their scapegoat."
Shang didn't move, but his Spirit Sense kept focusing on the Territory Lord. "But that's not what will happen," he said. "If it were, we wouldn't be talking right now."
"That depends on you," the Territory Lord said. "If you are valuable enough, the Temple of Blood won't sacrifice you."
"And how am I supposed to prove my worth?" Shang asked.
The Territory Lord looked at Shang with a serious expression.
"You need to trust me," she said. "You need to tell me everything about yourself."
Shang didn't show any reaction.
A second later, the Territory Lord summoned a small Magic Rune in her hand.
Shang knew this Rune.
This was an SKP.
"I need you to create a temporary SKP for this conversation," the Territory Lord said. "The temporary SKP allows me to tell you secrets I'm normally not allowed to tell you. As long as we delete the SKP after the conversation, there won't be any problem."
Shang's Spirit Sense focused on the Rune.
"But you are not creating one for yourself."
The Territory Lord didn't answer.
"You want me to trust you, but you're not trusting me."
The Keeper only looked with an emotionless gaze at Shang.
"I have a choice."
"You don't."
"Trust only goes both ways when all parties are similar in strength."
"Either you trust me, or you die."
