In the imperial palace of Dry City...
Minos was standing in front of the two elders of the Gray Clouds Sect, who had recently advanced to level 80.
One of them was an elder of the Coleman family, who had first come to Dry City with Minos years ago and had not returned to Clouds City in the exchanges of people that the local government had made over the years.
The other had also stayed in the city for several years without having returned to the Flaming Empire since arriving here. He was one of the leaders of the Moss family, the house of Ivory.
But these were not the only Spiritual Sages under the Black Plain Empire or even in that throne hall where they were. Oswald, who was no longer part of the Grey Clouds Sect, had also advanced a stage with the help of his grandson!
So now Minos had three experts from that stage in his network of influence, which gave him plenty of peace of mind for when he had to stay away from his state.