The Rise of the Black Plain



"What is it, Edgar? Do you happen to know those people?" One of the beasts on Minos' side asked as he watched those carriages passing not far from them.

Minos was silent for a moment while the others waited for his answer. But he would soon decide to set off in the direction of that group of traveling people, and then he said. "I'm not sure, but that symbol belongs to someone who helped me in the past... So I would like to approach them to find out more."

"Oh? Are you sure about that?" Hermes asked, feeling this might create problems for their trip, which shouldn't take more than a few hours to finish.

He would do as Minos said since he would be well paid for this service. But he would prefer to finalize this matter with 'Edgar' as soon as possible.

He said. "If we get involved with them, our trip could end up being delayed for days."

Minos did not want to be delayed and said. "I will only try to get information. I don't intend to visit or connect meaningfully with them now."

"All right then." That beast liked what it heard and said. "But let's approach with caution. There is a level 85 Spiritual Sage among them."

"OK."

Everyone else agreed before properly approaching that group of people traveling.

In the Spiritual World, especially in forests, one should never suddenly approach another person or group of people. If the interest was to communicate peacefully, that individual or group had to show themselves at a distance from their target and clarify their peaceful intentions.

Those individuals and Minos did that, soon drawing the attention of the group traveling nearby.

Inside one of those carriages was the level 85 Spiritual Sage, along with three other people who looked much younger than him.

One was a level 80 man, while the other two were women, one level 81 and one level 83. They all looked good, despite the serious expressions on their faces.

Meanwhile, in the surroundings were 8th-stage beasts pulling their carriages and cultivators of this cultivation stage doing small service. Besides those weaker beings in the surroundings, the rest were Spiritual Sages, serving as guards for this group.

Then that level 85 man said to the three people before him. "A group of spiritual beasts and a human are approaching us. They seem to want to communicate with us."

The three in front of that man frowned, and the man asked. "Have we been discovered?"

"Impossible!" The weaker woman said. "How would the damned Veora family members identify us so quickly?"

Then the middle-aged fellow, level 85, said. "I don't believe this is related to the royal family. That group would not behave the way they are doing if they were."

"But..."

"We will meet with them, Young Miss. In any case, we have already been seen by them." The other woman commented to the one at level 81.

After a few moments, they agreed to this when Minos and those beasts were already only 100 meters away.

They got out of that carriage while the guards in the surrounding area positioned themselves to fight if necessary.

Then these people looked toward Hermes, the strongest of that group, and Minos, the human who might be there to cause them trouble.

The level 85 man shouted, asking. "Who are you? What do you want by approaching my group?"

Minos stepped forward and answered these people's questions. "Friends, we wish you no harm. My name is Edgar Wade. I am a merchant from the Flaming Empire."

"Edgar? What do you want with us? We do not wish to do business." That man said, not letting the people he had to protect talk so as not to risk it.

Minos said. "I am traveling to the Western Empire with the guide of these friends I have made in this state... However, as we traveled, I saw the symbol on your carriages and armor."

The men in the surrounding area had a small blue symbol, similar to the one on Abby's staff, the symbol of the Goddess of Life.

He then asked. "I know that symbol. It belonged to the Goddess of Life. Do you have any relation to this ancient specialist? I heard an interesting story in my travels that might interest you."

Those people clenched their fists and narrowed their eyes as they realized that Minos had connected them to the Goddess of Life by that long-forgotten symbol.

Besides their family members, no one else in this world should be able to identify the correct origin of this symbol!

Even their enemies no longer knew anything about it, and the name Goddess of Life was no longer something any 8th-stage person would know about. Only their highest-level enemies could associate it with their family!

They then became more defensive, doubting that Minos was from the Flaming Empire.

"Who do you represent?" The level 81 woman brandished, showing her aura to those in Minos' group.

Meanwhile, the guards became more alert, preparing to fight if necessary.

Minos smiled and said. "I represent no one but myself. But the lady should not worry about that. I have no relation to any power with interest against you. I only have an interest in keeping as many doors open as possible.

I heard a story in the Black Plain Empire about an inheritance left by this expert. Some lucky cultivators supposedly found such a thing, changing their lives.

But it seems that the Goddess of Life had left behind something for her descendants, something that these people should help pass on to the heirs of her lineage..." He lied.

"Inheritance?" Those three next to the level 85 man murmured, their eyebrows arching. 

They could not believe that such a thing had been found!

Their family no longer had the same surname as that woman. But they had managed to preserve the history of the Goddess of Life among the most important members, even after changing their surnames three times over the last million years.

After the Great Migration, they searched countless times for the inheritance of the Goddess of Life. But none of them had been able to find her, and after that, they had given up on any kind of help that woman could have left for them.

The Goddess of Life had gone through a tragedy in her time and lost all the people of her village to the men of the God of Death. She even believed that she had lost her lineage since she had had no children in her time. 

However, people with her family lineage had survived that calamity unbeknownst to her and continued the genes of such an expert's family!

Minos said. "Yes, supposedly these people are very grateful, but until today they don't know about possible relatives of that woman... 

Sigh... Do you guys have the same blood as her? Or did you just wear her symbol?"

The level 85 man kept those three silent and took the reins of the situation. "Young man..."