William smashed open his crystalline shell as he emerged from his metamorphosis! His aura had a qualitative change and he felt that his soul had become pliable. He didn't understand why but he felt that he knew what this was...
"The forming of the Soul Sword...a quasi-Sword Soul. It is only temporary today but after another breakthrough it will gain permanency."
Hou laughed, then shouted out to William, "I'll leave protecting everyone to you! The last parts of your tribulation remain!"
William looked up and saw the 'river of time' flickering, and over huge lightning creatures beat down on it, further destroying it's form. He nodded to his master, Hamar, and raised his hand. He closed his eyes and he felt his aura well up. After a tribulation, one would have gained a huge amount of mana which transforms into aura.
William therefore had a huge amount of aura ready to defend...or attack. He held his fingers outstretched as they turned red from the cold.
The air was still frozen from the effects of the tribulation on William, but it was starting to grow warmer.
That was until....William mobilised his aura and visualised his quasi-Sword Soul. If he had continued his life as is, if he ever got a Sword Soul, the form his Sword Soul would take would obviously be a sword; it was something he used and was talented in, something he saw reach that level with Hamar. But now, after the 'river of time's experience, his mentality had changed. He gained a new perspective and a new realisation which helped to form his new Sword Soul. It did not take the form of a sword nor any material weapon, instead as he summoned up the quasi-Sword Soul the air began to spin.
"Don't worry master, I'll solve this." William smiled as he made a remark in his head, 'Unlike the world, I have a bias. I protect what I want and harm what I want!'
The quasi-Sword Soul formed and Hamar (and Hou) saw the result of William's breakthrough. Instead of a sword, his Sword Soul was a cold, uncaring snowstorm! William smiled as his new quasi-Sword Soul had a huge amount of aura put into it and with his soul entering it too, he could feel it's every move perfectly.
As Hamar's 'river of time' broke, and lightning shit down, earth rumbled below, beasts ran forth, as the tribulations remaining effects continued, William did not despair. Instead, his eyes became cold and they focused to somewhere far beyond this material world. He breathed in and time seemed to slow down. He embodied his (quasi)Sword Soul, after all it was imbued with his own soul. He became a snowstorm, natural phenomena of the world.
"This is a natural disaster, not of the world's, but of mine. My own natural disaster, as I am my own world!"
William used his new sense of 'becoming his own world' and controlled the snowstorm. It first created a blanket around where the 'river of time' was once protecting. Then the outer side shot forward into snow-aura blades which cut deep into all creatures that the tribulation had sent.
The lightening infused into the snow storm and as the world's influence weakened it switched sides. Instead of being a conduit for the world's balance, it became a power which William harnessed to fight against the world. The snow storm gained an electric property which helped to defend against the rest of the attacks; easily blocking it all while the tribulations remnant effects died down. After the effects all died down, William opened his eyes and swiped his hand outwards, sending his lightning infused snow storm outwards.
When he let go of the snow storm quasi-Sword Soul, unsummoning it, his soul once again entered his body. Then the lightning trapped by the quasi-Sword Soul flashed but only went into the ground. As his soul entered his body again, William fell down and coughed up phlegm. He wiped his mouth which had a little bit of blood and stood up. Putting his hand on his stomach he felt that he still had a good amount of aura left; the fighting of the tribulation was intense but only lasted a few moments.
In those few moments, Hamar took over his body again and fell tot he ground smiling. William ran over l, "Master! Are you fine?"
Hamar coughed up some blood but waved his hand weakly, "I'm fine. I've not recovered from my previous fights and then I did this demonstration so I used up all my aura and energy to protect everyone from your tribulation." He laughed heartedly and patted William on the back, "And it looks like it was worth it, breaking through to such an extent. Your almost caught up to me, haha."
William breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, everyone else who had witnessed Hamar's 'river of time' continued to stand still as if nothing was happening, "Is everyone fine?"
Hamar looked around, "It should be fine, they should be taking in their experiences. Without a tribulation to wake them up personally they needed time to take in their experiences. Everyone here hopefully has had some minor breakthroughs..."
***
In a room with a huge amount of pressure, one which contained the top leaders of every Sect's projection. Mo Huai crushed his hand, he had been watching the whole event from afar. A few moments prior he was ready to storm out and save his disciple but luckily he refrained himself and it was sorted.
"That boy...he may be even crazier that Hou...maybe." He smiled and muttered the line under his breath.
One of the projections raised its eyebrows, "What was that Elder Mo Huai, of the Nine Clouds Sovereign Sect?"
Mo Huai waved his hands, "it was nothing, you were talking about the information we got? It's reliable, the map is as good a resource as we have, I trust the supplier."
The man who was talking squinted, "It wasn't the Night Sky...so who do you trust so much?"
"My disciple of course, haha"