High Martial: I Grind Professions

This strike was deceptively simple, yet it contained the will to annihilate all creation.

A deep-violet blade aura, so condensed it seemed to compress space itself, was as deep and profound as an abyss.

It tore through the sky, crossed the distance in an instant, and viciously struck the very center of the giant peak.

There was no earth-shattering CRASH, no thunderous roar of a landslide.

The moment the blade aura made contact with the mountain, a destructive energy beyond all mortal comprehension erupted.

The black mountain, harder than stellar refined iron and capable of withstanding the full-force attack of an ordinary Venerable, was like it had been thrown into the core of a star.

Starting from the point of contact, the mountain’s material structure was utterly dismantled, disintegrated, and vaporized by the terrifying energy within a billionth of a second.

It wasn’t pulverized; it was completely reduced to the finest particles, then annihilated even further.

There was no dust, no flying debris.

The entire majestic black peak, which stood several thousand meters tall...

...at the instant the blade aura touched it, vanished into thin air as if erased by an invisible giant hand.

All that remained was a massive, bottomless crater several thousand meters in diameter. Its walls were smooth as a mirror, glowing in a molten, glass-like state.

A terrifying heat lingered at the bottom of the crater, distorting the air and making space itself show faint signs of instability.

’Just as I thought... I’ve reached the level of an ordinary Saint Realm expert!’

Li Wen felt the torrent of power surging within him, a force capable of shaking stars, and a look of understanding crossed his face.

What surprised him even more was the power of his Primordial Spirit, as vast as a Star Sea, in his sea of consciousness.

When channeling it throughout his body for a high-intensity burst like this, the consumption rate was far slower than he had anticipated.

By a rough estimate, he could maintain this peak explosive state for a full half-day.

As long as he wasn’t engaged in a never-ending battle at the Saint Realm level, a short break to recover would be enough to give him nearly limitless stamina.

’Not bad. This improvement is even a notch above what I expected.’ Li Wen nodded in satisfaction.

The all-encompassing metamorphosis from reaching the Nineth Layer of Primordial Spirit had pushed his combat prowess to an entirely new height.

With the power test complete, Li Wen was in no hurry to leave.

He turned his gaze to the long blade that had accompanied him all this way.

’Level 20 Absolute Focus, a 200% boost to comprehension... It’s time to see how it catalyzes my understanding of the way of the blade.’

With a single thought, an invisible and incomparably profound fluctuation from the depths of his sea of consciousness instantly enveloped Li Wen’s spiritual core.

Level 20 [Absolute Focus]—activated!

VWOOM!

In that instant, his perception of the entire world changed completely.

The whistling wind, the energy waves radiating from the distant crater, the pulse of the earth beneath his feet, even the orbits of the stars...

...all irrelevant "noise" was stripped away and blocked out.

Within his field of vision, only the long blade in his hand remained.

And along with it, the veins of the Law of Lightning that flowed across its body, connected to his own very essence.

Time itself seemed to lose all meaning.

His speed of thought was elevated to an unbelievable realm.

The countless obscure and incomprehensible bottlenecks he had encountered while practicing his blade arts, the subtle flaws in his fusion of Laws...

...the sluggish spots in the circulation of his Blade Intent—all of it was now as clear as the lines on his own palm.

Fragments of the true meaning of the Laws, which had once seemed incomparably profound and would have required years of arduous contemplation to grasp even a sliver of...

...now flowed into his consciousness like gentle streams, to be rapidly analyzed, understood, absorbed, and reconstructed.

He slowly raised his blade.

The first strike was "Void Break."

A violet-gold blade light traced a profound trajectory. It no longer pursued ultimate cutting power and speed.

Instead, it focused on creating a temporary rift at the level of the Law wherever the blade passed, forming a defensive barrier akin to a spatial fault line.

The Law nodes that were once difficult to connect perfectly were now easily found and optimized under the 200% comprehension boost.

Wherever the blade light passed, a stable and nigh-indestructible barrier of Law, imbued with the meaning of lightning’s creation and destruction, instantly took shape.

The second strike, "Meteor Fall."

The blade’s momentum was as heavy as a collapsing mountain, yet as swift as a meteor striking the earth.

It was no longer a simple, destructive crash but now incorporated his comprehension of Laws like "gravitational collapse" and "matter annihilation."

Wherever the blade aura pointed, space would twist and collapse inward, forming a terrifying force field.

It would lock down a target, crush it, and finally unleash a destructive energy at its core, born from the ultimate collapse.

The charging process for this strike was significantly shortened, its point of impact more focused, and its power multiplied several times over.

The third strike, "Thunder Prison."

It was no longer a wild, area-of-effect attack, but had evolved into a precision-operated domain of lightning.

The blade light transformed into a billion fine strands of violet electricity, intertwining and resonating with each other to form a self-sustaining, three-dimensional cage that served as both offense and defense.

Within the cage, the Law of Lightning seemed to have a life of its own. It could condense, disperse, form destructive spears, or create protective barriers at will.

The trajectory of every spark contained profound changes in the Law.

Under Absolute Focus, Li Wen sorted through these changes with perfect order, increasing their efficiency severalfold.

Under the terrifying comprehension of [Absolute Focus], these three blade forms were repeatedly tempered, purified, and sublimated.

Their already perfect state was pushed even further as deeper potential was unearthed, making their execution more flawless and their power even greater.

But his core focus was completely immersed in perfecting the fourth form, "Aegis," and creating the Fifth Form.

"Aegis" was named for the concept of "Guarding against all laws, unmoving as the pole star."

This was not merely a defensive move, but a way to command the Dao with his blade, creating an absolute defensive domain around him that contained the complete origin of the Law of Lightning.

Previously, it was 82% complete. Now, under his super-enhanced comprehension...

...the remaining gaps in the Law, the impeded flow of energy, the instability of the domain’s form...

...all these subtle flaws were infinitely magnified, and Li Wen found the optimal solution for each at an unbelievable speed.

The blade in his hand was no longer a brutal weapon for hacking and slashing but had become a paintbrush for the Laws.

With a light tap of its tip, it sketched out complex and profound lightning runes in the air, each containing the true meaning of creation and destruction.

The runes linked and layered upon one another, forming a flawless, self-sustaining cocoon of violet-gold light that enveloped him completely.

Fine Electric Snakes of lightning roamed across the cocoon’s surface. With each flicker, they seemed to consume the surrounding energy to reinforce themselves.

An aura of indestructibility, of being impervious to all techniques, spontaneously arose.

The 82% progress bar in his spiritual perception shot up until the brilliant light of 100% completion shone!

[Aegis], Grand Completion!

The moment "Aegis" was completed, that sense of flawless perfection did not fade.

Instead, it was like a new fire had been lit, guiding Li Wen’s will to explore higher and deeper realms of the way of the blade.

The prototype for the fifth move had long been brewing in his mind—its focus was on continuous bursts of power!

Under the transcendent processing speed of [Absolute Focus]...

...countless inspirations regarding bursts, stacking, rhythm, and energy cycles emerged, collided, and reformed like the Big Bang.

He saw lightning stacking and oscillating countless times in an instant.

He saw the chain reaction of spatial collapse caused by high-speed cuts.

He saw the moment the flow of time was distorted by an ultimate burst...

He was no longer just pursuing the ultimate destruction of a single attack.

Instead, he sought to unleash a continuous, unending torrent of destructive power in a single instant, like a raging tempest.

He would leave his enemy with no way to dodge and no way to block, completely submerged in an endless barrage.

The concept of the blade move rapidly took shape in his mind, growing clearer and clearer.

The long blade in his hand began to vibrate at a frequency imperceptible to the naked eye.

Each vibration triggered the Power of Law in the surroundings, creating a miniature energy burst.

At first, there were only sporadic flashes, but as Li Wen’s thoughts flowed, the frequency of these micro-bursts grew higher and higher.

The interval between them grew shorter and shorter, until—

VMMMM—CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG—!

An unending, terrifying clangor erupted—like the thunder of the nine heavens exploding a billion times in a single instant!

The blade light was no longer a single trajectory, but a raging tidal wave.

It had transformed into a destructive torrent composed of countless violet-gold blade gleams, each one condensed to the absolute limit.

Wherever the torrent passed, space was high-frequency sliced and repeatedly torn apart.

It created a bizarre, folded landscape, as if countless mirrors had shattered at once.

The flow of time itself seemed to become chaotic within this torrent of blade aura.

The blade light from the previous instant had not yet faded before the light from the next was already layering over it, stacking endlessly, infinitely.

This strike transcended mere speed and power, containing a terrifying mastery over the stacking of time, space, and energy!

Its core concept was to unleash an eternal, unrelenting tide of destruction within a single "instant."

[Instant Flash]!

The name of the Fifth Form blade art surfaced naturally in Li Wen’s mind, a perfect fit.

Time flew by in the state of [Absolute Focus].

Three days, a full three days and nights!

Li Wen’s figure weaved and darted across the vast, desolate landscape of the Blackrock Trial Star.

Sometimes, the long blade in his hand moved as slowly as if he were pushing a mountain, sketching out barriers of Law.

Other times, it was as swift as light, unleashing a destructive torrent.

He was completely immersed in this unprecedented state of enlightenment.

He forgot the time, the place, and even his own existence.

The Spiritual Power in his sea of consciousness gushed out like a flood from an open sluice gate, sustaining this incredibly intense process of deduction and cultivation.

Finally, as the third day drew to a close, a faint sense of exhaustion emanated from his sea of consciousness.

His sea-like reserves of Spiritual Power were finally about to run dry after being pushed to the limit by three straight days and nights of [Absolute Focus].

Vmmm...

The state of [Absolute Focus] slowly receded like a tide.

The light of extreme concentration in Li Wen’s eyes gradually faded, once again reflecting the desolate and shattered landscape of the Trial Star.

An indescribable sense of both exhaustion and satisfaction washed over him.

He stood holding his blade, panting slightly, but his eyes were as bright as stars, filled with the wise glow of one who has perceived the Laws.

[You have focused on practicing blade arts for three days. Aegis +18% to 100%, Instant Flash +54%!]

[Skill: Blade Arts: Venerable (Void Break 100%, Meteor Fall 100%, Thunder Prison 100%, Aegis 100%, Instant Flash 54%)]

A long accumulation of effort had finally culminated in a great harvest!

Feeling the new power flowing through his body and the more complete, powerful comprehension of the way of the blade in his sea of consciousness, the corners of Li Wen’s mouth curled into a satisfied smile.

The gains from these three days of secluded training had far exceeded his expectations.

Not only had he completely perfected "Aegis," but he had also created the fifth killing move, "Instant Flash," in one fell swoop.