Shang arrived near Icy Bastion.
Just 20 years ago, he had been the Town Lord of Icy Bastion, but that was obviously no longer the case.
The town had never truly belonged to Shang. He had simply been a form of administrator or manager for the town.
For now, an Initial Ancestral Mage was acting as the Town Lord. Thanks to the Abyss Worms, the Town Lord didn't need to be super powerful.
At the moment, over 8,000 people were gathered near the main exit of Icy Bastion.
They were all anxiously waiting for someone.
From what Shang could see, there were about 50 Impose Stage warriors and about 600 True Path Stage warriors. The remaining people were the friends and family of these warriors.
Shang recognized a couple of people that had joined the Temple of Blood already, but based on what they were talking about, their SKP had already been deleted.
This meant that none of them remembered for whom they had been working.
Most of them were confused, but they were also quite happy with the outcome.
They didn't know where it came from, but all of them had earned a ton of money.
At the moment, Shang was just looking at them from around 100 kilometers away.
The Sweeper had left shortly before they entered the range of Icy Bastion's Magic Circles. On the surface, this town belonged to the current Town Lord, and as a Sweeper from the Temple of Blood, the Sweeper couldn't possibly show herself near the town.
When she had stopped before the range of the Magic Circles, Shang had just continued.
He didn't face her.
He didn't say anything.
He just continued flying like she hadn't been there at all.
The Sweeper closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Shang's cold actions hurt her a bit, but she was not some emotional teen.
She would get over it in a matter of minutes.
She knew that they were from different worlds and that there had never been any possibility of things working out.
Also, maybe it was for the better.
Maybe having a relationship with Shang was horrible and painful.
Yet, there was one specific feeling that wouldn't leave the Sweeper's mind for a long time.
Pity.
In her mind, Shang's life was filled with pain and tragedy.
Like basically everyone else, the Sweeper had wished to have such an insanely high Battle-Strength as Shang.
However, after witnessing what Shang was going through to gain so much power, she no longer envied him.
She wouldn't want to become this powerful if it meant living like Shang.
In the end, she simply flew back to her branch and waited for her next assignment.
Watching over Shang had been a job.
Nothing else.
Meanwhile, Shang entered the town and landed near the side of a road, waiting for the person that would lead everyone to the Lightning Manor.
Of course, as the previous Town Lord, basically every person at the True Path Stage and higher immediately recognized him.
They hadn't seen him in 20 years, but no one could forget someone like Shang.
His aura and appearance were unique.
Shang just silently waited.
Some of the True Path Stage warriors were interested in striking up a conversation. After all, Shang was no longer the Town Lord, and he would join the same organization as them soon.
However, the True Path Stage warriors felt an intense pressure and feeling of rejection when they tried to approach Shang with their bodies or Spirit Senses.
He wasn't doing anything special, but the people that wanted to build a connection with him felt like this was a bad idea.
Their instincts were telling them that they really shouldn't try to strike up a conversation with him.
Yet, there were still some people that managed to approach him.
There were five Impose Stage warriors that walked up to Shang.
He didn't react to their approach.
And then, the five Impose Stage warriors bowed with deep respect.
"Master," they echoed respectfully.
"I'm not your master," Shang said evenly.
In the middle of the five people was a beautiful woman with silver hair.
This was the person that had fought Elver in the tournament about 20 years ago.
She counted as the second most powerful warrior in the Twilight Dusk Family's Empire, which was an incredible achievement.
She politely stepped forward and lowered her head respectfully. "Irrelevant of your feelings, you will always be our master."
Shang snorted. "Then, understand that the feeling isn't mutual, and don't expect me to do anything for you."
"We understand," the woman said respectfully.
Shang didn't say anything after that.
The five people left after a couple of seconds. Apparently, they really had only wanted to show their respect to Shang as their former master.
Of course, as basically the progenitor and inventor of the Impose Stage, everyone had the deepest respect for Shang.
Even though Shang was being cold, curt, rude, and refusing, they didn't think lesser of him.
They respected Shang for his accomplishments and what he had done for the warriors, not for the quality of his personality.
After a long period of silence due to Shang's arrival, the people started talking with each other again.
Many of them felt nervous and blessed for being in the presence of the greatest warrior that had ever lived, in their opinion, but they also tried to be polite and act like he wasn't there so that they wouldn't bother him.
Constantly being gawked at by thousands of people was probably uncomfortable.
Of course, Shang didn't care either way.
His mind was much more focused on being frustrated about the fact that he was wasting precious hours.
He could be training right now, but instead, he had to wait for some guy from the Lightning Manor.
As more and more time passed, Shang became angrier and angrier.
He wasn't angry at anyone specific but at the situation.
He wanted to train.
He needed to train!
Yet, training would be a dumb idea right now since it was a bad idea to show too much of his power to everyone, and his training would also be interrupted by the person from the Lightning Manor soon.
As he continued waiting, he simply grew angrier and more impatient.
The surroundings grew heavier and more oppressive for the people.
The people became quieter again since they felt like talking would be a bad thing right now.
Luckily, they only needed to wait a couple of minutes before the escort from the Lightning Manor appeared.
Sure enough, the Lightning Manor was already showing its power.
They sent a Mage Lord.
