"Pan Chao, it is time for dinner so wash yourself up quickly and hurry down here. Your father has been struggling this week quite a bit due to your uncle being injured on the job so you had better not keep us waiting for too long!" Pan Chao's mother called up to him with a smile on her face.
Although born into the Pan clan, Pan Chao's family was considered to be very low on the totem pole when it came to clan affairs because his mother was part of another powerful clan which was destroyed soon after his father proposed to her. The marriage was supposed to help the Pan clan grow to new heights, but because of her entire clan being killed off, the anger of the elders of the clan was quite a sight to see.
Therefore, the marriage still happened, but because they had no other backing, Pan Chao's parents could only rely on the Pan clan to help shield them from potential outside dangers. However, when Pan Chao was accepted by an elder, this gave his family enough room to at least hold their heads high instead of cowering away.
Within the Pan clan, there were only four elders who were all of the Intermediate stage of cultivation, while the Patriarch was of the Adept stage of cultivation. And since the Adept stage was an entire stage under the Master stage, the Pan clan felt some pressure from the Kong clan, but not enough for them to be unable to stand toe to toe with them, since the Kong clan only had two Intermediate stage elders.
Hearing that it was finally time to eat dinner caused Pan Chao's stomach to tighten as a small growl sound emerged from under the robe he was wearing. It could not be helped, because the elder had given him the assignment to breakthrough into the Elementary first stage of cultivation before he would be allowed back to study with him. So whether he wanted to or not, Pan Chao spent almost the entirety of each day cultivating and would only stop to eat dinner since the heavenly energy he was using to cultivate was enough to push him through without any negative side effects.
Pulling out a small crystal which the elder had given him in order to keep track of his cultivation progress, Pan Chao saw that he was roughly one more week away from the breakthrough he needed in order to continue his journey on its current path. His progress could be considered just above average, but this was solely due to the fact that he made up for the lack of cultivation resources that others had by spending every waking moment cultivating.
Luckily, as one of the top ten independent powers within Crimson Circle, the Pan clan was in charge of taking care of one of the villages outside of the city and with the village's yearly tributes with farming materials used as ingredients to help cultivators, the Pan clan's top prospects enjoyed a single Enhancement Pill which would help their clan retain their high position within the city.
Unfortunately, Pan Chao was not part of this small group of experts, but it did not bother him since said experts were the martial prowess pillar of the clan, while he would be categorized in a different pillar if he were able to continue studying and eventually working along with a blacksmith to make stronger weapons and armors which would bring in large sums of profits.
This did not bother him as well, because technically speaking, the Pan clan if having someone able to make a large quantity of said items could be considered to have a much higher position within the clan since said expert could use their portion to hire strong cultivators just as the Kong clan had done, or the clan could do this as well. Knowing this, Pan Chao's parents were thrilled since their son was in the running to be such a pillar that the clan would have to rely on.
"For you to be this close to breaking through into the Elementary stage of cultivation after only cultivating for half a week is impressive, even if others within the clan do not feel the same way. I remember it took me until the age of twenty just to reach Elementary level five and since then, I have only been able to reach Elementary level seven. Be proud of your current course of accomplishments, even if it is just the fact that you will be able to surpass me in no time at all!" Pan Chao's father told him as they ate their dinner.
His father was not lying to him, but it was also due to his hard work that he was able to marry the daughter of an elder of a different strong clan within the Highwind Commandery. The Highwind Commandery was not considered anything special, but just from being in a position to be used for his clan's political gain showed how strong his father was in his early years.
At the moment, his father was currently seventy years old which was not strange since he still looked to be a middle aged man in great shape. If one were to estimate just on his cultivation level alone, one could say that Pan Chao's father would live until the age of two hundred as long as nothing too terrible would occur. However, as expected, his father's cultivation had not increased for over twenty years, which was a main factor on why his father was unable to reach the elder level within the Pan clan.
"Thank you father for your kind words, I just hope that I can reach the level I need soon. After spending so many months working with formations and learning about them while reading all of the available books, it feels as if I am longing to continue that journey soon." Pan Chao replied before stuffing a large handful of meat into his mouth. Before he was taken as an elder's disciple, his family was rarely given any meat to eat and had to rely on the nutrients of rice and vegetables to keep their bodies going throughout the day.
