The Ancient Dream Saintess pondered for a moment, then suddenly understood.
"It seems you already understand."
Reading her expression, Meng Chao knew he had moved her. He grinned and continued, "The ideal way to take revenge is, of course, to kill your enemy with your own hands, then grind their bones to dust and scatter the ashes.
"But if you lack the ability to avenge yourself, and your enemy is hunted by someone else until they have nowhere left to run and are forced to surrender to you, why refuse?
"If you refuse, you will lose your chance for revenge forever, and never be able to recover your honor.
"Whether, after accepting your enemy's surrender, you wait for an opportunity to retaliate and put them to death is a matter for the future. At the very least, the Bloodhoof Clan cannot possibly refuse to negotiate with an envoy secretly sent by the Great Horned Legion."
"But what if the Bloodhoof Clan makes excessively harsh demands? For example, what if they demand that the Great Horned Legion hand over the planners and executors of the 'Black Horn City Great Explosion,' and execute every last one of them before they will accept our surrender?"
The Ancient Dream Saintess frowned. "None of the Great Horned Legion's officers and soldiers, nor the countless rat people, could possibly agree to such conditions!"
"That is why I said not 'surrender,' but 'negotiating the terms of surrender.' Negotiation means asking the sky-high price and paying back on the ground—talk it over slowly. Three to five months is not too little; half a year or a year is not too much!"
Meng Chao said, "I think the envoys you send can tell the Bloodhoof Clan every last detail of the Great Horned Legion's current situation—or even add fuel