The Rise of the Black Plain

Three weeks after meeting the Spiritual Sage of the Eastern Empire, Minos had once again left for the battlefield in the Flaming Empire.

He had done what he could to strengthen the defenses of his capital before leaving, as well as waiting as long as possible. But he could not wait forever. Resolving the Grey Clouds Sect situation was the quickest way for him to get enough to finish with Abe.

Since doing nothing and staying in Dry City would not help him, Minos left after taking as much action as possible but prepared to make this trip as quickly as possible.

He knew that the enemy would attack. That way, once he appeared on the battlefield, he intended to do his job quickly and leave without caring too much about helping his forces in that empire clear the battlefield.

And so, without Abe noticing, Minos was almost arriving in the vicinity of the battlefield between those two organizations, where he had ordered the Gray Clouds Sect to build a teleportation port.

'Time to get to work...' This regional leader thought about it before entering the last teleportation port in a city in the central part of the Flaming Empire.

...

'It looks like he's finally going to act...' The Spiritual Sage of the Eastern Empire thought as he watched Abe's group, knowing that Minos had once again left for the Flaming Empire.

'I wonder what will happen? Maybe that fellow has gathered forces strong enough to stop Abe?' He worried.

It was in the interests of the people he represented that Abe and Minos' conflict last so that they would have enough time to find the map they sought.

So just because this man had been acting to ensure Abe's survival did not mean he wanted Minos to lose!

Quite the contrary, the best thing for this man and those he represented were that Abe and Minos stayed in a stalemate.

In this way, he did not want Abe to wipe out Dry City on this day!

He already knew that Minos' words had been true. That's because, on his visit to the capital of the Kingdom of the Waves, he had indeed identified signs of an alternate dimension in the area.

This dimension collapsed after the inheritance of the Goddess of Life was completed. Still, it was a fact that there was such a thing there previously.

To this man's misfortune, although he had the skills to identify that there was something in that area below the royal palace of that kingdom, he could not date such a dimension. And with that, he had fallen for Minos' little lie.

'It will still be a while before we find all the possible heritages in this region, and we have to find suitable people to enter those pockets of space...' He figured his group's situation would be the same for at least a few months, even considering their ability to act.

Finding heritages' locations was not so easy, even for people with space manipulation skills. That was because, when active, heritages in alternate dimensions could hide the signals that spatial deformations usually emitted.

That was also one of the reasons that Spatial Kingdoms were challenging to find!

But besides problems in finding the location of something like this, there were also limitations related to them. That was because, in general, inheritances could not be accessed by high-level cultivators!

Usually, those who left behind inheritances thought of something called a legacy. But this would hardly be remembered as it should be or appropriately done by people past their best growth stage.

So there was an age limit to safely access such domains, something that high-level experts could hardly ignore.

Cultivation could be fast at the beginning when someone has youth, a good talent, resources, and challenges. But as one grows stronger, one would not only experience fewer challenges, but one would also grow older and miss the best time to cultivate.

Talent would no longer respond optimally because of these two setbacks. Consequently, there would be a decrease in cultivation speed, which could also affect that individual's resource access.

Someone who fought more could find better resources and conquer opponents' items. But, on the other hand, once age came, the cultivator would cultivate slower in their stage. That is, they would be more limited to that cultivation range and could no longer compete for resources needed to go further.

The result of this negative cycle was what one might have seen in the northern region before the rise of the Black Plain, with cultivators not evolving after reaching the 6th stage. The same could be seen in the Flaming Empire, where only Harold had reached the 9th stage.

Therefore, the group of that Spiritual Sage needed young, i.e., weaker, people to venture into the unique domains that might exist in this northern region.

Since this was risky and not very efficient, there was a risk that things would not be resolved in a short time, even if they knew the location of these heritages.

Hence this expert worries about the continuity of the conflict between Minos and Abe!

...

Meanwhile, in the vicinity of the Black Plain Empire...

Minos' wives and many powerful cultivators from this state were on alert in Dry City.

Since Minos' group knew that the enemy would threaten them in some way after his departure to fight in the Flaming Empire, everyone was already in place, preparing for a conflict.

Only essential services were functioning in the capital. At the same time, part of the population had been directed to safer locations built for attacks.

At the same time, the number of soldiers on the streets and around this city was high, with several specialists stationed throughout this large city.

The army beasts were in green areas, waiting for the signal to leave against the enemies, while many allies were hidden in tunnels and underground areas.

They could not demonstrate their preparation to the enemy, so many of these forces were hidden around the capital and the belt of cities there.

Abby, Ruth, and Gloria were together with some of these groups at the moment, fully armed in waiting for the attack.

But although the current situation was rather bad for their side, which did not have their main strength at the moment, they were not afraid.

Sarah was in the Spatial Kingdom, while each of them had already fought battles away from Minos over the years. Thus, they were all prepared for this moment and were naturally leading the people present.

Among these were the envoys from the Gray Clouds Sect, Church and Assembly of Vogel, Spiritual Saints, and high-level Spiritual Emperors.

But this time, even Gavin was standing by to participate in a possible battle in the surrounding area, even considering the dangers of the Saints Killing Sect discovering him in this place.

'Minos is already acting against those people, so I think me showing myself will result in little change...' This level 71 Spiritual Saint pondered over that. 'We'll probably lure the organization's leaders here somehow, but the Gray Clouds Sect will send members here once that war is over.'

'In any case, we'll continue to have trouble with those bastards!' His eyes sharpened as he stood beside Abby's group, waiting for the decisive moment.

...