A Grand Court Banquet in the Name of "Celebrating the Witch God's Heavenly Longevity"! (Please Subscribe and Vote with Monthly Tickets)

Watching the Witch Ancestor enjoy nearly every consort in his harem over and over again, Ivan felt rage and humiliation scorch his innards like poisonous flames.

He had already secretly gathered a wealth of conclusive evidence of the Witch Ancestor's "debauchery in the harem." There was no need to fabricate any of it.

He was merely waiting for the right opportunity to make that evidence public, tear away the Witch Ancestor's mask of "detachment from worldly affairs," and utterly ruin his reputation!

Yet whenever he could no longer contain himself and wanted to act, Ancestor Romanov would invariably appear at just the right moment and dissuade him in a tone that brooked no argument:

"A moment's impatience can ruin a grand design! The Heavenly Strategy Army's offensive is fierce right now. Our soldiers on the front line can barely hold out even with help from the wizards under the Witch Ancestor.

"Moving against the Witch Ancestor now would be no different from tearing down our own Great Wall! If those wizards from the Northern Lands turned against us, the consequences would be unimaginable! We still need to rely on the Witch Ancestor's influence!"

Ivan was so furious he nearly spat blood. In a low voice, he said to Romanov, "Rely on him? For how long? If the Heavenly Strategy Army keeps fighting for a year, must we endure him for a year, watching that witch-bandit throw his weight around in my Imperial Palace all that time?

"And if the war goes on for ten years? Must I endure him for ten years and let him turn my Imperial Palace into his own temporary residence?!"

Romanov merely repeated, expressionlessly, "The greater good comes first," leaving Ivan feeling utterly stifled and powerless.

Just as Ivan's heart churned with unrest, news arrived that