Arriving at the Spirit Sword Academy

"Yawn..." William petted lucky, who was sitting next to him.

"This is boring." William looked around the carriage he was in. He was on the way to Spirit Sword Academy, in a fancy carriage guarded by three guards, two in the spirit condensation realm, and one in the core formation realm. Currently, two of them were sitting opposite him, and one of the guards in the spirit condensation realm was driving the carriage.

He did find it weird that he was alone when he knew someone had also registered for the same school. He had asked the guards about the other token he saw when he was applying for the school, but they told him that the other person was traveling on their own.

He had also been told that the journey would be about 15 days long, but with no one to talk to, he was already bored, even though it had only been 2 days.

William fed Lucky some spiritual sunflower seeds before looking out the window. It was the same boring scenery as the previous day, endless plains with some patches of trees.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of galloping horses, and a loud yell.

"Whoever's in that carriage, leave exit unarmed with your hands above your head!"

The guards in the carriage ran out with their weapons, telling William to stay in the carriage. Curiously, William peeked out the window of the carriage.

"What's happening now?"

Two men and a woman on horseback were coming up to the carriage, and the three guards of the carriage stood in their way.

"System, how strong are they?"

"They're all in the spirit condensation realm."

William sighed in relief. That meant the guards still had an advantage. He turned back towards the confrontation.

"What do you want?" Asked the guard at the front.

One of the men on the horses sneered.

"We're bandits, what else would we want? Give up your valuables or die."

"You dare to rob those from the Spirit Sword Academy?!"

"What does that have to do with us? We'll be long gone before they know a thing!"

The bandits advanced, bringing out their weapons. The guards also prepared for battle, retreating closer to the carriage so they could protect William.

Suddenly, one of the bandits yelled.

"Shadow, now!"

William heard a loud thud behind him, and just as he turned around, a cloaked man already stood in front of him. Lifting up their arm, they pointed a bow at William, with its string pulled to his limit and an arrow aimed at his head.

"Don't move or he's dead."

William froze. The guards that were facing the bandits turned around but didn't dare to move. William knew things would get bad if this continued, and he frantically thought of solutions. Suddenly, he had an idea. He looked towards the man with the bow and noticed they they weren't paying attention to him.

'System, find a small knife. Mortal-high tier or higher.'

______________________________

[Hidden Darkness]

[Price: 405 SP]

[Spirit Mid Tier Weapon]

[A concealed knife that blends into the darkness. It's made of..]

______________________________

'Just buy it already.'

"Purchase [Hidde-"

'Yes.'

William felt a small knife appeared in his hand and he held onto it tightly, waiting for the right opportunity.

"Drop your weapons. I'm giving you 10 seconds."

The guards seemed to hesitate, before slowly lowering their weapons. William noticed the bandits relaxing, and he knew this was his chance.

'Now!'

William spun around and swung at the man with the bow. Unfortunately, he couldn't land a clean hit, only grazing their chest since they stepped back the second they noticed his movement.

"Shit!"

One of the bandits cursed. Now that they had lost their hostage, there was nothing to stop the core condensation realm cultivator from attacking them.

"Quick, deal with the kid!"

The man with the bow hastily fired at William. William quickly ducked, feeling a sharp pain across his back. Ignoring it temporarily, he leapt at the man, who was trying to notch another arrow. They noticed his actions and quickly reached towards their waist, where there was a dagger.

William put away his knife, opting to use two swords instead.

"Falling Leaves!"

There were four consecutive clangs, and all his attacks were blocked by the man. William summoned ten swords from his spacial ring, making them harass his opponent while he attacked them.

"Torrent of Leaves!"

Countless attacks rained down on his opponent and they struggled to fight back, for to block or dodge his attacks.

"Shadow step!"

The man seemed to disappear, suddenly appearing behind William. They raised the knife, then thrusted it downwards.

"Splat!"

A spear suddenly flew out of nowhere and pierced through the man's head, leaving a bloody hole behind. William stepped the away from the corpse as it fell to the ground, feeling queasy. Turning away from the blood leaking out of the man's skull, he checked on the battle between the guards and the other bandits.

The battle was already over, three cold corpses lying on the ground. THe guards put away their weapons, returning to the carriage. One of the guards seemed to notice his unease, and came over to pat his shoulder.

"Don't think too much about it. They tried to kill us, so there's nothing wrong with fighting back. This is just the world of cultivators. You'll get used to it soon enough."

The guard walked away, and William took one last glance at the corpses before turning away.

...

The following days passed without any major change, and eventually, William had finally arrived at the city where the Spirit Sword Academy was located.

"So this is a tier 4 city... "

William looked in awe at the large, towering walls that were surrounding the city. They were made a a mysterious dark metal, covered in inscriptions and formations of all shapes and sizes. At the top of the wall, hundreds of soldiers stood guard, and he could see countless flying beasts patrolling the air.

The thick gate creaked open, letting the carriage inside. The guards at the entrance bowed when they saw the insignia on the carriage, letting them into the city without any inspection.

Upon arriving inside the city, William was captivated by the beautiful buildings that dotted the city. The city looked modern, with all manner of buildings. Some floated in the air, some were giant metal forms that towered over the rest. To his left, he could see a mysterious pagoda, floating a few feet above the ground. Next to it was a modern house, with clean wooden floors and sharp corners. Nearby, there was a branch of the blacksmith guild, taking up an entire football fields worth of space.

However, the most grand building in the city floated hundred of feet up in the air. It was almost completely white, with towering pillars and gold edges to accentuate its beauty.

"That's the royal palace. It's where the city lord and his kin reside. It also contains the national treasury and is the most defended place in the city," one of the guards explained.

"If you look nearby, you'll see the spirit sword academy and the other two schools in the city."

William looked around, and indeed, he could see three large buildings just slightly beneath the royal palace in both size and grandeur. Each of the three schools had their own emblem. One of them had two crossed swords, which was clearly the Spirit Sword Academy. The other two had both a fist and a book respectively.

"So what are those other schools?"

"The one with the fist is called the Battling Heavens Academy, and the other is called the School of Divine Knowledge. One focuses on battling capability as the main contributor to victory, while the other focuses on knowledge, such as using formations or understanding the weaknesses of your opponent's technique to win. We three schools have been competing since the city was founded for the title of the best school. In the past, our Spirit Sword Academy had consistently held the position of first place for years!"

"So what place are we now?"

The guard looked embarrassed.

"Currently, we hold last place. There haven't been many talented sword practitioners joining recently, which is why the lowered the standards to even include exams in a tier 2 city, such as yours."

William had been wondering why he hadn't seen the other two schools as choices when he was choosing schools, and that quickly cleared up his doubts.

"So who's in first then?"

"It's the Battling Heavens Academy. They have the strongest combat power among us, while we and the School of Divine Knowledge focus more on training our mental states and techniques."

"Is there a point to the rankings?"

"Well, you might not know this, but since our schools enroll students for free, we rely mainly on donations and resources from the royal palace to support ourselves. However, there are three schools in the city, so we're constantly competing for those resources. Eventually, it was decided that we would hold a tournament every year to decide our rankings, and that would determine which schools would get the most resources from the royal palace."

"I see..."

In the time they were conversing, they had already arrived at the Spirit Sword Academy.

"So how do we get up there?" William caned his neck to look at the school, floating on a island high above them.

"Don't worry, there's a teleportation formation here."

The carriage was driven on a circular platform covered in complicated lines and inscriptions. A moment later, a blue glow covered William's view, and a strange feeling spread across his body.