High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 438: Chapter 276: Bone-Eroding’s Trump Card

The cold voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly across the heavens, like a death sentence from the reaper that chilled every listening member of the Demon Race to their very soul.

The souls of the Talisman Emperor and the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor nearly fled their bodies in terror.

They discovered in horror that even after burning their source blood essence to push their speed to the absolute limit, the figure behind them, emanating a terrifying aura, was still closing the distance at a visible rate.

His seemingly casual pace was so unnervingly bizarre it shattered their nerves.

Never before had the shadow of death loomed so large.

Faced with an absolute disparity in speed and the looming threat of death, the two Demon Emperors’ minds raced like never before.

The Talisman Emperor’s eyes were riddled with blood vessels as countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

As a member of the Celestial Fox clan, he was renowned throughout the Demon Realm for his cunning.

The moment Li Wen took his second step, sending ripples through space, the Talisman Emperor suddenly detected a subtle discrepancy—one that, in this life-or-death crisis, struck him like a clap of thunder.

”Something’s not right! Hai Yan!” the Talisman Emperor immediately transmitted to the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor via a Demon Soul Secret Technique. His voice quivered with the manic desperation of a drowning man grasping at a final straw.

”His speed! He’s traversing space purely by using his Primordial Spirit’s power to leverage the Space Law!”

”The fluctuations from his physical body’s cultivation... they’re only at the Venerable Level! That’s it!”

”His Primordial Spirit has reached the Peak of Saint Realm, but his physical body—the core of his very life—is still stuck at the Venerable Level!”

Upon hearing this, the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s nearly shattered will was jolted back into focus.

He felt like a drowning man who had just found a piece of driftwood.

He had been so utterly stunned by the terrifying might of Li Wen’s Primordial Spirit—the same power that had crushed the Tiger Emperor and Shadow Claw—that he’d had no capacity to think of anything else.

Now, with the Talisman Emperor pointing it out, he immediately extended his senses to verify!

It was true!

The pursuing figure’s Primordial Spirit fluctuations were as vast as an abyss and unfathomably deep, exuding the pressure of the Peak of Saint Realm.

However, concealed beneath the brilliance of his Primordial Spirit, the cultivation level of the body carrying this terrifying power...

...was indeed far from reaching the Saint Realm standard.

At most, it was at the level of a peak Human Race Venerable!

A massive chasm separated it from his Primordial Spirit Realm.

’A frail body! The fatal weakness of a Primordial Spirit Cultivator!’ The Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor understood instantly. His immense fear was swept away, replaced by the ecstatic thrill of an all-or-nothing gamble.

A terrifying, vicious light erupted in his eyes, like a venomous snake about to devour its prey. ”Talisman Emperor! You mean... we get in close?!”

”Yes!” The Talisman Emperor’s voice was firm and decisive, laced with the fierce resolve of one burning their boats.

”Primordial Spirit power is unbeatable at a distance, but in close combat, the physical body is everything! No matter how strong his Primordial Spirit is, his body won’t be able to withstand the full force of our attacks up close!”

”If we can just endure one wave of his Primordial Spirit attacks and get in his face, his Venerable Level body won’t stand a chance! He’ll be dead for sure! This is our only path to survival!”

The two Demon Emperors exchanged countless thoughts in a split second.

”All right! Let’s bet it all!” The Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor hesitated no more.

”I’ll put everything into defense and draw his attention! Hai Yan, you attack! Make it a killing blow!” the Talisman Emperor rapidly assigned their roles.

He knew his defensive Secret Treasures and proficiency with arrays were stronger than his offensive abilities, making him the better choice for a shield.

”Deal! Let’s go for broke!” The Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s Demon Power surged, condensing madly into his bone claws, which now gleamed with a ghastly, pale light as destructive energy gathered within them.

Having reached an agreement, the two Demon Emperors instantly switched from desperate retreat to a life-or-death counteroffensive.

They appeared to still be fleeing, but the flow of their Demon Power and the tension in their bodies had subtly shifted.

Like two powerful bows drawn taut, they were now locked onto the pursuing figure behind them.

Just as Li Wen took his third step, at the very instant his terrifying Primordial Spirit pressure threatened to freeze their Demon Souls solid—

”Now! Do it!” the Talisman Emperor roared.

As if telepathically linked, the two Demon Emperors abruptly stopped, forcibly halting their forward momentum.

Then, with a ferocity and resolve even greater than when they were fleeing for their lives, they brazenly reversed direction.

Dazzling runic light erupted from the Talisman Emperor’s body as an ancient, tortoise-shell-shaped demonic artifact materialized above his head.

Hundreds of defensive light barriers instantly layered over one another, encasing him like an indestructible fortress.

He charged toward Li Wen with the tragic, unstoppable momentum of a battering ram.

His goal was singular: to tank Li Wen’s next attack and create an opening for the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor!

Meanwhile, the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor completely vanished behind the blinding light and torrent of violent energy erupting from the Talisman Emperor.

He suppressed his entire aura and pushed his speed to the absolute limit, transforming into a ghastly white Ghost Shadow that nearly melted into the void.

His bone claw, imbued with his entire life’s Cultivation and flickering with a ghostly light that seemed capable of corroding space itself, was like the Grim Reaper’s scythe emerging from the underworld.

Wielding a terrifying power that could pierce anything and annihilate all life, it ripped through space—silent, yet swift as lightning—aiming for Li Wen’s heart.

He intended to use the instant Li Wen was distracted by the Talisman Emperor to land this decisive, killing blow.

This all transpired in the blink of an eye.

”Oh no!!!”

The three Venerables, Ye Qin, Xingxuan, and Venerable Gu He, who were keeping a constant, anxious watch over Li Wen, instantly saw through the demons’ intentions the moment the Talisman Emperor and the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor reversed course and unleashed their desperate counterattack.

Venerable Ye Qin’s face fell as he cried out in alarm.

He could see it clearly: the Talisman Emperor was putting his life on the line to create an opportunity for the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s fatal close-range attack.

And they were all too aware of the state of Li Wen’s physical body...

The consequences of a Venerable Level body facing a Demon Emperor Level expert in a full-power, close-quarters brawl were unthinkable.

The spatial energy around Venerable Xingxuan fluctuated violently as she nearly rushed in to help, heedless of the danger.

But the distance was too great, and the two Demon Emperors’ desperate strike was simply too fast.

Venerable Gu He’s hair and beard stood on end. A frightening light burst from his clouded eyes as he roared, ”Despicable! Protect your body!”

Having fought in countless battles, he instantly saw through the Demon Emperors’ insidious tactic: exploiting the fatal weakness of a Primordial Spirit Cultivator’s relatively fragile physical body.

The hearts of the three Venerables leaped into their throats, seized by immense worry and fear.

They couldn’t imagine the tragic consequences if, just as the dawn of victory was breaking, the Human Race’s only Saint Realm expert—their greatest hope—was killed in a close-range ambush by the Demon Emperors because of a single moment of carelessness.

At the heart of the battlefield, the Talisman Emperor, now a runic battering ram, was about to make impact with devastating force.

And the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s fatal, shadowy bone claw, like a striking viper, was now less than a hundred feet from Li Wen’s heart.

However, faced with this sudden, deadly counterattack aimed squarely at his greatest ”weakness,” Li Wen, suspended in the sky, showed not a hint of panic. Instead, a flicker of... controlled indifference, and a touch of faint mockery, passed through his cold eyes.

His physical body, tempered through multiple upgrades from his Martial Dao profession, had long ago quietly broken through that invisible barrier, reaching the Saint Realm.

The only reason he had yet to officially step into the Saint Realm was because his pursuit of the Dao of the saber was not yet complete.

But the strength and power contained within this body were in no way inferior to those of an ordinary practitioner who had just entered the Saint Realm.

Of course, Li Wen was no fool.

He was well aware that attacking an enemy’s strength with one’s own weakness was a grave mistake, especially when facing Demon Emperors like the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor and the Talisman Emperor, who were renowned for their physical prowess.

Just as the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor, wreathed in a storm of destruction, was about to close in,

Li Wen’s figure shot backward like a phantom; space itself seemed to lose all meaning beneath his feet.

At the same time, his eyes narrowed, and he once again pointed his right index finger across the distance!

HUM—

Deep within his sea of consciousness, the colossal golden body of his Primordial Spirit, seated upon a sea of chaos, suddenly opened its eyes, flooding the space with supreme majesty.

A massive, illusory finger, shimmering with a dark golden luster and seeming to contain the very esoteric principle of the universe’s return to ruin, instantly materialized.

Ignoring the distance, it shot forward, carrying a terrifying power capable of extinguishing Primordial Spirits and disintegrating Laws. Its target was the Talisman Emperor, who was shielding the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor.

PTHOO!

Facing Li Wen’s attack, the Talisman Emperor’s pupils contracted. A blinding runic light burst from his claws, weaving together to form a massive shield covered in arcane patterns before him.

The massive, dark gold finger struck it hard. The runic shield vibrated violently, emitting a sorrowful groan as if on the verge of collapse, and was instantly covered in a web of cracks.

The berserk power pierced through the shield. The Talisman Emperor felt as if he had been struck by a warhammer. He spat out a mouthful of blood as a sickening series of cracks echoed from his bones.

He was sent flying backward by the immense force, his aura instantly diminishing by more than half, his eyes filled with shock and horror.

That single finger attack, though it hadn’t killed him, had left him gravely wounded!

Almost at the same instant he sent the Talisman Emperor flying, Li Wen’s cold gaze locked onto the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor, who was now nearly upon him, his face a mask of ferocity.

He pointed his finger once more.

The Demon Emperor, facing this certain-kill attack, showed no intention of dodging or retreating. His crimson pupils held only madness and grim resolve!

”ROAR! DIE FOR ME!” the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor roared, his fist burning with his lifeblood.

Wreathed in a deathly gray light capable of corroding stars and extinguishing life, he ignored the terrifying finger attack aimed at his own brow and thrust his fist toward Li Wen’s chest.

He was trading injury for a kill, using his own powerful body to weather the Primordial Spirit attack in exchange for the chance to land a fatal blow in close combat.

Li Wen’s All Things Return to Ruins Finger silently slammed into the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s sea of consciousness.

In that instant, it was as if a world-ending meteor had been plunged into the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s sea of consciousness, which had been a vast world filled with tyrannical demonic energy.

A terrifying power of annihilation spread like wildfire. The space within his sea of consciousness trembled violently as its edges crumbled away, inch by inch.

Countless fragments of his mind turned to dust, and it seemed as if his entire sea of consciousness was on the verge of collapsing into nothingness.

”ARGH—!” The Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor let out a pained shriek that came from the very depths of his soul as thick demonic blood oozed from his seven orifices.

And yet, at that critical juncture, a strange, dark green light, as deep as an abyss, suddenly erupted from the very core of his sea of consciousness.

Within the light, a Bone Shield materialized from thin air. It was ancient in design, covered in a web of cracks, and looked as if it had been forged from the carapace of some primordial beast.

It stood firm, blocking the path of the devastating, dark gold finger.

CR-CR-CRACK—!

The Bone Shield and the massive finger collided! The ear-splitting sound of shattering echoed throughout his sea of consciousness!