The five minor realms: when the spiritual veins enter the body, breaking through the knots of the Heaven, Earth, and Human meridians, and connecting the main meridian with hundreds of minor meridians within the body, this is called the Spirit Movement Realm. The Body Tempering Realm and the Illusory Light Realm are also stages I have experienced. The Sky Surge Realm is considered a watershed; some people can never break through the Sky Surge Meridian in their lifetime to enter the Sky Surge Realm, but I completed this process at the age of fourteen.

……

“I heard you had a fight with Anna Sutton yesterday?” Emily Baker took a sip of mutton soup and asked with a smile.

“Yeah, she insisted on challenging me, so I had no choice.”

“Don’t be so impulsive next time. Anna Sutton is the daughter of the Chief after all, and she has quite a temper. If things get out of hand, you’ll be the one to suffer.” There was a hint of reproach in her tone.

I couldn’t help but feel a warmth in my heart and asked with a smile, “Sis, if I got hurt by Anna Sutton, what would you do?”

Emily Baker raised her delicate eyebrows, exuding a bit of an air of superiority, and said with a smile, “However badly she hurts you, I’ll hurt her just as much. I don’t care if she’s the Federation Chief’s daughter—even if the King of Heaven himself says something, it won’t matter. You’re my only little brother…”

“What about William?”

“Hmph, I cut ties with those two a long time ago.” As she spoke, Emily Baker looked at me with a deep gaze and said, “I know who my real family is, and I’m sure you understand what I mean.”

“I know, sis.”

“Eat more!”

“Boss, two more pots of noodle cakes!”

“……”

……

The meal cost over seven hundred Dragon Spirit coins. Sis Emily’s face almost turned green. She gloomily sent me back to the Sword Grinding Office and left, handing me two thousand Dragon Spirit coins as my living expenses for meals for the next few days.

Full and satisfied, I quickly fell asleep, and when I woke up again, it was already morning.

After washing up, I got back to work.

There were more swords to deliver today—nearly twenty more than yesterday. The intensity of the new students’ training seemed to be increasing.

In the morning, the gentle sunlight fell across the campus. From the distant training grounds came the occasional low shouts of students. This year’s students are strong; there are over a hundred who have already reached the Illusory Light Realm or higher. If I hadn’t lost my cultivation, I’d probably be the top new student. In terms of cultivation, Anna Sutton is at the mid-stage of the Sky Surge Realm, while I had already reached the peak of the Sky Surge Realm. If my spiritual veins hadn’t withered, I might already be breaking through to the Spirit Soul Realm by now.

As I was thinking, a few people suddenly appeared in front of my small cart, all wearing the Wanling Academy uniform. One of them had golden hair and an arrogant look, blocking the center of the road, his eyes full of provocation as he said, “Are you the alternate student Ethan Baker?”

“Yes, what do you want?”

“Can’t your Grandpa Logan Sullivan come find you even if there’s nothing wrong?”

He chuckled, raised his thumb and pointed at himself, saying, “Haven’t you heard of your Grandpa Logan Sullivan’s reputation?”

“I don’t know you. Please move aside.” I frowned. Just as I thought, the school newspaper’s report had already brought me trouble.

“Oh, got quite a temper, huh?” Logan Sullivan spread his left hand, gripping the front of the small cart like an iron clamp, then grabbed an iron training sword with his right hand and tossed it to me, laughing, “Let me see just how strong the person who beat Anna Sutton really is!”

As he spoke, his right hand made a grasping motion in the air, instantly manifesting a sword hilt. Spiritual power surged out, and he drew a spirit-forged sword: “Come forth, Soul Destroyer!”

I put the iron sword back into the cart and said, “I’m not going to fight you. If you insist on making a move, you’ll be breaking school rules.”

“Is that so?”

Logan Sullivan suddenly kicked over the small cart and sneered, “So what if I break the school rules just this once? Are you going to fight or not? Don’t force me to make the first move.”

On the side, the other students jeered and laughed, “Alternate student, where’s all that swagger you had when you beat Anna Sutton? What, you don’t dare fight our Logan?”

One of them kicked a training iron sword at me, the blade spinning rapidly.

Although I’d lost my spiritual power, my reflexes were still there. I caught the sword barehanded with a “snap,” and at the same time, Logan Sullivan shouted, swinging the Soul Destroyer sword in a sweeping arc. He was so fast I couldn’t dodge, so I could only block with the training iron sword.

“Clang!”

My arm went numb from the shock, and my body was knocked sideways nearly two meters by Logan Sullivan’s blow, slamming hard into the wall. What power!

Logan Sullivan looked at me smugly, the Soul Destroyer in his hand glowing with intimidating spiritual light. He laughed, “I can strike with a force of three hundred and forty jun with a single sword. Do you really think you can withstand me?”

A jun is the unit of strength in the Dragon Spirit Federation. Spirit weapon users usually measure their strength limit in jun. Naturally, the greater the strength, the stronger the person. Logan Sullivan’s three hundred and forty jun places him among the Sky Surge Realm experts, which is pretty good. However, he’s not a new student this year, but a senior. The word “Rise” is written in large characters on his chest—he’s from the strongest of the five major academies, the Rise Academy.

I brushed the dust off my shoulder and said, “Are you going to keep fighting?”