The speech was not long. Although its delivery had already been slowed considerably, it was still over in just a few minutes.
Yet it contained no small amount of information. First, it declared that the Empire possessed both the resolve and the confidence to wage war against the entire world.
Second, it had uncovered the truth within a single day, demonstrating something of its efficiency and capabilities in this regard. Ordinary people might not consider that important, but in the eyes of the truly great powers, the more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became.
The third and most important point was that it sent a signal of an impending break with Spirit Hall. Expelling Spirit Hall was undoubtedly an enormous humiliation, and it also showed that the Jiuzhou Empire knew who the mastermind behind the scenes was.
And that was indeed the case. The speech left the commoners breathing sighs of relief and the nobles trembling with fear, while Spirit Hall dared to be angry but dared not speak, forced to swallow this bitter loss in silence. After all, many people knew of Spirit Hall's relationship with the Lower Four Sects. If the Jiuzhou Empire sought to hold someone accountable for this incident, Spirit Hall would have to bear the accusation of attempting to assassinate the emperor directly.
No empire or faction could possibly tolerate Spirit Hall assassinating its leader like this. If the whole world turned against Spirit Hall and severed ties with it, what awaited Spirit Hall would probably be nothing short of war with the entire world.
By comparison, expelling Spirit Hall from the Jiuzhou Empire's own territory was hardly serious. After all, the Jiuzhou Empire had few Soul Masters to begin with, and those it did have could not possibly join Spirit Hall.