The Rise of the Black Plain

"Minos, why don't you join the Spiritual Church? We may not be able to make you the leader of the Black Plain, but one of your wives and little Sarah will be able to inherit that state..." Joseph said as he demonstrated he was willing to negotiate the terms of Emperor Stuart's entry into that organization.

Normally, the Church requires that all family members of its members be disassociated from other organizations to avoid conflicts of interest. So in normal situations, members of this great institution could not have family members active in other powers.

But this rule could have its exceptions when some parameters were met.

When someone was talented and worth the 'effort', Church headquarters closed its eyes to certain information not so good in its opinion.

So a new member could have his family still in their old organizations before joining the Church, as long as, from then on, all his new family members did not join powers other than the Church.

By this, Joseph was trying to draw Minos into that organization without taking away that subject's control over that territory.

Minos could still rule the Black Plain from behind the curtains using Abby and Sarah as the face of local leadership. At the same time, he could be appointed as the general Patriarch of the northern region and continue to live for a while in that empire.

"... So, in practice, your life would not change much in the next few years, and you would still be a member of the Church with a lot of potentials in the future." Minos' father-in-law explained all the exceptions they were willing to make to have this fellow in the Church.

Isabella was impressed by all that and looked at Minos, thinking about telling him to accept such an offer.

'With that, he would still have the Black Plain Empire working for him, but he could use the resources of the Church and still travel to the Evergreen Empire in the future to utilize the high-level possibilities of that state.' She thought about it.

In Minos' place, anyone would decide to join the Spiritual Church and become a leader of the shadows of the Black Plain Empire.

However, Minos had no interest in doing that. "I appreciate the offer, but I have no ambition to join the Spiritual Church. Gloria is already part of that organization, so it makes no sense for us to be in it."

"What does that have to do with it?" Margot asked.

"I enjoy being the leader of the Black Plain, and I have no interest in becoming the leader of the Spiritual Church..." Minos said, indicating that he could achieve that if he so desired. "I don't want to lead an organization that was not created by myself."

Upon hearing those words, some of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs thought that Minos was just being proud, not taking his words about leading the Church seriously...

But Margot frowned, looking at Minos strangely, wondering if this was possible.

Joseph sighed and insisted. "Are you sure? Your future would be much broader if you became one of us. Besides, it would be nice if Gloria would join her faction with one from Church headquarters."

"You could even get great benefits because of the size of the faction you have created..."

But Minos was sure of his positions. "Hmm, I'm sure. I'd rather stay in my empire and live as I wish than become subordinate to an organization I barely know... Besides, our faction is doing well. So I see no reason for us to join other groups."

"Tsk!" Margot turned around and expressed her displeasure. 'This fool doesn't see how much Gloria and Sarah could gain from this! All on account of his immense pride!'

On the other hand, the other elders there felt somewhat offended by Minos' repeated refusals.

One of them then said. "Sect master Stuart, I won't insist too much. But you know that there is competition between the factions of the Church? For the moment, you haven't attracted much attention yet, so you haven't had any problems. But the size of the group led by Gloria is getting big quickly. So it won't be long before trouble knocks at your doors."

"When we can't handle such trouble, we will consider joining another faction." Minos said, stopping the insistence of these people.

He knew all that, but he was still determined to develop his faction with Gloria, aiming for the day when this woman could become the leader of the Spiritual Church.

He would still be an external member of the Church, so he was part of her faction and could act in concert with her forces to help his wife. That way, Minos felt that the burden would not be so great, and even when it became worse, he would have alternatives up his sleeve.

In any case, it would not be now that everything was going well for his forces that he would give up his ambitions because the danger was standing in his way.

That was the life of a cultivator, after all.

So he talked a little more with those Patriarchs and Matriarchs before seeing most of them leaving in frustration from the imperial palace.

They wanted to do something more, but Minos was stronger than most of them and was also on Isabella's side. So only Joseph and Margot stayed behind to talk to him some more.

"Where is my granddaughter? And Gloria?" Joseph asked as he sat down and took a cup of a spiritual drink.

Minos was sitting next to Isabella, opposite these two elders, the parents of his third wife. "They are not here. Sarah is striving to learn the basics necessary to begin her journey of cultivation. As for her mother, she is training on the Black Plain."

"Is that so? When little Sarah becomes a cultivator, I will give her some gifts." Margot commented with a silly smile on her face.

"What about Zoe? Have you guys been taking good care of her?" Joseph asked about his niece, who had gone to the northern region to join the Church post led by Gloria.

"Zoe is fine. She recently reached level 65." Minos said, remembering this silver-haired woman, who had been living in his empire for almost four years now.

"Level 65?" Husband and wife looked at each other, thinking Zoe's growth had been magnificent for the few years since she left for the Black Plain.

'It seems that Minos does have unique methods of stimulating the cultivation of his people.' That silver-haired man thought to himself, while the white-haired woman next to him thought about the cultivation rooms with the Black Hole Bombs.

'It must be on account of that...' She considered. 'It's not for nothing! Things as powerful as those really do have a lot of Lawsource and spiritual energy.'

'I'm just impressed that he found a way to use that to his advantage!'

"Anyway, this time, none of them came with me. But you can visit them in the Black Plain Empire if you like in a few months..."

They continued talking about Sarah, Gloria, and the Stuart family since these two had interests that went beyond just business with Minos.

Isabella took the opportunity to learn a bit about the current situation of the Stuart family, accompanying those three people until early evening in this city.