Chapter137

Plumera Capital City – Francis Residence

Training grounds behind the mountain

Francis stood shirtless, gripping a bronze spear, and scanning the soldiers below with sharp eyes.

Before his brother left Plumera Capital, he had left him with two thousand of the Francis family's elite soldiers. These soldiers were to protect both him and the family.

Now, those elite troops didn't need supervision to know their tasks. Francis wasn't focused on them, but rather on another group of particularly outstanding men.

There were about three hundred of them. These were the men Elara had asked Francis to train before she left Plumera Capital.

After a full month of training, their skin color had visibly darkened. They'd gone from pale and delicate to a much healthier bronze tone.

Their once thin and frail bodies were now strong and muscular.

Though their features were still handsome, their appearance no longer matched the era's preference for slim and refined beauty. Their attractiveness had clearly dropped.

Francis stood on the training platform staring at the sunburned, sweaty men. His lips lifted in a satisfied, triumphant grin.

She told him to train them. Let's see if she could still bring herself to touch these men when she returned.

Thinking this, he pointed to the group again. "Keep going. You're not even close. Do fifty more sets. No one finishes until the entire group completes every round."

Gregory Residence

Gregory had just returned. In one arm, he carried a courtesan. In the other, a jade flask filled with wine.

He'd been working hard for the past month, running between various military posts outside Plumera Capital, trying to secure a powerful position. Now that things had finally calmed down, he brought a courtesan home to relax.

Inside the hall, Captain Yang was already waiting, bowing respectfully.

Gregory sat down with the courtesan in his lap and looked over. "Anything strange inside or outside Plumera Capital lately?"

Captain Yang lowered his head further. He thought about the recent flood of refugees pouring toward one direction outside the city, which had actually reduced the number gathered at the city gates. Smiling flatteringly, he answered:

"Only that there were too many refugees outside the city. I've already sent people to drive some away. Other than that, nothing unusual."

Gregory nodded. "Good. You may go. Keep watching."

"Yes."

Captain Yang left the Gregory residence, walking along the usual path back to the Yang household. Only after confirming no one was following did he enter his room, shut the door, and remove his disguise.

A handsome and refined face was revealed. Emory took a small pouch from his sleeve and pulled out a silk letter. After reading it, he let out a quiet snort.

That woman was getting more and more comfortable using him.

But thinking of Scholar Fu still at her side, Emory exhaled lightly and pulled out another sheet of silk. He began writing down everything he had recently discovered about Gregory and his associates.

After carefully reviewing to ensure nothing was left out, Emory followed the contact method Mathias had given him a month ago and sent the letter to the Princess's residence.

Gregory Residence

Outside the main hall, the head steward of the Gregory family stood upright at the entrance. Inside, sounds of indulgence echoed.

A guard rushed in, hesitated at the closed doors and the sounds from within, and whispered to the steward, "Sir, an urgent message just arrived."

The steward extended his hand. "Give it to me."

This man had been Gregory's closest aide for years. Almost everything Gregory did involved him.

The guard handed over the letter without delay.

The steward opened it and read:

[Recently, a new business called White Trading House has appeared in Plumera Capital. It seems to have links to Lianyi House, but there is no clear evidence of a direct connection.]

[In just over a month, this business has expanded rapidly in Plumera Capital. It has heavily impacted many other local businesses. Their goods are mysterious and novel. Someone in the capital appears to be helping them in secret, someone of high status and influence, using extremely discreet and unpredictable methods. This has caused major losses to Gregory's shops.]

[After investigation, there are no known nobles with the surname White in Plumera Capital. The true power behind White Trading House remains unknown. Please investigate thoroughly and eliminate this threat as soon as possible.]

The steward glanced at the guard still waiting. "Stay outside. I'll call you after I report in."

"Yes." The guard bowed and left.

The steward slipped the letter into his sleeve, adjusted his clothes, and stepped inside the hall.

Gregory was nearly drunk. When he saw the steward come in, he lifted his head from the courtesan's body, narrowed his eyes, and muttered, "Well? Anything happening in Plumera Capital?"

The steward shook his head and smiled like Emory always did. "No, sir. Nothing serious. Lianyi House opened a few new shops under a different name, but nothing concerning. I only came to check if you needed more wine."

The moment Gregory heard "Lianyi House," he lost interest. He waved a hand weakly. "No need. Leave."

"Yes."

The steward bowed and exited the room. Once the door closed and the sounds resumed, he called the guard back in and whispered sternly:

"Gregory already knows about White Trading House and will handle it himself. From now on, don't keep watch over them. If anything major happens, report directly to me. I'll take full responsibility. Do you understand?"

The guard didn't hesitate. "Understood."

The steward straightened up and stared at the guard's lowered head. In a colder tone, he warned:

"This is a serious matter. If you don't follow my orders exactly, and it ends up ruining Gregory's plans, you'll lose your head. Got it?"

The guard trembled. He bowed even lower and swore he would obey without fail and keep his men in line.

After the guard left, the steward quickly returned to his room.

He then pulled out a hidden silk sheet from a secret compartment and wrote a new message. He used the most concealed method to send it to the person currently managing White Trading House from behind the scenes.

Though he had served Gregory for decades as his most trusted aide, in truth, he had another identity. He was one of the elite spies trained by Lianyi House years ago.

He thought he would stay in the Gregory residence until its eventual fall, and only then return to Lianyi House.

But unexpectedly, just over a month ago, Lianyi House gave him a new mission. He was handed over to a new master.

That master was none other than the hidden leader of White Trading House.

She was the third young lady of the White family, and the one most praised by his original masters at Lianyi House.

The moment the "Venomous Spider" was eliminated, deep inside the puppet cult's lair, filled with all kinds of snakes, rats, and human-like puppets, the cult leader seated above and the three remaining hall masters below all sensed it at once.

"The Venomous Spider is dead."

"In Plumera State's border town of Anqu..."

"Who did it..."

"Even the mother parasite was taken..."

"I can't sense anything..."

"Nothing at all..."

"All puppets have lost contact..."

"Who has the power to threaten our puppet cult like this..."

"Anqu Town in Plumera State..."

The three hall masters, each looking twisted and bizarre like a hybrid of humans, beasts, insects, and snakes, began speaking as soon as they sensed the death of the Venomous Spider.

But maybe because they barely had any real facial muscles left, their expressions were frozen and their speech came in choppy, mechanical tones. Their stiff behavior clashed with the urgency of their words, making the scene very eerie.

While the three exchanged stiff comments one after another, the cult leader above finally spoke.

"The mother parasite betrayed us."

"To silently take control of the puppet cult's mother parasite... not even the Holy Blood could easily do that..."

"Unless... the Holy Blood has crystallized into divine essence..."

The moment he said this, the three hall masters froze, then immediately started repeating one word over and over. "Crystallized... divine essence... divine essence..." Their rigid faces didn't move, but deep in their eyes, a strong desire burst forth.

If the Holy Blood really had crystallized, it meant it had refined itself again, pushing its power from sacred to divine.

If they could obtain this blood and merge it with the main parasite, the puppet cult would rise from a third-rate sect to a first-rate one. All their poison arts would advance significantly. Ruling the martial world wouldn't just be a dream. Whoever fused with the crystallized divine blood could even become immortal, living as long as the heavens and earth.

But there was one problem. The crystallized divine blood only stayed in that state for at most three months. If they missed this window and the blood fully fused with another body, the puppet cult would lose its only chance forever.

"The blood crystallized earlier than I expected."

"But to make the Venomous Spider's parasite betray its host... that could only mean divine blood."

The cult leader slowly turned toward the two hall masters sitting closest to him.

"We can't wait anymore. Go inform the emperor of Youdan. Tell him to prepare all troops in Handan. We march on Plumera in one month."

"Yes."

Time rewinded a little.

After finishing the letter, Elara sat at her desk, reviewing reports the miners continuously brought in about newly discovered veins.

By the time the sky outside darkened and evening approached, Oswyn came in with a bowl of medicine. Seeing her still holding that child in her arms, his eyebrows instantly knit together.

"You're still holding him? Are you addicted to hugging now?"

What kind of question was that? Elara wanted to roll her eyes. But since she had no hope Oswyn would ever talk properly, she just raised the child clinging tightly to her neck and gave him a look. "Does this look like I'm the one who won't let go?"

Clearly, he was the one stuck to her and couldn't be peeled off.

Oswyn clicked his tongue and pulled out a few silver needles from who knows where. He walked over to Elara and jabbed one right into the child's head.

The kid had already been asleep, but after that, he sank into an even deeper sleep.

Oswyn added two more needles into the boy's arms. That loosened the tight grip he had on Elara, finally freeing her neck from the stranglehold.

After the three needles, Oswyn shoved a pill into the boy's mouth, then put his needles away. "Alright. Put him down."

Elara laid the child on the bed and rotated her stiff arms.

Even with that blood pearl supporting her, she only had the strength of a normal person now. Holding a kid weighing dozens of pounds was still tiring.

"The parasites in his body weren't that wild to begin with. If you want to get rid of him sooner, stop letting him cling to you. Otherwise," he snorted, "I told that old man three years. If you keep letting the kid rely on you like this, even five years won't be enough."

"Fine, fine, I get it."

Since she came to this world, no one besides Oswyn had ever dared speak to her like that.

But he was a real, top-tier doctor, so what could she do?

Elara sat back down at the desk, and Oswyn handed her the medicine while placing a pulse cushion on the table. "Give me your hand."

He had already sensed her body was abnormal long ago.

Elara stretched out her arm and continued reading the miners' reports while waiting for Oswyn to check her pulse.

This time, he took quite a while.

By the time she had read several scrolls, Oswyn finally frowned and stared at her. "How did you tame the puppet cult's mother parasite?"

He knew her body far too well. Aside from the Nirvana pill he gave her, she didn't have anything in her that could help.

Yet that parasite sat quietly inside her, letting her absorb it? That made no sense.

Faced with the question, Elara blinked and tilted her head at him. "Guess?"

Now it was Oswyn's turn to roll his eyes. While still checking her pulse, he grumbled, "Fine, don't say it."

This woman was full of secrets anyway. As long as it wasn't about harming people or putting lives at risk, if she didn't want to tell him... then whatever.

He continued for a while longer, then finally pulled back his hand. "That parasite in your body can help support your broken-down system, but it's only temporary. It's not complete. It's a child parasite from a more powerful mother parasite. If you want to stay in your current condition, you must get that mother parasite within three months."

"Puppet cult's parasites are all extremely poisonous. But if you get the mother one, I can cleanse the poison and turn it into a pure spirit parasite. With that and your Nirvana pill, your body could rebuild itself completely. You'd skip years of healing and return to normal right away."

She never thought the puppet cult's parasites would become the perfect medicine to fix her broken body. But even the Venomous Spider's parasite turned out to be just a child parasite. Then the stronger mother one Oswyn mentioned must be the one inside the cult leader…

And the cult's base was in Handan. It was also the core religion of the entire Youdan country. Was she now forced to start preparing for war between nations?

Just as that thought came to her, Oswyn added, "Also, you better prepare for Youdan attacking Plumera soon."

Elara raised a brow, coming back to herself. "Hmm? Just because I killed one of their hall masters?"

Oswyn nodded. "In Youdan, the puppet cult is basically the state religion. The cult leader's power even outranks the emperor. Everyone listens to them. Their parasites are all connected. And the one you killed was one of the four main hall masters. His parasite was second only to the cult leader's. You took it and tamed it. There's no way they'll let that go."

Elara lowered the bamboo scroll in her hand.

Well then, if that was the case, she had no choice but to start planning for international war ahead of schedule.