The Rise of the Black Plain

As he felt the pollen irritating his nostrils, Minos immediately protected that area of his body with his spiritual energy and realized what was happening.

He stood up from his meditative position in one of the training areas of his residence and clenched his fists. "They're finally moving." He muttered in a low voice, drawing the attention of his wives, who were also there.

Ruth, Gloria, and Abby were looking in the same direction as Minos, recognizing the sign of the Black Plains vegetables.

"Are we being attacked?" Ruth questioned, even though she knew the answer to her question.

"That's the only possibility," Abby commented, feeling anxious, as this was the sign they had been waiting weeks for.

Usually, she and her family would instead take the time to solve their problems as they could improve more easily than people from more ordinary backgrounds. However, dealing with terrorists was stressful and greatly hindered the development of her subordinates and allies.

So Abby and her family preferred to deal with the threat all at once!

Upon noticing the signs of the sentient organisms of this state, the four left that palace, heading towards the place those plants were indicating.

The sign of flowers and pollen of those organisms was not only a warning signal for the enemy attack but also a way to identify the location of those adversary groups.

And from the signs they could see and feel at the moment, the largest and most powerful enemy group was on the northeast side of the Dry City belt of cities. Hence, the four were flying there while the various groups of powerful local cultivators were also heading for the hotspots identified by the plant organisms.

Not only were those four waiting for this moment, but all the empire's high-level Spiritual Emperors and Spiritual Kings were waiting for this moment.

As such, they had plans and knew exactly where to go at this decisive moment, many quickly moving on to more numerous and stronger enemy groups.

...

Minos and his wives quickly arrived near where the most powerful enemies were closing in on them.

There, thousands of people, either from the army or organizations within the empire, appeared to support the main combat front on this day.

The strongest Spiritual Emperors who had returned from the borders in recent weeks, as in the cases of Emlyn, level 66, and Eduard, level 64, were there to make their presence felt.

Most of the patriarchs of local organizations or of Minos' allies in the northern region were there as well, as in the case of the patriarch Nash, level 64, Lorelei Stone, and the supreme elder Miller, both at the same level as Luke's father.

These elders, formerly peak Spiritual Kings of the northern region, had taken great advantage of their advantages as leaders and proximity to the Black Plain to strengthen themselves. That was why they were still among the strongest in the region, even though many of Minos' young soldiers had already caught up with them.

In any case, Minos had a good legion of warriors there, many being individuals used to fighting stronger opponents in groups, just as he had taught.

Then, Patriarch Hayes, level 63, asked Minos as they prepared to pursue their strategies. "Your Majesty, the enemies look very strong. So, will we follow plan A or plan B? I feel that A will be riskier."

Some of the strongest leaders there were around Minos, so they listened to the question from Vivian and Davy's father.

As several people looked at him, Minos answered such a question. "The enemies are powerful, but they are within our predictions."

At the moment, they were already practically face-to-face with the opponents, being only 500 meters away from each other.

But from this distance, they could all already sense their opponents' cultivation levels, which were between level 67 and 75!

On the other hand, their side was between levels 59 and 70, with only Gloria as the only Spiritual Saint among them. Because of this, Hadwin Hayes asked the previous question and suggested plan B to Minos.

Their group had more than two plans for this conflict that would eventually happen on their territory, as indicated by the sentient plants during the past weeks. But the most important of them were the first two. Plan A said that Minos would deal with his strongest opponents alongside his wives. Plan B said that he would share his responsibility with these other people.

But seeing the current situation, it was natural that some regional leaders would worry about Minos dealing with so many individuals at the 8th stage.

Minos then continued. "We can't defeat them without using my secret weapons. So, I will count on your cooperation."

Let's go with plan A!"

Gulp!

The people there swallowed their saliva, finding Minos' ability to put himself at the focus of the problem impressive, even though he could use them to save himself.

But this was what most of them already expected from Minos. Almost everyone there knew this young emperor from when he was fighting the Black Plain's War of Independence in the phase he was still at a disadvantage. Thus, this was familiar to them!

"How shall we begin?" Liam Gill, level 63, questioned, not trying to stop Minos from following his own wishes.

Minos then ordered. "You must deal with these high-level Spiritual Emperors and one or other low-level Spiritual Saint who can get away from my wives and me."

"The stronger ones you can leave to us. We will deal with them one way or another."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Several people there commented simultaneously as the enemy stopped approaching as if preparing for the initial moment of conflict.

Meanwhile, Minos had the Black Hole Bomb hanging from his waist while fully armed with his medium-level grade-3 armor.

He looked at his wives and said to all his allies. "Get ready. If I am going to use my main weapon, you must activate your teleportation devices."

Each of them had such items. But, at the same time, that part where they were was about 100 kilometers from the northeast side of the belt of cities, enough for that area that had been evacuated in the previous days to be out of danger.

Minos judged that even if he had to detonate his final weapon, he would not have to worry about the damage in that place. The defenses there were not weak, and the remaining power of his weapon would get there too weak to destroy such defenses.

So he was ready to fight on his territory with everything he had, his only concern being those individuals who would have to flee quickly in case he needed to use his best.

"All right!" His three wives said simultaneously to the other individuals in the area.

"Very well, time to settle this, isn't it, Abe Vogel?" Minos shouted, speaking in the direction of the enemy.

...