High Martial: I Grind Professions

"Nani?"

"Ru... Rukawa-kun?"

"He... he disappeared?"

"An... an instant kill?!!"

"That guy, 3587... with a single strike?"

"Just now... what was that transparent flash of light?!"

"Intent... That was definitely the power of the Intent Realm! Impossible! Before, he was clearly..."

"Baka!!! It’s an illusion! Did the system glitch?!"

A brief, deathly silence was followed by the entire livestream chat erupting.

An uproar! It was like a hornet’s nest had been kicked. Doubts, screams, disbelieving howls, and cries to find the bug flooded the entire virtual space!

In the center of the arena.

The pale gleam of the blade faded.

Li Wen held his final, desperate swinging posture. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper, and sweat streamed down his face.

The utter emptiness from having burned through his Primordial Spirit’s power, coupled with a searing, tearing pain, crashed against his sea of consciousness like a tsunami, threatening to rip him apart.

He sank to one knee, his body trembling uncontrollably from the extreme exertion.

But in that peak moment of ultimate pain and depletion—

It was as if an invisible, resilient membrane that had held him back for so long was utterly pierced and shattered by that pale blade strike, a strike into which he had poured his entire will.

An indescribable sense of control, like a nascent tide, began to well up from the depths of his very bones.

This was no longer just meticulous control over his physical body, but something far more profound. He felt as if his will could faintly resonate with the invisible energy particles of the world around him.

The blade in his hand, even while still, seemed to condense an invisible sharpness. It felt as if with a mere thought, the wind, the air, and even the light itself would part for its edge and coil around it.

A cold yet incredibly clear concept, glowing with a golden light, was branded directly into the depths of his soul:

[Shadow-Stealing Form 100%]

[Technique Realm Breakthrough: Blade Technique · Intent Realm (Initial Glimpse)]

[You burned your Primordial Spirit in a desperate struggle between life and death, grasping the true essence of speed and bringing your technique to the brink of the Dao. The Shadow-Stealing Form of the Flowing Rainbow Shocking Magpie Chapter has been perfected, triggering a resonance with the forces of the world and allowing you to cross the threshold into the Intent Realm. You have gained a preliminary understanding of Blade Intent.]

Blade Technique: Intent Realm (Initial Glimpse)!

Those six cold and majestic words, like a universal truth, echoed through his sea of consciousness, instantly soothing all the searing pain and emptiness from his spiritual overclock.

He broke through!

He had broken through the celestial threshold between the Unity Realm and the Intent Realm, a barrier that kept billions of his peers on Blue Star at bay.

After enduring an extreme spiritual burn, being tempered by the pressure of near-death, and achieving the ultimate sublimation of his will, he, Li Wen, had finally shattered it—with a single strike of his blade.

Deep within his sea of consciousness, that pure, silent, and impossibly fast flash of pale blade light seemed to become an eternal beacon, branded upon his soul, forging the foundational sharpness of his bladesman’s spirit.

...

That final, pale, pure blade strike in the Infinite Arena—a strike that seemed to pierce time itself.

It had not only shattered Rukawa Gale’s killing blow, but had also torn down the celestial threshold that stood before Li Wen.

When the cold, electronic chime of victory sounded, it was instantly swallowed by the dead silence from the audience from Japan in the livestream.

Li Wen’s vision went black as his brain felt like it was being repeatedly pierced by countless red-hot steel needles.

The overexertion of his Primordial Spirit’s power had nearly wrung his entire spiritual world into a barren desert.

A wave of exhaustion more severe than any he had ever experienced before, heavy as lead, violently dragged him from the virtual world back to reality.

"Ugh..." An unconscious groan escaped his throat.

In the real world, inside the private Martial Arts Room on the top floor of the Hongyi Building at Bluestone Third Middle School, the canopy of the virtual pod encasing Li Wen slowly slid open.

He tried to push himself up but found his limbs heavy and unresponsive. The simple act of sitting up drained all his strength, and his temples were instantly beaded with cold sweat.

However, the moment his consciousness fully returned to his physical body, a tsunami of enlightenment rushed in along with the exhaustion and fatigue.

Blade Intent—the secret of the realm countless Unity Realm Martial Artists dreamed of—was no longer some ethereal concept.

It had transformed into countless clear and profound imprints that surged into his mind, merging perfectly and seamlessly with his accumulated physical control, his insights into the Shadow-Stealing Form, and his Primordial Spirit perception.

’So that’s how it works.’ Li Wen’s eyes snapped open. Deep within his weakened gaze, a shockingly sharp light flared.

He could see it.

He could clearly perceive it.

The formless power of the world around him was no longer the cold resistance he felt during training and combat. Nor was it the behemoth he had been at the Peak of the Unity Realm, struggling to part and draw upon even a sliver of its power with all his might.

Now, it had become... docile and familiar.

The heavy resistance he felt when trying to move against its flow was gone. He felt as if he had become an agile fish, swimming freely in the great river of the world’s energy.

With a mere flicker of his will, a portion of pure energy, suffused with a sharp aura, gathered as if it were an extension of his own limbs. He no longer had to struggle to pry it loose; it responded to him almost instinctively.

WHOOSH... Forcibly suppressing the storm in his heart, Li Wen took a few deep breaths as the lingering effects of the Starlight Concentration Liquid finally began to slowly mend his depleted Primordial Spirit.

Having gathered some strength, he used the edge of the virtual pod to steady himself, staggering to the center of the spacious Martial Arts Room.

His gaze fell upon the Standard Rapier on the weapon rack, and an unprecedented urge stirred in his chest.

He reached out and took the blade. As the cool metal met his palm, the small amount of qi and blood he had recovered began to circulate naturally, resonating with the worldly power he had awakened.

He slowly raised the blade, not performing any elaborate techniques.

He simply swung it forward in the most basic, unremarkable way.

VMMMM!

The instant the blade cut through the air, something strange happened.

The air let out a low, distinct hum, like a taut bowstring being plucked.

The dense worldly power nearby was drawn to the blade’s edge, rapidly adhering to and condensing upon the blade itself.

A ten-foot-long blade arc, visible to the naked eye and shimmering at the edges with a faint, pale light, shot out from the tip of the blade like a bolt of lightning breaking free.

Fast! Fierce! Pure!

SHIIING—CRACK!

A crisp sound, like tearing silk, was followed by the heavy thud of metal striking metal and then snapping.

The blade arc passed through the special high-strength alloy pillar in the center of the Martial Arts Room—the same pillar Li Wen could barely sever even with his full strength before. Now, it was sliced in two as if by a hot knife through butter! The cross-section was as smooth as a mirror.

Its momentum unspent, the blade arc slammed into the specialized alloy wall with a dull BOOM.

The floor of the spacious Martial Arts Room visibly trembled.

A clear gash, nearly an inch deep, appeared on the wall. A bone-chillingly sharp aura lingered at the edges of the white score mark, refusing to dissipate.

"Hssss..." Even though Li Wen had expected it, he couldn’t help but draw a sharp breath as he witnessed the terrifying result of his own casual strike.

The power of that single strike was no less than when he had poured all his strength into the Shadow-Stealing Form before his breakthrough.

And that was just from channeling a minuscule fraction of the world’s power.

’This is the true power of the Intent Realm,’ Li Wen thought, looking at the ordinary rapier in his hand, his shock immeasurable.

The physical strength and explosive bursts of qi and blood he once thought he had pushed to their absolute limits now seemed so insignificant before the vast power of the world.

No wonder it was said that all who are beneath the Intent Realm are mere ants. A Martial Artist who had grasped Intent could even fight and defeat a Super Martial Artist.

With that, everything became clear.

He didn’t bask in the joy of his newfound power for long. He reined in his thoughts and focused his mind—not to activate [Absolute Focus], but to test an idea.

His will stirred, and his mind directed it.

WHOOSH!

An invisible force suddenly radiated out from Li Wen, covering a radius of more than ten meters.

Within this area, the airflow seemed to stagnate, and light refracted strangely, as if the space were coated in a thin layer of quicksilver.

The air was no longer uniform, but filled with tough, sharp ripples that layered over one another like waves on water.

An invisible Blade Intent permeated the area, carrying with it a heart-stopping cutting sensation and a silent, murderous aura.

Within this domain, every speck of dust and every wisp of air was influenced and sliced apart by this pale, formless intent.