128: Chapter 128 A Sweep

Chaotic Battlefield, Third Floor, Throne No. 2.

The entire high-altitude battlefield had long since turned into a brutal meat grinder.

Dozens of top-tier teams huddled together to attack, and countless prodigies from the leaderboards stood guard, but this luxurious combat power, which should have swept through everything, was unable to take a single step under the hellish rules of Throne No. 2.

The three major rules—[Abnormal Amplification], [Purification Ban], and [Hit Calamity]—tightly covered the world.

Every time one was hit, a random negative status effect would be inflicted.

Those inflicted with Confusion lost their minds and attacked their teammates;

Those inflicted with Stun became rigid, left to be slaughtered;

Prodigies whose movements were locked by Immobilization were instantly pierced by the Dragon-Pattern Marshal's piercing spear and eliminated on the spot.

Wails, explosions, and roars echoed continuously through the clouds.

The Third Floor battlefield bled endlessly, casualties mounted, and every strong team was frantically consuming resources and overdrawing their mana.

The eyes of all Contestants in the entire arena were fixed high above.

Everyone tacitly agreed on the same answer.

Now, the rules for the First Layer, Second Layer, and Third Floor, as well as the First and Second Thrones, had all been thoroughly explored.

The general trend had been cleared, and the path ahead was clear.

Next, it was time for those hidden powerhouses who firmly occupied the top ten of the leaderboard to ascend to the higher levels and vie for the top floor!

Everyone was waiting, waiting for them to rush to the Third Floor and stir up the winds and clouds.

...

The light and shadow shifted.

Lin Yan and Jiang Ruoxue landed in the domain of the First Layer, Throne No. 4.

The moment they landed, golden patterns lit up across the entire platform, and cold rules crushed the entire area.

[First Layer, Throne No. 4 rules activated]

[Attack Inhibition: All physical attacks and physical skill final damage reduced by 80%]

[Only spell and abnormal damage can take full effect]

This was the most grueling nightmare place in the entire First Layer.

On the platform, several small teams were already on the verge of collapse, everyone pale and physically exhausted.

Ten Golden Imperial Guards were respawning infinitely, tireless, and always charging.

The physical-type Awakened within the teams were completely useless, reduced to mere tools for attracting aggro and kiting.

A Berserker roared and slashed a dozen times, blades flashing and energy overflowing, but when the attacks landed on the Golden Imperial Guards, they only sparked weak golden light, and the health bars barely moved.

Using all his brute force, he only achieved extreme scraping.

The physical-type was completely crippled, and the output had to rely on those Awakened who possessed spell damage and abnormal damage.

Their mana depleted rapidly, their items were being used up, and their skills were becoming weaker and weaker.

Gu Congyi was one of them; he gritted his teeth and held on, mentally and physically exhausted, about to give up. At the moment of near collapse and mental breakdown.

Two figures arrived quietly.

Gu Congyi's eyes froze as he looked at Lin Yan's posture; before the competition started, he had wanted to have a chance to compete with him.

He hadn't expected that as the Dungeon was about to end, he hadn't even made it into the top 100 and was still struggling bitterly at this First Layer throne.

Meanwhile, the other party was already a super expert in the top ten and possibly a favorite to win the championship.

Looking at the other party, it seemed he didn't even recognize him. He smiled bitterly and stepped aside.

When they saw the appearance of the newcomers, all the Contestants at Throne No. 4 instantly lit up, and they let out a huge sigh of relief from the bottom of their hearts.

It was Lin Yan!

A top-tier powerhouse in the top ten of the Federation leaderboard!

In everyone's eyes, this was a savior in a desperate situation.

"The big boss is here!"

"Finally, someone can deal with these monsters!"

"We were about to collapse; it's fortunate the big boss is here!"

Hope ignited in everyone's eyes.

In their view, Lin Yan descending here instead of going up was specifically to help them clear the field, break the deadlock, and end their torture.

But no one knew.

In the eyes of ordinary Contestants, Throne No. 4 was a desperate situation. Physical damage was heavily reduced, scraping was unsolvable. Monsters respawned infinitely and entangled endlessly. Torture, exhaustion, despair, with no gains.

But in Lin Yan's eyes, this was the only perfect, flawless stack-building holy land in the entire Chaotic Battlefield.

In his mind, all the throne rules were instantly reviewed and analyzed layer by layer, with absolute clarity.

Countless prodigies were locked by the rules in their playstyles, tactics, and upper limits.

Everyone was desperately studying tactics, kiting, and coordination, attempting to use operations and teams to resist the rule suppression.

But Lin Yan didn't need that; he had Hex. After previous tests, neither the Dungeon's rules nor the monsters' skills could affect his Hex.

Rules could suppress mechanics, but they could never suppress the attributes stacked by Physical-Magic Dual Cultivation.

If your playstyle is countered, your system is banned, and your tactics are restricted, it is because your strength relies entirely on routines, skills, and playstyles.

But what if your own base attributes are high enough to transcend all rules?

One slash, and ten thousand laws are shattered.

Any bans, any weakening, any negative stacking—all were meaningless.

And this Throne No. 4, with its reduced final damage and infinitely respawning Golden Imperial Guards, was not torture; it was an infinite training dummy that never ran dry, was always stable, would never run away, and never had downtime!

Damage being suppressed to scraping levels was not a weakness, but a perfect state where he could infinitely auto-attack, infinitely stack layers, and never break his rhythm!

Others grew more tired the longer they fought, but he grew stronger, breaking the upper limit by relying on the rules.

With his mind made up, Lin Yan stepped forward slowly.

He didn't cast spells, didn't burst, and didn't activate any skills.

He only raised his hand, performing the simplest, most plain physical auto-attack.

Bang! Bang!

His fists and feet landed plainly, the damage firmly suppressed by the rules, still scraping, looking no different from an ordinary martial artist.

Bystanders watched, even feeling slightly puzzled.

"Why is the big boss also scraping?"

"Does the rule treat everyone equally? Even he can't break it?"

No one understood that under these seemingly useless strikes, the [Physical-Magic Dual Cultivation] talent was frantically rolling and looping infinitely.

Physical hit, +50 Spell Attack.

Spell Attack was converted in real-time through Magic to Physical Conversion, stacking onto Physical Attack.

The ten-second duration refreshed infinitely, the stacks never dropped, and the attributes continued to snowball and skyrocket.

Stacking began quietly.

Phase one, two thousand layers.

Damage was still low, with almost no visible change to the naked eye.

The team members watched and felt it was normal, thinking Lin Yan was also slowly grinding the monsters.

Phase two, five thousand layers.

Subtle changes began to appear.

The Golden Imperial Guard that previously required a dozen scraping punches to chip away a sliver of health could now be shattered in two punches.

Several nearby teams were instantly stunned.

"Wait... it's getting faster?"

"Why is his output getting higher and higher?"

"The rules haven't changed! The physical damage reduction is still there!"

Everyone was puzzled, with shock quietly growing in their hearts.

Phase three, eight thousand layers!

A qualitative change had arrived completely!

The same venue, the same rules, the same monsters.

Lin Yan threw a punch casually, energy whistling, directly sweeping across the entire platform!

Lin Yan suddenly discovered that if he smashed them into pieces, the respawn time would be slightly longer, so he simply used the crimson abyss blood blade.

With one blade sweep, all ten Golden Imperial Guards were split in half! The bisected Golden Imperial Guards instantly fused and respawned again.

All members of the several teams were completely stunned, their pupils contracting, their minds blank.

The exact same desperate venue,

A stalemate they couldn't hold even after giving their all, exhausting their mana, and overdrawing their lives,

The other party cleared the entire field with a casual strike?!

A shock that made them doubt their lives swept through everyone.