Stroking his chin, Pan An's face changed into one of surprise, even though he was trying to keep his demeanor together. "Ah, now that I am doing so, I can sense that you have reached such a level in your cultivation as a Qi cultivator. I wish that you would seek me out immediately, I could have assisted you but it is not every day that a student comes along such as yourself. It shows great understanding that you knew you could not control your strength, and so I will let this matter pass."
Just as he appeared out of nowhere, Pan An disappeared within the night, his speed so swift, that Pan Chao thought that his master had teleported away using a secret technique. As he stood up, Pan Chao had many ideas rushing through his mind, but since his master had forgiven his actions and even showed some praise, meant that all was more than likely forgiven. At this point, he decided to head back home to see his parents.
Walking into his home, Pan Chao saw that his parents had begun eating before he had the chance to sit down with gloomy looks on their faces. Seeing their son walking in, both of his parents simply looked up before locking eyes with each other as if they were thinking the same thought. "We heard about your adventures today, I hope that you can explain everything to us since we were just informed that your mother's position as an outer disciples leader was taken away from her today."
Hearing his father's words caused Pan Chao's stomach to turn as the taste in his mouth became very sour. As he sat down, he chose not to begin eating, but instead informed his parents of the decision he made in the morning and his actions throughout the day. "And after my master left me still kneeling on the ground, he teleported away and that is when I came back home."
An angered look appeared on his father's face, while a hint of sadness appeared on his mother's face as everyone remained silent for a full minute of time. This was when Pan Chao's mother was the first to respond. "That position of mine was taken away most likely to show you punishment for going against what the Pan clan had in mind for you, but I am glad that our little boy is turning into a man."
"I just hope that in the future, from this experience you will realize that every action has consequences and that before acting, one must think deeply. I am feeling very tired right now after a long day of clearing out my work area, so I will turn in early for the night. I will leave the dishes cleaning task to your father." After responding to her son's story, Pan Chao's mother immediately excused herself for the night.
"You might not have realized it, but the Pan clan has not been very kind to our family before you were born. There are two options for you now, you can seek forgiveness from your master tomorrow again for your actions, or you could explain to him that you are sticking with the decision you have made and must sit with the consequences of said action. I am unable to make the decision for you, but I have personally also gotten sick of this Pan clan of ours and feel that we could survive elsewhere outside of the Crimson Circle." his father told him before silently eating again.
The remainder of the night was silent as neither father or son chose to say a word to one another and both cleaned their own dishes before heading to their rooms. Pan Chao was somewhat disappointed in himself, but if what his father had told him was true, he did not feel like he wanted to remain in the Pan clan either. However, there was no way that his family could survive as commoners in a village setting, so he thought that for now, he should swallow his pride so that him and his parents would at least be physically safe.
WIth nothing better to do, Pan Chao withdrew the small sphere-like object once more from his storage pouch. As he moved it around between each hand, he thought about what had happened to that female cultivator and could not help but to ask himself if his bad luck was due to this object. As he was lost in his thoughts, an idea finally appeared in his mind as he withdrew his sword from the storage pouch as well.
One way that a cultivator was able to bind a treasure to themselves, was to drip a drop of their blood onto the object. Pan Chao felt that as long as he could at the very least bind the object, that maybe he could learn some hints about the secrets it had hidden within it. And so, he sliced a small piece of his skin on one of his fingers and allowed his blood to drip down until a drop of his blood landed onto the object.
As he had expected, the object did nothing even with a total of seven drops of his blood hitting it. This depressed Pan Chao so much, that he angrily threw the sphere-like object at the wall. "This was most likely just the remainder of a treasure that existed, maybe it was even just part of that woman's clothes." he thought as the sphere-like object rolled on the ground before finally stopping.
Many thoughts popped into Pan Chao's head which included the fact that he had to rely on the Pan clan's influence instead of using his own strength to help assist his parents. The more he thought about the words his father mentioned, the worse he felt. However, as he was thinking these thoughts, the sphere-like object began to emit a faint glow.
Suddenly before he was even able to see the object glowing, Pan Chao's soul was transferred elsewhere as his body remained laying down on his bed. It took only a moment for him to realize that he was now looking at his body and fear entered into his mind before the area around him became filled with darkness.
