The Rise of the Black Plain

Among all these spectators present, there were some who felt sorry for Leroy. After all, he was talented and had a good chance of entering one of the sects of the Flaming Empire.

For such people, what had happened to Leroy was a tremendous waste!

On the other hand, there were some who didn't give a damn about it. If Leroy wasn't able to survive in that forest, it meant that he wasn't prepared to survive outside it either!

However, among everyone else, there was also someone who had a completely different thought on this matter.

That person was Leroy's bodyguard, Jeff.

At this moment, the man's face had turned completely ashen!

After noticing that Minos was trying to hunt his young master, Jeff still hoped that the other young man, Davy, would contribute to bringing Minos' death...

But the reality proved to be far more cruel. Not only was Minos not dead, but instead, it was Davy who had lost an arm, and Leroy was beheaded!

'Shit! Damn you, Minos!' Jeff began to curse the young Stuart and all of his ancestors while feeling a chill down his spine. 'Shit, I have to get away immediately! If the Chambers family gets to know that the young master died because of my bad advice...'

Being Leroy's bodyguard, Jeff had seen Minos' sword. So, it was likely that the Chambers family would try to blame someone. And Minos being the monster he was, it was highly possible that he would go to the Flaming Empire...

And with that, they would try to blame the only weakest kink that remained, the poor bodyguard Jeff...

...

Meanwhile, in the forest where the second exam of the Spiritual Tournament was taking place after Maxwell and Peter noticed that the battle had finally ended, the two went to Minos and inquired. "Minos, what do you intend to do now?"

"We will continue the exam as normal."

"And what are you going to do with this other guy?" Peter asked as he pointed at Davy, who lay unconscious on the ground.

"We'll stay here until he wakes up. I have already cut off one of his arms as a punishment for not listening to my warnings. But I am not going to let him die to some spiritual beast just because he's unconscious."

"Hmm."

The two men agreed with Minos. Indeed there wasn't a deadly grudge between him and Davy. The young man was just too naive and had been manipulated by Leroy.

However, Minos' two teammates were alerted because of Davy's situation. Just by a stupid mistake, one of the most talented youths in the Northern region of the Central Continent had now lost an arm, and it was also uncertain if he would ever be able to recover from this event...

None of the three knew this, Davy had a Silver talent... But even with that, it would be much more difficult for him to continue in the Spiritual Tournament after losing his arm.

First, he would face a significant decline in fighting proficiency. Second, he might also not be able to participate in the third test of the competition!

This way, Davy might as well never be able to reach level 70 during his lifetime, which might have given him a very little chance of recovering his lost limb!

...

Time passed quickly, and an entire day had already passed after Leroy's death.

By now, only two more days were left before the second stage of the tournament would come to an end, and they would finally be able to return to the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom.

In the meantime, Minos and the other two men had remained in the vicinity of the lake where the battle had taken place. The two men helped Davy with first aid and to recover from the intense battle.

After several hours, Davy finally regained consciousness but still looked fragile and pale. After waking up, he quickly consumed several spiritual pills to recover from the damage he had suffered and to replenish the energy expenditure during that fight.

After a while, Minos finally decided to leave. He had already stayed in this place longer than he wanted to, and after this, he didn't care what might happen to Davy after this.

However, just as he moved, Davy leaned over from where he lat and suddenly asked in a hoarse voice, "Aren't you going to kill me?"

"No. You are not my enemy," Minos shook his head.

"No? Then why did you cut my arm?" Davy asked while gnashing his teeth in anger.

Minos chuckled but didn't answer Davy's question. He had cut this guy's arm because this man had defended Leroy and was getting in the way of his attacks!

Minos then asked as he thought of something, "Let me ask you something. What did that guy promise you? You seemed deeply committed to helping him..."

Davy said with a complicated look on his face, "Leroy claimed that you have two low-level grade-2 weapons."

Davy wanted to combine his personal gain with benevolence. Raised in one of those families who 'preached for justice,' he had an intrusive personality that drove him to try to solve others' problems...

And with that, Davy wanted to teach Minos a lesson as well as earn a high-level reward for doing so...

"Hmm, I had figured he would say something like this," Minos remarked with an expressionless face. "I know it makes no difference to say this now, but even if I had two weapons of this caliber, unfortunately, which I don't have, Leroy never saw anything other than my sword."

"That..."

"I say goodbye now. But be careful in the future. If you don't mature quickly, sooner or later, the next person who manipulates you might even end up leading you to your death..." Minos said that before moving on, quickly disappearing from Davy's sight.

Meanwhile, Davy tried remembering everything that had transpired. If what Minos said was indeed true then the person who had put him in this situation was none other than Leroy this entire time...

'Fuck!'

...

Time passed, and it was finally time for the second stage of the Spiritual Tournament to conclude!

In front of the large screens that were broadcasting all the recent events to the masses in the Capital City, thousands of people were eagerly waiting for the competitors' return.

These people were very filled with excitement since the next stage of the tournament would commence after 3 days from today!

That was one of the most awaited stages of the entire tournament among the population that had come to spectate this competition.

After all, other than wars, there were no other occasions where someone was able to watch a fight in the form of a Battle Royale!

Such battles were very popular in competitions like these and made the blood of thousands of people boil with excitement!

Moreover, due to a large number of participants, there were 32 Battle Royale fights, which took place over a span of 8 consecutive days!

That meant that these people could expect to witness this incredible event 32 times in just over a week. That was definitely one of the best entertainments for the majority of the population that had come to the Cromwell Kingdom!

After all, which fan wouldn't like to enjoy something that he likes for such an extended period of time?

Following these eight days, the remaining competitors would be provided a week of rest before the last phase of the competition would get started.

In this last stage, there would be a total of 32 fights, which would also take place in 8 straight days, during which the final ranking would be determined!

...

Meanwhile, in the forest of the second exam, all of the remaining contestants suddenly felt as if the space around them had started to float, and at the same time, a great amount of spiritual energy enveloped them.

Zum!

Their surroundings suddenly started to glow after the space around them vibrated quickly, teleporting all of them back to the square from which they had previously departed.

Upon reappearing in the square, many people exchanged looks and smiled at each other, while there were even some larger groups which had disappointed looks on their faces.

Many people have witnessed their friends or temporary allies succumb to death due to the various spiritual beasts within the forest. And there were even those who didn't go through this bad experience, and several of them had not been able to kill three beasts of at least the 4th stage!

And as a result, even if they might have survived, the competition was already concluded for many of them.

It was not long before several examiners came to the groups of competitors and began collecting the necessary evidence to ensure who had successfully passed the test or not.

...

After a while, all the contestants had already been accounted for. Still, out of the thousands of contestants, only about 4,000 of them had managed to fulfill the requirements criteria of the second stage of the competition.

Among those competitors who had advanced to the next phase, in addition to Minos and the people who allied with him during this period, there were also many other familiar faces among the successful competitors.

To begin with, young Troy had passed the exam effortlessly, while others like Luke, Abby, and Mona had teamed up with their peers of similar strength ranges and were able to pass the exam without much difficulty.

Davy had also met the minimum requirement since he had already obtained the beasts before their fight with Minos. And in fact, all the competitors above level 40 who survived had advanced.

After all, it wasn't much challenging for someone in the 5th stage of cultivation to deal with a 4th stage spiritual beast!

And after securing their places in the next phase of the exam, the contestants finally returned to their groups.

After reuniting, they found out what had happened during these seven days!