Shang went to Fleros and bought another two Grade Seven Mana Crystals worth of Furnace Pills.
Fleros had given Shang around 2,400 Furnace Pills ever since he had arrived in the Hibye, and Fleros still had difficulties wrapping his mind around the fact that Shang wanted more.
Sure, people wanted to become more powerful, but this was just too extreme.
Nevertheless, Fleros had decided to keep a stock of about 1,000 Furnace Pills, and that had been just enough since Shang had asked for 800 more.
Shang left again and flew back to his Isolation Barrier.
"Wait a second!" someone shouted.
Shang stopped and turned his head to the side.
A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes flew over to Shang.
She wore white robes that did their best to hide her curves but failed.
Shang didn't say anything.
"Hey, so, ehm," she said as she looked to the side uncertainly, her fingers twiddling with each other. "Don't you want to know why I stopped you?" she asked.
Shang could tell that she was an early Archmage, which meant that she had just recently been a High Mage Cloud.
Shang didn't say anything. He just remained silent as he faced her.
The Archmage grew nervous, and her face became a bit red. It was like she felt uncomfortable under Shang's intense… stare?
After a couple of seconds, Shang looked away again and continued flying.
When the Mage saw that, her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey, wait!"
"What?" Shang asked with annoyance as he turned to her again.
Shang's aggressive tone made the Mage recoil, but she wouldn't stop now. "So, I've seen your fight, and I think you're really strong."
"I don't care," Shang said coldly. "Next time, just say that you don't have anything important to say."
Then, Shang shot away.
The Mage blinked a couple of times in shock.
"Hey, wait!"
But this time, Shang didn't wait, and since Shang was three levels above her, he moved far faster.
In just a second, Shang left the Mage's Spirit Sense and reached his Isolation Barrier.
He entered without any issues.
A couple of seconds later, the girl arrived in front of the Isolation Barrier.
"Hey, I just want to talk!" she shouted.
Shang didn't answer.
"Come out, please," she shouted.
Shang took out a Furnace Pill and consumed it.
The Mage continued begging for Shang to come out and talk, but Shang was busy turning into weird flesh figures.
Also, he didn't care.
After a couple of minutes, the Mage's Aura changed.
Earlier, she had seemed like an innocent girl, but now, she seemed like a cold and scheming empress.
Then, she left without saying anything.
Shang wasn't surprised in any way.
He already knew that every Cloud was his enemy.
All the other Clouds wanted to kill him, and every Cloud that wanted to interact with him was obviously only someone that wanted to lure Shang to a dangerous location to kill him.
All these Clouds were out to get him, and Shang knew that he wasn't safe around them.
He was forbidden from killing them, but if the opportunity presented itself, he would take advantage of it.
Every dead Cloud would be one less enemy.
The wealth he would gain was only secondary to getting rid of a threat.
If he could, Shang would kill all the other Clouds.
They were all dangerous!
However, Shang knew that he couldn't possibly do something like that. Just like the others, Shang had to follow the Lightning Manor's rules.
The pain continued.
From time to time, the Bolts threw some glances at the Isolation Barrier.
Some of them also asked Lucin if that sad warrior was still in there, and Lucin just nodded.
Was he still consuming Furnace Pills?
Lucin nodded.
The Bolts sighed.
20 years later, Shang entered the Isolation Chamber again.
Consuming Furnace Pills had become very easy for Shang, but entering the Isolation Chamber was still horrifying.
The terror and horror Shang experienced inside the Isolation Chamber always nearly broke him.
When Shang exited, he felt exhausted and empty again, but this time, he knew what had happened.
After getting rid of the Death Mana that had crept into his mind, Shang consumed the next Furnace Pill.
He was over 90% done.
Only 20 more years.
Only one more trip into the Isolation Chamber.
Just a bit more!
The frequency of appearances of Mages that wanted to talk to Shang became lower and lower. In the last 20 years, there had only been two.
It seemed like people started to realize that they wouldn't succeed in getting Shang to talk to them.
Years passed.
More and more red sludge that had once been Shang gathered on the hill.
By now, the Isolation Barrier was not acting as a room but as a barrel filled with red sludge made of flesh, blood, and organs.
The ground on the hill couldn't be seen anymore, and a several-meter-high layer of organic sludge was on top of the hill.
All of this represented Shang's suffering.
All of this represented Shang's ambition.
All of this represented Shang's willpower.
All of this represented Shang's sacrifice.
And all of this represented Shang's power.
This was Shang.
This was who Shang was.
And then, Shang used up his last Furnace Pill.
Shang's Mana Pathways had already stopped expanding a couple of Furnace Pills ago, but Shang wanted to be absolutely sure that the next trip into the Isolation Chamber would be his last.
Shang summoned the Isolation Chamber, and it landed on the sludge below it.
It didn't stand straight on the red sludge but was partially buried, skewing its orientation and position.
Shang didn't care and entered it.
The Isolation Chamber closed.
Inside the Isolation Barrier on the hill was a land filled with blood, flesh, and organs.
In the middle of this land was a cube of pure black material.
The only sound in this land was the occasional splosh of some flesh that slid down another piece of flesh.
For the next two months, this land remained like this.
And then, the black cube opened.
