High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 442: Chapter 280: Great Harvest

Li Wen felt this fervent joy and overwhelming power of faith, a gratified smile on his face.

He did not stop. After his proclamation, he kept his right hand raised. Instead of lowering it, he spread his fingers and gently clenched his fist in the empty air.

The next moment, a majestic, boundless, and seemingly infinite Primordial Spirit power instantly suffused and permeated the entirety of Blue Star.

This power precisely locked onto all the sealed Stargates on Blue Star.

These were the conduits of space that had once brought disaster and war, but now symbolized infinite possibilities.

HUM! HUM! HUM! HUM...

At the core of every dormant Stargate, countless energy chains composed of complex runes suddenly lit up.

The chains seemed to possess a life of their own. Under the precise control of Li Wen’s Primordial Spirit, they emitted a series of crisp, pleasant CLINKING sounds.

Then, like melting ice and snow, they shattered inch by inch, slipping away before finally dissipating into nothing.

The once-dim Stargates were infused with a new source of life.

The core mechanisms slowly began to radiate a soft, stable glow of spatial energy. The ancient patterns on the gate frames lit up in sequence, emitting a palpable ripple of spatial energy.

They were no longer symbols of death, but gates of hope leading to the Star Sea and an infinite future.

In Li Wen’s hands, Blue Star was finally freed from its shackles, reconnected to the vast and boundless Star River!

...

After unsealing the Stargates, Li Wen gave a few brief instructions to the three Venerables: Ye Qin, Xingxuan, and Gu He.

”I’ll be counting on you, my senior brothers and sister, for the subsequent reception, pacification, and reconstruction efforts.”

Li Wen’s tone was placid as his gaze swept over the tranquil sky above Blue Star and the many Stargates below, now reconnected to the Star Sea.

”I wouldn’t be of much help with the specific details, even if I stayed. If any emergencies arise, contact me immediately.”

Venerable Ye Qin and the others understood that this new pillar of the Human Race should focus on his own cultivation and on preparing for the potential storms to come.

They agreed solemnly. ”Rest assured, Junior Brother. We will do our utmost regarding the subsequent affairs of Blue Star and the Demon Realm.”

Li Wen nodded slightly and said no more.

With a casual swipe of his hand, he tore open the void before him. A pitch-black spatial rift spread open silently, its edges flickering with unstable ripples.

He stepped through it, his figure instantly devoured by the gloom. The rift sealed itself shut, as if it had never existed.

The next moment, he found himself on the cold, silent, black rock of the Trial Star.

He had chosen this place over the Li Manor in Changning City out of his usual caution.

The four Demon Emperors had roamed the Demon Realm for many years; there was no telling what sort of extremely dangerous items—things that could potentially trigger a large-scale catastrophe—might be lurking inside their Space Rings.

Things like self-destruct mechanisms containing terrifying energy, or unknown cursed artifacts.

’With the protection of my Primordial Spirit, I’m confident I can handle most emergencies.’

’But if I opened them at home in Changning City and something went wrong, the entire city, and even the surrounding regions, could face annihilation.’

’To be safe, checking them on this vast, deserted Trial Star is the most secure option.’

A piercing wind whipped at his aquamarine-gold Magical Robe. Li Wen’s expression was calm as he sat cross-legged atop a massive black meteorite.

With a thought, four rings of different designs hovered in the air before him.

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

He first examined the Tiger Emperor’s ring.

His spiritual sense probed inside. The space within the ring wasn’t very large, only about a dozen cubic meters.

The items inside were arranged crudely. The most abundant things were chunks of crystal, piled in the center and radiating a dense, pure energy.

’Primordial Stones!’ Li Wen recognized them at a glance.

The crystal chunks were a translucent, milky white, with a hazy nimbus of energy swirling within.

Information from Blue Star’s core legacy database instantly surfaced in his mind.

Primordial Stones: a universal currency throughout the cosmos, and a core resource for Saint Realm experts to restore their Primordial Power, aid their cultivation, and even achieve breakthroughs.

This was because the energy within a Saint Realm expert had already evolved into the higher-level Primordial Power.

The rate of recovery and the total amount of energy required for advancement far surpassed the needs of those in the Venerable Realm.

In an energy-poor environment, relying solely on natural absorption to replenish one’s Primordial Power could take months.

Primordial Stones were the solution to this problem.

’Not a bad haul,’ Li Wen thought, the corner of his mouth turning up in a slight smile.

A sweep of his spiritual sense confirmed the number of Primordial Stones in the Tiger Emperor’s ring: exactly 100,000.

The other items in the ring were mostly ores, Spirit Grasses, and a few weapons and sets of armor, all tainted with a strong demonic aura.

They were obviously tailored for the Demon Race and held little value for human Cultivators, so Li Wen gave them a cursory glance before moving on.

Next were the Space Rings of the Talisman Emperor and the Shadow Claw Demon Emperor.

Their collections were similar in style to the Tiger Emperor’s. The internal space wasn’t large, and the core of their hoard was, once again, a mountain of Primordial Stones.

The Talisman Emperor’s ring contained about 110,000, while the Shadow Claw Demon Emperor had just over 90,000.

In addition, the Talisman Emperor’s ring held a considerable amount of talisman-crafting materials inscribed with esoteric demonic patterns, as well as some finished talismans.

The Shadow Claw Demon Emperor’s collection, meanwhile, consisted of special tools and poisons for stealth and assassination, none of which were of any use to Li Wen.

Finally, Li Wen’s gaze fell upon the Space Ring of the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor.

This ring was a deep, bone-white color. It felt cool to the touch and was far more exquisitely crafted than the other three.

As his spiritual sense probed it, a flicker of surprise appeared in Li Wen’s eyes.

The space inside the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s ring was nearly ten times larger than the other three.

The most striking feature was, again, a mountain of Primordial Stones, far greater in number than the other three emperors’ hoards.

A quick mental count revealed nearly 400,000!

This single hoard surpassed the combined total of the Tiger Emperor, the Talisman Emperor, and the Shadow Claw Demon Emperor.

’This Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor was certainly the wealthiest of the lot,’ Li Wen thought, nodding to himself.

The total count of Primordial Stones from the Four Emperors’ rings reached a staggering 700,000.

This was an immense fortune, enough to make even a Tier One Star Lord take notice.

In other areas of the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s ring, Li Wen found many rare bone materials.

He also found some Spirit Plants with an innately cold, sinister nature and a few bone-crafted magical treasures that radiated powerful fluctuations.

He inspected them one by one but found nothing particularly worthy of his attention.

Just as his spiritual sense was scanning a corner of the space, his attention was drawn to a treasure box crafted from some kind of dark, ancient wood.

The surface of the box was carved with simple protective runes that shielded it from prying senses.

With a faint stirring of his will, a gentle wave of Primordial Spirit power washed over the box, and the runes dissolved instantly.

He carefully opened the lid.

The box was lined with soft black velvet, and nestled in the center lay a peculiar ore, roughly the size of a baby’s fist, that shimmered with a mesmerizing, silvery-gray light.

The ore’s interior seemed to hold countless tiny vortexes of starlight, like frozen fragments of time itself.

It emanated an indescribable, esoteric aura that seemed to touch upon the very source of time.

”A Time Stone!” Even with Li Wen’s current level of self-control, he couldn’t help but exclaim aloud, his eyes flashing with joyous surprise.

He instantly recalled a perfectly matching description from the legacy database.

The Time Stone was considered one of the true marvels of the universe.

Its purpose was singular: to allow a Cultivator who had not yet grasped the Time Law to forcibly tap into a sliver of temporal power, enabling them to briefly enter the River of Time and traverse vast distances.

The universe is boundlessly vast. Even traveling at the speed of light, when accounting for time dilation, crossing a single galaxy could exhaust the entire lifespan of an ordinary Saint Realm expert.

The River of Time, however, was a physical manifestation of the universe’s Time Law.

Traveling a short distance within it could equate to crossing tens of thousands of light-years in the physical universe.

Experts who had comprehended the Time Law could, of course, enter and exit the River of Time at will.

The Time Stone was a key that unlocked this shortcut for those who had not yet mastered such a Law.

Its value was immeasurable!

A single Time Stone typically traded for over a million Primordial Stones in the cosmic market!

For Li Wen, who was eager to leave Blue Star and seek a higher path in the wider universe...

...the value of this Time Stone far exceeded a mere million Primordial Stones.

It was practically a passport to the Infinite Star Sea!

’I’ve been searching high and low for a way out, and here it is, falling right into my lap.’ Li Wen’s heart pounded with excitement. He carefully closed the lid of the box, then solemnly stored it away for safekeeping.

He then proceeded to inspect the other items in the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s ring with even greater care, specifically looking for anything potentially hazardous.

He picked out several items that had vague, obscure auras or emanated distinct waves of a curse, sealing them off to one side with his Primordial Spirit.

As his inspection neared its end, his spiritual sense swept over a pile of unremarkable junk.

A Jade Pendant among them—jet-black, made of a material that was neither metal nor jade, and about half the size of his palm—suddenly caused a tremor in his Primordial Spirit.

The Jade Pendant’s design was simple and ancient. Its edges were slightly worn, and it bore no patterns or inscriptions.

But the aura it gave off was exceptionally cold and gloomy, carrying an ominous malice that seemed to seep into one’s very soul.

Li Wen felt an instinctive and profound aversion to it; it even set off a faint alarm in his mind.

It was as if the pendant were connected to some incredibly distant and malevolent entity.

「Meanwhile, countless billions of light-years away from Blue Star.」

Here, in a vast region of space known as the Earth Spirit Star Domain, a colossal planet tens of thousands of times larger than Blue Star floated silently.

Its immense gravitational field warped the surrounding space-time, asserting its majesty as the core of this Star Domain.

On the planet’s surface, the ambient energy was so dense it had nearly liquefied, and the very mountains and earth pulsed with immense power.

Within a deep, secluded grotto on the planet, shrouded by restrictive spells, a colossal skeletal figure sat cross-legged in the center of the cavern.

Its skeleton, which glowed with a dark, metallic gold luster, was far more solid and powerful than that of the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor.

Every single bone in its frame seemed to contain explosive power.

The soul fire burning in its eye sockets was a deep gold, radiating a sense of ancientness and boundless might.

This was the Bone-Eroding Demon Emperor’s younger brother—Ashes.

Ashes was looking down, staring intently at his palm.

In his massive, skeletal palm lay a Jade Pendant, identical to the black one now in Li Wen’s possession.