155: Masterful Debating Techniques, Conceptual Distortions, and the Destructive Box

The Divine Thought pressure of "Nether Bone," saturated with death, chaos, and rage, was like billions of cold steel needles stabbing ruthlessly into Lin Zhou's Divine Soul! Even with the Fire of Civilization burning fiercely in his Sea of Consciousness, constantly purifying and resisting, the absolute suppression belonging to a higher Divine Power Rank (LV130) still made him groan. A trickle of pale gold divine blood (a projection simulation) leaked from the corner of his mouth, and his face instantly turned as pale as paper.

What was even more terrifying was that this pressure did not act on Lin Zhou alone. That declaration of death, originating from the essence of a True God, spread like a plague through the mental link between Lin Zhou and the members of the Sharp Knife Squad that had not yet been completely severed!

"Pfft—" Zhao Hao bore the brunt of it. Although he wasn't the direct target, his Soul strength was relatively ordinary. At this moment, he felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow and violently spat out a mouthful of blood. His mental projection even showed a momentary blurring. Behind him, the Red Dragon hero Scarlet Scale let out a pained dragon roar, his Aura plummeting. Wang Meng groaned and retreated, while the wild Aura of the Behemoth Elder Golden Mane was forcibly suppressed. The Holy Light surrounding Qin Qing's Judgment Angel radiance flickered violently, like a candle in the wind. Su Yueyao's face also turned slightly pale, her Moonlight Divine Power automatically protecting her body, clashing with the eroding death Divine Thought with a faint sizzling sound.

The divine wills of the support members were even more precarious, and their hero units even experienced brief moments of paralysis.

The momentum and joy of the entire Sharp Knife Squad from just having killed the Lich Lord were almost completely crushed under this irresistible wrath of a True God! Like boiling water poured on snow, it dropped to the freezing point in an instant. A shadow of death loomed over everyone's hearts—it was the gaze and judgment of a higher-level existence upon ants.

However, at the center of this desperate pressure, Lin Zhou suddenly raised his head! There was no fear in his eyes, only a more intense flame that had been ignited—the unyielding burning of the Fire of Civilization in a desperate situation, and the resistance will originating from the Origin of wisdom, triggered when the Hundred Schools of Thought encountered absolute power!

"Nether Bone!" Lin Zhou's voice, through the resonance of his godhead and the Fire of Civilization, forcibly broke through the blockade of the death Divine Thought. Though it sounded strained, it echoed exceptionally clearly in the consciousness of the Sharp Knife Squad members, even faintly surging back toward the direction the pressure was coming from. "Your death cannot trap the Legacy of civilization! Your void cannot consume the brilliance of thought!"

This was not a pointless provocation, but a declaration! It was a manifesto using his own Dao to combat the other party's Dao!

With this declaration, Lin Zhou endured the severe pain in his Divine Soul and his near-depleted Divine Power, once again forcibly activating his godhead! This time, he did not mobilize the already exhausted Fire of Civilization Origin, but another force settled within the Temple of Civilization, condensed from the wisdom of countless sages and also belonging to the level of thought rules—the Mohist Schools Art of Argumentation!

The School of Names, with "Conjoining Differences" and "Separating Hardness and Whiteness" as its core, specialized in the relationship between names and reality and logical reasoning. One of the manifested abilities of its thought was to distort, confuse, or even briefly tamper with the "Name" and "Reality" of things or concepts within a certain range and to a certain extent!

Before this, Lin Zhou's application of School of Names thought was limited to assisting his followers in improving logic, perceiving flaws, or small-scale conceptual confusion (such as confusing "friend and foe" when fighting the Titans). But now, facing Nether Bone's "incorporeal" attack, which was exerted across a vast distance primarily through Divine Thought and the level of rules, and... the "remains" of the Lich Lord that, although heavily damaged, did not seem to have completely dissipated but instead began to undergo a bizarre change under the frantic infusion of death Divine Power, Lin Zhou had a sudden flash of inspiration. An extremely bold, even crazy tactic instantly took shape in his godhead!

As a high-level magic unit among the undead, the core of a Lich Lord was not its decaying shell, but the phylactery that stored its Soul Origin! Usually, a phylactery was hidden in an extremely secret and heavily protected place. But right now, this Lich Lord was an important node in Nether Bone's Divine Power network, and its form of existence was closer to a "secondary Divine Power projection." Its concept of a "phylactery" was very likely highly bound at the rule level to its concept of being a "node core," and might even... due to Nether Bone's rage and eagerness to erase the threat, have a brief, unstable tendency toward "manifestation"!

What Lin Zhou had to do was seize this fleeting opportunity and use the Mohist Schools Art of Argumentation to distort the concepts of "phylactery" and "node core," misleading Nether Bone or the Lich's residual consciousness into making a fatal mistake under the influence of rage and rule disturbance!

All these thoughts were deduced within Lin Zhou's godhead in a hundredth of a second. He no longer hesitated, concentrating his remaining Divine Power, along with a wisp of pure "Argumentation" rule power he had just drawn from the Temple of Civilization, onto his tongue and Divine Soul. It transformed into a "questioning" containing special rule fluctuations, and he shouted it toward the direction of the Lich Lord's "remains," which were writhing, attempting to reorganize, and emitting increasingly unstable and dangerous fluctuations:

"Speak!"

"Does your survival depend on the 'phylactery'? Or does it depend on the 'core'?"

"The phylactery is a vessel for the Soul, an external object! The core is a Divine Power node, an anchor of rules!"

"Now your 'phylactery' and 'core' are confused, and name and reality are contradictory! I ask you—"

"Is your 'true body' within that decaying shell, or within this void node?!"

The moment his voice fell, an invisible and intangible but strange fluctuation carrying a strong logical paradox and conceptual interference power spread out from Lin Zhou! This power was not strong, even a bit weak, but it precisely acted on the level of "concepts" and "definitions"!

This was one of the core argumentation techniques of the School of Names—Conjoining Differences! It forcibly "conjoined" (confused, equated) two concepts that were originally different under specific conditions and for a short time!

Lin Zhou took the concept of the "phylactery" (Soul container, a hidden object in a physical or magical sense) that the Lich Lord relied on for survival and performed a crude, irrational, and brief equalization and confusion with the concept of it being a "Spell node core" (rule anchor, energy collection point) for the undead army! He then issued an inductive questioning to its residual consciousness (or the will of Nether Bone controlling it from behind): Is your phylactery (true body) right here in this place that looks like an energy core (node)?

This questioning itself contained interference at the rule level!

"Argh—!!!"

From the writhing Lich remains surrounded by black gas, a scream even more shrill and chaotic than before suddenly rang out! This scream was not pure pain; it was mixed with extreme confusion, the collapse of logic, and the conflict of rules!

The Spell backlash caused by conceptual distortion had begun!

A bizarre scene appeared within that mass of writhing black gas and broken bones:

Its form began to flicker and jump unstably. One moment, it seemed to be condensing into the original skeleton mage form of the Lich Lord (phylactery hidden, body as a shell); the next moment, it suddenly collapsed and condensed toward a central point, attempting to form an extremely concentrated dark energy sphere emitting strong node fluctuations (node core form)! The two forms alternated frantically, as if two different "existence commands" were fighting for dominance over this mass of energy—one was the instinct of an undead creature to "protect the phylactery and hide the true body," while the other was Nether Bone's rage-driven urge to "strengthen the core and output Divine Power" through this node to crush Lin Zhou!

These two commands, under the bizarre interference of the School of Names' Conjoining Differences argumentation, were forcibly confused and equated, leading to a fatal conflict!

Buzz—!!! Boom!!!

In the space surrounding that mass of energy, visible black cracks like a shattered mirror began to appear! That was a small-scale spatial instability caused by the conflict of rules! The death Divine Power that was originally being orderly injected, trying to reshape the Lich or strengthen the node, had now become incredibly turbulent, like a pot of frantically stirred asphalt. Black energy turbulence constantly shot out, hitting the surrounding ground and instantly corroding deep pits or blasting scattered bones into powder!

Even more terrifying was the backlash itself. As the caster, the Lich Lord's (residual consciousness) Foundation of existence was shaken. The rule of "protecting the phylactery" and the rule of "strengthening the node" were fighting inside its "body," making it impossible for it to exist stably or effectively guide any Spells! The high-level undead mages that originally surrounded it and were dissipating were affected by the aftermath of this rule conflict. They clutched their heads (if they still had them) and let out pained howls; some even had their Soul fires explode directly, turning into fly ash!

And that wasn't all!

Lin Zhou's questioning, imbued with the power of Conjoining Differences, was like a stone thrown into a calm (actually already violent) lake. The rule ripples it triggered even faintly touched the Divine Thought of Nether Bone coming from the direction of the distant gate of death!

Nether Bone's cold and furious Divine Thought, upon contact with this bizarre fluctuation of "conceptual confusion," actually experienced an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible moment of stagnation!

It was like someone who was fully focused on operating a precision instrument suddenly hearing someone shout a completely nonsensical but seemingly logical sentence in their ear, causing their thinking to stall for a moment and produce a subconscious "reaction." For Nether Bone, it meant his control commands for the Lich Lord node (which was also the pivot for his Divine Power extension) suffered a billionth of a second of confusion and self-contradiction!

In a duel at the True God level, especially this kind of remote rule and Divine Thought confrontation, this moment of stagnation and confusion was a fatal flaw!

"Su Yueyao! Now! Lock onto the moment its 'true body' appears! Use your purest moonlight to mark the coordinates of its 'existence'!" While issuing the questioning and triggering conceptual chaos, Lin Zhou had already sent a resolute command to Su Yueyao through their mental link! He believed that with Su Yueyao's wisdom and their mutual understanding, she would definitely seize this fleeting opportunity!

Su Yueyao indeed did not fail his trust!

Almost at the same time Lin Zhou shouted the Mohist Schools Art of Argumentation questioning, Su Yueyao understood his intention. She instantly withdrew all her external Moonlight Divine Power used for defense and countering the death pressure, concentrating all her spirit and Divine Power into a single point. Within her eyes, the cold moonlight condensed to the extreme, as if transforming into two miniature bright moons!

At this moment, her perception discarded all external interference, focusing only on that energy mass of Lich remains that was undergoing rule conflict and rapid form changes! She was searching—searching for that one point where the "phylactery" core rule and the "node" core rule briefly overlapped and became indistinguishable due to conceptual confusion and rule conflict, thus being forced to "manifest" the most fundamental "existence coordinates"!

That flicker might have lasted only a millionth of a second!

Just as the Lich remains energy mass once again collapsed unstably from its "node energy ball" form due to internal conflict, at the very moment when an extremely subtle Soul fluctuation (phylactery connection) and rule anchor fluctuation (node connection) at its core almost completely overlapped due to the chaos—

Su Yueyao moved!

She didn't cast any flashy Spells, but simply pointed her fingers like a sword toward the overlapping point at the core of the energy mass!

"Moon Reflection · Ten Thousand Rivers!"

A wisp of moonlight intent, so condensed it was indescribable and as thin as a hair, yet so pure it seemed able to illuminate all falsehoods, seemed to traverse the barriers of space and time. Ignoring the violent and turbulent death energy surrounding it, it precisely and gently "tapped" onto that overlapping core of fluctuations!

There was no explosion, no loud noise.

That wisp of moonlight intent, like a drop of water merging into the ocean, silently seeped in.

And then—

Buzz!!!

From the core of that chaotic and conflicting Lich remains energy mass, an incredibly clear and stable cold moonlight suddenly erupted! It was as if a guiding lamp had suddenly been lit in the endless darkness and chaos! That moonlight was not strong, but it was incredibly resilient, firmly "marking" that point and completely exposing the real coordinates—which integrated the "phylactery connection" and the "node core" due to conceptual distortion—to everyone's perception!

Even through this moonlight marker, one could vaguely "see" deep within those coordinates a tiny, constantly spinning, complex three-dimensional rune structure constructed from death Divine Power and Soul imprints—that was the fundamental rule manifestation of this Lich Lord projection's existence, and also the key channel connecting it to Nether Bone's Divine Power. In a sense, it was its "true body" and "vital point" at this moment!

Mohist Schools Art of Argumentation: distorting concepts, creating chaos, and creating flaws!

Moonlight intent: perceiving reality, marking the core, and locking onto the chance for victory!

The two cooperated seamlessly!

"Found it!" Su Yueyao's cold voice carried a hint of relieved exhaustion, but even more sharpness. "Its 'core of existence' has been marked by my moonlight! Destroy it, and we can completely destroy this node and heavily damage the Divine Power link behind it!"

The spirits of the Sharp Knife Squad members were greatly lifted! Although Nether Bone's terrifying pressure was still like a thorn in their backs, this clearly visible flaw before them was like a ray of dawn in a desperate situation!

Nether Bone's Divine Thought, which had been interfered with by Conjoining Differences for a moment, finally reconsolidated, becoming even more violent and furious. But it also "saw" that core coordinate that was marked by moonlight and completely exposed! It immediately tried to mobilize more death Divine Power to reinforce, move, or hide those coordinates, while also more fiercely exerting pressure in an attempt to crush Lin Zhou and Su Yueyao.

But it was already too late!

Lin Zhou, barely supporting his godhead which felt like it was about to crack, his eyes bursting with golden light, shouted hoarsely: "Now! Everyone! Concentrate all your power and attack that moonlight marker! Destroy it at all costs!"

Zhao Hao, Wang Meng, Qin Qing, and the others instantly transformed all their fear and pressure into an all-out explosion! Scarlet Scale's Dragon Breath, Golden Mane's crushing strike, Glow's sword of judgment, and the ranged attacks of all other heroes and gods converged like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea. Carrying a death-defying will, they poured toward that single dark core illuminated by the moonlight!

The wrath of a True God hung overhead, while the edge of the Sharp Knife pointed straight at the vital point.

Victory or defeat rested entirely on this one blow!