High Martial: I Grind Professions

Time passed.

Lin Xuan cleared the arena with despair-inducing efficiency.

His chilling killing intent was like a tangible Ice Domain, robbing the surviving contestants of the courage to even approach. All they could do was scramble to dodge the occasional, stray slashes of his blade.

It didn’t even take ten minutes. After a little over three minutes, not a single other person besides Lin Xuan was left standing on Arena 3.

The system coldly announced, "Arena 3 has concluded! Sole survivor: Lin Xuan!"

As Lin Xuan’s figure vanished in a flash of light, a collective gasp and then an uproar erupted from the public viewing area. The viewer count for Arena 3, marked by an "eye" icon, had skyrocketed to a terrifying six-figure number.

In a flash of light, a dazed and demoralized Huang Hao was teleported back to the preparation area for Bluestone Third Middle School.

His face was deathly pale, his legs still trembling slightly. Clearly, the oppressive sense of impending death had yet to fully dissipate.

When he saw Li Wen standing there, perfectly composed, his aura restrained yet as steady as a mountain, he practically stumbled toward him.

"That was so fucking scary." Huang Hao’s voice trembled with lingering fear as he grabbed Li Wen’s arm, babbling incoherently.

"Just one slash! A single, casual slash! The edge of the attack just grazed me, and my armor almost shattered..."

Li Wen listened quietly to Huang Hao’s rant, his own expression impassive. He simply patted his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

His gaze, however, drifted calmly toward the distant flashes of light that signaled the beginning of the second teleportation batch.

Huang Hao’s words gave him a more tangible sense of Lin Xuan, whom he had only known by name and had yet to see in person.

’Strong, but that’s all.’

’If this is the standard for the top ten, then a spot in the top three should be guaranteed for me.’

...

The second batch of melees began with swift intensity.

A few more students from Bluestone Third Middle School were teleported away, their faces taut with nervousness.

As expected, this batch also included a genius who had reached the Aura Realm—a young man who specialized in Fist Skills.

While not as overtly aggressive as Lin Xuan, who had created a terrifying clearing effect right at the start, he was steady and methodical. His fist strikes were fierce and heavy, each one accompanied by a muffled sonic boom, demonstrating immense power.

In front of him, the mid-to-late stage Unity Realm contestants were like punching bags, predictably sent flying out of bounds one by one or eliminated when their armor was ruled to be shattered.

The entire process was just as overwhelming, efficient, and tyrannical.

"Wow... is this the power of the Aura Realm?" 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"He’s incredible! At our school, someone in the late-stage Unity Realm would be considered a top student, but in front of that guy, they can’t even last a single blow..."

"Quick, look at the guy who got sent flying with one punch! I remember him, he’s the genius from the top high school in the next county! A late-stage Unity Realm fighter!"

"Damn... It’s like watching special effects in a movie..."

The high school seniors from various county-level schools across Jiangnan Province let out a series of irrepressible gasps and exclamations.

For these "ordinary" geniuses from county-level high schools, the power displayed by a top provincial-level prodigy, especially one who had reached the Aura Realm, was on a completely different dimension. The impact was staggering.

Over at the Bluestone Third Middle School section, many eyes involuntarily turned toward Li Wen, who stood at the front with a tranquil aura.

This was the same Li Wen who, at the start of the school year, had been testing his physical body alongside everyone else, even being outshone by Huang Hao. Yet now, he had quietly entered a state they could only gaze at in awe—the Aura Realm of Blade Skill!

And considering the stir he caused during the physical fitness test, his level of mastery might be even more terrifying than that of the Fist Skill genius currently in the arena.

An unprecedented sense of admiration and pride, even mixed with the slightly surreal feeling of ’I’m actually in the same class as him,’ welled up in the hearts of the crowd.

The second batch also ended quickly.

Without giving the crowd much time to process what they’d seen, the countdown for the third batch of melees began, and new contestants were teleported into their respective arenas.

However, when one particular figure appeared in an arena, the atmosphere throughout the entire virtual coliseum suddenly froze.

Then, as if a powder keg had been lit, the crowd erupted into a deafening, tsunami-like roar that surpassed even the one for Lin Xuan!

"Chu Feng! It’s Chu Feng!"

"The champion of the provincial mock exam! Chu Feng!"

"He was number one in the last mock exam! He’s here!"

"Oh my god, Arena 7! Quick, look at Arena 7!"

On Arena 7, the moment the figure appeared, he did not release an aggressive killing intent like Lin Xuan. Instead, he possessed his own terrifying aura—as steady as a mountain, its sharp edge concealed.

He stood ramrod straight, like a javelin planted in the arena floor. The taut line of his back radiated a tension that was both powerful and elegant.

The way he simply stood there gave off the powerful impression that he was born to wield a long spear.

He was now casually holding a gunmetal-silver spear, its tip angled toward the ground, its cold gleam restrained.

In almost the same instant, the viewer count next to the eye icon above his head skyrocketed, breaking the hundred-thousand mark in the blink of an eye and continuing to climb at a terrifying rate.

The level of attention he commanded far surpassed Lin Xuan’s.

Li Wen, who had been sitting calmly in his seat, finally lifted his head. A sharp glint flashed in his deep eyes.

He didn’t need an introduction. Based on that unique aura and the crowd’s explosive reaction alone, he knew who had arrived: Chu Feng.

’Very strong!’

That was Li Wen’s initial assessment.

If Lin Xuan’s blade aura was like sharp, exposed ice, then the *aura* around Chu Feng—pent-up and held in check, so condensed around his body it felt tangible—was more like a volcano on the verge of eruption.