Ji Li continued to play on his ocarina and slowly felt like he was swimming in a river, flowing down it’s course without any movement on his side. He lost the feeling of the fingers that were playing the ocarina, and he didn’t feel the instrument on his mouth.
He only closed his eyes and let the essence in the atmosphere enter his Essence Field, circling around his core – the Winter Blossom. His body and Essence Field cultivated on its own, the essence of the surroundings pulled themselves toward him.
They behaved like dancing spirits that were surrounding him, dancing around him while they slowly came together. Some of them would go out on their own and leave a kiss on Ji Li’s face before they dissipated like they lost all the energy that kept them alive.
More and more of such scenes repeated, and Ji Li felt like he was the centre of all essence in the surroundings, absorbing at a phenomenal rate. At this point, outside his own senses, Shixuan and Qianyu had already come towards him and sat down, protecting him.
They felt the essence in the surroundings move away from them, which surprised them. But when they saw that the centre was Ji Li, they felt incredibly happy. They looked at each other, smiling, then went and sat down in front of him. They looked at him as they used their own little essence that was inside of their skin, bone, flesh, and muscles to stir the essence in the surroundings even more.
Slowly, they also absorbed the essence, with the help of Ji Li, they entered their own enlightenment. Then, the vortex of essence that Ji Li created became even larger, as vortexes formed around Shixuan and Qianyu and combined all together.
It swirled more and more and soon not only absorbed the essence in the Training Hall and the whole Yard, but also spread towards the nearby yards, which was inhabited by mainly Senior Eunuchs that were living their live very leisurely.
They were surprised and came out, slowly moved towards the outer yard of Ji Li. There were around five of them, each a senior and looked very interested in the Yard. One of them looked at the others and asked “Do you know who resides in there? They should be younglings, as I saw some workers come and go around this yard the past few days.”
Another looked at him and shook his head “The Yard was empty for a month to honour him… the new residents just came two or three days ago and had barely left. I think I saw some of them move in food from the restaurant, and one of them also stumbled slightly into the Yard.
They are probably geniuses that instantly went out to do a mission and came back slightly hurt. If not for this, the Yard they got should barely be able to house all three, yet no one complained. That is true brotherhood, don’t you think so?”
The second person looked at the person left to him, apparently his someone he was close to. Most eunuchs at least had some brotherhood, at least of they graduated together. That being the case, it wasn’t too unusual for them to become close brothers.
Still, it was rare for them to live together, especially if they had the chance to own separate yard. At the end of the day, they were still living in poorer conditions, if they stayed together in one yard. Not everyone was like Ji Li, who had experienced frugality after living luxuriously, and understood that the people you lived with are mire important than the size of the home.
...
Back inside the Training Hall, Ji Li had fully absorbed a third of the vortex and woken up fork his enlightenment, he looked around and was happy that his two younger siblings were also in a higher state.
He knew that time was essential and that, if enough essence was provided... they could advance to the Essence Awakening Stage! Nature’s Gift was what gave him the essence to advance and the chance to directly awaken his Talent, while they didn’t have the fruit, it was still possible to advance.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
And so, Ji Li picked up the ocarina that was in his lap whole he also used the Tree Pearls of his gloves to send energy towards the plants in the room. He used his essence to play while the plants generated a lot of essence too, as they were special ones that could enhance the quality and quantity of essence in the air.
Ju Li played ‘Song of Time’ once again, as it was a good fit for the situation. He could sing another song for the essence to gather around him, but the lively essence that was also tranquil at the same time, was a better fit.
Shixuan and Qianyu unconsciously let down their guard even further and relaxed their shoulders as they focused on the essence in the air and absorbed as much as possible to advance.
They knew the state they were in meant that they would become Essence Awakening Stage cultivators, and also that their big bro was helping them from the outside. So, instead of thinking about anything, they just focused on the important.
Ji used all the essence he had, including the one in the Tree Pearls, to give his brothers the opportunity to advance. And they slowly did. It gathered around Qianyu, dancing around him while also hugging him like a mother would hug their child.
On the other hand, Shixuan felt like he was being pulled to the ground, Ji Li, who noticed that, helped him by making the plants in the surroundings pull towards him, bringing him close to the small boulders around the training hall, which then gave off strong earth energy.
Both of them awakened the Attribute that was most compatible with their race – as even their race’ name included it. Their attributes awakened and slowly the vortexes above them pulled in together to give a final hit on their body.
Then, they started to glow white and brown respectively and gave off a very strong energy – one so free and unbound by any restrictions, while the other so strong and steadfast as if its life depended on its existence.
Two energies that didn’t really fit with each other synchronized so we’ll, that one would think the wind was heavy and the earth was moving freely.
This was a very rare case – a dual awakening, which meant that they were very compatible with each other. Now, they could use their Attributes very well together, and their Talents were very likely able to fuse – something very grand that was only able at a later stage of cultivation.
Dual awakening only worked when both cultivators were calm to the end point and trusted each other with their life. That was the case for Shixuan and Qianyu, as they saw each other as the pillars that would be supporting Ji Li all their life. He felt more like a father to them than anyone else.
Of course, Dual Awakening had another component – if both awakened cultivated together, then they would make remarkable progress. Now, some might think that dual cultivation was something romantical partners would be doing, which is possible but means something else.
There were many kinds of Dual Cultivating, and the romantical ones were often harming towards one of the parties. Different from that, the [Yin-Yang Harmony Longevity Art] had an additional function where two eunuchs that were like brothers could combine their Essence Fields’ absorption power and increase it together.
After all, essence absorption wasn’t gradual but exponential, which meant that the more essence was absorbed, the more it would be compressed together – heightening the quality and purity of essence.
The [Yin-Yang Harmony Longevity Art] didn’t allow any loss or gain of Yin and Yang, making it obvious that it was a pure cultivation art that didn’t really allow romantical relationships between both cultivators – which wasn’t bad in any sense for Shixuan and Qianyu, as they had never seen each other that way.
They were just happy to be able to dual cultivate, as it meant that they wouldn’t be too far behind Ji Li. If he was given Nature’s Gift prior to becoming a Junior Eunuch, that means the moment he could have used it, then he would probably be already halfway through to High Eunuch.
Still, that didn’t bother Ji Li, as he had just... advanced to middle rank Essence Awakened!
They all kept cultivating and enjoying the enlightenment. Such a case was rare and couldn’t be artificially done, just because they had broken through didn’t mean they should stop. This was the perfect moment for them to adjust their foundation and stabilise it.
They all knew that in consciousness, so although it wasn’t an active decision, they all still did it. It would be good for their future and make it so that the next time to break trough wouldn’t have to wait too long. Even if they had just advanced, they were many years away from even joining the ranks to high eunuch, so even if a day less was a drop on the hot stone, it would still cool it.