400: Bait to lure two gods

"Killing two birds with one stone."

"It not only shows 'sincerity' to Her, but also twists the anger of the Goddess of Light and the Elf Goddess more tightly together, directing it toward the mother of flesh and blood."

Ling Qi quickly thought through the key points. "Subordinate will immediately arrange for the Tudor Inquisitors to carry it out. It will be done cleanly, ensuring the Church can only find traces of flesh and blood contamination."

"Go ahead," Shang Wan Ning waved her hand.

"Have Olexia get ready as well. When necessary, the 'Abyssal Sovereign' can appropriately express some 'interest' in the Church of Light's outposts to deepen their sense of crisis."

"Yes."

Ling Qi bowed and withdrew to convey the instructions.

Silence returned to the hall.

Shang Wan Ning picked up the blood-colored crystal and sent a cold message through her divine sense: "Tell the Mother Goddess that the bait has been cast; wait and see."

"The shadow of the Abyss will soon shroud the Emerald Border."

After sending it, she tossed the crystal back into her storage space. Her divine sense once again swept over Ilena's name and the description of the "Wood Spirit Body" in You Yu's report.

"Wood Spirit Body... it attracts life energy, making it suitable as a living formation eye. Perhaps it could be of some use in cultivating spiritual plants."

She whispered to herself, then closed her eyes, sinking her divine sense into the System Space to begin reviewing other matters.

During this week, the Ativi Continent appeared to maintain a fragile peace on the surface, while undercurrents in the shadows were desperately accelerating.

Tudor's cleanup work had long been quietly completed, and Olexia, in the name of the Abyssal Sovereign, had laid several "deterrent" shadow traces around the perimeter of the Church of Light's outposts.

It wasn't until Shang Wan Ning once again set down her vermilion pen used for reviewing proposals that her eyebrows suddenly twitched.

She finally sensed the tremors coming from the other end of the plane.

That layer of calm shell had shattered.

The pot of simmering water that was the Ativi Continent had finally come to a boil.

The Orc Kingdom of Barbatos was held together on the surface by the new king, Bato, but its interior had long been riddled with holes by the Abyss Church.

Nobles in various regions harbored their own ulterior motives. The scouting activities of the Frost Luo Duchy and the Shidun Kingdom on the borders became increasingly frequent, and conflicts gradually escalated from probing to small-scale skirmishes.

Within the human race, the undercurrents were even more turbulent.

The Oakvia Territory tried desperately to block the news, but word of the tragedy in Veloria still leaked out, sparking uneasy whispers among the lower-level priests and devout believers.

Even worse, several human towns near the border of the Emerald Kingdom were attacked in succession.

Fragments of elven arrows were always found at the scene, mixed with a faint, nauseating scent of flesh and blood filth.

The rumor that "Elves are colluding with the Ancient God" spread across the border like a plague.

Once the poisonous vine of suspicion took root, it frantically entangled all reason.

In the Divine Kingdom, at the Angelic Temple.

Astrea rested her head on her hand. Holy light flowed around the throne, yet it could not dispel the heaviness between her brows.

The tragic descriptions in the prayers of the lower-world bishops, the fear and anger of the believers, and the chaotic information coming from the Elf Race were like countless fine threads entangling her divinity, difficult to peel away.

The loyalty of the Holy See was beyond doubt, but the perception of the specific executors was limited.

The covenants of the Nature Pantheon restricted direct intervention, but if she sat by and watched the foundation of faith be shaken, the consequences would be unbearable.

A streak of emerald-colored light burst into the temple.

Avila's figure appeared, her usual elegance completely gone. Her face was pale, and her pointed ears trembled slightly.

"Astrea, I can't take it anymore. To hell with that damned covenant; my true body must go down personally." The Elf Goddess almost stumbled to the throne, her voice hoarse and urgent.

Astrea looked up. "Avila, the rules were established by us together. Are you going to break them with your own hands now?"

"Have you considered the backlash of the true body descending to the Prime Material Plane?"

"Consider? What is there left to consider!" Avila clenched her fists, and the divine power around her dissipated uncontrollably, agitating the radiance of the temple.

"Eternal Song Fortress has fallen, and even Mier's roots are entangled in filth."

"My people are either being twisted into monsters or are fleeing in all directions. All that aside... Ilena possesses the Wood Spirit Body blessed by the elf mother tree. She is my blood descendant, and she has vanished in Ativi without a trace."

Her breathing was erratic, and her eyes were filled with alarm. "It's Sabrina. She destroyed Eternal Song Fortress, and now she's targeting Ilena."

At the mention of this name, the old wound on Avila's neck seemed to ache faintly again.

Memories from ten thousand years ago were still vivid.

Astrea lowered her hand, holy light condensing at her fingertips. "Calm down, Avila. The border towns were just attacked, and the evidence at the scene is unfavorable to the Elf Race. Acting rashly now would be exactly what Sabrina wants."

"That's a frame-up!!!" Avila retorted.

"It's Sabrina's trick. She wants to force me to leave the Divine Kingdom."

Astrea shook her head gently. "Look at you. A deity of tens of thousands of years, yet still so impulsive."

A cup of nectar tea appeared before Avila. "Stabilize your mind first. Eternal Song Fortress can be retaken, and Ilena must be found. But first, you must remain clear-headed."

Avila turned her head away and did not take the tea, but her tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

Astrea continued, "I am already exerting pressure on the Church. Innocent's mind is still quite clear."

"Now is not the time for impulse. The Cardinal Council needs concrete evidence that can both clear the Elf Race of suspicion and lure Sabrina's clone out of her nest."

"Evidence? By the time the Church finds evidence, Ilena's bones will probably have been taken by the Blood Elves to be flaunted as trophies, and the people of Eternal Song Fortress will be nearly all dead."

Avila snapped her head back, her emerald eyes clouded with a layer of mist.

"Astrea, you don't understand this feeling. Watching the elf mother tree be destroyed, the people suffering, and the whereabouts of my blood descendant unknown, while being a god yet powerless to help."

Astrea fell silent for a moment.

The radiance of the temple seemed to dim slightly along with her silence.

How could she not understand?

Wielding the light and protecting all living beings, every prayer and every moment of despair from the believers was clearly imprinted upon her divinity.

But as the current helmsman of the Nature Pantheon, the God of Light could not lose control like Avila.

After a long while, she spoke again to persuade her: "Avila, we cannot continue to be passive."

The Elf Goddess looked toward her.

"Sabrina is hiding in the Chaos Royal Court, making it difficult for us to strike directly. But she has always harbored greed for your divine blood and natural origin."

"The fall of Eternal Song Fortress will only make her believe you are already fragile and weak." A cold light flashed in Astrea's eyes. "We can send her a special gift."

"What do you mean?"

"Set a trap." Astrea's fingers moved gently in the void, sketching out a vague trajectory.

"The Elf Goddess will travel to a Secondary Plane near the edge of the Chaos Royal Court under the pretext of 'searching for survivors of Eternal Song Fortress and Ilena'."