150: A powerful enemy is attacking; the undead Scourge seeks to wipe out the enemy.

The Myriad Worlds Battlefield, border of the Order Alliance.

The thirty-mile territory, originally shrouded in the light of Civilization · Enlightenment, was now being torn open by a tangible, viscous aura of death sweeping in from the northwest, creating a visible, ash-gray rift.

That was the color of death.

No, it was more than just a color—it was the extinction of sound, the loss of temperature, the fading of the very concept of life. When the simulated sunlight of the sky touched that region, it was as if wiped away by an invisible hand, leaving only a leaden, eternal twilight. The earth trembled—not from an earthquake, but from a resonance on a deeper, more malicious level of rules. The grass withered instantly, turning to ash; the streams stagnated, with putrid bubbles rising to the surface; even the air became heavy, each breath carrying the granular sensation of rust and dust.

Then, they came.

At first, it was a gray line on the horizon, like the crest of a tide.

But soon, that "crest" revealed its true form—a torrent of boundless, layered, and diverse undead creatures! Skeleton soldiers marched with stiff yet uniform steps, eerie green Soul-fire flickering in their eye sockets, their decayed bone blades and shields reflecting a cold, hard luster in the dim light; zombies dragged their broken bodies, emitting unconscious groans, so numerous that the earth seemed covered by a writhing, foul-smelling carpet of flesh; ghosts drifted in the air, their translucent forms emitting sharp wails that pierced directly into the Divine Soul, causing those with weak wills to fall into illusions and despair; Gargoyle swarms swept through the low altitude like dark clouds, their stone bodies, driven by undead energy, covered in cracks yet radiating dangerous fluctuations.

And in the center of the sea of the undead, a towering, twisted, terrifying structure constructed entirely of white bones, rotten flesh, weeping Souls, and dark metal was slowly "growing" out of the Void Realm.

It was a gate.

A massive gateway three hundred meters high, wide enough for Dragons to fly through side-by-side!

The door frame consisted of countless intertwined giant spinal bones, its top embedded with dozens of massive skulls belonging to various powerful creatures, dark purple flames burning in their hollow eye sockets. The door itself was two metal plates forged from countless faces of agony; those faces seemed to still be silently screaming and struggling, and every energy pulse of the "gate" made those faces more distorted. On the lintel, three twisted runes condensed from pure Divine Power of death hovered and rotated. Even from tens of miles away, one could clearly perceive the cold, finality, and the will to "devour all life" contained within.

An Epic-level building—the 【gate of death】!

At this moment, the gate was pulsing like a dark heart. With every pulse, the gray-black mist of death pouring from within expanded outward, and wherever the mist passed, the ground rapidly turned to sand and cracked, sprouting pale bone spikes, while the free-roaming energy in the air was forcibly converted into negative energy. Even more terrifying was that with every pulse, hundreds to thousands of newly born undead units crawled out from the summoning array in front of the gate, joining the rolling undead army ahead!

Five million?

No, this number was growing at a horrific rate of thousands, even tens of thousands, per minute!

Li Mo transmitted the first detailed data scan report via the remote observation array (temporary projection version) urgently set up by the Tian Gong Institute (due to battlefield rule restrictions and the interference of the aura of death, some data were estimates/inferences):

【Enemy Unit Scan · Overview】

Core Deity Identification: Examinee ID hidden (battlefield rules), Divine Power characteristic encoding matches database—ID "Nether Bone". Divinity Rank scan: LV130 (Peak Faint Divinity, approaching the threshold of Lesser Divinity). Divine Power nature: High-purity death/undead rules, mixed with weak chaotic characteristics.

divine office authority detection: Confirmed mastery of at least 【Death (Faint)】 and 【Undead (Faint)】 divine offices; suspected to have touched upon the 【Wither】 Domain. Within the range of its Divine Domain/gate of death, all attributes of undead units are increased by 15% - 30%, while non-undead units suffer a 5% - 15% suppression to all attributes and continuously receive the "Life Drain" effect (loss of a small amount of HP per second, healing effects halved).

Core Building Identification: Epic-level building card 【gate of death】 (physically projected).

Basic Functions:

Perpetual Undead Summoning: Automatically summons (300-500) units of basic undead (Skeleton Warrior LV10, Zombie LV12, Ghost LV15) per minute; summoning costs are jointly covered by the building itself absorbing free-roaming battlefield energy and the "Nether Bone" Divine Power supply. Summoned units have basic attributes at 120% of the standard template.

Death Field Deployment: Deploys a 【Death Field】 with a radius of fifty kilometers centered on the gate of death. Within the field: movement speed of undead units +20%, movement speed of non-undead units -10%; all healing skills/miracles effects reduced by 30%; the environment continuously transforms into a "Undead Paradise," making it difficult for conventional life to survive.

High-tier Undead Breeding Pool (requires active activation): Can consume a large amount of Divine Power or sacrifice life energy to directly summon/strengthen elite undead units above LV30 (Death Knight, Lich Apprentice, Bone Behemoth, etc.), with a long cooldown.

Rule characteristics: Comes with an "Undead Scourge" aura, significantly reducing the maintenance cost of undead units within the range and granting them "Slow Self-Healing" (non-sacred damage) ability.

Undead Army Scale (current estimate):

Basic undead (Skeleton/Zombie/Ghost): approximately 4.2 million (still increasing).

Elite undead units (LV25 - LV40): Preliminary observation of over 50,000 units, with a complex composition, including Skeleton Mage regiments (approx. 8,000), Death Knight battalions (approx. 3,000, suspected to be converted from knights in their former lives), Gargoyle swarms (approx. 12,000), Stitched Abominations (approx. 500, massive in size), and Undead Crypt Spiders (approx. 2,000).

Hero Units/Commander Tier: Confirmed at least seven undead heroes (energy reaction LV45 - LV60), each commanding different undead troops. The most prominent among them are:

Hero Unit 【Bone Marshal · Karthas (Fake)】: LV58, located directly in front of the gate of death, riding a giant skeletal warhorse, clad in dark heavy armor, wielding a rune greatsword wreathed in black lightning. Energy reaction intensity is extremely high, suspected of possessing 【Command Undead】, 【Sword Qi of Death】, and other high-level skills; he is the direct command node of the undead army.

Hero Unit 【Lich Lord · Mordekaiser (Fake)】: LV55, hovering in the air to the right of the gate of death, holding a bone staff, surrounded by six floating, constantly wailing skulls. Energy reaction indicates he is proficient in death/ice/curse-type Spells, likely the Spell core and auxiliary commander of the undead army.

Special Unit Identification: Deep within the sea of the undead, several abnormally large energy sources (life reactions?) were detected, suspected to be "Undead War Behemoths" or special siege units that have not fully awakened; levels cannot be accurately determined, estimated to be between LV50 - LV70, with extremely high threat levels.

Army Characteristic Identification (based on energy scan and behavioral pattern analysis):

Absolute Obedience: The undead army's formation is strict and actions are highly unified, with almost no chaotic characteristics typical of ordinary undead creatures, showing an extremely high level of command and control (blessed by both the gate of death and the undead heroes).

Pollution and Conversion: The army's path leaves behind a "Scar of Death," continuously polluting the environment. Fallen non-undead units (including projections) have a very high probability of being infected by the power of death and converted into low-tier undead (resurrecting to join the enemy after 1-5 minutes of battlefield time), unless completely destroyed by sacred, purification, or extremely high-intensity damage.

Attrition and Crushing Tactics: The current advancement speed is stable (about 15 km/h) without high-speed charges, clearly intended to maintain a massive formation to frontally crush all resistance along the way with absolute advantages in quantity and quality, while simultaneously using the Death Field and pollution characteristics to continuously weaken opponents and replenish itself. This is the most classic and difficult-to-counter Undead Scourge tactic—the "Tide of Bones."

At the end of the report, Li Mo attached a brief summary and a red warning via rapid mental fluctuations:

"Boss, the data doesn't lie. This is the strongest single enemy we have encountered since the war began, bar none."

"Five million is just the starting point, not the end. As long as the gate of death doesn't stop, his forces are almost endless."

"His Divinity Rank is thirty levels higher than yours, his Divine Power nature extremely counters the life faction, and he has the home-field advantage of an Epic-level building."

"What's more troublesome is—he is 'clearing the field.' Scans show that over forty examinee Divine Kingdom projections in the northwest have been completely extinguished (destroyed or withdrawn), and the thirty-plus that fled here are all remnants who slipped through his fingers or were lucky enough to escape."

"The goal is clear: destroy all resistance along the way, devour all life and energy, and ultimately... it likely points to the core area of the battlefield or a specific target. We, the Order Alliance, happen to be blocking the side-front of his path of advancement, and because we have gathered a large amount of 'life' and 'Order,' in his perception, we are likely more conspicuous than a lighthouse in the dark."

"There's no avoiding it. Either he takes a detour (less than 1% chance), or we... collide head-on."

The report ended.

Order Alliance, core area.

That intangible "Order Barrier," constructed jointly by the Net of Law, the light of Civilization · Enlightenment, and the initially coalesced beliefs of the Alliance, was currently enduring the first remote rule erosion from the Death Field tens of miles away.

There was no loud noise, only a teeth-grinding "hiss," like glass slowly cracking under low temperature, resounding on the Soul level of every deity.

At the edge of the attachment area, several newly built and not yet fully stable 【Simple Warning Towers】 (built by the kin of a certain human knight Divine Kingdom) saw their glowing runes flicker violently, then rapidly dim and extinguish. On the surface of the tower stones, a layer of ash-white, mold-like death attachment crawled up at a speed visible to the naked eye, then the structure became brittle, silently collapsing and turning into powder.

"What... what is that?" A female examinee (ID: Cui Yu) who possessed Jungle Fairy kin pointed at the northwest sky with a pale face. Her fairies were anxiously huddled on the branches, emitting faint whimpers; born with an affinity for nature, they were the most sensitive to the aura of death and decay.

"The... the gate of death... it's an Epic-level building! I've seen similar descriptions in my Family's ancient records!" A mage-type deity (ID: Bo Wen) from a minor noble Family, who was relatively knowledgeable, said with a trembling voice, "How could something like this appear on the college entrance exam battlefield? This is not something we at this stage should be facing! Where are the proctors? Do the rules allow this?"

"Allow it? My ass! That guy definitely has a problem! LV130? Peak Faint Divinity? Is this really a freshman? Even the seniors in their third or fourth year don't have that kind of strength and foundation, do they? And he's carrying an Epic card!" Zhao Hao's roar came through the public mental channel, filled with anger and a trace of undisguised trepidation. His Red Dragon kin paced anxiously in the temporary Dragon nest, their Dragon Might colliding with the death force field in the distance, stirring up ripples of distorted air.

"Five million... and it's still increasing..." A Minotaur deity (ID: Manshi) stared blankly at the blurry image transmitted by the observation Spell. The totem pole in his hand, symbolizing strength and courage, actually developed a faint crack. Although his Minotaur warriors stood silently, the muscles on their arms gripping their battle-axes were trembling unconsciously—that was an instinctive fear of destructive power.

Panic, like a plague, spread rapidly within just a few minutes, from the peripheral zones to the core area, and from the ordinary dependent Divine Kingdoms to the key members.

"We can't stop it... How much military strength do we even have combined? Even with over two hundred Divine Kingdoms, the total number of kin is probably only around one hundred thousand? And that's a ragtag army that is scattered, uncoordinated, and of uneven quality!"

"That's an Undead Scourge! Five million at the very least! Even if we fought fifty to one... no, twenty to one, we still couldn't win! The difference in magnitude is just too great!"

"And he can convert corpses! Every one of us who dies, he might gain one! How are we supposed to fight this?"

"Let's run! While there's still time, scatter and run! No matter how strong he is, he can't chase everyone at the same time!"

"Run where? The battlefield is simulated, the area is limited! And are the other directions safe? Don't forget there are other clearing forces!"

"Dominator Lin Zhou... where is Dominator Lin Zhou? He must have a way, right? His Hundred Schools of Thought are so miraculous..."

Chaotic discussions, desperate cries, angry questions, humble expectations... various voices intertwined and collided within the public channel, private links, and even the range of the Divine Kingdom projection in reality. The Order and hope that had just been established appeared so fragile in the face of this tide of death that seemed capable of submerging everything, like a candle flame in a gale.

In the core area, beneath the phantom of Jixia Academy.

Lin Zhou floated quietly in mid-air, his black hair fluttering slightly in the cold airflow brought by the death force field, but his eyes were as calm as a deep pool.

His divine office—that pale golden crystal fused with the patterns of the Hundred Schools—was operating at a speed surpassing the norm. Massive streams of data flooded in, were categorized, analyzed, and simulated:

Comparison of enemy and friendly forces, quality assessment, terrain advantages and disadvantages, rule suppression, possible tactical choices, psychological endurance thresholds of Alliance members, Divine Power reserves and consumption budgets, win rate simulations for different response strategies...

Cold numbers and tragic scenes deduced from the simulations flashed rapidly through his consciousness.

Enemy Advantages: Absolute military crushing (numbers over fifty times greater, and can be continuously replenished). Quality is not weak (large numbers of elite and hero units, buffed by Epic buildings). Rule advantage (death force field suppresses life, pollutes the environment, converts corpses). Unified command (undead traits + hero command, moving as one). divine office Rank and Divine Power nature suppression.

Our Advantages: Home field (preliminary construction of the Order territory, with certain defensive fortifications and rule bonuses). Ideological bond (cohesion and potential improvement brought by Civilization · Enlightenment, but facing tests). Core combat power (Lin Zhou's Hundred Schools Kin, Zhao Hao's Dragon, Wang Meng's Behemoth, Qin Qing's Judgment Angel, and other elite units of extremely high quality). Tactical flexibility (diverse tactical choices provided by the Hundred Schools of Thought, not the single mode of the undead).

Uncertain Factors: river of civilization (phantom), the potential suppression of death/chaos rules by the Fire of Civilization (unverified).

The simulation results are not optimistic. In a head-on confrontation, the win rate is less than 10%. And this 10% win rate is based on multiple harsh conditions being met simultaneously: "Lin Zhou using all his trump cards, the river of civilization exerting extraordinary effects, Alliance members fighting to the death without retreating, and the enemy making major mistakes."

Scattering and retreating would cause the Alliance to disintegrate instantly, with less than one in ten survivors, and the advantages and prestige Lin Zhou accumulated in the early stages would vanish, making subsequent assessments extremely difficult. Moreover, "Nether Bone" would likely prioritize chasing the most threatening (i.e., Lin Zhou) or the most conspicuous targets.

"Dominator..." The earliest dependent "Slime Elder" deity (ID: Mucus Scholar) sent a thought through a private link, the voice full of worry but still maintaining basic composure, "Our 'Scholar Slimes' have detected that the death force field contains powerful 'despair' and 'fear' mental pollution, which is continuously affecting the minds of the Alliance members. Do we need to activate the 'Clear Heart and Bright Will' array of the 'Jixia Academy'? Although it's just a phantom, combined with the Light of Enlightenment, it should be able to play a certain purifying role."

Lin Zhou's gaze shifted slightly as he looked toward Jixia Academy. This phantom of the miracle building that embodied the Confucian Dao of education still emitted a warm, non-glaring white light under the gloomy sky, like a beacon in a turbid world.

"Activate it." He ordered concisely, "Cover the core area and the key member areas, prioritizing the stabilization of military morale. At the same time, issue the first wartime decree to all Alliance members through the Net of Law."

[Net of Law · Wartime Decree No. 1]: "All members of the Order Alliance, whether deities, kin, or projection units, from this moment on: 1. It is strictly forbidden to spread despairing remarks, strictly forbidden to leave positions without permission, and strictly forbidden to attack friendly forces. 2. All intelligence and reconnaissance information must be reported immediately and truthfully to the command node (Tian Gong Institute temporary intelligence center) via the designated channel. 3. Resource allocation authority is temporarily centralized to the core command headquarters and will be distributed uniformly according to wartime contributions and defense needs. 4. Those who violate the Order will be treated as traitors to the Alliance; the Net of Law will immediately mark and suppress them, and deprive them of all Alliance rights. — Order Dominator · Lin Zhou"

The decree was instantly transmitted across the entire Order territory through the invisible rule network, carrying the unique, unquestionable, rigid power of Legalism. Those panicked deities felt their Divine Souls tremble slightly, as if constrained by invisible shackles, and as if injected with a trace of cold composure. The panic did not disappear, but its uncontrolled spread was temporarily contained.

"Lin Zhou." A voice as cold and clear as the moon sounded. Su Yueyao's Divine Kingdom projection had approached the edge of the core area at some point. Her Moonlight Divine Power flowed naturally, like mercury spilling onto the ground, and wherever it passed, the chill and oppression brought by the aura of death were slightly dispelled, and the vegetation regained some vitality. She looked at Lin Zhou with concern in her eyes, but more of a calm analysis, "His power of death is very pure, but that trace of 'chaos' mixed within it makes me uneasy. This doesn't look like a normal undead deity. Moreover, his targeting is too strong... it doesn't look like random clearing."

Lin Zhou nodded. He had naturally noticed that uncoordinated "chaos" trait. This reminded him of the "Void Sect" mentioned by the principal at the opening ceremony. Could this "Nether Bone" be related to that shadow? Or was it simply due to the characteristics of his power?

"His gate of death is a powerful creation at the rule level." Su Yueyao continued, a point of moonlight condensing at her fingertip, turning into a light mirror that reflected the towering and terrifying gate in the distance, "It is difficult to destroy it solely by relying on numbers or ordinary Divine Power confrontation. We must find its core rule node, or... suppress and purify it with 'Order' or 'Life' rules of a higher level."

Rules of a higher level... Lin Zhou's gaze fell toward the core of the Divine Kingdom, to the [Temple of Civilization] that floated quietly and could only be clearly perceived by himself, and around the sanctuary, the phantom of the [river of civilization] that was gathered from countless points of thought, although still illusory, it had already begun to take shape.

The Hundred Schools of Thought are essentially the crystallization of wisdom about humans, society, and the Order of the Universe's operation. Its core is "Life," "Order," "Change," and "Harmony." This stands in Innate opposition at the rule level to the Undead Scourge, which represents "Death," "End," "Silence," and "Chaos." The Fire of Civilization is the condensation of civilization's wisdom and the will of life. Perhaps... this is not just a crisis, but also a test, an opportunity to let Way of Civilization be tempered and manifested in extreme opposition.

But the prerequisite is that he must integrate this newly formed and unsettled Alliance before him, and make them believe that there is hope, that they can fight!

Just then— Rumble! The earth trembled violently! Ten times stronger than before! In the direction of the gate of death, dark purple Divine Power of death soared into the sky, forming a huge Divine Power vortex covering nearly a hundred kilometers in radius! At the center of the vortex, the painful faces on that gate simultaneously emitted a silent shriek, and the dense fog of death pouring out from within the gate instantly thickened several times, and began to spread crazily in all directions!

The advance speed of the Undead army suddenly accelerated! Moreover, the formation began to change, those elite units began to move to the vanguard positions, and the aura of the hero units was unreservedly flaunted!

At the same time, a cold, arrogant, and infinitely deathly mental broadcast forcibly penetrated part of the battlefield rule shielding, sweeping across the entire area where the Order Alliance was located like a cold wind:

"Ants..." "Gathered together... very good..." "Saves me the trouble of searching one by one..." "This place... the breath of life and Order... makes me sick..." "Offer up your kin, offer up your faith, offer up your Souls... merge into the great death..." "Or... be completely crushed, turned into the lowest dust of my undead kingdom..." "Choose... before I trample your ridiculous 'Order territory'..."

It's "Nether Bone"! He took the initiative to issue a proclamation, carrying the cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse and the confidence of absolute strength crushing.

The pressure surged! Countless gazes were cast toward the core area, toward that black-haired figure still floating calmly. To fight, or to flee? To perish together, or to kneel and surrender? Can the light of hope illuminate this boundless shadow of death?

Lin Zhou slowly raised his head, no longer a trace of hesitation in his eyes, only rock-like firmness remained, along with a trace of... sharp edge that was drawn but not released.

He took a step forward, his voice not loud, but clearly resonating in the consciousness of every Alliance member through the Net of Law and the amplification array of Jixia Academy: "Order: All deities belonging to the Alliance, core kin hero units and above, assemble immediately at the plaza in front of 'Jixia Academy'." "We are going to have a meeting." "To discuss—" "How to poke a hole through this 'sky'."

A meeting, a pre-war meeting. The moment of determining fate has arrived.