High Martial: I Grind Professions

Ever since Li Wen's Primordial Spirit broke through to the Tier One Star Lord Realm, the opponents he was matched with in the fighting arena could no longer provide enough pressure or Martial Dao experience.

Even though his physical body had now advanced to the Saint Realm, allowing him to be matched with Saint Realm opponents, he still had to grind his rank all over again. And even after he climbed back up, there likely wouldn't be many suitable opponents anyway.

Hearing this, the geniuses at the table all wore different expressions.

This was especially true for the greatsword warrior, Raymond, who had been effortlessly crushed by Li Wen with just two fingers in the fighting arena.

He had long since let go of his initial arrogance and, upon hearing Li Wen's words, nodded with deep understanding.

"That's right. The King tier of the virtual fighting arena has long since lost its challenge for you.

Looking across the entire younger generation of the Alka Empire, you can't find a single opponent at the Venerable Realm who can truly match you.

In fact, after you defeated Ares, that place became more like a warm-up ground for you."

Instead of being annoyed, Ares just laughed again, completely unconcerned by Li Wen's delay in choosing a faction.

"Raymond is absolutely right! But Brother Li Wen, you don't need to worry about opponents. A real challenge is coming very soon!"

A sharp glint flashed in his eyes as he stared intently at Li Wen, his gaze filled with a strong sense of notice and anticipation.

"Oh?" Li Wen showed the perfect amount of confusion, leaning forward slightly. "What kind of challenge? Brother Ares, you seem very excited."

Just then, Isabel, who had been sitting quietly to the side in a moon-white, star-patterned dress, spoke up at the perfect moment, her voice as cool and clear as moonlight, picking up the conversation.

"Ares must be talking about the 'Cosmic Peak Genius Battle'."

Her eyes, which seemed to contain starlight, turned to Li Wen as she explained clearly,

"It's co-hosted by several super-factions that stand at the apex of the universe, with the Source Net taking the lead.

It's the highest-level grand event for all geniuses under two hundred years old across all of human territory. It's held once every millennium, and its scale… is unimaginably vast."

"Yes! That's the one!" Ares cut in excitedly, his fists clenching unconsciously. A burning battle intent raged in his crimson-gold eyes.

"This is the true touchstone for the strong! It gathers the most supreme prodigies from every advanced human empire across the entire universe!

To be able to make a name for yourself there, or even fight your way into the top ranks, is the true, ultimate glory!

All of us have been preparing desperately for this!

And it officially begins in just one month!

Li Wen, with your strength and potential, you absolutely have what it takes to compete in this grand feast!

It would be a huge shame to miss it!"

"The Cosmic Peak Genius Battle? Once a millennium? Every advanced human empire?"

Surprise and shock appeared on Li Wen's face at just the right moment.

"Absolutely true!" another genius from the imperial star added, his voice filled with excitement.

"The news has already spread among the upper echelons of the major empires and top factions. Registration and the preliminary screening will probably be initiated soon, handled either by the imperial government or the Source Net branches.

Our Alka Empire, as one of the ten thousand advanced empires in human territory, will naturally select a team of its thousand strongest geniuses from a countless pool to represent the empire!"

The topic immediately caught fire, and everyone began to excitedly discuss the popular candidates for this year's Genius Battle.

Soon, one name was mentioned repeatedly—Saphis Yingge.

"That guy Saphis is a real monster. He's one of the few on the imperial star who successfully advanced to Tier One Star Lord before he was a hundred. His grasp of the Law of Shadow is mysterious and unpredictable."

"Yeah, in this imperial selection, he's definitely a strong contender for the top ten, or even higher."

"Sigh, compared to him…" After discussing Saphis for a bit, the topic shifted back to themselves, and they all shook their heads and sighed.

"For people like us, we'd be content just to snatch a spot in the top thousand during the empire's genius-filled preliminaries and qualify for the final rounds. We don't dare hope for more."

Soon, everyone's gaze focused on Li Wen again, filled with unconcealed admiration and expectation:

"Brother Li Wen is different, though! He's broken through to the Saint Realm now. His combat power is a whole level higher than when he defeated Ares!

In this imperial selection, getting into the top hundred is an absolute certainty for him!"

Ares also nodded with a smile, speaking to Li Wen half-jokingly and half-seriously,

"Yeah, Brother Li Wen, if we run into each other during the first stage of the preliminaries, you have to go easy on me and carry your bro!"

Hearing this, everyone burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became even more relaxed and congenial.

After chatting for a while longer, the banquet finally came to an end.

The group of them left together.

They walked along the roads of the imperial star's core district, which shimmered with a faint starlight, heading back toward the area where the Source Net branch was located.

As they neared the villa district, they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways toward their own residences.

...

Li Wen soon returned to his private villa, Number 11 in Sector B.

The heavy door closed silently behind him, shutting out all the noise and prying eyes of the outside world.

The faint blush from the Spirit Wine and the relaxed expression on Li Wen's face instantly vanished.

In their place, an irrepressible, burning desire now blazed in his deep eyes.

"The Cosmic Peak Genius Battle…" he muttered to himself, his consciousness instantly connecting to the Virtual Cosmos network.

He didn't go to the familiar Ultimate Fighting Arena but instead directly issued a command to the Star Pivot in his sea of consciousness:

"Star Pivot, using my current highest level of authority, search for all public information on the 'Cosmic Peak Genius Battle'."

A massive flood of information instantly poured into Li Wen's sea of consciousness, like a cosmic Star River bursting its banks.

The Star Pivot's powerful information-processing capabilities operated at high efficiency, quickly organizing and extracting the core content and presenting it clearly before Li Wen's eyes.