High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 377: Chapter 217: Soaring Combat Power

The blade light wasn’t large, but it was condensed to an extreme degree. Its edges sliced through space, leaving behind fine, black fissures.

The blade light struck a solitary, massive, dark-red rocky hill several hundred meters away.

It split apart silently, the mirror-smooth cut surface radiating a terrifying aftershock of energy.

Its momentum unabated, the blade light plowed an immeasurably deep trench into the earth, stretching far into the distance.

”The power has more than doubled!” A glint of joyful surprise flashed in Li Wen’s eyes.

But this was just the beginning.

’Fuse again!’

This time, he mobilized an even vaster, more tyrannical Primordial Spirit power, no longer confining it to his True Aura.

Instead, like a burning flame, it instantly spread, permeated, and fused with every inch of his flesh, bones, meridians, and even his cells.

His bones and sinews hummed in unison, and his blood, thick as mercury, surged with a low, thunderous roar.

A faint, dark-golden radiance appeared on the surface of his skin. His entire being seemed to transform into an unparalleled Divine Weapon, about to be unsheathed to shatter the heavens.

A terrifying aura—more ferocious, more primal, and more palpably powerful than before—erupted toward the heavens, stirring the very clouds.

”Strike!”

With a thunderous shout, Li Wen used his palm as a blade and chopped out with all his might.

BOOM—!!!

A dark-golden saber aura, ten times thicker than the last, tore through the sky.

This saber aura was no longer pure energy. It seemed to have a life of its own, imbued with the entirety of Li Wen’s essence, will, and explosive power.

Wherever the saber aura passed, space wasn’t sliced open, but rather shattered and annihilated inch by inch like fragile glass.

It formed a shocking, kilometer-long belt of pitch-black spatial fissures.

Violent spatial turbulence surged out from it, only to be forcibly suppressed and torn apart by the saber aura’s own terrifying power.

The saber aura slammed into a more massive, barrier-like mountain range in the distance.

There was no deafening explosion.

In the center of the mountain range, a colossal, silent void over a kilometer in diameter appeared.

The entire mountain was completely pierced through and annihilated!

The edges of the void were vitrified, as if melted by intense heat and then instantly flash-frozen.

A terrifying shockwave spread out in a ring, blasting all the gravel and rock for miles around into the air and pulverizing it to dust.

A massive crater appeared where the mountain had stood, its center immeasurably deep!

Smoke and dust rose like a mushroom cloud, only to be churned and dispersed by the chaotic energy flows.

’The power... it’s a full threefold increase!’ Li Wen thought, stunned as he surveyed the scene of destruction.

The power of this strike was, without a doubt, at a respectable level even among peak King-level experts.

Although there was still a considerable gap between him and peak King-level experts like the Celestial Martial King, who could clash head-on with Venerables.

But it was enough for him to gain a firm foothold among the peak King-level ranks, no longer languishing at the bottom.

However, this terrifying power did not come without a price.

When he withdrew the Primordial Spirit’s power from his entire body, a faint feeling of emptiness instantly washed over him.

Although the small Primordial Spirit figure seated in his sea of consciousness was still condensed, the light of its five-layered halo had clearly dimmed somewhat.

’Maintaining this state of full-body fusion... with my current Primordial Spirit reserves, I can probably only last for... three minutes.’

Li Wen quickly calculated his limit.

Far from being disappointed, a satisfied smile spread across his face.

’Three minutes... That’s more than enough!’

He recalled his predicament back when he was at the Marquis-level, barely able to maintain the full-body fusion of his Primordial Spirit for a single minute.

Now that he had advanced to King-level, with his Primordial Spirit Realm also breaking through to the Fifth Layer, the duration had actually extended to three minutes.

This was a testament to the immense qualitative leap of the Fifth Layer of Primordial Spirit.

The foundation of his Primordial Spirit was more robust, and his recovery rate was faster as well.

In the fast-paced, unpredictable battles between peak King-level experts, those three minutes were enough to serve as a tide-turning trump card.

More importantly, the breakthrough in his Primordial Spirit Realm meant he had crossed a crucial chasm on his cultivation path.

’The Fifth Layer of Primordial Spirit...’

Li Wen looked up at the phantom of the Demon Realm that blotted out half the sky, his eyes burning with resolute fighting spirit and infinite yearning for the future.

’This means that in terms of my Primordial Spirit, I’ve already reached the standard of a Venerable.’

’Next,’ he thought, tightening his grip on an invisible saber hilt, as if grasping the possibilities of the future.

’As long as I can create my own... a saber skill that can truly reach the Venerable Realm! Then, I will finally have the qualifications to become a Venerable!’

The wind and sand of the wilderness could not extinguish the light in his eyes, which shone brighter than the blazing sun.

...

After testing the terrifying boost to his combat power from fusing the Fifth Layer of Primordial Spirit—the Possession Realm—with his True Aura and physical body, Li Wen stood amidst the ravines carved into the wilderness by his power. He was in no hurry to return to the bustling fortress city.

His mind was clear; there was a more important test he had yet to conduct.

He had yet to see just how far the 160% comprehension boost from his level 16 Scholar class could push his insights into the Way of the Saber.

’Activate,’ Li Wen thought.

In an instant, [Absolute Focus LV16] activated!

The world instantly peeled away from his senses.

The howling wind, the scent of the earth, the silhouette of the distant city, and even the feeling of the ground beneath his feet all receded like a tide.

In his field of vision, only the long saber that had accompanied him in battle for many years remained.

An unprecedented sense of clarity enveloped his sea of consciousness, as if his mind had been placed within a flawless, pristine ice crystal, utterly transparent and clear.

Under the 160% comprehension boost, every detail of past battles—the trajectory of purple lightning tearing through the void at the edge of the lightning world, the flow of the ”Extreme Speed” essence in the river of light, the subtle pulsations of spatial Law as his Cosmic Domain condensed...

Countless fragments of insight, previously ignored or unexamined, now burst forth with a brilliant light of inspiration, like sparks ignited by an unseen hand.

HUMMM!

The long saber in his hand seemed to sense its master’s state and let out a faint, trembling hum.

Li Wen’s gaze was as sharp as lightning. With a flick of his wrist, the long saber transformed into a blur of light.

He didn’t use any specific saber techniques, instead allowing the surging torrent of inspiration in his mind to guide his arm.

He began with just a basic slash.

But with the 160% comprehension boost, the trajectory of this slash, the angle of his force, the flow rate of his True Aura, and even the spatial ripples it induced all seemed to slow a thousandfold, allowing him to examine, correct, and optimize them in minute detail.

The basic saber move was instantly refined to perfection, its underlying power and speed far exceeding its simple appearance.

Immediately after, inspiration erupted.

The ferocity of lightning and the swiftness of light violently collided and merged in his mind.

He attempted to perfectly integrate a trace of the explosive destructive power from the Law of Lightning and the sense of ultimate speed from the Law of Light into his own ”Extreme Speed” Blade Intent.

The blade light was no longer just fast; upon reaching the apex of speed, it developed a tyrannical quality that could tear space and annihilate energy.

HISS! HISS! HISS!

The sound of the blade slicing through the air became extremely sharp. Each swing left behind a brief, visible spatial fissure in the air.

At times, he was like a thunderclap, his saber’s momentum wide and powerful, wreathed in destructive lightning.

At other times, he was like a beam of light, his figure and the blade light merging into one.

Leaving elusive afterimages within a tiny space, his blade would have already struck a node in the void, triggering minute spatial tremors.

In his mind, insights clashed violently.

He tried to compress and condense the space-controlling ”domain” characteristic of his Cosmic Domain onto the very tip of his blade.

Every tremble of the blade’s tip seemed to trigger a miniature Cosmic Domain,

Attempting to directly strip away or sever the target’s defenses on a spatial level.

In his state of absolute focus, time lost all meaning.

Li Wen was completely immersed in the ocean of the Way of the Saber, constantly trying, failing, correcting, and trying again.

One after another, the prototypes of exquisite saber moves were born in his hands, evolving, or being replaced by even better flashes of inspiration.

He was like a master sculptor whose skills had reached the pinnacle.

Using the long saber in his hands, he was meticulously carving out his very own Supreme Saber Skill, the path to the Venerable Realm.

Sweat had long since soaked his clothes, only to be evaporated by the fierce winds generated by his high-speed movements, but he was completely oblivious. In his eyes, there was only the saber; in his heart, only the Way.

A full eight hours!

Just as the vast Spiritual Power in his sea of consciousness was about to be depleted, a powerful wave of exhaustion washed over him.

Only then did Li Wen snap out of his trance-like state.

His body swayed slightly, and his face was a little pale, but his eyes were astonishingly bright, filled with an indescribable joy and satisfaction.

[You have focused on practicing saber skills for eight hours. Saber Skill +15%]

[Skill: Domain Realm Saber Skill (19% → 34%)]

The cold system prompts that appeared in his mind were like a clap of thunder.

”Fifteen percent!” Li Wen couldn’t help but exclaim, his voice trembling with disbelief.

In just eight hours of practice, his saber skill realm had surged by a full fifteen percent!

This was nearly equivalent to the results of a whole year of arduous cultivation at the edge of the Star Domain.

’Granted, this first leap forward was a breakthrough born from my deep accumulation. Future progress will inevitably slow down and eventually return to a more normal rate.’

He murmured to himself, then shook his head.

’But making such a huge improvement is still thanks to the 160% comprehension boost.’

Even so, an immense sense of accomplishment still filled his heart.

Every single percentage point of progress in a Domain Realm Saber Skill was incredibly arduous, requiring King-level experts to spend countless hours of effort and time to hone and comprehend.

Countless brilliant, peerless King-level experts, hailed as geniuses among geniuses, might not see a fifteen percent improvement even after ten years of bitter cultivation.

And today, he, Li Wen, had done it in just eight hours.

”It’s enough. This has already far exceeded my expectations.” Li Wen tightened his grip on his saber hilt and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

This breath shot out like an arrow, carving a shallow scar on the ground in the distance.

Jingzhe slid back into its sheath with a clear, resonant ring.

The golden sun had already slipped below the horizon, leaving only the magnificent, burning colors of twilight clouds filling the sky,

Dyeing Changning City in a warm halo that also carried a hint of apocalyptic grandeur.

Li Wen’s figure flickered, as if merging into the twilight’s light and shadow.

He instantly vanished from the wilderness, appearing the next moment in the study of his residence in Changning City.

The effects of his Scholar class upgrade went far beyond a mere increase in combat power and a leap in his saber skills.