When he heard Mortimer’s voice and saw this man looking at him, Minos immediately prepared to fight in this place, circulating his energies.

But before he made any kind of move, he said. “I see you managed to absorb some of Gavin’s powers… But it’s a shame that such a powerful ability was wasted on your decaying body.

If those eyes had continued on Gavin, he would have eventually become a God. But in you, this bloodline will not be able to show its true powers since your limit is only level 89.

Sigh…

But I guess that was to be expected, no? Instead of controlling him, as an intelligent person would do, you chose to waste those powers on yourself.” Minos said, speaking as if he were standing in front of the world’s biggest idiot.

Everyone around realized that this was Minos’ purpose and swallowed their saliva, afraid of what might happen after such a provocation.

“You really have a sharp tongue, brat!” That fellow in bone armor said, making an ugly expression, wanting to immediately end this opponent’s life. “Tell me what gives you the courage to talk to me like that! I want to know who can protect you if I decide to act!”

Everyone in that city felt Mortimer’s cultivation pressure spreading to the surroundings, showing how terrible he currently was.

The members of the imperial family were already in the surroundings witnessing the situation but not knowing what the best approach would be.

They should intervene and make both sides behave better. However, who could stop Mortimer if he decided to act?

In this complicated situation, Minos laughed and said. “Who gives me the courage? Myself!

Remember, you are only not dead because I allowed it on account of my regard for the Edwardstone family.

Otherwise, your fate was to join one of my black holes and become a source of power for my army!”

The supreme elder of the Saints Killing Sect felt extremely humiliated upon hearing that and shouted. “Bastard Minos, watch how you talk! You are standing before a majestic Spiritual Sage, not an ordinary person!”

“Tsk!

Dogs should keep quiet while their masters argue!” Minos glared in that man’s direction, making him tremble with anger.

“Minos!” That old man turned red with anger but was stopped by Mortimer from doing anything else.

Then the supreme elder of the imperial family finally showed himself, intending to stop this situation before it got out of control. “Sect Master Burgess, sect master Stuart, don’t take this any further. That is the empire’s capital, and you both owe your respect to the citizens of Payton!”

He turned to Mortimer and said. “Congratulations on reaching level 80. In this new stage, sect master Burgess can do much more for the empire.”

That level 80 man took his focus off Minos to look at the supreme elder of the Edwardstone family, the main problem he would face in trying to dominate this state.

He had purposely gotten rid of Harold to facilitate his job of dominating this state. Still, just the absence of the emperor did not make it easy for this man.

He could act using his space manipulation skills and manage to kill many of the local leaders. But this would consume him, and he would be vulnerable before he had even eliminated all his opponents.

So Mortimer did not see the situation as already mastered and was much more concerned about that level 79 individual than about Minos.

Even if Minos was powerful and growing fast, what could he do against space manipulation abilities?

Moreover, Mortimer thought he would only need a few weeks to deal with the imperial family. So even if he was a cultivation genius, Minos would not have become stronger in that period and would still be within his reach.

Then he focused on that old man and said. “Supreme elder Edwardstone, thank you for your words. As for the rest, it’s only that brat Minos who provokes me…

In any case, I will not fight against someone at such a low level.

I am only here to participate in the negotiations about the empire’s future… Now that I am at the same level as His Majesty, I am interested in returning our focus lost with his kidnapping.”

Minos frowned, thinking that this individual wanted to start by showing the local powers that he could replace Harold, giving them a reason not to move against him.

Some would obviously not fall for Mortimer’s manipulation and side with the imperial family. But as long as he could get some sects to turn their backs on House Edwardstone, he would already be successful!

The members of the imperial family were not stupid, so they realized Mortimer’s move immediately.

Unfortunately, none of them were strong enough to stop Mortimer.

Hell, even if everyone in this city rallied against that guy right now, they would not be able to kill him due to his ability to manipulate space.

Starting something there would be the beginning of a losing war for most of them, so nobody did what was necessary for a battle to happen.

Even Minos was passive in this situation since it was in his interest to prolong it until he reached level 71.

‘For the time being, he will not go to the Black Plain… Instead, he will probably talk to the sect leaders to try to get them to take his side. He should start acting against my sect and the imperial family after that.’ He thought this while standing next to Isabella just before they headed to a local arena where the meeting was scheduled to take place.

All the other high-level cultivators in this city headed towards that place as well, while Mortimer was already at that place after using his spatial manipulation skills.

He wanted to show these people as much as possible that he was not someone for one to play with, so he was sparing no effort!

‘Hehe, just you wait… In a few months at most, this whole city will be under my rule!’ He thought as he sat on Harold’s throne before the first high-level Spiritual Saints came to that place.

…

In the blink of an eye, a few hours passed.

In this period, since the beginning of the meeting of local leaders, everything had gone according to plan, with each sect reporting its results and intentions to the imperial family.

The members of the imperial family also talked about the current challenges and what they planned for the future full of uncertainties ahead of them.

When they finished presenting their situations, it was time for the local leaders to give their opinions and suggestions on how the state should move forward.

With this underway, some sect masters commented on their preferences regarding minor things, nothing grand to make Mortimer or Minos try to get involved.

But when word reached Mortimer, this man immediately used this chance to attack Minos’ accomplishments.

“My friends, I would like to air my displeasure regarding the accomplishments of the Gray Clouds Sect.” He commented. “I don’t need to hide my negative feelings towards that organization, and I won’t pretend that I wouldn’t benefit if they were doing badly. But it bothers me that an organization of the empire is serving the purposes of another state!

Minos Stuart is trying to steal this organization from the Flaming Empire, and I strongly object to that!

Therefore, I wish we review this situation to prevent the state from losing even more of its experts!”

…