William was currently sitting in a lotus pose as the summer sun warmed him. He was meditating on his movement technique [Pouncing snake]. It was a movement technique that allowed fast movements at a small distance. Problem was that it was a complicated technique for William. This was the only one of his techniques he hadn't reached a perfect mastery of.

William was getting slightly annoyed. He had been stuck at the peak stage of the minor realm "Meridian expansion realm" for half a year now, he could feel that the realm was just a step he away. For half a year he had worn down the wall between the realms meaning he didn't even need to exert much effort to enter the next realm, he believed he would only need a minute or so to enter the next realm.

In the beginning he didn't really care because he could still strengthen his body or purify his Qi. But he eventually arrived at a point where the techniques couldn't strengthen himself anymore, even with the upgrade they had gotten from the 'whispers' they couldn't help him anymore. He needed better, higher grade techniques to further strengthen himself. Problem was that all the techniques he had his eyes on needed the base cultivation realm of major third realm, he needed to enter the "Spirit Lake realm". But William had promised his grandfather that he wouldn't advanced past his current realm until he mastered all of his techniques.

William had over the last six years found out a interesting thing about the 'whispers' they could only help him improve techniques to a certain extent and the more 'connected' to nature the technique is the faster the improvement. Another thing was that the less 'connected' to nature the technique was the less assistance he would get from the 'whispers' in mastering the technique. And contrary to what the techniques name might suggest, the only reason it had snake in its name seems to be because the author seems that it fit, they hadn't gotten any insight into making the technique from snakes. So the technique had very little to do with any kind of nature aspect, meaning little guidance from the 'whispers', it also didn't help that he couldn't find anyone in the clan who practiced the movement technique.

Without any guidance he struggled to master it, but he refused to give up. This lead him to today. He was so near perfectly master it, he could sense it, it was just beyond his grasp. This lead to him sitting and playing with the Qi movements that the technique wanted one to use. After the previous minor realm, the "Qi stream realm", he was now able to manipulate Qi inside his own body.

By doing this he could somewhat simulate how the technique would act without actually spending his Qi to the same extent as utilizing the technique would.

This was his most of his days were spent the last few months. He would sometimes spar with someone to get more combat experience but since he tended to practice with people at a higher realm to him he was usually defeated. But his grandfather had told him he would get more experience from analyzing his defeats compared to any spar that he won. William didn't truly know if that was the truth be he felt like it was and so he kept challenging people who were at a higher realm than him. But I was a balancing act since if he fought with someone much stronger than him then he would just instantly lose.

William opened his eyes. He was so close and he knew what he needed to do. He needed another battle to put some pressure on him and how he used the movement technique. So he thought of who he could fight.

He would have liked to fight one of his brothers. Aaric was still at school and wouldn't be visiting home for a few weeks so he was out. Harlin had also gone to school, but a school famous for its martial arts instead of politics. Apparently Victor had told his brother that he would find many strong people there, many of which trained in exotics fighting styles, William was jealous of Harlin right now.

Adalgar was still at home, somewhere in the clan grounds. But he was unsuitable since while he was stronger than William. He wasn't able to put enough pressure on William, not until he cultivated his Spirit Lake and would truly be able to use his affinity.

Each affinity had it's own special effects. Williams forest attribute was quite good since most of its boosts were internal meaning they would affect him fully as long as he completed the 'Qi stream realm' and made his Qi always flow through his meridians. They would be further enhanced at the 'Spirit lake realm' but wouldn't be activated in the same way as other affinities.

Adalgars affinity was wind, and while his cultivation technique did allow him to enjoy some of the benefits earlier then he should it still wasn't enough to activate most of the benefits. He would have to create his Spirit lake before he could enjoy the many other external effects of the wind attribute.

This uneven situation where William had activated more bonuses of his attribute compared to Adalgar made the fight quite even. Adalgar usually only managed to win by the skin of his teeth, because of his higher cultivation realm.

So Adalgar was out since he wouldn't be able to pressure him live William wanted to. William wanted a fight were he had to constantly use his movement technique to barely be able to hold onto the fight. William thought of some of the other clan members that he used to spar with. He went through the list one name at a time, and it was a long list. William had been busy these last few years.

William opened his eyes and a smile grew on his face after remembering that one of his seniors that he annoyed into fighting him sometimes.

William had made a quick stop to get a wooden sword made for practice. He didn't believe for a second that he would actually hit his senior, but he wanted to use everything he had to fight and since he only had one martial technique that meant getting a sword.

Soon he saw his target.

He was laying closed eyed in the grass, the bright midday sun shining on him fair skin. He was wearing pale blue pants and a white shirt from some fancy material that William couldn't identify. His hair was a mix of golden and red, it was spread out in the grass around his head making it look slightly like a halo.

William heard his soft and smooth voice before even getting close.

"I'm busy cultivating seriously right now. Go annoy someone else into fighting you William."

"Ah come on Hikaru. I know that you aren't cultivating. You can't observe any [laws] here. Just fight me. Who knows, maybe you will get some enlightenment from it."

"First of all, you have never been in contact with any [laws] so you have no idea were one could observe the laws. Secondly, any [law] I could get from bullying you isn't anything I want any contact with. Thirdly, respect your seniors and go away."

"Fine. I will go and spar with Chika. I need to borrow a book about formations so I'm headed there anyways."

This made Hikaru raised his upper body and stared at William. His sky-blue eyes were half closed in annoyance. He clicked his tongue and spouted a few mumbles before raising his voice to a perceptible level.

"Why do you insist in fighting me? You know that you have no possible chance of winning right? Can't you just leave your seniors some face and leave?"

"Why does it matter if I win? You know I only want the experience. Curse your own alignment and talent for swordsmanship for making you such a prime target. Besides, I know you love it."

"Love it, your ass. Ah why do I have to spend my precious sunbathing time beating up overexcited brats."

Hikaru seemingly accepting his fate started standing up. His hair fell down to his shoulders and he would have looked like a handsome prince from a storybook if not for his behavior. He started lightly stretching before yawning.

After shaking his grogginess he stared at William for a few second. William only smiled back with his wooden sword at hand. Hikarus voice was almost happy for a moment as he talked.

Hikaru simply shook his head before stretching out his arm. In his right hand a sword started take shape. It was formed purely of energy and gave the impression that sunlight itself had become a weapon for Hikaru to use.

This was why William loved training with Hikaru. He not only had a very high cultivation level, currently at the last minor realm of the major realm the "Nascent soul realm". He was also a swordsmaster, he had started learning the fifth volume of the clans unique sword technique some time ago and was making decent progress, not that William had ever managed to make him use any proper technique, his natural usage of his sword as a swordmaster was enough to win over William. But best of all in Williams opinion was that he was a rare three aligned cultivator. His alignments were, fire, light and the rare variant of them, sunlight, he was the only one in the whole clan with this alignment and was therefore a rare prime training target.

Hikaru started to speak in almost a happy tone with William.

"Fine, since we won't be seeing each other for a while I as your senior will be gift you this training opportunity as a farewell gift."

William was disheartened by this. He was going to lose one of his favorite training targets. He only had a few people at the same level who he could successfully annoy into fighting him, but non of the others had as interesting techniques and alignments as Hikaru. This was a disaster.

"When are you leaving? Are you going to be gone for long?"

Hikaru only smiled more hearing the questions, but just gave a vague answer.

"Who knows. It's up for heaven to decide such things. But we probably won't see each other for a few weeks after today."

That brightened Williams mood. If he perfected his techniques now then he would be focused on cultivating and wouldn't need a training partner for those weeks.

Hikarus smile grew when he saw that Williams face grew brighter. He couldn't hold himself back and just asked for William to start.

"Well, as your senior I will give you the honor of making the first move. Please go on."

William didn't waste anymore time. He used his movement technique to quickly close the gap as slashed his sword horizontally.

Hikaru just took a step back to avoid the sword and then stabbed forward with his own blade. He had made it with energy and so he had made it intentionally like a simple pole with no edges on it.

William used his movement technique to go diagonally left. Arriving at the left side and slightly backwards of Hikaru.

William recovered quickly from his dodge and sent another slash towards Hikaru. But the sword just went through Hikaru, Hikarus body dispersed in specks of pure light. He had changed his position while making an illusion of himself stay back.

William tried to change his own position by moving forward through the specks before the now hidden Hikaru could attack him.

William managed to move two meters forward before his legs hit something and he lost control and fell to the ground.

This was a flaw of the [Pouncing snake] technique. While it was fast, it was mostly limited to straight movements. Something that an experienced fighter could abuse to win the fights. But this was what William wanted. If he wanted the slightest possible chance of winning than he needed to push the technique past its limitations.

William immediately rolled and pushed himself up before looking around.

Hikaru was standing in a lax manner with his 'sword' resting in one hand and over his right shoulder while using his left hand to cover his mouth while yawning. It looked like he didn't have a care in the world. This was another reason why William liked fighting him, he had a way of making you want to punch him in his face. Encouraging you to train harder so that you could achieve this. Hikaru was simply a natural at being a training target.

William was laying in the ground. He was tired and bruised but still had a smile on his face. He had actually managed to perfect him movement technique. His side objective of smashing his sword into Hikarus face was left unachieved, for now. William took satisfaction from the knowledge that every step forward brought him closer to achieving this side objective. Unbeknownst to William, what had started as a side objective when he started fighting Hikaru had at some point grown into its own goal.

Hikaru took a step closer to William. He was now standing close enough that his shadow covered William. He looked towards William before smiling, scattering the energy that made up his 'sword'. William knew that Hikaru was going to give you the final blow before leaving.

"Well since the Brat has once again been taught the difference of heaven and earth, I will take my leave now."

Hikaru then blew up in a show of bright energy. The energy spread and covered an area of a few meters with the location that Hikaru had been standing at the center. This energy healed very minor injuries like bruises and also made anyone who came into contact with it recover from their fatigue. Hikaru had disappeared from Williams sight before he could even react. Hikarus personally created technique specifically to use against William, a last show of power to show the difference between them by healing him and disappearing before he could react.

As the light spread to William he felt his bruises being healed, it felt like having the sun warm cold spots all over your body. He started to feel like he had enough energy to go another round before long. William dreamed about the day he could punch Hikarus face.

William entered the dining room, last like usual. These days it was quite empty with two of his brothers being absent to attend schools far from home.

Today's meal was a stew made from some Qi beast that had it's home in the Soh forest and various herbs that the clan grew. There was also a salad made from vegetables that had small amount of Qi in them.

When the children, or rather William since he was the youngest, had grown up somewhat the normal meals that had small amount of herbs in them had been changed. William had grown up and had a higher cultivation base that allowed him to eat Qi rich meals. So their food had been changed from basic meals that would allow someone young to grow up healthy to meals that would help cultivators with their cultivation.

William had once asked why they just didn't eat different meals but it was apparently a sign of solidarity, to improve the family bond. It also helped that neither his grandfather and mother wouldn't get anything from a more Qi rich meals. His father would only get negligible benefits. His brothers would get more benefits but the grown ups didn't want them to grow up too spoiled, or at least that was what they said. They apparently didn't care if he grew spoiled, but then again, correcting one spoiled kid would be easier than reteaching them all.

William had quickly dropped the topic, just being happy with the improved meals. And it truly was improved, in his opinion. The way the meat almost melted in his mouth while leaving behind the taste that made him want to devour everything the kitchen had in store. It was even better how the meals became better everytime he improved and could handle more intense Qi. If he wasn't so faithful in his training and cultivation he believed he would have grown fat with how much he was eating.

William quickly reported the successful perfection of all of his techniques. After he was done eating. Victor congratulated him before asking what he thought.

"That's good. So how do you feel now? Do you regret taking all of the most complex techniques?"

Since all the Qi and body enhancement techniques that he could have chosen would boost his Qi and body equally he could have chosen the less complex of them without any drawbacks. His sword technique was in a similar position since he could train any of them before upgrading to the second volume. The only real difference in performance was his movement technique, which didn't have a benefit over the other he could have chosen since he would soon train a new one. All his techniques would soon blend into the background without being of any real importance. But even so, William didn't regret it, the experience from training in the more complex techniques would help him analyze and master other techniques better in the future. Thinking about it in that way than he could think about this as experience to help him in the future. He might have regretted it while he was stuck unable to progress his cultivation base but now he was happy over the experience and didn't regret it.

"I wish that I could have had more of a use of them but thinking about the future makes me happy I chose them. I don't regret it... Too much."

Amelia and Sigmund smiled and complimented William for his resilience from continuing with the techniques rather than complaining and trying to change his technique.

Victor was happy and laughed a little before speaking ominously

"That's good! That's good. But don't regret it. Tomorrow you and me are going on an adventure! I'm sure we will find some opportunities for you to use your techniques in real life."

Williams brain stopped working for a few seconds as he had flashbacks. Apparently Victor taking his grandchildren on a journey to experience life outside the clan grounds had become a tradition now.

William wasn't old enough to remember how Aaric looked after the journey but he remembered how his other brothers had looked.

William vaguely remembered how when Aaric had first traveled to his school that Harlin and Victor had joined him, before they traveled home alone. Harlin had come back home tired and bruised, looking like he had been robbed for everything he was worth.

William vividly remembered Adalgar look when it was his time. Adalgar had always wanted to explore the outside so he had been filled with energy even as he remembered Aaric and Harlins expressions when they returned. The day they were going to leave Adalgar had been so exited that he practically couldn't stop himself from jumping around, he had been so cheerful. Then the next time William saw Adalgar he looked like he had lost the love of his life, his eyes stayed expressionless for a handful of days after his return.

Amelia and Sigmund had apparently been informed as they didn't show any change in expressions but Adalgar face grew pale. Adalgar simply patted William on his shoulder as he wished him good luck.

"Good luck. I'm sure it will go better with your attitude. A word of warning, don't overestimate yourself."

Adalgar became quiet after that simply looking into the far distance while shivering lightly.

Victor in the meanwhile just laughed out loud when he saw Williams scared expression.

"Don't worry! We are just going to do some tasks around the clans territory."

Victor looked at William a little bit more before his smile turned a little mischievous.

"Really, you have nothing to be afraid of, our family trip has a hundred percent survival rate.... So far."

William looked around while trying to think of ways to avoid going on the trip.

Amelia gave Victor a annoyed look before trying to going to Williams side trying calm him.

"Don't worry William. He's simply teasing you. This is just a simple journey to experience the outside world, but you will still stay in the clans territory. Victor will also be with you every step of the way, and after the first stop you will have another senior clans member with you. You just have to listen to your grandfather and enjoy the new sights."