The Rise of the Black Plain

Quickly two days passed.

In this period, Minos and Abby had finished their affairs in the city of Dahlia, having visited the spiritual judge who had validated young Stuart's agreement with the Lillian family.

Other than that, the two had spent most of their time inside the Spatial Kingdom, training and cultivating. The only times the couple left such a place was when they had to eat or rest.

After all, because they were in an unusual location, the couple could combine business and pleasure by strolling around and getting to know Dahlia while taking a break from their training routines.

Such a thing was fascinating for couples to do, as this was a way to increase their connection and provide further meaning to their daily lives. In addition, knowing new services, information and facts about different realities were also very useful for both of them, due to their position in the Dry City!

Human creativity constantly produced new ideas and services, which could improve some things a lot and even solve specific problems. So, it wouldn't hurt to take some time to experience the different cultures that existed in the Spiritual World.

And after all that, Minos and Abby had departed from Dahlia, heading southwest to such a place.

...

In a forest region, two people were standing around a fire in the central parts of the Kingdom of the Waves. One of them was sitting on a piece of wood on the ground, eating a portion of meat that was stuck in a stick. As for the other individual, he was standing a few meters away from that fire, guarding around.

And while that person ate and the other observed the surroundings, a breeze passed through that forest, lifting some of the many leaves on the ground there.

This place didn't have a high density of trees, but there were still enough of these organisms that people couldn't see many meters away.

Also, the sounds of tiny insects were present everywhere, in addition to some low-ranking beasts that lived in those surroundings.

Beasts of this type, animals, generally didn't behave very violently. After all, they were naturally weaker and had more defensive behaviors. So, as long as no one attacked them or tried to do such a thing, they would do nothing. In fact, it wouldn't be impossible to see some animals grazing alongside human groups!

Of course, this is partly because of the ignorance of these beings. Because the more significant the difference between the levels, the harder it is to notice such contrasts!

A fragile animal from the 2nd stage could stand beside Spiritual Emperors without showing any fear. Of course, their senses would not be able to measure such a difference in power between the parts. Such a strong individual would be confused with the environment itself, and these organisms would not notice any danger.

And because of that, weaker animals dared to approach strong cultivators, sometimes grazing calmly as if nothing much happened...

Finally, amid this place where some rabbits were jumping from one side to the other, the sound of the waters of a river resounded through that place when the man who was watching the surroundings said something. "They are chasing us. I can feel that we will be attacked soon!"

Hearing this, the ash-blond-haired man who was eating what appeared to be a fish stopped to eat and turned to his companion, a strong, muscular young man. "And what are we going to do this time, Eduard?"

These two were Elen and Elena's bodyguards, who had passed by Dahlia a few days ago.

After arriving in that city, the two had been lucky enough to find a low-level grade-2 doctor who helped them for an amount that was within their budget...

And from that, they were hidden in that city for a week, where they received that individual's daily treatment until they finally ran out of crystals to continue their therapy.

But the two had still managed to recover more than half of their injuries these past few days, being in the much better condition right now.

They looked much more flushed and didn't have any bloodstained bandages all over their bodies. At the same time, even though the two were not at their full strength, they still managed to display strong presences, typical of those powerful regional cultivators.

Anyway, after leaving that place, they had traveled for a few hours until they stopped in this forest, southwest of Dahlia. Here they intended to take a short rest before continuing their journey to the Peninsula of Waves region, where they would try to return to Stone Island.

Those two bodyguards thought they had managed to outwit the Allen family spies because they had not heard from these people when they were in Dahlia. Because of that, now both thought of using this advantage to return to Stone Island without running the risk of being apprehended by enemy reinforcements in the port they landed in that state!

However, after stopping for a few minutes in this place, Eduard had started to get more and more anxious, with his senses telling him that there was something wrong!

Hearing the worried voice of his travel companion, Eduard frowned and answered. "I don't know. If I'm right and those spies are in the vicinity, then we can only pray that they haven't made a better recovery than we have, otherwise..."

After Eduard finished saying that, Ernest quickly got up from where he was as he prepared to leave that place.

He couldn't help but panic. After all, if they had to go through a fight like the one before, then he would probably be the first to go down!

"Then let's go! This place is very disadvantageous for us to set up ambushes…" He was about to say something when a laugh reverberated through that part of the forest.

"Too late, you two fools!" A woman's voice reached both men's ears as they looked back and forth across the spot, trying to see from where these people were coming.

"Miserable! Is the Allen family truly willing to start a war with the Nash family? Because that's what you're going to get if you keep this up!" Eduard screamed in a fury, trying to appeal to the side of reason.

That's because, even though he was just a subordinate of that family, he was directly involved in Elen's deal with the Black Plain. So, this bodyguard felt confident saying these things.

He had undoubtedly already attained the status of a subordinate worthy of revenge!

"Hmph! Don't blame us for what's going to happen now..."

"That day we fought in that cave, we gave you the chance to switch sides and take refuge in our Allen family." A man began to speak, while the group of six people gradually appeared from different points, around Ernest and Eduard.

"However, you are two imbeciles who would rather die than change sides!"

'It's easy for someone in your position to say such a thing…' So, Ernest thought to himself as he moved into a defensive position.

For deserters, there would be no easy life!

That's because people with such deeds would never be accepted with 'open arms' by any organization that knew about such things. After all, if he's already betrayed the power that nurtured him in the past, then why wouldn't he do the same with other forces?

According to popular sayings, everything would be easier with practice... And a traitor would be a traitor!

That couldn't be changed!

The moment an opportunity arose, such a person would do it without giving a damn about the organization that gave him a second chance...

Because of this reality, organizations would not receive people known to be deserters!

Consequently, individuals who did such a thing usually became rogue cultivators, who generally did business as mercenaries to survive.

But such a thing was considered far worse than being a subordinate of a large family, as these two men were.

Because of all of this, few people would betray their organizations for offers like the one this group had made unless it was an unmissable offer, the kind that would solve lifetime problems!

"Well, this time, we'll see how you guys try to escape!" One of them said this while unleashing his level 50 cultivation strength!