High Martial: I Grind Professions

Using the duck to launch himself into a low dash, Li Wen shot through the gap between the Deep-Purple and the pursuing Mid-Purple enemy like a cheetah streaking low to the ground.

The Deep-Purple enemy instinctively swung its saber down, its blade whistling sharply as it tore through the air.

PUFF! The saber’s edge sliced into the blue-clad corpse Li Wen had kicked at it, splitting the body in two, but it only hit an afterimage and dissipating fragments of data.

It let out a program-simulated roar of shocked fury. But just as it was about to give chase, it realized Li Wen hadn’t fled.

Instead, with an incredible burst of speed, he had circled around to the rear flank of it and its companion—the Mid-Purple—his target now clearly the blue-clad archer, who was still stunned from its missed shot.

The Deep-Purple was enraged, countering with a vicious backhanded horizontal slash!

The arc of the blade sealed off all of Li Wen’s room to dodge and even faintly enveloped the Mid-Purple enemy as it tried to close in for a pincer attack.

It was trying to force Li Wen to block it head-on! Or push him back into an even more disadvantageous position!

In the real-world viewing area, the hearts of Third Middle School’s teachers and students were in their throats.

He was fighting two Purple-clads alone while being harassed by an archer; every move was fraught with peril.

Seeing Li Wen actually charge into the Deep-Purple’s sweeping slash, some people even cried out in alarm.

"Is he crazy?!"

"That’s a Deep-Purple with 100% combat proficiency!"

The flash of the blade was upon him! Its oppressive aura washed over him!

But in that split second, he suddenly checked his instinctive motion to retreat.

Under [Absolute Focus], within a thousandth of a second, his Primordial Spirit overclocked. It instantly calculated the speed, angle, and subsequent variations of the Deep-Purple’s strike, down to the minute vibrations caused by its energy.

It also ran a lightning-fast simulation of how retreating would get him cornered and open him up to the archer’s follow-up shot.

’Retreating is a trap. Dodging left leads to a dead end in the ruins. The only way out is—’

’Advance instead of retreating!’

A sharp glint flashed in Li Wen’s eyes!

Instead of retreating, he advanced, charging toward the all-rending slash. It was a suicidal-looking move, as if he were throwing himself right into the Deep-Purple’s arms.

But his angle was incredibly precise, aimed at a minuscule, almost nonexistent blind spot under the Deep-Purple’s left arm—an opening created by the full-force swing.

At the same time, he didn’t use his saber to parry the incoming blade. Instead, like a viper’s tongue, it darted forward, hugging the inside of the enemy’s swinging arm.

With his fastest burst of speed and unerring accuracy, he struck at a tiny vital point on the inside of the Deep-Purple’s saber-wielding wrist.

Fast! Vicious! Precise!

The Deep-Purple’s program seemed to glitch for a moment; Li Wen’s unconventional move caused its combat AI to stutter.

It instinctively tried to pull its wrist back to avoid the strike aimed at its weak point, and the force of its slash inevitably weakened by a fraction.

This fractional delay and loss of power was all it took. It was a fatal mistake.

PUFF!

Though he had moved second, Li Wen’s saber struck first. As if he’d predicted the movement, the tip of his blade met the very spot where the Deep-Purple’s wrist ended its retraction.

While it didn’t completely ruin its grip, the strike precisely tore through the nexus of sinews responsible for transferring power.

RIIIIP!

The Deep-Purple’s saber grazed Li Wen’s shoulder, slicing through his virtual armor and kicking up a small ripple of data, but the mountain-shattering force behind it had already dissipated.

At the same time, because the vital point was damaged, the Deep-Purple’s swing faltered, its motion briefly distorted and sluggish.

’Now.’ Ignoring the minor damage to his shoulder, Li Wen instantly pushed off his right foot, his body springing forward like a tightly coiled spring suddenly released.

But he didn’t spring backward to retreat. He launched himself toward the Mid-Purple enemy, which had hesitated due to the Deep-Purple’s wide slash and was now directly in his path.

"Sun Piercer!"

He slammed into his target, unleashing the final, long-awaited form of the Rainbow Light Saber Skill with the full force of his body.

The Mid-Purple enemy had no time to change its stance and could only manage a hasty block.

BOOM!

Carrying the full momentum of his explosive charge, Li Wen’s saber crashed viciously against the Mid-Purple’s blocking blade.

The terrifying force lifted the enemy off its feet and sent it smashing into a ruined wall behind it, which instantly exploded into fragments!

The Mid-Purple’s chest caved in, its form dissolving into a shower of dissipating data!

[Points +700!]

"ROOOOAR—!"

The Deep-Purple was utterly enraged! The sharp pain in its wrist and the shock of its companion’s death drove it into a frenzy. It erupted with even more terrifying speed, its vital energy surging as its blade descended like a waterfall of light.

However, after that single collision and strike, Li Wen used the recoil to slide several meters away like a nimble fish, casually flicking his saber as he moved.

"Shadow!" A graceful arc of light flashed from his saber. The two archers at the rear, momentarily stunned by the Mid-Purple’s violent demise, had their throats slit almost simultaneously as twin sprays of blood-red light erupted!

[Points +50*2!]

Instantly! The encirclement was shattered!

The archers were eliminated, the Mid-Purple was dead. All that remained was the injured, but now even more berserk, Deep-Purple.

It all happened in the span of just two or three breaths—a sequence as smooth as flowing water, utterly perilous yet lethally precise.

The real-world viewing area fell silent for a beat, then erupted into a deafening roar that threatened to blow the roof off the building.

"AHHHHHHH!!!"

"The Deep-Purple! He wounded the Deep-Purple! And he killed the Mid-Purple in a counter-attack!"

"My god! How did he do that?! Wasn’t that a suicide run a moment ago?!"

"A hair’s breadth from death! That was a goddamn hair’s breadth from death! He’s so fucking amazing!"

"He’s number one on the leaderboard! He surpassed Jiang Lingyun! Li Wen from Third Middle School is at the top!"

On the Bluestone County leaderboard, Li Wen’s score instantly shot up to 4,540 points, eclipsing Jiang Lingyun’s 4,250 and claiming the top spot!

The entire viewing area erupted!

...

However, the struggle for the top of the leaderboard did not last long.

Because a true hunter had quietly emerged from the city’s shadows.

VMMMM—!

An indescribable pressure, heavy as lead, suddenly blanketed a section of the battlefield.

An unlucky Unity Realm student from First Middle School had just struggled to finish off a Mid-Purple enemy. Before he could even catch his breath, he felt as if his very soul had frozen solid.

To his senses, the very air seemed to congeal.

A colossal beam of white saber energy—so condensed it seemed tangible and radiating an intent of pure annihilation—appeared above his head, silent yet impossibly fast, like a falling meteor.

He didn’t even have time to get a clear look at his attacker; he was completely enveloped by the aura radiating from the saber beam.

His body felt as if it were sinking into thick mud, his thoughts seemed to freeze, and the motion of channeling his vital energy to defend was slowed by a hundredfold.

His pupils contracted violently, and just as fear began to dawn on his face—PFFT!

There was no earth-shattering boom, only a faint, soft tearing sound.

The white saber beam passed through his body without any resistance.

The look of terror froze on his face as his consciousness plunged into darkness. His entire body, along with his weapon, shattered like glass, dissolving into a cloud of dissipating data.

[Eliminated!]

The real-world viewing area was in an uproar!

The cheers from First Middle School’s section died instantly, replaced by cries of disbelief.

...

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