Edmund’s words were undoubtedly a shocking piece of bad news for the war supporters. If there were other reasons, they could still continue to work hard for the sake of waging a war, but the Illuminati had made such a clear stand. How could they continue egging the kingdom to use military power against the Breezy Plains?
As soon as they entered, the several of them sighed almost in unison before each taking a seat on a random spot. They suddenly looked at each other speechlessly.
“High Priest Poer sent a letter to us previously. Didn’t he say that he wants to annihilate Felic and the others together with Edmund? Why have things ended up like this again?” General Cate was the first to air his grievances because he had been badly embarrassed this time. He initially thought that he could turn a bad thing into a good thing, but he didn’t expect the Illuminati to come up with such a trick.
The right wing minister, Burgess, was also frowning greatly at this moment while thinking hard about the change in the council hall of the palace. The Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati had been coexisting for thousands of years in the Endless Ocean. Although there had been all sorts of conflicts, they were considered internal strife, after all. What was it that could make the Illuminati disregard the dignity of the Gilded Kingdom and work hard to befriend a force from the Breezy Plains?
Besides, it was not the usual attitude of the Illuminati. If the Illuminati had always been that kind to the Tower of Dusk, things wouldn’t have been that bad, but as Cate said, at the very beginning, High Priest Poer was full of confidence as he joined forces with Edmund to keep the Tower of Dusk at the cursed land. Clearly, Edmund and the rest from the Illuminati did not have a good impression of the Tower of Dusk back then. Yet, why was there a drastic change in their attitude?
It was a crucial problem for the war supporters because they had to figure out the reason for the Illuminati’s change in attitude before they could find a solution to deal with the root cause of the problem. Otherwise, given the Illuminati’s current attitude towards the Tower of Dusk, the war supporters would probably be suppressed by the peace supporters.
Seeing that his father seemed to have overlooked this issue, Cantory could not help but ask with a look of bewilderment, “Could it be that something happened on that Cursed Island? Felic and his men returned unscathed, and so did Edmund and Zumar. Yet, even till now, there is still no news of High Priest Poer. Don’t you guys find it strange?”
However, after hearing Cantory’s question, Burgess smiled as if he had already known about it long ago. “You know how many opportunities there are on that Cursed Island, regardless of how terrifying it may be. Otherwise, the Illuminati would not have been so interested in that place. Although Poer had gone this time to cooperate with the Illuminati, he definitely wouldn’t return empty-handed given his character.”
Although only a limited number of people of the Illuminati were aware that Cursed Island used to be the sacred land of the Illuminati, everyone knew that the Illuminati was very interested in that island, which they had repeatedly tried over the past few thousand years to gain access to. Hence, even if no one knew the state of the curse, they could vaguely guess that there was probably something impressive on Cursed Island.
All along, no one had been able to really explore Cursed Island. In the eyes of the outsiders, the greatest hurdle that was hampering them was not the danger that was presented before them, but a massive force that prevented them from stepping on the island at all. This time, the force seemed to have vanished, while the Illuminati and High Priest Poer had finally set foot on the island. It was probably a huge opportunity for everyone.
Even if there was any danger on Cursed Island, High Priest Poer was a real Sanctuary powerhouse, and although his power and strength was inferior to Lin Li’s, he was close to a god-like powerhouse in the eyes of Burgess and others. Hence, they didn’t think that the fact that High Priest Poer didn’t return with the rest was due to a mishap.
“It’s a pity that the Illuminati beat us to it this time. Even if there are any impressive treasures on that Cursed Island, they’ve probably already been taken away by the Illuminati,” Cate said with some regret at the thought of the legends about the Cursed Island.
Burgess shook his head, and then helplessly said, “Only elders like Saint Edmund of the Illuminati would know when they can land on the island. Even Cantory has no idea, let alone us. We can’t beat them to it. Instead of thinking of such unrealistic things, we might as well think about how to deal with the Illuminati’s attitude.”
“But what exactly does that Felic have? Even if he has reached the Sanctuary-realm at such a young age and is incredibly talented, the Illuminati shouldn’t value him so highly,” said Cantory, who was full of resentment and jealousy towards Lin Li and the latter’s magical talent. However, he had to admit that Lin Li’s magical talent was rare.
However, magical talent was only useful for individuals, and was meaningless for a powerful force like the Illuminati. There were lots of Sanctuary powerhouses among the Illuminati. Apart from the lord and the four saints of the Illuminati, there was also Elder Zumar. In Cantory’s opinion, although Felic was extremely talented in magic, his strength could not be compared to that of the lord of the Illuminati. Hence, he could not understand why the Illuminati valued Lin Li so highly.
“Felic is the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council, and only the Supreme Council can make the Illuminati suddenly change their attitude,” Cridia, who had been waiting quietly at the side, interjected. He pointed out the crux of the issue.
The fact that Lin Li was the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council was actually known to everyone present. However, when they thought of Lin Li, they also always subconsciously associated him with the Tower of Dusk. After all, even Lin Li himself had always presented himself as the president of the Tower of Dusk, and rarely mentioned the Supreme Council.
Hearing Cridia’s words, the people present could not help but be shocked, and Burgess was flabbergasted too. “Could it be that the Supreme Council and the Illuminati have reached some kind of agreement?”
Although the Supreme Council and the Illuminati were in the Felan Kingdom and the Gilded Kingdom, respectively, the two were worlds apart. However, since the establishment of the Supreme Council, there was still some contact between the two forces.
At the beginning, after the High Elves were overthrown in Anril, the Illuminati and the Gilded Kingdom had thought of developing on the continent. However, during that era, Anril was full of talents, especially with the presence of the Supreme Council and the God of Mages, Geresco. Hence, the Illuminati ended up failing to obtain any benefits.
When the Illuminati got the news that Geresco seemed to have left Anril, they began to get some thoughts again. However, Apophis and the other three arbitrators had become qualified enough to be Geresco’s successors. Hence, the Illuminati had once again missed their chance.
Although there had been two unpleasant exchanges, it did not cause the two forces to become archenemies. After all, for such forces, there was no permanent enemy—as long as the other party did not harm their interests. Even if they couldn’t be friends, they didn’t have to be enemies. Hence, it gradually allowed the two forces to establish some communication.
After getting a reminder from Cridia, Burgess and others finally had to come to terms with Lin Li’s other important identity, which was the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council. His status was probably not inferior to that of the four saints of the sanctuaries.
Immediately afterwards, they thought of Herza, the messenger that the Supreme Council sent to attend the Gilded Kingdom’s founding celebration. In particular, as soon as Herza arrived, he immediately visited Lin Li. Although he was just the messenger of the Supreme Council, it was a basic etiquette to visit the fourth arbitrator first. However, Burgess couldn’t help but develop some suspicions.
In their opinion, although Herza was the messenger of the Supreme Council, he wasn’t important enough to reach an agreement with the senior members of the Illuminati. Instead, Lin Li, who was the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council, was qualified to be on the same level as Saint Edmund. Perhaps Herza had relayed the message of the other three arbitrators, and reached a certain agreement with them previously.
“If that’s the case, then it’s extraordinarily troublesome for us.” Burgess’ face became even more sullen as he pinched his beard hard, almost ripping it off.
The other ministers and generals seemed to have thought of something too as their expressions were no longer full of pure anger. Instead, they were somewhat worried. The Illuminati and the Supreme Council were two of the top forces of Anril. If they had merely reached some insignificant cooperation agreement, there would be no need for the saints and arbitrators to intervene. Since it was now the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council who was in contact with the saint, the agreement had to be rather incredible.
Although the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati had coexisted for thousands of years, the relationship was not as harmonious as it appeared to be. No one wanted their power to be weakened and restrained. While being interdependent, kingdoms and religions each wanted to be the dominant one too. Hence, there had always been a conflict between each other.
Although the Illuminati had a lord who was near the level of the gods and four saints who were in charge of four major sanctuaries, as well as a Sanctuary-level elder like Elder Zumar, true strength was not only determined by the number of Sanctuary powerhouses a force had. The Gilded Kingdom had been established for thousands of years; hence, they naturally had a strong foundation.
Putting aside the few statesman families of the Gilded Kingdom, the royals definitely had a few formidable trump cards since they could control the Gilded Kingdom for thousands of years.
