The Rise of the Black Plain

Finally, Emperor Stuart finished learning the basics of that technique and opened his eyes, feeling the sensation that would come whenever a cultivator learned a new technique.

Such a thing was like an itch that needed to be scratched or, instead, to be activated. So he looked in the direction of his grandfather and shook his head significantly so that man could not mistake his intentions.

Now that he had learned the basics, he would only need to practice the technique a few times to get a minimal mastery so that he would have no problem activating it in the future.

As such, Minos wanted to fight a little. After realizing that his grandfather had not refused his proposal, he began to execute the commands of that technique so that he would activate it for the first time.

'I must circulate my spiritual energy towards the core of my being, the lower part of my head...' He thought as he executed his first attempt.

'... After the fifth step, I must use some of those laws for the technique to take shape in order to express my ability...' He remembered that earlier in the illusion, he still could not use his remaining techniques through the Soul Avatar.

But in his first activation, it would already work, so he had to follow the steps perfectly so as not to make a mistake and remain unable to express such powers.

While thinking about the Space and Time Avatar activation, Minos was constantly making gestures with his hands, using his fingers to make the spiritual energy in his body follow some patterns.

That was the means cultivators would use to more efficiently direct their energy and understanding the first few times activating a spiritual technique.

When learning a new technique, the connection of the technique to the user would be small, and it would not be easy to execute all the commands easily. The opposite of this, the difficulty would be incredible, similar to what a person who has never walked would have when trying to do it for the first time.

But like everything in life, the usability of the technique would increase as time passed and its user experience increased. Thus, this was not a problem for Minos or any other cultivators; he would not need to repeat the finger gesture signals for the same techniques in the future.

"Ouch!" He made a low sound of pain, bringing one of his hands to the back of his neck, feeling pain in that area.

He missed the first attempt but soon identified where he would have to correct his commands.

...

After trying to activate that soul technique eight times, Minos finally succeeded!

After almost 20 minutes, he executed the commands of that technique perfectly, causing a unique energy to circulate through the back of his neck, something that was a mixture of some Natural Laws and spiritual energy.

Then, quickly this energy condensed into the 'home' of the soul, causing the back of his neck to glow a little before a powerful force departed from that place.

Space and Time Avatar!

When Minos activated this technique correctly for the first time, the Soul Avatar quickly grew from the depths of his being until it became a semi-transparent giant with his appearance.

Upon reaching this form, Minos looked at the surroundings nervously, seeing not through his body but through his avatar.

'Incredible!'

'Although this is just a projection of my soul, I feel as if my body has only increased in size... Everything else is very similar to my normal state!'

But he did not stay in this state of contemplation, looking at his spiritual body for a long time. Soon, Minos looked toward Oswald, who was already floating in front of him.

"Let's test these skills of yours..." This white-haired and bearded fellow said in a humorous tone, pleased to be able to do this with his grandson.

Thus, Oswald also activated his soul technique, making an avatar similar to him appear from his body!

With that, all the observers in the area took a deep breath, about to witness a battle between extremely powerful cultivators by the standards of even the Flaming Empire.

In fact, considering Minos' current capabilities, he could fight on equal terms with masters from other sects in that state!

But this was not entirely true for Oswald since this man had no Black-grade techniques in his technique set. Instead, he only had those Silver and Golden grade ones, a far above-average configuration.

So he was stronger than his grandson, although the difference currently was no longer as great as it had been in the past.

That's why Oswald took this training with Minos seriously since this young man could hurt him if he were not careful!

With his Soul Avatar activated, Oswald did not attack. Instead, he made a gesture indicating for Minos to begin this challenge.

Minos did not miss his chance and promptly activated all his combat techniques simultaneously, causing the space around him to become chaotic.

The observers saw this and realized that if anyone below level 77 entered that area of Minos' control, that person would end up dead in a matter of seconds!

That was true, even considering people with Silver-grade techniques!

"Uh?" The level 79 Spiritual Saint realized something and took a step forward, seeing the movements of both Minos and Oswald happening at a very high speed.

He had seen Oswald fight many times in the past, so seeing this man activating his abilities with such speed, this man could not help but frown.

'Is their battle accelerated? The passage of time isn't the same within his avatar's space of influence?' He wondered as he looked at Minos and swallowed his saliva as he theorized about what he saw.

Meanwhile, black rings appeared around Oswald's wrists, waist, and ankles, together with a high gravity that was trying to force him against the ground.

'That's really impressive!' Minos' grandfather thought in surprise, noting that this was somewhat limiting his movements.

At the same time, he had an expression of annoyance around his eyes, feeling the weight of being attacked by Minos' mental technique and feeling one of his weaknesses being exploited.

Minos was seeing Oswald's fluctuations and the weak points of this man's strengths. So he could not help but attack with the Infinite Dream, one of his grandfather's weak points.

'Time to try that...' He smiled as he manipulated his innate ability into himself.

When Minos did such a thing, immediately, Oswald felt something, and then 2% of his power suddenly vanished and headed toward his grandson.

"Huh?"

At the same time, that 2% added to Minos' power, and he felt himself getting stronger as if he had had a small breakthrough.

But this was not him gaining his grandfather's energies after absorbing Oswald's spiritual energy with the Devouring Art. The opposite of that, this was the soul power that Minos was stealing from his opponent through his innate ability!

For some time from that moment on, Minos would have a subtly higher level and Oswald lower than he naturally had!

Sensing this, Minos laughed and picked up his sword with his beefy body, causing a spiritual weapon to appear in his avatar's hands.

Spatial Sword!

He activated his main offensive technique, dancing as he launched blades at his opponent.

...