Perhaps they could even use this to influence the Jiangling Prefecture authorities and secure benefits for their sects!
Just as everyone was secretly making their calculations, the Frostwind Sect Master, who had remained silent all along, gave a cold snort, shattering the brief calm.
"Sounds nice enough, but who can guarantee that these recruited disciples won't be trained by you, Prefect Zhou, into dead soldiers loyal only to you?"
His icy gaze fixed directly on Zhou Xun, his words brimming with suspicion and provocation. He was at the peak of the Nascent Soul Middle Stage and was also a Tier 4 Middle-Grade talisman master, renowned throughout Jing Province.
If local cultivators had been permitted to serve as prefects in their own regions,
then the position of Jiangling Prefecture's Prefect would surely have made him a prime candidate.
Zhou Xun's expression did not change. He calmly met the Frostwind Sect Master's gaze and said slowly:
"Does Sect Master Yu have some other objection? Recruiting cultivators and collecting Attendant offerings are the Prefect's authority. If the Frostwind Sect has a different opinion, you may leave on your own!"
"Then I shall personally lead an army to Frostpeak Mountain and collect them myself!"
Frostpeak Mountain was the site of the Frostwind Sect's mountain gate, and it possessed a Tier 4 Middle-Grade spirit vein!
"Zhou Xun, how dare you! You have merely stolen the Prefect's seat. Do you really think Yu fears you?!"
"In terms of status, Yu is also a first-rank Attendant of the Hundred Talisman Office, no lower than you, the Prefect of Jiangling!"
The Hundred Talisman Office was the Great Jin Dynasty's bureau dedicated to talisman production, under the Ministry of War. A first-rank Attendant held a rank equivalent to a bureau director, not much lower than a Prefect.
This was