Chapter 123

After entering Anqu Town, the strange feeling became even stronger.

Elara and her group had left behind three thousand elite soldiers. Still, several dozen people followed her into the town.

Such an obvious group entered, but the townspeople acted like they didn't see them at all. They each continued doing their own tasks, all with smiles of happiness on their faces.

Happy smiles?

Even in the capital of Plumera, Elara had never seen such expressions on the people. After leaving the capital, the chaos of bandits and disasters had forced many to flee, leaving them unable to smile at all.

This town didn't seem to have any signs of rebel attacks, but it should have been affected somehow. Yet the people here looked joyful, and if you looked closely, you would find that their smiles were identical. From afar, it looked like the same face had been copied and pasted onto every person, which was not only unnatural but deeply unsettling. It felt as if they had all been given the same fake face, giving the town a ghostly and eerie atmosphere.

Elara narrowed her eyes slightly. After walking about a hundred meters into the town, someone who looked like the mayor finally appeared. He wore the exact same smile and approached with a few servants, all smiling the same way.

"Welcome, honored guests, to Anqu Town. I am Cai Yan, the mayor of this town. May I know your names and what business brings you here?"

Elara didn't get off her horse. She sat high and studied Cai Yan for a while before putting on a friendly smile of her own and said with narrowed eyes,

"We're just a passing escort company looking for a place to stay. Sadly, all the towns we passed through were looted or burned. Only your town seems untouched, so we came hoping to rest here for a night. I also wanted to ask, Mayor Cai, how did you manage this? It's truly impressive."

Elara keenly noticed that when she mentioned the escort company, Cai Yan's smile grew a little wider before returning to normal.

"You flatter us. It's not anything special. Our place is just too remote. After the disaster, there wasn't much left to steal, so the bandits didn't come."

Oh, so you suffered from the disaster too. Then why do you all still look so cheerful?

Elara kept her pleasant smile while she told Cai Yan a bit about her escort business and casually asked about Anqu Town.

Cai Yan answered cheerfully. Before Elara could ask more, he enthusiastically offered,

"You've come from far away, you must be tired. We don't have much left, but it's enough to host you well. Please come with me to the tavern to rest and have a good meal."

Everything in front of her looked wrong, but Elara had come specifically to investigate Anqu Town. No matter how strange it was, she had to get to the bottom of it.

"Alright, then I'll trouble you to lead the way."

Once they were seated in the town's tavern, Cai Yan called over the tavern owner and served them several large tables of rich and plentiful food.

Oswyn sat beside Elara. When the mayor and his attendants turned around, he quietly took out a silver needle and passed it through each dish quickly. Then his eyebrows drew together.

Elara lifted her teacup and used the motion of drinking to lean in closer without drawing attention.

"Anything?" Poison?

Oswyn shook his head, picked up his chopsticks, and took a bite of the tender braised pork knuckle.

"No."

Elara raised her brows, a bit surprised.

Fine. She would wait and see what these strangely happy townspeople planned to do next.

She raised her hand and started picking up food with her chopsticks.

The others saw the two of them begin to eat, so they also lifted their bowls and started eating.

Even though the food was safe, it was clear this meal wouldn't be enjoyed in peace.

Elara had only taken a few bites when screams suddenly came from outside the tavern.

Everyone immediately stood and grabbed their weapons. Elara also put down her chopsticks just as the mayor, who had welcomed them with that same smile earlier, burst through the doors in panic. He crawled inside on hands and knees, then knelt straight in front of Elara.

"Honored guests, wild beasts from the mountains are attacking. Please save us. Help us."

The moment he finished speaking, Elara heard loud and fierce roaring from outside.

And it wasn't just one beast. It was a whole pack.

Uno appeared beside her, picked her up, and leapt out. In a blink, Elara was standing on the tavern rooftop, easily taking in the whole view of Anqu Town.

Then she saw that from all directions of the surrounding forest, wild beasts were rushing in like mad.

Then they saw all kinds of wild beasts charging madly out of the mountains and forests around the town.

Their target seemed to be the tavern where they were eating.

Tch, so the reason there was no poison was because they were waiting here?

Elara didn't need to say anything. Downstairs, General Qi had already ordered the guards who had followed them to move. Several of the Wei Clan guards appeared as well and immediately clashed with the rushing beasts.

The scene was brutal, full of force, blood, and violence, but there was no doubt that General Qi, his personal guards, and the ten Wei Clan members who showed up could each fight two tigers with one hand.

So in less than ten minutes, the dozens of wild beasts that had gone mad and stormed the town were all lying still on the ground. More than half had their heads smashed open.

The people of Anqu Town, who had been screaming and panicking, were now all frozen. Especially the town mayor, Cai Yan, who had crawled into the tavern begging Elara to save him. He stared in shock at the street full of beast corpses, stunned, as if he couldn't believe things ended like this.

Uno carried Elara back into the tavern. Elara looked at the stiff Cai Yan and gave a soft laugh.

"What's wrong, Mayor? The beasts are all taken care of. Aren't you happy?"

Cai Yan came back to his senses and quickly smiled in gratitude, "No no, of course I'm happy. You all saved the people of Anqu Town. You're our great benefactors. I can't thank you enough."

Cai Yan thanked Elara again and again. Then he ordered his servants, who now looked cheerful again, to arrange rooms in the tavern for Elara and her group. After that, he left quickly, saying he needed to check if any townspeople were injured.

Elara entered the private room the smiling servant had arranged for her. After Uno checked the entire space, she sat at the tea table and waited.

After a while, Oswyn came in with a dark face.

He was holding a small bloodstained box. Inside the box was a clump of thickened blood, and in it was a small, wriggling red worm.

"It's a type of parasite poison. Found it in those crazed beasts. The Puppet Sect's reach has grown longer over the years."

Elara looked at the slightly struggling blood-colored worm. Her gaze turned colder.

This place was over two hundred kilometers from the Valley of Divine Medicine. How could the Puppet Sect have spread this far?

This was within the borders of Plumera State.

It seemed those things from the neighboring countries had set their sights on Plumera long ago.

"So the people here are all being controlled by the Puppet Sect too?" That would explain why they acted so strangely, like lifeless puppets.

Oswyn frowned deeply. "Most likely. The parasite poison fuses deeply in humans. Unless you cut open the body, it's nearly impossible to detect while the person is still alive."

On the way from the Valley of Divine Medicine to Anqu Town, they had taken shortcuts to save time and hadn't noticed if any wild animals along the way were infected.

But now it seemed the southeastern border of Plumera, near Youdan, had probably been quietly invaded by the Puppet Sect.

Elara gently turned the tea cup in her hand and looked at Oswyn. "If the people of Anqu Town are being controlled by the poison, can you save them?"

"Yes. From what I've seen, they're still in the early stages of control. Once fully taken over, those infected become complete tools of the controller. They crave their master's presence constantly and show no emotions toward others. Even if their limbs break, they won't react. But earlier, I saw real fear in their eyes when the beasts attacked. That means the poison hasn't penetrated too deeply."

"However," Oswyn took a sip of tea, "if we want to free them from the control, we have to find the person planting the parasites."

"A normal controller from the Puppet Sect can't control parasites from too far away. The one controlling Anqu Town must be hiding nearby. And it's probably not just one person. One alone couldn't manage so many people."

"Uno." Elara turned her head slightly toward Uno. Uno nodded and replied in a low voice, "I've already sent the Wei Clan to investigate."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone knocked on the door.

Uno stepped forward and opened it. A servant stood outside with a cheerful smile, holding a tray of desserts. His eyes looked a bit empty.

"Our master is grateful to you honored guests for saving the people of Anqu Town. He has sent these local treats and hopes you won't mind trying them."

Elara looked at the tray, then at the servant, who was clearly dressed better than the mayor's own men. "Who is your master?"

The servant kept smiling. "Our master's surname is Qi. He is the head of the Qi family."

Ah, that was the family Elara had come to Anqu Town to discuss the mine business with.

Elara nodded. Only then did Uno accept the tray.

The servant bowed and left, still smiling exactly the same as before.

Uno placed the sweets on the table. Oswyn looked at the pastries, which smelled quite good, picked one up, examined it, then took a bite.

"Hmm… these are pretty good. Looks like not everyone in town is completely under control."

Elara saw how happily he was eating and figured the pastries were safe. She picked one up and took a bite too, then handed one to Uno.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Oswyn followed her gaze to the silent man standing behind her like a shadow. He gave a soft scoff, looked away, and said calmly:

"This pastry has a detoxifying core."

"Detoxifying?" Elara slowed down her chewing, broke the pastry open, and looked inside. "What kind of poison does it counter?"

"It works against hallucinogens and also contains something to resist parasite venom."

But so far, they hadn't been attacked by any of the hallucinogenic poison in Anju Town.

So did the master of the Anju household send them this as a warning that someone was about to poison them?

Elara rubbed the pastry in her hand. "Uno, have the Wei guards speed up the search. But don't alarm the insect master if you find them. Let's wait and see what they do tonight."

"Yes."

After Uno responded, Elara looked ahead at Oswyn, who was still munching on the pastry. "Oswyn, your Divine Doctor Valley has so many people from the Puppet Cult…"

Before she finished, Oswyn wiped the pastry crumbs from the corner of his mouth and said, "Don't worry. If our Divine Doctor Valley people could be easily controlled by a few bugs like that, huh, then the second senior brother's poison would've killed him long ago. He wouldn't even have the chance to use parasites for control."

Elara hadn't expected to hear that. She remembered the two senior brothers who embarrassed Oswyn in public yesterday and chuckled. "So your Divine Doctor Valley also plays with poison?"

Oswyn raised his eyes to glance at her, his pink tongue unconsciously licking off a crumb from his lips.

"Of course. Our valley is unmatched in medicine, but our poison skills aren't lacking either. Some poisons can be used as medicine. Besides, poison and medicine are deeply connected. Anyone who knows medicine must also know poison. Those two loudmouth senior brothers of mine have studied poison since they were kids. No one knows why, but instead of saving people, they liked figuring out how to kill quietly. Otherwise, do you think I'd be the young master of Divine Doctor Valley? Hmph, it's all because of those two twisted weirdos!"

If it weren't for their obsession with poison and disinterest in saving people, he wouldn't have been forced into becoming the young master at such a young age. And then, he wouldn't have had to leave the valley to train and end up meeting this woman. He wouldn't have been captured and locked in her mansion for two whole years!

Thinking this, Oswyn felt a bit frustrated again. But just as the frustration started to rise, he saw the woman across from him resting her chin in her hand, smiling faintly at him. The irritation in his heart stalled and quickly faded away, like something soft had smoothed it out.

He avoided her smiling gaze and continued, "With their blood, those low-level parasites from the Puppet Cult wouldn't stand a chance. Just a touch would kill them instantly, let alone entering their bodies. So don't worry, Divine Doctor Valley will be fine."

Elara smiled faintly at the boy eating slowly across from her and said casually, "Oh? Then do you know that in the forest around Divine Doctor Valley, at least a third of the snakes and insect beasts have already been controlled?"

Oswyn paused mid-bite, frowning. But he only stopped for a moment before continuing to eat. "It's fine. Even if few people in our valley can fight, everyone's good at protecting themselves. And we still have the Five Elements Array. If that fails, there's still Master…"

While saying this, Oswyn's frown didn't relax.

Everyone in the valley was obsessed with medicine and poison, spending years immersed in refining both. Even their master had no clue about martial arts or internal strength.

There was the Five Elements Array, yes. But the Puppet Cult had used the excuse of helping their master years ago as a reason to show up every year, demanding medicine and poison from him in return.

If they had already taken control of a third of the valley's insect beasts, then maybe… they had also found the key nodes of the array.

Oswyn's heart, which had never been fully at ease, tightened at once. His brows furrowed sharply, but then he felt something soft and cool press gently against his forehead.

He looked up in surprise and saw Elara reaching out with her fingers lightly massaging the center of his brow, still wearing her calm, warm smile.

"Relax, I was teasing you. Don't worry. I already left people behind in Divine Doctor Valley. Just like you said, it'll be fine."

She wouldn't let anything happen to a place she had her eye on.