I had blocked a few hours before the start of the day to consolidate my gains from reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. Besides the quantitative leap in power, an exponential increase that I was slowly coming to understand, I had gained another mind partition.

This partition was unique from any other I had or would gain as it was reserved solely for martial techniques and cultivation. I could use this part of my mind palace to train, to recreate spars and fights I'd experienced, or Cultivate. This partition allowed me to experiment, chain Katas, or develop strategies that would translate to the real world.

I was no longer restricted to training in those moments of spare time. My Dharmic and Spirit body would participate, and the muscle memory and insights I gained would be shared.

Just as importantly, because this section of my mind palace could be focused on cultivation, there was no chance that I might cycle the Qi I gathered incorrectly and cause a Qi deviation. As long as my mind palace remained stable, my cultivation would grow without issue.

Without this evolution to a Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator's mind palace, a person would have to enter closed-door cultivation almost non-stop to have any measurable advances. A Nascent Soul Realm Cultivator was still too far removed from the Heavens to consider severing their earthly bonds to focus entirely on cultivation.

There was too much work left for me to cast aside the Karmic ties between me, my people, my kingdom, and my family. In time, those ties would be diverted to other people. The people with whom I had formed deep Karmic bonds. Unsurprisingly, ascending the Heavens was as much about escaping Karma's constraints as advancing cultivation realms.

As I moved from one form to another, working to add the new Katas I'd gained with my advancement to the Nascent Soul Realm, I thought back to Elder Cix. His guidance had pointed me toward my martial art, [Tessenjutsu]. The forms and Katas included within that martial style included an evolution of skills that had to be earned at each realm.

Each time I advanced a Realm, [Tessenjutsu] allowed me to practice a more refined set of empowered movements and opened a new list of available techniques.

Advancing this time had given me access to three new techniques. [Reap the Wind], [Winter's Bite], and [Tempest Fury]. [Reap the Wind] and [Winter's Bite] were area-effect attacks. [Reap the Wind] allowed me to create and control tornadoes. In contrast, [Winter's Bite] allowed me to harness and contain the destructive power of a winter's blizzard into an area-effect or single-target-focused attack.

[Tempest Fury] was a single-target attack, but that didn't mean it was weak. It combined every affinity I had aligned with into a slashing attack much more powerful than the wind blade I had learned initially.

These movements were powerful on their own, but now that I had gained minor enlightenment of the [Dao of Growth], the power of each movement had evolved to something more robust. I managed small micro-changes by utilizing my understanding of [Growth] and [Movement] as I perfected each skill. These micro-adjustments increased my efficiency and perfected my ability to direct my attacks.

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As I practiced, each technique flowing into the next, I quantified the instructions the token had shared. I adjusted muscles, Qi cycles, and precision of motion and growth that transformed my performance from something resembling a halting dance of hesitation to something ethereal and esoteric.

I transitioned from controlling the elements I was aligned with to mastering those elements and accepting that they were a part of me. They became more a part of who I was as a Cultivator. No longer a tool to call on, the elements merged into who I was. I reforged my techniques so that I was each element instead of directing each aspect.

I used the training grounds included with the blueprints for the Clan House when it was built. Those plans were heavily borrowed from the Mystic Realm, but Bob, Ming, and Pling had scoured through the tokens I had looted to adapt those schematics to conform more to the island's environment.

I had needed to implement a protection array I'd looted from the Mystic Realm. One powerful enough to withstand the destruction my Nascent Soul Realm was capable of. Without that protection, I would have destroyed the world around me. That might not have been a problem if I had trained in isolation, deep in the forest, or within one of the mountains, but I didn't.

It had been expensive, but worth it.

The original blueprints and arrays had been built around the ice and water elements. That wasn't well suited for the area. Onkei had few areas of snow and ice. What it did have was a bounty of wood, earth, and fire elemental Qi. Bob, Ming, and Pling had modified the arrays I'd plundered to take advantage of the local biosphere.

It still relied heavily on water; the ocean was close enough to draw on that energy, but it had changed to take advantage of the other elements that permeated my island nation.

I used these morning training sessions to meditate and internalize the changes that my Dharmic and Spirit bodies were creating. I had found that spending time incorporating [Growth] into each of my martial techniques was relaxing. The tediousness, the need to concentrate and experiment on how much and how to add the unique [Dao] energy, gave me a break from my responsibilities and worries.

I didn't need this training session, but I had decided to indulge anyway. The discussion with my parents about how to protect Geon and Syha had not gone well. Father had seen the wisdom of sending Geon and Syha to a Sect immediately, but Mother had balked at the suggestion. I had been forced to show her the bones of the toddlers we had discovered when apprehending Ja Fiat to convince her.

There had been tears, but thankfully, there had never been accusations that Geon and Syha's circumstances were my fault. I didn't regret my actions, but dealing with the consequences of the choices was more manageable now that both parents had accepted the inevitable.

I would allow a town to blossom to support the Three Waters Sect organically. I wouldn't encourage that growth, but I wouldn't stifle it either. I wanted to appear as hands-off as possible so that any attention that the Sect did draw was because the Hindel were members, not any unseemly attention I might pay the place.

I was a Voice of the Hindel, so allowing them an opportunity to create a Sect would seem a function of my position instead of a place where sanctuary could be offered to those who needed to hide from the world.

I expected the novelty of Hindel Cultivators and professions offering a place to train to garner attention. Still, that attention would be on the techniques and skills the Hindel offered, not on a group of children placed as Outer Sect members.

It would take a long while before the Sect became known. But in the world of cultivation, where disturbances in Qi and the ability to read the threads of Karma were possible, the Sect would be discovered sooner or later.

I only hoped that Geon and Syha would be adults when that happened. Just two Cultivators lost among the many I hoped the kingdom would churn out with the addition of awakening food, contracted spirits, and membership within a gestalt mind.