30 years after the incident with the Famine, Shang had already sent two other True Path Stage warriors to the Temple of Blood.
By now, there were over 20 True Path Stage warriors in Icy Bastion, and the number of them would only grow higher and higher as more time passed.
Commander Stage warriors could live for 250 years, and there were still many Commander Stage warriors currently alive that would reach the True Path Stage.
Because of that, Shang decided to station a permanent recruiter for the Temple of Blood in this town.
It wasn't easy to convince the True Path Warriors to join the Temple of Blood. After all, the Temple of Blood was too secretive, and many warriors weren't willing to just randomly join some organization they knew nothing about.
So, Shang had ordered David, the red-haired warrior, back to Icy Bastion to recruit some warriors.
And sure enough, in just one month, he had recruited one of Shang's bad Disciples.
When Shang heard about that, he only snorted.
That green-haired warrior was even stupider than most of his Disciples, and he was glad that this Disciple of his was good for something, at least.
With more Mana Crystals, Shang could buy more Mind Flow Pellets.
Another 40 years later, someone reached out to Shang.
It was Duma, his ex-Disciple.
Duma's many children had grown up and had formed their own families. His youngest child was already over 40 years old.
Today, he reached out to Shang because he wanted to leave Icy Bastion.
Alone.
His wife hadn't been nearly as strong as him, which meant that she had eventually died of old age.
After being together with his wife for nearly a hundred years, Duma couldn't remain in this town anymore.
Everything reminded him of his wife.
His children could live on their own, and they were happy. They didn't need him anymore.
He just wanted to leave and go somewhere else.
That was why he had visited Shang.
He wanted Shang to activate the Pathfinder Magic Circle.
Shang only had one question.
"Do you have the funds?"
Duma's face transformed into a mask of devastation.
The funds?
He didn't even have a Grade Five Mana Crystal!
How was he supposed to get a Grade Six Mana Crystal?!
Duma begged Shang to just let him escape, but Shang just threw him out of his castle and ignored him.
Duma had no idea what he should do now.
Every day inside Icy Bastion was a day filled with melancholy and pain.
He was in this state for several days until someone came up to him.
It was David.
Now that Duma's wife was dead, he was far more open to David's persuasion.
Duma was a good soul, and he was not someone that liked to kill people.
But in the end, the pain of living here outweighed the potential dangers of his new job.
Duma accepted, and David brought him to the Temple of Blood.
Would he be happy in the Temple of Blood?
Probably not.
20 years later, the next incident occurred.
A Peak Ancestral Mage visited Icy Bastion, and she immediately demanded to speak to the Town Lord.
The guards had already been intimidated by her power, but when she took out an emblem, they froze in terror.
It was the Twilight Dusk Family's emblem!
Of course, Shang very quickly showed up.
The Ancestral Mage then told Shang about her reason for coming here.
She had gotten word that a Peak True Mage with a Twilight Affinity lived in Icy Bastion.
Shang hadn't heard about such a Mage, but the Ancestral Mage effectively directly pointed out the Mage with her Spirit Sense. She only talked to Shang to show politeness to his status as Town Lord. She didn't actually need his help.
Shang looked towards the Mortal District, and sure enough, there was a black-haired woman that gave off fluctuations of Light and Darkness Mana at the same time.
He didn't know it, but this was the same woman that had been responsible for the mortal district's abundance of food right now.
Shang just allowed the Ancestral Mage to do whatever she wanted, and the Ancestral Mage moved towards the True Mage.
Of course, the True Mage felt like she was dreaming.
Some extremely powerful person, someone that was even more powerful than the illustrious Town Lord, had suddenly come here just to take her away to some paradise?
This was like something out of a novel!
She wanted to accept, but then she remembered something and deflated.
Her people needed her.
She couldn't just leave them behind.
The Ancestral Mage asked why she was so important to her people, and she answered that they needed her to condense Light Mana Crystals for the farm.
With a bored tone and manner, the Ancestral Mage asked for the method she was using.
She handed over the method, and the Ancestral Mage snorted.
She looked at the method as she summoned an empty book.
Words rapidly appeared on every page of the book, and in less than a minute, the entire book had been filled.
SHING!
Then over 200 copies of the book were created in an instant, and she put the books to the side.
She had improved the method several times.
Now, the Affinity was no longer important for creating a Light Mana Crystal, and it would also be five times faster than before.
The Ancestral Mage told the True Mage that she should get some Mages to take over.
The True Mage almost couldn't believe what was happening, but after looking through the improved Spell, she couldn't deny the truth anymore.
But then, she thought of her friends and family. She couldn't just leave them behind.
"They can just come with you," the Ancestral Mage said.
Now, there was no longer any reason for her to decline, and she accepted the invitation.
A couple of days later, her family, a couple of friends, and she gathered near the town's exit.
For the first time, the little True Mage saw the illustrious Town Lord from up close since he was standing just beside her.
Shang had to be present for any interaction with the Twilight Dusk Family.
The Ancestral Mage had left a couple of days ago, and today, she had returned to take the little Mage away.
She looked at the present people and nodded.
But before she left with them, she threw a glance at Shang.
Shang didn't react.
"Why haven't you joined the Twilight Dusk Family?" she suddenly asked Shang.
