High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 262: Chapter 163: Guarding Bluestone County (Part 2)

All was calm.

Yet, in this underground fortress that guarded the gateway to Bluestone County, everyone knew that beneath the tranquility, the price of their watch was never forgotten—like the marks left behind by Lin Zhan and others.

...

「Galactic Calendar Year 231, January 18th. Night.」

High in the sky, a lone moon cast its cold, clear light upon the silent Bluestone County.

But where the massive Stargate was embedded deep underground, eternal artificial lights illuminated the subterranean citadel as if it were day.

In a quiet room, Li Wen, who was sitting cross-legged, slowly opened his eyes. The crackling purple electricity surrounding him receded back into his body.

He opened his palm, revealing a pill that exuded a rich medicinal fragrance and swirled with a misty, jade-like light.

It was a Nine Revolutions Body Tempering Pill, a provision from Fire World University for its top students.

Ever since he had left the mountain to guard this place, the concentration of Spiritual Energy in the outside world was far from enough to sustain his powerful, nearly perfect body, which had been tempered by the Ninth Layer of the Nine Heavens Divine Body.

Only by consuming one of these precious pills every few days could he barely maintain his astonishing rate of physical advancement.

Without hesitation, Li Wen popped the pill into his mouth.

The pill dissolved the instant it touched his tongue, and a torrent of searing yet pure, immense energy surged through every fiber of his being.

He immediately activated the Heart Method of the Nine Heavens Divine Body’s consummate Chapter, guiding the potent medicinal energy to temper his muscles and bones and nourish his organs.

Wisps of energy merged into every cell, steadily pushing his physical body, already at the Late-stage Bright Moon Realm, toward the peak.

It was as if tiny purple Electric Snakes were darting and singing joyfully beneath his skin—an external sign of his body growing even stronger.

About two hours later, most of the immense medicinal power had been absorbed and converted by his body. Li Wen was just about to begin his final meditative cooldown.

WEE-OOO—!!

A shrill, piercing alarm, loud enough to shatter the silence, suddenly blared in every corner of the subterranean citadel.

Almost simultaneously, the sensory array in his quiet room, linked to the central command, flared with a blinding red light.

In the main hall far away, the Stargate—which normally spun slowly, as profound as a cosmic Star Map—began to fluctuate violently.

The nebula in its central region roiled and churned with sudden violence, emitting intense, unstable spatial fluctuations.

”Demon Race!”

A sharp glint flashed in Li Wen’s eyes, as if dormant lightning had been instantly ignited.

Until now, every member of the Demon Race he had slain was nothing more than a string of data in the virtual battlegrounds of the Fire World. Now, a real enemy had come.

A searing battle lust, tinged with a thirst for slaughter, rose from the depths of his heart, making the blood in his veins feel as if it were about to boil.

He didn’t even need to wait for the captain’s order to assemble.

SWISH!

The longsword on the table flew into his palm, and Li Wen’s figure had already transformed into a swift and fierce purple rainbow, bursting through the door.

His speed was so extreme that he left behind only a lingering afterimage in the quiet room and the faint, scorched scent of lightning in the air.

By the time Li Wen’s figure appeared on the engagement platform before the Stargate—an area wide enough to hold a small army—the other nine stationed Bright Moon Realm cultivators had also assembled at nearly the same moment.

Their faces were uniformly grim and murderous. Their powerful auras instantly merged into one, forming a towering wall between the massive Stargate and the subterranean citadel behind them.

The piercing alarm continued to echo as the nebula vortex ahead, over a hundred meters in diameter, suddenly spewed forth a dense demonic aura.

Dozens of figures, each with a different form and exuding a ferocious air, roared as they charged out from within.

Leading them were three exceptionally fierce Demon Race members at the Peak of Bright Moon Realm.

One was a Lion-headed Giant Demon, nearly three meters tall, its dark golden fur like burning flames. The natural markings on its forehead radiated an ancient, domineering aura.

The other two were a savage Lizard Demon covered in bone armor with protruding fangs, and a green-faced Water Demon surrounded by swirling vapor, its eyes cold and sinister.

Behind them followed more than twenty late- and mid-stage Bright Moon Realm demons, along with dozens of Flying Star Realm demons, every one of them with bloodthirsty, glowing red eyes.

There was no idle talk. The battle ignited the very instant the Demon Race charged out of the Stargate.

”Kill!” The station captain, a veteran cultivator at the Peak of Bright Moon Realm, thrust his spear like a dragon. A beam of spear light, condensed to its absolute limit, shot straight for the leading Lion Demon.

The three peak-level demons shrieked, each unleashing their own techniques as they synergistically surrounded him, intending to take down the strongest defender right from the start.

The Lion Demon roared, its voice shaking space itself as its claws slashed out, creating sharp gales of force;

The Lizard Demon’s hard bone armor clashed directly with the spear light, its fangs waiting for an opportunity to bite;

And the Water Demon manipulated a viscous, chillingly cold poison, coiling around him like a relentless, corrosive pest.

The remaining members of the Demon Race also split into several groups, roaring as they lunged at the other cultivators, including Li Wen.

In an instant, the platform was a whirlwind of flashing blades and sword shadows. Demonic aura and True Essence clashed violently, and a cacophony of explosions, impacts, and roars assaulted the eardrums.

Li Wen stood within the battle formation, his longsword moving with fluid grace as the exquisite Blade Intent of the Profound Dome Rainbow Silence Chapter flowed naturally from him.

His movements were as nimble as lightning. His blade flashed, at times like a sudden rainbow, at others like a streaking thunderbolt, each strike carrying immense power.

He wasn’t using his full strength, merely maintaining the level expected of a Late-stage Bright Moon Realm cultivator. Every slash precisely parried the demons’ ferocious attacks, and at the right moments, he would counter. Wherever his blade light passed, a mid-stage demon general would either be wounded or forced to retreat.

He was like a purple storm moving through the demonic horde. Though he hadn’t yet revealed his true edge, he already placed immense pressure on his opponents, alleviating the burden on those around him and allowing the entire battle formation to operate in an orderly fashion.