Hearing Arieck bring up something similar, Elara simply asked the three of them the question directly, wanting to see if they knew more about the possible reasons for the disappearance of the "gods."
But the three of them were stunned by the question. After a few seconds, as expected, they all shook their heads and said they didn't know.
Elara lowered her eyes and thought for a while, then looked up again and asked, "Then where is the main hall of the Temple of Divine Attendants?"
These kinds of hard-to-trace questions were difficult for "outsiders" like them to investigate. But the people within the Temple might know everything clearly.
Elara hadn't originally planned to look into this so deeply, but ever since the strange soldier eggs appeared, and ever since she started to feel more and more of those malicious gazes every time she left the Plumera Kingdom, a deep sense of unease had risen in her heart.
This feeling of unease grew stronger the more frequently those secret, hostile gazes appeared.
It also felt like something invisible inside her was urging her to quickly find out the truth about all of this, or else something irreversible might happen in the future.
After asking about the Temple's location, Elara thought she would get an answer quickly, but the three, Izekiel among them, fell silent again for a moment. Then Izekiel finally spoke:
"The Temple of Divine Attendants was the earliest force to appear in this world. At that time, most nations hadn't even been founded yet. The people within the Temple follow extremely strict rules and have always kept silent about the location of their main hall. It's said to be a sacred place that outsiders are never allowed to see, so for many years, basically no one outside the Temple has ever entered their main hall."
"The Temple is now spread across the continent, but only in the form of branch halls."
"If you really want to know where their main hall is located... I only know one related legend."
"It's said that the main hall of the Temple was built by the first five High Attendants who personally followed the 'gods.' The exact location is unknown, but according to the story, three of those five vanished in the western border of the Sea of No Delusion... so it should be somewhere in the southern sea area directly facing the southern side of your Plumera Kingdom."
Elara needed time to gather and organize the information, so for the next half month, she stayed in Petunia Kingdom's Wancheng. While waiting, she helped Arieck and Izekiel secretly inspect Petunia Kingdom's key officials and generals to check if they had dormant insect eggs inside them.
Arieck, Izekiel, and Prince Zhongli also stayed in Wancheng and did not return to the nearby Petunia Kingdom imperial capital.
Petunia Kingdom had severe internal divisions both in public and secret. The imperial city was the most concentrated place for these forces. On just one street, there could be spies from many factions. To prevent accidents, Arieck and Izekiel chose to meet Elara in Wancheng instead. All the officials Izekiel wanted her to inspect came to meet her in secret.
With Elara's precise spiritual detection and purification, it took less than ten days to finish inspecting all of Izekiel's important officials and generals. She also handled most of the elite vanguard troops. She either cleansed or examined everyone, making sure no carriers, infected, or people close to mutating were left untreated.
Seeing the eggs removed from the bodies of the officials and soldiers with their own eyes, and watching them return to normal, brought many of Petunia Kingdom's ministers to tears.
Over the years, even with the help of the Divine Temple, no infected person survived, regardless of status or rank.
Petunia Kingdom lost countless loyal and talented people. Those individuals were once the backbone of the nation, but once infected, had to be put down by their own friends and rulers.
This not only caused deep pain and joy for the enemy, it also weakened the country's structure and stability. The rebel forces used the cracks to gain ground, leading to the divided state Petunia Kingdom was now in.
But now, after holding out at such a cost, they finally saw hope and a miracle to end the disaster.
All the officials and generals treated by Elara were deeply grateful to her.
One day, after she finished several rounds of inspection, Izekiel waited outside the cell in person. He asked if she or Plumera Kingdom needed anything. As long as it didn't go against Petunia Kingdom's core interests, he and Petunia Kingdom would fulfill it.
Elara came not only to see the situation with the insect eggs but also to propose a deal with Petunia Kingdom.
She still hadn't figured out why the Lianhuang Sect sent people to her kingdom. On top of that, after suddenly meeting Elijah, she discovered that the Lianhuang Sect had somehow made many men carry her bloodline without her knowledge. Elara could not tolerate that.
No matter what their reason or goal was, she could not accept anyone treating her blood as something mass-produced in a factory.
This violation was beyond insane and disgusting.
So after learning this from Elijah, Elara decided the Lianhuang Sect had to be wiped out.
Looking at Izekiel waiting outside the cell, she returned to the guest room at Lianyi Tower and said directly, "I do have a business deal I want to make with you, Your Highness. It concerns the Lianhuang Sect and that Prince Leif inside Petunia Kingdom. Are you interested in working together to eliminate them?"
Prince Leif was the leader of the biggest rebellious force in Petunia Kingdom. He was the descendant of the former emperor's elder brother. By blood, Izekiel had to call him uncle.
But when Petunia Kingdom was shaken by the insect attacks and its rule began to crack, he was the first to secretly gather rebellious royal forces. Later, he even worked with outside powers to break Petunia Kingdom's control, becoming the main cause of today's turmoil.
The outside force Prince Leif allied with was the Lianhuang Sect, which Elara had seen many times in the System panel.
To destroy the Lianhuang Sect, they had to take down Prince Leif's faction as well. Likewise, if Izekiel wanted to eliminate Prince Leif, he also had to deal with the Lianhuang Sect. Only then could they truly remove the threat.
As Petunia Kingdom's crown prince, Izekiel understood this clearly.
When he heard the names Prince Leif and the Lianhuang Sect, his expression subtly changed.
These two rebellious groups had long been his and Petunia Kingdom's biggest threats apart from the Puppet Soldiers. If the Puppet Soldier problem hadn't tied up his hands, he would have dealt with them already.
Elara's proposal hit the mark perfectly. It was something he had planned to do eventually. But what puzzled him was, how did the Plumera Kingdom, far in the southwest, become enemies with a faction from Petunia Kingdom's east and a near-matriarchal force from the eastern continent?