After receiving the Gerbera Empress's promise and hint, Elara and the other two returned to Bluestar City.
The Divine Attendant Palace was a top-tier power tied to the world's divine bloodlines. Elara's group had never come into contact with such a force, nor did they have a way to do so.
After some thought, she wrote a letter to Lucian.
But even if Lucian could contact the Divine Attendant Palace, with war about to erupt in Prince Leland's territory, she could not be sure whether they would take action, or if they did, whether they could arrive in time.
So everything still depended on them.
Since they might face people from factions like the Hall of the Yellow Spring or even the Darknight Hall, the three of them decided to bring all the divine relics they had previously obtained from the Ruins of the Gods.
Because Prince Leland had been preparing for a multi-nation siege, he had already brought over all his relics. Prince Yu had brought most of his relics with him for this campaign, and Elara always carried hers in her spatial button for easy access.
The three of them were prepared. Considering the incident at the Southern Water Pavilion might provoke early movements from the Lotus Phoenix Sect and its backers like the Hall of the Yellow Spring or Darknight Hall, they discussed countermeasures. Then they each took a team of elite scouts and divine relics and set off in different directions to investigate.
Elara went north of Bluestar City, Prince Yu went south, and Prince Leland stayed in Bluestar City to directly handle the five nations poised to attack at any moment.
Two days into their watch, the Lotus Phoenix Sect and the five countries indeed launched an early attack.
Prince Leland held firm in Bluestar City against five second-tier countries. Elara and Prince Yu, from north and south, countered the agents sent by the Lotus Phoenix Sect and its hidden backers.
Though they had expected powerful opponents from the Lotus Phoenix Sect and the Hall of the Yellow Spring, Elara realized she had still underestimated them once the battle began.
Before the danger fully emerged, Elara had already sent the elite squad into hiding. She only brought Uno with her and pressed deeper into the north.
The enemy's appearance was not sudden, but their speed, methods and power were all beyond Elara's expectations.
The moment the air changed, Elara and Uno instantly dodged. In the next second, a laser beam burst from the spot they had just stood on.
As soon as she saw it, Elara's eyes narrowed slightly. After more than a year in this ancient world, she had gotten used to its backwardness. Seeing a laser beam, something she had only seen in sci-fi in her previous life, still surprised her.
What shocked her even more was that after they dodged the laser attack, the danger was far from over.
With her awakened spiritual power, Elara's perception was no longer like an ordinary person's. She was not only more sensitive but could also see things others could not.
For example, following the laser attack were two invisible, hideous mental tentacles, clawing through the air and releasing a foul, unfamiliar aura.
There were others in this world who had also cultivated spiritual power.
Elara's spiritual power surged out instantly. Its release further sharpened her senses, allowing her to clearly see the rapidly approaching enemies hundreds of meters away.
There were five people in total. One sat in a wheelchair, holding a golden-glowing object shaped like a pagoda, resembling the pagoda held by Li Jing from legends.
One held an arm-mounted weapon that clearly did not belong to this world. That was likely the source of the earlier laser.
The other three looked more typical, dressed like elite assassins from this world.
Among them, Elara sensed similar yet distinct spiritual power from the wheelchair-bound man and the one with the arm weapon. The other three had none.
Uno, draw away those three assassins. I'll deal with the other two.
Uno didn't waste words. He gave Elara a worried glance and then swiftly moved toward the three.
The opposing side seemed to understand Elara's tactic to split them up but didn't mind. After the assassins were pulled away, the two men continued toward Elara at even greater speed.
Both sides seemed ready. They did not speak a word and struck to kill the moment they met.
From behind the wheelchair man and the armed man, each released a thick, grotesque mental tentacle as thick as a baby's arm. They rushed at Elara like wild beasts.
Elara's spiritual power exploded behind her like a river meeting a stream. Far thicker and denser, it overwhelmed the two men's mental attacks, swarming them like a nest of snakes and nearly drowning them.
The men's expressions changed instantly. Their smug, cold faces turned shocked and pained when they saw this.
Spiritual power came from the human consciousness. It was incredibly powerful, but once wounded, it could also cause unbearable damage to the most sensitive part of a person's mind.
The two clearly had not expected Elara to have spiritual power, let alone a level so vast and strong. They had thought they could take her down easily but were now being swallowed instead.
Their faces turned pale, the easy confidence gone, replaced with tightly clenched expressions of pain.
Still, although their spiritual power was weaker, they had clearly trained with it.
After being overwhelmed, they quickly regained control, pulled back their damaged power and stood at Elara's sides, cautious and alert.
Are you from the Divine Attendant Palace the armed man asked.
Before Elara could answer, the man in the wheelchair spoke, eyes fixed on her. She's not. Even the Holy Son of the Divine Attendant Palace doesn't have spiritual power this immense.
Hearing this, the armed man's vigilance eased. His pale face even showed a smile. He suddenly withdrew his attack stance and spread his arms toward Elara.
Beautiful lady, if you're not from the Divine Attendant Palace, how about joining our Darknight Hall We love god-chosen ones with immense divine bloodline potential like you. No matter why you're here or who you want to win this war, if you agree to join us, the course of this war will shift at your will. The Hall Master would never object. What do you say
Darknight Hall. Elara had thought they were from the Hall of the Yellow Spring, but it turned out they belonged to a power even higher.
Elara's mind turned sharply, but her face showed no change.
She stared straight at the man with mechanical arms, who was smiling while talking to her. "If I enter Anxiao Hall, will it give me whatever I want whenever I want it, and let me leave whenever I want to go?"
The man with the mechanical arms raised his eyebrows slightly, his smile turning a little more mocking. "Miss, that's asking too much. This is Anxiao Hall. Do you think you can come and go as you please? Even if you're the most powerful divine child I've ever seen, the Hall Master would never allow that."
"What's the point then," Elara replied coldly. As soon as she finished, a massive wave of invisible mental power surged from behind her toward the two men.
This time, neither of them dodged. "What a shame," the man with mechanical arms sneered as he raised his heavy weapon-covered arm and aimed at Elara. Not far beside him, the man in the wheelchair gently shook the small golden tower in his hand.
In an instant, a large, faint golden image of the tower expanded and covered them both.
The golden tower's light fell to the ground like a real giant tower and kept expanding. It pushed back Elara's spiritual power. She suddenly felt her usually unstoppable mental power, which could pierce through cliffs, hit a wall of iron and copper.
It couldn't go through at all.
It could actually block mental attacks? This was the first time Elara had seen this kind of divine weapon.
"Buzz"
Her mental power was blocked by the golden tower, but the attacks from inside it came out easily.
The mechanical man's weapon aimed at her again and fired a laser beam.
Elara dodged again, but thick beams of lasers chased after her like a wild storm, constantly attacking.
"Hahahahaha!!! Beautiful lady!! You're fast! Let's see how long you can keep running! Hahaha!!"
The laser beams became even denser and more violent, madly blasting behind Elara.
This wasn't like any divine weapon battle she'd ever seen. In all her experience, divine weapons always had limited energy. People who owned high-powered divine weapons were careful not to waste them.
But this mechanical man acted like his weapon had endless energy.
System warned her. [Master, be careful! Both of their weapons are top-quality divine arms! Their wear level is very low, so the energy circulation is far better than any mid-level or below. That mechanical arm's laser beam can keep firing for at least thirty hours!]
[Also, you need to be extra cautious with the man in the wheelchair. That small tower in his hand is even higher in quality. It's almost perfect with no damage and offers strong defense against both physical and spiritual attacks. You must find a way to break their teamwork fast. With that turtle-shell-like golden tower and the nearly unlimited laser weapon, even if you dodge for now, you'll eventually run out of energy!]
Elara didn't have time to study the two top-grade divine weapons. She could only rely on the System's summary to understand the situation.
If that golden divine tower really was immune to both spiritual and physical attacks, then no matter how strong Elara's own power was or how many divine items she had, they would be useless for now.
She had already put on the [Absolute Battle Armor], and the [Windcloud Boots] were also equipped.
With these two divine items and the speed she gained after breaking through the eighth level of the Divine Arts Manual, she darted through the rain of laser beams and got close to the golden light wall several times. She tried attacking it with every divine weapon she had.
But even the [Damaged War Spear] couldn't leave the slightest mark on the wall of light.
That nearly flawless future-tech defense was unbelievably strong.
After several failed attempts, Elara turned and ran at full speed in the opposite direction.
But the wheelchair man and the mechanical man both had spiritual power and deep internal energy, along with other speed-enhancing divine weapons.
So she couldn't shake them off.
Instead, as they got closer, she sharply sensed another wave of danger coming from the front.
Did Anxiao Hall send another team?
The feeling of being trapped from both sides grew more intense.
Elara frowned slightly. As the dangerous presence in front became clearer, she asked the System in her mind.
[How much national fortune do I have left?]
[Excluding what you used in the past few months, you still have a total of 53,369 national fortune points, Master.]
Elara quickly calculated in her mind. One point of national fortune equaled one day of life. Twenty years of life would be about 7,200 points.