Ronan, seemingly provoked, was indeed a little displeased.
But after interacting with the Martial Emperor more and gradually becoming familiar with her way of doing things, Ronan's resistance had improved. The emotions churning in his heart did not affect the flow of his thoughts. In fact, as he mulled over the details and extracted the underlying logic, Ronan suddenly realized that things were becoming interesting.
The Martial Emperor definitely suffered from a severe case of "Secretism," but she was still quite straightforward in her actual conduct. If she wanted to discuss something with Ronan, she could simply use a Void Shift to come over. Communicating across distance was also possible. As for not speaking plainly face-to-face, concealing things and beating around the bush, that was another matter.
In Ronan's memory, there had only been about two occasions when she waited for him to seek her out before engaging in a deeper exchange of information.
The first was their initial meeting at Tianyun Tower in Xia City. Given their respective statuses at the time, there had been no issue with that. Besides, it had been a public setting. Though they had spoken at length, she had revealed nothing secret, merely offering instruction.
As for the second, it was probably when she rode in Wu Kui's car to the Thunder Pool Experiment Field. Wu Kui was actually the vessel for the "virtual personality" of Madam Harold's late husband, the former chief priest of the Blood Flame Order. With such an inducement, the Martial Emperor had likely intended to draw Ronan over to discuss the Thirteenth District, whose signs had already emerged by then, or perhaps the situation "outside the Cloak." But Ronan had "refused" that night and ignored her.
What did the Martial Emperor do? The next day, she came charging over