Shang continued training against the Abomination Lords for several more centuries.

Luckily, nothing of note happened within the next 700 years, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

The other Empires were rarely using Peak Mage Lords, and when they did, they only sent out average ones.

Naturally, the Lightning Manor could easily deal with these weaker Mage Lords.

The problem was that the war was going too smoothly for the Lightning Manor.

After years and years of barely being able to survive, the Lightning Manor could now defend itself easily, and the population of their Ancestral Mages was starting to increase again.

All of this was thanks to Shang since he had dealt with the most troublesome opponents and made it impossible for the Empires to send any powerful Peak Mage Lords into battle.

However, the smooth progression of the Lightning Manor put immense pressure on the other three Empires.

The three Empires had lost their chance at winning the war in the early phase when they had an overwhelming power advantage.

At this moment, the situation didn't look bad for the three Empires, but they could see toward which direction the line graph gravitated.

They had already used all their weapons, and Shang was still alive.

The only way to deal with Shang meant going to even greater extremes.

The easier it was for the Lightning Manor, the greater the chance that the war would intensify.

It was possible that the Mage Kings and Mage Emperors might actually get involved.

If they combined their powers, they could definitely kill the Lightning Emperor.

But what about Shang?

They would still be able to kill Shang when he was a Sword King, but when he actually got enough time to advance inside the Sword King Realm, things might become very troublesome.

Maybe, at some point, Shang could even kill the weakest Mage Emperor while he was still a Sword King.

And then?

Well, Shang didn't look like a very forgiving and magnanimous person.

They knew that if Shang managed to win against King Sanctified Death, their time had come.

Would they be willing to admit that they lost the gamble and willingly lay down their lives?

Of course not.

At some point, they would unite and kill Shang and the Lightning Emperor.

The Lightning Manor needed to do something to stop the other Empires from going overboard.

In essence, the Lightning Manor wasn't allowed to win the game. They had to prolong it and act like they could still lose.

But for now, things were still okay. The Empires would only get desperate when Shang was about to enter the grand tournament.

After 700 years, Shang finally managed to comprehend the very thing he had set out to comprehend.

A non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings that would help Shang comprehend the last Destination of Warrior Emperors.

Sword Focus.

As for what it did…

One of the Abominations shot at Shang just after he had comprehended Sword Focus.

A moment later, Shang used Void Break to strengthen his body and put his sword away.

Shang pulled back his arm and punched the Abomination Lord's arm.

BOOOOOM!

With a single punch, the Abomination Lord was thrown into the distance. Its scales were still in one piece, but its internal organs received some damage.

This was what Sword Focus did.

Sword Blood was the essential technique that each non-essential Destination for Warrior Kings used, and Sword Focus wasn't any different.

Sword Blood was usually outside the warrior's body during combat, and Blood Compression increased its power in this state.

In contrast, Sword Focus worked when Sword Blood was inside the warrior's body.

With Sword Focus, Sword Blood could enter the warrior's muscles, increasing the power of the warrior's body by a level.

However, every bit of movement would use up a bit of Sword Blood, and since Sword Focus could only be used while Sword Blood was inside the body, the warrior couldn't efficiently use Sword Blood or Blood Compression while also using Sword Focus.

Sword Focus was usually used to get close to an enemy that was fighting from long range or when the warrior was being ambushed.

For Shang, Sword Focus was extremely useful.

With his Beast Core, the strength of Shang's body was on par with a beast, but with the addition of Shang's transformation after comprehending Void Break, it was even a level higher, elevating the base power of Shang's body to the same level as an Initial Beast King.

When Shang used Void Break, his body reached the level of an Early Beast King.

And with Sword Focus, on top of that, Shang's body could now reach the level of a Mid Beast King.

Even more, creating a Death Edge didn't take a lot of Sword Blood, which meant that Shang could create a Death Edge and still use Sword Focus.

With this much power, Shang was certain that only beasts like the Thunder King would be able to resist his power.

Every other beast in the world was no longer a danger to Shang.

And as a for humans…

Nearly every Mage King had a fivefold Spirit Sense, and they all knew at least one level six Concept already.

Shang was confident in winning against an Initial Mage King, but an Early Mage King would be extremely difficult to kill.

Nevertheless, Shang had reached a level at which he could finally fight Mage Kings.

Mage Kings.

Shang still remembered the time the Starlight Queen had forcefully teleported Shang away.

Her power had been incomprehensible.

Shang also remembered when one of the Mage Kings had tried to kill him while he was in his Defender Flag at the border of the Judgment Palace.

Shang had been completely helpless back then.

There were less than 100 Mage Kings in the world.

And now, Shang could actually fight them.

Depending on how many Mage Kings exactly were currently alive, Shang might have actually managed to enter the top 100.

Right now, Shang might actually belong to the 100 strongest beings in the entire world.

He was so close to his goal.