Chapter161

The last two hall leaders of the Sect clearly received news ahead of time. They placed their strongest living puppets at the front and hid far in the back, leaving no trace.

This was actually how the Gu Masters of the Sect usually fought. Elara had quickly taken down Master Zu and Master Qu earlier mainly because those two fights had been surprise attacks. She had locked onto their locations first and attacked before they had a chance to summon any powerful living puppets from the back.

But this time, the two prepared hall leaders sent out living puppets that ranked among the strongest in the martial world.

If Elara hadn't already absorbed the mother Gu of Master Zu and Master Qu, and if the Saint Spirit blood in her body hadn't been activated, she would have struggled against these two.

But now, the Saint Spirit blood in her body allowed her to control puppets much better than the Sect. Their Gu poison had no effect on her or her people. That alone erased half of their threat.

Seeing Uno trying to handle the two martial masters turned living puppets by himself, Elara didn't stop him.

With the Saint Spirit blood inside her, there wouldn't be any surprises.

As Uno started fighting them, swarms of various living puppets rushed in from all directions.

Seeing that the Sect was trying to use their usual sea-of-puppets tactic to surround them, Elara wasted no time. She summoned the rest of the Wei family and the living puppets she had recently taken control of in Youdan, letting them support the Wei family and block the attack.

At the same time, Dos and Tres each formed a small squad. They led her puppets to search for the two hidden hall leaders.

Elara had absorbed many living puppets in Youdan these past few days. With the added power from Master Qu's ability and without needing to use her thirty-thousand puppet army, she already had enough living puppets to counter their sea-of-puppets strategy.

So, after her puppet army and the Wei family moved out together, the two hidden hall leaders didn't last long. They were quickly tracked down by Dos and Tres.

By then, the two powerful living puppets had already been handled by Uno.

Uno had kept his word. He said he would take care of it, and he did.

Thankfully, Elara's body had grown stronger during this time, even her eyesight had improved. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to follow the movements of Uno and the living puppets in their fight.

With the strongest puppets suppressed, the two hiding hall leaders had lost their main weapons.

The Wei family no longer feared the effects of Gu insects. So when Dos and Tres found their trail, it didn't take long to subdue both hall leaders and bring them to Elara.

Everything in the Sect was controlled layer by layer through Gu insects.

Elara had absorbed the mother Gu of Master Zu and Master Qu, which gave her control over nearly one-third of the Sect's power.

If she could also absorb the mother Gu of these last two hall leaders, she would control more than half of the Sect's forces.

That would make fighting even the Sect Leader much easier. She might even suppress him instead.

If the Sect Leader could be defeated, the country of Youdan—where the Sect was based—would be completely destroyed.

This battle would end quickly.

And when it ended, Youdan would be fully conquered, and all its territory would belong to Plumera.

The Sect would vanish. Plumera's small territory would grow by another hundred thousand square kilometers.

The plan she had discussed with Mr. Yu would also reach the end of her part. The next move would be his.

So no matter how she looked at it, absorbing the mother Gu of these two hall leaders was the most critical step for her and for the war between Youdan and Plumera.

It had to be done quickly.

But just as she was about to absorb the mother Gu from the two hall leaders Dos and Tres had dragged back, the entire space suddenly shook.

The two hall leaders who had been barely alive suddenly came back to life.

The two powerful living puppets that Uno had already defeated were instantly filled with energy again.

At the same time, all the puppets that Elara's forces had just killed suddenly rose again.

In just a moment, the corpses all around them seemed to return to life. With blank, hollow eyes, they stared directly at Elara and the others.

Heavy footsteps echoed louder and louder from the distance.

A strange, hard-to-describe smell spread through the air.

Elara frowned and pulled her hand back from the hall leaders. She had her puppets regroup and called the Wei family to return to her side.

She stared at the strange scene ahead. After a few seconds, she saw countless eyes approaching from afar.

It was a huge group of living puppets, almost filling every shadow around them. They all wore armor, marking them as one of the Sect's strongest forces—the Puppet Army.

And judging by the numbers, the remaining sixty thousand puppets of the Sect had arrived.

Elara's eyes scanned across the army and focused on a massive, deformed figure at the center.

She narrowed her eyes slightly. A strong feeling of physical disgust rose within her.

It was the Sect's largest monster, a creature formed by the merging of many species. It was the final form of the Sect Leader.

He had come personally to hunt her down.

The moment the Sect Leader appeared, all the puppets that had been killed were instantly brought back to life.

This included the two hall masters Elara had nearly captured, as well as all the powerful living puppets. They all stood up again and glared at Elara and the others with fierce, predatory eyes.

After fighting for so long, it suddenly felt like everything had been in vain.

Fortunately, Elara's side hadn't lost much combat strength. Seeing the enemy's posture, she immediately summoned all the living puppets under her control, and all the Wei guards regrouped around her.

"So it's Holy Spirit Blood Essence. No wonder I couldn't recall my puppets, not even the ones with mother Gu parasites."

A hoarse voice, like that of a beast, came from the huge, grotesque creature.

If its head hadn't retained a vaguely human shape, Elara might not have recognized it as a person. It looked far too much like the mutated monsters from the Resident Evil movie she'd seen in her past life.

The deformed Sect Leader fixed its split eyes, one on each side of its head, on Elara and spoke slowly.

"So the Princess of Plumera has arrived in person? I suppose I was blind before, thinking what came was a mere imitation of Holy Blood. I never expected the infamous, spoiled princess, known for nothing but seducing men, would secretly control Holy Spirit Blood Essence and dare to lead an army to invade Youdan."

An imitation? Could there be a fake version of the Holy Spirit Blood Essence?

Elara held back her nausea and stared at the monster without directly asking. She just calmly said:

"How did the Sect Leader recognize me so quickly? Doesn't my imperial brother also possess the Blood Essence? How can you be sure it wasn't him who led the army? After all, wouldn't it make more sense for the Emperor of Plumera to lead the army than a powerless princess like me?"

"There's no need to test me. I can tell real from fake at a glance. I had originally thought I'd need to take Summerhold before I could extract the Holy Blood from the princess. Who would've guessed she'd walk right into my lair instead? That's fine. My mother insect only needs the Holy Blood to control true undead puppets. Once that happens, my army of one hundred thousand undead will be unstoppable. I'll live as long as the sun and moon."

Such grand claims. An invincible undead army? Eternal life? In a world with no spiritual power, it all sounded ridiculous.

But real and fake? Was this monster saying that her Holy Spirit Blood Essence was genuine, while the emperor's was not?

Elara thought back to the ancient secrets she had transcribed from the temple. There was no mention of this.

Even the memories of this body's previous soul didn't contain any clues.

So what exactly was going on? If the Sect Leader was telling the truth, why would a powerless princess like her possess the real Holy Spirit Blood Essence? And why would the emperor of Plumera only have a fake one? How deep was this secret?

Elara carefully examined every piece of information the Sect Leader had just let slip. Then she looked up and saw the monster starting to show an upgraded, terrifying appearance.

It split open.

Its massive, bloated body cracked at one-third of both sides. A disgusting stench filled the air, and two human-shaped figures slowly emerged from the openings, dripping with slime.

"These are two of my finest creations. Ranked eleventh and twenty-first on the martial power charts. They've been my strongest protectors for years. The blood servants under you are strong, but I doubt they can match my two elite puppets."

The Sect Leader's shrill laugh echoed as six thousand puppet soldiers, along with all the revived hall masters and puppet masters, advanced again.

It was a true siege.

Wei Uno, now back at Elara's side, didn't wait for orders. He immediately called for Wei Tres.

"Your Highness, those two puppet warriors are extremely tough. I'll go with Wei Dos to deal with them. You stay with Wei Tres. He'll protect you."

Elara was moved from Uno's arms to Tres's arms.

The Wei guards rarely acted without her command, especially Uno. For him to move her back like this meant those two elite puppet warriors were indeed a serious threat.

Her fragile body had only recently begun to recover. She could barely manage not to be a burden, let alone fight. So she did as Uno said and nestled into Tres's arms, doing her best not to distract them during battle.

But with the enemy outnumbering them by more than a hundred to one, even all two hundred Wei guards fighting at once couldn't hold out forever. Especially against these puppets who felt no pain, no fear, and kept fighting unless completely destroyed.

So Elara warned Uno and Dos to be careful and avoid injury. Then she used her Holy Spirit Blood Essence to summon all her newly claimed puppet forces and living puppets to the front line.

Though she had only three thousand puppet soldiers, they could still block half the enemy's force. Combined with her living puppets and the Wei guards' overwhelming strength, this encircled siege might not end as badly as it seemed.

Besides, while she lacked martial skills, her Holy Spirit Blood Essence gave her a distinct advantage over the Sect's Gu parasites.

[System 92, can I use my Holy Spirit Blood Essence to devour the Sect Leader's mother insect?]

[Yes, Master! That's the ability you traded five hundred days of your lifespan for. It's very powerful. Your Blood Essence has grown a lot after consuming several hall masters. If you can suppress the Sect Leader, you'll be able to devour it.]

[But please be extremely careful. His mother Gu is much stronger than any others in the Sect. It has been enhanced and refined for years. It's almost on par with a fake Holy Spirit Blood Essence. If you don't fully suppress it, the backlash could seriously hurt you.]

Elara had just finished her mental conversation with the system when she saw that the monster Sect Leader was truly no ordinary opponent.

It was completely different from the weak puppet masters she had fought before.

Its enormous body wasn't just for show. Its combat power far surpassed the others. Even three Wei guards fighting it together couldn't gain the upper hand.

A violent, monstrous summoner.

This Sect Leader wasn't just summoning monsters. It was a monster itself.