High Martial: I Grind Professions

Wujing Demon Saint nodded, his gaze sweeping over him.

"Hmph. You’re just in time. Your aura is restrained... looks like you forced yourself not to act? Did you take care of that human brat?"

A bloody glint flashed in Fu Yan’s eyes before he regained his composure and shook his head.

"I haven’t acted yet. I used my Primordial Spirit to scan the area, but I couldn’t sense Li Wen’s exact location. He must be in some kind of shielded state or a place of secluded cultivation. The boy is extremely vigilant. I was worried that forcefully using my Demon Power to probe for him would expose me and startle the snake in the grass."

"Your judgment was correct," Wujing Demon Saint said approvingly.

"Mountain Rain Pass is currently guarded by a Human Race Venerable in person, making it a forbidden zone. If you were to act nearby and cause a major energy fluctuation, and he were to catch even a trace of it with his perception of the rules, escaping unscathed would be difficult. A rash search would not have been worth the risk."

Fu Yan said in a low voice, "That was precisely my concern."

"Good. It’s best that you understand the bigger picture. He’s just a minor Great Sun Realm cultivator. There will be plenty of opportunities; no need to rush."

Wujing Demon Saint’s gaze swept over Fu Yan and the other three Great Demon Kings.

"Since the four of you have arrived, and with the eleven King-level members from Shadow, we finally have enough people. We can begin to implement the plan."

A sharp glint flashed in the eyes of Fu Yan and the others. They spoke in unison, "We await the Demon Saint’s command!"

...

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, another month had passed.

「Galactic Calendar, Year 235, October 1st. Night.」

In Changning City, in a quiet residential area for High Tier Gods and Demons.

In one of the courtyards, Li Wen’s figure could be seen under the night sky, stretching his limbs in a slow rhythm that held a powerful life force.

He was tempering his physical body. A pure and powerful force of qi and blood surged through his flesh, bones, and blood, emitting a faint but clear roar like the tide.

Meanwhile, less than a hundred meters from Li Wen’s courtyard, inside the meditation chamber of another courtyard of the same specifications, Zhao Zheng, the rotating captain of the Changning City garrison and a veteran God and Demon at the Peak of the Great Sun Realm, was sitting cross-legged. The Spiritual Power around him rippled intensely, like a lake’s surface after a stone has been thrown into it.

He was not cultivating his physical body, but his Primordial Spirit.

A basic Primordial Spirit Cultivation Method called the *Firewood Star Gazing Record* was operating deep within his consciousness.

This was the only official Primordial Spirit Cultivation Method available to every God and Demon of the Human Race who reached the Great Sun Realm.

All Marquis Level Gods and Demons relied on this method, combined with their own comprehension, to condense their initial Primordial Spirit seed, like water dripping through stone.

Naturally, Li Wen had also mastered this method.

But the method was so slow to show results that, compared to his Scholar class, it seemed exceptionally difficult and inefficient.

In his opinion, the boost to his Primordial Spirit from bitterly cultivating this method for a year was not even as great as the bonus he had received when his Scholar level increased from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2 in his early years.

Especially now, at this critical period when his physical body was just one step away from its peak, he really couldn’t spare the precious time to study this turtle-paced method.

But veteran powerhouses like Zhao Zheng were different.

After reaching the Peak of the Great Sun Realm in his fifties, his physical body cultivation had long since reached a point where further progress was impossible.

His remaining energy and the long years ahead could only be pinned on this sole path of Primordial Spirit advancement.

A full thirty years of arduous work—polishing his consciousness, tempering his spirit, and constantly compressing and condensing his vast accumulated Spiritual Power—all to nurture that tiny source of his own Primordial Spirit, one that could separate from his sea of consciousness and perceive the world independently.

One could only imagine the difficulty.

It wasn’t as if there hadn’t been astonishingly talented individuals in the history of the Human Race who tried to improve or create new Primordial Spirit methods.

There was once a senior who had reached the eighth layer of the Primordial Spirit Realm. He poured all his effort into trying to open up a more efficient path for Primordial Spirit cultivation.

But in the end, he discovered that even someone as powerful as him could not surpass the *Firewood Star Gazing Record*.

His attempt to create a new method was ultimately, and regretfully, set aside.

At this moment, inside the meditation chamber, the muscles on Zhao Zheng’s face twitched imperceptibly. It was as if a point of invisible light between his eyebrows was about to burst forth from his body.

His mental state was completely different from usual. His Spiritual Power was condensed to an unprecedented degree, like countless streams surging through his conscious space and converging on a single core point—a clear sign of a Primordial Spirit congealing.

Outside the chamber, Li Wen, who was immersed in his physical cultivation, suddenly raised an eyebrow.

His powerful Primordial Spirit, far surpassing that of an ordinary Great Sun Realm cultivator, had keenly detected the unusual energy convergence hundreds of meters away.

"Oh?" Li Wen slowly relaxed his stance, stopping his physical tempering. His gaze shifted toward Zhao Zheng’s courtyard, a hint of understanding flashing in his eyes. ’Senior Brother Zhao... is about to succeed.’

He could clearly sense that as the spiritual fluctuations climbed to their peak and then suddenly collapsed, a brand-new soul aura—weak, yet exceptionally pure, and capable of existing independently, free from the shackles of the physical body—had finally and stably been born within Zhao Zheng.

A sincere smile touched Li Wen’s lips.

This senior brother of his, who had defended the front lines for decades and paid a price in hardship and time that ordinary people could scarcely imagine, was finally welcoming his moment of ascension.

The Human Race was about to gain a new Marquis Level Guardian.

Li Wen didn’t go over to congratulate him immediately.

He understood that Zhao Zheng, having just condensed his Primordial Spirit, urgently needed to stabilize this nascent foundation and adapt to his new state.

The night faded, replaced by the faint light of dawn.

「The next morning, October 2nd.」

As the first rays of sunlight filled the courtyards, all combat personnel stationed in Changning City received a short but shocking message:

"Captain Zhao Zheng successfully condensed his Primordial Spirit last night and is about to break through to the Marquis Level!"

Before long, the Gods and Demons who had received the summons all gathered in the training hall.