123: In the long river of civilization, a fleeting shadow determines victory or defeat (Part 1)

The 【Civilization · Enlightenment】 Domain, woven from the brilliance of eight civilizations, acted like a massive, precise furnace.

It perfectly fused and amplified the power of Confucian righteousness, Legalist Edicts, Mohist Mechanisms, Daoist nature, School of Military battle formations, School of Agriculture vitality, School of Medicine benevolence, and Mohist Schools Art of Argumentation.

It transformed into a chaotic torrent—indescribable in color, seemingly containing the ultimate truths of the Universe and the rise and fall of civilizations—and surged violently toward the Lich Monarch and the negative energy rift behind him!

Wherever this torrent passed, space itself seemed to wail and twist!

The torrential rain was pushed aside, the mud solidified and then instantly vaporized, and the undead creatures didn't even have time to scream before they dissolved like snow under the sun!

This was the absolute crushing force of Order, the ultimate judgment of life upon death, the thorough purification of civilization against barbarism!

In the Lich Monarch's eye sockets, where purple flames burned, a fear bordering on the tangible appeared for the first time!

From that chaotic torrent, it felt a terrifying power capable of completely annihilating the essence of its existence!

This was not a simple energy impact, but a purge at the level of rules!

"No—!" It emitted a shriek that pierced the Soul, striking its black bone staff against the ground in front of it.

The shadow crystal at the tip spun crazily, squeezing out the death Origin it had accumulated over countless years, condensing it into an immensely thick 【Wall of Skeletal Sighs】, inscribed with countless runes of wailing Souls!

This was its strongest defensive divine art, which had once withstood the purification of Holy Light and resisted the fury of Elemental Lords!

At the same time, the rift behind it, which was constantly spewing negative energy mist, seemed to be stimulated as well.

It shook violently, and more grayish-white mist surged out like tentacles, entangling and reinforcing that wall of bones!

"Boom—!"

The torrent of civilization and the Wall of Skeletal Sighs collided without any flair!

There was no explosion as one might imagine, only an eerie silence, more heart-wrenching, as if the rules of two worlds were eroding and annihilating each other!

At the center of the collision, light twisted and colors peeled away, leaving only the most essential confrontation between black and white, life and death!

The wailing Soul runes on the bone wall melted and dissipated under the illumination of the light of civilization, like wax figures thrown into a raging fire!

The thick wall trembled violently, emitting an unbearable "creaking" sound, and cracks spread at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The Lich Monarch's body, under the immense backlash, was hit as if by an invisible giant hammer.

Large cracks burst open on its translucent, gray crystal-like body, and its purple Soul fire flickered wildly, as if it would extinguish the next moment!

It let out a painful and desperate roar; it could feel its death Origin being consumed rapidly, and that wall it relied on for survival could not hold for much longer!

"Crack... Bang!"

Finally, after holding on for less than three seconds, the 【Wall of Skeletal Sighs】 completely shattered, turning into black bone powder dancing in the sky and scattered Soul fragments!

The remaining torrent of civilization, although greatly reduced in power, still carried an indomitable will of purification, fiercely washing over the Lich Monarch's main body!

"Sss—!"

Like a red-hot branding iron pressed into an ice block, the Lich Monarch's body vaporized and dissipated in large swaths under the scouring of the torrent of civilization!

It emitted a shriek of extreme misery; the dark gem on its crown instantly dimmed and shattered, and the black bone staff in its hand was also covered in cracks!

Lich Monarch Status (Severely Injured)

Life Essence: Suffered civilization rule-level purification, Origin damaged by over 65%.

Body: Translucent body has disintegrated in large areas, structural stability extremely poor.

Soul fire: Extremely dim, on the verge of extinguishing.

Combat Power: Lost over 80%, fallen into an extremely weak state.

It looked at Lin Zhou, who was at the core of the Domain surrounded by eight-colored brilliance, with immense malice.

Then, it glanced with endless greed at the Fire of Civilization within his body that had not been extinguished even after such an outburst.

It let out a shriek full of unwillingness, and its figure suddenly shrank backward, intending to abandon most of its power and forcibly escape back into the negative energy rift!

It knew that as long as its phylactery was not destroyed, it would eventually have a day of return!

And that human who possessed the Fire of Civilization would become its most important target in the future!

However, just at the moment it was about to touch the edge of the rift—

Lin Zhou (dominated by the will of the Temple of Civilization), who had been standing quietly at the core of the Domain, seemingly carrying the will of eternity, slowly raised his head.

He looked toward the sky, which had become extremely unstable due to the violent collision of forces, and looked toward that Void Realm that, in the dark, penetrated all heavens and myriad worlds and carried all wisdom and Legacy.

He, or rather the Temple of Civilization he represented, seemed to feel that relying solely on these eight scattered yet fused rays of brilliance was not enough to completely end this profanity brought by death, not enough to manifest the absolute superiority of the great power of civilization over ignorance and barbarism.

He needed a power that was more fundamental, more magnificent, and more capable of representing "civilization" itself.

Thus, at the moment when the Domain of the eight interwoven rays of civilization reached its most brilliant Peak, Lin Zhou slowly held his hands out, as if supporting some invisible, intangible, yet heavy-as-a-galaxy great existence.

From his mouth, he uttered two words that seemed to originate from the primordial era, containing endless vicissitudes and weight:

"river of civilization."

Once the two words were spoken, heaven and earth fell silent!

It was not that the sound was swallowed, but that it seemed all rules, all sounds, all colors lost their meaning and became insignificant in the face of these two words!

" Buzz—!"

A vast fluctuation, whose magnitude could not be described in words even by one ten-thousandth, erupted violently with Lin Zhou as the core!

This fluctuation was not an energy impact, but... the weight of history!

It was the accumulation of wisdom!

It was the resonance of the will of countless living beings passing the torch!

It was the manifestation of all the imprints left by civilization as it moved from ignorance to glory!

The interwoven eight rays of civilization, as if having received a supreme summons, were no longer limited to the form of a Domain, but were crazily gathering, compressing, and sublimating toward the Void Realm above Lin Zhou's head!

The grandeur of Confucian righteousness, the cold solemnity of Legalist Edicts, the ingenuity of Mohist Mechanisms, the purity and inaction of Daoist nature, the iron-blooded slaughter of School of Military battle formations, the nourishing prosperity of School of Agriculture vitality, the compassionate rejuvenation of School of Medicine benevolence, the conceptual reconstruction of Mohist Schools Art of Argumentation... Everything broke through barriers and fused into one furnace under the guidance of that invisible power!

It was not just these eight schools!

Deep within Lin Zhou's Sea of Consciousness, the Temple of Civilization shone with unprecedented brilliance.

Within the sanctuary, those still-vague, not-fully-illuminated clusters of thought—the maneuvers of the School of Diplomacy, the Five Elements of the School of Yin and Yang, the diverse learning of the School of Miscellaneous... even some sparks of thought that only had a trace of conceptual germination—were all triggered at this moment, contributing their meager yet indispensable share of power!

Ten thousand streams return to the sect, a hundred rivers enter the sea!

In the Void Realm above Lin Zhou's head, the phantom of a "river" that could not be measured by length or width began to slowly emerge!

It was not made of water, but of countless flashing runes carrying knowledge and wisdom; of fragments of countless joys and sorrows, epic heroes; of scenes of countless cities rising and collapsing, dynasties changing and inheriting; of silhouettes of countless sages pondering, artisans creating, farmers tilling, soldiers fighting... all converging into one... brilliant, endlessly flowing 【river of civilization】!

As soon as this phantom of the river appeared, it emitted an eternal aura that transcended all things and penetrated the past, present, and future!

It seemed to be the source of all Order, the destination of all wisdom, and the proof of the existence of all civilization!

Miracle/Ultimate Manifestation: river of civilization (Phantom)

Nature: Manifestation of the concept of civilization, a collection of rules, the ultimate embodiment transcending a single school of thought.

Status: Phantom (Limited by Lin Zhou's strength and the completeness of the Sanctuary, it is only a projection of less than one in a billion).

Effect (Observation):

Existential Suppression: Its very existence causes immense pressure on the Soul and rule level to all "non-civilization", "anti-Order", and "extreme Chaos/destruction" faction units.

Rule Assimilation: Wherever the river flows, regional rules will be briefly covered and assimilated by the "civilization" rules.

Source Scouring: Can scour the target at the level of "existential meaning", disintegrating its power Foundation.

Protection and Buff: Produces powerful protection and amplification effects for units that identify with "civilization" and carry "Order".

Maintenance Consumption: Immeasurable, supported by the Origin of the Temple of Civilization, with Lin Zhou bearing a huge load as the carrier.

This river phantom was so real, yet so illusory.

It spanned the Void Realm, as if it had existed since ancient times, yet as if it only appeared for this one moment.

Its appearance caused the torrential rain to stagnate, the roaring thunder to quiet, the gushing of the negative energy rift to solidify, and the remaining undead army to stand as if under a freezing spell, with even their Soul fire stopping its flicker!

The entire virtual battlefield—no, it seemed as if every corner of the Universe that observed this scene—lost its voice at this moment!

All gazes, all perceptions, were involuntarily attracted and shocked by the river of civilization phantom that had appeared across the Void Realm!

Su Yueyao looked up at the river, tears sliding silently down her cheeks.

It was not sadness, but a moving resonance from the depths of her Soul.

She seemed to see the campfire when the Human Race started walking, saw the brilliance when characters were born, saw the backs of countless sages groping forward in the darkness... This was what Lin Zhou protected, what he represented... Civilization!

And the Lich Monarch, about to escape into the rift, had its body—under the pressure of the river phantom—emit "sizzling" sounds of dissolution originating from the essence of its existence, like an ice block thrown into magma!

Its purple Soul fire was filled with unprecedented, ultimate fear!

That was the fear of its own existence being completely negated, being erased from the root!

"No... Impossible... This is... the power of the Origin..." It emitted desperate, intermittent spiritual fluctuations.

Although the Golden Behemoth was strong, its ancient Bloodline was domineering and unparalleled, worthy of being the ultimate in power.

But in front of this river of civilization that gathered the wisdom of the ages and carried infinite Legacy, that pure power appeared so pale, so... tiny and barbaric!

river of civilization, phantom across the Void Realm.

The outcome, at this moment, was already destined.