High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 308: Chapter 178: One Year Later, Day Travel Realm

The fury of a King-level powerhouse was fiercer and more direct than anticipated.

The next time that threshold was crossed, it would be by a blade of relentless, undying vengeance.

But... he didn’t care.

...

A year passed in the blink of an eye.

On the morning of August 1st, Year 235 of the Galactic Calendar.

Gentle sunlight filtered through the window lattice, casting dappled light and shadows across the floor of the meditation chamber.

Li Wen slowly opened his eyes, concluding a night of deep meditation.

An abundance of Spiritual Power flowed through his body, bringing his condition to its peak.

Out of daily habit, a mere thought sent his consciousness into his sea of consciousness, where a familiar, concise information panel materialized:

[Name: Li Wen]

[Age: 27]

[Realm: Late-stage Great Sun Realm (Level 58.5)]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 14 (819,030/819,200)]

[Skill: Saber Art · Dao Realm (11%)]

[Cultivation Technique: Shocking God Stab · 7th Layer (100%)]

Three years had already passed since he began standing guard over Changning City.

Thanks to the combined efforts of many powerful cultivators, himself included, Changning City’s defenses were impregnable. This, in turn, had greatly relieved the pressure on the surrounding cities.

For three years, Li Wen hadn’t slackened for a single day. His daily regimen of cultivation and study had yielded a steady increase in his power.

His saber art had entered the ”Dao Realm,” a stage where he was no longer constrained by the superficiality of forms, but had touched upon the very understanding and application of the Martial Dao’s source.

His physical body was also just a step away from Level 59.9, the mark of the Peak of the Great Sun Realm.

Now, his gaze fell upon the [Class] section.

Scholar Experience Points—819,030/819,200.

Only 170 points to go.

A flicker of imperceptible anticipation crossed Li Wen’s eyes as he calmly rose to his feet.

He washed up and took a high-energy nutrient supplement to replenish his stamina.

After completing these morning rituals, he walked directly to the study adjoined to the meditation chamber.

Two hours flew by in a state of highly-focused reading and contemplation.

The very instant he turned the final page, a familiar prompt appeared clearly within his sea of consciousness:

[You have studied diligently for two hours. Scholar Experience Points +180]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 14 (819,210/819,200)]

[Class is upgrading...]

A long-accumulated power erupted in the depths of his sea of consciousness, like a torrent bursting through a dam.

[Class: Scholar Lv. 15 (10/1,638,400)]

An endless, pure, and vast wellspring of Spiritual Power surged forth from the void. It was no longer gentle, but possessed a turbulent force that pushed at his limits.

Li Wen’s sea of consciousness—the spiritual ocean that nurtured his Primordial Spirit—groaned silently under the impact of this colossal force. Its boundaries were forcibly stretched and expanded.

It was like a parched riverbed receiving a long-awaited downpour, except this rain was so torrential it was almost violent.

In the center of his sea of consciousness, the Primordial Spirit—already as solid as a seven-foot man—was engulfed and infused by this torrent.

It swelled rapidly as if being inflated: seven feet, seven and a half feet, eight feet... Governed by some ineffable spiritual Law, it wasn’t just its size that grew, but also its condensed density and the sublimation of its intrinsic nature.

The Primordial Spirit’s features were perfectly distinct, its face an exact match for Li Wen’s seated physical body, only now it held a deeper, more divine inner radiance.

The expansion didn’t stop at eight feet.

Nine feet!

The instant the Primordial Spirit reached a height of nine feet, a critical point was violently breached, triggering a qualitative transformation.

HUMMM—

An invisible vibration spread out from the Primordial Spirit.

The light of its power was no longer gentle but had taken on a sharp, brilliant quality, like the light of the midday sun.

The tenacious barrier between the third and fourth layers of the Primordial Spirit dissolved in that instant.

The transformation lasted for a full half an hour.

The surging spiritual torrent finally subsided, and the expanded sea of consciousness returned to a state of profound tranquility.

The Primordial Spirit in the center had stabilized at a height of nine feet. It was like a sculpture exquisitely carved from the purest crystal, yet it contained the restrained energy of a volcano.

It was no longer a miniature projection, but an energy entity as tall and solid as Li Wen’s physical form.

With every gesture, it emanated a spiritual pressure powerful enough to shake reality itself. This was—

The Fourth Layer of Primordial Spirit! The Day Travel Realm! The Avatar Realm!

Li Wen slowly exhaled a long breath, as if a great, invisible weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

A completely new perception fed back from his Primordial Spirit. The entire world became unprecedentedly clear and detailed in his mind’s eye.

The trajectory of dust motes in the air, the subtle flow of energy along the distant fortress walls, even the faint vibrations of machinery operating deep within the base... all were rendered with perfect clarity within his spiritual senses.

The worldly energy he could command had also increased dramatically, as if he could now command even greater forces of nature with a mere wave of his hand.

With a flicker of thought.

The nine-foot Primordial Spirit, seated cross-legged within the sea of consciousness, seemed to simply rise to its feet, instantly breaking free from the shackles of his physical body.

There was none of the anticipated stinging pain or searing heat—the agonizing torment of the sun scorching the soul, which was inevitable for a Primordial Spirit at the Third Layer if it left the body during the day.

Now, the Primordial Spirit stood naturally in the center of the room, unharmed, bathing in the morning light that streamed through the window.

The sunlight fell upon its semi-solid, semi-ethereal form, not causing the slightest harm. Instead, it brought a warm, comforting sensation, as if the spirit itself were a part of the daylight.

This was the ability of the Fourth Layer of Primordial Spirit: to wander freely in daylight as if walking on solid ground.

With another thought, a set of simple clothes, condensed in an instant from pure Primordial Spirit power, materialized and draped over the spirit’s form, concealing its nakedness.

It took a step, and like a real person, passed silently through the closed door, appearing in the quiet hallway outside.

In the next second, the Primordial Spirit’s form blurred and abruptly accelerated.

Its speed far surpassed the limits of Li Wen’s physical body. Moving in a near-teleportation-like fashion, it shot out of the underground citadel of Changning and appeared in the sky above the surface city in the span of a breath.

All the while, Li Wen’s real body remained seated in the meditation chamber, his eyes closed in concentration.

Meanwhile, his Primordial Spirit had taken his place, carrying out the routine patrol.