The Rise of the Black Plain

Time passed, and the night soon began to make room for the first rays of the day.

The city that had slowed down during the night quickly began to gain the liveliness of the day when sounds of carriages and people walking on the street started to sound.

That was a city with a large population, and with the Spiritual Tournament just around the corner, the town was even more agitated than usual.

It was customary to have a lot of movement in a town like this. However, the day had just dawned, and the avenues with the competition structures already had thousands of people nearby.

And even if only those old enough to compete in the Spiritual Tournament were permitted to use these structures, a large crowd gathered to witness the accomplishments of this younger generation.

Simultaneously, as thousands of people prepared for another day at this Spiritual Tournament center, Minos and Ruth remained in their room, sharing 'the pleasures of the flesh.'

As usual, the two youths started the day in the best possible way, having a lot of fun. And as soon as the two were finished with their things, Minos and Ruth took a long shower together and then had their breakfast.

Since this was a high-end hotel, where even some of those responsible for the Spiritual Tournament were staying, the food here was top-notch.

As soon as the two finished their matters, they received an authentic feast in their room. There were several different fruits, roots with a high spiritual concentration, meat from beasts from the 4th stage of cultivation, coffee, beast milk from the 3rd stage, etc.

It was indeed a luxury hotel within the Cromwell Kingdom. No wonder the daily rate was 20,000 low-grade spiritual crystals!

And as it was the Gray Cloud Sect that was paying... Minos didn't bother to stay here!

While sitting on one of the four chairs next to the dining table in the apartment they were in, Minos was eating the 4th stage beast meat when Ruth asked. "Do you want to go to the cultivation competition this morning? Even if you don't want to expose yourself, you can still meet the high-level cultivators in this edition of the Spiritual Tournament."

Nhoc!

"Hmm... Ehh, yes, we will  after we're done here. I want to see how impressive the greatest geniuses in the north of the Central Continent are." Minos said as he ate with enthusiasm.

The 4th stage spiritual beast meat was delicious even  more for Minos, who lived in the Black Plain, where there weren't options like this.

...

Some time passed, and Minos and Ruth had already finished eating and headed towards the place where the mobile structure from the Flaming Empire was.

This place was not far from the hotel where the two were, just about a 15 minutes walk away.

And while Minos enjoyed the scenery of Capital City, he soon realized that the density of people on the street was getting higher and higher!

'Our! I doubt that all these people are going to participate in this competition. Why are they not going to do something productive?' Minos asked in his mind.

He was not a person who liked to be in a crowd.

And as soon as Minos and Ruth entered the crowd, they finally got to see a big screen, which changed position names all the time.

This screen had 1,000 names written on it, ordered from the best cultivation speed to the worst.

There was little data on the screen other than the name of these cultivators, which were related to the level at which these people were and their rate of spiritual growth within the structure.

At this point, someone said it out loud. "Look, it's Ford Carline. He got to level 41 while he was cultivating there!"

Upon seeing the young man with red hair leaving the structure, a young woman said aloud. "Wow, he is so handsome! I wanted him to notice me..."

Another young woman then said while smiling. "Dream! The young Ford is in the 7th position of the Cultivation Ranking. He will certainly be one of the chosen ones to go to the Flaming Empire. He's much more than you can have!"

"Haha."

While several comments appeared in the crowd, there was occasional laughter and even clapping sounds. That was looking like a circus, in Minos' opinion.

But as Minos looked around, Ruth suddenly said coldly. "Look at position number 9."

He then concentrated and saw a name in red. 'Leroy Chambers.' The young Stuart then frowned as he remembered what this guy had tried to do just a few days ago.

"Does he think I won't go after him?" He said coldly. The Spiritual Tournament was a competition that could be pretty dangerous.

It mainly was because it had a part in which the participants were alone in a forest. So, despite not being allowed to kill in the other phases of the tournament, the second test of the competition allowed this...

"But it is good that he showed himself. At least I won't have to hunt him down in the future..."

After a while, Minos and Ruth paid attention to the other names on the list that was on the big screen.

There was a particular name that had caught Minos' attention. In position number 10, the name 'Luke Nash' was spelled, with level 41 below his name.

'Is this guy also here?' Minos thought about it with a smile on his face. He had defeated Luke when he was only at level 33. Imagine what would happen now, with him at level 38!

Minos smiled and said. "I want to see that clown's face when he sees me around here."

"Who are you talking about?" Ruth, who was right next to him, asked curiously.

"Do you remember that idiot who tried to set me up in Old Stone? I'm talking about him. He's here."

"Oh! I didn't expect an old 'opponent' of yours to show up here. Hehe." She said with a smile on her face.

A few minutes passed when suddenly a beautiful young woman with red hair left the place. Upon seeing this, the crowd almost burst into comments, ranging from loving confessions to pure admiration for the young woman's talent.

"Wow! Not only is she extremely talented, but she is also one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen!" A middle-aged man said in the crowd.

The girl who had just left that structure was called Kara Carline, who was at level 42 and was the younger sister of the young man before, Ford Carline.

"Incredible! She is only 17-years-old, and she still managed to be in 4th place!"

"Ahh! That way, I will fall in love with her." A young man shouted in the middle of the audience.

Seeing this, Minos looked in the young woman's direction and agreed with some of the comments. 'She is truly amazing! Even though I think Ruth is even more beautiful, this young ginger doesn't lose out on almost anything!'

After a few more minutes, Minos and Ruth started to get tired of staying there when they decided to go to the fighting arena, not far from there.

However, when the two were already leaving, another commotion started on the spot.

"Look, it's Mr. Troy Newman, the number 1 in the Cultivation Ranking!"

"Ahh! With the young Troy participating in this tournament, the first place is already decided..." One of the young people who were looking at the place said in dismay.

Many nodded while someone said. "Yes, the other competitors are very unlucky. It is not common for someone at level 44 to participate in this competition..."

Upon hearing this, Minos turned and looked in the young man's direction. He has black hair and just entered the structure that measured the competitors' cultivation speed.

"Oh! Not bad. He must have a Silver talent and also a Silver-grade cultivation technique!" Minos murmured in a low voice. The cultivation speed of this young man was excellent for the north of the Central Continent.

Minos then thought. 'I've never heard of this Newman family. What region is it?'

"Ruth, have you heard of any family with that last name?" He asked curiously.

"No, after all, I know few families in this part of the continent..."

"Hmm, never mind, I was just curious."

After that, the two had finally left the place and headed for the fighting arena. But before that, Minos had searched for some surnames on that screen, but he didn't find them, which were the names of the Silva family and the royal family of the Brown Kingdom. It was not uncommon for a large house not to participate in this competition. After all, there was an age limit!

Therefore, there was a possibility that these families had no prodigy up to 18-years-old to send here during this edition of the Spiritual Tournament.

That's because it was not easy to have many geniuses simultaneously. Take the case of the Miller family, which had sent only two members.

Additionally, the tournament was held every eight years. That meant that a prodigy who began cultivating five years ago would be ineligible to compete, as he would still be weak!