"Elara, the Plumera Kingdom has long known the Lianhuang Sect to be skilled in venomous Gu techniques. Their Saintess once unleashed poison Gu in our kingdom, and even now, they are still holding something very important that belongs to us. That is why I want to take this opportunity to work with Your Highness and destroy these two forces together."
Elara gave a rough explanation. "This way, I can recover what belongs to Plumera, and Your Highness can eliminate Petunia Kingdom's main splinter faction, restore order and control in Petunia, and intimidate those petty forces within. What does Your Highness think?"
Izekiel naturally had no objection to Elara's proposal. He had long wanted to deal with both the Lianhuang Sect and Prince Sheng, but...
"To deal with Prince Sheng and the Lianhuang Sect is not difficult for Petunia's iron troops. The problem is those Puppet Soldiers. Over the years, my ministers and I have often considered getting rid of them first, but... every time we were about to act, the issue with the Puppet Soldiers would suddenly erupt. It would disrupt the military forces and even directly cost us key generals and ministers."
"Even with you here, we still don't know where those eerie things will suddenly appear from. If another large-scale infection breaks out, or if high-ranking officers get infected again, the consequences would be unpredictable."
Izekiel frowned slightly and looked at Elara seriously.
He did want to root out the Lianhuang Sect and Prince Sheng. But even with Elara capable of dealing with the strange, she was still just one person. Once battle began, the situation would change in an instant. If the Puppet Soldiers emerged in multiple areas again, she could only help in one place, and the others would once again fall into chaos and infection.
Elara understood Izekiel's concern. She did not explain further but simply waved her hand. Uno and the Wei Clan members brought up ten thousand special pills that she had brought with her.
"I understand Your Highness's concerns, so I came prepared. These ten thousand special pills were personally made by Oswyn, the young master of the Valley of Divine Healers in Plumera. After the Puppet Soldier outbreak in the southern border, Oswyn studied the situation and used certain unique methods to create these pills, which specifically suppress the strangeness in infected bodies."
"Now, Plumera's soldiers have basically all taken this kind of pill to prevent a sudden outbreak. One pill protects a person from infection for six months. That should be enough time for Your Highness and Petunia to wipe out the Lianhuang Sect and Prince Sheng."
As Elara finished speaking, Izekiel's gaze instantly fixed on the large wooden chest full of the special pills.
Elara continued, "If Your Highness doesn't believe it, you can have someone try it first. Though ten thousand pills isn't a huge number, it's enough to protect most of the key generals and ministers. Even if Petunia were ambushed again, the army would at least avoid falling into chaos from instant infection."
Izekiel had already stood up and walked to the wooden chest, leaning over to examine a pill carefully. The fact that Elara had brought medicine specifically to suppress the strange condition of the infected clearly shocked him. His expression shifted more than at any point since Elara had arrived.
These pills could actually suppress the strangeness in the Puppet Soldiers? If every high-ranking general and soldier in Petunia had one, how could those eerie things continue to pose such a threat?
As if she saw what he was thinking, Elara calmly went on, "There's one more thing I'd like to ask in advance as part of our cooperation."
She took out the puppet bell that Elijah had given her from her sleeve. "If possible, before the army sweeps through the Lianhuang Sect and Prince Sheng, please help me rescue a few people currently imprisoned within the Lianhuang Sect. This bell will sound if they are nearby."
She placed the bell on his desk, glancing sideways at Izekiel, who was still staring at the pills beside the chest.
"If Your Highness helps me rescue them in advance, I will give you the formula for the special pills as payment. And if Oswyn develops an even better version in the future, I will write and inform you. What do you think?"
After Izekiel made the deal, Petunia Kingdom's army immediately began reorganizing its military forces.
Elara had only brought three thousand elite cavalry for protection on this trip, which was too few in number. After Izekiel agreed to work with her, he allowed her to keep the cavalry with her and did not require her to send troops. He planned to deal with the alliance between Lian Huang Sect and Prince Sheng with Petunia Kingdom's own forces.
Elara only needed to guard the Petunia Kingdom's rear and prevent another large-scale outbreak of the Puppet Soldiers from invading the backline.
She had no objections. After handing over the Puppet Bell to Izekiel, she spent the next half month overseeing the rear and collecting information, while he personally led the army to crush Lian Huang Sect and Prince Sheng. She monitored the situation behind them to prevent another outbreak.
On the second day after Izekiel led Petunia Kingdom's army to battle, another wave of Puppet Soldier larvae launched a surprise attack at the rear. Fortunately, it seemed to be a disorganized attempt to create chaos, and the total number of larvae was small. Elara did not even use the reserve troops Izekiel had left her. Instead, she sent her own elite three thousand to clear the areas and suppressed the sudden attack.
With the rear stabilized, and the Puppet Soldier threat that had haunted Petunia Kingdom for years suppressed by Elara, Izekiel and his Iron Hoof Army no longer had to worry and began sweeping through enemy territory like a storm.
Although Lian Huang Sect and Prince Sheng's alliance had grown powerful enough to be close to first-class strength, they still could not match up against the real top-tier force of Petunia Kingdom's iron cavalry.
Without the interference of Puppet Soldiers behind them, Petunia Kingdom's military force could fully unleash its strength. Lian Huang Sect and Prince Sheng had no chance to stop them.
While Elara held the rear, she continuously received good news from the front lines.
This was a new experience for her. She had always led troops directly into the front line. Now, she could sit back and watch while her allies did the work. With the enemy losing ground fast, she saw progress every day, which felt surprisingly satisfying.
It was truly enjoyable to use another's strength to achieve her goals.
After around ten days, the once arrogant Lian Huang Sect and Prince Sheng had already lost two-thirds of their territory to Petunia Kingdom's iron hooves. Even their core strongholds had been mostly destroyed, and the losses were devastating.
Some Petunia Kingdom factions that had tried to break away and align with the Lian Huang Sect and Prince Sheng also started switching sides or fleeing. This caused even more collapse among the already weakened alliance, pushing them close to total ruin.
While Petunia Kingdom's cavalry claimed victory after victory, Izekiel kept his promise. Before completely destroying the enemy's strongholds, he secretly sent assassins into Lian Huang Sect and used the Puppet Bell to find several men who had never met Elara, but who were already pregnant with her children.
Once these men were located, he sent word to Elara and dispatched an elite team to escort them back.
On the fifteenth day of Elara's command in the rear, she finally met the five men, each with varying degrees of belly size. Though she did not recognize them, they were carrying her children.
What made it even more bizarre was that all five had the Virgin Flower Mark on their foreheads, a mark given to men in matriarchal nations to show they were still virgins. Two of them were even personal attendants of the Lian Huang Sect's Saintess.
Elara: …This is beyond words.
The moment she saw them, the Holy Spirit blood in her reacted, confirming the blood puppet connection from each of the five.