High Martial: I Grind Professions

He paused, his voice tinged with awe. "Although this commotion... is certainly a bit much. Still, it’s the kind of commotion that makes you jealous."

Once the shock passed, immense joy surged through everyone’s hearts.

Li Wen had broken through! This news was more exhilarating than any power source.

"I see... So what about the energy alert?"

"Keep monitoring and record the parameters. But we can lower the alert level. It’s not an enemy attack."

A genuine smile spread across Zhao Zheng’s face. "This is a good thing. A tremendously good thing."

’His heart churned with excitement.’

He too was a Path Realm expert and knew full well the difficulty and terror of this stage.

The stronger Li Wen was, the more secure his presence made the defenses of Changning City, and even the entire Jiangnan Province.

...

Just as the people in the monitoring room were discussing this excitedly, Li Wen—who was currently channeling the powers of heaven and earth, his ’Sky-Rend’ saber intent causing the very clouds to roil—sharply detected something. He picked up a faint trace of spiritual focus from deep underground, as well as the fluctuations from satellite microwave detection.

The fluctuations were faint, but to the senses of his Third Layer Primordial Spirit, they were perfectly clear.

’So, they’ve detected me...’ Li Wen thought, unsurprised.

He didn’t want to expose the full details of his post-breakthrough state.

With a mere thought, the violent, swirling power of heaven and earth that had been scattering in all directions instantly became restrained and orderly.

Using his newly formed Intent of the Saber Path as a core, he meticulously churned and folded the chaotic Energy Field that covered a radius of several miles.

In an instant, the invisible interference field strengthened severalfold, completely blocking all precision detection signals from the area. It truly became as inscrutable as a black hole.

Inside the monitoring room, the screen that had been struggling to parse the blurry image data instantly dissolved into pure static.

"We’ve lost the signal completely..."

"That’s Captain Li for you..."

Everyone gasped in amazement, their expressions filled with nothing but respect.

Once he was certain he could no longer be detected, Li Wen focused his mind once more.

He didn’t rush to consolidate his new realm. Instead, he withdrew the immense power that stirred the heavens and the earth and began to experiment with a different kind of fusion.

He took a wisp of his Primordial Spirit’s power and, as if weaving the most intricate silk thread, carefully infused it into the surging torrent of his True Essence.

He didn’t draw his saber. He simply made a light swipe with a finger imbued with True Essence.

VZZT!

A distorted, transparent rift remained in the air, lingering for a long moment. An aura of sharpness, so intense it would make an ordinary Great Sun Realm expert’s blood run cold, erupted and then vanished in the same breath.

’Fusing my Primordial Spirit with my True Essence, combined with the saber arts of the Path Realm...’ Li Wen savored the feeling, a sharp light glinting in his eyes. ’With a full-power burst in this state, my conventional combat power... is now infinitesimally close to the ’threshold Marquis Level’!’

Suppressing the flicker of excitement in his heart, he immediately tried a second method: fusing the power of his Primordial Spirit into his physical body.

He shifted his focus, immersing his consciousness completely within his physical body.

The vast power of his Primordial Spirit no longer spread outward to merge with his True Essence. Instead, it fully converged, becoming an intangible forge and power source, integrating into every inch of his flesh and bone, hiding deep within his very blood and marrow.

HMMMM!

An unparalleled sense of power welled up from within him.

No light shone from his body, yet he exuded a terrifying sense of density and power, as if he were forged from immortal, divine metal.

He threw a casual punch, creating a tangible sonic boom that rippled through the air. The pressure from the shockwave alone was enough to bend trees dozens of feet away.

’Fusing my Primordial Spirit into my physical body...’ Li Wen felt a power boost that was a whole tier stronger than when he had fused it with his True Essence. The leap in his physical strength was a qualitative one. He could finally confirm it.

’In this state, relying on my physical strength alone, combined with the power of heaven and earth I can now initially control, my conventional combat power has solidly reached... the true ’threshold Marquis Level’!’

This meant that, as of now, he was firmly established at the threshold Marquis Level, both in his saber-led True Essence attack system and in the domain of Primordial Spirit Secret Skills.

It had been little more than a year since he first entered the Great Sun Realm, yet he already possessed two different methods of fighting at the Marquis Level. Such progress was nothing short of terrifying.

However, Li Wen’s gaze had already moved beyond his current achievements, focusing on an even clearer summit.

’All that’s left is to cultivate my physical body to the Peak of the Great Sun Realm and for my life’s essence to complete its evolution...’

’My mind is perfectly clear.’ He looked inward, observing his own body. His True Essence was already surging at the level of the Mid-stage Great Sun Realm.

At that time, these three sources of power would fuse completely. With such a deep foundation, the resulting breakthrough would be far more than just a small step.

He would directly possess... the power of a peak Marquis Level expert!

Only then would he possess the decisive power to truly turn the tide on a battlefield against veteran Demon Kings, or even King-level opponents.

The setting sun cast long shadows across the top of Nameless Mountain.

A purple, iridescent light flared once more. But compared to his arrival, this light was far more restrained, more profound, as if it contained the might of the entire world. In an instant, it vanished in the direction of Changning City.

...

「Galactic Calendar 234, August 1.」

An entire month had passed since Li Wen’s breakthrough into the "Path Realm" of saber arts atop Nameless Mountain in the western suburbs.

Over the past month, his command over the power of heaven and earth had grown more adept. By combining it with his Primordial Spirit, every time he patrolled the Changning City defense line, a mere flicker of his spiritual sense was enough to perceive the flow of all auras within a radius of dozens of miles.

He had just finished his routine patrol and was now standing on a high slope outside Changning City, gazing down at the orderly defense line.

The sun was scorching, and a hazy heat shimmered up from the baked ground.

Suddenly, a cold sensation on his wrist shattered the tranquility.

The smart wristband on his arm vibrated sharply. A piercing red light flashed without a sound as an urgent distress call was projected onto the holographic screen before him.