High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 220: Chapter 155: 3rd-Layer Shocking God Stab, Eighth-Layer Perfection, The Peerless Newcomer

Then, the twelfth slash came crashing down, its form flawless and complete, as if unifying all of his Blade Intent into a single, perfect whole.

CLATTER... A water bottle slipped from someone’s hand, hitting the ground with a distinct thud.

Dead silence.

It was as if time had frozen. The vast Enlightenment Peak plaza, where tens of thousands were gathered, was now so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone—from the disciples and the teaching assistants maintaining order to even some of the distinguished teachers in the front rows—was completely stunned.

At some point, the Chuhe King, who was presiding over the entire assessment, had shot to his feet.

His normally composed gaze now burned like a star, filled with immense, irrepressible excitement. His eyes were locked on the handsome figure standing in the center of the arena, his blade now at rest.

His usually stern and majestic face was now visibly moved, trembling slightly with excitement.

After a few seconds of frozen silence, a trembling voice, thick with disbelief, broke the stillness. ”...Twelve slashes?”

”Twelve slashes! Heavens! He... he actually mastered them all?!” The first person to snap out of it shrieked.

”All of them! The mural only has twelve basic blade forms in total! He didn’t miss a single one—he mastered them all!”

Someone repeated this stunning fact in a near-dreamlike murmur.

”Unparalleled! His comprehension... it’s absolutely unparalleled! The likes of which have never been seen before!”

Somewhere in the stands, a Godfiend whose aura was as deep as the ocean couldn’t contain his excitement. He’d even forgotten to control his voice, allowing his cry of amazement to echo throughout the area.

The entire plaza erupted, like ice dropped into a vat of boiling oil, instantly reaching a fever pitch.

Cries of shock, murmurs of disbelief... all the sounds mingled, creating a massive wave of noise that threatened to blow the roof off Enlightenment Peak.

A new legend, an unparalleled genius of comprehension who had just shattered all historical records, was born before their very eyes.

”That’s Sun Rui. He’s from Kyoto, the grandson of the Blade Crane King, Sun Zhen.” A voice spoke up beside Li Wen, tinged with unconcealed amazement and a hint of something more complex.

Du Yun had, at some point, squeezed his way over from the front to stand beside Li Wen.

”Rumor was he first touched the threshold of Blade Intent back in his sophomore year of high school. There have always been whispers about his supreme comprehension... but seeing it for myself today, I never imagined he’d be this ridiculous.”

”Yes, I felt it,” Li Wen said, his eyes still on Sun Rui, the center of everyone’s attention. His tone was as calm as still water. ”His Blade Intent is decent. A very pure foundation.”

”...Decent?” Hearing that one casual word, Du Yun couldn’t stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.

He glanced at the top-ranked student of their year beside him, who remained entirely unperturbed.

If that assessment had come from anyone else, Du Yun would have assumed they were just posturing and shot back a sarcastic retort without a second thought.

But this was Li Wen... the same guy who had effortlessly condensed the Purple Sky Divine Chain during the New Year’s Eve gala, and whose current level of cultivation was utterly unfathomable.

’If he said ’decent,’ did that mean... it was actually *really* good?’ Du Yun suddenly felt a knot in his stomach. The gap between them was just too vast; he had no choice but to swallow any feelings of indignation.

The uproar was like an erupting volcano. After a brief pause, the assessment continued, but the sensational impact of what had just happened would clearly linger for a long, long time.

Li Wen sat quietly for a while longer, his gaze sweeping over a few specific areas and the new batch of geniuses taking the stage, as if confirming certain pieces of information.

In the center of the plaza, a massive holographic projection showed real-time footage of the fierce competition in the various demonstration zones: flashes of blades and swords, collisions of energy.

The shifting light and shadows reflected in the depths of Li Wen’s eyes. His expression remained calm, but deep within them, a minuscule flicker of lightning seemed to flash past, too quick for anyone to notice.

He rose to his feet. Without a word of farewell to Wang Shuo, Fang Chenghong, or Du Yun, and without attracting any attention, he turned around.

Just as quietly as he had arrived, he walked with a steady pace along the edge of the Nine Heavens Peak stands. He melted back into the flowing crowd, quickly disappearing in the direction of the outer docking bays.

The deep blue personal aircraft belonging to Nine Heavens Peak Villa #1 emitted a faint hum as its levitation system engaged.

Li Wen settled into the pilot’s seat, and the hatch sealed shut without a sound.

SWOOSH!

The aircraft ascended with nimble speed, instantly piercing the thin mist that clung to Enlightenment Peak. It streaked across the azure sky, leaving a faint blue trail as it flew toward Mingde Peak.

As he passed through the shifting clouds, the clamor from the plaza below about the new unparalleled genius seemed to be completely sealed away.

The clouds outside the window shifted unpredictably, much like the magnificent, turbulent path that lay ahead—unknown and full of challenges.

...

A silver-white personal aircraft landed smoothly on the landing pad of Mingde Peak Villa #1.

The hatch slid open, and Li Wen stepped out. The excitement from Enlightenment Peak had already vanished from his eyes, which were once again calm and composed.

The midday sun spilled over him, illuminating a physique that had grown ever more solid and contained, tempered as it was by countless bolts of lightning.

Inside the villa, a high-energy lunch prepared with top-tier nutritional ingredients was already neatly laid out.

Li Wen ate in silence, chewing each bite slowly and deliberately to allow the food’s energy to fully nourish his body. It was a habit ingrained in his very being.

He rested for a short while after lunch. A single thought occupied his mind: how to break through the Eighth-Layer Perfection of the Nine Heavens Divine Body and advance to the final Ninth Layer.

As his cultivation deepened, especially after breaking past the threshold of the 7th Layer, he could sense with increasing clarity just how demanding the requirements were for the Ninth Layer—a realm that seemed so close, yet was hidden behind the most stringent of conditions.