The Martial Emperor's reply was nothing like Ronan had imagined.
Until now, his judgment of her attitude toward Outer Earth and how she interfered there had rested on three things. First was her unprecedented, immediate reaction when he struck the Tattered Divine Cloak with Great Comprehension. Second was the scene he had glimpsed in Jin Buhuan's memories: the Martial Emperor slashing Wildfire with White Rainbow. Third was what he had learned from New Wildfire's memories after bringing him under control—the motives behind his independent actions over the three years since his "birth," and what those actions had achieved.
From those three things, Ronan had formed a fairly complete Logical Chain:
The Martial Emperor treated the world beyond the Tattered Divine Cloak with extreme caution. Even after cutting New Wildfire loose, she had not directly interfered with his actions. For three years, he had kept his head down around the Abandoned Mine Isolation Zone, quietly building his strength without affecting the Reclamation Corps at all.
Ronan certainly would not have done that. So he had reached what seemed a natural conclusion:
The Martial Emperor was deliberately keeping her distance from Outer Earth.
To put it in terms he had only just learned: she needed to "avoid risk" on Outer Earth too.
But her reply—"the Old Place"—shattered that whole assumption.
If the Martial Emperor was active on Outer Earth, she might well be monitoring New Wildfire. In that case, Ronan would have to adjust his plans to some degree: his recent, half-public use of New Wildfire, his treatment of him as an important Trump Card, his own identity in East 725 District, and Snake Language's contact with New Wildfire and her arrangements within the Virtue Association.
So pure deduction and guesswork really were no basis for action...
Then he caught himself falling