A couple of territories away from Shang, the Lightning Manor was fighting a desperate war.
Ever since the war started, over 50 Ancestral Mage Clouds had died, and only 30 new ones had been born during this time.
The number of Ancestral Mage Clouds was declining.
The numbers of Archmages were not that problematic, and the number of High Mages was no problem.
The Land and Sky Empire and the Twilight Dusk Family were playing the long game. They weren't putting a lot of pressure on the Lightning Manor, which meant that the Lightning Manor's forces weren't shrinking by much.
However, the numbers of powerful Mages in the other Empires were not only not shrinking but even growing.
Such huge wars allowed the creation of powerful geniuses through tempering on the battlefield. On top of that, the addition of valuable resources the Empires were selling at a loss caused even more powerful people to emerge.
Ever since the war started, the number of Ancestral Mages with a fourfold Spirit Sense in the Twilight Dusk Family increased by 20.
Same with the Land and Sky Empire.
All three Empires had started with about 100 Ancestral Mages with fourfold Spirit Senses.
And now, the Lightning Manor had 80, and the other two had 120 each.
From 100 against 200, it had transformed to 80 against 240.
The other Realms were not in trouble, but the Ancestral Mage Realm represented the future.
In the future, everyone would be fighting with Mage Lords, and these powerful Ancestral Mages would be the powerful Mage Lords of the future.
Luckily, the Lightning Manor had the warriors, who were starting to explode in numbers and power.
After so many years, there were now over 10,000 World Connection warriors and 20 of them even had threefold Spirit Senses.
The war had started 800 years ago.
For almost everyone, the war had been going on ever since they had been born. Only the very oldest Archmages and stronger remembered a time without war.
War had become normal to everyone.
A lot of people were even used to fighting on the frontlines.
Yet, there was one area that no one could get used to.
The southeastern Zone of the Lightning Manor.
While the fighting everywhere else was relatively calm, this Zone was a huge meat grinder.
The Judgment Palace was desperately trying to break through this Zone so that they could release their Archmages or High Mages in the neighboring Zone.
Naturally, the Lightning Manor was desperately trying to stop that from happening.
The Ancestral Mages had the highest casualty rate.
New Ancestral Mages that fought for the first time couldn't believe the number of fights happening here and the number of people dying.
Yet, the Ancestral Mages that had been fighting for longer had something different to say.
It used to be way worse.
It had been horrible near the beginning of the war.
Then, things had calmed down a bit.
After that, things turned absolutely horrible again.
And then, things changed.
The Judgment Palace was still attacking with as much fervor as before, but they were losing way more battles than before.
The reason was that they couldn't defend important chokepoints.
It was normal to create a tendril of conquered territories to isolate a number of territories from the other territories. After that, they could slowly take out one territory after the other.
This was how these wars were fought.
But 200 years ago, something changed.
The Judgment Palace stopped using Defender Flags to defend these chokepoints.
Because of that, the Lightning Manor could cut off the tendrils at the base, essentially surrounding the tendrils how the tendrils wanted to surround other territories.
After several years of massive failures, the Judgment Palace stopped using the tendril strategy and decided to conquer each territory one at a time.
That was much slower and less efficient.
Even more, the Lightning Manor still had their Defender Flags, and they were using the tendril strategy to conquer back some of their own territories.
The casualty rate for the Judgment Palace was far higher than for the Lightning Manor.
And everyone knew why things had developed this way.
The Ancestral Hero.
800 years ago, the Ancestral Hero had stood in front of the Judgment Palace on his own, and he had represented an immovable wall.
The Judgment Palace even needed to conquer some territories of their allies to get past him.
Yet, even though the Judgment Palace managed to get past the Ancestral Hero, the Ancestral Hero never died.
And he had never stopped battling the Judgment Palace on his own.
No one had seen him in 800 years.
Yet, all of them knew that he was alive.
The Judgment Palace seemed impossibly powerful on paper, but the actual power the Judgment Palace demonstrated wasn't as impressive.
Everyone knew why.
The Ancestral Hero was still causing problems.
Nearly no one that was still alive had actually seen the Ancestral Hero before since he had vanished 800 years ago, but everyone knew his name.
Shang Sword.
A warrior.
The ancestor of all warriors.
The most powerful warrior in the world.
His power was legendary.
His name was eternal.
What did he look like?
Was he a tall and handsome warrior with long and flowing black hair, wearing a golden set of plate armor, a shield, and a long spear?
Was he a wise and unfathomable sage of the sword?
Maybe he was a charismatic and beautiful man that laughed a lot with his friends?
A couple of people heard some descriptions from others that had actually seen the Ancestral Hero before.
Apparently, he was a mysterious, reflective, and taciturn blind man that trained all day.
A blind warrior?
This created a very mystical image in one's mind.
In fiction, blind swordsmen were often depicted as tranquil and humble masters of their craft. Initially, they always appeared like weak but friendly men, but as soon as they took out their sword, they would transform into powerful sages.
The Ancestral Hero was like that?
That was amazing!
Many Mages wanted to meet with this wise individual, and many warriors wanted to study under this kind master.
But for that to happen, they needed to save the Ancestral Hero from the clutches of the Judgment Palace first.
They had to save their beloved hero!
For years, they tried their best to create pathways to the Ancestral Hero, but the Judgment Palace was a powerful enemy.
Nevertheless, for the first time in a long while, they were actually winning back more territory than they were losing!
900 years after the war had started, the Lightning Manor was fighting back!
They were reconquering the territories they had lost!
The Judgment Palace fought brutally, but the people from the Lightning Manor could tell that they were desperate.
The Lightning Manor felt re-energized!
Their enemies were dying!
And then, something happened.
Something that wouldn't only shock the Zone but the entire world.
