While Yrellea and Tiana were planning to wage war between the Pinhian Republic and the Demon Tribes in the Forbidden Forest, the Church of Mubesni noticed the strange actions of the Industrial and Business Minister.
The Church of Mubesni noticed that all the restrictions and obstacles they created for the Misty Flower Pavilion were turned invalid due to the intervention of the Industrial and Business Minister.
The officials of the Misty Flower Pavilion came to the administrative departments with documents containing the minister's signatures.
Regarding setting up the businesses, the Industrial and Business Minister was the highest authority in the Pinhian Republic. No one could override his decision.
And while the Church of Mubesni were investigating this minister, they came to hear very interesting news. The minister had seemingly sent a letter to the colonel stationed near the Lamhilhan Theocracy's borders to request the passage of a very important individual.
And for some reason, the Lamhilhan Theocracy's soldiers also allowed this individual to pass through.
There were some soldiers who witnessed this individual. It was a gorgeous woman atop a snow-white fox.
The pope and the priests of the Church of Mubesni felt that the matter was bizarre. Some of them suspected that the minister was acting according to someone's demands.
The Church of Mubesni didn't immediately take action against the minister. If they so wanted, they could have the minister removed. But that wouldn't resolve the core of this issue.
They had to find out just who was controlling the minister and how?
The entire Pinhian Republic was filled with the Church of Mubesni's followers. It was impossible to stay concealed from the eyes and ears of the church.
And pretty soon, the Church of Mubesni did hear the news. After following the minister for nearly two whole months, they finally found out that the minister was actually meeting with a beautiful woman secretly.
The identity of this woman was a secret. Even with the resources that the Church of Mubesni possessed, they couldn't find this woman's identity. It was as if she appeared out of thin air.
After further investigation, they found out this woman's name. Edna.
She was staying in a very luxurious inn within the capital. She met up with the minister twice a week. And sometimes even thrice. It mostly depended on the minister's wishes.
Edna and the minister spent a whole night in a private room. The minister would come out with visible signs of weakness while Edna remained healthy and active as ever. At least, that's what the minister's bodyguards informed the Church of Mubesni.
In reality, Edna would use her enchanting technique on the minister as soon as the two were alone. The minister would fall asleep and see wonderful dreams. He still didn't know that those were merely dreams, and he had never done anything with Edna in reality.
Edna maintained that illusion by being in half-stripped clothing or a robe by the time the minister woke up. She would wear her clothing in the bathroom while allowing the minister to wake up.
The minister was undoubtedly very much in love with Edna. Part of it was because of Edna's beauty, and the other reason was Edna's cultivation technique.
In fact, the minister was so much in love with Edna that he even proposed to her and asked her to marry him as his concubine.
Naturally, Edna refused this proposal. She wasn't planning to stay with this minister for her entire life.
This ambiguous relationship with the minister was temporary. She would leave him once the Misty Flower Pavilion had expanded enough. Actually, she would also leave this minister if he was removed from his post.
However, the Church of Mubesni sent assassins after her.
These assassins were loyal followers of the Church of Mubesni, and they were informed that this woman was a heretic. She was spreading deep hate about the Church of Mubesni and had to be silenced immediately.
These followers didn't need any further reason to eliminate Edna. The next day, four warriors attacked Edna.
Edna managed to dodge their initial attack as she was a 4 Star Warrior. However, her combat power wasn't very impressive.
She noticed there were seven warriors. Out of which three were 4 Star Warriors, and the rest were 3 Star Warriors.
Fortunately, Edna possessed a couple of smoke bombs. These smoke bombs were filled with a paralysis smoke specially created by Yrellea.
Edna quickly swallowed a medicinal pellet and threw those smoke bombs around herself.
These smoke bombs obscured the vision of all warriors attacking her and also paralyzed them. Edna remained safe because she had already ingested the antidote.
By the time the warriors could move again, Edna was nowhere to be seen. Even with the Church of Mubesni's influence, it was challenging to find her.
In reality, Edna was very close to the site where these seven warriors ambushed her. She quietly observed this group.
Edna wanted to find out just who was targeting her. It had to be someone related to her deal with the minister.
Was it the minister's wife? Or someone else in the parliament?
However, while hiding, Edna contacted Yrellea and informed her about this attack.
Yrellea remained calm upon hearing about this attack. She had expected someone to figure out Edna's ambiguous relationship with the minister and start targeting her.
Yrellea informed Edna to stay low. She would send some protectors soon.
By protectors, Yrellea naturally meant Tiana and her comrades.
It had been two months since Tiana arrived in the Pinhian Republic. Using Yrellea's subordinates, it wasn't too difficult to find women possessing the Yin Physique.
At this moment, Tiana's group had already expanded to nearly seventy warriors.
Nearly forty warriors were 2 Star Rank Warriors. Twenty warriors were at the 3-star rank. Ten warriors were at the 4-star rank. And five warriors were at the 5 Star Rank.
Their cultivation was rising rapidly by utilizing the cultivation techniques that Tiana distributed among them.
They weren't very loyal to Tiana yet. But that was to be expected. It had barely been two months since this group started. And for some recent recruits, it had barely been fifteen days since they joined Tiana's group.
Tiana's group was known as the Ice Maiden's Faction. The Ice Maiden's Faction's primary task was to patrol the northern part of the Pinhian Republic which touched the Forbidden Forest of the Demonic Tribes.
Her group gained valuable experience as they protected the citizens from these terrifying demons.
Yrellea assigned this spot to Tiana for a specific reason. Firstly, it was close to the Forbidden Forest of the Demonic Tribes. Secondly, the Vicious Lightning Paragon's disciple skilled in using bow was also protecting the citizens from the Demonic Tribes near this area.
It was said that among the five disciples of the Vicious Lightning Paragon, this warrior was the strongest. He could defeat the other four put together.
It was unknown whether this was merely a rumor or truth, but it didn't matter to Yrellea. She wanted Tiana to do whatever possible to cause this man's death by a demon's hand.
Yrellea was sure that this would infuriate the Vicious Lightning Paragon.
Naturally, Tiana was looking for an opportunity to achieve this objective. But she had yet to meet this disciple of the Vicious Lightning Paragon.
And today, Yrellea contacted Tiana. She requested for some of Tiana's subordinates to guard her subordinate.
Tiana sent three 5 Star Warriors and seven 4 Star Warriors to protect Yrellea's subordinate.