High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 324: Chapter 184: Fighting a Peak Marquis

A moment later, the principal’s reply arrived, as calm and concise as ever:

”Acknowledged. The contingency plan has been activated. Hold Changning and await further developments. Don’t worry.”

Seeing the reply, Li Wen’s tense nerves finally relaxed.

He sighed softly and shook his head in self-deprecation.

”That’s right,” he muttered, gazing at the festive holographic projections above the city.

”For an operation of this scale, when even a common spy knows the exact time... If the Fire Hall were still oblivious, the Human Race probably wouldn’t have lasted this long. The Shadows and the Demon Race have our moles, so how could we... not have our own operatives embedded in their core?”

’The Demon Race wants to launch its first full-scale offensive on New Year’s Eve?’

’The principal and the others... they’ve likely already cast a massive net in response.’

Now, all he had to do was his duty: guard the Changning City Stargate and wait for the clarion call of total war, destined to sound this very night.

He glanced at the vacant-eyed spy before him. A condensed wisp of Primordial Spirit power shot from his fingertip, instantly obliterating the man’s consciousness.

The spy collapsed without a sound.

With a wave of Li Wen’s hand, an invisible force enveloped the body, and in moments, it was reduced to nothing but ash.

Once that was done, his gaze shifted to the distant horizon. It felt as if he could see through the very ground, sensing the demonic energy gathering like a tide on the other side of the Star Gate.

During the day on New Year’s Eve, sunlight still bathed the festive streets of Changning City in its bright glow.

However, a vast, invisible shadow of war had already fallen over every fortress city on the planet that guarded a Stargate.

The peaceful times had entered their final countdown.

...

「Evening soon fell on New Year’s Eve.」

Inside the Changning City Stargate fortress, the atmosphere was as usual.

In the brightly lit mess hall, the squad members on duty were enjoying a simple New Year’s Eve dinner.

A New Year’s celebration program played on the television. In the distance, brilliant fireworks occasionally burst over the city, lending a touch of festive cheer to the air.

Only a select few knew of the turbulent undercurrents flowing beneath the seemingly peaceful surface.

Li Wen had already relayed the intelligence—that the Demon Race would launch a full-scale offensive tonight—but only to his vice-captain, Ling Feng, and other key personnel.

The fortress’s alert level had been discreetly raised to maximum, and all defensive runes had silently activated.

The energy shields were on standby. Though the soldiers didn’t know the details, they could sense something was off and began silently checking their gear.

Li Wen stood motionless in the center of the fortress, blade in hand, before the Stargate that led to the Demon Realm.

The cold, metal gate was utterly silent, a stark contrast to the festive clamor from the world outside.

He had already pushed his Primordial Spirit perception to its absolute limit. Within the ten-li radius it now covered with perfect precision, not even the slightest energy fluctuation could escape his notice.

...

「Meanwhile, in the Demon Realm.」

Unlike the festive clamor of Blue Star, a grim and bloodthirsty aura permeated the Demon Realm.

At the command of the Demon Emperor, a suffocating tide of demons had gathered before nearly every Stargate leading to Blue Star.

The massive Stargates radiated an unstable, eerie light.

The plains and valleys before the gates were crammed to overflowing with ferocious demons of all shapes and sizes.

Countless Low Tier demon soldiers were packed together like a tide. The air was filled with the scraping of their scales and their low, guttural growls. Their crimson eyes held nothing but a craving for blood and the flesh of the Human Race.

At the forefront of the army stood the demon generals, their auras far more powerful. They maintained order in the ranks, their bodies wreathed in demonic energies—some scorching, some chilling, some reeking of blood—that coalesced into a malevolent cloud blotting out the sky.

The air was thick with the sounds of heavy panting, the grating scrape of scales on rock, and the metallic clang of weapons bumping against each other.

Occasionally, a colossal Demon King would rise into the air, its cold gaze sweeping across the sea of its subordinates below. The sheer force of its presence was enough to make the lesser demon soldiers instinctively grovel and tremble.

The entire scene resembled a volcano on the verge of eruption, holding back an earth-shattering power. They were waiting only for the portals to open to unleash it all upon the homeland of the Human Race.

The Human Race’s defensive lines were about to face an assault of a scale unseen since the Stargates were first established.

「Blue Star Time: Midnight.」

DONG—DONG—DONG—

The chimes of the New Year’s bells pierced the cold winter wind, echoing melodiously across the skies of Changning City.

WHOOSH—BANG!

At that very same moment, countless dazzling fireworks shot up from all over the city. They exploded against the night canvas in a riot of color, illuminating the sky as if it were day. Faintly, the cheers of the citizens could be heard.

But these festive bells and fireworks, meant to ring out the old and ring in the new, had instead become the signal to ignite the fires of war.

VMMMM! VMMMM! VMMMM! VMMMM...

All across Blue Star, at the very instant the bells chimed, the ancient runes carved into the frames of hundreds of Stargates, large and small, suddenly blazed to life, erupting in a blinding light.

The once-dormant centers of the portals rippled like water struck by a stone. Intense spatial distortions spread outward as the deep, nebular vortex within began to spin frantically.

War descended without warning!

...

「Mountain Rain Pass.」

The white-haired principal remained seated cross-legged beneath the ancient, simple pavilion.

Before him, the runes on the frame of the colossal, thirty-meter-tall Stargate flowed with a dangerous and blinding light.

A massive nebular vortex spun rapidly within the gate, emitting spatial fluctuations powerful enough to make even a King-level expert’s heart tremble.

And yet, the gate was empty.

Not a single demon, not even the lowest-tiered soldier, stepped through.

The principal gazed calmly at the massive, empty portal, his expression impassive.