The Rise of the Black Plain

At that time, the leader of the bandits of the Yellow City was in his office accompanied by three other men when the door opened. A subordinate then reported that they had found the whereabouts of the strange fox and its cub.

"So, where is she?" One of the men in the room asked anxiously. The other two men also showed a lot of interest and began to pay attention to the person who had reported this news.

"She is in a cave about 500 kilometers from here in the Yellow City. She is fragile and should not be leaving that place anytime soon." The subordinate, who had reported the news, said with a smile on his face.

"Hahaha, good! We are going to prepare an expedition to capture both the mother and the cub!" Chief Gul said with a smile that went from ear to ear.

"By the way, what is the stage of cultivation of this beast?" One of the three men asked curiously.

"The leader of the hunt group said that she should be in the 5th stage of cultivation." The subordinate responded promptly.

"Hmm, in normal situations, it would be impossible for us to capture such a beast without fighting with the intention of killing. But since she just gave birth to her cub, it won't be that difficult." Gul said out loud.

Gul then turned to one of the three men and said. "Lydo, go and make the preparations for our hunt. I believe that ten people above level 44 will be enough. Call all of our commanders."

One of the three men named Lydo, who was at level 45, nodded and left the office quickly to resolve this matter.

Of the other two in the room, they were also on the same level as Lydo and were just below Gul in the hierarchy within the Yellow City bandit group.

Not only that, each of these three had two commanders at level 44 as their subordinates, who controlled the rest of the group. That was the power structure that Gul had put in place to manage this city.

Chief Gul then looked at the other two, who were still in the room, and said. "Make the other preparations. When we leave the city, the strongest one will only be at level 43."

"Okay, boss, let's get everything ready as soon as possible." The two responded and then left the room.

"Hehehe, it looks like I'm finally going to have a great opportunity. It won't be long, and those who chased me before will all be killed. Hahaha." Gul spoke aloud while laughing maniacally.

...

A few hours later, the Minos group established a temporary camp, 30 kilometers from the Yellow City, where their group would wait to act. They chose that location because it was close to the city and contained some plants and rock formations that could hide them from unwelcome eyes.

"Sergeant Humbert, make a group of ten Corporals and visit Yellow City to collect information about these criminal groups active in this region." Minos spoke while looking in the direction of one of the soldiers.

"But wear clothes that are common and different from each other. You should also divide this team into five smaller groups, which do not attract unwanted attention within the city. Do this data collection and return as soon as possible. You will be leading this task."

"Okay, young master, I will do this as soon as possible." Sergeant Humbert responded promptly.

Then he quickly gathered the ten men and headed for the Yellow City.

At that moment, the young Elen approached where Minos was and said with a smile on her face. "You are very careful, and you seem to have a lot of experience in this. Have you done this kind of thing before?"

Upon hearing this question, Ruth, who was sitting in a chair that the soldiers had set up, looked at Minos, expecting to know the same.

Upon hearing and seeing Elen and Ruth's reactions, Minos laughed and said. "More or less that..."

...

A few minutes passed, and the group formed by Sergeant Humbert arrived in Yellow City.

As soon as they arrived, three carriages with about ten men left that city, heading towards the east.

Seeing this, Humbert, who was the only Spiritual General in the group, frowned and thought to himself. 'Ten people, and they're all at least level 44. The strongest is at level 47!'

'Could it be that some great merchant is passing through here? Hmm, never mind, let's get to know this place soon.' After that, he stopped paying attention to the group and entered the city.

...

Meanwhile, in one of the carriages, Gul smiled and thought. 'It is just a group of Spiritual Warriors and a person at level 40. They cannot do anything in the Yellow City. Haha, there must be another group of traders who don't know what's going on here...'

...

Upon entering the city, Humbert's group soon separated, according to different directions. Despite being a much larger city than the Dry City, they could see that this place was far more disorganized and impoverished.

Of course, that was only because of what Minos had done during those months when he was running the Dry City. Before this period, the Yellow City would undoubtedly win in all aspects concerning the old city of these soldiers.

Humbert also noticed that the spiritual energy of this place was slightly better than that of the Dry City before the spiritual arrays. In fact, even in the current spiritual concentration of his city, it was barely able to beat Yellow City.

As the group spread out, Humbert was walking around the city calmly, as if he were an ordinary passerby from this place. He was constantly watching people and places, probing whenever he saw something that caught his attention.

"Interestingly, this place has at least 80 cultivators who have already reached level 40!" He murmured to himself.

And indeed, the Yellow City was much better than the Dry City before the changes made by Minos. They could even afford to buy some high-level grade-1 spiritual pills for people with Blue talent to pass their bottleneck.

Anyway, when stopping in a large square in the central part of the city, Humbert stopped at a counter with several fruits and said the merchant there. "Buddy, take two apples for me."

"Here it is, it is 20 low-grade crystals." The merchant said while he had the two apples in a paper bag.

After that, Humbert talked to the merchant for a while and then went on his way through the city. He wanted to recognize the terrain and the forces of the bandits. However, the information gathering service would be a priority for the other men.

He then cleaned one of the apples and took a big bite out of it. 'Hmm, low spiritual concentration. As poor in spiritual energy as were the fruits sold in the Dry City previously.'

...

Simultaneously, in various parts of Yellow City, the five groups, each with two soldiers, quickly infiltrated conversations and discussions.

All of them had received a good amount of low-level spiritual crystals from Minos to bribe people who indicated any willingness to talk about what was going on in this place.

"Friend, did I hear that your son is sick and you are doing extra services?" One of Minos' soldiers asked, disguised in a specific restaurant in one of the city's poorest regions.

The man he had spoken to turned and answered. "That's right, do you have any services for me?"

This man was very anxious when he heard that. In the Yellow City, life was tough for people with low talent.

That, of course, was related to the high criminal activity that had been happening recently. So, that way, many like this man had to work hard to survive in this place.

The soldier smiled and said, as he indicated a more isolated place in the restaurant. "Come with me to a place where we can have some privacy."

After they sat down, the soldier then said. "Well, here's the thing..."

...

Meanwhile, several other soldiers were doing the same in different parts of Yellow City.

It was not difficult to find someone complaining about how bad things had gotten recently or to find individuals whose family obligations compelled them to accept almost any service that could result in some spiritual crystals.

Because of this, the group was quick to understand the events in the previous months, learning a little about the group in power in this city.

...

A day quickly passed when the group of 11 soldiers finally returned from their intelligence gathering. They had not encountered any problems within the Yellow City, as they were disguised as ordinary people.

Not only that, but they had no product with them, so the bandit groups in that place showed no interest in them.

It didn't take long, and all the people present at Minos' camp gathered to discuss the information that Humbert's group had collected.

Minos then took the initiative and asked calmly. "And then? What did the group of you manage to discover?"