137: The flames begin to ignite, and billions of faiths converge into a mighty torrent.

Divine Realm time, the twenty-second day.

When the sun, simulated by the rules of the Divine Realm, rose to the center of the sky, Lin Zhou slowly opened his eyes. Deep in his pupils, there was no trace of ripples, only a stillness like an ancient well, and beneath that stillness, a lava-like determination about to erupt.

The preparation and waiting of the past twenty-one Divine Realm days had polished his state to a truly impeccable Peak.

The Divine Realm rule network was smooth and flawless, operating harmoniously like the most precise astral tracks; the sea of faith, under continuous Moonlight immersion and deep purification, had a stability of 87.9%, with distracting thoughts suppressed to a historical low; ten points of divinity stars shone brightly in the depths of his Soul, reaching perfect resonance with the Temple of Civilization; and the silver moon mark left by Su Yueyao floated quietly in the depths of the Sanctuary, emitting a cool and peaceful shimmer, like a silent watcher.

He even applied for and used a [Quiet Cultivation Star Realm] specifically for True God Breakthroughs half a day in advance through the permissions of the Xinghai University "Prodigy" contract. This was a small semi-plane wrapped in a powerful barrier, with extremely stable internal rules, pure energy, and absolute privacy, which could effectively isolate external interference and provide about a 5% Breakthrough environment bonus.

At this moment, his main consciousness had already descended into this Quiet Cultivation Star Realm, while his Divine Realm body was temporarily anchored to the Star Realm at the rule level, enjoying its stable environment while maintaining independence.

Inside the Star Realm, there was nothing, only a solid ground beneath his feet that shimmered with a faint silver light like a mirror, and a deep, simulated brilliant starry sky above his head. Here, there was no alternation of day and night, no erosion by wind and rain, only absolute silence and stability—the best "ignition ground."

"The time is approaching." Lin Zhou looked up at a specific position in the simulated starry sky. According to the final deduction of the "Qiming" group of Jixia Academy, there were still three quarters of an hour (Divine Realm time) before the energy of the "Seven Stars Alignment" celestial phenomenon began to resonate with the Divine Realm.

He didn't check any more data or deduce any more possibilities. What needed to be done had already been done. What was needed now was only action.

He sat cross-legged, his figure appearing small in the empty Star Realm, but the Aura that began to permeate around him, heavy as an abyss and held back, seemed to become the center of the entire world.

His consciousness completely sank, becoming one with the Divine Realm, the Temple of Civilization, the ten points of divinity, the vast sea of faith, and the prayerful thoughts of the Hundred Schools Kin...

"Begin."

There was no earth-shattering announcement, only a whisper from the Soul Origin that was calm to the extreme.

But this very whisper, like the first pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly triggered a chain of cataclysmic changes that swept through heaven and earth!

The first change arose from without—celestial correspondence!

Deep in the simulated starry sky of the Quiet Cultivation Star Realm, seven originally scattered phantom stars representing different virtues began to move and draw closer along a mysterious trajectory. The starlight they emitted was no longer cold and lonely, but carried the mental fluctuations of "Order, Wisdom, Courage, Benevolence, Justice, Temperance, and Hope." These fluctuations, like invisible tides, crossed the boundary between virtual and real, beginning to converge and surge toward the coordinates where Lin Zhou's Divine Realm was located!

The stable barrier at the edge of the Star Realm rippled slightly, gently guiding and injecting this massive and pure tide of intent. In an instant, the "sky" of the entire Quiet Cultivation Star Realm was painted with a magnificent and sacred rainbow-colored halo, the halo flowing and faintly showing signs of resonance with the light of civilization at the core of Lin Zhou's Divine Realm.

The second change manifested from within—Divine Realm response!

Inside the Divine Realm, the world changed color!

The originally clear sky was instantly filled with infinite light of faith! It was no longer the gently flowing stream of faith from ordinary days, but a hot and devout torrent of intent erupting from every corner of the Divine Realm and the depths of every Kin's Soul!

The sky turned into a rolling ocean of faith interwoven with gold and silver! In the ocean, the 87.9% pure faith was like golden waves, surging and crashing; the remaining distracting thoughts were like shadows struggling in the deep sea, but under the coverage of the Silver-Gold Civilization Mark and the suppression of the celestial intent, it was difficult for them to stir up trouble.

Meanwhile, on the land of the Divine Realm, all buildings related to the Hundred Schools of Thought simultaneously burst forth with unprecedentedly brilliant light!

Temple of Civilization: A thunderous tremor! Billions of runes on the temple body lit up at once, and the phantom of the river of civilization was projected clearly onto the Divine Realm's firmament for the first time. The river surged, and within it, countless phantoms of ancient sages seemed to flash. The sounds of chanting, debating, forging, and military drills... the voices of the hundred schools converged into a grand symphony of civilization!

Jixia Academy: A pillar of milky-white Vast Righteous Qi soared into the sky, merging into the sea of faith. Wherever it passed, the golden faith became more condensed, and distracting thoughts melted away like snow. All the classics in the academy moved without wind, and as the pages flipped, the words of wisdom rose as points of light.

Temple of Law: The blue-gold Net of Law manifested as a physical entity with unprecedented density, crisscrossing and covering the four poles, reinforcing the concept of "Order" throughout the Divine Realm to the extreme, building the toughest rule skeleton for the impending impact.

Tian Gong Institute and Mechanism City: Black Mohist Mechanisms runes and blazing red forge firelight intertwined. Countless exquisite mechanism phantoms circled and combined above the buildings, forming complex and stable energy transmission and buffering structures, like putting a layer of precision "shock-absorbing armor" on the Divine Realm.

Hall of Heroes: A solemn horn sounded from the hall, and all forty-seven Hero Soul bodies appeared, lining up in front of the hall. They burned with faint Soul fire, unreservedly injecting their purest beliefs of "protection" and "sacrifice" into the Divine Realm rules, turning into invisible mental barriers.

Even the School of Agriculture's ten thousand acres of fertile fields, the School of Medicine's Hundred Herb Garden, the School of Military's General's Platform... all buildings were resonating, contributing their own unique "principles" and "power" to this grand movement of the hundred schools!

The third change returned to the core—the faith torrent, impact!

Lin Zhou's Soul core now became the sole focus of the world's upheaval and the eye of the storm.

"In my name, converge!"

He Thoughts, the vast and boundless sea of faith above the Divine Realm suddenly contracted and rotated! Countless golden and silver streams of faith from all directions, like ten thousand rivers returning to the sea, converged crazily toward a certain "point" above the Temple of Civilization at the very center of the Divine Realm!

That "point" was the manifestation of Lin Zhou's will and the "hearth" where the ten points of divinity were about to be ignited!

【Faith Torrent Convergence Real-time Data】:

Initial flow rate: Approximately 5 million faith units per second!

Convergence purity: 87.9% (The core area, supported by the Silver-Gold Civilization Mark and celestial phenomena, can reach an instantaneous purity of 91.2%)

Torrent scale: Exponential growth! Expected to reach Peak impact within 30 seconds.

Divine Realm load: The rule network's pressure index is rising rapidly! Current: 45%... 67%... 89%! The Net of Law and Mohist Mechanisms buffering structures are flickering violently but remain stable.

"Not enough! Activate the reserves. Su Yueyao, help me!" Lin Zhou shouted in his heart.

The 5,000 units of Advanced faith crystals (pure faith) stored in the depths of the Temple of Civilization exploded, turning into a platinum torrent of extreme purity and no Impurities, arriving later but merging into the already suffocatingly massive faith vortex!

At the same time, in Su Yueyao's Divine Realm far away, a bright moon suddenly burst with light. She sat cross-legged at the core of the Moon Palace, her expression solemn, channeling Moonlight Divine Power ten times more powerful than during previous rehearsals, pouring it in from across the void!

The cool and clear Moonlight torrent followed the previously established channel, ignoring spatial barriers, and was precisely injected into Lin Zhou's Divine Realm core, running parallel to the platinum faith torrent, like injecting a cooling stabilizer into a boiling furnace.

The Silver-Gold Civilization Mark instantly shone with ten thousand beams of light! Under the injection of dual high-quality energy, it was no longer a faint pattern but turned into a substantial civilization light cocoon of silver-white and pale gold crazily intertwining and rotating, gently and firmly wrapping Lin Zhou's Soul core and the ten points of divinity within!

At this moment, both the "quantity" and "quality" of faith had reached their Peak!

"Now is the time—Ignite!!!"

Lin Zhou's Soul let out a roar that shook heaven and earth! It was not a sound, but an explosion of the most primal will!

This unprecedented ultimate faith torrent, which had gathered over 110 million units of faith (including crystals), received Moonlight static stabilization, was reinforced by the principles of the hundred schools, and was supported by the mental intent of the seven stars' virtues, turned into a chaotic pillar of light with a diameter of over a thousand meters that could not be accurately described by any color, containing the weight of civilization and the brilliance of the stars. With the power to destroy heaven and earth, it struck—heavily and without any fancy tricks—

Struck the ten points of divinity stars floating quietly!!!

"BOOM—!!!!!!!"

An indescribable loud bang erupted, not in the ears, but at the Soul level and the rule level!

The ground of the Quiet Cultivation Star Realm vibrated crazily, and the barrier flickered! Inside the Divine Realm, it was like a cataclysmic tremor of creation! Had it not been for the Net of Law and the mechanism buffering reinforced in advance, this single impact would have been enough to shatter the edges of the Divine Realm!

【Divine Fire Ignition · Core Impact Real-time Data】】

Peak impact energy: Approximately equivalent to 11,500 Divine Power released instantly! (Far exceeding the theoretical minimum requirement of 10,000 Divine Power)

Divinity Fusion activation: 1%... 5%... 15%... (The ten points of divinity vibrated crazily in the torrent, drawing closer to each other, and the rules began to interweave and fuse)

Faith consumption rate: Over 3 million units per second! The torrent is transforming at a terrifying speed into the "initial fire" and "heat" to ignite the divine fire.

Dominator's will load: Soaring rapidly! Lin Zhou felt as if his Soul had been thrown into the core of a star, enduring the wash of billions of thoughts and the tearing sensation of rule reconstruction every instant. Had it not been for the protection of the "Silver-Gold civilization light cocoon," the continuous soothing of the Moonlight static power, and his own long-tempered civilization will, this single blow would have been enough to scatter his consciousness!

Divine Realm support System status:

Net of Law: Under 97% pressure, cracks appear in some edge nodes, but the core trunk is undamaged.

Mohist buffering structure: 62% overloaded, a large number of mechanism phantoms shattered and regrouped.

Hundred Schools buildings: Light continues to be output, but fine cracks begin to appear, and the faith supply is temporarily interrupted.

Hall of Heroes: The forty-seven Hero Soul bodies are visibly dimmed but still holding their posts.

The impact did not end with one strike. That chaotic pillar of light continuously bombarded the divinity stars like the most violent forge hammer, striking the primitive rule Materials to temper, fuse, and ignite them!

The divinity stars rotated, collided, and blended violently in the pillar of light. The stars representing "Order" and "Wisdom" were the first to light up with blinding brilliance, as if the core of the tinder was ignited; the star representing "Tenacity/Protection" turned into the most stable base. Other divinity traits were also crazily interweaving.

Gradually, at the center of the Fusion of the ten points of divinity, a tiny but incomparably brilliant phantom of a flame—containing pale gold, silver-white, and a hint of seven-colored starlight—began to stubbornly and with difficulty emerge!

That was no ordinary fire; it was the fire of rules, the fire of will, the Fire of Civilization!

The divine fire prototype had appeared!

However, at this most critical moment, a sudden change occurred!

Although most distracting thoughts were purified and suppressed in advance during the continuous high-intensity faith washing, those deepest and most stubborn "Heart Demon Impurities" related to the Kin's fear of life and death and their desires and obsessions were forcibly squeezed and gathered together under the high temperature and pressure at the core of the torrent!

They turned into a pitch-black countercurrent of Chaos, madness, and seductive whispers, following the faith torrent and suddenly lunging back at Lin Zhou's Soul core! They wanted to pollute the nascent divine fire, shake Lin Zhou's will, and drag him into endless sinking!

"my god!!!"

In the Divine Realm, countless Kin seemed to sense the Dominator's crisis and let out terrified and devout cries. Heroes like Elwin, Bronzebeard, and Snik were filled with rage and grief but were unable to intervene in this war at the Soul level.

Lin Zhou's will was instantly surrounded by countless hideous heart demon illusions: there were the despairing cries of the Forest Elves when their race was being exterminated, the fear of dwarves encountering a cave-in in deep mines, the resentful whispers of murlocs against strict Laws, and even his own confusion from his past and present lives, uncertainty about the future, and the greed demon twisted from his desire for power... "Chaos... disorder... surrender... why carry such a heavy burden..." The roar of the Heart Demons rang directly in the depths of his Soul.

At this critical moment of internal and external difficulties, with the divine fire flickering and the Heart Demons rampaging—

Lin Zhou's will core, compressed to the extreme, under the protection of the civilization light cocoon, in the coolness of the Moonlight Power, and after experiencing the washing of hundreds of millions of faiths, did not collapse but instead burst forth with an even purer and more majestic light!

That was the true light of the Fire of Civilization!

"My Dao carries the weight of civilization and opens the peace for ten thousand generations!"

"Mere Heart Demons, how can they move my Dao Heart?!"

"Light of the hundred schools, hear my command—burn away the falsehood and reveal the true self!!!"

Amidst the roar, the nascent, flickering divine fire prototype suddenly flared up!

The projection of the Temple of Civilization descended thunderously into the impact core, and the phantoms of the hundred schools' ancient sages opened their eyes simultaneously, their gazes like torches, piercing through all falsehood!

The Silver-Gold civilization light cocoon instantly contracted, wrapping all the Heart Demon Impurities, and then—burned!

Using the nascent divine fire as a lead, the principles of the hundred schools as fuel, and the Moonlight static power as control, all the counter-attacking distracting thoughts and Heart Demons were treated as fuel to be burned and tempered together!

"Sizzle—!"

Like cold water poured into hot oil, amidst the violent Soul screams, those pitch-black Heart Demon Impurities quickly melted and purified under the Fire of Civilization, and were instead transformed into wisps of pure, unique energy with a sense of enlightenment, merging into the divine fire!

The crisis was turned into nourishment!

The divine fire prototype stabilized in an instant, its brilliance becoming restrained yet more solid and dazzling! At the center of the flame, the interwoven colors of pale gold, silver-white, and seven-colored starlight became increasingly harmonious and eye-catching.

The impact continued, but the most dangerous "heart demon backlash" hurdle had been boldly crossed by Lin Zhou with his absolute will and perfect preparation!

The faith torrent still surged, and the divinity Fusion degree steadily increased.

The process of ignition finally passed the most dangerous turning point, moving steadily toward the shore of success.