The Rise of the Black Plain

After Minos' attack, his opponents managed to launch a few blows in his direction, with the Spiritual Sages manipulating space to make his situation more difficult and the Spiritual Saints simply launching powerful attacks.

Unfortunately for these people, Minos would not feel any pressure from the attacks of mere Spiritual Saints at the level he was at.

To injure his body, one would have to at least be at the 9th stage!

As such, he simply ignored these many Spiritual Saints' attacks in the surroundings and focused on counterattacking the Spiritual Sages in the area, also using his spatial manipulation skills.

Due to a large amount of Space Laws he had absorbed from the giant skeletons in the Spatial Kingdom, Minos' understanding of space was as great as that of ordinary level 85 cultivators.

So even though he was still at the 8th stage, he could counter the movements of these Sages with relative ease.

He used the space crack of one of his level 81 opponents and forcefully made such a thing close over that person's body.

In doing so, Minos trapped one of that person's arms, making it impossible for him to worry about battling as he had to worry about escaping from that thing and not having his arm crushed.

"Damn it!" That man said as he broke into a cold sweat.

Minos looked at one of the elders of the Gray Clouds Sect, who had already reached level 80, and opened a spatial crack, directing one of his hands to that man's beads.

"Lend me your strength," Minos said, but that man had no chance to refuse.

In the blink of an eye, he was on Minos' side, inside the Avatar of Space and Time domain, where Spiritual Sages, even 100% stronger than that soul projection, could not use their powers over space.

Unable to escape, this person soon began to feel his cultivation level decreasing while Minos' rose.

In the blink of an eye, Minos was no longer at level 79 but at 80!

With this temporary increase in his cultivation base, Minos felt the mastery of his Soul Avatar increase considerably while all his abilities improved in efficiency and range.

His opponents were the first to feel the changes that came with a step advance, feeling even more pressure on themselves.

Those under the effects of the Devouring Art began to lose their energy at a frightening rate so that if they stayed there for more than a minute, they felt they would be exhausted just by doing so.

On the other hand, those under the effects of Chaotic Gravity almost screamed, giving up the match, feeling as if they would be crushed at any moment.

"Unbelievable... And he only increased a single level." Sarah saw this from afar and realized how strong her father already was.

With a single advance, he immediately made even the strongest Spiritual Sages in the surrounding area, who were doing well, despite being pressured, feel overwhelmed!

If he advanced to another level, there would be no escape for any of them!

In a single movement, Minos could probably already finish this military exercise.

Minos' wives were also in the vicinity following this friendly match and smiled in satisfaction at seeing their man so strong.

"His Majesty will probably be as strong as peak Spiritual Sages when he advances." Dillian, level 73, said this as he watched the confrontation develop.

Minos would not steal the cultivation base of another of his opponents even if he had the chance to do so. This was a military exercise, not a real battle.

Part of the purpose of this was to make those around him stronger and able to unite against a higher-level opponent. So as not to lose the chance to train his men and allies, Minos would not put any more pressure on them.

As they saw this, the people watching the battle near Minos' family couldn't help but agree with the butler Dillian.

'With His Majesty's advance to level 80, I believe that only Demigods will be a danger to him.' One of the men from the Goddess of Life's family group thought this over with himself, noting how right his superiors' decision had been to join this state.

Minos would still have trouble with Spiritual Sages, who had Golden-grade technique sets like his. But there were few such people in the entire Spiritual World.

Many 9th-stage experts reached that stage and got techniques of that quality, but to do so, they had to switch techniques and didn't get the best results.

Only those who had learned techniques of this quality from the first moment could compare themselves to Minos.

Since few had such a possibility, even though many high-level individuals had techniques of this quality, most of them were only 'fake' cultivators of Golden-grade techniques.

So both Minos and those in the surrounding area watching him fight knew that his combat proficiency would be compared to that of high-level 9th-stage warriors, even considering those higher-quality techniques.

"If that is the case, when will His Majesty leave for his plans outside the continent?" Eda asked her husband, curious about Minos' next steps.

Dillian said. "That I do not know. He won't be able to start some things right away when he reaches level 80. For example, Emlyn will take longer to get to that level. He probably won't reach the 9th stage until His Majesty is already at level 82.

So he won't be able to travel to the Continent of Beasts before then.

As for the people of the Longus family, I think he will be able to investigate them a little sooner."

He paused to think for a moment and said. "Perhaps His Majesty will go to the Marine Empire first and then investigate the situation of the Longus family in Lusmait."

Abby then said. "In any case, we will certainly stick around for another five years or so before we venture off the continent."

Gloria then said. "On this next Minos trip, I will stay in Dry City. I won't be able to put my duties aside for as long as I have in the past."

"That will be good," Isabella commented. "It will be an important part of the family stays to defend the state in his absence."

"Well, I will go with him, as I will not leave Kendrick in the Spatial Kingdom alone," Abby commented as she looked at Ruth.

"Fine, I will stay to take care of your duties." That black-haired woman said that.

Previously it was possible that they all went with Minos on their journeys and left Dry City with Dillian. But with the strengthening of the empire and the constant arrival of migrants from the south, the near future would not be so simple.

The empire needed the royal family to stand on its own feet in Minos' absence!

So these women decided how they would split up on Minos' next journey as they watched him finish that friendly battle.

...