High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 436: Chapter 274: One Finger, a Demon Emperor Falls

When that familiar figure tore through the sky and hung high above the firmament,

the gazes of all of Blue Star were instantly set alight.

The footage captured by official satellites was immediately broadcast to every screen across the globe.

From the giant screens in city squares to the terminals in millions of homes,

all were focused on a single figure—Changning Saint Venerable, Li Wen.

”Mommy, look! It’s Changning Saint Venerable!”

A little girl, who had been trembling in fear from the forming world projection and the spreading demon power,

suddenly poked her head out from her mother’s embrace, her small finger pointing at the tall, slender figure on a nearby screen.

Her childish voice was filled with surprise and hope, most of her previous fear instantly dispelled.

”Yes, sweetie, Changning Saint Venerable is here! He’ll protect us. He’ll drive all the bad demons away!”

The little girl’s mother hugged her daughter tightly, her voice choked with emotion. Her gaze toward the screen was filled with devout faith.

The name Changning Saint Venerable had long since become the firmest spiritual pillar for the Human Race of Blue Star in its times of despair.

On the city streets, soldiers organizing the civilian evacuation paused, their weary yet resolute faces instantly glowing with renewed vigor.

They gripped their weapons, straightened their backs, and saluted the figure on the screen with a most solemn gaze.

In office buildings, the previously gloomy and oppressive atmosphere vanished, replaced by thunderous cheers as people clenched their fists.

In the countryside, elderly people knelt tremblingly on the ground, hands pressed together, muttering prayers for the Saint Venerable’s blessing.

Near the Li Manor, countless people who had gathered spontaneously erupted into a tsunami of shouts: ”Saint Venerable! Saint Venerable!”

People’s reactions to Li Wen’s appearance were varied, but they all converged on the same sentiment.

It was the ecstasy of seeing the sole lighthouse in a desperate situation.

It was the prostrate worship of a faith made manifest, the fervent heat of hope’s flames being thoroughly ignited!

Almost at the same moment Li Wen appeared, three spatial rifts quietly opened a short distance behind him.

Ye Qin, Xingxuan, and Venerable Gu He—whose face was still a bit pale and whose aura was not yet fully stable—stepped out from within.

”Junior Brother Li!” the three called out in unison, their tones grave and filled with determination.

Li Wen turned, his gaze sweeping over the three. It paused briefly on Venerable Gu He as he nodded in acknowledgment. ”Senior Brother, Senior Sister.”

He looked at Gu He with a hint of concern.

”Senior Brother Gu He, you only just went into slumber. Why have you come?”

Venerable Gu He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the churning qi and blood in his body. A magnanimous yet incredibly firm smile appeared on his face.

”This is the final battle. The survival of Blue Star and the fate of the Human Race are at stake. How could these old bones of mine not show up?

”Even if I can only watch from a distance, should anything unexpected happen, I can at least offer what little I have left to block a blow or two.”

In his clouded eyes burned the sincere devotion of one who had guarded the Human Race for a millennium, a devotion that would not waver even in death.

”Actually, Senior Brother, Senior Sister, you didn’t have to do this.” Li Wen looked at the three Venerables who had struggled to hold on through Blue Star’s darkest years, a warm current flowing through his heart.

He understood that in coming here, they had already put aside all thoughts of life and death.

According to the final intelligence from spies hidden within the Demon Race, none of the four Demon Emperors about to descend were weak.

The leader among them, the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor, had even reached the terrifying level of the peak Saint Realm.

Even though Ye Qin and the others were Venerables, before true Demon Emperors—especially four at once—they would likely be unable to withstand even a single blow.

But they came anyway, not to provide some negligible assistance,

but to make a statement: The Human Race of Blue Star advances and retreats together, lives and dies as one!

This camaraderie moved Li Wen deeply.

The four spoke briefly, their gazes turning grimly toward the violently churning world projection that seemed poised to devour the entire sky.

As they spoke, the projection finally solidified completely!

BOOM—!!!

In that instant, heaven and earth truly lost all color!

The sky was dyed a demonic purple-black, and the earth wailed and trembled under the terrifying pressure.

An endless tide of Demon Power, like a tangible tsunami, erupted from the center of the projection, instantly sweeping across the globe.

Countless weak lifeforms fainted directly under this pressure, and even beings as strong as gods and devils felt a suffocating pressure.

Immediately after, four towering figures radiating world-destroying auras charged brazenly out of the projection, taking the lead!

They were the Talisman Emperor, the Tiger Emperor, the Shadow Claw Demon Emperor, and the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor.

”Pathetic Human Race! Today is the day of your annihilation!” the Tiger Emperor roared like thunder, the sound wave shattering clouds for a hundred miles.

The Geng Metal qi around his body surged wildly, condensing into a colossal claw mark that could tear heaven and earth asunder.

The Talisman Emperor’s eyes were as cold as the ice of the Nine Hells as his hands rapidly formed seals.

Countless runes imbued with Law materialized from thin air.

They drew upon the energy of the world to form a massive Rune Array that covered the entire continent, a destructive aura brewing within it.

The Shadow Claw Demon Emperor’s figure flickered in and out of existence, as if merging with the shadows of space.

Pitch-black rifts, sharp enough to slice through space, spread silently, aimed directly at Li Wen and the other three.

The Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor was shrouded in a ghastly green toxic mist. Wherever it passed, space hissed with the sound of corrosion.

He opened his mouth and spewed a torrent of filthy, dark green fluid, extinguishing all life in its path.

The four Demon Emperors, without any probing attacks, simultaneously launched their most powerful killing moves the moment they arrived.

The immense pressure created by their combined might was like the universe collapsing, like the apocalypse itself!

The confidence that had just bloomed with Li Wen’s appearance began to waver violently under this world-ending display of power.

”This... this aura... It’s too terrifying! The entire sky has gone dark!”

”I feel like my heart is about to be crushed! The Saint Venerable... Changning Saint Venerable... can he... can he really stop them?” someone whispered in despair, their teeth chattering and their face deathly pale.

Even through the satellite screens, that apocalyptic pressure was clearly transmitted into everyone’s heart.

”Shut up!” someone nearby immediately cut in sharply. Though they too were trembling all over from the pressure, their eyes were exceptionally resolute as they roared:

”That’s Changning Saint Venerable! He cleansed Blue Star, he flattened Chiyan, Cangwu, and Bingpo! He will definitely win! The Human Race will be victorious!”

”The Human Race will be victorious!!” This cry was like a single spark that instantly set a prairie ablaze.

”The Human Race will be victorious!!”

”The Saint Venerable is invincible!!”

Across all of Blue Star, from the cities to the wilderness,

countless voices merged into an unyielding torrent, soaring into the heavens, attempting to defy the world-ending demonic might.

The power of belief was pushed to its absolute limit at this moment.

「At the heart of the battlefield.」

Facing the combined killing blows of the four Demon Emperors, Li Wen and his companions bore the brunt of the attack.

The terrifying pressure, enough to shatter stars, landed on Li Wen.

Yet, like a gentle breeze blowing past a boulder, it failed to even stir the corner of his robe.

However, the situation for Ye Qin and the other two behind him was completely different.

Venerable Ye Qin’s hair and beard stood on end, his domain fully unleashed to resist the pressure, but his figure was already swaying slightly.

Venerable Xingxuan had the lowest cultivation. Her face instantly turned deathly pale, and her protective True Gang fluctuated violently, as if it could collapse at any moment.

Venerable Gu He, having just awoken from his slumber, grunted as he forcibly gathered his strength just to remain standing.

Li Wen noticed instantly, his brow furrowing slightly.

With a soft stir of his thoughts, a vast wave of Primordial Spirit power, like an invisible tide, spread out silently from him.

This power was not domineering or ostentatious, but it carried an unquestionable will of absolute dominion.

It swept nonchalantly over the terrifying pressure created by the four Demon Emperors, and like snow meeting the scorching sun, the pressure instantly melted and dispersed.

The suffocating Demon Power in the air also cleared, as if it had been purified.

Ye Qin and the other two immediately felt the pressure vanish. Venerable Xingxuan let out a long sigh of relief, her gaze on Li Wen’s back filled with shock and gratitude.

And in the instant the pressure was nullified, the four Demon Emperors’ world-destroying attacks had already arrived.

Li Wen finally moved.

He didn’t draw a sword or form a seal. He simply raised his right hand calmly.

Facing the four void-rending, world-ending attacks and the four menacing Demon Emperors charging at the forefront, he extended a single, slender finger.

His movement seemed slow, yet it appeared to transcend the limits of time and space.

”All Things Return to Ruins Finger.”

A calm voice, like the whisper of a Law, resounded clearly between heaven and earth.

RUMBLE—!!!

This wasn’t an external boom, but one from deep within Li Wen’s sea of consciousness.

That towering, over nine-thousand-zhang-tall Primordial Spirit golden body suddenly opened its eyes!

Reflected in those eyes was the birth and death of Star Rivers, the collapse and return of the universe to ruin!

The Primordial Spirit golden body likewise raised a finger, pointing out from the sea of consciousness. It aimed for the four Demon Emperors in the real world, tapping at them from across the void.

VMMMM—!!!

In the real world, heaven and earth shook violently!

An indescribably huge phantom finger instantly materialized in front of Li Wen.

The finger was dark gold in color, wrapped in countless abstruse runes.

It emanated the terrifying aura of Supreme Laws such as ”Annihilation,” ”Disintegration,” and ”Obliteration”!

The moment it appeared, space itself seemed to freeze.

The surging energy, the spreading Demon Power, and even the dancing dust all fell into absolute stagnation!

Before this finger, time and space themselves seemed to lose all meaning!

A terrifying pressure, more than ten times stronger than the combined might of the four Demon Emperors, descended with a crash.

It precisely and inescapably locked onto the Tiger Emperor, who was charging at the very front.

And, like invisible shackles, it greatly suppressed the other three Demon Emperors.

”Wh-what... is this?!” The Tiger Emperor, at the very front, felt the savagery and killing intent on his face freeze instantly.

It was replaced by boundless horror and a fear that stemmed from the depths of his soul.

The instant that finger pointed at him,

he felt his proud Demon Emperor’s body, his surging Demon Power, and even his tenacious Primordial Spirit become as fragile and vulnerable as thin ice exposed to a scorching sun!

A thought that made his very soul tremble uncontrollably surfaced:

’Ninth Layer of Primordial Spirit?! No... that’s impossible! How could the Human Race give birth to such an existence?!’

”What? Ninth Layer of Primordial Spirit?!” For the first time, a violent fluctuation appeared on the Talisman Emperor’s placid face.

His pupils contracted abruptly as he cried out in disbelief!

Even the movements of him constructing the Rune Array fell into a slight disarray.