265: Chapter 200: The fierce battle is in full swing, and the difference in underlying strength is gradually becoming apparent.

The faint reverse erosion of the river of civilization was like a few wisps of fireflies piercing through a pitch-black iron curtain; though the light was insignificant, it was light nonetheless.

However, to Xuanyuan Hong, who wielded absolute power and was accustomed to crushing everything, this sliver of light was not a spark of hope, but... profanity and provocation.

Almost at the same time Li Mo monitored the faint anomalous rule data and shared it with Lin Zhou, a pure will—more condensed and overbearing than before, as if forged from the collision of billions of weapons and the thunderous roar of War drums—erupted from the core of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom!

If the previous rules of War were like a torrent sweeping through heaven and earth, then what descended now was the coldest, sharpest blade of judgment condensed from that very torrent!

This will held no anger, no roar, only a cold indifference and precision like ten-thousand-year-old black ice. It instantly locked onto and "looked" toward the areas Lin Zhou was reverse-eroding—the rule fissures on that one-percent fringe that were quietly emitting a faint "non-War" aura.

"A mere display of petty tricks, yet you dare to flaunt them?"

A cold Divine Thought, like a thunderbolt, pierced through the rule barrier and exploded deep within Lin Zhou's consciousness! This was the first time in the entire battle that Xuanyuan Hong had communicated directly with Lin Zhou via Divine Thought, filled with undisguised contempt and a hint of offended displeasure.

Immediately after, Lin Zhou "saw" a scene that shook his soul.

In the areas faintly permeated by civilized thought, the originally stable, dark-red rules of War suddenly began a highly precise spin and reconstruction! It was like a small, contaminated gear in a massive machine being instantly identified and isolated, followed by precision cutting tools performing millisecond-level correction and "cleaning"!

[War Rules · Purification] (Xuanyuan Hong's serious method)

Effect: At the cost of consuming extra Divine Power, it performs high-intensity, high-precision "formatting" and "reshaping" of rules in designated areas, forcibly dispersing, annihilating, or assimilating all non-War and alien rule information.

Purification Efficiency: Extremely high. The clearing speed of faint rule contamination is estimated to be over 300 times Lin Zhou's infiltration speed.

Consumption: For Xuanyuan Hong, it is only an additional 5%-10% of regular Divine Power output.

Side Effect: In the purified area, the "exclusivity" and "purity" of the rules of War increase by 15% for a short time (about 30 seconds), significantly enhancing resistance to subsequent similar erosions.

In just a few breaths, the tiny imprints of civilized thought that Lin Zhou had spent immense mental effort and extra Divine Power to barely plant evaporated and dissipated like dewdrops under the sun, leaving no trace behind! Moreover, the purified areas saw the rules of War become more solid and "sturdy," as if coated with an invisible protective layer. The thought tentacles that the river of civilization subsequently tried to extend there were like hitting a red-hot iron plate, instantly repelled or even scorched!

The channel for reverse erosion was easily and crudely sealed off by the opponent using absolute strength and superior rule control!

What weighed even more heavily on Lin Zhou's heart was that while launching this precise purification, the crushing advance of Xuanyuan Hong's massive divine kingdom showed no delay or weakening! On the contrary, the dark-red light film of the rules of War became more solid and heavy, and the force of the impact seemed to have slightly increased!

What did this mean?

It meant that while maintaining a divine kingdom collision and rule-crushing of this scale, the opponent could still effortlessly allocate a portion of energy and Divine Power to "sweep away" the insignificant "dust" Lin Zhou had created! Their power levels and control precision were simply not on the same plane!

"Is this... the true foundation of a high-tier Lesser Divinity who has eroded five astral realms and has a rule completeness of over 75%?" Lin Zhou felt bitter. His previous attempts probably seemed like nothing more than a child's ridiculous trick of waving a wooden stick in the eyes of his opponent.

And what happened next laid bare this strength gap before everyone in an even colder and more cruel form of data.

Perhaps he found Lin Zhou's "little tricks" annoying, or perhaps he simply wanted to end this "boring" crushing sooner. Xuanyuan Hong changed his strategy.

His divine kingdom, like a mountain range of War, maintained a steady advance speed, but the brightness of the dark-red rules of War permeating its surface began to rise steadily and continuously! An even larger and heavier wave of Divine Power radiated incessantly from the core of the opponent's divine kingdom.

[War divine kingdom · Full Overpressure]!

Effect: Continuously outputs Divine Power and rule strength at higher power, comprehensively enhancing the physical impact of the divine kingdom collision, the intensity of rule erosion, and the attribute bonuses for internal War units. Simply put, increase the power and accelerate the crushing!

Instantly, the pressure on Lin Zhou skyrocketed!

The original Divine Power consumption of 1,000 points per second (maintaining the barrier + river of civilization defense) suddenly jumped to 1,300 points per second after the opponent's overpressure! Although the additional 400 points per second for maintaining reverse erosion had stopped because the channel was cut off, the overall consumption was actually higher!

The shattering speed of the divine kingdom barrier accelerated, and its area slid from less than 70 square kilometers toward 60 square kilometers at a visible rate! The vibrations and destruction inside the divine kingdom intensified, with more buildings collapsing and more followers injured in the aftershocks.

Even more fatal was that the monitoring data Li Mo shared through the team link revealed another despairing fact:

[Comparison Analysis of Divine Power Reserves and Recovery Rates (Real-time Estimation)]

Lin Zhou (Our Side):

Current Divine Power Reserve: 18,450 / 27,000 (Rapidly declining)

Natural Divine Power Recovery Rate (Base + Divine Fire Efficiency + Environment): Approx. 120 points/minute (i.e., 2 points/second).

Current Consumption Rate: Approx. 1,300 points/second.

Net Consumption Rate: Approx. 1,298 points/second.

At this rate, estimated time until complete exhaustion: Approx. 14.2 minutes (assuming the divine kingdom does not collapse first).

Xuanyuan Hong (Enemy · Estimated):

Total Divine Power Reserve: Unknown, estimated to be no less than 150,000 points (based on godhead Rank lv350, divine kingdom scale, and multiple astral realm erosions).

Natural Divine Power Recovery Rate: Estimated to be over 1.5 times Lin Zhou's (i.e., ≥ 180 points/minute, 3 points/second). Due to his more complete divine kingdom rules, higher quality Divine Fire, and the possibility that the [War] divine office provides a built-in recovery bonus in combat environments.

Current Consumption Rate: Unknown, but based on his crushing posture and additional purification operations, it is estimated to be no less than 2,000 points/second (possibly higher).

Key Point: Even if the opponent's consumption rate is 1.5 times Lin Zhou's (2,000 points/second), given his massive reserve base (at least 150,000 points) and higher recovery speed (3 points/second vs. Lin Zhou's 2 points/second), his combat endurance far exceeds Lin Zhou's. The "health line" and "safety margin" of the opponent's Divine Power reserve are beyond imagination.

The opponent's Divine Power recovery speed is 1.5 times Lin Zhou's! His total reserve might be more than 5 times Lin Zhou's!

This set of cold data was like the final straw pressing down on the hearts of everyone in the Hundred Schools Squad.

No matter how ingenious the tactics, how profound the thoughts, or how stubborn the rule confrontation, they all appeared pale and powerless before the absolute gap in power reserves and recovery capabilities. The opponent could afford many mistakes and endure higher consumption, while Lin Zhou and the others couldn't afford even one major mistake, and even maintaining basic defense was precarious.

It was like a duel between two Martial Artists: one with Internal Energy as deep as the sea and extremely fast recovery, while the other had shallow Internal Energy and intense consumption. Even if the latter's Moves were exquisite and they could maneuver temporarily, as long as the former wished, they could use their profound Internal Energy to grind the latter to death!

This was exactly what Xuanyuan Hong was doing now. He no longer sought a momentary, flashy breakthrough (though he could achieve it), but used the most stable and unquestionable method—a War of Divine Power attrition—to crush Lin Zhou. He wanted Lin Zhou, and everyone else, to see clearly that before absolute power foundation, all "clever tricks" were futile!

"Lin Zhou! My divine kingdom is about to fail! The barrier repair speed can't keep up with the shattering speed!" Wang Meng's anxious voice rang out. His Behemoths were struggling to hold on in the core area, but the overall turbulence of the divine kingdom made it difficult for them even to stand firm.

"Old Lin! My Dragon Divine Power is also consuming fast, and the effect of going out to harass is getting worse and worse!" Zhao Hao's voice also carried fatigue.

"The consumption of Judgment Holy Light is intensifying, and the repulsion of the opponent's War Domain against Holy Light has increased by 20%," Qin Qing reported calmly but solemnly.

"The rule model shows that the overall energy level of the opponent's divine kingdom is still slowly rising... Lin Zhou, our time is running out." Li Mo gave the coldest conclusion.

Lin Zhou felt as if his godhead were about to catch fire; the sharp pain accompanying the rapid loss of Divine Power was like a dull knife cutting through flesh. In his vision, the numbers representing his Divine Power reserve were decreasing at a terrifying speed:

17,000... 15,500... 14,000... with every thousand-point drop, he was one step closer to the collapse of his divine kingdom.

The area of the divine kingdom had been compressed to about 65 square kilometers, and the speed of shrinkage was accelerating. The river of civilization still surged, striving to resist the erosion of the rules of War, but the phantom of the river seemed to have dimmed, clearly under immense pressure.

Was this... as far as they could go?

Faced with Xuanyuan Hong's absolute power foundation and cruel attrition tactics, the tiny spark of counterattack that had just risen was ruthlessly snuffed out before it could even ignite. What remained seemed to be only one path: being slowly and firmly crushed.

Failure seemed to be a foregone conclusion.

But in Lin Zhou's eyes, that flame had not gone out; instead, it burned deeper in this desperate situation. He stared fixedly at the encroaching, seemingly invincible dark-red divine kingdom, his brain working at an unprecedented speed.

"Gap in foundation... War of attrition... recovery speed..." These words collided in his mind.

"No... it can't go on like this... I must change the situation... even if there's only a sliver of hope..."

His gaze involuntarily drifted toward another part of the battlefield map—those distorted, flickering, unstable spatial rifts scattered across the Shattered Plains.

An extremely risky, even insane thought, like a flash of lightning through the darkness, suddenly illuminated his consciousness.