After arriving in Payton without noticing their presence by the Spiritual Sage of the Eastern Empire, Minos' group quickly made their way to the core of that city.
Upon arriving in the central square of the capital of the Flaming Empire, Gloria, Ruth, and Sarah headed toward the Spiritual Church temple, going to see Margot and Joseph Frost.
At the same time, Minos and Abby headed together to the imperial palace, where he had business to attend to but also where he would have the opportunity to 'rest' next to his wife.
When they arrived at that place, the two promptly caught the attention of the people in the surroundings since Abby had not been with Minos before and was now at level 70.
The Empress of the Black Plain didn't have a significant age difference with Minos, so her reaching level 70 just months after he was impressive!
In any case, with Abby's resources and talent, she didn't have such a lower cultivation speed than him, so the difference between the two hadn't grown significantly yet.
When they entered the imperial palace, they immediately went to where Isabella was, ignoring the imperial guards trying to take them to the old supreme elder.
Minos had already told them not to do this. Still, some of the imperial guards didn't know this and naturally tried to notify him about this once again.
The old supreme elder of the Edwardstone family was aware of all Minos' recent actions and was naturally concerned, wanting to talk to him.
Minos had expected this but didn't want to talk to the man, leaving it to Isabella, someone who knew how to handle things in the way that mattered most to him.
With that, he was soon in the redheaded woman's office, explaining himself in front of several elders standing next to her.
"Well, I'm back from my persecution days." Minos explained as Abby stood beside him, already aware of all that had happened in the months she had been secluded in the Spatial Kingdom.
"Are you just going to say that?" Isabella questioned him, but without being irritated.
"The Spiritual Palace Sect committed crimes that perhaps this family would not punish with extermination, but they decided to flee rather than opt for the chance of mercy from this imperial house.
In this case, they would become stray enemies, who could at any time in the future become opponents of the Flaming Empire, in the worst case, even terrorists like Abe Vogel.
So I did what had to be done. Since they no longer wanted to be members of the Empire, I eliminated them for the good of everyone here."
The elders there listened to Minos' words in silence, still ignorant of how this guy had dealt with all the groups he and his wives had persecuted.
Minos had just eliminated the remaining leaders of that organization by activating one of his weapons of mass destruction. So it would take at least a few days before the news reached Payton and shocked those people entirely.
Because of this, some accepted the problem more easily than others, feeling that it was the best thing for the family.
If those people from the Spiritual Palace Sect had stayed, they wouldn't have wanted the end of such a powerful organization, even considering the recent enmity. But since those enemies decided to leave the state, their existence would no longer make any positive differences, only negative ones for the state of Isabella.
In this case, it was really better to exterminate them!
"So you dealt with all of them?" Isabella asked.
"Hmmm, everyone who tried to escape and did not attend the previous occasion is dead." Minos said with a smile on his face, indicating that there were no more concerns regarding these people.
"Very well, with that matter resolved, I believe the state can slowly return to normalcy..." Isabella commented after a long sigh, feeling that she could finally have some peace. "We haven't stood still for the past few days either. The supreme elder and I have presented the punishments to each of my state's forces, and they have already accepted our decisions and have slowly begun to fulfill our demands."
"Is that so?" Minos asked before some elders explained how the supreme elder and Isabella had decided to deal with the powers that had previously betrayed or abandoned them.
Those who betrayed them would lose all their rights regarding ownership of areas and cities in the Flaming Empire. They would not be destroyed but would become sovereigns of their headquarters only.
Outside the boundaries of these posts, other powers would take over the role of sovereignty and governance of the cities and territories previously under the rule of these organizations.
On the other hand, in addition to heavy fines, almost as large as those levied by Minos, experts above level 77 would have to surrender to the imperial family to have their cultivation sealed. In sequence, these people would be arrested and have to serve their sentences in isolation for the next 200 years!
The powers that only denied helping the imperial family would not lose their lands entirely. Still, they would lose the best areas of their territories and tax rights and be barred from doing business outside the empire.
They would also be punished similarly to the organizations that sided with Mortimer regarding the status of their high-level members and the payment of fines.
The difference was that these organizations would pay lower fines and would be without their strongest elders for a shorter amount of time.
Only the sect that was related to the Immemorial Graves Sect had gotten rid of almost all of these punishments because of a request from Minos for the imperial family not to take it too hard on them.
But they would still have to pay fines and have parts of their tax rights reduced.
Minos heard all this and felt the measures were appropriate.
"Well, with that decided, I believe the empire will return to 'normalcy' after a few weeks." He said, knowing that it would be impossible for this state to return to its normal quickly.
But at least peace and tranquility could be achieved in a few weeks.
Mortimer was still alive, and that was a danger. But the way that man must have been, Minos was sure that the danger would be small if the imperial family returned to dominate all the organizations in this state.
After all, with all the organizations on their side obeying them, it would be relatively calm for the members of the imperial family to at least protect themselves.
They could not eliminate Mortimer alone, but they could have the peace of mind of knowing that such a man would not be able to dethrone them.
"Hmm, I hope so." Isabella commented as she looked at Abby, curious about when this woman had joined Minos in the empire. But she first asked. "How long do you intend to remain in the empire?"
"Until the organizations punished start complying with all the agreements..." He replied as he thought better of it. "Probably about 2 or 3 months. After that, I will return to my state to prepare for my departure to the Flowers Kingdom."
