Chapter241

From this section alone, the other kingdoms must have already discovered something and now want to steal all the remaining divine totem maps from Plumera! That's why they dragged Plumera into this action targeting the Zhaiyun Pavilion, listing it as one of their objectives.

If that's true, then one of the targets of this conspiracy is indeed her Plumera.

If Mr. Yu hadn't written her that letter, Elara might not have noticed anything for a long time.

Now that she had received early warning, there was no way she would stand by.

Elara's mind was running fast, and her eyes grew colder.

Mr. Yu finished drawing the map and pointed at the four kingdoms as he spoke: "Because the Jingstone Kingdom is too far north, with little fertile land, and the weather is cold all year round, full of snow-capped mountains. The people there are fierce on horseback but cannot grow crops. They live by herding and are also very short on salt, quite like certain nomadic tribes."

"For generations, the rulers of Jingstone have harbored ambitions to invade the south."

"But they were held back because two second-tier kingdoms surrounded them, so they didn't act. Instead, they made Jiasi, the other kingdoms, and Narcissus Kingdom into vassals, forcing them to tribute grain."

"But now, their most threatening neighbor, the second-tier Mengmin Kingdom, split into three countries during a civil war two years ago. They're fighting each other fiercely and can't pay attention to anyone else."

"Without its biggest threat, Jingstone couldn't hold back anymore. This plan against Sargassum was definitely encouraged by them in secret."

"Jiasi, the other kingdoms, and Narcissus Kingdom have long wanted to expand. Narcissus is especially eager since it's close to Dahlia and Edelweiss has pledged allegiance to them."

Mr. Yu chuckled as he played with the edge of his teacup, "Edelweiss had been confronting Dahlia for years across the Qian'an Ridge. They understand us well, and I've taken much of their land. They hate me deeply and know a lot about the newly occupied Edelweiss towns."

"After sharing that info with Narcissus, Narcissus teamed up with Jiasi and several other third-tier powers nearby that envy Dahlia to plan an attack."

"The incident with Leif was just the beginning. Most of Dahlia's economy relies on the Zhaiyun Pavilion. If something happens to it, Dahlia will definitely fall into chaos, and they'll strike."

"As for you, Elara…" Mr. Yu raised his eyes and looked at her for a moment. "Your Plumera is one of their main targets too. If

Elara looked at all the power information in the [Diplomatic Column], her eyes shifting in expression. A few seconds later, she looked up at Mr. Yu:

"So, what is the solution you mentioned in the letter?"

Periwinkle, Salvia, and Narcissus Kingdom were all third-class major countries. Adding in their second-class suzerain state, Jingshi, the total power of the four was not something Plumera and Dahlia could handle together.

Mr. Yu tapped the table again, using his finger to trace in water. He drew another country on the southeast side of Narcissus Kingdom, one about the same size as Jingshi.

"With just you and me, we definitely can't face all four of them at once. But if we eliminate Narcissus Kingdom first and use it to distract Jingshi, it won't have time to deal with Periwinkle and Salvia. Then the two of us can handle what's left."

Elara looked at the new country Mr. Yu drew southeast of Narcissus Kingdom. "Is this also a second-class country? You want this country to attack Narcissus first and hold off Jingshi?"

Mr. Yu nodded and wrote the words "Magnolia Kingdom" on the land of the new second-class country he had drawn.

"Magnolia Kingdom is the closest and most threatening second-class country to Jingshi, apart from the now-dissolved Saltshan Kingdom. Its power is about the same as Jingshi's, maybe even slightly stronger."

"And Magnolia and Jingshi have an old grudge."

Elara calmed down and listened carefully to Mr. Yu's explanation. "An old grudge? There's a third-class country—Narcissus—in between them. What kind of grudge could they possibly have?"

Mr. Yu's lips curled slightly, as if he remembered something interesting. He tapped on Narcissus Kingdom, which was sandwiched between Magnolia and Jingshi.

"You probably don't know. That grudge lies within Narcissus Kingdom itself."

"About 150 years ago, Narcissus Kingdom originally belonged to Magnolia. Back then, Magnolia was extremely powerful—stronger even than an average second-class mid-tier country. It had almost no rivals in the western part of the continent."

"Jingshi was also powerful at the time, with influence close to a second-class mid-tier country. Its soldiers were arrogant and proud."

"And that generation's king of Jingshi was ambitious and ruthless. He wanted the rich and fertile southern lands. But he didn't dare act openly due to Magnolia's strength, so he spent a fortune buying a sinister divine vein gift technique from the remnants of the Dark Sky Palace."

"He secretly used this technique to control the feudal prince from Magnolia who ruled the land of Narcissus at the time."

"Then, somehow, they found a surviving disciple of the Thousand Faces Sect, a group nearly wiped out. Using the divine technique, they killed the feudal prince and had the disciple take his place by transforming into him."

"They used various threats and bribes to make the top officials and noble families of that land either surrender to Jingshi or be replaced by Jingshi's people."

"Although the Thousand Faces impersonator ruled only for a year, nearly all the key officials in Narcissus's land were replaced by Jingshi. The practical control of the land quietly fell into Jingshi's hands."

Mr. Yu sighed at this point, his eyes shifting as if he felt both awe and fear at the ability of the Thousand Faces Sect.

Just one person managed to make Magnolia nearly lose a huge piece of land without realizing it.

"When things reached that point, the Jingshi king still wasn't satisfied. He continued using this method to corrupt and invade Magnolia's power and resources."

"But Magnolia wasn't weak. They had their own divine vein techniques and had long since risen as a top second-class country in the west. Once they discovered Jingshi's plot, they launched a massive counterattack."

"In that war, Magnolia nearly beat Jingshi down to a third-class country. The Jingshi king was beheaded by Magnolia's ruler, and the Thousand Faces impostor was executed. Jingshi almost got split into two parts."

Mr. Yu sighed again with a small laugh. "Unfortunately, even though the Dark Sky Palace was nearly destroyed, it still wasn't completely gone. Faced with destruction, Jingshi offered half its national treasury to the remaining Dark Sky members."

"With the help of their strange and powerful divine techniques, Jingshi finally managed to hold their ground against Magnolia."