The Rise of the Black Plain

Minos and Ruth walked for some time and soon arrived at a square that was as busy as the park on which the Cultivation Ranking was located. That was an open place, with many trees and several kiosks selling food.

And amid the smell of food that could be felt in the air and the freshness of an open place in the middle of a big city, there was an arena set up in the center of that place.

This arena had four large stands, with thousands of seats for visitors to come and see the fights. Outside, large screens displayed the results of the most recent battles, featuring the 100 best names in the arena.

Some advertisements said how much could be gained by entering the ranking, which was more or less the same rules as the Cultivation Ranking.

First place would receive a low-level grade-2 pill and weapon if someone managed to stay in that position for at least an entire week.

For the second position, the competitors would have to follow the same rules. Still, they would only receive a weapon and a high-level grade-1 pill if they could achieve this goal. And the third position could win a high-level grade-1 pill.

There were other awards for lower ranking, but these awards were less attractive, such as spiritual weapons, arrays, and low-grade crystals. Only the first three positions won good prizes, which could make a big difference for the competition participants.

It didn't take long, and Minos and Ruth managed to find a place for them to watch some fights in this arena.

In one corner of one of the stands, Ruth sat down next to Minos. The two then noticed that there were already a pair of cultivators fighting on stage.

Pow!

A young man landed a punch in his opponent's chest when he was taken by surprise to put the enemy counterattack!

Boom!

An explosion sounded, and the young man who had been attacked earlier was thrown from a distance while making a wailing sound.

"Ahh! Damn it!"

After that, the match judge came and decreed the end of the duel, giving the victory to the young man who was still standing in the center of the arena.

When they saw this, a group of people on Minos' side got up and left while talking loudly.

"It looks like today there will be no interesting fight..."

"Hmm, these young people who have fought so far were weak. I prefer to go and do other things." One of them said dissatisfied.

"Well, it was expected. I heard that the first place in the ranking is competing for positions in the Cultivation Ranking this week."

"Hehe, this is normal, the young Troy fought two days ago, so it must be a while before another high-level fight takes place!" A middle-aged man said with a smile on his face.

He had watched a fight between the top two in the fighting arena ranking two days ago. For him, this was one of the best fights he had seen in his entire life since it was not easy to witness this type of combat in a region as weak as the North of the Central Continent.

After all, most life and death battles did not take place publicly.

Upon hearing this, Ruth turned to Minos with a disappointed look on her face and said. "It looks like we were unlucky. Did you hear that?"

"Hmm, we will see the next two fights. Then, if it is not better than the last one, we will look for a place to train." Minos said with a resolute look on his face.

"Ok, let's see if there are any surprises here..."

After a few minutes, the fight had started, but the participants were only at levels 35 and 36. Because of that, this fight had not caught the attention of Ruth and Minos, who were used to fighting people from the 5th stage of cultivation.

And it wasn't long before the fight was over and, as expected, the level 36 youngster won the battle. After that, two girls went up to the center of the arena and then started the next fight.

One was at level 37, while the other was at level 39. It wasn't a bad fight, but it still wasn't enough for Minos and Ruth to spend more of their time in this place.

Seeing that there was nothing better in this place, the two youths decided to leave to find a suitable place for training. It would not be reasonable to waste their time here.

However, when Minos and Ruth were getting up to leave this place, the young Abby appeared with her group not far from them.

Seeing this, Ruth couldn't help frowning as she thought of Abby's quirky comment just a few days ago.

The moment she saw Minos, Abby immediately ran towards him and came over to talk to him. She then said with a smile on her face. "Haha, it looks like our destinies are linked! We found it so easily..."

"Hmm, it's truly a coincidence." Minos hugged her promptly and then greeted the rest of Abby's group.

She then asked while looking at Minos. "Did you just get here too?"

Ruth then responded with an indifferent look on her face. "Hmm, but there is nothing good here. So, we were already leaving to go and cultivate somewhere."

Upon hearing this, Abby slowly changed her expression and looked at Ruth, who was beside the young Stuart. 'Will they indeed cultivate?'

'No, I will prevent this woman from further staining Minos' mind.' Abby thought for a second and then said. "Minos, since you don't want to watch the fights, why don't you fight me? We always talked about it in the past."

Minos then shook his head and tried to convince her otherwise. "I think this is not a good idea..."

"You don't have to be afraid, Abby is your friend, and she'll take it easy on you." The young Mona immediately said this when she saw Minos' almost immediate refusal.

That was very obvious to her. After all, Minos was only at level 38, while Abby was at 40. And getting around that difference in cultivation was very difficult!

However, before Minos or Abby could say anything, Ruth immediately burst out laughing.

"Hahaha."

Upon hearing this, except for Minos, everyone looked at her curiously. Abby then stepped forward and asked. "Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing..."

Minos then said. "It would be better if we didn't fight, Abby..." but before he finished, she took Minos' hand and started pulling him towards the center of the arena.

"Stop the bullshit. We will have a friendly match to see how strong we have become. The result will not be important!"

Seeing what was going on, Ruth started to blush with laughter as she thought about what would happen. 'This is good. This woman will learn to stay away from us after being decisively defeated!'

And it wasn't long before Minos and Abby went up to the center of the arena. There weren't that many people to fight today, so they didn't have any problems.

Minos tried to change Abby's thinking, but she seemed determined not to let him go. He then asked her before they started to fight. "Since you want to fight anyway, fight with everything from the beginning. Otherwise, you will lose without having a chance to fight back."

After this, Abby and the judge who was close to them were shocked by what Minos had just said.

That was too arrogant!

A lower-level person had just said that he would win easily if the other side did not use all her cards!

'Ahh... The problem of the younger generation is arrogance...' The middle-aged man who was there as a judge thought as he shook his head in disappointment.

He saw this kind of behavior a lot. Still, these young people almost always ended up encountering great tragedies in their lives.

'Does he think he's going to beat me like this?' Abby doubted in her mind. Even if Minos' speed was phenomenal, that didn't mean that his fighting prowess was just as good!

'I will use 80% of my strength. That should be enough for him to have a good fight...' She thought as she prepared to activate her techniques.

At the same time, Minos let out a long breath. 'Why is she doing this? It makes no sense...'

The judge then said. "Start the fight!"

Minos then held a blunt sword in his right hand when he activated his attack technique, while there was a look of lament on his face.

The issue for Minos was that his control over his battle techniques was extremely limited, and he was unable to reduce the damage significantly.

As a result, he was unable to control the effect of his techniques on his opponents. Furthermore, even though he did not fight, the gap between his and Abby's levels was minimal. Therefore, it would be practically impossible for his friend to resist the limiting effects of his techniques!

Spatial Sword!

At the same time, Abby activated her movement and defense techniques while she was thinking. 'Let's see the power of your attack...' She didn't want to attack and hurt her old friend by accident...

However, when Abby least expected it, she suddenly started to feel very heavy, and her speed was reduced by a large margin!

Minos then quickly approached Abby, gesturing with his sword towards the young woman's right shoulder. He didn't want to use an air blade, as it could end up hurting his old friend a lot more.

And with the blunt sword he was using, the damage done to his opponent would be, at most, a muscle discomfort that would last for a few minutes.

Crack!

Abby's defense quickly fell apart when her body was suddenly thrown out of the arena. At the same time, she had a look of disbelief in her eyes. The fight had only lasted a second, and she had already lost!