The Rise of the Black Plain

Quickly two days passed.

As Minos' group approached the Dry City ever closer, already in the Black Plain's territory, in another part of this region, on the Cromwell Kingdom, things were quite hectic.

After the death of Samuel, Roy had run away all along until he finally managed to outwit the Hayes family's Spiritual Kings, who were chasing him!

With that, it was not long before both families discovered this matter.

On the Chambers' side, they had received the message that one of their subordinates had been chased for thousands of miles by members of the Hayes family.

No one had been satisfied with such a thing, especially since they knew what Roy was trying to do.

He had been dispatched to help Kevin, and then he had started the investigation into what had happened. In this case, such persecution meant that he had totally failed in his mission and had even been caught in the act!

But that wasn't all.

The other news that had made the Chambers tremble in rage had spread through the Hayes-ruled city, eventually reaching the 'ears' of the late Kevin's family.

Grace Keller had fully recovered from a deadly condition, all of a sudden as if a miracle had happened!

And, given Vivian's presence at the recently attacked of that Chambers' base, where the Spring of Life was, the family's leaders were sure that this item had been used on Grace!

For all that, the leaders of that power were infuriated.

Not only had one of the best talents of the past 300 years of the family died, but they had also missed the Spring of Life and intensified their grudge against the Hayes!

...

In the town of Persephone, where the Chambers family's headquarters was located, several people were talking, at this time, in the main building of that place.

The place looked like an assembly in which the main forces of that family, who were currently in Persephone, come to meet and discuss matters of prime importance.

The place looked quite old, giving that sense of antiquity common to historic temples and relics.

However, amid this environment, several Spiritual Kings, and Spiritual Generals at the peak, sometimes uttered exclamations of complaint while demonstrating their respective dissatisfactions.

"Shame! In over 5,000 years of history, we, Chambers, have never been so humiliated before!"

"That's right, Elder Archer is right, patriarch. We can no longer accept this. Those bastards from the Hayes have to pay for what happened!"

"I agree!"

"That is true."

"Let's destroy and enslave those bastards! I always hated those arrogant and self-righteous people!"

"That's it!"

"Hmm, patriarch Dean, that Hayes girl is probably responsible for the young master's death. How could she have stayed with the Spring of Life otherwise? And even if she's not the killer, she knows who it was!"

"Yea!"

And after a while, with several people uttering their dissatisfactions and opinions of what should be done, the patriarch of that family finally came forward with his thoughts. "From now on, our Chambers family will be at war with the Hayes. Any member who comes across one of them, kill first! Then, if you can't kill them, try to harm them anyway!"

"I will also ask the Scourges of the Devil for help, to..."

...

While a large meeting was taking place at the Chambers family's headquarters, in another part of the kingdom, something similar was happening in the city of Primrose.

In this place, in a large hall with several armchairs on the sides and a central stage, several Spiritual Kings were sitting around, with worried expressions on their faces.

Most of them looked like old men, with white hair and beards, while only a few looked younger. They wore the same type of clothing, which carried the family pattern, and the name: 'Court of Justice.'

And at one point that was on the center stage, a single man was standing. He didn't look even 40-years-old, with his brown hair and muscular stature.

This man was the current patriarch of the Hayes family, father of Davy and Vivian, Hadwin Hayes, level 57.

As for why he was in this place, it was due to the type of government that the Hayes family followed. In this house, a patriarch had no absolute powers, in which a single individual could centralize all the authority.

No, in fact, in the young Vivian's family, whatever action that could compromise the entire house would have to be approved by the Court of Justice!

Unlike other powers where only one or two individuals made it to the top, among the Hayes, several of their elders were above level 55!

And because of that, a single patriarch could not concentrate as much power in his hands as there were even people of the same level as his in this court.

Consequently, due to the excellent development and quality of their cultivation techniques, the Hayes always had several strong original members above level 55. And such a thing had directed the development of this house towards this current system, where a council had more powers than the family's patriarch!

Of course, in typical situations, the patriarch was the one who decided almost everything. Only in exceptional cases would the Court of Justice interfere.

Anyway, this man was presenting his motion to the elders, asking for permission to put his plans into action.

"Elders, the Chambers family has passed all acceptable limits. We can't take this anymore in silence, not doing anything about it."

"We have ignored the fact that they used the evil techniques of dual cultivation along with the slavery and torture of thousands of people for centuries."

"But now, they're not only against our way of life, but they've also attacked us! One of our future Spiritual King, the late bodyguard Samuel, someone who was just a step away from level 50, was killed within our territory!" He lamented.

"They tried to kidnap my daughter, taking the freedom from the young lady of our family. Before this, one of them tried to use my son's life as a 'trampoline,' and now they dare to act in our territory!"

"Elders, I ask that this court not allow these crimes to go unpunished! The Chambers family must be eliminated, for the sake of all, as well as our good manners."

After listening to this man's entire speech, the elders finally looked at each other for a moment, coming to a unanimous conclusion, when the eldest of them finally spoke. "Patriarch Hadwin, this council approves your motion. Therefore, from now on, the Hayes family is officially at war with the Chambers family."

"You are authorized to use all the strength of the family to eliminate these enemies from now on." After that, the group of men rose simultaneously from their armchairs, dragging their robes across the floor of that place.

They lined up behind the old man who had spoken, leaving the room calmly as if nothing could disturb them. And obviously, with the strength of each of them, they could act in such a way, even if they approved a war.

Among them, the weakest was at level 55, while the strongest was already at the peak of level 57, being as strong as the patriarch himself!

Anyway, Hadwin also left that place with a solemn expression on his face. He then stopped beside a man who looked like a butler and then said. "Send crows to all our subordinates. We are preparing for a war against the Chambers."

"All right, Patriarch. But should I let them know how much time they will have?" The butler asked.

"No, this will not start overnight, nor will it end anytime soon. Just tell them to get ready as soon as possible. There won't be any more room for conversation between our family and the Chambers."

"I understand."

After that, the butler left that place, going to take care of this urgent matter.

At the same time, Patriarch Hadwin stood there, thinking about what would come next. 'This war may last for a few years. So, we have to get in touch with our allies too, as well as try other means...'

...

And quickly, hours passed when the group of more than 20 carriages from Minos' group could already be seen on the horizon of the Dry City.

From that point, every person inside those carriages could see the great wall that stretched over a large area, surrounding territory unknown to most of them.