High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 191: Chapter 146: Advancing to Super Martial Artist (Part 2)

Absolute Focus activated. The 110% comprehension boost from his level 11 Scholar class was channeled into his blade technique refinement.

Inside the silent chamber, only the glint of his blade could be seen. Li Wen was immersed in exploring a higher realm of the blade’s Martial Dao, laying the foundation for his future Fiendgod body and continually sharpening his edge for the boundless future ahead.

...

In a flash, a week had passed since Li Wen broke through to the Super Martial Artist Realm.

「Galactic Calendar Year 226, July 22nd.」

After a full week of consolidating his cultivation.

With the absolute control of his second-level Primordial Spirit, which was as precise as a sophisticated instrument, Li Wen completely tamed the vital energy that surged like a great river within him—the power of a Super Martial Artist.

He knew every subtle change in his physical body and every ounce of its immense power as if it were an extension of his own will, achieving a state of perfect control.

In the early morning, after a breakfast concocted from rare, high-energy beast meat and a secret nutrient essence, a surging wave of heat spread from his lower abdomen to every corner of his body.

Li Wen sat quietly in the cultivation chamber on the top floor of his villa, his gaze falling upon eight jade boxes of different shapes arranged neatly before him, each one brimming with contained energy.

These were the eight foundation treasures he had spent a colossal amount of points to redeem from the Kindling Store, intended for forging his Fiendgod foundation.

Every single one was priceless, containing immense and pure energy sufficient to drive any ordinary Super Martial Artist in the outside world into a frenzy.

He took a deep breath. His fingertips brushed across the cool surface of a jade box before he finally opened the one on the far left—the Nine Profound Thunderfire Marrow.

Inside the box was a small, deep-purple, nearly liquid mass of vitreous substance. Within it, countless tiny Electric Snakes and orange-red flames seemed to silently writhe, entwine, annihilate, and regenerate, emitting a mixed-energy aura that was both tyrannical and pure to the extreme.

Just a wisp of its escaping aura caused the air in the chamber to distort slightly, letting out a faint SIZZLE.

This was a vital treasure for the initial foundation stage of the Nine Heavens Divine Body, used to temper one’s flesh and bones, acclimate them to the power of ferocious lightning and heavenly fire, and lay the crucial groundwork for drawing lightning into the body later on.

WHOOSH... Li Wen’s eyes shone with a profound light. He began circulating the Heart Method from the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter. The power of his Primordial Spirit, like an invisible hand, precisely enveloped the small mass of Nine Profound Thunderfire Marrow and slowly guided it into his mouth.

BOOM—!

It was as if he had swallowed a mouthful of concentrated thunderstorm and molten lava.

The moment the marrow entered his throat, there was no imagined heat or numbness—only an ultimate sense of explosion.

Peerlessly ferocious fragments of lightning and searing fire essence, like countless millions of red-hot needles, instantly pierced deep into Li Wen’s flesh, meridians, and bones.

HUM! Li Wen let out a muffled groan as his body trembled violently. His skin was instantly covered in a fine network of intersecting deep purple and orange-red patterns.

Excruciating pain slammed into his nerve endings like a tsunami.

If not for his second-level Primordial Spirit, his rock-solid will, and Absolute Focus forcibly locking his mind in place, that single impact could have caused him to pass out.

He clenched his jaw, not daring to slacken in the slightest.

He pushed the Heart Method of the Nine Heavens Divine Body Foundation Chapter to its absolute limit. His Primordial Spirit acted like a master engineer, precisely guiding and dividing the violent torrent of energy.

One portion of the energy was forcibly broken down and integrated into his entire body, violently flushing and reforging the structure of his flesh and blood, causing it to evolve into a form capable of containing High Tier energy.

Another, more tyrannical portion of the thunderfire essence was carefully gathered, compressed, and guided deep into the sea of qi in his Dantian, becoming the first cornerstone of his future Fiendgod foundation.

Time slowly trickled by amid extreme pain and intense concentration.

Sweat, mixed with trace impurities seeping from his skin, soaked through his training clothes.

A day and a night later, the tyrannical energy fluctuations in the quiet chamber finally began to subside.

Li Wen slowly opened his eyes, a flicker of lightning seemingly flashing through them before vanishing.

He was utterly exhausted, yet his spirit was unusually exhilarated.

He could clearly sense a distinct, noticeable improvement in his physical strength, the purity of his vital energy, and his affinity for lightning- and fire-elemental energies.

The total volume of vital energy in his body hadn’t increased much, but its ”quality” had become heavier and more condensed, as if a heavy liquid metal was flowing through his veins.

He had taken the first difficult but solid step in forging his Fiendgod foundation.

And this was only one-eighth of the process.

...

Time flew. A month passed in the blink of an eye as he focused on absorbing one foundation treasure after another, each completely different yet complementary to the others.

「Galactic Calendar Year 226, August 22nd.」

[Name: Li Wen]

[Age: 18 years old]

[Realm: Mid-rank Super Martial Artist (Level 25.6)]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 11 (10,224 → 27,084 / 102,400)]

[Skills: Blade Technique: Intent Realm (12%), Dawn Five Forms: Instant Rainbow (60%)]

[Cultivation Technique: Nine Heavens Divine Body - 1st Layer (0%)...]

Looking at the updated data on the virtual panel before him, even with Li Wen’s firm resolve, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of surrealness, as if a lifetime had passed.

’This past month has been insane.’

He had refined eight foundation treasures one by one, each with different attributes and extraordinary effects—the Nine Profound Thunderfire Marrow, the Earth Element Mountain-Suppressing Ointment, the Canglang Water Essence, the Celestial Spirit Meteorite Sand...

Each refinement was like undergoing a minor rebirth.

Tearing pain, surging torrents of energy, and the tingling itch of flesh and bone restructuring all took their turns.

Absorbing each one took several days, and only with the microscopic control of his second-level Primordial Spirit and the extreme efficiency of Absolute Focus was he able to complete the process safely.

The cost was immense, but the rewards were even more astonishing.

With all eight treasures consumed, not only had he thoroughly solidified the Fiendgod foundation required by the Nine Heavens Divine Body...

...but a source for his Martial Dao—one far more profound, stable, and imbued with the tyrannical aura of the Nine Heavens than any ordinary Cultivation Technique—had taken root deep within the sea of qi in his Dantian, solid as a bedrock.

The massive overflow of energy had also naturally propelled his physical body’s level upward, skyrocketing from Level 20 after his breakthrough all the way to Level 25.6!

He was now just one step away from the High-rank Super Martial Artist Realm.

’Six months ago, I was struggling to break through to Level 7 Martial Artist, exhausting all my effort... Who would have thought that in just over half a year, I’d be on the fast track of the Super Martial Artist stage, advancing more than five full levels in a single month?’

Li Wen shook his head, overcome with emotion, but his eyes were incredibly profound.

’Talent and comprehension, combined with a preferential supply of top-tier resources... The results are truly terrifying.’

He knew this wasn’t the norm.

If the resources Kindling University had invested in him were spent on a mediocre talent, they might have been able to brute-force a Mid- to High-rank Super Martial Artist with an unstable foundation.

But when used on him, they had forged a future powerhouse with an incomparably solid Fiendgod foundation and unfathomable potential.

’Resources are limited, so naturally, they should be funneled to those who can make the most of them. This is the cruelest, yet most efficient, Law.’

At the same time, this immense power also brought with it an immense responsibility.

Kindling University only recruiting two hundred students each year was by no means a pretentious gesture.

The final destination for every Kindling disciple who successfully graduated would inevitably be one of the countless ”dungeon strongholds” in the starry sky, which were under constant, frenzied assault by the Demon Race.

They were to use their bodies to guard the gates of the Human Race. With great power came great responsibility.

Numerous thoughts flashed through his mind before Li Wen forcibly suppressed them.

The foundation was laid, the blueprint was drawn. Now, it was time to build the skyscraper from the ground up.

’It’s time to officially ascend the first heaven of the Nine Heavens Divine Body.’

A trace of anticipation flickered in Li Wen’s eyes. Over the past month, he had already mastered the entire Cultivation Technique for the first layer of the Nine Heavens Divine Body.

After finishing his high-energy meal for the day, he changed into a special, dark silver-gray martial arts uniform and strode out of the villa.

After more than a month, he once again headed toward Nine Heavens Peak, a mountain perpetually shrouded in faint lightning.

His destination: the cultivation room in the Thunder Attraction Tower on Nine Heavens Peak.

His journey with the Nine Heavens Divine Body was finally about to reach its most crucial and perilous step—drawing lightning into his body.

「At the base of Nine Heavens Peak.」

An unremarkable aircraft arrived silently, hovering in a safe zone several hundred meters from the edge of the thunderstorm at the mountain’s base.

Li Wen leaped out.

Looking up, the majestic Nine Heavens Peak pierced the clouds. The thick cloud bank above was no longer a common leaden gray but a churning mass of blinding, violet-white lightning.

The air was thick with the rich smell of ozone. To the naked eye, tiny arcs of electricity could be seen intermittently leaping and bursting on the protruding rocks and metal ore veins on the ground, making CRACKLING sounds.