High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 426: Chapter 266: Seal

She knew what would happen once she fell into the hands of these beasts.

A fate of violation and soul-devouring awaited her—one far more terrifying than death itself.

She even wanted to detonate the remaining power in her body to self-destruct.

But the runes on the chains were tightly suppressing her energy core.

Just as the withered claw was about to touch her skin—

HUMMM!

An indescribable, terrifying will, as vast as if the entire universe were crashing down, swept across the underground space without warning!

This will was cold, pure, and imperious—the very manifestation of cosmic Law!

The killing intent contained within it was like solid ice, instantly freezing everything inside the cavern!

The lecherous, menacing smirks on the faces of the Great Demon Kings froze in an instant. Their pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.

They felt as if their hearts were being fiercely gripped by an invisible giant hand, and then crushed.

An ultimate, instinctual terror born from the depths of their very souls instantly overwhelmed their consciousness.

It was a pressure several times more terrifying than facing a Demon Saint, or even the legendary Demon Emperor!

They wanted to scream, but their throats couldn’t make a sound.

They wanted to run, but their bodies were petrified, unable to move, unable to even bend a single finger.

They wanted to mobilize their Demon Power to resist, but the power in their bodies was as stagnant as dead water, and even their thoughts seemed to be frozen.

The shadow of death, pure and absolute, enveloped their every cell.

This terrifying will swept past like an invisible tidal wave, without the slightest pause.

THUD! THUD! THUD...

Like puppets whose souls had been ripped away, the Demon Race bodies, still frozen in their terrifying expressions and postures from a moment before, fell stiffly to the ground. Their pupils were dilated, their breath gone, leaving only cold, empty shells.

The runic chains binding the female fiendgod also silently turned to dust the moment this will swept past.

The female fiendgod was stunned.

The nauseating pressure on her body and the restraint of the chains suddenly vanished, leaving her unable to react for a moment.

She looked at the corpses of the Demon Race on the ground, which had driven her to despair just a second ago.

Then she looked down at her own freed body.

’Terror?’ No, that ultimate sense of fear had vanished along with the demons’ deaths. All that remained was a tremendous, dazed disbelief, the kind that comes after surviving a catastrophe—as if she had woken up in another world.

’What happened? What was that power?’

She suddenly raised her head to look at the cavern’s ceiling, as if trying to see through the thick rock layers to the source of that power.

Then, an indescribable emotion—a mix of immense relief, lingering fear, and deep gratitude—welled up in her heart.

Almost instinctively, she scrambled to grab some of the more intact scraps of clothing scattered on the ground.

Tightly wrapping her exposed body, she curled up in a corner, her body trembling violently and uncontrollably.

This time, it wasn’t from fear, but from a massive emotional release.

At this moment, deep beneath Red Flame Star, besides Li Wen’s true body, there were also nine Primordial Spirit clones.

Ten Li Wens were evenly distributed in every direction on Red Flame Star, and then simultaneously burrowed deep into the ground.

As Li Wen’s Primordial Spirit power delved deep underground, it was indeed strongly impeded by Star Core Material and the planet’s complex geomagnetic field.

In the open, his Primordial Spirit detection could easily cover thousands of miles.

But after delving thirty miles underground, the range was drastically compressed to a radius of only a few miles.

And as the depth increased, the detection range continued to shrink.

This was also the reason why Li Wen had to wait until he reached the Ninth Layer of Primordial Spirit, when he could create enough clones, to carry out a complete purge.

Each of the nine Primordial Spirit clones carried a sliver of his powerful will and enough Primordial Spirit power to annihilate a Demon Saint.

They were telepathically linked with his true body, like ten invisible, giant nets of death.

Simultaneously penetrating, scanning, locking on, and exterminating, layer by layer, toward the core of Red Flame Star. ℴℴ𝘮

No matter how deep, how hidden, or how cunningly the Demon Race had set up an Array to conceal their presence,

before the power of the Ninth Layer of Primordial Spirit, it was all for naught.

The instant they were swept by that formless Primordial Spirit ripple,

their souls were annihilated as if thrown into the core of a star, leaving only their lifeless physical bodies behind.

The efficiency was astonishing.

In just one hour,

the entire Demon Race presence on Red Flame Star—a force that had spread beneath the planet’s surface like a massive tumor and plagued the Mercenary Alliance for centuries—

was, along with all the lairs they had painstakingly built, completely uprooted and swept into the dustbin of history.

Finally, Li Wen floated in the low orbit of Red Flame Star.

His Primordial Spirit swept over the countless Stargates on the planet, which were shimmering with spatial fluctuations.

He extended a finger and pointed it distantly at the void.

HUM! HUM! HUM!

Streaks of silver runes, imbued with the Law of Spatial Confinement,

crossed the vast distance to brand themselves precisely onto the key nodes of every Stargate.

In a flash of light, all the portals instantly dimmed, their spatial channels forcibly sealed and frozen.

Red Flame Star temporarily became an isolated island—an island belonging to the Human Race, free from the threat of the Demon Race.

...

「Meanwhile.」

「Demon Realm, Tiger Emperor Hall.」

In the center of a magnificent palace complex that exuded an endless, primal aura, the Tiger Emperor sat upon a massive Bone Throne.

Dressed in a bright yellow imperial robe, his figure was as burly as a mountain as he regulated his breath with closed eyes. The faint sound of a tiger’s roar and rumbling thunder echoed around him.

Suddenly!

He snapped his eyes open.

Two tangible beams of golden light, filled with shock and ferocity, shot out from his eyes,

searing the very space before him until it faintly distorted.

An extremely ominous premonition, like a cold viper, instantly coiled around his heart.

He unhesitatingly extended a finger as thick as a pillar and swiped it quickly through the void.

TSS!

A circular screen of light, its edges flowing with lava-like runes, instantly unfolded before his eyes.

The screen reflected a grand hall filled with countless soul tablets.

A Demon Saint, whose aura was comparable to a Human Race Venerable, was currently filled with terror.

Before the Tiger Emperor could even question him, the Demon Saint shrieked with a trembling voice:

”Your... Your Majesty! This is... a disaster!!!”

”All... all the members we dispatched to Red Flame Star... including those hidden deep underground... just a moment ago... at almost the exact same time... they’re... they’re all gone! Their soul imprints were completely extinguished! We’ve lost all contact! They’ve... they’ve all been wiped out!!!”

”What?!” The Tiger Emperor’s massive body shot up from the Bone Throne.

A terrifying pressure erupted uncontrollably.

The entire Tiger Emperor Hall trembled violently, and the demonic clouds outside the hall churned madly.

”Gone... they’re all gone... Red Flame Star... it’s over...”

the Demon Saint in the light screen repeated.

”Red Flame Star... is also over...” the Tiger Emperor muttered.

In his golden pupils, the last glimmer of hope was extinguished,

leaving only a bottomless abyss of shocked fury and indignation.

In fact, months ago, when he learned that the Demon Race on Blue Star had been uprooted and Wujing Demon Saint’s Soul Lamp was extinguished,

he had already had the worst premonition.

It was this premonition that prompted him to issue the order to accelerate the attack on Red Flame Star at all costs,

in an attempt to seize enough benefits before disaster struck.

In the past few months, no worse news had come from places like Ice Soul Star and Cangwu Star,

which had allowed a faint fantasy to linger in his heart.

Now, the terrible news from Red Flame Star, like a heavy hammer, had shattered his last fantasy to pieces.

A rage mixed with intense indignation and frustration burned fiercely in the Tiger Emperor’s chest.

To invade Red Flame Star, to plunder the legendary opportunities in the Human Race’s territory, he, the Tiger Emperor, had planned for over two hundred years.

He had expended countless efforts and resources and sacrificed countless elite members of the Demon Race!

He was on the verge of tearing through the Human Race’s final line of defense and grasping the fruits of victory in his hand...

Now, everything had turned to nothing.

”All that work... for nothing...” The Tiger Emperor’s deep voice, filled with endless brutality and indignation, echoed in the empty and oppressive hall.

His golden, tiger-like eyes stared fixedly at the light screen, in the direction of Red Flame Star,

as if trying to pierce the endless cosmos and see just what methods the Human Race had used

to destroy his two-hundred-year-long plan in such a short time.

...

「As Li Wen sealed all the Stargates.」

Under the crimson sky,

a Stargate as massive as a mountain stood at the edge of Furnace Castle, a major stronghold on Red Flame Star.

This was one of the core hubs controlled by the Mercenary Alliance.

Normally, energy flowed through it unceasingly, its light brilliant.

At this moment, dozens of Mercenary Alliance fiendgods on duty were nervously monitoring the energy readings, guarding against possible surprise attacks or reinforcements from the Demon Race.

Suddenly, the humming, operational giant door frame shuddered to a halt.

”BEEP—ANOMALY! STARGATE CORE ENERGY FLOW INTERRUPTED!”

A shrill alarm blared inside a monitoring station.

The fiendgod warrior on duty shot up from his seat and rushed to the observation window.

”Look! Look!” His companion, a young female fiendgod, her voice trembling with disbelief, pointed a finger rigidly at the towering portal.

They watched as the Stargate, which had once shimmered with a brilliant, liquid-like energy, began to dim at a rate visible to the naked eye,

as if an invisible hand were wiping away its colors.

The incandescent white and deep blue lights that symbolized its spatial connection and surging power rapidly faded,

revealing the cold, ancient, and lifeless metal frame beneath.

The powerful hum from the energy conduits also dwindled, eventually falling into dead silence.

The last trace of light flickered at the edge of the frame, then died.

The entire Stargate had transformed from a spatial marvel brimming with power and mystery

into a colossal, cold, and utterly non-functional metal structure.

”The... the gate went out!” a veteran fiendgod, his face covered in stubble and having experienced countless bloody battles, muttered.

His rough palm unconsciously wiped the corner of his eye, which was surprisingly moist. ”Is it really... really sealed?!”

The news spread like wildfire throughout the Furnace Castle hub.

All the fiendgods on duty, regardless of rank, swarmed to the observation points.

Shock, bewilderment, and then a wave of immense ecstasy swept over everyone.

Some slapped their comrades on the shoulder and laughed out loud.

Some collapsed to the ground, sobbing as if a massive burden had been lifted from their shoulders.

But most of them just stared at the completely darkened Stargate, repeating over and over:

”It’s sealed... It’s really sealed... The Demon Race can’t come through anymore!”