The Wise Sovereign expressed his "unwelcome" toward Sanders through his actions.
Though he worried that Wood Spirit would be influenced by Sanders's "character," if refusing him meant Sanders would personally come to the underground waterways, then it would be better to let Wood Spirit go see Sanders.
The Wise Sovereign's abrupt change of tack was not because he feared Sanders. He simply did not want to get entangled with Savage Cave.
The Demon Illusion Island faction was one of the few hawkish factions within Savage Cave, and Sanders was the master of that faction. His opinions and decisions could influence all of Savage Cave.
Savage Cave was a colossal entity. It had never before made an Intrusion into Abyss City. If Wood Spirit led Sanders and the Savage Cave behind him to take notice of Abyss City, that would not be good news for the Wise Sovereign.
Though Angel also came from Savage Cave and was no less important than Sanders, from the perspective of Savage Cave's decision-making, their influence was worlds apart.
Therefore, the Wise Sovereign would rather accept Angel's presence in Abyss City than see Sanders here.
Of course, it would naturally have been even better if Angel had not appeared in Abyss City either. But Angel was already here, so he could only accept it.
At least Angel was not very strong yet. The Wise Sovereign believed that, with a combination of fist and honey, he could still use a contract to restrict Angel and keep him from spreading information about Abyss City to Savage Cave's decision-making figures.
Those were the Wise Sovereign's inner thoughts.
What he did not know was that Angel had long since transmitted information about Abyss City through the Dream Wilderness.
Moreover, Sanders had not entirely ignored Abyss City. He cared about it