Martial Sword Sect

James had been thinking about cultivating further but when he saw the scene in front of him his mind went blank. In front of James, there was a wide layout of land filled with rolling hills and mountains. However, this was not his main focus as a little distance away on the biggest mountain there were houses galore.

On this huge mountain, there were many different sections clearly divided while at the very peak of this mountain, there was a rising temple that reached high into the sky toward the clouds. Atop this temple, there was a large sword that James assumed was to represent the name of the Martial Sword Sect.

"Wow." James said in shock.

First Elder looked over at James as they got closer to the sect smiling as he saw the shock plastered all over James' face, "Welcome to the Martial Sword Sect!" First Elder said with a smile as they moved toward the highest peak at a fast pace.

Once the carpet was within range of the mountain James looked down below at the other sections of the mountain where he saw many different people walking around going about their daily lives. There were even a few people that James saw fighting seemingly in a way to hone their own abilities.

"This place is so big!" James said in awe of this place called a sect. James had lived in that village his entire life and had seen people such as merchants pass through his village with a lot of people but never in his entire life had he seen so many people at one time.

"Are all the people here cultivators like you and the rest of the elders?" James asked curiously as they were close to arriving at their destination.

"Yes, every person here has at least some form of cultivation no matter how weak or small. However, if you think that everyone here is like myself or the other elders, you would be mistaken. Every elder is a pillar of this sect and is among the strongest not only in this sect but in the surrounding region as well." First Elder explained as they reached the peak of the mountain.

"Do you mean there are even more sects than this one?!" James asked in shock as he could never imagine the absurdity of so many places having so many people.

"That's correct. Some sects are smaller than ours and while it's very few there are even some sects much larger than our own in this world." First Elder explained as the flying carpet touched the ground for the first time.

'Even larger?! I wonder what kind of place that would be?' James thought to himself as he stepped off the carpet with First Elder taking in the view around him. They were currently at the highest point of the mountain and in front of James was the rising temple with the sword on top.

It was a lot to take in for him considering the village he had just come from hours ago but he was trying his best to absorb as much as possible, "Oh it seems you guys beat us here." A voice said landing on the right of James and the First Elder.

When James turned his gaze toward the person he was surprised to see the Patriarch with the rest of the elders accompanying him, "We just got a little lucky on the way since we didn't meet any trouble." First Elder said with a smile as he also greeted the Patriarch.

"Good. Good. Welcome to the Martial Sword Sect boy. Follow me inside and I will tell you how everything works here. As for the rest of you, go check on the elders that stayed and inform them of the situation." Patriarch Colton said before he began walking inside while First Elder gestured for James to follow.

"Yes Patriarch!" The elders shouted in unison before going about their task.

Following their instructions, James followed inside the tall temple finding the inside to be just as amazing as the outside with all sorts of swords lining the walls some looking older than the elders and some looking like they had just been made days ago.

James followed Patriarch Colton all the way to a back room where a chest lay in the middle of the room. While James caught up, Patriarch Colton opened the chest and pulled out a small ring. Soon after items began appearing all over the place seemingly out of nowhere.

"I assume you have never seen a storage ring used before. It can store many things inside of it with the help of specific rare materials. Depending on how pure the material is it can even hold things as big as houses." Patriarch Colton explained after seeing the shocked face of James.

While James was still in his shocked state Patriarch Colton picked out a few things from the pile before walking over to James. The first thing he handed James was a small bronze token with a picture of a sword on it, "This is your disciple token. This proves that not only are you a disciple of our sect but that you are also an outer disciple. In this place no matter what every person starts as an outer disciple such as yourself. From there you can go to an inner disciple, then core disciple, and finally a sworn sword disciple. You can do this by doing many things for the sect or your progress in cultivation but don't worry about that for now and just get stronger." Patriarch Colton explained before handing James a dark black sword that had red lines going across it like veins.

"This is a sword artifact that I'm sure will be of great use for you throughout your time here. We were able to get it after we saved a cultivator a few years ago but have never found a use for it so hopefully, with you, it will finally see the light again. Although, we don't know the exact functions of the artifact I can guarantee it's stronger than anything you will find in the outer court. As for your final gift, with gifts, you need a way to carry them." Patriarch Colton explained before pulling out a rusty version of the storage ring from before.

'A storage ring!' James thought in his mind.