William was training with everything he currently had. It had been five days since he completed he entered the middle stage and he was currently rushing towards the late stage. William now had a goal to strive after. Previously his father had said as a joke that he was growing up and that he was worried that the next time they meet that William would have entered the "Meridian cleansing realm". That was actually a possibility, but for William who still remembered the shame he got from being told that he was growing up fast while sitting in his mother's lap and being spoon fed by her simply took the words as sarcasm. But from this shame came a resolution, he would show his father that he was now mature. His plan was simple, he was going to overshoot his father's expectations, normally entering the the next realm would be enough but since his father had joked about him entering the "Meridian cleansing realm" he would have take it a step further and enter the "Dantian cleansing realm". He could almost see his father's shocked face in front of him.
William was a little unsure of how exactly he would go by to successfully speed by a whole minor realm in a single month. Ignoring that a week had already gone by. But those kind of negative thoughts were pushed from his mind by his current joyous mood. He had been correct previously when he thought he could improve his cultivation by adjusting his movements in accordance with how much Qi entered his body. The more perfect his movements the more Qi flowed into his body and currently there was a clear stream of Qi that entered his body, and every hour that went by the Qi stream grew.
William continued training like this before he made out a slight mistake in his movements, it wasn't that he didn't know how to move but there was something pulling at his consciousness, something telling him 'Hey, wouldn't it be better if you moved like this instead?'. William followed the suggestion and found that even more Qi entered his body, not only that, the pressure that the Qi had while entering his meridians were even stronger compared to before. William stopped moving after sensing the change. He rushed to his technique to double check that he hadn't made a mistake. His book described how he should move in one way but clearly the "incorrect" way had been better. William realized something while comparing his new movement to the old movement. The technique could be improved. Williams training fervour grew even more.
William had trained for several hours now. He even extended his training pass to the annoyance of his brother, but he just had to see if he could improve the technique in any other way, but sadly it was futile, the technique hadn't been improved in any way. Williams excitement refused to die though.
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The days since Sigmund had entered secluded cultivation had been busy for everyone in the clan. Not only because people needed to fill in for him but also because they were slowly preparing for him entering the "celestial realm", something that required a large celebration. But a balance was needed, they couldn't just send out invitations and prepare in full scale like he had already entered the realm since that would be like inviting the wrath of the heaven, but they also couldn't do nothing since if they waited to long the celebration would be too far of from the date of his rebirth. So currently everyone were working overtime to make sure that they finish their current work and move onto some preparations for the celebration. The only ones who weren't helping prepare were the youngest members of the latest generation, not even the older generations were left out, as many of them came out from the hidden corners of the clan to help out. While celestial weren't rare in the world overall they were still something that caused celebrations in even the largest forces when their number grew.
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William entered the dinner room filled to the brim with excitement, both from having improved his technique but also because the happy mood of the clan was infecting him, something even Adalgar hadn't been able to avoid being infected by. Inside was his grandpa, mother and Aaric were all writing something on different papers, Harlin was just sitting in his chair with closed eyes. They looked towards him and Adalgar and gave exchanged some greetings before going back to finish up their work.
They completed whatever it was that they where doing within the minute before Amelia asked the two boys how their training was going.
"How was today's training? I hope you two didn't overexert yourself."
While she was saying that she was focusing on William. When William noticed he had her focus he shivered before speaking quickly.
"No, I'm still filled with energy. I improved my technique so the training is going even better now, I think i will enter the late stage tomorrow."
The response to this was different depending on the age of the person. Adalgar and Harlin became confused while Aaric, Amelia and Victor became shocked. Victor soon asked him to clarify what he meant.
"When you say you improved your technique what exactly do you mean and how did you improve it?"
William had to think for a moment before he could put what he felt into words.
"When I was training it was as if someone told me how to move and when I moved like that even more Qi flowed into me. When I looked at the technique and compared the movements I noticed that the new movement was better."
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Victor and Amelia tensed up a bit and exchanged a look when they heard him saying that something was guiding William. Victor quickly asked a followup question.
"So something guided you into a better movement pattern. Tell me, how different was the movements?"
"Not very different, the only difference was the angle of my body in one of the movements."
Victor looked like he was happy with that answer. Amelia expression was one of worry so Victor explained his theory to her.
"I think William activated one of the special abilities and connected to nature to receive guidance. I will oversee his training too make sure that's what's happening. Is it alright if he trained in your garden for the next week."
This calmed Amelia down so she quickly gave her permission.
During the meal Adalgars and Harlins confusion had transformed into shock and impatience, not only have their youngest brother unlocked one of his techniques abilities but he was also going to enter the late stage soon, this speed was much faster than their own. Victor was the first to notice this and brought it up with them.
"Adalgar, Harlin. I know you two are probably feeling some pressure now but don't worry. The reason for the speed of Williams cultivation is because his technique isn't very complex, if he hadn't 'resonated' with it then I wouldn't have allowed him to train with that technique. But even with the 'resonance' He will have to train in supplemental techniques to improve his body and Qi when he is done with it. But I have some important words for you all. Remember that it ultimately does not matter whether it takes 20 years or 200 years to reach the 'celestial realm'. At the end what matters is how 'good' your cultivation is not how fast it is."
Adalgar seem to calm down upon hearing this and responded.
"I know grandpa. A deep foundation is better than a shallow one which could break and kill you."
Harlin was still feeling uncomfortable and unsure of himself and his future because now he was the only one of the brothers who hadn't touched his technique special ability and he had also not achieved a breakthrough yet and was still stuck in his realm. Victor and Amelia saw through him and looked at each other. Amelia made a silent gesture indicating she would take care of it. Aaric was unaffected by everything happening as he was old enough that he had personally seen that a speedy cultivation wasn't always a good one.
The rest of the meal was spend with small talk as Amelia had decided that she would have a one on one conversation with Harlin later, she would also talk to Adalgar to make sure he wasn't feeling any pressure that would cause him to take stupid actions.
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Williams outside training had now been going on for three whole days. William was standing in a deep part of his mother's garden right now. This was where she planted winter flowers and other flora that would thrive during the winter, there where even some plants that would directly feed on the ice and cold Qi that winter would bring.
To ensure that the cold wouldn't affect his training he was currently wearing a white shirt that had a large formation stitched into the backside of it. The formation would keep him warm while also putting a barrier around him, the barrier wasn't very good only enough to keep cold Qi and other winter energies at bay. The formation was quite bad but it was sturdy enough that the Qi that his movements called on when he practiced wouldn't destroy or interfere with the formation.
At this point William had gone back to his usual training. He wasn't as excited as he had been in the begining. With three whole days of training and no further improvement to his technique he was sure that it had been a once off thing, but his grandpa still insist that he should train here, and seeing how his grandpa had stopped working simply to oversee his training he couldn't complain. While William was standing in the middle part of this area of the garden while training, Victor sat on a bench a few meters away from him staring at him not letting him leave his sight.
It happened when William was fully focused on his movements. Previously it had felt like the change had come from himself but now it felt more like 'whispers' came and told him how to improve, it was also clearer and continued for longer. It didn't stop until he tried to find out where the 'whispers' came from. It sounded like it came from the sky, wind and air around him, but it also came from the dirt he stood on and the deeper parts of the garden, it even came from himself, there seemed like there was no place the voices didn't crawl from.
His grandfather was now standing next to him before he could notice. William almost jumped away in shock from the sudden appearance of his grandfather. But his head was grabbed by Victor before he could move. William felt something wash over him, something he hadn't felt before. William looked to Victor to ask what it was but Victor was standing completely still with his eyes closed while still having his hand on top of Williams head.
It took a few second before Victor released William's head and opened his eyes. Victor then patted William and congratulated him
"Congratulations on unlocking your first ability William. You can now communicate with nature."
William was overjoyed when he heard that and wanted to continue practice immediately so that he could improve his technique even more. Seeing William happy and desiring to continue training Victor stepped back to allow him to train.
Williams training session didn't last for long as he had too many questions and couldn't focus on training. Seeing how further training was useless at the moment he went to ask his grandfather his questions. Victor only smiled when he saw William approach him, it had been quite clear that he would have questions.
"Grandpa! The technique said that I would only be able to communicate with nature when meditating also only when I had reached perfection. Does this mean I have reached a perfect accomplishment in the technique? Also shouldn't I be able to sense plants before I can communicate with nature?"
"Relax little one. I will answer your questions but one at a time. First, no you have not reached perfection in your technique. Second, all those questions can be answered in the same way, you 'resonating' with the technique has changed it too much. It's good for you to remember in the future that 'resonating' with something changes it drastically to the point where only the major points stay the same, this being for now communication with nature and sensing plants. Anything else is unique, even if another person 'resonated' with the same technique as you it wouldn't guarantee them the same results. Do you understand?"
"I think so grandpa."
After William digested the information that he couldn't be sure how his technique would perform in the future, he quickly realized that this might give him the edge to reach the third realm in the next month. This realization made him able to push all other negative thoughts from his mind and focus only on training.