High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 293: Chapter 173: Slaying a Prodigy with a Single Slash, Transferred to Changning City

His new mission was to return to Bluestone County, assist with the evacuation and garrison duties, and ultimately escort the county’s remaining population safely to the nearby Changning City.

This move by the Fire Hall was born of necessity.

Blue Star’s Spiritual Energy had only been recovering for a little over two hundred years, and the foundation of power the Human Race had accumulated for their Divine-Demons was still shallow.

As the bridge connecting the Flying Star Realm to Great Sun-level combatants, the number and quality of Bright Moon Realm Divine-Demons directly impacted the future potential of the entire Human Race.

Allowing these precious core forces to be slowly and continuously depleted by one scattered, small-to-medium-sized citadel after another was tantamount to severing their own path to the future.

In contrast, the damage caused by allowing some small and medium-sized Stargates to open, letting in Demon Race members below the Great Sun Realm, was far more controllable.

While Bright Moon Realm demons were certainly stronger than those at the Flying Star Level, their destructive power and mobility had clear limits within the vast territory of the Human Race.

As long as the Human Race maintained a mobile force of Great Sun Realm experts, they could extinguish these relatively scattered threats at any time.

Most importantly, these infiltrating Low Tier demons also feared death.

Surrounded by powerful enemies in the human world, they would never dare to rampage as they had in the small counties. Most would choose to hide away in the deep seas, desolate wilds, or the depths of the earth, just to eke out a miserable existence.

The actual harm they could cause wasn’t as drastically different as one might imagine from the powerful Demon Beasts that bred in the wild.

The price, of course, was that the activity range of ordinary humans would be further compressed back into the core metropolitan areas. Some former homes would become completely forbidden lands.

But compared to sacrificing the foundation of the entire Bright Moon Realm Divine-Demon class, which would leave the Divine-Demon system with no successors, this concession of territory seemed insignificant.

Living space could be reclaimed over time, but once the foundation was broken, there would be nothing left.

Li Wen bid farewell to Gao Yuan, the captain of Rockhold Citadel, and the other squad members he had fought alongside.

Gao Yuan nodded in understanding and clapped Li Wen on the shoulder. ”Duty calls. Take care!”

Zhou Tong, Liu Kun, and the others also gave him their solemn goodbyes.

Without delay, Li Wen’s figure transformed into a streak of faint purple light, hurtling toward Bluestone County at astonishing speed along a dedicated high-speed channel.

The citadel’s scenery was quickly left behind, and a complicated mix of emotions churned within him.

Rockhold was the new battlefield, while Bluestone County held too many memories.

’My first fumbling steps on the Martial Dao, the passionate fervor of my first battle against the xenos, the promise to protect my parents, and that unforgettable, brutal defensive war that buried six Bright Moon Realm Divine-Demons... And now, I’m the one who has to personally send a part of its history away.’

The Great Migration.

In the following half-month, a great migration of unprecedented scale, one that would determine the fate of tens of millions, was underway.

Following an order from Blue Star’s High Command, the operation launched in full force across all designated evacuation zones.

Countless hover-transports and heavy vehicles flowed like a torrent of steel, shuttling back and forth along safe corridors established by the military.

They ceaselessly transported batches of residents, along with the limited belongings they could carry, to their destination cities.

On the outskirts of these core cities, massive temporary resettlement zones had already been planned and rapidly constructed.

Bluestone County was also swept up in this torrent.

Upon his return, Li Wen immediately took over the citadel’s defense and the escort missions for key routes during the migration phase.

He stationed himself in the temporary command center of what was once Bluestone County’s underground citadel. His spiritual perception spread out like an invisible web, covering a vast area to ensure the safety of the main migration routes and the resettlement points.

The once-familiar streets were now empty yet bustling, no longer filled with the sights and sounds of daily life, but with the clamor of the evacuation.

The Demon Race, naturally, would not sit back and watch the humans proactively consolidate their defenses to build up strength.

They immediately detected the humans’ strategic intentions and attempted to sabotage them.

The various medium-sized citadels and strategic locations that were still holding their ground came under fiercer and more frequent attacks.

This was clearly an attempt to tie down the Human Race’s Great Sun Realm combatants, leaving them unable to support the migration or eliminate infiltrators.

At the same time, they seized the opportunity presented by the opened gates. Large numbers of Bright Moon Realm demon generals and Flying Star Realm demon soldiers began trying to infiltrate Blue Star through these small and medium-sized Stargates abandoned by the humans.

But the human high command had long anticipated this counterattack from the Demon Race.

This plan to merge counties and consolidate cities was not a hasty decision. It was the result of meticulous planning and preparation that had taken a year, if not longer.

The Demon Race’s intensified frontal assault was like a heavy fist smashing against a well-prepared, solid bulwark. The Human Race leveraged their defensive advantages to resist layer by layer, preventing the enemy from gaining any real ground.

As for the Bright Moon Realm demons who risked infiltration, they fell right into a carefully woven net.

Several powerful King-level Divine-Demons, acting like humanoid, high-efficiency scanners, launched a thunderous sweep operation guided by precise intelligence.

During the migration, Li Wen’s Primordial Spirit perception repeatedly caught the intense combat fluctuations and powerful King-level energy signatures from afar, followed by the swift annihilation of demon life forces.

The effect of King-level Divine-Demons personally taking the field to sweep the area was devastating.

Huge swaths of infiltrating demon squads were precisely located, intercepted, and utterly annihilated. The few scattered fish that slipped through the net were scared out of their wits and didn’t dare show their faces again.

They could only hide deeper, temporarily losing their ability to operate, no different from hibernating beasts.

Faced with the humans’ methodical and well-prepared response, the Demon Race’s obstruction efforts yielded minimal results.

Although the half-month was filled with pressure and activity, the core objective of the great migration was achieved.

「...」

「Around May 20, 232, Galactic Calendar.」

The largest strategic population transfer in Blue Star’s history had basically concluded.

All small counties were abandoned and cleared out according to the plan, their populations absorbed into the nearest provincial capitals or special-class cities.

The former Bluestone County was now a newly designated major administrative district of Changning City.

At the edge of the resettlement zone, a massive protective dome shimmered with the faint light of an energy barrier.

Rows upon rows of neat, temporary housing units stretched into the distance.

The dust settled, and the clamor gradually subsided.

With dazed expressions from their departure and a glimmer of hope for the future, the populace began the difficult process of adapting to their new lives in the new district.

Li Wen also formally received his new permanent garrison orders.

His garrison point was no longer an isolated small county, but the entire megalopolis of Changning City—a city brimming with immense vitality and deep defensive lines.

As one of the key strategic deterrents dispatched by the Fire Hall, in addition to guarding the underground citadel, he was also responsible for patrolling and monitoring this super-metropolis.

He would also serve as a powerful mobile reserve force, ready to respond at a moment’s notice to any High Tier Demon Race threat alarms that might appear within the city and its surrounding areas.