High Martial: I Grind Professions

HUMMM!

The world instantly fell silent, becoming pure.

The sound of the wind, the aftershocks of distant explosions, and even the sound of his own blood flowing rapidly faded away, disappearing.

In his vision, all that remained was the saber in his hand, which seemed to have a life of its own.

The 170% boost to his comprehension was like lighting an unprecedentedly bright lamp in his mind.

The many obscure points and tangled doubts in his cultivation of the way of the blade now rapidly became clear, melting away like ice and snow!

'Fast! The true meaning of extreme speed… It's not just about speed, but also penetration, explosive power, and that sliver of insight that shatters all shackles!

The Lightning Law… Rampage, destruction, rebirth… The ultimate speed it contains, how perfectly it aligns with my way of the blade!'

At Li Wen's whim, his wrist flickered, and his long saber traced a series of profound and unfathomable arcs through the air.

There was no earth-shattering commotion; every strike was extremely restrained.

Where the saber's edge passed, space rippled faintly, leaving behind extremely faint yet incredibly condensed silver marks that lingered long after.

Within the gleam of the blade, tiny arcs of electricity could be seen faintly jumping and flickering, a natural manifestation of his deepening comprehension of the Lightning Law.

He completely immersed his mind in deducing how to merge "fast" with the Lightning Law.

He contemplated how to take that instantaneous explosive force, that piercing power, and the intent of lightning's destruction and creation.

And perfectly brand it into his own Blade Intent, forging it into an even more powerful cornerstone for his Domain Realm.

One strike, and then another… He completely forgot the time, forgot where he was, his entire being becoming a blade in pursuit of the ultimate speed and power.

The gleam of his blade grew faster and more condensed, as if weaving a net of lightning and extreme speed in the night sky.

Time flew by in his state of extreme focus.

Only when a gentle, pre-set vibration from his watch alerted him that there were only ten minutes left until midnight on New Year's did Li Wen seem to awaken from a deep state of martial enlightenment.

He slowly sheathed his saber, a purple-gold light swirling in his eyes, which held a depth and joy tinged with a hint of longing for more.

His consciousness swept over his status panel:

[Art: Saber Arts · Domain Realm (34% → 60%)]

Eight hours!

Under the terrifying boon of Lv17 Absolute Focus and a 170% comprehension boost, his Saber Arts realm had actually jumped by a full 26%!

He was already more than halfway along the path of the Domain Realm.

'Sixty percent… Only the final forty percent remains before I can create a Venerable Level Martial Art that is truly my own.'

The fighting spirit in Li Wen's eyes burned even hotter.

He glanced up in the direction of Changning City, where brilliant lights shone, a city of family reunions.

With a flicker, his figure merged into space, speeding toward that patch of warm light.

In the desolate wilderness, all that remained were countless faint blade marks, not yet fully dissipated, imbued with the essence of lightning's extreme speed.

They shimmered faintly under the cold starlight.

...

「In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.」

The date was now February 20, 245, of the Galactic Calendar.

For Li Wen, this half-month had been a time for accumulating knowledge and expanding his reputation.

He had published two more high-quality papers—into which he had poured his heart and soul—on the micro-manipulation of energy particles and a foundational model of spatial curvature. He released them onto the top academic platforms that covered all four of humanity's planets, a network of four major literary platforms headed by the Firewood Library.

The returns even exceeded his initial expectations.

The two papers were like boulders dropped into a calm lake, creating massive waves in the academic world; downloads and citations climbed exponentially.

This earned him over a million scholar experience points, and the progress bar for Scholar Level 17 visibly shot forward by a large chunk.

He seemed to be much closer to the max level of Lv20.

The morning sun carried the warmth of early spring, shining through the study's carved window lattice to cast dappled light and shadows on the floor, bathing the entire room in a clear, bright light.

The air was filled with the distinct, fresh scent of ink and new paper.

In the center of the study, Li Wen sat ramrod straight.

A thick tome was spread open on the desk before him, but it was not a Martial Dao secret manual.

Instead, it was a purely academic work, like *Classical Literature Essence and Research* or *The History of the Evolution of Mathematical Models for Fundamental Physical Laws*.

His expression was focused and serene, his gaze as sharp as a blade, but he was not practicing his moves.

Instead, he was scanning and comprehending every character, every formula, and every concept on the page with astonishing speed and efficiency.

He had long been aware that the scholar experience gained from simply reading books was pitifully inefficient, an amount he had long since dismissed.

But Li Wen knew that these seemingly dry texts were the very foundation that allowed him to continuously produce high-quality papers and achieve explosive growth in his experience points.

A deep grounding in literature, history, philosophy, and even art provided him with the indispensable nourishment and inspiration needed to understand more macroscopic cosmic rules, construct more exquisite mathematical models, and articulate more profound Martial Dao concepts.

Without this day-after-day accumulation, if he tried to coast on his past knowledge, writing future papers capable of shaking the academic world and earning the recognition of countless high-level scholars would become increasingly difficult. The time between each publication would also grow longer and longer.

Therefore, Li Wen adhered to a strict, unshakable morning routine of reading a large number of books.

His method of reading had long since surpassed that of ordinary people.

His powerful Spiritual Power combined with the Extraordinary comprehension of a Lv17 Scholar turned his brain into a highly efficient information processor.

The pages flew under his fingertips so fast they were just a blur; wherever his gaze fell, massive amounts of information were instantly captured, understood, categorized, and stored.

This was not simply swallowing dates whole; it was a deeper level of internalization.

He would often pause to ponder an exquisite metaphor, or to deduce the mathematical logic behind an ancient philosophical proposition.

At other times, he would capture a subtle resonance with the real-world Space Law from a literary description of a spatial phenomenon.

He could even find confirmation of the essence of "fast" in the rhythm of the text and the intricate arrangement of its structure.

These six hours were a tempering of his thoughts, a settling of his wisdom, a necessary cultivation to maintain the depth and breadth of his scholarly identity.

An entire morning vanished in this silent and efficient absorption of knowledge.

When the hands of the mechanical clock on the bookshelf silently pointed to the noon mark, Li Wen closed the final page of *The History of the Evolution of Mathematical Models for Fundamental Physical Laws* with a smooth, natural motion.

He let out a long, slow breath, as if settling the myriad thoughts he had just absorbed.

He stood up and stretched his body after sitting for so long. The bones and tendons of a King-level expert let out a series of soft pops, brimming with surging power.

Just as he took a step to leave the study, the personal terminal on his wrist vibrated gently and projected a pale blue screen of light.

A new message.

The sender was marked "Yanjing Advanced Research Institute · Annual Interdisciplinary Frontiers Forum Organizing Committee."

It was a formal invitation.

Li Wen's eyes swept over the title and body of the message, and his eyebrows raised slightly.

[Esteemed 'Changning King' Li Wen:

We sincerely invite you to participate in the 'Annual Interdisciplinary Frontiers Forum,' to be held on February 25, 245, of the Galactic Calendar, in the main conference hall of the Yanjing Advanced Research Institute.

In light of the six groundbreaking academic papers you recently published on the four major platforms, which have had a profound impact on promoting the integration of multiple disciplines,

The organizing committee hereby invites you to be a heavyweight guest at this forum and deliver a keynote speech of approximately 45 minutes (topic of your choice).

We believe your insights will be a great source of inspiration for the attending scholars.

We look forward to your presence and to celebrating this academic event together.]

"A speech?" Li Wen murmured the two words, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.

Immediately, the "imparting knowledge" experience acquisition method, unlocked after his scholar level increased, popped into his head.

'Teaching a class can earn experience, so isn't a large-scale, in-person speech for an audience of numerous high-level scholars essentially just a higher-level form of "teaching"?'

'Moreover, the level and number of people in the audience are far beyond what a private tutoring session could compare to.'

'The experience points from this… would probably be more concentrated and substantial than from paper downloads alone.'

The curious thought was like a pebble tossed into the lake of his mind, creating ripples.

He was still figuring out the exact mechanics of experience acquisition.

This speech was perhaps an excellent window for observation.

With almost no hesitation, Li Wen reached out and lightly tapped the "Accept Invitation" button on the invitation's interface.

A confirmation message was sent out instantly.

「Meanwhile, in Yanjing City, at the Yanjing Advanced Research Institute.」

In an assistant's office piled high with documents and lab equipment, a young, tired-looking female assistant with thin-framed glasses sat before a light-brain, processing a mountain of conference-related emails.

While mechanically clicking "Send" or "Archive," she habitually muttered under her breath:

"Sigh, the professor is really something else… On a whim, he just had to send an invitation to the Changning King. He's a King-level big shot!

The Guardian God of Blue Star! How many matters of human survival does he have to deal with every day?

How could he possibly care about this kind of academic conference, let alone come all this way to give a speech?"

She sighed and swiped her finger, closing the interface for the invitation she had just sent to Li Wen. "Well, it's sent. It's sure to get no reply, like a stone sinking into the ocean. Just treat it as going through the motions…"

The assistant knew very well that in the past, the highest-ranking invitees for a conference of this level were esteemed academicians from various fields.

Sending a speech invitation to a King-level expert—one with a revered status, heaven-piercing power, and who had just burst onto the academic scene out of nowhere—was simply preposterous, even presumptuous.

Professor Liu Zhenhua, the host of this forum, had only done so because the astonishing download numbers and widespread discussion sparked by Li Wen's six papers were simply too dazzling to ignore.

He had asked her to send the invitation from the official account, operating on a mentality of "what if?" and "let's at least express our utmost respect."

No one actually expected him to accept.

Just as the female assistant closed the interface and was about to pick up the cup of water beside her—

"DING-DONG!"

A crisp, yet unusually piercing system notification sound suddenly rang out.

The female assistant froze, her gaze instinctively darting to the lower right corner of the light screen.

A new message notification. The source was, shockingly, the invitation system from which she had just sent the message.