High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 120: Chapter 96: One Slash Slays a Super-Martialist

He moved so fast that the ordinary clan members only saw a blur.

But the truly jaw-dropping scene was yet to come.

As Li Wen charged forward, his gaze as sharp as a falcon’s, he opened his right hand. He made a grasping motion toward a blood-stained Standard Rapier lying on the battlefield dozens of meters away, left behind by a fallen soldier.

HUM!

A low, imposing hum resonated through the air.

An invisible, unsettling power descended in an instant.

The space around Li Wen’s grasping palm seemed to twist for a moment.

The ordinary steel blade, lying in a pool of mud and blood, moved as if controlled by a giant, invisible hand.

With a soft SHING, it shot into the air.

It moved so fast it left a faint white vapor trail in the air.

Then, as if drawn by a magnet, it landed flawlessly in Li Wen’s open hand.

The moment the blade was in his hand, Li Wen’s entire aura changed.

The members of the Li clan were completely stunned, their mouths agape, unable to utter a sound.

’This scene was beyond their comprehension! Telekinesis?! Is... is this an Immortal Technique?!’

”GASP—!” Beside Li Changjie, the High-level Martial Artist bodyguard, who had maintained a solemn expression until now, jumped as if his tail had been stepped on.

He drew a sharp breath, his eyes bulging with utter disbelief. His voice cracked from the shock as he cried out:

”The Power Realm!! That’s Blade Power! The power of the world itself... He... He’s already a Power Realm Powerhouse?!!”

”The Power Realm?”

”What’s that?” Many of the ordinary clan members had no idea what the term meant.

But the phrase ”the power of the world itself” struck them like a magic incantation, filling them with an even deeper shock and a strange sense of awe.

The two Swift Wind Demon Wolf Kings, who were about to either pounce on the survivors of the cleanup squad or charge the Li family convoy, also keenly sensed the sudden appearance of an incomparably sharp aura that seemed capable of cleaving through anything.

They both stopped in their tracks. Their eerie green eyes, filled with a mix of suspicion and rage, locked onto the human figure who stood between them and their food, holding an ordinary steel blade.

’Perfect. Time to test my blade on you two.’

A cold glint flashed in Li Wen’s eyes.

’[Absolute Focus]—Activate!’

BOOM!

An indescribable sense of clarity and absolute control instantly surged through Li Wen.

The Primordial Spirit in his sea of consciousness pulsed, synchronizing perfectly with his mind and instantly elevating his perception, reflexes, and willpower to an unprecedented peak.

Everything around him slowed down, becoming crystal clear: the paths of flowing energy, the tells of the Wolf Demons’ impending pounce, the minute tremors of their tensing muscles. Even the tiny specks of light in his own reflection, mirrored in their eyes, were visible in perfect detail.

He made no wasted movements.

He stepped forward with his left foot, lowered his center of gravity, and drew his back taut like a bow. His right hand, gripping the ordinary Standard Rapier, was perfectly still.

Hum... The blade seemed to let out a low thrum of anticipation.

Boosted by his LV8 Absolute Focus, Li Wen’s control over the Blade Power he had just recently comprehended reached a new, meticulous peak.

He channeled the primal sharpness from the soul of a bladesman, that pale and piercing Blade Intent, and poured all of it into the common steel in his hand.

Then, he swung.

Not one strike, but two in the same instant.

Two arcs of blade light, slashing upward from below, almost simultaneously.

SWISH! SWISH!

The arcs of light weren’t an earth-shattering explosion or a dazzling display.

Instead, they were terrifyingly restrained, condensed into a stark, pale light.

It was as if space itself was being rent asunder by two flashes of cold light, so silent it was unnerving.

The speed was unbelievable!

It was the maximum speed achievable with 100% mastery of the [Shadow-Stealing Form] and his newly formed Blade Power.

It surpassed the ability of anyone present to track visually.

Even Li Changjie’s bodyguard only saw Li Wen’s figure seem to waver, and two faint, ghastly-white threads—almost like an illusion—streaked through the air along a trajectory that defied all logic.

And their target—

—was the two Swift Wind Demon Wolf Kings, who had just begun to pounce on Li Wen.

The instant the two pale arcs of light vanished—

SCHLICK! SCHLICK!

Two soft sounds, like tearing silk or a ripe gourd splitting open, rang out in unison, yet they echoed in everyone’s mind.

Time seemed to freeze in that moment.

The two Wolf Demons’ forward momentum halted abruptly, leaving them hanging in mid-air like a pair of giant statues hit with a petrification spell.

The next second—

GUSH!

A torrent of blood erupted like a fountain from a vital point beneath each Wolf Demon’s neck, spraying from their thick, bluish-black fur-covered chests.

Two massive, intersecting gashes, deep enough to reveal bone, had been torn open on their powerful torsos, as if sliced by some invisible force.

The edges of the wounds were as smooth as glass, and a faint, unsettling trace of pale, sharp energy lingered upon them.

The massive wolf bodies, each comparable in size to an armored car, collapsed.

They slammed heavily onto the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

Their limbs were still twitching, but the cruel light that had once shone in their beastly eyes was rapidly losing focus, leaving behind only endless terror and a frozen, vacant stare.

The air fell deathly silent.

Even the wind seemed to stop.

Every sound—the terrified cries of the Li clan members, the desperate gasps of the cleanup squad, the ferocious roars of the Demon Beasts, the crackling hum of the Energy Guns—vanished.

All that remained was a profound, heart-stopping silence.

The Li clan members’ faces were frozen in fear and stupor. Their eyes were wide, their mouths agape, as if they were all being choked simultaneously.

They stared at the two Wolf Demons, which had seemed like invincible fiends one moment and had fallen like a pair of rag dolls the next.

Then they looked back at Li Wen, who stood between the wolf carcasses holding a blood-stained steel blade, his expression as calm as if he had just done something trivial.

’Shock? Horror? Confusion? And a trace of trance-like awe, as if they had just witnessed a miracle?’

A whirlwind of emotions churned within them, turning their minds blank. All they could do was instinctively maintain their petrified, shocked expressions.

Over with the cleanup squad, the bearded captain and the few other wounded members, who had been preparing for a last stand, were also completely stunned.

They even forgot where to aim their guns.

They stared at the two massive, lifeless wolf corpses on the ground, their fatal wounds still emitting a faint, pale energy. Then, they lifted their heads and gazed in disbelief at the young man’s back—slender, yet as straight and tall as a pine tree.

His silhouette looked so slight amidst the swirling dust, yet it contained unimaginable power.

The relief of survival intertwined with profound shock, causing the eyes of these battle-hardened men to redden and their throats to choke up. For a moment, none of them could utter a word.

The expressions on the faces of Li Changjie and his parents were a sight to behold.

Li Changjie’s lips trembled. The way he looked at Li Wen had completely transformed into one of pure reverence.

’The Power Realm! As someone who had reached the Unity Realm, only he knew how incredibly difficult it was to reach the Power Realm while still in high school.’

’In all of Changning City, only Luo Zhen from their own City No. 1 High had reached the Power Realm. And now... there was another.’

As for Li Fude, he was stiff and utterly speechless. Only the bodyguard beside him was trembling, his gaze on Li Wen’s back filled with indescribable reverence as he muttered under his breath:

”The might of the Power Realm... Instantly killing two Junior Peak Super Martial Artists with a single strike... A prodigy... a true prodigy...”

Li Wen’s parents held onto each other for support. His mother instinctively covered her mouth, her eyes filled with lingering fear and worry.

But overriding those feelings was an indescribable excitement and pride! ’Her son... was actually this powerful.’

Li Wen slowly exhaled, and the sharp aura surrounding his body—an energy that felt as if it could slice through anything—gradually dissipated.

He glanced down at the utterly ordinary Standard Rapier in his hand.

The blade was already warped and riddled with small cracks and nicks.

Although the power of the world he had channeled for those two strikes was concentrated along the blade’s edge, its instantaneous burst of might had far exceeded the limits of common steel.

’It’s true what they say,’ he thought. ’Below the Power Realm, all are merely ants.’

’My physical body is only level 8-something, yet by channeling a fraction of the world’s power, I easily slew two Junior Peak Super Martial Artist-level Demon Beasts.’

He casually tossed the ruined, warped blade to the ground, where it landed with a crisp CLANG.

The sound, extraordinarily clear in the dead silence, seemed to snap everyone out of their stupor.

Li Wen’s gaze swept over the carnage, over his still-shaken clan members, and over the cleanup squad members who remained lost in shock and agony.

His eyes finally landed on the bearded captain, and he spoke with a voice that was young but carried an undeniable authority:

”The Demon Beasts are dealt with. You... should tend to your wounded first.”

Li Wen’s words jolted the bearded captain from the shock of having witnessed a teenager instantly slay two ferocious Wolf Demons.

He smacked himself on the head, his voice hoarse with relief and filled with sincere gratitude.

”Right, right, right! Thank you! Thank you, young man, for saving us! If it weren’t for you, all of my men would’ve died here today! Everyone, move! Save the wounded!”

As if waking from a dream, the members of the cleanup squad pushed through their pain and exhaustion and hurried toward their fallen comrades.

But at that moment, Li Wen’s mind wasn’t entirely on the scene before him.

When his Primordial Spirit had spread out like invisible mercury a moment ago, a clear image of the area in a radius of over half a kilometer had appeared in his sea of consciousness.

The thick stench of blood where the two Wolf Demons lay dead was as conspicuous as a beacon in the dark.

But farther away, deep within a cave on a cliff face concealed by shrubbery, a far more savage and profound fluctuation of vital energy was surging restlessly, like a dormant volcano.

’The strength of this aura was far beyond that of the Junior Peak Wolf Demons. Its intensity... it’s definitely at the level of a mid-level Super Martial Artist.’

Li Wen’s heart sank. ’The power of my Primordial Spirit is one of my greatest trump cards. I absolutely cannot reveal it with so many people watching.’