High Martial: I Grind Professions

Chapter 240: Chapter 159: Scholar Lv. 13, Descending the Mountain, Blade Soul

The Peak Selection Ceremony began and ended uneventfully.

The results confirmed everyone’s predictions. Drawn by the supreme glory of a peak boasting two Ninth Layer masters, the top six new talents all chose Nine Heavens Peak.

The addition of these six new disciples caused the total number of official disciples on Nine Heavens Peak to instantly surge by nearly twenty percent. It was a sign of a grand resurgence for the peak after many years of dormancy.

After the ceremony, Li Wen did not linger.

He bid a simple farewell to Fang Chenghong, Du Yun, and the others, then transformed back into a streak of rainbow light and returned directly to Courtyard Jia-1 atop Nine Heavens Peak.

In the tranquil, elegant courtyard suffused with Spiritual Qi, everything was as it had been.

Li Wen changed into a light training uniform and, without a moment’s pause, walked straight to the center of the spacious training ground.

ZING!

The clear ring of a blade sounded out as he gripped the simple, heavy war blade in his hand.

With no unnecessary warm-up, his gaze instantly became as calm, focused, and sharp as the edge of the blade in his hand.

The mysteries of the Dawn Five Forms flowed through his mind as his qi, blood, and True Essence began to surge.

He began his daily tempering of the blade arts.

His movements were incredibly slow, as if every arc of the blade was fighting its way through an invisible, viscous sea.

Every strike—be it a horizontal slash, a vertical chop, or a simple upward flick, thrust, or parry—was executed with almost severe precision.

He sought neither speed nor power, focusing only on the angle at which the blade cut through the air, the trajectory of its edge, and how the thread-like True Essence in his body flowed precisely along his meridians and into the weapon.

He also focused on how it perfectly merged with the Blade Intent, which inherently possessed a thunderous quality.

Gradually, a peculiar rhythm emerged.

The fine violet sparks crackling along the blade’s surface were no longer chaotic and scattered, but instead seemed to be intricately woven by an invisible craftsman.

They formed a dense and profound network of runes that ebbed and flowed with the blade’s movement, as if the weapon itself had a living pulse.

A low-frequency, heart-pounding hum began to fill the air. It wasn’t the sound of True Essence detonating, but a peculiar spatial vibration caused by pure energy being condensed to a critical point.

For four hours, Li Wen remained completely immersed in this tedious yet infinitely profound process of refinement.

The passage of time lost all meaning to him.

Sweat soaked his training uniform, trickling down from his temples.

It collected at his chin and dripped onto the starstone floor, leaving dark marks that were instantly evaporated by the scorching aura of his Blade Intent.

He paid it no mind. His entire consciousness was focused on the blade, on the final, elusive wisp of intent within the ever-changing Thousand Radiance Form, whose ultimate essence was so difficult to grasp.

The True Essence circulating within him had long since synchronized with his breathing, flowing like a great river to nourish his weary muscles and bones, sustaining him through the intense mental exertion.

His absolute focus never wavered, and his superhuman comprehension played a key role in every minute adjustment and in the analysis that followed each failed mental simulation.

Countless deductions, attempts, and corrections... The spiritual exhaustion from countless simulated fusions was suppressed time and again by his tenacious will.

Then, in a single moment—

As Li Wen executed a basic variation of the Thousand Radiance Form—a swing that followed an exceedingly complex yet flawlessly fluid trajectory, seeming light as a feather but containing the force of a thousand tremors—

all the violet, runic lightning on the blade’s surface suddenly coalesced, then silently sank into the deepest core of the weapon.

An unprecedented and flawless sense of control was transmitted from the hilt directly into Li Wen’s mind.

He sensed it with perfect clarity: in that instant, he had completely fathomed and perfectly mastered every variation, every possibility, and the entire essence of the Thousand Radiance Form. There was no longer a single shred of obstruction.

’Success!’

Deep in his sea of consciousness, on the long-dormant data panel, a line of text quietly updated:

[You have tempered your blade arts with undivided attention, focusing on mastering the essence of the Thousand Radiance Form. Thousand Radiance Form +1%]

[Skills: Blade Arts · Intent (99%), Dawn Five Forms (Instant Rainbow Form 100%, Silent Rainbow Form 100%, Collapsing Mountain Form 100%, Celestial Gap Form 100%, Thousand Radiance Form 100%)]

A far more powerful, harmonious, and impeccable Blade Intent erupted from Li Wen, as if countless invisible blades were forming a tangible domain around his body.

He slowly retracted his stance, holding the blade vertically before him, its tip pointed toward the sky.

Only the invisible pressure radiating from him signaled the achievement of perfection.

As of now, all five of Li Wen’s blade forms had reached one hundred percent mastery. He was at the Realm Peak, perfect and flawless.

All that stood between him and the next level, the legendary "Soul Realm,"...

...was the final and most difficult hurdle: unifying the Five Forms to give birth to Soul Light!

...

Time seemed to lose all meaning during his quiet cultivation on Firewood Mountain.

In the blink of an eye, more than two months had passed.

「Galactic Calendar Year 228, October 2nd. Morning.」

Sunlight filtered through the latticed window of the meditation chamber in Courtyard Jia-1 on Nine Heavens Peak, gently falling on Li Wen as he sat cross-legged.

He slowly opened his eyes, concluding a night of meditation and nurturing his Primordial Spirit.

Out of habit, his consciousness sank deep into his mind to examine his status panel:

[Name: Li Wen]

[Age: 20]

[Realm: Mid-stage Flying Star Level (Level 36.9)]

[Class: Scholar Lv. 12 (175320→204480/204800)]

[Skills: Blade Arts · Intent (99%), Dawn Five Forms (Instant Rainbow Form 100%, Silent Rainbow Form 100%, Collapsing Mountain Form 100%, Celestial Gap Form 100%, Thousand Radiance Form 100%)]