Everyone in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty was both proud and elated with how Ghostmother was traded away.

After all, the Vile-Emperor had given up three prefectures to seal the deal, prefectures which had belonged to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty to begin with, but had been lost over the years of minor conflict between the two dynasties.

To cultivators who were not in the know, it might seem like a major victory in the overarching conflict between the dynasties.

But the powerful and influential individuals in the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, and of course the Saint-Emperor himself, knew that the three prefectures in question had been reduced to virtual wastelands over the course of the occupation.

To the Vile-Emperor Dynasty, they were now of little value or interest. But to the Saint-Emperor Dynasty, anything was better than nothing. Furthermore, the Saint-Emperor knew that if he pushed things too far, the Vile-Emperor could very well just abandon Ghostmother and refuse to offer any concessions at all.

If that happened, then the...