High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 90: Chapter 72: Instakill

The instant Li Wen lunged, he poured all his strength into his right leg, sweeping it like a battle-axe against the base of the precast slab pile.

CRUMBLE!!!

The pile of precast slabs, already highly unstable and standing three to four meters tall, collapsed with a thunderous roar, like a small landslide.

Massive concrete blocks and a cloud of dust instantly engulfed Li Wen’s original position, as well as the path of the attackers lunging from his left.

More importantly, the collapse perfectly blocked the blue-robed figure and the two green-robed figures who were leaping up from below.

The three were momentarily stalled by the sudden collapse. ℴ

In a clash of experts, victory is decided by a hair’s breadth.

This surprise move disrupted the attackers’ perfectly timed rhythm.

But Li Wen, after delivering the kick, used his formidable core strength and meticulous control to violently twist his body in mid-air.

He hadn’t been lunging forward at all. The entire move was just a feint.

Just as his body was about to hit the ground, he used the terrifying, absolute Body Control Power granted by the Unity Realm to forcefully alter his falling trajectory.

Like a refracted ray of light, he used the cover of dust and debris to reverse direction in a flash, charging toward—the light purple-robed enemy on the far right, who had been half a beat too slow to dodge the falling slabs.

His reversal was swift and cunning, exploiting the only opening in the encirclement.

The light purple-robed enemy barely registered Li Wen’s returning figure—a blur of motion trailing a blade that gleamed like a sliver of moonlight—and could only manage a hasty block.

CLANG! CRACK!

A sharp clang and the sickening crunch of bone rang out.

The blade, imbued with the explosive force of the ’Long Rainbow Pierces the Sun’ technique and focused with the efficiency of Li Wen’s 77% control, shattered the enemy’s hasty block at point-blank range, then bit deep into the side of the purple-robed enemy’s neck.

SPLAT! The purple-robed enemy was sent flying like a discarded sack, his body already beginning to dissipate in mid-air.

Points +500!

The other two—the medium and dark purple-robed figures who had missed their target—roared in fury, their blades once again locking onto Li Wen as he emerged from the dust.

At the same time, the blue-robed and two green-robed attackers, momentarily delayed, finally leaped over the rubble and charged with belated ferocity.

However, in the same instant he cut down the purple-robed enemy, Li Wen had already calculated his landing spot.

Tapping his feet twice on a pile of debris without breaking stride, he darted into a narrow nearby alley like a phantom.

He had given up the prime opportunity to clash head-on with the two remaining purple-robed and three other high-level enemies, choosing instead to use the terrain to disengage.

This was no cowardly retreat. It was a strategic repositioning based on the battlefield rhythm he perceived with his Primordial Spirit.

He had eliminated the highest-threat target, broken the encirclement, thrown the enemy formation into chaos, and escaped into a new battleground, completely unscathed.

Back in reality, after a moment of suffocating silence, the viewing area for Third Middle School absolutely exploded.

”My God! He took out a light purple one!”

”That was incredible! How did he even think to use the collapsing rubble to split up the enemies?!”

”That reversal! That dodge! Is he even human?!”

”Look at the score! Look at the score! He’s at 2640 points!”

Live Leaderboard (Bluestone County):

1. Jiang Lingyun (First Middle School) - 2870 Points

2. Li Wen (Third Middle School) - 2640 Points

Li Wen’s rank shot up the leaderboard like a rocket, putting him right on the heels of the top spot!

His performance was no longer about ’hoping for the top ten’; it was a clear declaration to everyone that he was coming for the throne itself!

Back on the ruined street, the dust had yet to settle. The two remaining purple-robed figures and their three high-level allies stared at the spot where their companion had dissipated, then at the empty alley. A flicker of programmed confusion seemed to cross their eyes.

But the confusion was quickly overwritten by their kill directive, and they immediately gave chase in the direction Li Wen had vanished.

Meanwhile, Li Wen, having just ducked into the alley, didn’t flee.

His Primordial Spirit once again fanned out, scanning the area...

’Fifteen meters ahead, behind the corner, a blue-robed swordsman is holding his breath in ambush... Farther out, by a dumpster, two green-robed archers are drawing their bows...’

’In his sea of consciousness, the jade figurine of his Primordial Spirit pulsed with light. The drain on his Spiritual Power was significant, but his control remained stable.’

[Assessment Time Remaining: 01:19:47]

The real test was far from over.

And he, too, had only revealed the tip of the iceberg of his true power.

In the shadows atop the energy tower, three unsettling presences seemed to grow a little more distinct.

The ruins of the Doomsday City District were rendered in perfect detail in Li Wen’s mind.

The jade Primordial Spirit sat enthroned in his sea of consciousness, sending out invisible ripples that scanned a fifty-meter radius around him.

’The blue-robed swordsman holding his breath fifteen meters ahead, just around the corner.’

’The two green-robed archers by the dumpster farther off, bows drawn and waiting.’

’And the two purple shadows relentlessly pursuing him from behind—one medium, one dark—their fierce killing intent laid bare to his senses.’

The dark purple figure, in particular, was rendered in stunning detail: the coursing of its qi and blood, the firing of its muscle fibers, even the condensed Blade Intent held, but not yet unleashed, within its sword—all of it far clearer than that of the medium purple figure beside it.

It represented the program’s simulation of ’100% Body Control Power at the Unity Realm,’ the theoretical limit just below the ’Momentum Realm.’

Instead of taking a path that would avoid the archers, Li Wen suddenly accelerated, charging headlong toward the corner where the blue-robed swordsman lay in wait.

The instant a vicious glint appeared in the blue-robed swordsman’s eyes and his blade shot out like a viper striking from its den—

HUMMM!

Primordial Spirit engaged, Divine Sense locked on!

The swordsman’s every intention, the minute vibrations of his blade slicing through the air, even the imperceptible stutter as he shifted his center of gravity—it all played out as if in high-speed slow motion.

[Absolute Focus] activated! The world froze in an instant.

’Long Rainbow Pierces the Sun!’ he roared in his mind.

In the infinitesimal gap before the swordsman’s strike reached its peak and his weight transfer was complete, Li Wen spun, his body turning just a fraction of an inch in a move that defied physics. He didn’t meet the attack head-on. Instead, his own blade transformed into a distorted, elongated streak of blood-red light.

SCHLICK!

Fast. Unimaginably fast.

It wasn’t just raw speed. It was a fatal strike delivered at the precise instant the enemy’s attack had lost its momentum, a fraction of a second before he could muster a new defense.

The dark purple virtual figure seemed to perceive Li Wen’s intent. It let out a low, simulated roar and surged forward to intercept.

But the streak of blood-red light was one step ahead. It slipped with absolute precision through a gap in the blue-robed swordsman’s defense and, like a hot knife through butter, slid across his throat.

[Points +100!]

Before the gleam of his blade had even faded, Li Wen continued his motion without pause. Using the last of his spinning momentum, he whipped around like a top and delivered a powerful backward kick.

THUMP!

The body of the blue-robed swordsman, not yet fully dissipated, was launched by the immense force of Li Wen’s kick, sent flying like a cannonball toward the charging dark purple figure.

At that same instant, bowstrings twanged!

Two sharp, poison-tipped arrows sliced through the air, aimed straight for Li Wen’s ribs and back!

But in the perspective of his Primordial Spirit, the arrows’ trajectories were like clearly marked dotted lines.

After kicking the body, Li Wen’s frame seemed to impossibly shrink by three inches, as if a part of him had simply melted away.

One arrow whistled past his raised shoulder, while the other thudded into the ground where his afterimage had been a split second before.

That three-inch drop was all it took for him to perfectly evade the volley.