High Martial: I Grind Professions

Facing the thunderous, tsunami-like cheers and acclamations of "Changning King" from the tens of thousands of students, teachers, and experts on the front face of Enlightenment Peak.

Li Wen smiled and clasped his hands in acknowledgment, his gaze sweeping over the excited, reverent faces.

However, a fierce desire to understand his own power was already burning within him like a wildfire.

After a brief greeting, Li Wen's figure abruptly blurred under the astonished gazes of countless onlookers.

As if merging with space itself, he traversed tens of kilometers in an instant, vanishing completely from everyone's sight.

His speed defied common sense, even causing the pupils of the three Venerables, who were hidden deep within the crowd observing with a Secret Technique, to contract slightly, their faces showing unconcealable shock.

Leaving the range of the Fire Hall's ancestral vein, Li Wen didn't stop.

He sped all the way into the depths of a remote wilderness, each flash of movement an exploration of the limits of his new power.

The fierce winds of the wilderness were easily torn apart by him, and air resistance dropped to a minimum when he unfurled his Cosmic Domain.

When he finally stopped in a desolate wasteland, the results of his test were already clearly etched in his mind.

Just by using the normal, maximum burst of his True Gang and domain, a single flash covered forty kilometers!

This was a qualitative leap.

The True Gang condensed after reaching the King Realm contained a level of energy and explosive power far beyond True Essence, providing an explosive foundation for his speed.

And the newly formed Cosmic Domain, which was even more powerful than the Star Dome Domain.

One of its core characteristics was to greatly weaken spatial resistance. The two complemented each other perfectly.

One increasing power and the other decreasing resistance, his normal speed was several times faster than when he was at the peak of the Baron Realm.

Next, Li Wen tested the maximum speed of his Body Transformation into Nine Heavens.

With just a thought, his body transformed into a brilliant streak of lightning that shot across the sky.

One flash!

In an instant, he crossed a distance of a full one hundred kilometers!

Although the multiplier from Body Transformation into Nine Heavens had dropped to only about two times after he reached the King Realm,

the massive increase in his normal speed to forty kilometers per flash pushed this lightning-fast movement to a terrifying level.

Ten thousand li? That would take a mere few dozen seconds!

Such speed was enough to match or even surpass some ordinary Venerables who had a weaker grasp of Space Law and were slower at tearing space for short-distance travel.

"Good!" Feeling the ceaseless torrent of Cosmic True Gang in his body and the domain he could control at will, Li Wen's eyes flashed with a sharp glint. He was extremely satisfied with this result.

After testing his speed, he shifted his focus to his attack power.

He lightly brushed the spatial bracelet on his left wrist. A cold light flashed, and the long saber that had accompanied him for years was in his hand.

The first strike: a normal, full-power slash relying only on the foundation of his Nine Heavens Divine Body.

No fancy moves. He purely mobilized his King-level True Gang, combining it with the terrifying physical strength from the Ninth Layer of the *Nine Heavens Divine Body*, and brought his saber down in a vertical slash toward a small, barren hill in front of him!

BUZZ—!

Before the blade even arrived, the saber aura, condensed to its absolute limit, became almost tangible, tearing through the air with a piercing shriek.

The flash of the saber vanished in an instant, like a mere illusion.

However, the small hill was split down the middle as if by an invisible giant blade.

A massive, bottomless fissure, as smooth as a mirror, ran through the mountain. The aftershock even plowed a trench several thousand meters long into the earth behind it.

Amidst the swirling dust, Li Wen retracted his saber and stood.

With just the foundation of his physical body and his True Gang, the power of a single slash had already reached the peak King Tier!

The surging sense of power echoed within his body.

The second strike.

His mind sank into his sea of consciousness, and the Scholar System instantly activated [Absolute Focus]!

His thoughts accelerated to their limit. Everything in the outside world seemed to slow down, and the flow of energy became visible in fine detail.

Li Wen swung his saber again, aiming for another, larger hill.

The slash was still sharp and powerful, and the hill was likewise split open.

However…

Li Wen's brow furrowed slightly.

He could clearly sense that the power of this strike showed no improvement whatsoever compared to his previous normal, full-power attack.

The accelerated thinking and Insight from the [Absolute Focus] state were still there, but the boost to his raw power seemed to have hit an invisible wall and vanished completely.

"Just as I thought. Now that I've reached the King Realm, [Absolute Focus]'s direct buff to combat power has become completely ineffective,"

Li Wen muttered to himself, not feeling too disappointed. He had already sensed this might happen during his breakthrough.

After all, the energy level and operational principles of King-level True Gang and a Law Domain were on a completely different scale than before. The system's auxiliary abilities had reached some kind of upper limit.

'Fortunately, the improvements to my Insight, reaction time, and control over my moves during combat are still present. That value is also immeasurable.'

The third strike: Primordial Spirit Power fused with True Gang, a maximum burst.

Li Wen took a deep breath. From the depths of his sea of consciousness, the Primordial Spirit Power of the 4th Layer surged forth.

Like an invisible torrent, it attempted to fuse deeply with his rushing True Gang.

This was the trump card he had prided himself on in the Baron Realm, capable of instantly boosting his combat power to a level approaching the threshold of the King Realm.

This time, the saber's light carried an indescribable, sharp spiritual charm.

The power did indeed skyrocket, completely obliterating the target hill along with a large area of land behind it, leaving a massive crater.

The power increase was significant, but Li Wen silently calculated in his heart. The increase… was less than fifty percent!

The efficiency of fusing Primordial Spirit Power with True Gang had been greatly reduced, far from the heaven-defying effect it had when he was in the Baron Realm.

The fourth strike.

Li Wen went a step further, not only fusing his Primordial Spirit Power with his True Gang but also permeating it through his entire body to stimulate his full potential for the strongest possible burst.

The saber's light seemed to ignite, descending with a will that could tear through the void itself.

BOOM!

This time, the range of destruction was even wider. The earth trembled, and an energy storm raged.

The power increased again, but overall, compared to the initial basic slash, the total increase was only about double.

The amplification from fusing Primordial Spirit Power into his physical body was also greatly weakened.

Looking at the devastated wilderness before him, which looked as if it had been struck by a meteor, Li Wen sheathed his saber.

He had already anticipated this result.

The King Realm was a completely new height. His physical body, True Gang, domain, and Primordial Spirit had all undergone a qualitative transformation.

His 4th Layer Primordial Spirit, which once allowed him to look down on his peers, now held a negligible advantage against his King Realm body from the Ninth Layer of the *Nine Heavens Divine Body* and his Cosmic True Gang. They were almost on the same level.

The decline in the amplification effect was the inevitable result of his powers converging in their fundamental nature.

'It doesn't matter. A solid foundation is what's truly fundamental. Besides…'

Li Wen felt the surging Primordial Spirit Power in his sea of consciousness and saw the clearly visible experience bar on the Scholar System's interface.

'Once my Scholar level reaches 16, my Primordial Spirit will surely break through to the 5th Layer, the Possession Realm!'

Based on his experience points, he estimated that with his habit of six hours of efficient reading per day, another year would be enough to gain the required EXP to level up.

By then, his Primordial Spirit would once again surpass his physical body's realm, and the explosive power of their fusion would surely regain its edge.

Having finished his tests and gained a clear understanding of his own strength, Li Wen didn't linger. His body once again turned into a streak of lightning, speeding back toward Fire Hall University.

He had just stepped through the gates of Fire Hall University when the communicator on his wrist vibrated with a highest-priority notification—a summons from Principal Ye Qin, the Venerable.

Li Wen didn't dare to delay and immediately turned toward the back of Enlightenment Peak.

A familiar scene reappeared. Atop a giant green boulder, the figures of Ye Qin, Xingxuan, and Gu He—the three great pillars of the Human Race—sat quietly cross-legged.

"Good! Good! Good!" Venerable Gu He clapped his hands and laughed, his voice booming like a great bell.

"Li Wen—no, I should call you Changning King now! A King Realm expert in his thirties, breaking a ten-thousand-year-old record for the Human Race! This is a sign of our race's great prosperity!"

Venerable Xingxuan's eyes were also filled with a gratified smile:

"To become a King at such a young age, and with such a solid foundation… your future achievements are limitless."

Principal Ye Qin's expression was gentle, but deep in his eyes was an unprecedented solemnity:

"Li Wen, your achievement today is enough for us to entrust you with the core secret of the Human Race."

He paused, his voice growing low and solemn.

"Do you know why the Demon Race would spare no expense to launch the Celestial Fall Plan, even resorting to methods like 'World Projection,' just to annihilate the humans of Blue Star?"

Li Wen's heart jolted. He focused intently and listened.

This was the great question that had long puzzled him.

"It's not entirely because the Human Race occupies the fertile lands of Blue Star, nor is it a matter of simple racial hatred."

Principal Ye Qin's gaze seemed to pierce through the illusory image of the Demon Realm shrouding the sky, seeing into the endless, distant past.

"The true reason is that our Human Race once produced an unparalleled powerhouse who truly dominated the Star Sea and surpassed the Saint Realm!"

"Surpassed the Saint Realm?!" Li Wen sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

The Saint Realm was the peak of power in all current knowledge. What kind of existence could surpass the Saint Realm?

He had only seen vague legends about it in fragments of certain ancient texts.

"Yes. That powerhouse was the founder of our Fire Hall. The treasures he left behind are the greatest foundation of our Human Race, and they are also the target the Demon Race has coveted for many years."

Venerable Xingxuan continued, his tone filled with deep reverence and a hint of helplessness.

"What we are protecting is not just a planet, but the embers of that founder's legacy."

Venerable Gu He said gravely:

"Before that founder departed, he left behind several great treasures to protect his descendants. One of them is extremely special. It is sealed in a powerful treasure box."

"For countless years, innumerable Human Race geniuses and senior powerhouses have tried to open it, all to no avail. There were even Venerable Level experts who tried to break it by force, only to suffer devastating counterattacks."

"This is because the sole condition for opening it is exceptionally strict—one must achieve the King Realm before the age of forty!"

Principal Ye Qin looked at Li Wen, his eyes filled with endless expectation:

"And now, before you, no one in the history of the Human Race has ever stepped into the King Realm before the age of forty. You are the only one who meets the condition!"

He solemnly retrieved an ancient box from his storage space.

The box was not made of gold, wood, or jade. Its entire body was a deep, dark gold.

Its surface was covered in profound and intricate natural patterns, like a tangible representation of stars in motion and the interweaving of Laws.

Under the light, the patterns flowed with a gentle yet undeniable radiance, faintly exuding a vast, eternal, and supreme aura.

The edges of the box were perfectly sealed, with no visible mechanism or keyhole for opening it.