High Martial: I Grind Professions

Similar scenes were playing out almost simultaneously above a dozen other passes on Blue Star, each housing a large-scale Stargate that, in theory, should have been guarded by a top-tier Marquis.

The powerful leaders of the Shadow Organization, coordinating with the Demon Race’s teleportation plan, precisely tied down and even intercepted some of the Human Race’s top combatants, creating a precious window of escape for the infiltrating Demon Kings.

...

Changning City, Stargate Fortress.

Fireworks were still sporadically blooming in the city district, and the sounds of celebration could be faintly heard.

Inside the fortress, however, the atmosphere was as heavy as iron.

Reports flooded the communication network like an avalanche of snowflakes: urgent pleas for help, encounters with powerful enemies, and discoveries of infiltrating Demon Kings, all painting a grim picture of Blue Star engulfed in the flames of war.

Li Wen remained still, saber in hand. The Stargate before him was silent, without the slightest ripple of energy.

This extreme anomaly seemed particularly bizarre amidst the deluge of war alerts.

"What’s going on? Could it be..." Ling Feng’s voice was laced with confusion and anxiety.

Li Wen closed his eyes, focusing his spirit. His Primordial Spirit power acted like the most precise radar, meticulously scanning every inch of space within a radius of dozens of miles.

Suddenly, his closed eyelids twitched.

’He’s here!’

From a certain direction, roughly dozens of miles from the fortress, a powerful and clandestine aura was tearing through the sky at an astonishing speed.

The aura was cold and slithery, suffused with palpable malice. Its target was locked directly onto the Changning City Stargate Fortress.

Its energy level had shockingly reached the peak of the Marquis Level.

"I see." Li Wen opened his eyes, a cold glint flashing within them. "They’re waiting for someone."

He had been wondering why the Star Gate here was completely inactive.

It now seemed the Demon Race hadn’t abandoned this location. Instead, they were cautiously waiting for an expert powerful enough to suppress the defenders to arrive first. This expert would clear the way or buy time for the main army after the portal opened.

A few breaths after Li Wen sensed the peak Marquis Level aura—

BUZZ!

On the Changning City Stargate, the runes that had long been dormant suddenly blazed with a blinding red light, like cold water thrown onto a searing iron block.

The frame of the gate trembled violently. The space at its center instantly warped, and a powerful, chaotic spatial fluctuation, thick with tyrannical demonic energy, erupted forth.

The nebulous vortex began to spin!

Almost at the same moment the Star Gate activated, a black silhouette appeared in the sky above the fortress, like an arrow tearing through the night.

The newcomer hovered in mid-air, his face concealed by a cold, serpentine mask. From beneath it, his gaze locked onto the saber-wielding Li Wen below like a viper.

An intangible pressure, characteristic of a peak Marquis Level expert and mixed with dense killing intent, crashed down upon the entire fortress like a heavy, leaden cloud.

The arrival was none other than the new leader of the Snake Division!

The battle for Changning Pass had, at this moment, finally been ignited.

As the new Snake Division leader’s figure stepped fully out from the surging energy, a majestic pressure belonging to a peak Marquis Level godfiend swept over the entire Changning City Stargate Fortress like a physical tsunami.

The air seemed to freeze in an instant. The crushing pressure made all the defending godfiends—except for Li Wen, Ling Feng, and a few other stronger individuals—gasp for breath, their faces turning pale.

An intangible fear sprouted instinctively from the depths of their hearts, spreading to their very bones.

The fortress’s alarm system blared shrilly, and the energy spike indicating an enemy attack flashed blindingly on the monitoring screens.

Fear is the most primal reaction of a living being when faced with an immense threat.

However, while the bodies of every Human Race godfiend stationed here trembled instinctively, not a single one of them moved a step.

They gritted their teeth, forcibly suppressing their churning blood and the chill rising in their hearts. They tightened their grip on their weapons as their True Essence circulated faster within them, protective auras flaring to life as they quickly formed a battle formation.

Duty was already carved into their very marrow: to hold the pass, to repel the invaders, and to protect every ordinary citizen behind them, each one immersed in the peaceful atmosphere of New Year’s Eve.

"Li Wen." The Snake Division leader’s cold gaze pierced through the chaotic energy flow, landing precisely on the upright figure before the Stargate.

He didn’t attack immediately. Instead, with a condescending air and a hint of a cat toying with a mouse, he spoke. His voice wasn’t loud, but it reached everyone’s ears clearly:

"Blue Star cannot be defended. With your talent and aptitude, why be buried alongside it? Join my Shadow Organization, and we can let bygones be bygones."

He paused, as if savoring everyone’s tense reactions. Then, he slowly raised his right hand, extended a single finger, and pointed with an air of unquestionable authority at the comrades standing ready around Li Wen:

"The condition is simple. Kill them. All of them. Use their blood to earn your qualification to join the Shadow Organization."

After speaking, a confident and cruel smile touched the corners of the Snake Division leader’s mouth, as if he could already envision the spectacular scene of Li Wen caught in a dilemma, or perhaps even his subordinates turning on each other.

This malicious attempt at persuasion made the hearts of the defending godfiends sink.

An atmosphere of despair coiled around their hearts like cold vines.

Faced with the terrifying existence of a peak Marquis Level expert, a threshold Marquis might have given them a sliver of hope to hold on. But a peak Marquis?

The chasm between the two was too vast, so large it was suffocatingly hopeless.

Many of them subconsciously looked toward Li Wen. In such a desperate situation, they needed a reaction from their backbone.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Li Wen reacted as if he had just heard an utterly absurd joke.

He didn’t even glance at his comrades, his face showing no hint of hesitation or struggle.

The very instant the Snake Division leader’s words fell, Li Wen took a step forward, his body leaving a faint afterimage in its place.

The battle saber he had wielded for so long transformed into a sharp glint of light that tore through space, carrying with it a resolute killing intent as it unhesitatingly slashed toward the high and mighty Snake Division leader!

A Late-stage Great Sun Realm expert was taking the initiative to draw his saber on a peak Marquis!