Qinghe Market City, A New Battlefield

"Your disciple understands. On the surface, it seemed Sunset City had taken a small loss with this move, but on closer thought, they had actually profited enormously.

"Dingyuan City, originally on the front line, has become the rear area. The Golden Crow Sect and Heavenly Meridian Sect have become Tuo Province's outer barrier. From now on, Tuo Province will no longer suffer from demon scourges—an achievement that benefits the present age and brings advantage for a thousand autumns." After pondering for a moment, Chi Li suddenly spoke.

Hearing this, Song Changsheng looked at Old Ghost Chihuo and laughed heartily. "In this regard, Li'er sees things far more clearly than you do."

"It is all thanks to the Patriarch's excellent guidance." Seeing his own son praised, Chihuo felt his face shine with pride as well, and hurriedly offered a few modest words.

"What you said is broadly correct, but you overlooked one crucial point.

"Unlike Sunset City, the Golden Crow Sect and Heavenly Meridian Sect have their foundations in the heartland of Great Qi. It is the most vital and prosperous part of all Great Qi, and its territory is already vast enough.

"An increase in territory not only disperses manpower, but also makes administration more difficult. It is not only us who suffer from a shortage of hands; the Golden Crow Sect and Heavenly Meridian Sect have the same problem.

"Their current expansion outward is, in truth, mostly for the resources contained within those lands, rather than for the land itself.

"Thus, there is a high probability that they will not develop these new territories on a large scale as Sunset City has. At most, they will establish a few resource-gathering sites or relocate some affiliated forces there.

"These forces will form Tuo Province's outer barrier, but viewed as a