264: Chapter 199: Civilizational Erosion, Reverse Assimilation Shows Remarkable Effects

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom, like a moving mountain range of War, struck once, twice, three times... like a never-ending siege hammer, continuously and steadily crashing into, squeezing, and grinding Lin Zhou's ever-shrinking Hundred Schools Divine Kingdom.

Every impact was accompanied by a world-shaking roar and the mourning of rules. Lin Zhou's divine kingdom was like a small boat in a storm, tossing violently amidst the surging waves, as the pale gold barrier light membrane was constantly compressed and crushed. The divine kingdom's area had plummeted from the initial 100 square kilometers to less than 70, and it continued to shrink.

Inside the divine kingdom, everything was a mess. Many parts of the Jixia Academy had collapsed, and classics were scattered. Literary Heart Elves braved falling debris to desperately rescue the Fire of Civilization. The main structure of the Temple of Law still stood, but its outer walls were covered in cracks. Seth led the Murloc Law Enforcement Team to extinguish fires everywhere ("fires" in the sense of rules—the aftermath of chaos and impact), maintaining what remained of Order. The Tiangong Workshop was nearly in ruins. Grum led the dwarves to rush repairs on the most critical energy nodes and the basic runes of the Steel Bastion. Wang Meng's Behemoths (the only seven severely injured survivors) stood like stabilizing pillars guarding the core temple area, using their broken bodies to resist the vibrational shocks transmitted through the barrier.

In the sky, Qin Qing's Judgment Angels and Zhao Hao's Dragons were simply unable to leave the range of the divine kingdom to counterattack effectively. Once they left the protection of the river of civilization and the divine kingdom's barrier, directly exposing themselves to Xuanyuan Hong's thick, inseparable [War] rule Domain and the grim spear tips of five thousand Spartan War Souls, it would be no different from seeking death. They could only linger at the edge of the divine kingdom, using long-range attacks to barely interfere with the outermost and relatively weak rule structures of the opponent's divine kingdom, with negligible effect.

Lin Zhou's consciousness felt as if it were being roasted over a fire. His Godhead load remained above 85% for a long time, processing massive amounts of damage data, rule conflict information, and feedback on the status of his followers. Divine Power poured out like a flood through an open gate, used to maintain the barrier, repair damage, and support the river of civilization against the erosion of War rules. The Divine Power consumed per second had stabilized at around 1,000 points—a terrifying figure. His Divine Power reserves were sliding toward the danger line at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Passively taking a beating, a slow death.

The opponent was like a precision War machine, devoid of emotional fluctuations or tactical flourishes, merely using the purest and most overbearing advantage of strength to squeeze and crush one's living space bit by bit. This sense of despair was colder and more suffocating than facing a beast tide's madness, a floating fortress's pressure, or even an endless swarm of insects.

"No... at this rate, I can only hold out for another twenty minutes at most before the core of the divine kingdom is completely exposed and crushed by the opponent's dual rule and physical pressure!" Lin Zhou forced himself to maintain clear thinking under the intense pain and heavy pressure. "A frontal confrontation offers no chance of victory... I must find the opponent's weakness, or... create an unexpected change!"

His Divine Thought locked onto the interface where the two divine kingdoms were fiercely clashing. There, the pale gold Net of Civilization and the dark red torrent of War were like two roaring Dragons biting and wrestling with each other. Although the Net of Civilization was resilient and neutralized nearly 40% of the opponent's rule effectiveness, it was ultimately on the defensive, and its range was being continuously compressed.

"Wait... the interface..." Lin Zhou's gaze suddenly focused on the extremely thin "transition zone" where the Net of Civilization and the torrent of War were most intensely intertwined and rule information exchange was most frequent. Due to the continuous confrontation and friction between the rules of both sides, the rule structure here had become extremely unstable and... "malleable"!

Just like when two metals of different hardness rub against each other at high speeds, the contact surface generates high temperatures and metal shavings, and its properties temporarily change.

"Xuanyuan Hong's [War] rule is pure, extreme, and highly exclusive. This is the source of its power, but it might also be its weakness!" A nearly insane thought erupted in Lin Zhou's mind. "Too much rigidity leads to breaking! To pursue ultimate War efficiency, his rule's internal structure must be highly unified and lack elasticity. When it encounters the impact of a complex, inclusive composite rule like the Net of Civilization, filled with internal dialectics and changes, will it produce some kind of... 'adaptive disorder' or even a 'brief rule vacuum' at its edges and interface?"

"What if... I no longer settle for just defensive neutralization, but instead extend the power of the river of civilization like tentacles, actively and precisely into the gaps at the edges of the opponent's divine kingdom rules, to touch, to analyze, and to... reverse-erode?"

This idea was extremely bold and extremely dangerous! Actively sending one's own rule power into the opponent's home ground was likely like a sheep entering a tiger's mouth, being instantly swallowed and annihilated by the opponent's stronger rules. Moreover, it would accelerate Divine Power consumption, further shortening an already precarious survival time.

But this might be the only chance to break the deadlock and create a variable! Pure defense could only delay death; attacking, even if only in an extremely limited "ideological infiltration" at the rule level, could stir the stagnant water!

"Civilization... is not just a shield for defense, it should be... a fire for propagation!" Lin Zhou's eyes flashed with a look of determination. He thought of the Confucian Concept of "Enlightenment," the School of Military's wisdom of "engaging with the orthodox and winning with the unorthodox," the Legalist's boldness of "reforming to strengthen," the Mohist's inclusiveness of "Non-Aggression" but "Universal Love," and the Taoist's supreme Realm of "Tao Follows Nature" and "Wu Wei, yet nothing is left undone"... "He wants to crush my civilization? Fine! Then I will 'send' the Fire of Civilization into his rules! Let's see if your pure 'War' can withstand the questioning and erosion of 'civilized' thought!"

No sooner said than done!

Lin Zhou no longer hesitated, diverting a portion of his mind and Divine Power (an additional 400 points per second) to fully communicate with the river of civilization. He no longer let the river merely defend and neutralize passively, but instead guided its most essence-filled, "permeable," and "enlightening" streams of thought, like the most skillful craftsman, to cautiously reach toward the interface of intense rule clash.

He chose several directions:

The light of Confucian "Benevolence," "Order," and "Enlightenment": Like a trickling stream, it gently seeped into the extreme parts of the War rules that overemphasized "destruction," "conquest," and "survival of the fittest," attempting to plant faint Concepts of "Just War," "Stopping Conflict," and "People-oriented." The goal was not confrontation, but "dilution" and "confusion."

The thoughts of the School of Military's "Way of Deception," "Attacking Strategy," and "Complete Victory": These transformed into invisible information tentacles, analyzing the operational logic, energy nodes, and chain of command of the opponent's War rules. He also tried to create tiny logical paradoxes or strategic choice dilemmas within the opponent's rules (for example: faced with the Concept of "subduing the enemy without fighting," how should a rule that exists purely for the sake of fighting respond?).

The notions of the Legalist "Reform" and "Holding Names Responsible for Reality": Like the most precise carving knife, they searched for places where "names and reality do not match" within the opponent's War rule System (such as "fighting for honor" while becoming a pure tool for slaughter) or possible rule loopholes, attempting extremely faint "definition" interference.

The Mohist wish for "Universal Love" and "Non-Aggression," along with the Taoist intent of "Nature" and "Wu Wei": Serving as the underlying "background noise," they brushed past like a clear breeze, not clashing directly, but creating a "non-War" atmosphere that pursued harmony and transcendence, trying to dissolve some of the fanaticism and paranoia of the War rules from the level of emotion and Concept.

This was an extremely delicate operation that demanded an insanely high level of control! Lin Zhou had to ensure these extended ideological tentacles were faint and hidden enough to avoid being instantly detected and strangled by the opponent's powerful War rules. At the same time, he had to ensure they could successfully "take root" and produce some influence.

It was like planting tiny "seeds" carrying different information into the cracks of an enemy's steel fortress walls.

The process was fraught with danger. Several strands of extended ideological brilliance were nearly torn apart and assimilated by the violent turbulence of the War rules several times. Lin Zhou's Godhead calculations almost reached their limit, and golden divine blood continuously seeped from the corner of his mouth (a simulated effect).

But he succeeded!

A few faint, almost undetectable pale gold threads of light, like resilient vines, quietly seeped into the part of the rule structure at the very edge of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom that was in contact with Lin Zhou's, following the "tides" and "fissures" of the War rule torrent!

At first, there was no reaction. It was like a drop of water falling into a boiling pot of oil, evaporating instantly.

However, the power of civilized thought lies not in instantaneous explosion, but in subtle influence and ideological resonance!

Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom rules were a precision machine serving the single Concept of "War." When Lin Zhou's "composite thought," which contained multiple dimensions and was filled with dialectics and wisdom, seeped in and produced a faint resonance with certain "rationalities" inherent in the War rules themselves (such as the strategy of the School of Military or the discipline of the Legalists), a marvelous chemical reaction began to quietly occur!

In the tiny area that had been infiltrated—roughly less than one percent of the edge of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom—the originally pure, unified, and efficient War rules showed a hint of undetectable... "Impurities" and "sluggishness."

This change first manifested in the Spartan War Souls located at the edge of that area.

A War Soul, about to follow its phalanx forward and thrust its spear into the Hundred Schools Divine Kingdom's barrier, suddenly had an extremely brief pause, almost impossible to catch with the naked eye. In the depths of its eyes, which burned with the cold fire of War, a trace of imperceptible confusion flashed. Within its consciousness core, which was born purely for battle, a faint, almost non-existent thought never seen before flashed by: "This battle... for what?" Although this thought was instantly crushed by a stronger will to War, it had indeed appeared!

Another War Soul, while swinging its shield to block a Holy Light aftershock from Qin Qing's Judgment Angel, had a slight deviation in the shield's angle, causing the blocking effect to drop by about 3%. It wasn't a mistake; rather, in that moment, its absolutely focused combat consciousness was interfered with by a faint inquiry from the rule level regarding the boundary between "protection" and "destruction."

More changes occurred at the rule level.

In the area infiltrated by civilized thought, the "exclusivity" of the War rules showed an extremely faint loosening. The absolute suppression of non-War behaviors (such as construction, thinking, and communication) decreased by about 0.5%. The "fluency" of rule operation also decreased by 0.3%, like a grain of dust getting into the most precise gears.

Most importantly, the rules in this part of the area began to show an indescribable tendency toward "ordering"—not the gentle Order of Confucianism, but more like an Order scrutinized, categorized, and defined by "civilized" Concepts. It was as if this land of pure War had been forcibly marked with an extremely tiny "ideological brand" from a foreign civilization.

[Civilization Reverse Erosion (Preliminary) Effect Monitoring] (Scattered data captured by Li Mo through Scout Swarms and rule perception):

Erosion Range: Approximately 1.2% of the contact edge area of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom.

Rule Impact:

Purity of War rules in the target area decreased by 0.8%.

Rule operational efficiency slightly decreased (about 0.3%-0.5%).

Slight "non-War" compatibility appeared (nearly non-existent, but present).

Impact on Followers (Spartan War Souls):

Minor deviation rate in attack/defense actions: +5% (manifesting as brief hesitation during attacks, slight deviation in blocking angles, etc.).

Stability of absolute combat will: slight decrease (-1%? Difficult to quantify accurately).

Extremely low probability of triggering "non-War thoughts": <0.1%, and instantly suppressed.

Our consumption: Maintaining this reverse erosion costs an additional 400 Divine Power/second, and Godhead load increases by 5%.

Current Status: Erosion is extremely faint and has not been actively cleared by the opponent's core rule System (possibly not yet attracting enough attention or being seen as "noise").

Success! Although the effect was negligible and hardly affected the overall situation, it had indeed produced an impact! Lin Zhou's "Fire of Civilization" had truly burned to the edge of the opponent's hall of "pure War" for the first time, leaving behind an almost invisible but real "smoke trail"!

What lifted Lin Zhou's spirits even more was that as this bit of reverse erosion succeeded, the river of civilization seemed to sense some kind of "pathway" or "resonance point." Its flow speed slightly increased, and the subsequent delivery of thoughts to the infiltrated area seemed to become a tiny bit smoother. Although this bit of smoothness was insignificant compared to the massive difference in scale, it was an important signal—the opponent's rules were not a monolithic block, nor were they completely immune to ideological infiltration!

"Not enough... still far from enough!" Lin Zhou suppressed the excitement in his heart, knowing that this level of influence was a drop in the bucket for the battle. But he saw a direction, he saw a possibility! "I need to expand the erosion range, find more critical rule nodes, and let this 'ideological poison' spread deeper and faster!"

He continued to grit his teeth and maintain the reverse erosion while his brain worked rapidly, thinking about the next step.

And Xuanyuan Hong, who had been advancing like a cold machine, finally seemed to detect an extremely faint "anomaly." For the first time, his massive divine kingdom made a subtle adjustment that wasn't a forward grind—a more concentrated and overbearing will of War rules swept toward the edge area infiltrated by Lin Zhou like a searchlight!

The real rule hunt was perhaps about to begin.

But regardless, Lin Zhou had successfully transitioned the battle from simple power crushing to a more complex, dangerous, and characteristic level of "The Way of the Hundred Schools"—rule infiltration and ideological maneuvering!

Civilization erosion has shown its initial miraculous effects. Although the road ahead is still dark, the first glimmer of a counterattack has pierced the iron curtain.