117: Chapter 117 Heavenly Warning? Opposition Members Colluding

The moonlight in the side hall, wrapped in the chill of the night dew, fell upon the gilded parchment map. Those scarlet dots representing the Remnants of the Three Clans were still pulsing slightly, like a group of grasshoppers that wouldn't be jumping for much longer.

Su Ninghua's fingertips were still hovering over the map. Just as she was about to speak about the specific arrangements for the suppression, a respectful report from the Royal Guards came from outside the hall, kept very low: "Your Majesty, Sir, an envoy from the Heavenly Realm requests an audience. They say they have been sent by the Saintess Saintess Yun Qingwan to deliver a congratulatory gift to you specifically."

Su Ninghua raised an eyebrow, a flash of surprise crossing her cold, clear eyes. The Heavenly Realm and the Human Empire had always refrained from interfering with each other. She had heard about how the Heavenly Realm Opposition had previously made small moves that nearly offended Lin Zhe, leading the Great Elder to apologize overnight. It was rare for the Saintess to personally send someone to deliver a gift now.

Lin Zhe leaned back in his rosewood chair, his fingertips tapping lightly on the tabletop. His expression was indifferent as he uttered a single word: "Enter."

With a creak, the hall doors were pushed open. A female divine official wearing moon-white robes of the Temple of Light walked in. The hem of her robe was embroidered with the pale gold cloud pattern exclusive to the Saintess. She held a white jade box carved with light patterns, her attitude so respectful she was nearly bowing to the ground, not even daring to raise her head.

She walked to the center of the hall and performed the highest chest-touching salute of the Heavenly Realm to Lin Zhe and Su Ninghua respectively, her voice clear and gentle: "Your subordinate, Ming Yue, a third-rank divine official of the Temple of Light, has been ordered by Her Holiness the Saintess to congratulate Mr. Lin Zhe on taking up residence in the Holy Light City. This is a small, humble gift; I hope you will accept it."

She presented the white jade box to Lin Zhe with both hands. As soon as the lid was opened, a warm aura of light spilled out. Ten bottles of crystal-clear, golden-glowing holy water were neatly arranged inside, each exuding a rich Natural Divine Power. This was the top-tier holy water of light, capable of neutralizing all dark toxins and forcibly breaking even top-tier light seal scrolls. It was impossible to buy on the market even with money, and the Heavenly Realm couldn't produce twenty bottles a year.

"Her Holiness the Saintess said that these ten bottles of holy water could break seals and save lives at critical moments. Perhaps you might find them useful when suppressing the remnants," Ming Yue said, producing a letter stamped with the exclusive crest of the Saintess of Light and handing it over with both hands. "Here is a personal letter from Her Holiness the Saintess; you will understand upon reading it, Sir."

Lin Zhe took the envelope with his fingertips; the wax seal was intact, showing no signs of having been tampered with. He opened it and scanned it. The handwriting on the letter was elegant, and the content was brief. In addition to congratulating him on securing the support of the Human Empire, it also implicitly warned him: the remnants of the Heavenly Realm Opposition were unwilling to accept their previous failure. Recently, they had secretly transferred over a hundred top-tier light seal scrolls, three hundred sets of enchanted light armor, and over a thousand magic-breaking arrowss, all of which had flowed into the hands of the Remnants of the Three Clans through secret channels. She specifically reminded him to be extra careful during the suppression to avoid being ambushed.

At the end of the letter, it was mentioned that regarding the matter of Fei Qi causing the sealing incident, the Temple of Light had thoroughly purged the relevant personnel of the Opposition. The three implicated elders had all had their cultivation crippled and were placed in solitary confinement, ensuring such an incident would never happen again.

After reading it, Lin Zhe moved his fingertips slightly, and a pale gold Power of Rules swept across the map. Sure enough, next to many of the Remnant strongholds he hadn't noticed before, faint auras of the light attribute were drifting—the same source as the holy water. These were clearly the strongholds hiding those Heavenly Realm supplies. He had previously only focused on the locations of the Remnants and hadn't paid attention to these details. Saintess Yun Qingwan's letter had come at just the right time, preventing his soldiers from suffering heavy losses during the suppression.

"Thank the Saintess for me." Lin Zhe raised his eyes and glanced at Ming Yue, then flicked his fingers lightly. A pale green Natural Divine Power landed on Ming Yue, instantly forming a pale green buff icon. "This is a permanent Natural Blessing, adding 10% to all attributes and 20% poison resistance; consider it a return gift. Go back and tell Saintess Yun Qingwan that if the Heavenly Realm faces any difficulties in the future, she can come to me."

Ming Yue was stunned for a moment, then felt the gentle divine power circulating around her body and was instantly overjoyed. As a third-rank divine official, to receive a permanent blessing buff from the Elf Race was a stroke of good fortune that many people could only dream of! She hurriedly bowed to express her thanks, her waist bent nearly to the ground: "Thank you, Sir! Your subordinate will definitely deliver the message! Her Holiness the Saintess also said that if you ever need any supplies from the Heavenly Realm in the future, the Temple of Light will supply them unconditionally as a priority!"

Not daring to disturb him further, she performed another salute and respectfully withdrew, her steps much lighter than when she had arrived.

The hall doors closed once more. Su Ninghua's expression turned cold instantly. She pressed her fingertips heavily onto those red dots on the map carrying the aura of light, her black imperial robe's sleeves sweeping across the jade plate with a crisp clatter: "What a fine Heavenly Realm Opposition! They didn't learn their lesson after being dealt with before, and now they actually dare to collude with the Remnants of the Three Clans. Are they in such a hurry to die?!"

In her previous suppression plan, she hadn't considered that the Remnants would have top-tier equipment from the Heavenly Realm. Those light seal scrolls could temporarily seal the soldiers' skills, and the enchanted armor could block attacks from ordinary arrows. If they had attacked according to the original plan, they would have lost at least a hundred elite soldiers, and it might have even allowed many of the Remnants to escape.

"It is fortunate that the Saintess sent this information, otherwise we would have suffered a great loss this time." Su Ninghua took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in her heart, and looked up at Lin Zhe, her eyes filled with inquiry: "Sir, do you think we should adjust our suppression plan?"

"Yes." Lin Zhe nodded indifferently, his fingertips pointing at seven red dots on the map carrying the aura of light. "These seven strongholds are the core warehouses storing the Heavenly Realm equipment. Send elites to raid them first, prioritizing the elimination of these seven points so the equipment doesn't spread. All soldiers participating in the suppression will be issued magic-breaking arrowss in advance, and Ling Xi will apply a Natural Divine Power buff to everyone, which can neutralize the effects of the light seals."

He paused, his fingertips pointing again to the largest red dot on the edge of the Dark Forest: "This stronghold has the most Remnants and also stores the most seal scrolls. Arrange for Qing Yu to take fifty Elf Archers along; their natural arrows can penetrate the enchanted light armor directly, which is more efficient than ordinary soldiers. Assign a priest to every attacking squad, carrying a bottle of the holy water from earlier, to immediately undo any seals if they are affected."

Su Ninghua nodded repeatedly as she listened, her pen moving rapidly to revise the suppression plan. The original attack order was completely adjusted to prioritize eliminating the seven equipment warehouses before clearing the other small strongholds. She also allocated magic-breaking arrowss and priests to every squad. Every arrangement took the threat of the Heavenly Realm equipment into account, ensuring nothing would go wrong.

After finishing the plan, she immediately summoned the deputy commander of the Shadow Guard and issued the revised plan, ordering all soldiers participating in the suppression to assemble two hours early to be issued new equipment and buffs, ensuring there would be no oversights.

The deputy commander of the Shadow Guard received the order and hurriedly withdrew. The Royal Guards throughout the palace began to move, the crisp sound of armor plates clashing carrying far into the night, permeated with a murderous aura.

Lin Zhe leaned back in his chair, his fingertips tapping lightly on the tabletop. His Rule Perception spread across the entire Holy Light City, and he could clearly sense that the Remnants in those seven core strongholds were still drinking and celebrating, discussing how to use the seal scrolls to ambush the Royal Guards during the suppression, completely unaware that their trump cards had been exposed and even their escape routes had been blocked.

The sound of the night watchman's gong drifted over slowly from the distance, striking the second watch, with one hour left until the agreed-upon time for the suppression.

Su Ninghua stood by the window, watching the vaguely moving figures of the guards outside the palace. She turned to look at Lin Zhe, her cold, clear brows softening, and her voice lowered: "This time, thanks to you and the information from the Saintess of the Heavenly Realm, otherwise I don't know how many elites we would have lost. After we finish suppressing all the Remnants, I will personally prepare a generous gift and go with you to the Temple of Light to express our gratitude."

Lin Zhe gave a faint "hmm" and unconsciously rubbed the personal letter from Saintess Yun Qingwan with his fingertips. A system notification sounded in his mind: [Ding! Detected that the top-tier female NPC, Saintess of the Heavenly Realm Saintess Yun Qingwan, has increased her favorability towards the host to 70. Fourth Bond trigger progress +5%, current progress: 8%!]

He raised his eyes to look at the pitch-black night sky outside the window. Behind the clouds, the soft white light from the direction of the Heavenly Realm was vaguely visible, and the corners of his mouth curled into a very faint arc.

He hadn't expected that coming to Holy Light City this time would allow him to open a line to the Heavenly Realm in advance.

As for that group of Remnants jumping around with Heavenly Realm equipment, they could just be used to test whether the newly adjusted suppression plan worked well.