After speaking at length with the four elders in Huaiyuan Hall for half the night, Zhang Tie finally went to sleep at midnight, under Elder Mu En's arrangements, in a small pavilion not far from the ancestral hall—a place only figures of elder rank could stay.
Though Zhang Tie lay down, his mind was in utter turmoil, flooded by far too much information.
Upon becoming a knight, one was a family elder beyond dispute. Whether in Huaiyuan Hall, Jin-Yun Kingdom, or anywhere on the Eastern Continent, this was unquestionable. To be honest, Zhang Tie had not made much mental preparation for becoming a family elder of Huaiyuan Hall. But things had reached this point; the die was cast. Unless he completely broke away from Huaiyuan Hall, there was no escaping the position of family elder. If word got out that a knight was not a family elder, it would surely bring Huaiyuan Hall much negative criticism and doubt. That would benefit neither Huaiyuan Hall nor himself. So he could only accept this position.
When Zhang Tie returned to Huaiyuan Hall this time, he had originally intended to straighten out some matters between himself and Huaiyuan Hall, ease the stiffness in their relationship, and remove his worries for the future. He had never expected that he would return only to become a family elder, leaping directly into the highest leadership of Huaiyuan Hall and becoming a decision-maker for major family affairs. Compared with the status of a family elder, his former little conflicts with Huaiyuan Hall were nothing more than a drizzle—Heaven had played another joke on Zhang Tie.
Strangely, not a single elder had asked about Zhang Tie's cultivation last night.
What surprised Zhang Tie even more was the future arrangement that the elders of Huaiyuan Hall had revealed concerning