High Martial: I Grind Professions

The Time Tower was a sacred place for comprehending Laws. Using it to practice bladework for a pittance of experience points was an absolute waste.

Combat. Only intense, high-stakes combat was the shortcut to rapidly advancing a Martial Dao practitioner’s rank.

"Star Pivot, connect to the Virtual Cosmos, Extreme Battle Arena."

"Command confirmed. Connecting..." Star Pivot’s cool, detached voice replied.

His consciousness instantly plunged into the vast world of data.

As light and shadow swirled, Li Wen’s figure materialized in his exclusive silver lounge within the Extreme Battle Arena.

He habitually walked toward the matchmaking crystal, but his gaze froze as he glanced at the communications panel.

The icon for duel invitations was flashing with a glaring [999+], a number that seemed to pulse so frantically it might burst from the light screen!

’So many?’ Even with his usually unshakable composure, Li Wen couldn’t help but reveal a flicker of surprise.

He tapped open the list, and a flood of densely packed challenge invitations poured out.

A quick glance revealed the information refreshing like a waterfall. The lowest rank displayed was Master.

Even more impressive were the numerous "King" insignias mixed in, radiating a profound and majestic aura—the King rank!

The challengers’ IDs were a motley collection, and they hailed from various races.

But Li Wen keenly noticed that most had been sent within the few hours since he had left the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

The sender IPs... A shocking number of them pointed to a single location within the Radiant Star Domain: the capital planet of the advanced Alka Empire!

’Heh...’ A smile bloomed on Li Wen’s lips. Far from being worried, he was filled with the pure joy of a hunter.

There was an old saying back on Blue Star: ’Men fear fame as a pig fears growing fat.’ That only applies to the mediocre!

But for him, Li Wen, this surging tide of challenges, this attention from the core circle of geniuses in an advanced empire, was a godsend!

These geniuses—so high and mighty, so arrogant in the eyes of ordinary people—weren’t terrifying beasts to him.

They were clearly a group of walking, glittering—a treasure trove of experience!

’Perfect. This saves me the trouble of hunting them down one by one.’

A sharp glint flashed in Li Wen’s eyes. His finger swiped rapidly across the light screen, purposefully filtering for invitations marked with the King insignia.

His gaze finally settled on the names of a few challengers from the Alka Empire’s capital planet—those with the most prominent IP addresses and the most dazzling rank insignias.

...

「At the same time.」

Virtual Cosmos. The exclusive zone for the advanced Alka Empire’s capital planet.

Within a magnificent palace floating above a data nebula.

Several figures, each exuding a powerful aura, were gathered together.

They came in various forms: some were humanoid but covered in fine, golden scales; others were winged humanoids with backs that sprouted wings of light.

There were phantoms cloaked in mists of energy and towering giants whose bodies seemed to be composed of molten lava.

Any one of them, in a mid-tier civilization like the Moluo Empire, would be considered a peerless prodigy, the pride of an entire Star Domain.

At this moment, the focus of their discussion was the very name that had just caused a massive stir at the Moluo Empire’s Seventh Base: Li Wen.

"Have you all confirmed the news from Moluo?"

The speaker was a young man in battle armor patterned with dark gold. A single horn grew from his forehead, and his voice was deep and magnetic.

He was "Star-Render" Ares Titan, a prominent figure of the younger generation of the Alka Empire’s Titan Royal family, ranked as a Three-Star King.

"It’s absolutely true." The reply came from a slender figure beside him, seemingly woven from starlight. Her voice was ethereal. "The information was personally verified and reported by Rondo Carls. That Human Race member from Blue Star, Li Wen... bone age of forty, peak of the Venerable Realm, and he cleared the first eight floors of the Heaven-Reaching Tower at the Moluo Empire’s Seventh Base in a single run!

His final evaluation: Superior!"