High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 189: Chapter 145: Breakthrough

In the blink of an eye, night had fallen.

Li Wen had returned from Nine Heavens Peak to Villa One, located in the center of the villa district.

Just as the Peak Master had said, while the environment on Nine Heavens Peak was exceptionally beneficial for cultivating the Nine Heavens Divine Body, it was by no means a suitable place to live long-term. The disciples’ daily accommodations were still arranged in this safe and comfortable villa district.

In the Martial Arts Room, Li Wen had already completed his four hours of daily, unmissable blade practice.

He now sat cross-legged in the center of the meditation room, eagerly retrieving the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter from his storage space—a gift from the Peak Master.

As he took the book in hand, the characters on the cover seemed to thrum with a faint electric current.

Li Wen took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement that came with being on the verge of accessing a Super Grade technique.

He flipped open the heavy cover, and his eyes were immediately met with lines of profound, esoteric scripture and accompanying diagrams of qi and blood circulation.

Li Wen was no longer the novice he once was. Aided by the vast, star-river-like Spiritual Power granted by his level 11 Scholar class and the wealth of knowledge he had accumulated over the past month to prepare for the Nine Heavens Divine Body, his mind swiftly immersed itself in the text.

The scriptures were obscure and the diagrams complex, filled with interpretations and requirements regarding the profound mysteries of energy, particles, and the physical body. It far surpassed his previous Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill.

Li Wen mobilized his Primordial Spirit to aid in analysis and deduction.

His formidable Spiritual Power allowed him to quickly scan, memorize, and gain a preliminary understanding of most of the content. Moreover, the depth of thought that came with his second-level Primordial Spirit allowed him to perceive hints of the true meaning hidden between the lines.

Before he knew it, the moon had climbed to the middle of the sky.

Throughout the entire evening, Li Wen barely moved, completely immersed in the mystical world of the Foundation Chapter.

Thanks to his extraordinary foundation, he felt he had already grasped most of the book’s content.

The core frameworks and pathways—how to construct a god-devil foundation, how to undergo the ultimate transformation at the peak of mortal existence, how to initially guide and refine berserk lightning for his own use—had already formed a clear outline in his mind.

......

The next morning, sunlight had just begun to cast a pale golden sheen over the villa district.

After finishing breakfast, Li Wen returned to his study and once again opened the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter.

He didn’t immediately continue reading. Instead, he returned to the first page and began to meticulously reread it from the very beginning, starting with the introduction.

His Primordial Spirit, like the most precise instrument, operated with his level 11 [Absolute Focus] skill, deconstructing and analyzing every single character and symbol.

Passages he thought he had understood the previous night now yielded new insights upon a second reading.

A subtle description he had previously overlooked might be a critical node in the flow of energy. A seemingly simple connection between diagrams might contain requirements for an extremely subtle frequency of qi and blood vibration.

He discovered that much of what he had seemingly understood the night before was, in fact, merely superficial.

The clashing and nullification of energies, the balance between attractive and repulsive forces among particles, the synchronous tempering of subtle meridians... these profound mysteries couldn’t be fully grasped in a single reading.

The pages rustled under his fingertips. Li Wen’s brow would furrow in concentration, then smooth out in understanding.

With each careful pass, he felt his connection to the Foundation Chapter grow stronger, his understanding deepening another layer.

The words in the book were no longer just knowledge; they felt more like an exquisitely intricate, interlocking system for complex energy construction.

As time slowly flowed toward noon, when the sun outside was at its most intense, Li Wen once again reached the final page of the Foundation Chapter.

He didn’t close the book, nor did he impatiently attempt to circulate his energy.

He simply let his gaze fall calmly upon his status panel.

[Cultivation Technique: Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill (Perfection), Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter (40%)]

’Just as I thought...’ Li Wen realized.

His ’Permanence of Attainment’ talent wasn’t just a simple photographic memory. It meant that once he truly and thoroughly mastered a piece of knowledge or an ability, it was branded onto his Dao foundation, never to be forgotten or become unfamiliar.

The problem was, the act of reading was not the same as the act of mastering.

For some things, a single read-through only amounted to seeing and knowing; there was a vast gulf between that and truly understanding it, internalizing it as instinct.

During his hasty first pass, he had indeed memorized a great deal and understood the general approach. But the subtleties, the unresolved questions, the details where he knew *what* to do but not *why*—none of that had reached the standard of ’attainment’.

That was why the panel only showed 40%.

’I’ve already waited a month. Another day or two won’t make a difference.’ Li Wen’s mindset was perfectly calm.

He was well aware of the dangers involved in laying the foundation for a Super Grade god-devil technique. A mighty tower is built from the ground up; if the foundation had even the slightest flaw, his future cultivation would be fraught with peril, potentially leading to a point of no return.

’Repeated study and complete comprehension—that’s the only way!’

Without hesitation, he turned the book back to the first page.

This time, he read more slowly and thought more deeply, his Primordial Spirit performing even more meticulous deductions.

When he encountered passages describing energy flows that were difficult to understand or visualize, he used the power of his Primordial Spirit to construct and simulate miniature models in his mind.

He spent his days studying the Foundation Chapter. At night, he would enter the Fire World’s Void Realm, using his access privileges to open a special instructional module. There, he listened to more systematic explanations and watched recordings of energy circulation left by his predecessors, using them to verify and deepen his daytime studies.

The days passed, one by one.

Li Wen seemed possessed, poring over the Foundation Chapter again and again.

But in Li Wen’s spiritual world, with each rereading, the scriptures and diagrams underwent a wondrous transformation.

They were no longer dead things on a page but were gradually transforming into flowing radiance, moving trajectories, and dancing particles, slowly taking shape and becoming clear within the ’Dao Foundation Mirror’ his Primordial Spirit had constructed.

Many points where he had been stuck suddenly became clear. Many seemingly straightforward passages were revealed to hide treacherous traps. Many esoteric terms finally resolved into clear, understandable, and controllable steps.

......

「Three days later.」

In the early morning, Li Wen closed the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter. He had just finished reading it for the fifth time, and his eyes were exceptionally clear and bright.

He could feel it: the profound realm depicted in the Foundation Chapter, every path of energy circulation, and the exquisite requirements for every subtle vibration, had all been branded into the depths of his consciousness as if they were a part of his own body. There was no longer any trace of ambiguity or obstruction.

With a flick of his will, he opened his status panel:

[Cultivation Technique: Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill (Perfection), Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter (100%)]

”Finally... 100%.” Li Wen let out a long sigh. The breath seemed to expel all the mental exhaustion from his days of study, leaving behind only the clarity and resolve that comes when the dust settles.

In those three days, not only had he completely digested all the subtle mysteries of the Foundation Chapter, but he had also grinded out nearly two thousand Scholar experience points.

Seeing the progress bar hit 100%, a silent fire ignited in the depths of Li Wen’s heart.

He knew the time had come: it was time to break through to the rank of Super Martial Artist and truly lay the foundation for his Nine Heavens Divine Body.

The ceaselessly churning lightning on Nine Heavens Peak would soon bear witness to him forging a god-devil foundation.

Even after completely mastering the essence of the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter, Li Wen felt no sense of complacency.

On the path of cultivation, not advancing is regressing. The threshold of a Super Martial Artist was merely the starting point on the great path to godhood and demonhood.

He picked up a dedicated tablet from a shelf. With a light tap of his finger, a display of swirling light and shadow resolved into the vast interface of the Fire Hall’s marketplace.

As the top-ranked on the Gold List and the holder of an S-class contract with the Fire Hall, his clearance was extremely high, giving him unobstructed access to resource exchanges.

Without hesitation, Li Wen navigated directly to the God-Devil Foundation section and found the eight precious foundational treasures designated for him in his contract, all intended for forging a god-devil foundation during the Super Martial Artist stage.

At the same time, he quickly selected the precious medicinal pill meant to help a peak High-level Martial Artist break through to the Super Martial Artist realm—the [Realm-Breaking Profound Origin Pill].

Mere moments after he issued the exchange command, the vast, intelligent treasury of Fire University, buried deep within the core of an ancestral ley line, received the information.

A cold, intelligent AI operated with high efficiency, manipulating precise and nimble robotic arms. Moving through layers of protective arrays humming with astonishing power, it accurately retrieved the corresponding treasures and pill. They were then carefully placed into a special, temperature-controlled sealing box designed to isolate Spiritual Energy fluctuations.

Next, a flat, silver-gray drone received the order. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, it sped toward Villa One in the freshmen district, carrying the treasures that would form the basis of Li Wen’s future.

In less than ten minutes, the drone was already hovering in front of Villa One, emitting a faint buzz.

The villa’s smart-home system instantly relayed the information to Li Wen’s wrist communicator.

Li Wen’s form flickered, and he appeared at the door, almost as if he had teleported.

He reached out and, with extreme care, took the sealed box from the drone’s delivery port. It was made of a material that was neither gold nor jade and felt coolly temperate to the touch.

Even through the highest-grade seal, a faint yet extremely pure medicinal fragrance, along with the unique aroma of spiritual materials, stubbornly seeped out and lingered at the tip of his nose.

He took a deep breath, a sharp glint in his eyes. Without further delay, he turned and hurried back to the Martial Arts Room.

The room was so quiet he could hear his own heart beating. Li Wen sat cross-legged on the cultivation platform and placed the sealed box before him.

He had already run through every detail of the breakthrough in his mind countless times, simulating every node of his qi and blood circulation.

His sea of consciousness was as clear as a mirror, and his Primordial Spirit’s power pulsed gently, ensuring the entire process would be under his perfect control.

He opened the first layer of the box. Instantly, an even richer aroma filled the air—one that was not the least bit overpowering, but instead felt balanced and mellow.

Within the box lay a single, thumb-sized pill: the [Realm-Breaking Profound Origin Pill].

Its entire body was a deep, dark gold, covered in a thick layer of pale golden beeswax, as if it were encasing a miniature star on the verge of erupting.

Li Wen gently cracked open the hard beeswax shell. As the pill itself was exposed to the air, its restrained, dark golden light seemed to pulse with infinite energy.

Without hesitation, he placed it in his mouth.

The pill melted the instant it touched his tongue, transforming into a gentle yet powerful torrent that flowed down into his abdomen.

He did not circulate his Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill, which he had long since perfected.

Instead, the techniques of the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter, now an instinct branded deep in his soul, activated completely.