"Last time Ford wrote to me, Troy had already reached level 49!" Kara commented in awe.
When she had fought that young man in the semifinals of the Spiritual Tournament, their cultivation difference was only one level. However, in a short two years, the two were already separated by two, and maybe this would only increase even more in the long term...
Obviously, the finalist in that competition, someone who had been welcomed as the true champion of his sect, had received far more benefits than a young woman who had finished only in third.
As a result, Troy took full advantage of the opportunities that arose after he came to the empire and grew stronger, distancing himself from people like Kara, who lacked the same advantages.
"This is amazing!" Mona commented to those two women while she had a sparkle in her eyes. This young woman was somewhat attracted to Troy, and because of that, she always asked questions like the one before.
That had not happened just because of the Spiritual Tournament but because of other later events, already in the Flaming Empire.. And such things had brought this young woman from the Miller family close to that young man.
"Hmm, he knows how to seize opportunities..." Ruth commented in agreement.
She genuinely was amazed that a person from that poor region had adapted so well to the empire.
There were always many problems for newcomers, and usually, these people were a few levels below the disciples of their sects who were the same age as theirs.
Examples of this were Ruth and Mona. They were the same age, but one was already close to reaching level 51, while the other was only at level 45!
And for this, it was not uncommon for some of these disciples to miss the best opportunities for the native disciples of this region, which would result in these people falling further and further behind the sect hierarchy...
But Troy seemed to be over that and would probably reach the level of native disciples of the same age as him shortly!
'What level should Minos be on now?' She wondered as the other two young women accompanied her out of that hall.
Ruth wanted to talk to her master and then rest for a few hours. After that, she was already interested in leaving for the Black Plain!
The trip to Minos' territory was not short, as the territory of the Gray Cloud Sect was not close to that of the Cromwell Kingdom. In fact, the domain of this organization was in the southeast region of the Flaming Empire, a place tens of thousands of kilometers away from that location.
But this young woman intended to pay to use Cloud City's teleport array to reduce the distance a little, going from this southeast region to the northwest, the closest part to the Cromwell Kingdom.
With that, in less than two months, she could reach the city of Minos, crossing the northwest region of this empire to her destination!
...
Some time passed, and Ruth was already in front of her teacher in the courtyard of Maisie's residence.
In that place, the young mother of Minos was sitting in a wooden chair while she drank a cup of tea and listened to her disciple's wishes.
Maisie was radiating as always, the way a level 67, Spiritual Emperor, would be!
Her curly brown hair was lovely to look at and matched the well-proportioned figure of her young body.
This woman had managed to improve two levels since the last time she had seen her son, which is impressive considering it hadn't even been five years!
And with such a speed of cultivation, this woman hoped to reach the 8th stage of cultivation before reaching 100 years of age.
Finally, while the young Spiritual Emperor was drinking tea, Ruth spoke her main point. "Master, later today, I will start traveling to the Black Plain. Maybe I'll stay there for more than a year..."
"More than a year?" Maisie commented in awe. She had never stayed so long in that place while having a relationship with Minos' father...
Maisie then watched Ruth's eyes for a moment and probed her disciple's body. "Looks like you're really in love, huh?"
This woman understood passion very well. She had felt it a few times... And she liked Minos' father a lot, so much so that she tried to have a child with Albert for many years until that young man was finally born.
But her feelings weren't so deep that she would sacrifice her cultivation speed and sect duties...
Maisie was an ambitious woman!
However, even if she had never thought it was worth staying in that region for as long as Ruth wanted, Maisie didn't believe it would be a waste to her disciple and wasn't interested in trying to interrupt Ruth.
That is for two reasons. First, because Minos was her son, someone that, although she didn't see him often, she truly loved him. And she liked the idea of a pure, talented young woman like Ruth being with him.
And second, because she felt that Minos was hiding too many secrets!
This woman had quickly traveled to the northern region a few months ago and visited her son's city. However, she had not entered that place, having just watched from afar.
But that had been enough for her to notice how strange that place became after her son's arrival.
That's because, although the Black Plain looks almost the same externally as it used to be, it was different in the vicinity of the Dry City!
In that place, the spiritual energy seemed to be much more concentrated than in other parts of the Black Plain region, as well as the plants that grew near that city yielded fruits of high spiritual concentration.
And after observing that spot for a while, Maisie noticed that the concentration of spiritual energy in the atmosphere seemed to increase as she approached the Dry City and decreased as she departed.
It was almost as if there was a powerful attraction pulling spiritual energy into that place.
And so, this woman had realized that the problem of the spiritual root of the Black Plain no longer existed!
Through it all, she felt that maybe Ruth wasn't going to miss a thing by spending that time in such a place.
She then said. "Well then, be careful on your trip. But keep training hard, don't take it easy just because you're going to a weaker place!"
"Don't even think about being with Minos all the time. I know it's good to do these things, but don't neglect your cultivation..." Maisie then began to give her tips to her disciple. At the same time, young Ruth listened to everything, with her face completely red with embarrassment.
...
After a while, the two of them had finished their conversation, and Ruth had already rested for a few hours when she finally appeared at the exit gate of the Gray Cloud Sect.
Several cultivators at level 69 were at that location, maintaining local security, while some peak Spiritual Kings did minor jobs.
And as she prepared to leave that place with her eagle, Ruth quickly delivered her notice that she would be gone for the next two years.
"OK, all right, young girl. But, be careful on your trip and don't forget your deadline. If within 24 months and 1 day you fail to deliver your notice of return to the Martial Hall, we will send an escort, and you will receive the appropriate punishments." A level 59 Spiritual King spoke to Ruth shortly after returning this young woman's ID.
"I get it."
After that, Ruth gestured to her beast. Soon, she and White were in the skies, heading towards the Cloud City outpost where the teleportation service was located.
'This will cost me 3,000 medium-grade crystals, but it will be worth it!
'That way, I'll save more than six months of travel…' So, Ruth thought to herself as she moved along with her great spiritual beast.
...
