Whether on the Qiankun Continent, the Immortal Thunder Continent, or the Golden Palace Continent, anyone hoping to become an elder of any faction needed not only sufficient contributions, but also a cultivation level...
At the Ancestral God Realm!
The Yan Family was no exception.
Once someone reached the Ancestral God Realm, provided they had risen through the Yan Family, becoming a Yan Family elder was practically a foregone conclusion.
Granted, they would be a low-ranking elder with little real authority.
But...
An elder was still an elder. Their status would be far higher than that of even some descendants bearing the Yan surname.
This...
It was the best eventual path for the vast majority of cultivators on the Golden Palace Continent, and likewise the best path for Ding Qing.
To cast off their status as Yan Family Disciples and Yan Family Slaves, and to live with dignity and standing, they had to become Ancestral Gods and then Yan Family elders!
However, becoming an Ancestral God would not be easy for Ding Qing. He needed cultivation techniques, divine abilities, and resources!
Resources were actually easier for Ding Qing to obtain now that he was in the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm, but cultivation techniques and divine abilities were another matter. He could only exchange merit and contributions for them.
Spring water was one way he could earn merit.
All the spring water I collect has to go to Yan Linhan, who will turn it over to the Contribution Hall. Any merit and contribution points earned will be split thirty-seventy. Yan Linhan gets seventy percent, and I get thirty.
Exploitation!
Yan Linhan alone would be deprived of seventy percent.
But Ding Qing had no choice. As a Yan Family Disciples, all his contributions would be exploited by the Yan Family Core Disciple.