High Martial: I Grind Professions

"Attention, everyone. Countdown to incense lighting: 10 seconds."

A cold, mechanical voice interrupted everyone’s stunned silence.

In the censer at the center of the hall, an ancient and unadorned stick of incense rose silently, a faint glimmer at its tip.

"Is that the Enlightenment Incense?" someone exclaimed in a low voice, unable to hide their curiosity.

"Shut up and sit down! Can’t you see everyone else is already seated? Hurry!"

His companion urged impatiently, pulling the man to quickly settle onto one of the cushions neatly arranged before the mural.

「Outside in the plaza.」

The screen clearly projected every detail inside the Enlightenment Room, including the stick of incense that had risen.

"The Enlightenment Incense... now that’s a fine tool to aid one’s enlightenment," someone in the crowd of spectators said in a low voice.

"Yeah, it’s said to be a great help in entering a meditative state, calming one’s mind and spirit so they aren’t easily disturbed by distracting thoughts," the person next to him chimed in.

Another person interjected, "What’s even rarer is that the azure smoke it releases when lit is said to contain a strange energy. It can briefly stimulate one’s spiritual soul, increasing comprehension by about five percent. Although the boost isn’t huge, in a race against time like this, a five percent difference could decide the rankings."

"That’s true. Especially in the first moment one’s mind is immersed in the world of the mural, that small boost can be the deciding factor in one’s speed."

Listening to the surrounding discussion, many of the participants hearing about the Enlightenment Incense for the first time, Li Wen included, finally understood.

Li Wen’s gaze swept over the stick of incense on the screen, a thoughtful light flashing in his eyes.

「Inside the Enlightenment Room.」

"Ten, nine... three, two, one!"

The countdown ended.

A spark suddenly flared at the tip of the Enlightenment Incense in the censer. Then, a wisp of pale azure smoke with a strange, sweet fragrance rose gracefully, spreading lightly and swiftly throughout the hall.

The two hundred geniuses, regardless of their mood, all took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed all stray thoughts, and focused their minds as never before, turning their awareness inward.

Then, they directed all their concentration toward the massive mural that held the endless mysteries of the Martial Dao.

The assessment officially began.

The core of this stage was to see who could comprehend the most techniques and who could more quickly enter a deep meditative state, truly immersing their mind in the Martial Dao conception carried by the mural.

And the external sign of successfully entering this trance was whether the azure smoke from the Enlightenment Incense would swirl and condense into a ring above their head.

「Outside in the plaza.」

The three-dimensional screen faithfully displayed the state of everyone inside.

The two hundred people were like clay and wooden statues, completely motionless. An invisible pressure filled the air.

"Among this group, who will be the fastest to enter the meditative state?" a spectator couldn’t help but ask.

"Du Yun will definitely be first, right? He has the highest ranking on the Blue Star Youth Rankings in this group! A high rank on the Youth Rankings often means comprehending the ’state of Momentum’ earlier, which is in itself a sign of strong comprehension ability," one person said with certainty.

"I don’t think so," another person retorted, shaking their head.

"Comprehending the state of Momentum early proves one’s comprehension isn’t low, but some people are at a low level of skill, which doesn’t necessarily mean their comprehension is low. Some people were simply delayed because they started the Martial Dao late, or lacked resources, and so on."

The crowd buzzed with discussion, their gazes sweeping back and forth between the two hundred figures on the screen.

Time slipped by quietly as everyone held their breath in concentration.

One minute... two minutes... three minutes.

Just as the third minute was about to pass.

On the screen, an unremarkable boy sat in a back corner—extremely ordinary in appearance, a nameless face no one had noticed before.

Above his head, a few wisps of the gracefully drifting azure smoke from the Enlightenment Incense, as if drawn by an invisible force, suddenly converged above him. They swirled, condensed—and finally, steadily formed a perfect, round ring of smoke.

HISS—

"So fast?! Only three minutes?"

The crowd, which had been staring intently at the screen, instantly erupted in a wave of suppressed gasps.

Everyone saw the clear, unmistakable ring of smoke above the boy’s head.

"Who is that? Did anyone here know him before?"

"No impression at all! His rank in the preliminary selection must have been very low."

"My god! I remember last year’s record for the fastest to enter a trance was four minutes, right? He’s a full minute faster! That kind of speed..."

"Incredible! Even if his overall rank doesn’t make it into the top two hundred, with this speed alone, Fire Hall University will probably make an exception and recruit him specially." Exclamations of amazement rose and fell across the plaza.

The ordinary-looking boy instantly became the center of attention, even though most people still didn’t know his name.

The powerful experts on the main platform, like Marquis Qingyuan and the Chuhe King, also fixed their gazes solemnly on this unremarkable figure for the first time.

Li Wen’s brow twitched slightly, but deep within his calm eyes, there was only serenity.

The discussions of the crowd outside had no effect on the people inside the Enlightenment Room.

They all remained completely focused on the mural before them.

Du Yun, sitting cross-legged amidst the crowd, was not affected by the person who had entered a trance in three minutes.

In his eyes, there was only the mural on the wall before him, the one depicting a long spear piercing the path to the Nine Heavens.

Every tremor of the spear tip, the building layers of power, and the final momentum that pierced through the last wisp of resistance.

His muscle memory from countless hours of spear training was triggered, as if ignited by those ancient, drawn lines.

Deep within his consciousness, a barrier seemed to break with a soft POP.

When the hand of time pointed firmly to the three-minute and fifty-second mark, above the seated Du Yun’s head, the scattered and disordered wisps of azure Enlightenment Incense smoke suddenly paused, contracted inward, and condensed—a clear, perfectly round, bluish-green ring of smoke silently appeared.

"3 minutes and 50 seconds," someone in the crowd who was watching the timer said.

"That speed would have made him the undisputed champion in last year’s batch..." a young man, clearly a current student at Fire Hall University, said, rubbing his eyes with a wry, helpless smile. "Too bad a dark horse showed up out of nowhere."

The classmate next to him nodded repeatedly, his gaze involuntarily shifting back to the ordinary boy who had done it in three minutes.

"What kind of monsters are these new underclassmen...?" a few upperclassmen whispered, exchanging glances. They could all see the worry on each other’s faces—the fear of being left behind by the new generation. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The following period was an arduous and lonely journey of immersion for the first group of two hundred in the Enlightenment Room. For the audience outside, however, it was more like the long, drawn-out wait for a lottery drawing.

A few more people successfully entered the meditative state, with rings of azure smoke appearing above their heads one after another.

It was just that their times were far from being as astonishing as Du Yun’s.

Time continued to pass. Seven minutes, eight minutes...

When the very last participant barely managed to form a smoke ring above their head at the nearly eight-minute mark, soft, irrepressible yawns could already be heard from the crowd.

Two hundred silent statues were frozen in the amber of time, with only fine dust motes dancing slowly in the beams of light filtering through the high windows.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye.

DONG—!

When the melodious, deep toll of a bell rang out without warning throughout the Enlightenment Space, it was like it had pierced through a century-long dream, smashing violently into the depths of every participant’s consciousness.

Two hundred pairs of dormant eyes trembled as if struck by a bright light, then snapped open.

The eyes of most people still held a thick haze of confusion, intoxication, and a lingering sense of wanting more, as if they had been forcibly dragged back from an incredibly spectacular dream that had ended too abruptly.

"Holy shit! Time’s up already?"

A burly boy practically leaped to his feet, his face full of frustration and resentment. "I had just started to understand the force behind that axe strike!"

"It’s over... I only fully comprehended two techniques. That’s way too few." A baby-faced girl in the crowd turned pale, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.

"Last year, comprehending three techniques was enough to get into the top two hundred. I got four this time, so I should be safe."

Unlike those two, a calmer-looking boy, though with sweat on his brow, had a look of joy on his face.

For a moment, it was a scene of mixed joy and sorrow.

...

"All participants, leave the area immediately!"

As the crowd awoke from their meditation, the cold, mechanical voice returned, laced with an authority that could not be questioned.

The two hundred participants, as if waking from a dream, suppressed their complex emotions and rose in an orderly fashion. Filled with anxiety, relief, or regret, they filed out of the space that had been so thick with profound mystery.

Stepping into the crisp air of the plaza, the two hundred immediately separated and took their stances according to the weapon schools they had comprehended, without the slightest delay.

The ineffable mysteries from the Enlightenment Room had just begun to fade. With their memories still fresh, this was the golden opportunity to practice and solidify what they had learned.

In an instant, the plaza was filled with the urgent sound of wind being broken, the sharp whistle of blades tearing through the air, and the high-pitched hum of jabbing spears.

The ordinary-looking boy—the one who was first to enter a trance—chose the sword.

His opening stance was as simple as a farmer swinging a hoe, but then his movements changed abruptly, and the aura of his sword turned bone-chillingly cold.

Thrust, slide, flick, pare... The transitions between his moves were as smooth as flowing water, hinting at a trajectory that was perfectly natural.

Nine forms!

From dense, rain-like flurries of short thrusts to the grand display of a single thrust that caused the surrounding dust to momentarily freeze with its momentum, he unleashed them all.

A senior attendant from the Fire Hall responsible for recording watched him intently, announcing the count clearly, "Nine forms of the Sword Dao. Record complete."

His voice was calm, but its slightly quickened pace betrayed his inner shock.

"Nine techniques..."

"A full nine techniques?!"

A wave of irrepressible gasps erupted from the crowd.

Although they had long suspected that the boy who entered a trance in three minutes must be extraordinary, the number "nine" was like a massive boulder thrown into a deep pool, setting off a thousand waves.

This didn’t just break last year’s record; it demonstrated a terrifying level of comprehension that was beyond a normal person’s understanding.

"The top scorer of last year’s comprehension assessment only managed to grasp seven complete techniques..."

A student who knew last year’s results murmured, his gaze toward the boy changing completely, now filled with awe. "But he comprehended a full nine."

On the main platform, several of the Marquis Level experts, who had been sitting as still as mountains, unconsciously leaned forward in unison.

Several gazes pierced through the crowd, landing precisely on the boy who still seemed a bit awkward, their looks filled with unconcealed admiration and curiosity.

An old man with azure brows quickened the pace of his beard-stroking, muttering to the person beside him:

"This child’s comprehension is truly top-tier. Even if he’s somewhat lacking in the preliminaries or in actual combat, he is well worth cultivating."