The Rise of the Black Plain

Time passed, and the moment had finally arrived for the start of the Spiritual Tournament!

By now, all the competitors had already arrived in the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom, along with tens of thousands of other people who had come as spectators to witness this competition.

After all, this was still one of the most critical events in this part of the Central Continent. And despite it occurring after every eight years, which could not be considered much in the Spiritual World, it still garnered a lot of attention from thousands of people.

This event also acted as a farewell occasion for some who would take the winning ticket and would be going on a high-level journey to the Flaming Empire.

But for others, it was also an event that revealed the future Spiritual Kings of the region, who were capable of changing the balance of power in the region.

Furthermore, even though most participants here were already members or subordinates of regional families, there were still many who were without support who showed up to participate, allowing these prominent families to expand their forces.

The anticipation for the Spiritual Tournament was quite high and even among the ones who had lived for a really long time and had witnessed many editions of the competition!

...

And as the sun rose over the horizon of Central City, with many people already bustling through the city streets, Minos and Ruth were in their hotel room.

If anyone walked into their room right now, one would be able to witness the magnificent scene of the two passionate young people reaching their peak as Ruth's sweaty body gently trembled while Minos wore a satisfied smile on his face as he released his load into the young beauty's tight cave.

As usual, the two had woken up on the right foot, starting the day by doing the best thing they could. And after finishing their passionate activity, Minos and Ruth headed to the bathroom to quickly get ready.

That was because they couldn't delay today like they usually did.

The Spiritual Tournament was going to start today, so they had to leave the hotel early and then make their way toward the southern side of the city, where the first phase of the competition would be held.

The Spiritual Tournament was divided into four phases. The first was the most straightforward and fastest, known as the physical test. And as the name implies, this test accessed the various characteristics of the competitors' bodies, such as their age, level, talent, and even the classification of their Physique.

However, one should know that there was no way that the test was able to tell the competitor's innate ability. It merely showed a rating for one's Physique.

And the reason why there was such a test was because of the fact that the people in the Spiritual World were able to keep their youthful appearance for a really long time...

Ruth's case here was the best example. At the age of 18, this young woman had already reached level 46, and it wouldn't be long before she was also able to reach the Spiritual King stage. And once that happened, she would be able to maintain her young appearance for the next 500 years at least!

Moreover, she would only start experiencing her aging in the last 400 years of her life expectancy!

But given her Silver talent, Ruth definitely wouldn't have the intention to just stop at the Spiritual King stage. And as long as she had the time, she would reach much higher levels!

Thus keeping her young appearance until she wasn't able to attain any higher cultivation and was just 400 years away from her life expectancy. It could even be possible for her to look like how she is now even after she was more than a thousand years old.

Due to this unique factor, the only way to find out someone's age was through the help of a physical test, which would determine the person's age by measuring their bone age.

The second test, it involved surviving the competitors in the wilderness for a week. The competitors would be taken to a small forest, where numerous spiritual beasts from the 4th and 5th stages would act as their enemies in this trail.

And in addition to surviving for a week in the forest, the competitors still needed to kill at least three 4th stage beasts to pass this test.

The third test marked the official beginning of the battles.

At this phase, the competitors would be divided into 32 big groups of equal size, after which they would be engaging in a large-scale fight in the form of a Battle Royale!

And finally, the 32 winners from the third test would qualify to advance to the last phase of the Spiritual Tournament.

In this fourth test, the remaining participants would compete for the highest rankings in the competition through individual battles by using a key system.

The final 32 participants would be randomly paired to form 16 matches, and this continued until the end and till the determination of the third-place winner.

Those were all the phases that the tournament comprised. As for the rules, the tournament's organization did not allow murder in the last two stages. However, during the survival in the forest, if any competitor were to die, perhaps 'accidentally,' this would not be the responsibility of the Spiritual Tournament.

Other than that, there were no further restrictions.

Regarding the individuals who would be chosen to join one of the Flaming Empire sects, that would depend on the participant's position and on their performance.

However, usually, only those who reached the 4th test had a chance of being recruited by one of these forces. The top 3 in the final tournament rankings would, of course, be definitely selected, and they would even have the privilege to the sect they wished to go to!

...

After some time, Minos and Ruth were almost close to the first test site.

The place the two arrived at was the Capital City's Spiritual Academy, the primary educational center for young people from noble families in the Cromwell Kingdom.

This academy had been chosen due to its large area and suitable structure, which was good for this first test. And since this was just a physical examination, it was not open to the general public who were not going to participate in the competition.

After all, what was going to be tested here would be just essential data confirmation...

Finally, as they arrived at the entrance of the spiritual academy, the duo passed through a large garden, where they found numerous people having conversations and sporting smiles on their faces, excited that they were participating in this event.

People were coming in and going out, and as soon as the two approached one of the academy buildings, someone suddenly called Minos' name from a short distance.

"Oi! Minos! Wait for us…" exclaimed a young woman with fiery red hair.

This woman was Kara, the one who was the 4th position holder in the Cultivation Ranking, she had met Minos previously in the Cultivation Tower.

By her side was a young man with similar hair and was wearing a white robe. He was Kara's elder brother, Ford. He also occupied one of the top 10 positions in the Cultivation Ranking, being ranked the 7th.

Both the siblings hailed from the Kingdom of End, the lands that were situated on the farthest northern edge of the Central Continent, and came from one of the strongest houses in that region, the Carline family.

Anyway, Minos had befriended the two after encountering them several times in one of the restaurants on the 11th floor of the Cultivation Tower, where the siblings were also training.

After turning around and noticing the two young redheads, Minos smiled before greeting them, "Haha, I didn't think we were going to find the two of you here. Have you already taken the first test?"

"It's a good coincidence. But we haven't taken the test as we just got here," the beautiful young woman replied excitedly. She was donned in a green dress which properly demonstrated her exceptional physique.

Since she was quite famous among the contents, it wasn't long before many eyes turned to Kara. After all, not only was she a first-rate beauty, but was also exceptionally talented.

Minos nodded before suggesting, "Oh, then let's go together!"

"Hmm."

After agreeing, the four people made their way inside the building in front of them.

And while they were walking to a large information board, Kara seemed to have suddenly remembered something and turned to Ruth, asking, "Hey, didn't they say that only participants can get in here?"

Ruth then took out the flaming medallion from her ring and showed it to Kara as she explained, "Since I have this, I have access to all parts of the competition."

Seeing this, the pair of siblings realized for the first time that Ruth came from the Flaming Empire!

"Did you come from the empire? But if that's the case, then why is Minos participating in this competition?" Ford inquired, his tone filled with a tinge of doubt.

"I'm from one of the sects of the empire, but Minos isn't," Ruth said with a simple smile on her face.

This answer left the siblings confused. Even if that was the case, Ruth could just take Minos with her.

There was no need for him to participate in the competition...

Minos then decided to clarify, seeing their confused faces. "I'm not interested in going to the Flaming Empire. I'm just participating in the competition as a form of training and also making some contacts."

'You don't want to go?' This same thought dawned on the two almost at the same time.

Kara smiled and thought, 'What an interesting guy. Is he arrogant because he doesn't care about an empire? Or is he being humble by acknowledging his current position?'

"Anyway, I'm still going to take this competition seriously, so don't hold back on me if you end up having to fight against me…" Minos declared with a smile on his face.

He liked to fight, and he was also eager to find the opportunity to soon hunt down the fugitive who had run away after losing to him!

'Hahahaha, just you wait, Leroy, I'll serve your head off with my own sword!'