Blaz liked the view but he didn't let it distract him from asking a question that had bothered him ever since he [scanned] William.

"Why is Williams body strength so low? Don't tell me you allowed him to cultivate a poor technique."

Victor just shook his head, taking out s copy of [Heart of the forest] from his own spatial storage. While explaining the situation he also opened the a bottle of wine for them. As one of the moons were out Blaz could read the technique even in the darkness of night.

"I didn't have much choice. He "resonated" with the technique. Don't mind it overly much, I won't allow him to enter the second major realm until he had reached major accomplishment in the first volume of our sword technique. I'm also looking through a few different body and Qi enhancement techniques. With those additions he should build up his foundation to an acceptable level."

Blaz wasn't happy seeing that the technique William 'resonated' with was nothing special. All the other children had 'resonated' with good quality techniques. But what worried him more was that all the children had already 'resonated' with their own techniques. He wanted to know what Victors thoughts about it was.

"Hmm... Doesn't this mean that all of our grandchildren have 'resonated' with their cultivation technique. What do you think the price for this will be? "

"What makes you think this will have a price? Maybe this is just the reward for our long years of loyalty and service?"

Blaz saw that Victor didn't believe what he himself had said, so he just affirmed what Victor already knew, they were going to be called to action sooner or later.

"As if. Come on now. When was the last time something this lucky happened without it being the gods manipulating events. They will want us to do something for them. It's just a question of time before we get the bill."

"I know. I know. We knew this was a possibility when Harlin immediately got a technique he resonated with so William getting one simply confirmed what we already knew. So no reason to bring up such unpleasant things. Here, have a taste of this wine, I got it imported from a large-sized farming sect in the eastern continent."

Blaz drank the wine while contemplating things. He was going to have to bring this up sooner or later so might as well do it now before they got into the mood of drinking.

"You know, things are changing. I don't know how much news you get here, but it's already well known in the capital that the king is planning on stepping down. The various factions have already started making plans for their candidates."

"So is that why they are trying to build an outpost on the Soh forest? Someone is trying to gain favor by presenting treasures from it to the successors."

"I assume so. I didn't have time to check up on what every faction is planing in detail. But I'm surprised you gave them permission to set out an outpost there."

"Well, they payed us quite a sum to clean up a small area so that they could start building there. Also every creature they kill is one less creature bothering the city and the clan."

"Ha. You are getting calculating in your old age. If this was the heyday you would have called them idiots and kicked them from your territory."

"hahaha. Thanks, I will take that as a compliment."

After the war they had become leaders of their own forces and so they could no longer just rush into things like they used to do when they were just warriors fighting a war. Both Blaz and Victor drank in silence for a little while, thinking about the old days. Victor broke the silence.

"I doubt you hesitated so much just to bring up that there is soon going to be a succession competition. So come on, spit it out so we can get the business over and drink while just chatting like the old days."

Blaz let out a sigh before he brought up a subject that had put a shadow over his heart.

"Well there is one little princess that I have been commanded to protect. She is now twenty-one and is going to be sent to the Preti school outside the kingdom to undergo more education. Well I say education but the school is more like a small city that gathers the various younger generations from strong forces around the world, so the true reason is to get friendly with other powerful forces."

"Well don't just stop in the middle, what's the problem?"

"The problem is that because so many future leaders are gathered there, they refuse to let outsiders enter. So me and the rest of the protectors of the youngsters are limited to patrolling the off-site. If anything happens inside the school than we can't interfere, and with the succession coming up soon, the king and me are worried that some anxious party will take drastic measures. The worst part is that we have no suitable bodyguard who can enter with her. There are some prospects but we have yet to find anyone strong enough to guarantee her protection while being inside the school."

Victor started laughing when he figured out were all of this was heading.

"I see so you want me to send Aaric who is the right age and is powerful for his age to protect her from inside threats."

Blaz flinched a little when he heard it being laid out in such a manner, but he couldn't back down now, better to just lay it out now.

"Well he is a perfect fit isn't he? He is going to be the next clan leader so he could also have use for the various connections that he can create while he is there. It's a win-win situation."

Blaz saw Victor think about it a little more before answering.

"Well it's not up to us to make that decision. That's something up to his parents and himself. You will have to ask them."

"Of course I'm going to do that. I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't interfere. Well truthfully my first idea was to have you go there as a teacher. A sword sage teaching swordsmanship would be something the school would drool over so it would be easy to insert you there."

"Hahaha. I'm sure you thought so. But if Aaric is going to be sent there then I want some of the clans celestials there just in case. I won't teach there but one of the other elders can teach someone subject there. I could also visit to ease the transfer. I wanted to take Harlin for a little educational journey anyways, so I can take him there and then perform the education during our way back. I just need to make sure that he is ready."

Blaz was overjoyed upon hearing that this was working out. Having Victor as a teacher was a best case scenario, but having a few of the clans other celestials in the school was great. While not every celestial of the clan was a swordsman, they were all above the average celestial in power.

Blaz let out a relived sigh. With this the princess security was upgraded. He still had to convince Aaric to attend the school, but he didn't think about that now. Now it was time to drink.

Victor seeing him relax concluded that it was now time to start the drinking for real, and so he brought out the main character of this drinking party.

"I was originally going to take this out last. But seeing how we have things to do tomorrow I will bring it out now since we will need the time to recover."

Blaz swallowed his saliva when he saw the bottle that looked like it was made from a big red crystal.

"Is that your own brew. The one?!"

"Indeed. It's been aging for the last hundred years. Made from several ethereal grade fruits and the blood of a ancient dragon. It will make even us drunk. We will be testing it now to see if I can bring it out at the celebration later."

Blaz woke up only wearing his spatial locket in the middle of a forest. He had no recollection of anything after he started to drink his friends brew.

Victor woke up laying on a branch of a tree. He was fully dressed but his whole body hurt. He recognized that he was in the deeper parts of the Soh forest but had no idea of how he had gotten there.

William had just eaten breakfast. Strangely neither of his grandfathers had been there. His mother, Amelia also had no idea where they were, but simply said to not worry. So he followed her advice and was currently going to the garden to train.

William was currently moving according to his technique. He felt the pressure of Qi move around in his meridians. The pressure moved around, being stronger in one spot before the pressure eased there and appeared at another spot. He was currently just making sure that all of his meridians were cleaned.

After making sure that all of his meridians were cleaned and had a good connection with the rest of his body he was now sure that he was ready to breakthrough to the next realm.

This was an easy to overcome 'wall' compared to other 'walls' but it was still the first obstacles that a cultivator encountered and so would present it's own difficulties, but he was ready. He had even gotten the approval of his mother, but he was told to only enter the initial stage of the "dantian cleansing realm" and not train further. Apparently she hadn't trusted him since the 'whispers' told him she was currently watching him, even if he couldn't notice her with his own senses.

William moved in accordance with his technique and felt the Qi rush into his body. Unlike before there was no special meridians that the Qi flowed to, it simply flooded every meridian. He could feel his Qi slowly leave his meridians and enter the rest of his body. He could feel the connection between his body and meridians strengthen. This brought up a painful sensation from each part of his body, but he refused to give up. The 'whispers' were also a choir of encouragement as they kept repeating words like 'continue', 'good', 'endure', 'maintain'.

With the 'whispers' positivity and encouragement he kept going until he felt the next step begin. This signaled the entrance to the next realm. His Qi started to flow to his meridian right under his naval. He could feel more and more of the dantian open up until the entrances were fully opened and he could feel his dantian accept a small amount of Qi. He had entered the initial stage of the "Dantian cleansing realm".

William stopped his movements. At some point he had closed his eyes while being in pain. When he opened his eyes he saw the world around him. He could see everything so clearly. It wasn't that much of a long improvement, he could neither see further nor in darkness but everything still seemed to be 'cleaner'.

William let go of the rest of the tension that had filled his body while enduring the pain. He almost collapsed on the grass. William was surprised to feel his own body, he was so exhausted, he didn't even remember when he had become this tired. William could also feel Qi flow through his meridians, the Qi flowed faster and merged with the rest of his body much smoother than what he was used to. He could feel his body slowly recover with the help of the Qi, but it was still going to take several hours before he felt normal.

William heard footsteps behind himself. He struggled to move his head in the proper direction, but when he succeeded he saw his mother approach him.

She bent her knees to get closer to the ground. She started to stroke and play with his hair.

"Good job William. I'm so proud of you, you handled the breakthrough admirable. Now let's give you a bath."

William had realized something while being carried by his mother to the dining room. Maybe she hadn't been there because she didn't trust him but had instead been waiting for him to breakthrough because she knew he would be too tired and wouldn't be able to resist from being carried.

When William and Amelia entered the dining room they saw Blaz and Victor in the middle of a discussion. William thought that it must have been a interesting conversation wince they had been too distracted to notice them approaching the room since they only stopped when Amelia and William entered the room.

Blaz and Victor calmed down and asked how their day bad been. Appearing as if nothing was wrong. William tried to ask what they were talking about but the conversation was quickly moved to his breakthrough.

The rest of the brothers quickly arrived before the meal was served. William once again sat in his mother's lap while eating. For William this had become a worrying trend.

When the meal ended William left the room with Harlin and his Victor. Blaz, Amelia and Aaric had stayed inside the room to talk about something. Adalgar had ran of somewhere else immediately when dinner was finished.

William and Harlin followed Victor to a giant wooden structure. This served as the main training hall of the clan. It was built in a similar manner to all other training hall in the clan grounds simply being an empty wooden hall with all the different equipments inside different storage rooms connected to the hall.

Victor told them that he had booked the whole hall for two whole hours.

"You won't need to worry about disturbing anyone or being disturbed by anyone."

Harlin was the first to question why they were here.

"That's great, but grandpa, do you mind telling us why we are here?"

Victor lead them inside before he answer with a question of his own.

"Harlin, tell me. You have a good grasp of your strength right?"

"Yes. It's not the best but it's good enough. Why?"

When Victor asked another question Harlin realized what was going to happen.

"Do you think you can limit your strength to the initial stage of the 'meridian cleansing realm'?

"Yes I can... Wait are we going to spar? Why?"

"You are going to test each others strength."

William still high from the recent breakthrough was happy that he could test his power. But he was also anxious as he had never fought anyone, ever.

Victor took out three slips of paper, he put two of them on Harlin and one on William. The papers started to transform into specks of yellow light when they came into contact with William and Harlin. The specks of light danced around them before disappearing. Victor then informed them what they were.

"Those were talisman used to create a weak personal shield around both of you. Harlin the second talisman was to weaken your body to the strength of a normal eight year old child, and to turn of your body enhancement from your other techniques. You can now weaken your cultivation power to the power of a average low stage 'meridian cleansing realm'. You are also not allowed to use any proper martial technique."

Harlin saw that he would have no way to dissuade Victor from making them spar. So he did as told and used his Qi to interfere with his own cultivation until he was weakened.

Victor than looked at William.

"William are you ready?"

William simply nodded and looked at Harlin. Victor then walked to the side, letting them begin.

Harlin didn't know what he should do in this case. Should he just go and hit his little brother? He knew that they had barriers applied to them right now but he was still hesitant to hit his youngest brother who had no fighting technique or experience.

William seeing how Harlin didn't move started running to him

Harlin almost on instinct responded by sending a fist to Williams face. he had expected him to dodge but that didn't happen.

William saw a fist flying towards his face but had already picked up to much speed and couldn't do anything.

The barrier flashed to life as specks of yellow light appeared and blocked Harlins fist, but the barriers were more to shield from someone being too hurt. It still let some damage and force through. Enough that William fell backwards.

William tried to stand up but Harlin had now come to a decision. He didn't know why Victor wanted them to spar but he had to have his reasons since he had never done something like this before.

Harlin stopped William from rising by kicking him in his head when he was trying to stand up without being aware of his surroundings.

William fell down again, the barrier shielding him from being hurt to much.

Harlin continued the assault by turning William over and putting him in a grapple that he couldn't get out from no matter how much he struggled.

"Stop! Harlin has won!"

Victor interfered as he had decided that William lost.

Harlin backed away before he realized something. William was weak, way to weak. Sure Harlin had used experience to handle him but when he tried to break the grapple the strength was only slightly more than his own weakened strength. Harlin now had an idea of what Victor wanted to do, and Harlin wouldn't hesitate anymore.

The second fight ended with these same result. It started William rushing at Harlin, Harlin sent a fist to the face of William before kicking the legs to make him fall down. Harlin no longer grappled him since he didn't think it was worth it. This made the the fight longer and more brutal looking as everytime William rose he was just put down again. Victor interfered when the fight didn't go anywhere for too long.

William was more careful during the third fight, but it ended with the same result. Harlins overwhelming victory.

The fourth fight was the same.

...

William didn't know what was going on. He had been defeated so many times that he didn't bother counting anymore. Sometimes he thought the fight was going well because at the beginning of the fight the 'whispers' came and guided him which allowed him to dodge a strike or two, but then his state of mind would be canceled as the fight began for real and he would be immediately defeated by his brother.

His grandfather had now reapplied his barrier three times but Harlin was still using his first barrier. This was simply infuriating. Even worse was that he had heard his grandfather tell Harlin to weaken his strength to the middle stage of the 'meridian cleansing realm' but William was at the initial stage of the 'dantian cleansing realm' yet the few times when they were entered a contest of strength they were equally matched.

William heard Victor speak above him as he laid on the ground after another fight.

"Want to end this by fighting Harlin at an equal realm?"

William didn't know why he would ask that. William couldn't defeat Harlin at a weaker realm so how was he suppose to fight Harlin at a equal realm. Was it suppose to be a demonstrations? William didn't really care at this point, but if the spar ended after this then that was good. So William agreed.

Victor then said to Harlin that he could use everything at his disposal.

"Harlin use the power that you had when you were at the initial stage 'dantian cleansing realm', try to end it with one attack. You are allowed to use any martial technique that you had at that point in time."

Before William had stood up Victor waved his hand and a new talisman was applied to William, the same flashes of yellow lights covered his eyes for s split second before disappearing, a fresh barrier had been applied to him.

When William stood up he saw Harlin standing a few meters away, he was now holding a wooden sword. William thought that this was really unfair. Of course William didn't understand that Harlin was allowed to use a sword because he had trained in swordsmanship when he was at that stage.

The fight started at Victors command.

This time Harlin was not standing still. William didn't even have time to form any thoughts before Harlin was already in front of him. William heard the 'whispers' bombard him with a single word 'escape'.

William put his arms together, not because he knew what he was doing, he did it on pure instinct. He was too slow. He saw the wooden blade approach his chest threatening to pierce him.

Next there was a bright flash before his eyes. The lights this time wasn't the comfortable yellow color but was instead an eye burning red. He heard the sound of glass shattering from all around him.

William felt weightless. He was pushed backward with such force that he lost contact with the ground. He soon meet the ground, he couldn't position his legs in the right manner and fell down. His back hit the ground but the force was still enough to make him glide backwards on the floor.

William sat up. He was currently dumbfounded. This was a true cultivator, what had he been doing so far?