High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 376: Chapter 216: Scholar Upgrade

Time marched on. Under the oppressive phantasm of the Demon Realm, Blue Star clung to a tense yet tenacious vitality.

Another half-year passed in a flash.

The date was January 4, 245, of the Galactic Calendar.

The morning sun, tinged with an eerie crimson glow, struggled to pierce the phantasm of the Demon Realm that shrouded the sky.

As its light filtered through the window lattice, casting mottled shadows across the quiet room, Li Wen, who was seated cross-legged, slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were as deep as the starry sky and held a blade-like sharpness, yet at this moment, they shone with irrepressible anticipation.

With a mere thought, the familiar and profound personal panel slowly unfurled within his consciousness:

[Name: Li Wen]

[Age: 36]

[Realm: King-level]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 15 (1,226,646→1,638,126/1,638,400)]

[Skills: Saber Skill · Domain Realm (19%)]

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

Over the past six months, Li Wen had poured nearly all his spare time into two pursuits.

Polishing his ever-more profound Domain Realm Saber Skill, and... more importantly, frantically accumulating Scholar experience points.

His goal was set squarely on the long-awaited Lv. 16.

To reach his goal sooner, he set aside the essential time for comprehending his saber skill and performing necessary patrol duties. Beyond that, he unfailingly maintained a twelve-hour reading schedule, grinding out a full 1,080 Scholar experience points before he would allow himself to rest.

This tedious, obsessive persistence was finally about to pay off.

On the panel, the long string of digits representing his Scholar experience was incredibly close to the threshold for leveling up.

Only 274 points remained before he reached Lv. 16!

Li Wen closed the panel and let out a long, silent sigh of relief.

A warmth mingled with an imperceptible thrum rose from deep within his heart, spreading rapidly through his body. It even caused the Primordial Spirit residing in his sea of consciousness to tremble slightly.

He had weathered countless storms, his state of mind long since forged to be as solid as bedrock. But now, as the Scholar system—the very thing that had accompanied his growth and brought him countless opportunities for transformation—was about to level up again, he still found it impossible to remain completely calm.

Upon reaching the King Tier, his body had long since shed its mortal shackles.

His Cosmic Domain constantly drew in and expelled cosmic energy, replenishing his own and allowing him to practice complete Fasting.

His physical body was pristine and immaculate, untouched by dust, making even mundane tasks like washing superfluous.

And so, Li Wen rose to his feet. He walked silently toward his study, a room piled high with ancient tomes and the latest technological information storage devices.

Sunlight landed on his body, seemingly absorbed and assimilated by an invisible domain.

He sat down and casually picked up a jade slip containing a profound analysis of spatial theory.

He immersed his mind within it, absorbing, analyzing, and extrapolating with ravenous hunger.

It was as if the entire world had dissolved, leaving only the torrent of knowledge before him.

Time lost all meaning in his state of intense focus. The only thing he could clearly perceive was the collision and fusion of knowledge on a spiritual level.

Outside the window, the light and shadows shifted unnoticed.

Four hours slipped by.

At last, as the final, intricate deduction of a spatial structure reached its conclusion within his sea of consciousness, the long-awaited system notification rang out with a soul-shaking chime deep in his mind:

[You have studied diligently for four hours. Scholar Experience +360]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 15 (1,638,126→1,638,486/1,638,400)]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 15 (1,638,486/1,638,400)→MAX]

[Class is upgrading...]

”It’s here!”

Li Wen cried out in his mind, instantly withdrawing his full attention from the jade slip and focusing it completely inward.

BOOM—!

It was like the dawn of the universe—a big bang erupting within his sea of consciousness.

An irresistible, unimaginably pure and vast torrent of Spiritual Power materialized from nothing.

It did not originate from the outside world but seemed to be born directly from the rules, gushing forth from the void. It formed a monstrous tsunami that crashed violently into Li Wen’s sea of consciousness.

Countless profound runes instantly flared to life on the crystal walls of his sea of consciousness, which began to expand, solidify, and reinforce at a frantic, unprecedented pace.

Amid a sensation of agonizing pleasure, its area expanded exponentially. The once-spacious boundaries of his sea of consciousness were violently shoved out into the even more distant void.

The crystal walls were no longer smooth planes. Complex patterns resembling mountains, rivers, and the orbits of stars appeared upon them. The structure grew more stable and profound, faintly exuding a supreme authority that could resist any spiritual erosion.

His entire sea of consciousness trembled violently, emitting a hum at the level of the soul, as if celebrating its own rebirth.

At the same time, the moment this endless, seemingly limitless torrent of Spiritual Power flooded into his sea of consciousness, it was rapidly purified and transformed by an invisible Power of Rules.

It was no longer mere energy but condensed into something far more refined and spiritual, infused with the very essence of Li Wen’s will—Primordial Spirit Power.

This newborn, incomparably pure Primordial Spirit Power surged toward the center of his sea of consciousness like heavenly dew or the very wellspring of life.

There, the Primordial Spirit—seated cross-legged, its face identical to Li Wen’s, and exuding a powerful aura—was undergoing a world-shaking transformation.

The Primordial Spirit’s entire body erupted in a blazing, five-colored radiance, like the core of a star going supernova.

Its once-blurry features became sharper and more solid than ever before.

It looked as though it had been meticulously carved from the finest jade, exuding a Dao-like charm of immortality and eternity.

The density of its form increased wildly as its internal energy structure optimized and reconfigured itself.

It grew more efficient and resilient, better able to contain and unleash terrifying power.

An oppressive might, originating from a higher plane of existence, began to radiate naturally from every inch of the miniature Primordial Spirit’s form. This was the unique majesty of the Possession Realm.

This transformation was far more violent and prolonged than any previous upgrade, lasting for nearly half an hour.

When the last trace of newborn Spiritual Power had been fully integrated and the final wisp of Primordial Spirit Power absorbed and stabilized by the miniature Primordial Spirit, the storm within his sea of consciousness at last subsided.

The expansion ceased, and the runes on the crystal walls faded from view.

All that remained was a vastly expanded Primordial Spirit space, its energy level having jumped by several orders of magnitude.

Li Wen slowly opened his eyes.

VMMMM—!

Two beams of tangible light—condensed to the absolute extreme, as if capable of piercing the void itself, and filled with endless wisdom and a cold, sharp edge—shot forth from his eyes. They carved a foot-long trajectory through the dim light of the quiet room before slowly fading away.

This brilliant light was not an energy leak, but a miraculous phenomenon—a natural manifestation of his explosively grown Primordial Spirit Power and an overwhelmingly condensed spiritual will.

His entire demeanor had also undergone a subtle yet significant change.

The composure and sharp edge of a top-tier expert were still there, but they were now overlaid with an abyssal profundity, a sagacity that suggested he held all the answers in the palm of his hand.

He seemed capable of grasping all the world’s principles in a single thought and instantly discerning the essence of any complex problem.

It was a transformation that originated from the depths of his soul, a natural sublimation resulting from the quantum leap in the very essence of his Spiritual Power.

A jade-like luster seemed to flow just beneath his skin. With his every move, space itself appeared to grow more docile.

The connection between his Cosmic Domain and his Primordial Spirit grew tighter. He could operate it as easily as moving his own limbs, with less energy consumption, yet its power had subtly increased.

”Fifth Layer of Primordial Spirit...” Li Wen whispered, his voice now laced with a magnetic quality that resonated deep within the soul, imbued with Primordial Spirit Power.

’It truly is worthy of the name Possession Realm. Is this what it means to be stronger by more than a single measure?’

He carefully savored the various enhancements brought by the Fifth Layer of Primordial Spirit.

With a slight shift in his thoughts, his Primordial Spirit’s Telekinesis spread out, silent and fluid as flowing mercury.

Its range had increased several times over, and its precision had reached a terrifying degree.

He could see the trajectory of a single dust mote outside the courtyard walls.

He could hear the sound of water flowing thousands of meters underground.

He could clearly perceive the most minuscule fluctuations of energy particles in the surrounding space.

Within its range, every minute detail was laid bare, as if he had become the sovereign of this entire region.

This level of Perception Power was enough to allow him to seize every advantage on a complex battlefield.

The power of the Shocking God Stab grew in tandem.

Combined with the might of his Fifth Layer Primordial Spirit, the perfected 7th Layer Shocking God Stab’s piercing power, destructive force, and control all reached an entirely new plateau.

’Even a peak King-level expert...’ Li Wen mused. ’If they didn’t have a powerful spiritual defense treasure or technique, taking a full-power Shocking God Stab head-on would mean their Primordial Spirit would suffer catastrophic damage.’

Simultaneously, the crystal walls of his sea of consciousness had received an epic reinforcement. His miniature Primordial Spirit was as condensed and tough as diamond; ordinary spiritual assaults or Illusion Techniques could no longer shake it in the slightest.

The very name of the Possession Realm implied that his Primordial Spirit itself now possessed extreme invasiveness and Defense Power.

The Cosmic Domain, already centered on Space Law, was now under the precise command of his powerful Primordial Spirit. The domain’s deployment speed, range control, structural stability, and energy mobilization efficiency had all increased significantly.

The domain now felt like a true extension of his body. He could manifest it instantly with a mere thought, and its energy consumption was drastically lower.

’I feel like...’ Li Wen slowly clenched his fist, sensing the power surging through his body and the mighty Primordial Spirit in his sea of consciousness, ’...just by using my Primordial Spirit Power to channel the might of the world, I already have the combat power of a top-tier King!’

This assessment sent a thrill through his heart.

Without even using his True Aura or deploying his domain, he could match the power of an ordinary top-tier King simply by using his formidable Primordial Spirit’s Telekinesis to manipulate the energy of the Laws for attack and defense.

’What an astonishing improvement!’

’Wait a minute,’ a glint flashed through Li Wen’s eyes as an irrepressible thought surfaced, ’I wonder how much my standard combat power will increase if I infuse my current Primordial Spirit Power into my True Aura and my whole body?’

No sooner thought than done. His figure flickered, seeming to merge with space itself, and vanished without a trace.

All that was left in the quiet room was a faint ripple in the air.

In the next instant, he appeared deep within a barren, deathly-still desert, far from the human fortress-cities.

Crimson sand lay beneath his feet. Overhead, the sky was stained a dark red by the phantasm of the Demon Realm. The area was deserted, with only the biting, sand-laden wind for company.

Li Wen planted his feet and focused his mind, sinking it into his sea of consciousness.

’Fuse!’

First, he mobilized a massive amount of Primordial Spirit Power, channeling it like the most precise of energy conduits into the True Aura that flowed through his limbs and bones—a True Aura already imbued with the might of his Cosmic Domain.

VMM!

He held no saber, but with his fingers held together like a blade, he casually swiped forward.

SSSHHHHK—!

A dark-gold saber gleam—condensed purely from True Aura fused with Primordial Spirit Power—instantly burst forth.