Shang and Gregorio met up and quickly buried the last couple of Abomination Kings that were necessary.
The entire time, Gregorio was barely saying anything, and he also avoided looking at Shang.
Shang didn't notice Gregorio's strange conduct.
Ever since he had become free from pain, Shang's mind was preoccupied with his own plan and his future.
Gregorio had worked together with Shang for tens of thousands of years, and Shang didn't even think about whether or not Gregorio would try anything on him or not.
After all, everything had worked out fine for such a long time. Why would things suddenly change?
After they were done, Shang prepared himself for a couple of hours before contacting Gregorio with his pin.
Shang no longer wanted to wait.
"I am going to become a Sword King now."
Gregorio didn't answer for a while.
"Do you need anything specific?" he asked.
"No," Shang answered with a smirk. "Nobody in the world will even notice."
"Okay, good luck," Gregorio said before cutting the connection.
Shang put the pin away with a smirk.
Shang slowly increased his altitude by quite a bit until he felt comfortable.
'There's no reason to wait anymore,' Shang thought as a slight glint appeared in his eyes. 'I will now attain my sevenfold Spirit Sense.'
'Sure, I could remain in this Realm for longer to comprehend level siX Concepts, but what would be the point? A Spirit Sense is only good for two things.'
'Showing others one's talent and gaining a range advantage in a battle.'
'With a sevenfold Spirit Sense, I will already outrange all of my opponents unless they are a Realm higher.'
'And as for proving my talent?'
Shang just smirked.
'It doesn't matter. Power is power. The opinions of others have no power over me.'
At this moment, Shang was 29,000 years old, and he would now become a Sword King.
Shang was the oldest being in the Seventh Realm that had ever existed for obvious reasons.
And now, this oldest being would reach the Eighth Realm.
Was Shang the first one that ever managed to attain a sevenfold Spirit Sense?
Nobody knew.
Maybe, maybe not.
Shang raised his right hand, and a second later, a huge Isolation Barrier appeared around him.
Creating something like an Isolation Barrier wasn't very difficult for someone on Shang's level.
He might not be as good in Magic as the average Peak Mage Lord, but he was still on the level of an Initial Mage Lord.
"Let's start the show," Shang said with a smirk before snapping his fingers.
SHING!
In an instant, several Abomination Kings appeared, which didn't move at all.
They all just looked at Shang with fanatic eyes.
Shang already knew that he had to absorb several times more Mana than normal people due to his elevated being, but that didn't matter.
Back when Shang had talked to Abaddon for the first time, Abaddon had said that there was enough Mana for both of them to become Gods, and he hadn't been wrong.
While Abaddon definitely didn't know about Entropy and what Abominations were actually made of, he had the correct idea.
Shang just needed to summon and absorb Abominations.
Abominations came from outside Aterium, and absorbing them would not put any strain on Aterium's Mana.
Shang no longer needed any Mana to become more powerful.
In fact, Shang didn't even need the prize of the humongous tournament in about 22,000 years.
He could just remain in hiding until it was time.
Although, at some point, someone would probably find him.
Sure, Shang could stay at the bottom of the world, but he would need to keep his Domain of Entropy active at all times, and due to the intense heat and pressure, all the Abominations he summoned would immediately collapse and transform into Destruction.
So, while Shang could theoretically reach the Sword Emperor Realm completely in secret, it was based on the fact that no one was searching for him.
This meant that Shang still had to be careful.
After summoning the Abomination Kings, Shang destroyed one of them and absorbed their Entropy and Mana.
Shang felt like he was about to explode, but before he actually did, he willed his being to advance toward the next Realm.
CRACK!
It was like the reality around Shang broke apart, and the next moment, Mana was pouring toward him like crazy.
In an instant, the surrounding 100,000 kilometers of Mana shot toward him.
Shang had already expected something like that, which was why he was located near the northwestern edge of the world.
Shang decided to look at what was happening for a bit longer.
Over the next seconds, the Mana absorption extended until it reached a distance of 700,000 kilometers, but that was when it stopped
Shang was absorbing all the Mana from that distance.
When Shang saw that, he smirked. '700,000 kilometers, huh? Isn't that the size of my future Spirit Sense?'
Shang noticed that his body and mind became more and more unstable as time passed.
His body and mind wanted to advance to the Sword King Realm, but the Mana they were absorbing was too little to support such an advancement.
It was like Shang's being was running out of fuel.
'So, that's how it feels when you try to break through without enough Mana, huh?' Shang thought with a chuckle.
BANG!
One of the Abomination Kings was turned into Mana and Entropy, which was quickly absorbed by Shang.
Shang's body and mind stabilized with the new influx of energy, but some seconds later, they started to become unstable again.
Shang just absorbed another Abomination King.
By now, the absorption of the Mana from the atmosphere had also slowed down significantly.
After all, Shang's being didn't need the Mana from the atmosphere. What the Abominations were giving him was more than enough.
Shang killed a couple more Abomination Kings over the next couple of minutes, and eventually, Shang's body stopped absorbing Mana.
At the same time, Shang felt his Spirit Sense expand.
100,000 kilometers.
200,000 kilometers.
300,000 kilometers.
400,000 kilometers.
500,000 kilometers.
600,000 kilometers.
And finally, 700,000 kilometers!
As soon as Shang felt the size of his new Spirit Sense, he broke out into maniacal laughter.
"I've done it!" he shouted.
"A body that is a level above of what it should be!"
"A mind a level above of what it should be!"
"A perfect Affinity for every single Element!"
"I've done it!"
Shang extended his arms and looked at the sky with a wide grin.
"I'm perfect!"
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