Several days passed after another and the Inner Clan Meeting supposed to be held only once a year was called for an emergency meeting.
The inner clan members emerged all at this point:
Ancestor Peilan.
Deqin, Dehua, Deshu and Deyi of the De generation, respectively the Clan Head, two Vice Hall Masters and the Garden Elder of the First Garden.
Following them were Chunfeng, Chunshuan and Chunxu, which are the Garden Elder of the Second Garden, the Garden Elder of the Third Garden and the third Vice Hall Master.
These were the inner members with true power. After them came those with important abilities or rich talents. Among them was naturally Huiyue, as well as a genius of the Hui generation and even the first of the Mu generation, Mu Huan, also the chosen heir of Deyi.
The Inner Clan Meeting was held in the clan’s ancestral hall, in a medium-sized side hall with many seats.
Peilan sat in the centre and faced all members, most of which had already grouped together in their seats. He smiled with a bright smile. The clan was prosperous, truly! Six elders at the half-step second stage realm, two extremely talented descendants and another two striving seeds.
The longer he looked at them, the more he believed the clan rules were right.
If he truly used his own power for his selfish desires, would this sight be possible?
Thinking of this, he looked to his son, only to be disappointed once more. Deqin was eyeing several elders and was obviously in his thoughts.
How could such a son have emerged from his upbringing? The clan was so harmonious, only some conflicts would appear now and then, but nothing serious. So why was his son such a walking disaster, seemingly trying to spurn their clan towards decline?
He shook his head and focused back at the matter at hand.
"Thank you all for coming at short notice," he started, "as for those that couldn’t make it, we’ll send them a summary of what happened.
Today, we have several important points to discuss. Let us start with the easier ones:
First, welcome Muyu as a new member of the Inner Clan."
The elders smiled and cupped their fists at Muyu, happy to see another person enter the inner clan, as that meant another talented member had emerged from the Mu generation so soon. Muhuan smiled the most, he knew this brother who was as diligent as him. They didn’t talk much, but a sense of familiarity arose regardless.
Muyu also cupped his fists at everyone in greeting, smiling in gratitude and with elation.
"The second matter also concerns Muyu—previously the arrangements were made by me under consideration that the inner meeting would be some time off, but now that we’re here, I’ll speak of it directly.
Muyu is a talented young man with extremely high potential in the craft of talismans. What happened today was his work; he drew an Origin Creation—Origin Talisman."
Gasps filled the room as they looked in shock. So it was his doing?! They thought the ancestor had raised a new Origin Creation Plant, who knew it was actually a talisman’s work?! No wonder... no wonder it worked so strongly on the body. Plants famously focus on the environment even when being Origin Creations, while talismans indeed have the ability of directly targeting cultivators.
Seeing their shock, Chunfeng felt proud while Peilan nodded, "For this reason, only being stationed in the Seven Mountains Market will allow his talent to blossom. My idea is for him to become the third market elder."
"Fathe—" Deqin stood up, only to feel a pressure fall onto him. He halted and changed his address, "Ancestor, little Muyu is indeed talented, but why make him an elder? It’s better for him to go there as a normal member and focus on drawing talismans rather than on controlling the shop!"
Looking around, Deqin hoped to gain approval. Especially from another member he had been chatting with, an inner member who also had the idea of electing the market elder. But... when he saw him, the elder only looked at him weirdly. Such a thing, the ancestor clearly had made arrangements, and the person to take it was an Inner Member.
Since the establishment of the clan, those becoming inner members could be from all over the clan, and once they have entered it or even before they did so, they would be in important positions. This was to ensure the inner clan meeting could influence the movements of the clan without having to involve too many people.
After all, there are so many spies from other clans or even the sect in their family, so how could so many things be discussed openly with everyone? Instead, making arrangements in the inner meeting was the easiest and quietest way.
Now a new member entered and he clearly didn’t yet have an important position—wasn’t it obvious any important position available would go to him?
Although he was the heir of the Verdant Grove, this wasn’t like Deyi and Muhuan, with Deyi being extremely old and not far from giving up his position. Chunfeng was young and would keep the position for long.
Among the market elders, the head market elder was an inner member, while the normal elder position wasn’t on the rank of inner member.
Even getting this position wasn’t much... but for a young man it was just fine.
Deqin was confused, looking into the room for a long time. When he saw nothing, he unkowingly sat down, no longer saying anything.
"This matter has been decided then."
Peilan started the next point right away, as if ignoring the previous matter.
"Next, as you all have guessed, Deqin will step back as the clan head in two years. The next clan head hasn’t been determined yet, and I hope to learn of your ideas."
Another wave of surprise erupted, though they had guessed it, they didn’t think the ancestor would speak of it so directly!
They looked around, and several elders with positions lower than the Vice Hall Masters and Garden Elders even considered taking the position themselves.
Just then, Huiyue stood up and bowed deeply to the ancestor, "Ancestor, for the sake of my cultivation and for the future of the clan, I strive to become the next Clan Head! Please allow me!"