After two days of travel between Payton and Dry City, Minos, and Oswald finally reached the capital of the Black Plain Empire!
Upon arriving there, the two saw the many floating islands on the capital's outskirts, places that were already tens of meters high above ground level, quite an improvement.
Minos had expected to find this on his return to Dry City. Still, Oswald was a little surprised, not even needing to check the local spiritual fluctuations to notice the improvement in energy density.
But apart from this most obvious indication of the local improvements, upon arriving in the capital's core, Oswald noticed the level of people in the surrounding area, surprising himself.
The amount of Spiritual Saints had increased dramatically since his departure, and each of the experts from his old sect had become stronger.
At the same time, the local army was much stronger, with several members already at the 8th stage.
These were not people from Vogel or the Flaming Empire who had joined the Black Plain Army. On the contrary, these were natives of the northern region, like Peter, Eduard, Lee, and Alison, who had already reached the 8th stage.
The strongest of them was at level 71, while most were at level 70, having only recently advanced to become Spiritual Saints.
But even so, there were now already a few dozen natives of the northern region above level 70, something that impressed even Minos.
He had expected progress in his strength, but seeing the realization of his plans was something that put a smile on his face and sometimes surprised him.
When he found his domain after years away, he was naturally pleased, seeing that his people had worked hard when he was away.
So after quickly setting up some arrays around the Dry City Dome, he moved to his palace, going to where most of the local experts were.
...
"Your Majesty, welcome back!"
The men and women in the imperial hall said simultaneously, all very happy with Minos' victorious return and more, with his current cultivation level.
Many there thought that after this period, he would only be at level 73. But surprisingly, he was at level 74!
The spirits in the surroundings were even higher than what one would normally see there, and as Minos and Oswald reviewed their family members, laughter and positive comments were pouring in.
Patience, Angelica, and Maisie hugged Oswald almost simultaneously, happy that this man had survived the terrible experience of the Flowers Kingdom.
Minos' grandmother was currently at level 78, while her daughters, Angelica and Maisie, were at levels 74 and 77, respectively.
Minos had already received a hug from these women and was soon standing next to Dillian and Eda, one at level 71 and the other at level 69, talking with the high-level Spiritual Saints of the Gray Clouds Sect.
There were more than a dozen cultivators between levels 78 and 79, with four elders at the absolute peak of the 8th stage.
Just like Oswald, these people were only a mastery of understanding the laws to attempt a breakthrough to the 9th stage!
Minos greeted each of them, receiving congratulations on his victory and advancement to level 74, which put him several steps above his previous combat proficiency.
Minos was a monster before, but now he could be considered much worse!
As his subordinates, everyone there was very pleased because this meant that the road ahead of them would be less complicated.
Minos also met Ivory and Ivy again there, the first at level 75 and the other at level 74.
Both had lived in Dry City for years and had improved a few levels since his departure for the Flowers Kingdom.
Amid his meeting with so many people he hadn't seen in ages, Minos found an auspicious moment and spoke of something of great importance to his family.
"Fellows, a moment." He said, smiling, "I have some good news to tell you."
"What is it, Your Majesty?" Dillian asked in curiosity.
Everyone was so happy about Minos' victorious return that they had forgotten something important!
Minos replied, putting smiles on the faces of everyone there, especially Eliot Miller, level 70, and Nicole Miller, level 69. "Abby gave birth to my first son, Kendrick."
"What?" Nicole asked, stepping forward, wishing she could hold her grandchild in her arms.
Maisie also wanted to hold little Kendrick and asked. "When are you going to bring them back? I want to meet my grandson."
Minos answered every one. "I was just about to do that now... Wait a moment."
With those words, Minos disappeared from the area, knowing that the Spiritual Sage of the Eastern Empire watching him would not notice his departure due to the low-level grade-4 arrays he had quickly installed in the local dome.
Those arrays prevented internal energy fluctuations from leaving the protected area but also stabilized the space to prevent Spiritual Sages from entering and leaving via wormholes. Because of this, he could go back and forth from the Spatial Kingdom without problems in this place!
Thus, in the blink of an eye, Minos brought his wives and children from the Spatial Kingdom, alongside several Spiritual Sages from the Gray Clouds Sect who had been hanging around there for the past few years.
With the arrival of more than 30 people in that place, the individuals in the vicinity of the throne hall were surprised by the advances of their colleagues and the princess, and the prince.
The focus of everything was supposed to be little Kendrick sleeping peacefully in his mother's arms. But seeing Sarah at level 43 and as beautiful as her mother, many people watched her intently.
With that, the women there soon were around Abby, Kendrick, Sarah, Ruth, and Gloria. But, on the other hand, the men there were much more interested in the advances of the members of the Gray Clouds Sect who had returned from the Spatial Kingdom, with Minos and Oswald by their side.
With these people, the local forces would become even more powerful, increasing the number of people able to maintain and even improve the empire's defenses over problems.
On this day, Minos would not deal with problems. He would just focus his time on fraternizing with his subordinates and family, listening and talking about what had happened in the last five years.
He and his family would spend the rest of the day on this, followed by a large banquet at the imperial palace, where Minos would soon explain to his leading men about the new possibility within the Spatial Kingdom.
But the feasts and celebrations would last only for that day since the next day, Minos and his family would already have problems to solve.
In particular, from now on, they will have to deal with a new kind of problem for them.
The internal dispute within the Spiritual Church!
