The Rise of the Black Plain

Three days later...

After quickly traveling through the territories between Payton and Dry City, Minos finally arrived at the headquarters of the Black Plain Army.

Upon appearing at that place in the core of the Dry City, he immediately saw several soldiers in the surrounding area kneeling, welcoming him back from his trip.

Minos looked at these soldiers and greeted them with a nod before identifying where the ones he had left in charge of his city and empire were.

He then walked over to Dillian and the level 79 Spiritual Saint, already sensing the presence in the center of his city some 8th-stage experts he still didn't know.

'Those must be the visitors from the Evergreen Empire...' He considered this as he looked in the direction of those new auras.

In any case, he wouldn't talk to them until later that day, and in the blink of an eye, he was already standing next to his followers in the imperial palace.

...

"Your Majesty..." The crowd in that throne hall said as they saw Minos entering through the front door, with Dillian standing up to make room for their leader to sit down.

Seeing the people, Minos smiled for a moment before getting straight to the point. "Well? How were the last few weeks? Did these visits make any trouble?"

"No, Your Majesty. They just stayed in our city, and since we said that only you could handle the decision regarding their questions, they just waited for your return." Dillian replied.

"What they want is the same as that Spiritual Sage, right?" Minos asked, just to confirm.

"Yes."

"I see..." Minos sat down on his throne and thoughtfully put one of his hands around his mouth. 'I'll have to refuse, but will they be as easy to deal with as that Spiritual Sage?'

Then the Spiritual Saint of the Gray Clouds Sect there asked. "Your Majesty, besides this matter, how was it in the Flaming Empire? Are there any more elders with you now?"

Hearing this, Minos was a little distracted from this situation and said. "Yes, I made an exchange in my journey through the sect territory. I now have 20 more Spiritual Saints and left 2 elders in the Clouds City."

"Oh?" That man opened his mouth and smiled, satisfied.

With this action, the Black Plain and the Gray Clouds Sect's core became stronger simultaneously!

The exchange could be more or less similar to exchanging six for half of twelve, but it was more complex than that in practice.

The Black Plain had many places without Spiritual Saints, but that was already in need of experts at that stage. So even if these people were not that strong, they could help meet this demand, something low numbers would not solve.

On the other hand, the sect headquarters didn't need that many numbers as it was winding down its activities. Meanwhile, they required stronger specialists capable of putting fear into their opponents.

Thus, every exchange Minos made generated more power for both sides!

But then Minos briefly informed those people of what happened in the past few days. "As for the outcome of the local leaders' meeting, I feel that we gained nothing. Maybe it was even a loss..."

He briefly summarized what happened and gave his opinion on what he thought would follow in the upcoming months, worrying the crowd in the imperial throne hall.

Some were from the Flaming Empire, so they would naturally worry about the risk of Mortimer rebelling against the imperial family and causing chaos in that territory. But even those who had no origins related to that state were worried, as the Black Plain had plans for the state of Isabella.

"Sigh...

It really is a complicated position..." Dillian commented, feeling how unfortunate it had been that Gavin had died to have his powers stolen by Mortimer.

'That young man was so promising...' He thought. 'If he stayed longer on the Black Plain, he would still be alive, we wouldn't have this problem with Mortimer, and he would become a pillar of the empire in the future...'

Others who knew Gavin also lamented once again of the fate of this man, while others thought of the day when they could get revenge with fear on the bastards of the Saints Killing Sect.

Some of the men of Minos in the throne hall were relatives of the Spiritual Kings killed by the Spiritual Emperors of the Saints Killing Sect, the ones that were sent to the Black Plain to kill the local sovereign. As such, they had a history against that organization, and now that they were 100% on the opposite side of Mortimer's organization, they wanted to act more than ever.

"Anyway, I will deal with the problems with the Flaming Empire in the coming days... As for the Spiritual Saints who came with me, I will bring them here as soon as our visitors leave." Minos said after a while. "For now, bring them here. I want to finish this matter as soon as possible."

"As you wish, your Majesty." A member of the imperial guard said before turning and leaving with a group of men to fetch those three visitors.

Minos continued in that place, having a brief talk with his men, listening to the recent achievements of the army and the imperial government.

...

After a few moments, the two men and the woman in the Dry City, on orders from their organization, the Blood Triangle Pirates, were taken to face with Minos.

The three watched this fellow silently for a moment as they got to know him after hearing of Emperor Stuart's achievements and accomplishments for weeks.

Not only was Minos a talented cultivator, but he had also developed this place from a town, barely larger than a village, to a grand metropolis, the core of an empire, in just a few short years.

This was impressive!

As such, even considering that they were from a much more powerful and developed place, these three people didn't deny the merit of the Stuart Emperor, and when they greeted him, they were genuinely sincere.

"Your Majesty, it is a pleasure to meet a living legend like you." The woman leading the group said this as she made a gesture of greeting typical of the Central Continent.

Minos thanked her for the gesture and the words. "Hmm, you are very generous...

Anyway, I understand you are here in my city seeking cooperation, right? What do your group want?"

"We are searching for something that we believe your Majesty can help us find, considering how far your influences currently go." One of the men said, smiling at Minos as he spoke.

"My influence reaches the northern region and the four neighboring territories to the south of this region. Even though it truly is a large influence, I can't find a single item in that entire territory.

I also have no seer powerful enough for that." Minos said, speaking the truth to conceal that he already had such an item in hand.

To identify something in such a large area, the service of seers could help greatly. But the northern region was vast, and the Black Plain Empire still didn't have enough strong seers for a job like that.

At the same time, Minos was extremely busy. Anyone studying this territory could easily see this. So even if he had the ability to it so, it was fair to say that it would create problems if he accepted such a quest.

The three listened to him, and one of them said. "We know it won't be easy.

For some reason, even our seers cannot identify the vicinity of the item...

Still, we hope to ally with the Stuart family to get your members to advise us regarding this problem.

...