High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 358: Chapter 198: Advent

The scene within the city was even more desolate. Many districts had been reduced to ruins.

Amidst the scorched, broken walls, fragments of buildings and personal belongings were scattered about.

The air was thick with the acrid stench of smoke, blood, and disinfectant.

Rescue workers bustled between the ruins, digging, carrying, and treating the wounded.

Temporary shelters were packed with civilians, still in shock and covered in injuries.

Low groans and suppressed sobs rose and fell, forming the most mournful soundtrack of the post-war city.

Beneath a half-collapsed residential building, Li Wen’s gaze froze.

A little boy, no older than five or six, his face caked with dust, was fruitlessly shaking a woman who lay motionless on a pile of rubble.

His small hands gripped the cold corner of the woman’s clothes as he called out again and again in a hoarse, childish voice, ”Mommy... Mommy... Wake up...”

A thin rescue blanket covered the woman, but her exposed face was pale and stiff, long devoid of life.

Nearby, a medical worker with red-rimmed eyes tried to offer words of comfort, but they sounded so powerless.

The scene was like the sharpest icicle, stabbing viciously into the depths of Li Wen’s heart.

His aura, which had grown calmer and more condensed since his recent ennoblement, now uncontrollably surged with an ice-cold killing intent.

His hatred for the Demon Race had never been so deeply etched into his very being.

’I crave power. The power to end all of this.’

This craving was stronger and purer than ever before.

...

「The next morning.」

As the first rays of sunlight struggled to pierce through the lingering smoke of battle,

they fell upon the land of Changning City once more, revealing a startling transformation in the city’s silhouette.

The massive, shocking breach in the city wall from the previous night had been fully repaired through an all-night effort.

New nanomaterials had been efficiently polymerized and shaped under the control of Engineering Divinities and large machinery.

The brand-new alloy wall had reclaimed its former imposing outline.

If not for personally experiencing yesterday’s brutal slaughter and witnessing the moment the wall collapsed,

one would find it hard to believe that this sturdy rampart had just been baptized by the fires of war.

It wasn’t just the walls that were recovering.

Within the city, the citizens of Changning, tempered by countless Demon Race invasions, seemed to have forged hearts of immense resilience.

After the initial panic and sorrow, pedestrians began to reappear on the streets.

Simple shops opened one after another, and vehicles transporting supplies and clearing debris moved in an orderly fashion.

Life, with an almost instinctual resilience, was getting back on track.

Although the pain of losing loved ones was far from healed, the will to live supported the people, allowing them to temporarily suppress their grief and work to restore normalcy.

Even though the Demon Race had retreated, Li Wen’s long-standing habits had not changed.

At the crack of dawn, his figure had already transformed into an elusive streak of light.

Moving at a speed that surpassed the naked eye, he meticulously patrolled the entirety of Changning City, both inside and out.

Only after confirming that no residual demonic aura remained and that the city’s defense systems were functioning normally did he feel a slight sense of relief.

He then turned, and after a few flashes, returned to his home in the High-Tier Divinity residential area in the city center.

He hadn’t set foot in his house since receiving the emergency alert about the full-scale Demon Race invasion the day before yesterday.

The moment the door opened, the tense expressions on his parents’ faces were instantly replaced by immense relief.

Seeing their son standing before them, safe and sound, the worries of the past few days receded like a tide.

His mother grabbed his hand, looking him up and down, her eyes slightly red as she murmured, ”It’s good you’re back.”

His father clapped him hard on the shoulder, all his concern conveyed without a word.

Li Wen suppressed the complex emotions in his heart and gently comforted his parents, joining them for a simple lunch.

The warmth of home briefly soothed the cold, sharp edges left by the war.

After lunch, Li Wen did not linger.

Shouldering the heavy responsibility of reinforcing an area of thousands of miles, he set out once again.

With a flash, his figure appeared high in the sky outside the city, then transformed into a phantom barely visible to the naked eye and merged with the horizon, beginning his routine patrol.

...

「Meanwhile, deep within the Celestial Fox Palace in the Demon Realm.」

The atmosphere was grim and murderous. The Talisman Emperor sat high on the main seat, having summoned his most trusted core Demon Saints.

”I assume you all know of the failure in the Human Realm.”

The Talisman Emperor’s voice was cold and majestic, echoing through the vast hall. ”I intend to initiate the World Projection. What are your thoughts?”

His words were like a boulder dropped into a calm lake.

An unconcealable look of shock flashed across the faces of the Demon Saints below.

Their reaction was identical to that of Wujing Demon Saint when he had first heard of the plan.

After a brief silence, a senior Demon Saint bowed slightly, his voice tinged with concern:

”Your Majesty, the World Projection... the cost is far too staggering.

”Not only does it require immense quantities of rare minerals like Star Tear Gold and Void Crystals, but more critically, constructing a projection spatial Array to cover such a vast territory

”will require at least seven or more top-tier Demon Saints to work together, continuously pouring in their life-bound Demon Power for at least ten to twenty years.

”During this period, the participating Demon Saints will be bound firmly by the Array, unable to move a single step...”

The Talisman Emperor’s profound gaze swept over the Demon Saints, fully aware of their reservations.

He knew that if he tried to command them by imperial authority alone, these proud and unruly Demon Saints might agree on the surface but would harbor dissent in their hearts, possibly even going through the motions without putting in a real effort.

He said no more, simply raising his hand slowly. Above his palm, several items materialized from thin air.

A silver ball of light, swirling with pure starlight as if it contained a miniature universe;

a drop of dark gold blood, heavy as a mountain, that radiated an aura of immortality;

and several strange ores that flowed with a peculiar Dao rhythm, causing the very space around them to warp...

The aura emanating from each item made the blood of the assembled Demon Saints boil, and their eyes instantly lit up with an undisguisable greed and fervor.

These were all supreme treasures capable of transforming their demonic bodies, greatly advancing their cultivation, and even allowing them to glimpse higher realms!

”This is the reward for building the foundation of the World Projection.”

The Talisman Emperor’s voice was calm, yet filled with an unquestionable power. ”A demon’s lifespan is long. Ten or so years in exchange for a chance at the Great Dao—which is more important?”

The Demon Saints who had been so full of apprehension just moments ago were now breathing heavily.

Without needing any command, they all stepped forward, bowing excitedly to volunteer. ”We are willing to serve Your Majesty!”

”Please assign us our tasks, Your Majesty!”

In the face of absolute benefit, all their previous hesitation vanished like smoke.

The Talisman Emperor nodded slightly and quickly designated seven of the most powerful Demon Saints who were also proficient in spatial or energy arts.

He then began to lay out the detailed preparations for this plan, a plan so vast it was breathtaking.

A specific area in the Demon Realm’s territory—a vast and energetically stable, desolate ancient domain—was designated as the projection’s base point.

The resources of the entire Demon Realm were mobilized to collect the necessary rare minerals and energy crystals, no matter the cost.

The seven Demon Saints were to head to the base point immediately and begin jointly inscribing the core runes of the colossal spatial Array that would span tens of thousands of miles...

...

Time trickled by amidst Blue Star’s reconstruction and the churning undercurrents.

「About a month later.」

Under the Talisman Emperor’s relentless, cost-is-no-object push, the unimaginably vast preparations in the Demon Realm were completed at an extraordinary speed.

At the center of the desolate ancient domain chosen as the base point, a gigantic Array woven from hundreds of millions of profound runes had taken shape, covering an area of tens of thousands of miles.

Seven top-tier Demon Saints sat cross-legged at the seven core nodes of the Array, pillars of Demon Power so dense they seemed solid shot into the sky.

The Talisman Emperor himself levitated at the central hub of the Array, his entire being exuding a terrifying, sovereign pressure.

”Activate the Array!” the Talisman Emperor’s cold voice echoed across the land.

HUMMMM—!

A low, immense hum, as if from the very origin of the universe, resounded through heaven and earth.

The seven Demon Saints simultaneously let out sky-shaking roars, pouring their accumulated, boundless Demon Power into the Array cores beneath them without reservation.

The Talisman Emperor formed hand seals, guiding this cataclysmic energy.

BOOM!

In an instant, the immense Demon Power, the violent cosmic energy drawn in by the Array, and the distorted spatial force all converged, compressed, and spun wildly above the Array.

A massive energy vortex of incalculable diameter materialized out of thin air, like a colossal, inverted cosmic eye.

At the vortex’s center, space became violently unstable as light was warped and torn.

It presented a bizarre sight, like a canvas rippling madly like water, as if being crumpled and then forcibly ripped apart by an invisible giant hand.

An indescribably terrifying pressure began to emanate, causing the very sky in that region to change color.

...

「At almost the exact moment the great spatial Array in the Demon Realm activated.」

In orbit around Blue Star, at the Human Race’s most advanced space monitoring station, the ”Eye of the Firmament.”

In the main control room, the holographic Star Map representing spatial curvature was suddenly bathed in glaring red light.

A piercing alarm shattered the station’s silence.

”Report! Detecting a super-massive spatial distortion!” The monitoring officer’s voice was filled with incredulous horror.

”Energy level... incalculable! Spatial curvature distortion rate... is skyrocketing! Peak... peak value has exceeded the maximum fluctuation of a Stargate opening by... one hundred times! And it’s still climbing!”

Data scrolled down the screen like a waterfall, every single jumping number a shocking sight.

The station chief’s face turned deathly pale. Without a moment’s hesitation, he slammed the highest-level alert button.

”Highest-level alert! Confirmed as a precursor to an unknown large-scale spatial invasion! Immediately sync and send to Xin Huo University’s Strategic Command Center, the Fire Hall, and all Venerable terminals!”

The alert, in the form of an invisible radio wave, instantly shot through the void of space, carrying a suffocating sense of crisis as it sped toward the heart of Blue Star—Xin Huo University.

In that instant, the fate of human civilization was pushed to the edge of an even more unfathomable storm.

The highest-level alert data from the ”Eye of the Firmament” space monitoring station was transmitted to the core area of Xin Huo University in an instant.

Inside the monitoring room, Venerable Gu He, Venerable Xingxuan, and the white-haired Headmaster Ye Qin focused their gazes on the enormous holographic Star Map almost simultaneously.

The anomalous spatial curvature distortion data displayed on it was horrifying, far exceeding the peak value of any previous Stargate opening.