High Martial: I Grind Professions

He was panting heavily, staring intently at Ye Qin.

"Old Ye, how many years have we known each other? Give me a straight answer! When exactly will Venerable Changning have time? Give me a specific date!"

Venerable Ye Qin sighed and patiently explained:

"Fierce Lion, it’s not that Junior Brother Li Wen is unwilling to leave immediately to help you. The problem is that the situation on your three Red Flame planets is completely different from Blue Star.

The reason Blue Star could be completely purged of the hidden Demon Race is that Junior Brother Li completely refined its control core.

The entire planet is like the back of his hand to him; he can perceive any unusual auras with a single thought.

But your three planets don’t have such a core. Even if Junior Brother Li went there now, he could only rely on the immense power of his own Primordial Spirit.

He’d have to scan, search, and identify those deeply hidden members of the Demon Race and traitors inch by inch.

This would consume a massive amount of time and energy, making it far less efficient than it was on Blue Star."

He looked at Venerable Fierce Lion’s anxious face and continued:

"Junior Brother Li said it will be soon, and he must have his reasons and be confident in that. He understands the urgency of time better than we do,

and he knows the importance of resolving the problem completely. You’ll just have to wait a little longer.

When the time is right, he will contact you on his own initiative. You won’t need to rush him."

Venerable Ye Qin’s tone carried absolute trust in Li Wen.

"Trust him. Since he made a promise, he won’t make you wait long."

"Sigh—!" Venerable Fierce Lion let out a heavy sigh.

The anxiety and anger on his face were replaced by a deep helplessness and worry. Even his crimson hair seemed to have dimmed a little.

"Fine... I believe you. But please, do me a favor... mention it to Venerable Li again. Red Flame Star... really can’t hold on much longer. I hope... I really hope you don’t make us wait forever."

His final words carried a barely perceptible plea.

With that, his burly virtual projection transformed into a streak of white light.

It flickered a few times and vanished from the pavilion, leaving behind only a lingering echo heavy with pressure.

Ye Qin and Venerable Xingxuan exchanged a look, each seeing the gravity in the other’s eyes.

Venerable Xingxuan said softly, "It seems the situation on Red Flame Star is even worse than we estimated. Fierce Lion may be impatient, but he wouldn’t lose his composure and push us like this unless it was truly a critical moment."

Venerable Ye Qin nodded slightly.

"Mm. Once Junior Brother Li finishes his advancement, this matter will indeed be our top priority."

His gaze turned in the direction of Changning City.

...

In the study, Li Wen slowly opened his eyes, as if oblivious to the outside world.

He had just finished publishing his thesis, and his mind was in a strange state of serene clarity.

His over 7,000-zhang-tall Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol stood silently in his sea of consciousness.

It reflected every ray of sunlight and every speck of dust in the study with perfect clarity.

He felt the power surging within him, a power far beyond that of an ordinary Saint Realm cultivator.

Yet he kept it perfectly restrained and hidden, like a piece of divine jade buried deep in the abyss.

Outside the window, the bustling vitality of Changning City drifted in from a great distance, strangely merging with the cosmic vista of the Star River in his sea of consciousness.

He knew the final moment of his transformation was imminent.

...

「Two days passed in a flash.」

The date was December 3rd, 246 of the Galactic Calendar.

The early morning sun shone gently through the window lattice, casting its rays on the bed in a quiet room of the Li Manor in Changning City.

Li Wen’s eyelids twitched as he naturally awoke from a deep and peaceful sleep.

Ever since eliminating the hidden threat on Blue Star, his mind had been at ease, and he had rediscovered the mundane habit of sleeping soundly.

It felt like compensation for the past decades of tense, sleepless years.

He opened his eyes, and for a moment, it seemed as if stars were being born and dying in their depths before they returned to clarity.

He sat up in bed, and with a slight stir of his thoughts,

the familiar, mystical personal panel appeared in his consciousness:

[Age: 37]

[Realm: Venerable]

[Profession: Scholar lv19 (26,212,420/26,214,400)]

[Skills: Blade Technique · Venerable (Sky Severance 100%, Starfall 100%, Thunder Prison 100%, Imperial Zenith 82%)]

[Cultivation Techniques: "All Things Return to Ruins Finger" · 1st Layer (100%), "Shocking God Stab" · 7th Layer (100%)]

His gaze fell on the profession section. Just as he had expected two days ago, his scholar experience points had quietly approached the final threshold.

He was only one thousand nine hundred and eighty experience points away from the max level.

In the old days, when he could only accumulate experience through immersive reading of ancient texts, gaining this many points might have taken ten days, half a month, or even longer.

But now, thanks to the multiple theses he had published on the four major authoritative academic platforms, this amount of experience would likely take less than an hour to gain.

The closer he got to this long-awaited goal, the calmer his mind became, as placid as the water in an ancient well, without the slightest ripple.

He wasn’t in a hurry at all. He calmly closed the panel, stood up, and pushed the door open.

Outside the door, the familiar aroma of food already filled the hall.

Just as they had every morning for the past two months, his father and mother had already laid out a carefully prepared, warm breakfast on the table.

They were quietly waiting for their son—who was now a pillar holding up the heavens for the Human Race, yet still came home to sleep on time.

"Ah Wen, you’re awake? Come and eat. The congee just came off the stove; your father simmered it for quite a while."

A content and peaceful smile graced his mother Wang Juan’s face.

"Mm, it smells delicious," Li Wen said with a warm smile, sitting down as told.

There was no earth-shattering discussion at the table, only the light chatter of everyday family matters.

His father talked about the new flowers planted in the community, while his mother mentioned a neighbor’s new grandchild.

Li Wen listened quietly, occasionally adding a word or two, savoring this hard-won, simple, and unadorned warmth.

This peace was the treasure he would give everything to protect.

After breakfast, Li Wen put down his bowl and chopsticks and said gently to his parents:

"Dad, Mom, I’m going to the cultivation courtyard."

"Go on, go on. Your work is important."

His parents were long used to it, their eyes filled with understanding and support.

Before the words had even faded, Li Wen’s figure had vanished like a soft breeze.

The next moment, he appeared in his private, tranquil cultivation courtyard, far from the city center.

Just now, during that warm breakfast with his parents, the final experience gap on his panel had been completely filled by the ceaseless flood of academic feedback from his latest, sensational thesis.

[Profession: Scholar lv19 (26,214,400/26,214,400) MAX!]

His gaze swept over the maxed-out, faintly glowing experience bar on the panel.

Even for Li Wen, whose will was as solid as bedrock, an irrepressible ripple of emotion stirred in the depths of his calm eyes.

Level 20 Scholar!

This wasn’t just a leap in level; it symbolized the arrival at an unprecedented milestone on a long and arduous path of knowledge.

It meant reaching the ultimate realm with its legendary 200% comprehension bonus, and... the opportunity to unlock a second profession!

Without any hesitation, he stepped into the training room and sat cross-legged on the cattail mat in the center.

His mind focused, and a clear, firm intention thundered down in his vast sea of consciousness:

’Level up!’

[Profession upgrade in progress...]

[Profession: Scholar lv20!]

BOOM—!

It was as if the universe had just begun, as if chaos itself had exploded!

An unimaginable, majestic power, greater than the sum of all the torrents of Spiritual Power from his previous upgrades combined, suddenly surged out of the endless void and poured tyrannically into Li Wen’s sea of consciousness.

This power was so vast, so pure, that his sea of consciousness, already as vast as a Star Sea, felt like a balloon being overinflated.

It let out an overwhelmed BUZZ, and was forcibly and frantically expanded toward ever more distant, more profound, and unknown boundaries!

The barriers of his sea of consciousness vibrated violently under the impact of the brilliant tide of Spiritual Power, shattering and reforming.

With each cycle of destruction and rebirth, the territory of his sea of consciousness multiplied in size, and its stability increased exponentially.

More critically, this massive influx of what could be called origin-level Spiritual Power, without any need for conscious guidance, spontaneously and efficiently converted itself into a more condensed, more profound energy that carried the rhythmic quality of primordial chaos—the power of the Primordial Spirit!

This newborn, irresistibly vast power of the Primordial Spirit, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, surged tumultuously into the majestic, over 7,000-zhang-tall Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol sitting at the very center of his sea of consciousness.

The Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol began to grow frantically at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Seven thousand five hundred zhang!

Eight thousand zhang!

Eight thousand five hundred zhang!

Nine thousand zhang!

This upgrade was far grander in scale than any before, and the process was much longer and more violent.

The entire upgrade lasted for more than a full day!

Within his sea of consciousness, it was as if a world-creating miracle was taking place.

The entire Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol bloomed with an unprecedentedly brilliant divine light.

As it grew, its form continuously solidified and sublimated.

Its already clear facial features now became startlingly lifelike.

As its eyes opened and closed, they seemed to contain the wisdom to create worlds and the majesty to destroy all things.

Every inch of the colossal Dharma Idol’s skin, every one of its lines, flowed with materialized power of the Primordial Spirit that resembled liquid Gold.

It emanated a terrifying pressure that could dim the stars in the heavens.

An even more astonishing change occurred deep within the core of the Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol.

When the Dharma Idol broke through the 9,000-zhang barrier and stood firmly in the center of the sea of consciousness, an indescribable "qualitative change" occurred.

If the power of the Eighth Layer of Primordial Spirit carried the rhythm of Law,

then now, the power core of this 9,000-zhang Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol was touching the very edge of "Law" itself.

A supremely profound aura, one that seemed capable of commanding all Daos and mastering life and death, began to emanate from within the Dharma Idol.

This aura was ancient, desolate, and vast, transcending the realm of mortal power.

It vaguely pointed toward the supreme essence of the Saint Realm—the deep control and application of universal Law!

HUMMM—!

Finally, as the last trace of the Spiritual Power torrent was completely converted and absorbed, the expansion of his sea of consciousness and the growth of the Dharma Idol came to a halt.

A 9,000-zhang-tall Primordial Spirit Dharma Idol, its body flowing with the divine light of chaos and radiating an aura that commanded all Daos and bordered on the origin of Law itself, now stood majestically in the center of a sea of consciousness even more vast and profound than an ocean of stars.

Nineth Layer of Primordial Spirit!

Li Wen slowly opened his eyes, and two tangible rays of chaotic divine light shot out from them.

They instantly pierced the stable space within the training room, leaving behind two black marks that refused to heal for a long time.