Nine-River Dragon, Wang Wenzong!

Guangning Prefecture.

At that moment, the vast government hall was utterly silent.

Only the blizzard outside rustled against the window lattices, accompanied by the crackle of charcoal.

Then.

Tap, tap, tap—

Shen Wenyuan sat in the seat of honor, dressed in black-and-gold robes, his knuckles tapping against the sandalwood armrest.

In the secondary seat beside him sat a composed-looking middle-aged man.

The man wore blue official robes embroidered with a wild goose amid cloud patterns.

His identity was plain: Zhu Huaijin, prefect of Guangning Prefecture and a court official of the Principal Fourth Rank.

Had Shen Wenyuan not held the title of marquis, his position as head of a prefectural Inspection Office alone would not have entitled him to sit above Zhu Huaijin in the seat of honor.

"My lord, it is time to make a decision!" Garrison Commander Liu Teng was the first to speak.

As garrison commander and a military official, he had authority to mobilize and deploy all the troops in the prefecture.

Here, his standing was second only to Shen Wenyuan and Prefect Zhu Huaijin.

Before Shen Wenyuan could speak, Zhu Huaijin shook his head.

"To act now would mean clashing head-on with the Immortal Crossing Sect."

"In this blizzard, the Immortal Crossing Sect's master, Ji Mingzhou, is no weaker than a practitioner of the first-grade martial dao. With Li Sixiang as well, they have two second-grade grandmasters! And according to confidential reports, Xu Qing of Mount Taihua in Five Peaks Prefecture, who disappeared long ago, has surfaced at the Immortal Crossing Sect. Members of the Nine Shamans Sect in Yunmeng Prefecture and the Raging Tides Gang in Hundred Rivers Prefecture have also appeared within the Heaven-Answering Alliance."

"The Heaven-Answering Alliance has at least four grandmasters holding the fort, perhaps more. To march out now would