After hearing Minos' question, Humbert sighed and reported his group's findings. "Well, from what we've found, Yellow City is being controlled by a group of criminals led by someone who calls himself, Gul. He also seems to be the strongest person in the city, but ordinary citizens don't know what level he is at."
"Almost all the soldiers in our group ended up hearing the same thing about what happened to the city. According to the people we spoke to, about three months ago, the group led by Gul kidnapped and killed the former regent of this region."
"After that, Gul and his group took control of the local government mansion by arresting all the guards who were under the command of that regent. And from what we heard, this must be something around 50 guards, most of whom are in the 4th stage of cultivation."
"Not long after they took over the city, they kidnapped and robbed almost all the merchants who passed through the Yellow City. As a result, many of the bandits were able to obtain resources to increase their forces for the 5th stage of cultivation, which further increased the pressure of these criminals on the common population of these areas." Humbert said without hiding anything.
The butler Dillian who was standing next to Minos suddenly asked. "And how many criminals are in this group led by this person?"
Humbert then responded with a tone of uncertainty. "We do not have the exact number since it is not possible to know how much these criminals hide from the population. But while I was probing the city, I was able to feel at least 80 cultivators of the 5th stage, the strongest of which was at level 43."
"As for what we found out with the population, these groups of criminals are expected to have around 200 to 300 members in total."
At that moment, Elen, who was listening to the report in the corner of the camp, said in disagreement. "There must be something wrong with this research. In my opinion, to cause as many problems as they have caused, this Gul should be a level 45 cultivator, at least."
Minos nodded and said. "Hmm, it's true. Didn't you feel anyone stronger than that in the city?"
Humbert thought about it and suddenly remembered something. He then said. "Ah! Yes, I felt some people like that, but they were leaving the city. In fact, just as we were entering Yellow City, a group of ten cultivators passed us, heading east."
"From that group, I could feel that there were six cultivators at level 44, three at level 45, and one that was at level 47. But as they were leaving the city at that time, I thought they were just merchants who were passing through." Humbert said as he remembered what had happened.
"Well, these people are probably the leaders of this city. And that person at level 47 must be this Gul." Elen said with a solemn expression on her face.
"But why would the strongest people in this city all go out together?" Butler Dillian asked aloud.
Humbert then replied with an uncertain expression. "The townspeople didn't say anything about this group, so we're not sure about that."
"No matter what the reason, it will be better for us. We will destroy the group that remained in the Yellow City, and then we will find out through one of these bandits." Minos said with a smile on his face.
He was happy to have arrived at this place just when the strongest people had left. With that, the fight would be much less complicated, significantly increasing their chances of winning the future battle.
"Hmm, it is true, with that our work will be immensely facilitated." Eduard said while agreeing with Minos' words.
Minos then asked. "What about the places where these criminals are concentrated?"
Humbert responded shortly after that. "They are usually located in four places in the city. The first and busiest one is the mansion in the center of the city. The second is a nightclub on the south side of the city. And the third and fourth are the west and east entrances to the city, respectively."
"Well! Okay, so let's do this... We will divide it into four groups. Due to the nature of these bandits, they shouldn't be too concerned with the entrance to the city, so the strongest ones certainly don't do this kind of work."
"In this way, the first and second groups will simultaneously attack the west and east entrances to the Yellow City. Each of these groups will consist of 10 soldiers, with four Sergeants and six Corporals in each of its."
"Eight Sergeants and ten Corporals will form the third group. You will have the mission to attack those bandits in this nightclub on the south side of the city. I am sending a larger group because there may be some strong cultivators in this location, as this is probably the place where these outlaws are entertained."
"As for the fourth group, this will be formed by the rest of us. We are going to take the local government's mansion. In this place, there are probably the strongest cultivators that were left in the city, and they are also more numerous, so we need more strength to attack this place."
"And during fights, support your teammates as much as possible. Some of your enemies may have higher levels than you, but they certainly don't have techniques as good as yours. So, fight as a team whenever you can." Minos advised everyone.
He then finalized his orders when he said it out loud. "Did you understand?"
"Yes, sir." The soldiers responded in a single tone.
After giving these orders, it didn't take long, and the four teams left separately for the Yellow City. And for the sake of prevention, they also decided to start the attacks simultaneously when the sun completely disappeared on the horizon.
...
Meanwhile, the group of ten men heading east from Yellow City had already traveled more than half the way to the cavern where the Nine-tailed Fox was seen. At that moment, they had stopped to spend the night in that place, where they had chosen to camp.
"You all, pay attention. Tomorrow when we surround that spiritual beast, the two of you will not fight directly with her. Instead, your goal will be to capture her cub, and with that, we will dominate the mother." Chief Gul said while he looked at two of his commanders at level 44.
"Okay, chief Gul." The two responded quickly.
"Why do you want to do it this way?" One of the three men who were at level 45 asked curiously.
Gul smiled and said. "Hehe, because it is better to have two beasts than just one! Think carefully! Even if she is weakened, she will still be a lot of work for us if she gets desperate."
"But if we have her cub, she will be more lenient. And after giving a good beating so that she doesn't cause any more problems, we can sell two spiritual beasts instead of just one!"
"Of course, the cub will be worth more in the market since it is more difficult to control a grown beast. But some people like that kind of beast too." Gul said calmly.
And it was easier to sell spiritual beasts that are still young, as they don't have well-developed intelligence. That is why the children of any spiritual beast would naturally be more valued in any part of the Central Continent.
As for adult spiritual beasts, such as the mother fox, they had greater intelligence, making them more challenging to tame. However, there was a problem with Gul's plan, which was how intelligent a 5th-stage beast could be.
That is because not everyone in the north of the Central Continent knew that a spiritual beast would be as intelligent as an adult human when they reached the 5th stage. They even could speak the human language at this stage! And a beast with such intelligence was impossible to be tamed!
As for why not all people knew about this information, that simply was because there were not so many spiritual beasts of such level in the north of the Central Continent.
And the few that existed were almost all belonging to high-level families. Even if these families knew about it, it did not mean that they would disclose that information publicly. That's because, if ordinary people knew about it, they could decide to create these better-ranked beasts instead of selling them.
With that, these beasts would feel like part of their families, and even after reaching the 5th stage, they would still be very loyal to their human relatives. And that would undoubtedly diminish the influence of the great noble families since part of their strength is also made up of spiritual beasts.
...
Time passed, and the sun was almost completely gone on the horizon.
Finally, it was time for the four groups of Minos to attack the criminals of the Yellow City! All of them had already infiltrated the city and were just waiting for the right moment for them to start the attack!