It turned out that the Flower Kingdom had been bullied so badly because the Long Hand Royal Family could no longer command the other powers. They had only been able to mobilize a small fraction of their forces, and they could not afford significant losses, leaving them no choice but to bow their heads and sue for peace.
But now, at least half of the Flower Kingdom's strength had been twisted into a single rope. The concerns that had once restrained the Long Hand Royal Family were gone as well. Given the Flower Kingdom's immense scale and martial culture, even the united forces of those local magnates were enough to resist the coalition army of five nations—not to mention the great number of talented people Li Dayong had cultivated over the years.
However, the five-nation coalition's defeat also provoked the World Government. Still, they had not spent all these years being taught lessons for nothing. They had fully realized that sending massive fleets against overwhelmingly powerful forces was useless and would only increase their losses, so this time, they deployed only a Marine Admiral.
The Flower Kingdom's resurgence had, to a great extent, been due to Li Dayong himself. Originally, having CP0 send someone to assassinate him directly might have been the most efficient approach.
But ever since Old Man Asu's death, CP0 had been relying on its sole remaining S-rank powerhouse to keep up appearances. Its strength was now clearly inferior to that of Marine Headquarters, and even maintaining a psychological balance between them had become difficult.
Under such circumstances, if CP0 acted, it would be fine if the assassination succeeded. But if it failed and they lost even one more A-rank powerhouse, the balance of power would be completely shattered, causing the Celestial Dragons to lose their control