226: All cards are laid, and a hundred schools of thought unite to resist tyranny.

A roar in a desperate situation, like a spark thrown into boiling oil.

The Temple of Civilization shook as never before! It was not the tremor of being attacked, but a roar ignited and awakened from within! The [Emergency Fusion Protocol], triggered passively by the "School of Miscellaneous" trait when the divine domain core's civilization buildings are heavily damaged and the principles of civilization face extreme oppression, roared into action under the activation of Lin Zhou's last trace of Divine Power and all his civilization points!

This was not some hidden secret weapon, but an instinctive defense and extreme self-rescue mechanism of the Temple of Civilization as the carrier of the Chinese seed of civilization when facing a "civilization survival crisis." Its principle was similar to taking the essence of the scattered, potentially contradictory, or even conflicting Hundred Schools of Thought and, under the catalysis of external high pressure and the will to survive, performing a forced, temporary overclocked Fusion regardless of cost or consequence, in hopes of bursting forth the most brilliant and cohesive light of civilization for one final stand before destruction!

"Boom——!!!"

Lin Zhou's remaining 27% Divine Power reserve was instantly devoured as if by an invisible, giant mouth! Simultaneously, the 18,500 civilization points he had accumulated—originally intended for unlocking more profound classics or summoning stronger Heroic Spirits—also turned into a flood, pouring into the boiling river of civilization!

An indescribable, sharp pain, as if countless red-hot steel needles were stabbing out from the deepest part of his Godhead, instantly pierced through Lin Zhou's entire consciousness! That was the tearing sensation touching his Origin, caused by forcibly overloading the Fusion of different ideological rules and burning his civilization's Foundation!

But he did not lose consciousness; on the contrary, under the stimulation of this extreme pain, his consciousness was forced into a strange, cold overclocked state. On the Godhead, those tiny cracks were like an ice surface onto which molten iron had been poured; instead of shattering further, they briefly "melted" and "connected" under the wash of violent energy, forming an extremely unstable but temporarily unobstructed "superconducting" state!

[Godhead Overclocked State Triggered!]

Trigger Conditions: Extreme external rule oppression + Core civilization building heavily damaged + Limit burning of civilization points and Divine Power + Temple of Civilization emergency protocol.

Effects:

Godhead rule processing speed temporarily increased by 500%! Lin Zhou's thinking speed, calculation ability, rule analysis, and response efficiency exploded to sixfold his usual level in a short time! The world seemed to slow down in his "eyes," and countless information streams poured in with unprecedented clarity, being disassembled and reorganized.

Divine Power consumption rate exploded simultaneously (due to overclocked operation), but since Divine Power was nearly exhausted, the actual consumption was temporarily replaced by the burning civilization points and the potential of the Godhead's Origin.

Godhead load reached critical point: This state cannot last; every extra second maintained causes irreversible potential damage to the Godhead Foundation. After it ends, he will inevitably fall into deep weakness or even a drop in Realm.

Duration: Depends on Lin Zhou's willpower and the burning speed of civilization points, estimated limit 30-60 seconds.

In this moment of consciousness overclocking and distorted, elongated sense of time, Lin Zhou "saw" it.

He saw within the boiling river of civilization the gentle white light representing Confucianism’s "Benevolence, Righteousness, Propriety, Wisdom, and Trust," the cold silver glow representing Legalism’s "Law, Power, and Technique," the misty clear Qi representing Taoism’s "Nature and Non-action," the bronze mysterious light representing Mohism’s "Universal Love, Non-Aggression, and Ingenious Craftsmanship," the chilling golden Qi representing the School of Military’s "Extraordinary and Orthodox, and the Way of Deception," and even the School of Medicine, the School of Agriculture, the School of Names, the School of Diplomacy... various radiances representing the essence of different thoughts, like a star-river whipped up by a storm, were forced to peel away and rise from all parts of the river, from the ruined academies, temples, and workshops. Then, under the forced guidance of the Temple of Civilization and the violent integration of Lin Zhou's overclocked Godhead, they surged upward toward a set target—the Holy Thunder Annihilation Bomb that was about to completely destroy the divine domain core, and the following flood of "Conquest Order" rules from Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom that crushed everything!

This was not a harmonious resonance; it was a cry of grief and a roar in a desperate situation! It was the collective, cost-ignoring resistance of all voices, all principles, and all powers when a civilization faced the crushing weight of tyranny, casting aside internal differences!

"The benevolent love others, but those who violate my borders and destroy my civilization—though they be strong, we must stand our ground!" The light of Confucianism was the first to explode, but within that gentleness, an unprecedented intensity and protective intent suddenly burst forth! It transformed into a barrier of Vast Righteous Qi spanning the sky above the Jixia Academy and the Temple of Law; it was no longer simple education and defense, but carried the determined will of "duty to defend the land" and "cannot be subdued by force," clashing head-on with the descending holy thunder!

"Law is the formula of the world, the standard for all things! How can we allow your arrogant principles of 'conquest' to trample us at will!" The silver light of Law soared from the ruined temple; it was not specific legal codes, but the resistance of "Law" itself as a fundamental concept of Order! It turned into countless intersecting silver chains, not to bind the enemy, but to frantically weave and reinforce the remaining rule network within their own divine domain, engaging in direct rule-level strangulation and confrontation with Xuanyuan Hong's Conquest Order!

"Tao Follows Nature, yet in extraordinary times, one must walk an extraordinary path! Yin and Yang reversed, Five Elements rotating—Defend!" The misty clear Qi spread, and the light of Taoism was no longer detached from the world; instead, it revealed the other side behind its "compliance with the Heavenly Dao"—harnessing the great power of nature to resist the collapse of the heavens! Xuan Zhenzi's hair and beard flared as the remnant array beneath his feet resonated with him, forcibly channeling all chaotic, disordered, and unconquered energy flows in the battlefield (including the interference energy left by neutral units, the aftershocks of the collision, and even the slight turbulence at the edge of Xuanyuan Hong's rule field). These turned into streams of chaotic energy turbulence to meet the holy thunder and the rule flood, not seeking to break them, but to interfere, deflect, and delay!

"Non-Aggression does not mean non-defense! How can the tools for resisting insult not be refined? The Exploitation of the Works of Nature, using ingenuity to overcome brute force!" Bronze mysterious light poured from the ruins of the Tiangong Workshop and the remaining Mohist Mechanisms, not to repair buildings, but to combine with Li Mo's Mechanical Goblins rhapsody. In an instant, all usable wreckage, fragments, and energy circuits in the vicinity were violently reconstructed into a series of simple yet highly targeted one-time defense/interference devices—self-detonating "Logic Disorder Rune Arrays" (thrown at the Celestial Track Array's scanning waves), adhesive "Energy Deflection Force Field Generators" (attached to the inner side of the Vast Righteous Qi barrier), and "Concept Conflict Cores" with extremely unstable internal structures that crashed directly into the Holy Thunder Annihilation Bomb!

"The School of Military is the way of deception! But when there is no retreat, there is only a fight to the death! Wind! Forest! Fire! Mountain!" The chilling golden Qi did not come from a specific building but rose from the hearts of all subjects, especially those Elf Rangers, Dwarf Warriors, and Merman Law Enforcers who were still on the front lines despite their injuries! At this moment, the thought of the School of Military transformed into the simplest and most direct collective burning of combat will and sacrificial spirit! All subjects, regardless of race, had the same determined light burning in their eyes; their attributes did not increase significantly, but their morale, resilience, Execution, and tolerance for pain were instantly pulled to the limit! Maintaining their broken formations, they let out an unyielding roar against the oncoming aura of destruction!

The School of Agriculture, the School of Medicine, the School of Names, the School of Diplomacy... the brilliance of each school's thought might have been weak or not direct enough, but they were also stimulated and integrated into this resonance of the "Hundred Schools Resonating Together." The School of Agriculture's intent of "endless growth" turned into a weak life field to protect the wounded; the School of Medicine's concept of "expelling illness and strengthening the body" transformed into ripples of mental exhilaration; the School of Names' power of sophistry from "Conjoining Differences" was squeezed out by Gongsun Li through gritted teeth, becoming the last wave of subtle disturbance against Xuanyuan Hong's concept of conquest will; the School of Diplomacy's idea of "Vertical and Horizontal Alliances" strengthened the fragile and precious coordination between all these ideological brilliances, preventing them from collapsing prematurely due to internal conflict during the explosion.

All of this took a long time to describe, but in the perception of Lin Zhou with his overclocked Godhead, it was only an instant.

In the next breath—

"Rumble————!!!!!"

An unprecedented, terrifying roar that surpassed any previous collision—as if the rules of two small worlds were clashing—exploded within the void combat platform!

Xuanyuan Hong's several Holy Thunder Annihilation Bombs, enough to completely destroy the ruined core buildings, first struck the upward-surging brilliance of the "Hundred Schools Resonating Together"!

There was no instantaneous breakthrough as imagined. The golden holy thunder and the multicolored light of the Hundred Schools' thoughts slammed together like molten iron hitting a suddenly rising, strangely-natured wall of colorful gas! The power of "Formatting Order" contained within the holy thunder met the stubborn resistance of multiple, heterogeneous rule powers like Confucianism’s "Benevolence of Protection," Legalism’s "Fundamental Law," and Taoism’s "Defense of Nature"! Energy frantically clashed, annihilated, and exploded! Mohism's simple one-time devices self-detonated within it, further intensifying the Chaos and uncertainty of the energy reaction!

Ultimately, the power of the Holy Thunder Annihilation Bombs was forcibly neutralized and deflected by over seventy percent! Although the remaining impact still shook the already ruined Jixia Academy and Temple of Law until they were teetering and debris flew, it failed to achieve the strategic objective of complete destruction in one blow!

Immediately afterward, the massive flood of "Conquest Order" rules from Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom, which sought to crush all resistance in Lin Zhou's divine domain in one go, also had a direct, rule-level collision with the "principles of civilization" barrier formed by the temporary condensation of the Hundred Schools' thoughts!

One side was a highly unified, mature, and stable "Order" centered on conquest and dominance.

The other side was a hastily fused, heterogeneous, and diverse "Reason" centered on survival and resistance.

It was like a steel torrent slamming into a dam temporarily woven from countless vines, rocks, metal fragments of varying properties, and even belief itself!

"Crack... Creak..."

The ear-piercing sound of rule structures being squeezed, twisted, and countered to the limit echoed silently in the void. Lin Zhou's divine domain shook violently again; the earth cracked, the mountains and rivers shifted, and more buildings were damaged. But his divine domain core—the Temple of Civilization—stood firm under the unprecedented surge of the river of civilization and the protection of the Hundred Schools' brilliance!

Under the wash of Xuanyuan Hong's rule flood, the light of that temporarily condensed "principles of civilization" barrier flickered uncertainly, and ideological brilliance was constantly ground away and peeled from its surface, like soil and stones being washed away from a dam by a flood. But it never completely collapsed! The brilliance of core thoughts like Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism acted like the toughest skeleton, constantly drawing power from the river of civilization (burning civilization points) under the dispatch of the overclocked Godhead, performing near-suicidal replenishment and repair! Thoughts from the School of Military and Mohism acted like active fillers and counter-attacking spikes, constantly interfering with and weakening the sharpness and continuity of the flood!

Under this full-force rule pressure from Xuanyuan Hong intended to decide the battle, although Lin Zhou's divine domain was like a small boat in a storm that seemed ready to capsize at any moment, it miraculously... held on! It did not collapse!

The void observation platform was deathly silent.

Everyone's eyes were wide, their mouths agape, but they couldn't make a sound.

What were they seeing? That multicolored "light" containing various things they couldn't fully understand but felt inexplicably shocked by... had blocked the top student Xuanyuan Hong's holy thunder and rule flood? That freshman Lin Zhou, whose Divine Power was nearly exhausted and whose divine domain was in ruins... had actually withstood it?!

"That... what kind of power is that?!"

"It's not simple Divine Power! It's... rules? Many different kinds of rule powers mixed together?!"

"I seemed to see characters... heard chanting... and the clashing of weapons, the operation of mechanisms... so many cluttered sounds and visions mixed together!"

"But it blocked it! It really blocked it!"

"Hundred Schools Resonating Together... is this the Hundred Schools of Thought Lin Zhou has been talking about? It can actually be used like this?!"

"Did his Godhead fluctuations just become extremely terrifying for a moment? And now they're rapidly weakening?"

"This is overdrawing! He's playing with his life!"

For the first time, a clear trace of shock passed through Xuanyuan Hong's eyes, which had always been as calm as an ancient well. It wasn't surprise; it was genuine shock.

He could clearly perceive that within the other party's suddenly erupting, cluttered but incredibly tenacious power, there were at least five or six types of rule prototypes with completely different and even somewhat contradictory properties. They were forcibly merged by a higher-level, highly inclusive "Reason" and burned and erupted in a near-suicidal manner, actually managing to temporarily withstand his carefully prepared rule pressure aimed at ending the battle.

This was not just the use of power; it was an understanding and practice of the "Dao," walking a path he had never seen or even thought of—Attaining the Dao through Reason, forging Power from Thought!

"Remarkable," Xuanyuan Hong whispered to himself, the shock in his eyes fading and being replaced by intense admiration and inquiry. "Though it is immature, crude, and unsustainable, this will, the potential of this path... is worthy of respect."

He did not stop because of this. Since his opponent had shown the qualifications to be taken seriously, he should all the more give him his full-force "respect." With a slight movement of his Divine Thought, the Celestial Track Array glowed even brighter, and the phantom of the throne of conquest seemed to solidify slightly. After a brief moment of astonishment, the offensive of the Stigmata Titan and the Holy Radiance Angel reorganized with a more coordinated and lethal rhythm, like a precise scalpel, beginning to search for more "weak points" and "conflict nodes" that inevitably existed on that multicolored barrier due to the forced Fusion.

On Lin Zhou's side, after erupting with that earth-shaking strike of the "Hundred Schools Resonating Together" and barely blocking the catastrophe, his overclocked state began to rapidly decline. A tearing pain and indescribable emptiness came from his Godhead, as if everything had been hollowed out. His Divine Power was completely exhausted, and his civilization points were burned away. The remaining brilliance of the Hundred Schools began to flicker and waver unstably, and the temporarily condensed barrier showed obvious thinning and cracks.

He stood before the teetering Temple of Civilization, his figure so ethereal it was almost transparent. Pale golden light particles seeped from his seven orifices (a sign of excessive consumption of Divine Power and civilization Origin), yet his eyes still burned with an unquenchable fire, staring fixedly at the opponent ahead who was still powerful enough to cause despair.

Thirty seconds? Perhaps shorter. This eruption, bought by overdrawing everything, could only gain an extremely brief amount of time.

But this brief time had already changed something.

He had proven that The Way of the Hundred Schools, even before true tyranny, possesses an unyielding character and can let out a deaf-defying cry!

He saw the gaze Qin Qing cast toward him, a mixture of shock, worry, and unprecedented determination.

He heard that within the divine domain, after undergoing the baptism of that ideological resonance, although all the subjects were covered in wounds, the fire of faith and civilization identity burning in their eyes had been rekindled with even greater cohesion!

"It's not over yet..." Lin Zhou said with his last bit of strength to Qin Qing and to himself, "As long as the Sanctuary does not fall and the river does not run dry... The Way of the Hundred Schools will certainly not end here!"

He looked up into those deep eyes in the void, without a trace of fear.

The battle was not yet over. The seed of civilization was still burning.