"Zhao Xuan, how many Soul Masters do you think we can recruit?"
Tang San and Zhao Xuan strolled through the Tang Sect's rear garden after the meeting.
"Hard to say. Faced with a behemoth like Spirit Hall, most people will choose to wait and see. Very few will be willing to step forward."
"Heaven Dou Empire has more than twenty advanced Soul Master Academies, with roughly six to seven thousand Soul Masters in total. Some belong to clan factions, while others are children of nobles. Excluding them, fewer than four thousand are of commoner birth."
"Among those four thousand, some have received support from Spirit Hall, while others simply do not care about this matter. That leaves fewer than two thousand whom we can recruit, and among those two thousand..."
"Enough, enough. Keep talking and my head will explode."
Tang San suddenly stopped Zhao Xuan, rubbing his head with a pained expression. If Zhao Xuan kept going, the Tang Sect would probably recruit fewer than five hundred Soul Masters from the academies.
It was not that the Tang Sect could only recruit Soul Masters from academies. Compared with freelance Soul Masters outside, however, academy-trained Soul Masters had greater potential and bore no affiliations or marks, making them more reliable to employ.
Zhao Xuan laughed and teased, "You're the Tang Sect's sect master. This is exactly the sort of thing you should be worrying about."
All kinds of flowers bloomed beside the bluestone path, each more beautiful than the last. Their fragrances mingled in the air, and one breath was enough to refresh the mind.
The two arrived at a small pavilion and sat down. Before it lay a broad pond, where emerald lotuses swayed gently. Blossoming red lotuses danced in the wind, and as koi glided through the water, ripples