Shang stood in the middle of a crater with several crevices inside it.
He was silently standing in front of a head and a body.
He didn't say anything for several seconds.
"I guess it didn't work."
A person wearing a black cloak stood behind Shang.
This was that one Sweeper that had led Shang to the Sky Lantern back then.
Right now, it was her job to keep an eye on Shang. The Temple of Blood's plan was in its final stages, and they needed Shang to be available whenever they were contacted by the Twilight Dusk Family.
Shang was traveling the world, and to keep an eye on him, they had commissioned the Sweeper that had escorted him back then.
She was supposed to protect Shang from Ancestral Beasts that were too powerful, stop him from walking into dangerous locations, and make sure that he didn't run away for whatever reason.
In short, she was essentially Shang's babysitter or guard.
"No," Shang answered.
"I'm not surprised," the Sweeper said. "You're trying to understand something far beyond your level. It took me over 300 years to learn how to absorb all the Mana in the atmosphere to strengthen my Spells, and I'm an Ancestral Mage."
"It doesn't matter," Shang answered before destroying the headless corpse in front of him.
After that, Shang took to the sky and flew away.
The Sweeper followed after Shang. "Why are you so desperately trying to comprehend Void Casting at this very moment? From what I have seen, something like that would be used to reach the Seventh Realm, not the Sixth Realm."
"Comprehending Void Casting before reaching the Sixth Realm is already basically impossible, and you're not even a Mage."
"You're just wasting your time," she said.
"I need ten Grade Six Mind Flow Pellets," Shang said with an emotionless voice.
"Another ten?" the Sweeper asked. "The Temple has already made several complaints the last time I gave you some. I don't care how many Mind Flow Pellets you use, but the Temple might overthink their support of you if you keep siphoning that much money out of them."
"Your concern is of no weight," Shang said neutrally.
Silence.
"Fine," the Sweeper said with a cold voice as she summoned a bottle filled with pills. "I shouldn't have tried to help you."
She threw the bottle of pills over to Shang, who pocketed them.
Shang looked for an isolated cave and tasked the Sweeper to create an Isolation Barrier around it. He didn't want anyone to interfere.
Then, Shang summoned something.
When the Sweeper saw the object Shang had summoned, she took a deep breath.
She wasn't the one that suffered whenever this thing was summoned, but she still felt anxious.
It was an Isolation Chamber.
Shang had taken one of the Isolation Chambers from Icy Bastion with him.
Isolation Chambers cut off all kinds of Mana from their insides.
Since Shang was trying to comprehend Void Casting, he thought about using the Isolation Chambers.
Void Casting worked by rapidly filling a Spell with far more Mana than it could handle and then releasing all that Mana before it could destroy the Spell itself.
It was a delicate act of balance. If one used too much Mana, the entire Spell would explode into the Mage's face. If one used too little, basically nothing would happen.
However, while Mages used Void Casting to fill their Spells with more Mana, Shang was trying to use Void Casting to fill his body with more Mana.
If Shang accidentally absorbed too much, his body would literally explode.
In fact, it had already exploded several times.
Shang's life was always in danger whenever he absorbed too much Mana, and he had already nearly died five times.
But he wouldn't stop.
Additionally, he had found that his body managed to absorb slightly more Mana each time he tried it again.
Sadly, the speed at which this ability was growing was insanely slow.
According to the Sweeper, if Shang truly wanted to achieve Void Casting with his body, he would need about 1,500 years of training to pull it off.
Shang had less than 300 years of longevity left…
Shang's training methods had already been more than intense, and he hadn't taken a single break ever since the Sweeper had accepted this job.
He had also constantly searched for more beasts to try his new ability in dangerous moments.
Yet, even with all of that, Shang would still need about 1,500 years.
According to the Path for the warriors Shang had created, the warriors would need to comprehend Void Casting to reach the Seventh Realm. This meant that they would already be in the Sixth Realm, which had a longevity of 5,000 years.
1,500 years to reach the Seventh Realm from the Sixth Realm would be pretty impressive.
Even more, a warrior in the Sixth Realm would have a more powerful body and mind than Shang.
But Shang would be able to achieve that with the body and mind of a warrior in the Fifth Realm.
However, all of that would still need five times as many years as Shang had left.
Because of that, Shang's training became even more insane.
Instead of just fighting beasts, Shang was now searching for Ancestral Mages.
He would attack them and then run into their Spells on purpose.
If he didn't manage to absorb a great part of the enemy's Spell with his body, the Spell would blow him apart and kill him.
That was literally insane.
It was suicidal.
It was irrational.
Shang was forcing his body to either adapt or die.
But it still wasn't enough.
His body still didn't adapt fast enough.
That was when Shang decided to use the Isolation Chambers.
He would starve his body of Mana for a significant amount of time.
His body would crave more and more Mana, and it would try to absorb as much Mana as it could.
But there was no Mana.
And then, when Shang was about to die, the Isolation Chamber would open and let Mana inside.
It sounded simple.
Yet, this seemingly simple process was the most painful thing Shang had ever experienced in his entire life.
