Zhang Tie had not expected Old Master Zhang Haitian to decline so quickly.
The last time Zhang Tie had seen the old master was, as he recalled, before he left You Province in answer to the Xuanyuan Decree's summons. That had only been a little over two years ago. By the time of Zhang Tie's second Wheel-Turning Ceremony, the old master's health had already begun to fail. He coughed often, his whole back had bent, and he had started using a cane. The signs had already been there. Before Zhang Tie left You Province for Great Xia's Western Theater, he had made a special trip to visit the old master again. The old man had seemed to be in fairly good spirits then, and Zhang Tie had specifically instructed the Zhang Family members to leave some secret medicines and potions for him. He had never imagined that only days after returning this time, he would hear such news.
The person who came to Iron Dragon Sect to report the old master's condition to Zhang Tie was Zhang Lin, father of Zhang Tie's cousin Zhang Su—the old master's eldest son by his first wife, Zhang Tie's eldest uncle, and the man in charge of the Zhang Family's old residence.
Of course, that was all in the past. After Zhang Tie advanced to Knight rank—especially after the two Zhang brothers swallowed Huaiyuan Hall's Changfeng Shipyard and Golden Crow Shipyard completed its acquisition of it—the true core of the Zhang Family, both within and outside the household, had already become the two brothers' domain.
Golden Crow Shipyard was now the largest shipbuilding enterprise in You Province and ranked among the top five in the Northeast Protectorate. The old master's uncles, brothers, and nephews had always managed the business. Zhang Tie did not involve