The Rise of the Black Plain

While the negotiations concerning the Black Plain were taking place on the outskirts of Dry City, a few days passed... Nothing happened locally, and the talks were still going smoothly in this period.

That is to say, Minos' soldiers had lengthened the conversations in these days, contesting several of the points raised by the royal envoys. 

Like, for example, for every demand that the Brown family wanted the Black Plain to accept, the administrative soldiers of the Black Plain Army were saying things like: 'we have to study this'; 'we don't know if it's worth doing such a thing'; 'we need to test it;' and so on.

However, despite asking for time to study whether the Brown family's proposals were economically feasible, they had only done so when there was room to do so. Otherwise, the group of soldiers had agreed to other points not to raise any great suspicion.

But whether or not they agreed to some points, they were only in a moment of negotiation. Hence, without signed Soul Contracts to force one side to follow through with promises, of this would have any future validity.

Too bad these people of the Brown family group didn't know that Minos' side was just playing for time, not giving any importance to the things they had agreed...

After all, this initial moment might not be valid for these people. Still, it was the central part of the negotiations since only after this could a formal agreement be reached. 

So, up to the present moment, those people from the royal entourage were negotiating, without many misgivings, despite the obvious indications that it would not be easy to reach an agreement in this place!

...

Meanwhile, in the Red Valley...

At this moment, some troops of the Silva family were marching out of this territory, leaving this more southeastern region of the Brown Kingdom and going to the more central part of this state.

Such a group was composed of a few hundred Spiritual Generals and a few Spiritual Kings. But although this force was not that impressive in terms of numbers, given the number of members in this family, this was not the only group leaving the Red Valley!

Other groups had already left this Silva family territory since discovering the Dry City dome. And right now, two different groups similar to this one were also leaving the Red Valley, heading in other directions of the Brown Kingdom.

But regardless of where each of these groups was going, they all had the same goal, which was to prepare this family's short and medium-term actions!

They had already discovered many things during the weeks that had passed since the losses on the Black Plain. And as such, by now, they knew many of the things they would need to identify the enemies to the Brown family!

So, they were already preparing to act!

The leaders of the Silva family knew that a war could break out in the Brown Kingdom in a short time, so they wanted their troops to be already spread out in this territory.

First, they wanted to act before their enemies to take advantage of attacking first. And secondly, because they already had some plans to work against some of the weaker enemies even before the war started...

On the other hand, although several groups of this family were already spread around this state, most of the forces of this family were still in the Red Valley. After all, they had to protect their current home, the place where the foundations of this family were.

That is, even if they had only been in the Red Valley for a decade, the entire Silva family had already moved here years ago. And with that, except for a few subordinates who commanded the operations of their other territory, the foundations of this local noble house were all in this former Red family territory.

Anyway, while several of their actions were going on, the three Spiritual Kings accompanying this group heading to the central part of the kingdom were talking on the back of a giant beast.

The three were sitting on what appeared to be a red elephant, which was about 10 meters high and had a proportionally large body.

And on the back of this prominent being, the three men were sitting inside a special booth. 

"How were the Gill family's recent movements?" One of them asked as he looked out the window of that booth and saw the terrain full of life of the Red Valley.

This family was obviously keeping an eye on the actions of the Gill House. After all, they were already mortal enemies, and House Silva would not miss the opportunity to eliminate Lionel's family!

Upon hearing the previous question, the person going on the opposite side of that man then answered him. "Well, the Gill family completely closed down about two months ago."

"They first took some preventive measures in their headquarters city, like collecting tributes, buying local artifacts, pills, etc. Nothing unexpected considering the current situation." This man said as he looked into the eyes of their leader, who was standing there in front of him.

"After that, we don't know what happened. The Gill family completely activated the defensive array of their headquarters, and daily many subordinates were coming and going from that location."

"Other than that, for all we know, they are hiding in that place while sending their contract workers to solve most of the services necessary for their family to continue to function."

"Oh?" The man from earlier made a sound as he left the beautiful view and looked at this man who had just said all this. "Well, that's all they can do, haha, hide."

"But that won't work for long!"

"When our high-level weapons are transported from our ships to the family, we will destroy that barrier of theirs and make them pay for killing our comrades."

"Hmm, you are right, Dane." The leader of that group then said something for the first time. "But for now, our group will surround that place so that we can cease the entry and exit of resources from that headquarters."

"Hahaha, let's see if they will last long enough to tremble in fear as we destroy those defenses of theirs. Hahaha." The man who had asked the question earlier said, smiling coldly.

Cultivators could go without food for a while because of the quality of their bodies, which made them much more efficient at absorbing substances than beings who couldn't use spiritual energy.

But regardless of how good they were, below level 70, everyone would need food, rest, and so on, things necessary for survival.

Of course, there was a big difference between someone at level 69 and others at level 1. But both needed these things.

So, a siege that lasted from weeks to months that suppressed the entry and exit of goods from a place could eliminate all enemies if there were not enough resources in the area sieged. Because of this, that Spiritual King was worried to know if some of their enemies would die in a battle or from food deficiency...

"But Garrick, when can we start this siege? Do you think the patriarch's plan will work?" The Spiritual King who had spoken about the Gill family said as he looked at the leader of this group.

Garrick then said. "Well, since that's not up to us, I can't tell you anything for sure."

"But as you know, patriarch Otis is visiting the capital at this very moment to communicate our findings to King Brown..."

...

Just as Garrick was telling his companions, at this very moment, patriarch Otis Silva was climbing the stairs of the Brown family palace in the capital of this kingdom!

He was standing next to two other high-status Spiritual Kings of his Silva family at this moment as they walked quickly towards the royal hall.

Of those two, one of them was the supreme elder of the Silva family, level 56. The other was one of the nobles of that family who was part of the royalty through his marriage to one of the descendants of the Brown family.

That individual was known in the kingdom as General Silva, level 54, someone quite close to King Thomas but not so close to the leadership of his own family.

Anyway, General Silva, Adrian, and Otis were very anxious at this moment, and as such, they didn't take long to arrive at the place where they scheduled an official meeting with the king!

....