The Rise of the Black Plain

A month quickly passed and young Ruth had finally arrived back in the Flaming Empire.

She rode on her eagle, soaring through the sky and towards the entrance to the Gray Clouds Sect, located in a place next to Clouds City. The sect was a massive place resembling a large neighborhood surrounded by trees and several different fields.

The headquarters of the Gray Clouds Sect occupied a substantial piece of land, which was at least six times the size of the current Dry City. However, that just included the main buildings of the sect, where most of the low-ranking disciples and elders lived.

Further away from the sect, there were also some small villages with high-end houses and mansions. These were the exclusive places where the strongest people within the sect lived, including some of the central disciples like Ruth who had the opportunity to live.

And, of course, there was an exclusive range for these disciples. After all, they were still far away from living on equal terms with the leaders of this sect.

That's because, to live in the villages of the elders, one had to have reached at least the Spiritual Emperor stage!

As a result, there was a distinct order of rank among the residents of these villages.

Anyway, after a while, Ruth passed through the sect's entrance and promptly identified herself in the mission hall, where she had to notify her return and fulfill her mission before meeting her master.

After all, this was a vast place, and it would not be enough for her to speak to her master before doing this.

There was strict control over the entry and exit of the disciples, so all of them had to report to a specific hall of the sect. In Ruth's case, since she had been assigned a mission, she had to introduce herself at the mission hall.

After doing all the necessary steps, she immediately headed towards the village where her master lived to report what had happened.

Anyway, she hurriedly left the central region of the sect, where she had been stationed and then made her way to a small village that was situated in the west.

After walking for a few minutes, she finally arrived in front of a large house with a beautiful garden which had numerous flowers next to the residence.

That home belonged to Maisie Coleman, the mother of the young Stuart.

Upon entering the house, Ruth realized that her master already seemed to be waiting for her in the garden, enjoying her cup of spiritual tea.

As soon as she approached, she heard Maisie say in a tender voice with a kind smile on her face. "Ah! I never thought that my son would do such things with my disciple..."

Upon hearing this, Ruth immediately blushed in embarrassment.

Ruth had forgotten that her master would notice this right after seeing her and even though she knew that this was going to happen from the beginning... because of her forgetfulness, Ruth had not prepared herself mentally for this type of encounter.

"I..."

"Don't worry about it, Ruth. I went through the same thing with his father. You don't need to be ashamed. I know that he probably must have conquered you little by little. After all, his father also had this same personality..." Maisie said with a smile adorning her face as she reminisced about her first meeting with Albert.

The two of them had met when she was sent on a mission to the north of the Central Continent. At that time, Maisie and Albert had encountered each other and then decided to travel together since both of them almost had the same strength, which was around the 5th stage of cultivation.

Anyway, it was at that time when they were traveling together that the young Albert Stuart managed to win over young Maisie's heart. After that, the intermittent relationship between the two lasted for many years until the young Minos was finally born.

Even after hearing her master's reassuring words, Ruth still couldn't help feeling ashamed. After all, a teacher almost played the role of a mother or father for many disciples in this world. And as a result, being involved in doing something like this with a relative of her master was very embarrassing for her.

However, after talking about it for a while, Ruth brought up the topic of the Spiritual Tournament. "Master, about the competition that took place in the Cromwell Kingdom..."

However, she was suddenly cut off when Maisie said, "Don't worry. I already know what happened. The girl who was sent as a representative of our sect has already given me a detailed account of everything that happened..."

She then looked curiously at Ruth and inquired. "Did my son mention something about where his unusual strength comes from?"

Ruth shook her head and replied, "He just told me that his innate ability was related to increased spiritual energy."

"Oh? That looks very good... If he manages to evolve his Physique to the Saint-grade, it would be perfect for him."

"But master, during the competition, the result of Minos' physical assessment only classified his Physique as Warrior-grade..."

"What? That can't be right. I was there when he took his talent test at the Spiritual Academy and I saw that it was classified as a King-grade," Maisie exclaimed, disbelief was clearly evident in her voice.

Physique did not change naturally and certainly did not regress. So, she couldn't believe this point. "He was probably using some item that prevented the physical examination array from being accurate about his physique. These kinds of things can happen."

Ruth, resolute in her belief, said further, "His talent didn't show up either... I don't believe that he has just a Black talent!"

After that, the two of them continued to talk for a while discussing what had happened during the time that Ruth traveled with Minos, and then the young disciple returned to her own home in another village.

Ruth had traveled all the way without stopping for a long time to rest, so she needed a break.

Along with that the young woman also planned to go into seclusion after that rest so that she could increase her cultivation as soon as possible. And seeing how Minos advanced without difficulty, the young woman was encouraged to not be left behind and be overtaken by him.

'I wonder what level Minos will be at the next time we see each other...' she pondered, thinking about the future as she made her way to her home.

...

While Ruth was preparing to rest before she could begin her training, news of the outcome of the Spiritual Tournament had already started to spread throughout the northern regions of the Central Continent!

More than a month after the end of this competition, the newspapers in the region had finally spread the news to all the kingdoms.

The top of the front page of the newspapers featured a large drawing of three youths standing on a podium.

There was an empty space in the second place, with a ginger girl occupying the third place. Finally, two young men faced each other at the highest position!

That was the visual representation that had been most successful and captured the essence of how the competition ended.

'The Spiritual Tournament Finale ends with a historic tie for the first time!' That was the headline at the opening of the report, which described the main events that had happened during the period of competition in the Cromwell Kingdom.

However, this news did not mention the fact that Minos did not go to the Flaming Empire. After all, none of the participants who had stayed for that meeting after the final were members of journalist families.

They also had their own affairs and had to return to their respective regions. As a result, besides those few other participants like Abby, nobody else knew about what happened...

At the same time, when this was reported, this entire region was shocked by the events and many people were immensely envious of those who had attended this edition of the Spiritual Tournament.

"Damn it! I attended the last three editions, but when I finally decided not to go, something epic happens!" one person lamented aloud while holding the newspaper in front of him.

"Haha, old Chase, don't feel too bad. I can tell you the details of what happened…"

"You…. ###"

…

In another kingdom in the north of the Central Continent...

"Eh? What a coincidence, this young man has the same name and age as the late General Stuart's brat!"

A man clad in silver armor, wearing a mocking look on his face remarked, "Hahaha, Your Majesty is absolutely right. However, it would be impossible for that boy to accomplish such an achievement in his entire life!"

"Indeed, General Silva, you speak the truth. That boy must still be struggling to survive in that desolate Black Plain..." added an old man with blue and white hair without any change in his expression.

"Hmm, you two are right... But anyway, congratulations to you, Old Miller, for your granddaughter being chosen by one of the sects of the empire."

"Haha, thanks for that, Your Majesty."

...

At the same time, in a particular region of the Cromwell Kingdom, a man wearing green armor adorning the symbol of a black star with a circle in the middle, suddenly fell on his knees in front of an old man with white hair standing over 2 meters tall.

Both were currently at the peak of a mountain while the old man gazed at the cloudy sky, feeling the breeze of the wind against his face while his eyes remained closed.

The old man then asked in a calm yet cold voice, not even bothering to glance at the man who was kneeling in front of him, "So? Who killed my little Leroy?"

The man lowered his head and slowly began to narrate the facts he had discovered in the capital of the Cromwell Kingdom, where the competition had taken place.

"That..."