In the next weeks and months, everything went precisely according to Leylin's predictions and everything went according to the plan. Creating a spark of conflict between the major tribes that were not under the control of the Sakartes Empire was as easy as taking a toy from a child.
Within just ten days or so, all the major tribes started fighting against each other and waging war for some petty reason. The accumulated problems, conflicts, and disputes between the tribes allowed Leylin and his schemes to flourish.
After another twenty days, another phase of the plan began when the major player entered the game.
The Sakartes Empire seemed to have found out about the situation, dispatching a more than fifty thousand strong army to interfere in this and conquer the major tribes. The empire of natives saw this as an unprecedented opportunity to strike at their long-time enemies and conquer the major tribes.
And thus unifying the entirety of the Debanks Islands under their rule.
And as Leylin predicted, the Sakartes Empire struck as hard, decimating large parts of the tribes, but then something unseen happened.
As the armies of the Sakartes Empire clashed against the armies major tribes, during those clashes, a plague broke out.
A plague broke out without warning amongst their ranks. It was infectious, and the rate of death was terrifying. In a few days, it had spread across the whole army.
With how crowded their army was and the lack of hygiene amongst the natives, it was difficult to survive the disease without divine healing.
The members of the clergy were hard-pressed and overworked, only able to save some of the officers and elites, or nobles as they had the priority for saving.
For the ordinary soldiery, they had no choice but to let them die because there was no other choice. With their limited number of divine spells, what they'd been able to do was already amazing.
In an era of cold weapons, a casualty rate of over 30% was terrifying. This time, the plague had brought additional psychological pressure with it. Under the threat of death, armies on both sides started slowly crumbling apart one by one.
Though the army of the Sakartes Empire prevailed longer due to very strict discipline in the army, but soon even they started deserted en masse. The death rate was too high and the corruption within the army started demotivating the soldiers from remaining in the army.
And with the plague rampant at their ranks, it soon started spreading through the entirety of the Debanks Islands, slowly yet surely. The natives were pretty much primitive, not capable of reacting in time and when they realized what was happening, it was too late.
Everyone watched with keen interest what was happening at the Debanks Islands; when the plague took root, the casualties were in many, many, many thousands and it was spreading at lightning speed.
Maybe even faster than that...
Soon enough, before the Divine Beings, Totem Spirits and Ancestors worshipped by the natives of the Debanks Island started realizing what was happening. When they started noticing that the stream of fate was getting weaker and weaker, they realized that something was bad.
And the bad thing was that they were getting less and less Faith.
Unfortunately, when they attempted to intervene in the situation directly, it was rather late for them because, like lightning from the clear sky, it appeared and started spreading the cure for the plague.
The Church of the Heavenly Serpent...
And in all of his majesty, he appeared and descended down to save them all...
Nāgarāja.
When the situation with the plague was becoming unbearable in the Debanks Islands because it started spreading even after Leylin anticipated when he realized his mistake.
He bit overestimated the capabilities of natives when it came to healthcare and hygiene.
But whatever...
When it started spreading, Leylin started sending the priests of the Church of the Heavenly Serpent to the Debanks Islands as they started spreading there their religion and Faith in the Heavenly Serpent God Nāgarāja.
And with each passing day, the number of his worshippers was increasing at a steady pace and the only thing that he needed to do was to let it flow and give it a free hand.
The next phase was to establish a small colony city on the outskirts of the Debanks Islands, which he named Serpent City and where countless of the refugees across the Debanks Islands turned their eyes and their hope.
The plague had cut the population of the Sakartes Empire in half, and their military power had sharply declined as well, or one could say that its military power was right now non-existent.
Leylin's city, Serpent City, continually absorbed the nutrients of Debanks Island and grew ever more prosperous. During the time of plague, Leylin had slain the Ancestral Spirits and Totem Spirits of several tribes thus far, even the strongest among the totems containing a shred of divinity.
Even if such a spirit possessed a domain, Leylin did not fear it in the least because this time, he had Gu Long on his side, who was acting as his support in case something went wrong and he knew that the dragon prince had a method of breaking down domains of even True Gods.
However, the Sakartes Empire had several powerful spirits with strength approaching the level of Demigods. In their own domains, their powers would be amplified to put them on par with true Gods.
Even Gu Long would think twice about fighting such an opponent because if he was a tad slower and didn't break their domain in time, then he would be severely injured or killed.
Due to these conditions, Leylin was not eager to challenge them; instead, he decided to wait, weaken their foundation, cripple them, and only then would he strike when they would be at their last dying breath.
In the end, they were living on borrowed time... and they were in a cage from which there was no escape at all.