Double Kill

Back at the Ascendant Cloud Sword Pavilion, he had to slowly rise through the ranks, starting from pummeling the inner disciples before moving on to the core disciples, then the elders, and finally the sect leader. Despite moving along the conventional path with his swordsmanship, he was only given the position of a 'potential successor' instead of the 'sect leader' position… 

On the other hand, he had only arrived at the Myriad Beasts Hall for two hours so far, but before he could make sense of what was going on here, he was already offered the position as the next hall master… 

Was this some kind of new prank that cultivators played on one another in the Forsaken Continent?

This was one of the Six Sects they were talking about here! They were selecting a sect leader over here, not cabbages for dinner!