Mittel Family headquarters.
The Council Hall.
At that moment, the Mittel Family's senior members, whose faces were rarely seen in ordinary times, sat stiffly upright in the two rows of chairs lining the hall. Their eyes, however, were all turned toward the gray-haired old man seated at its head, their gazes filled with reverence.
"Elder Hai, I truly never imagined I would see you again today. When you left all those years ago and never returned, I used almost every resource at my disposal, yet still found no trace of you. Now, after more than twenty years, you've finally come back. This is wonderful! With you as its pillar, our Mittel Family has hope of flourishing again."
Below the seat of honor, an old man dressed in an ornate white-and-cyan robe spoke with a somewhat excited expression. Clearly, he held the other man in great esteem.
Yet the old man seated at the head of the hall still wore a thunderous expression. He snapped furiously, "Wonderful, my ass! Mittel Tengshan, you useless fool! I've only just returned, and you lot have already landed me in a colossal mess. Are you deliberately trying to make my life miserable?"
The old man in the seat of honor was none other than Hai Bodong, who had parted ways with Ling Feng earlier. His face darkened as he berated the excited Mittel Tengshan and the other senior members seated below him.
His demeanor was the complete opposite of how he had acted before Ling Feng. Here, he radiated authority-and seething anger.
The old fellows in the hall were bewildered by this barrage of abuse. Great Elder Mittel Tengshan was equally confused and could not help asking, "Elder Hai, what do you mean?"
The others below also cast puzzled looks his way, but the sight