The Rise of the Black Plain

Two weeks after Minos' passage through the City of a Thousand Races...

In an area of the Western Empire, one of Vico Travisani's envoys was investigating the surroundings, surprisingly having just found traces of Emperor Stuart while investigating the map of the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus.

This man had been chasing traces of that map for weeks, and so had arrived in this enemy territory, feeling a sudden spiritual fluctuation left by the 'tracker' inside Minos' body.

Minos was quite capable of erasing his tracks, but to do so with the signals emitted by that one was beyond his capabilities.

As such, he had left behind some traces, even though he was unaware of such a thing.

However, this had only remained in the places he had stayed the longest, as for this remaining signal to stay behind any longer, his body had to stay long enough in an area to leave a mark behind.

As such, for most of the way from Minos to this empire, no trace had been left behind.

Precisely because of this, this man's investigation had begun in the Veora Kingdom and now was in this enemy state of his.

In any case, upon arriving in this place, this disguised man had immediately heard about some recent incidents involving someone at the 8th stage exhibiting abilities far above his level.

He had thought about the possibility this person was a user of a legendary cultivation technique. Still, after analyzing the situation, connecting some dots, and listening to some theories locally, he concluded that there was a great chance that this was Minos!

Minos had left Dry City around the same time the map of the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus disappeared and was not in any of the domains he had previously been in.

The investigators of Emperor Stuart's whereabouts already sensed that he was neither in the northern nor eastern regions, much less in the Flowers Kingdom. The suspicion was that he had, for the first time, set foot in the most powerful domains of the Central Continent or was even traveling outside the continent.

In possession of all this information, of his own suspicions, this Spiritual Demigod could not help but frown as he looked at the port from which Minos had departed.

"Minos Stuart found the map?" He muttered to himself as he clenched his fists, feeling that this brat had fooled the entire Eastern Empire.

He had no way to be sure of his suspicions. Still, with the reports of people who had seen Minos' naval battle weeks ago and the coincidences surrounding this trip of his, this envoy from Vico wanted to pursue his suspicions thoroughly.

'Damn you, you damned northerner!' He thought. 'If this is really your doing, then why is the damned Spiritual Church investigating you and the disappearance of that fucking map as well?

Are you acting alone? He thought, remembering that Gloria's faction had been being oppressed in the northern region by the larger factions of the Spiritual Church.

As for the Church's actions in search of Minos, this man did not doubt that these actions were genuine and not just something to distract potential enemies.

The Church really did not seem to be acting in concert with Minos!

Thinking about it, this man couldn't help but doubt the actions of Minos, an external member of that organization, who was acting suspiciously.

'Do you want to understand the value of that for yourself to negotiate with us?' He thought about this possibility while cursing Minos of 50 different possibilities, feeling that the whole continent would suffer because of one idiot.

In the distant past, this man had joined Vico Travisani not only because of that emperor's impressive talent but also because he believed in that man's concerns.

Everyone of high rank in the Travisani family knew how risky the continent was and judged that to avoid the calamity that could wipe them all out, they had to avoid concerns like the one related to the Seraphim Ancient Sarcophagus.

As such, this man's concern was genuine. It was not just because Minos was acting against the interests of the Eastern Empire.

'I will send a notification to the emperor...' He thought about it. 'After that, I will see where these traces lead me!'

...

The investigators from the Spiritual Church were also after Minos. Still, because they had no way of identifying his traces like those from the Eastern Empire, they were further away from discovering the possibility of his involvement in everything.

Because of this, for the moment, the situation in the Black Plain Empire was the same, hindering Minos' plans but without endangering his state and important people.

Amid this, the Spiritual Sages of this state continued to progress with the wormhole ports' development, improving the northern region's local integration.

The situation of the Flaming Empire and Minos' allied states was the same as before as well.

Minos and his family didn't know exactly how the situation in their domains was, but they already expected things to be more or less as they were.

With that, as he traveled closer to the most powerful region of the Ancestral Sea, his family members continued to focus on cultivating within the Spatial Kingdom.

In that place, Minos' women were still at their previous level but approaching advancements as they saw a little more of Sarah's and Kendrick's growth.

Unlike Kendrick, who could only learn little by little about the fantastic Spiritual World, Sarah could already be considered a powerful cultivator by northern region standards.

Every day she learned a little more from her mothers but also from Emlyn, Kyla, and the elders and members of the Grey Clouds Sect who were there to train during Minos' trip.

Amidst the relatively quiet atmosphere of this sacred place of cultivation and training, now and then, Minos sent letters and items, indicating that all was well and updating them on his journey.

Recently he had indicated that he was not far from his goal, and in no more than another month's travel, he would reach the place where the floating island abandoned by the Spiritual Church should be.

As for the rest, no one should worry about him, and soon he expected to meet them.

In the meantime, he continued to travel the oceanic floor, taking advantage of the possibility of traveling through this quieter part of the sea in a direction many creatures had been avoiding recently.

But that would soon change!