The Rise of the Black Plain

Two days passed quickly when a young woman was approaching the Dry City. She used a spiritual beast in the 4th stage of cultivation, which looked like a great eagle. It was completely white, over 2 meters high, and had a sharp beak that was completely yellow.

The young woman had beautiful black hair, a graceful face, and a sensual body, which would make any ordinary person lose their attention for a moment. She was also very well-dressed, with a long green dress and a white hat on her head.

When she was finally supposed to be seeing the Dry City in front of her, she was slowly beginning to see a strange landscape. There was a large part of the territory covered in green. Clearly, there were many cultures growing in these areas.

The place of these cultures was not that large in area, but it would be enough for anyone to notice such a thing. This made this young woman doubt for a moment whether she was really on the Black Plain and, specifically, close to the Dry City.

That's because when she came to this place just over 13 months ago, there was no such thing! She was very confused by this, but she decided to go ahead and ask the questions that she had in a second moment.

She slowly descended from the south side of the city, leaving her great eagle in an open place, following her journey on foot through the city. As she walked down the street, she quickly got lost and didn't know where to go. The place was completely different!

She hadn't seen so many buildings in this city when she came here before! 'How can this place have changed so much in such a short time?' She thought with a shocked expression on her face.

And really, the change that the Dry City has undergone in the last year has been simply amazing. Now, the area size of the city had decreased by almost two-thirds, but the little more than one-third of the original area remaining was flourishing in the best possible way!

This was due to the 4 spiritual arrays of grade-1, high-level, installed near the city's central region. As a result, the regions affected by the arrays soon underwent a major change.

The empty grounds were filled with new homes, buildings, and those old buildings that were improved and expanded to accommodate a larger number of people. Meanwhile, the rest of the city has been emptied and completely destroyed.

And all of this was done following Minos' planning for the city. So, there was a very nice look to the city now. It didn't look like a huddle that grew uncontrollably, but it seemed well-planned and had a feeling of convenience and comfort.

If looked from above, the city's shape would look like 4 large circles that intersected near Minos' mansion. There were also a considerable amount of trees on the streets that made you forget that you were in the poor lands of the Black Plain.

'Ahhh' The young woman let out a slight cry of surprise, but luckily no one heard her. The reason for such a cry was that she realized that the amount of spiritual energy around the city was at least 50% greater than when she came here last time.

'How did this happen? I thought this place had a spiritual root that sucked out a lot of the free energy in heaven and earth. How did they solve this problem?' She thought to herself as she continued to walk around the city.

She finally managed to find the mansion in the middle of the city after asking for directions from people on the streets.

But seeing the mansion also surprised her. The place was at least 3 times bigger than before. There were also a lot of people coming and going, wearing the same type of uniform.

In front of the mansion, there was a lush garden with a fountain in the middle. In the background, the building with 4 floors and many windows could be seen. Although not overly luxurious, it was well done.

There weren't many spiritual arrays in it since Minos still needed to bring array masters to the Dry City, but there were some that belonged to the building before modernization.

Anyway, the young woman slowly entered the building, while her mouth was open in shock at everything she saw.

She finally returned to normal after hearing someone speak to her. "Welcome to the local government. How can I help you." Said Secretary Mia, who was at the reception, next to Minos's office.

"Hmm, I would like to see Minos Stuart." Said the young woman quickly.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but the young master is not in the Dry City at this moment," Mia replied sincerely.

"Isn't he? And where would he go?"

Mia then replied nonchalantly. "I can't report this."

"You can not? So who's in charge here? Let me talk to him. I am here at the behest of your young master's mother." Said the young woman impatiently.

She was the disciple of Minos' mother, Ruth Miles, who had come with Maisie the last time. With the time that passed, she was already at level 45, and after leaving her last training, she had decided to come to fulfill the mission that her teacher had passed.

"Oh! So, it was you. Butler Dillian is in charge now. Come with me."

A while later, they headed for Minos' office, where Dillian was at the moment.

Dillian was dispatching a soldier when the office door opened, and Mia and young Ruth entered.

"Butler Dillian, this lady is here because of the young master's mother." Mia said quickly before leaving the room.

"So you're here at the behest of Mrs. Maisie. Can you tell me the reason for your visit?" Dillian asked with a smile on his face.

"My master gave me the mission to come here, after a year and a half from when we last came here, but as I finished my recent training earlier, I decided to come just before this time."

"She had ordered me to find her son after that time to assess his level. If he had reached the 4th stage of cultivation, I should talk about the Spiritual Tournament, which will take place in 7 months in the Cromwell Kingdom, and then accompany him there if he decided to participate in this competition."

"Hm, I see, Mrs. Maisie wants the young master to fight with the younger generation to understand a little of the world." Said Dillian as he held his hands behind his back.

"I really think it might be a good idea, but the young master is on his way to Stone Island. And I don't know when he comes back. It could take a few weeks."

"Stone island? Why did he go there?" Ruth asked curiously.

Butler Dillian said vaguely. "As a leader, the young master has his responsibilities."

"But if you want to go after him, then you must look for someone named Elen Nash. The young master must meet with her when he arrives at the Stone Island."

"I understand... In fact, how has this place changed so much in such a short time?" Ruth asked with a curious look on her face.

"Haha, you must be very curious, huh? I will not go into details, but when the young master said that he did not need Mrs. Maisie's help, how can I say… He was not kidding." Dillian said as he had a big proud smile on his face.

Seeing and hearing this, Ruth didn't know what to say while she was thinking to herself. 'Where does all this confidence come from? Even though this place has improved a lot, it still doesn't give you the right to say that you don't need the help of a sect like ours.'

After a while, she finally spoke. "Hehe, it seems that you are very confident in your young master."

The butler Dillian just smiled but said nothing. He didn't need to talk about Minos' secrets, just because the other side was not an enemy! Even if she were the mother of his young master, he still wouldn't say anything!

When she saw that her poll was unsuccessful, Ruth just sighed in disappointment. She was really curious about these people. Not only did butler Dillian seem to trust this Minos Stuart blindly, but so did the other people in this place.

Even the last time she came here, people looked at Minos as if he were a savior!

'Never mind. When I accompany him to the Spiritual Tournament, maybe I will understand this.' Ruth thought to herself.

"Well, since my master's son isn't here, then I'll go to Stone Island... Until later." Ruth said goodbye and went quickly towards the south side of the city, where she had left her spiritual beast.

…

Meanwhile, the boat on which Minos was traveling was rapidly approaching Stone Island. A glimpse of the island could already be seen on the horizon. Minos was enjoying the view of the sea in front of him as he thought with a smile on his face. 'Stone Island, huh. I want to see what you can offer me.'