High Martial: I Grind Professions

Li Wen could clearly perceive this difference.

His own sense of time was normal.

The speed of his thoughts, his heartbeat, and his energy consumption were no different than when he was moving slowly.

But when he extended a wisp of his divine sense toward the distant Blue Star...

Or when he perceived the subtle changes in the cosmic background radiation...

A stark contrast emerged.

To an observer on Blue Star, or any other low-speed observer, perhaps only a single minute had passed.

But he himself had already experienced several minutes, or even more than ten!

The time he had consumed was also one minute, but that single minute had been dilated.

The experience was incredibly profound, as if he were riding time itself as it flew by.

The external universe remained unchanged, but his own time was dilated, allowing him to experience a greater passage of time.

During this journey near the speed of light, the dark cosmos was no longer a monotonous backdrop.

The spectra of the stars underwent significant blueshift and redshift due to the Doppler effect.

The starry sky ahead seemed compressed, the starlight converging into a blinding patch of bluish-white.

Meanwhile, the starry sky behind was stretched out, the starlight dim and reddish.

Absolute silence enveloped him. Only his Primordial Spirit could capture the faint, uniform HISS of the cosmic background radiation.

And the nearly imperceptible ripples of energy torrents, from occasional stellar bursts, propagating through the medium of space.

He was like a human-shaped comet, dragging an invisible energy trail behind him.

Across the cold canvas of the universe, he carved a near-perfect straight line through the Star Sea at 0.95 times the speed of light.

His destination: Red Flame Star!

The journey itself had become the most direct and profound experience and confirmation of the physical Laws of the universe.

His heart was serene, but his conviction to protect and his determination to end the war burned ever brighter during the silent, near-light-speed voyage.

...

「A few hours later in the outside world.」

A planet completely enveloped in a magnificent crimson halo appeared before Li Wen’s eyes, like a burning gem in the cosmos.

This was none other than one of the four core planets of the Human Race, administered by the Mercenary Alliance—Red Flame Star.

Red Flame Star’s name didn’t come from a surface covered in flames.

Rather, it was because its atmosphere, illuminated by the light of its star, refracted a magnificent and majestic crimson glow that looked like an eternal fire.

Li Wen didn’t pause for a moment. The invisible domain around him rippled slightly.

It easily tore through the dazzling yet tough atmosphere, and he descended into the skies of Red Flame Star.

Ninth Layer of Primordial Spirit. A sea of consciousness as vast as a cosmic Star River.

With a mere thought, the immense and pure power of his Primordial Spirit spread out from him in an instant, silently and without a trace, like an invisible canopy.

In the span of a single thought, the entire surface of Red Flame Star...

...every inch of space, every wisp of energy fluctuation...

...every single life aura, was completely covered, perceived, and locked onto by his vast Primordial Spirit power!

A planetary panorama, so clear it was frightening, unfolded within Li Wen’s sea of consciousness.

War!

On the surface of Red Flame Star, hundreds of human cities were mired in the hellish flames of war.

Demonic aura soared to the heavens, and roars shook the wilds.

The light of energy explosions rose and fell along the cities’ edges, like bloody sores constantly erupting on the planet’s surface.

The Divines were like firefighters, frantically shuttling across the front lines to provide support and defend.

They fought drenched in blood, slaying demons and purging evil.

But the defensive lines were still crumbling under the frenzied tide of the Demon Race, with new breaches being torn open constantly.

An aura of despair, mixed with gunpowder and blood, hung over every besieged city.

Li Wen "saw" a few familiar figures.

The former King-level experts from Blue Star, Cloud Dragon King, Mountain Rain King... they had crossed the galaxy to provide support.

Right now, they were erupting with extreme speed, transforming into streaks of light as they anxiously rushed towards various locations that had issued the highest-level red alert distress calls.

...

Cloud Dragon King’s target was the major industrial city in the eastern part of the continent—Molten Iron City.

His speed was phenomenal; each spatial jump crossed dozens of miles, and his heart burned with anxiety.

He could sense that Molten Iron City’s distress signal carried a despair that was on the verge of being snuffed out.

At this moment, Molten Iron City had already turned into a battlefield meat grinder.

Its once-sturdy energy shield had long since been shattered by the relentless bombardment of the Demon Race, led by a Great Demon King.

Only faint, flickering patches of light remained.

The towering alloy walls had been torn open with several massive breaches.

Vicious Demon Beasts poured into the city like a black tide.

They engaged in close-quarters combat with the defending Divines and the city guard, sending flesh and blood flying.

Of the Divine squad responsible for defending the city, only five members were still standing, all of them injured and their True Qi depleted.

Their captain, Marquis Tieyan, was a man who had only recently stepped into the ranks of top-tier Marquises.

He was currently bathed in blood, his left arm hanging limply, clearly broken.

The great axe in his hand, once a symbol of glory, now had a bent blade and its spiritual light had dimmed.

Every swing was incredibly heavy.

His opponent was a Great Demon King clad in dark gold scale armor and wielding a serrated bone saber.

This Demon King’s aura was ferocious and overwhelming, comparable to a King of the Human Race.

It wore a cruel, savage grin, like a cat toying with a mouse.

Every time its bone saber fell, it carried a piercing shriek that seemed to tear space itself.

It forced Marquis Tieyan back again and again, and deep cracks were stamped into the alloy ground beneath his feet.

"Captain! Hold on!" a heavily wounded, fallen team member roared, watching helplessly as Marquis Tieyan was sent flying by a single strike.

He slammed hard into the wreckage of a half-collapsed command tower behind him, spitting out a mouthful of blood mixed with bits of internal organs.

"Cough... cough cough..." Leaning on the handle of his axe, Marquis Tieyan struggled to get up, but his vision was blurred by blood loss and excruciating pain.

He looked at the bodies of his comrades around him, at the ceaseless, tragic screams of civilians within the city.

He looked at the Great Demon King, which was now approaching step by step, raising its bone saber with a savage grin. A despair that cut to the very marrow of his bones completely consumed him.

’It’s over... It’s all over... Molten Iron City can’t be held... The reinforcements... they won’t make it in time...’

Marquis Tieyan closed his eyes, awaiting the arrival of death, his heart filled with nothing but endless sorrow and guilt for the civilians behind him.

Meanwhile, the Great Demon King’s bone saber gathered a blinding, blood-red light, its eyes glinting with bloodthirsty excitement.

It prepared to deliver the final blow to this tenacious human captain and completely crush the city’s will to resist.

Just at this critical moment—

The world changed color!

An indescribable, irresistible, terrifying pressure, as if the will of the entire planet had descended...

...descended without any warning upon the entire Molten Iron City battlefield!

The sky instantly darkened—not from clouds obscuring the sun, but as if space itself had solidified, frozen solid!

At that instant, it was as though time itself had been paused.

The expression on the face of the sneering Great Demon King, its bone saber raised high, instantly froze stiff!

Its pupils shrank to pinpoints from absolute terror!

It wanted to roar, to struggle, to swing down that fatal blow.

But it discovered that it couldn’t even move a finger, or even turn its eyeballs!

The Demon Power it was so proud of was like a frozen river, completely solidified within its body.

A despair born from its most basic life instincts, like facing the supreme might of the heavens, instantly flooded its consciousness.

’No—!!!’

It let out a silent, utterly shrill scream from the depths of its soul.

Then, that scream, along with its consciousness and its soul...

...like a candle flame thrown into the void, was extinguished with a PFFT.

And not just it!

On the battlefield, all the roaring, charging, biting, gnawing, Demon Fire-spitting, and even the Low Tier Demon Race hiding in the rear...

...whether they were the ferociously powerful Great Demon Kings or the vicious little demon soldiers...

...in that same instant, all the ferocity, brutality, and excitement on their faces froze in place.

Then, it was replaced by a deathly grey pallor.

The fire of their lives, by that vast Primordial Spirit power...

...was gently wiped away, as if brushing off dust.

CRASH—!

Their demon bodies, deprived of the support of life, were like puppets with their strings cut.

They fell in droves, crashing into the ruins and pools of blood with dull thuds.

The serrated bone saber, which had been gathering a terrifying blood-red light, slipped from the stiffened hand of the Great Demon King.

It hit the ground with a CLANG.

The entire Molten Iron City battlefield fell into a deathly silence.

Only the mournful sound of the wind, whistling past tattered banners, remained.

The surviving defenders, whether heavily wounded on the ground or barely standing, were all completely stunned.

They stared blankly at the bizarre and shocking scene before them.

One second, the demon horde was roaring viciously, about to tear them to shreds. The next, they had all turned into cold corpses?

What happened?

After a brief, deathly silence came an unbelievable, ecstatic joy!

"Dead... they’re dead? They’re all dead?!" a city guard soldier with a severed arm muttered, then burst into ragged sobs of someone who had survived a great catastrophe.

"Is... is it a god? Has a god descended?!" Someone cried out, gazing at the still-darkened sky and falling to their knees in excitement.

"We’re saved... We’re saved!" Marquis Tieyan struggled to lift his head, looking at the battlefield that had been cleared in an instant.

He stared at the lifeless corpse of the Great Demon King, still frozen in its saber-swinging posture.

After the immense shock came an unparalleled sense of awe and an indescribable, ecstatic joy.

Tears mixed with blood streamed down his face.

...

At almost the exact same moment the Molten Iron City battlefield was cleared...

...deep within the Red Ridge Mountain Range, a large mine rich in Energy Crystal Stones was being attacked by several Demon Kings skilled at burrowing.

The ground had caved in, tunnels had collapsed, and the miners had suffered heavy casualties.

Marquis Jiangling, who had rushed to provide support, had transformed into a continuous rain of sword light.

He was fending off the siege of three Demon Kings, and the situation was perilous.

Suddenly!

The three Demon Kings—which looked like giant pangolins, were covered in thick scales, and were madly ramming the mountainside—abruptly froze!

The savage light in their eyes instantly died, leaving them empty and ash-grey.

Their massive bodies collapsed to the ground as if all their bones had been removed, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

The surrounding Mid and Low Tier burrowing demons, which had been destroying the mine shafts and slaughtering miners, also froze in unison before limply collapsing.

Marquis Jiangling’s rain of sword light struck empty air. He stopped, stunned.

He stared at the unbelievable scene before him.

He felt the lingering traces of that terrifying pressure in the air, a pressure so immense it made even his Primordial Spirit tremble.

His face was a mask of utter disbelief and horror.

...

In a city on the southern plains, built around a massive fortress...

...outside the city walls, a swarm of Low Tier Demon Beasts, like a black carpet, was assaulting the crumbling defense line in wave after wave.