267: Chapter 202: The Long River Surges On, the Principles of Civilization Begin to Show Their Power

Consciousness felt like it was sinking into a cold, deep ocean, surrounded by boundless darkness and silence. A faint but clear sensation of cracking came from his divinity—a “Dao injury” left by activating the School of Names' Sophistry · Conceptual Pollution beyond its limit. His Divine Power was almost depleted, the remaining five hundred points flickering like a candle in the wind, maintaining the last glimmer of his consciousness from extinguishing.

Lin Zhou felt like he was about to dissipate, sinking into the eternal night that represented failure and an end.

However, just as his consciousness was about to completely fall silent, a faint, warm light quietly lit up in the deepest part of his consciousness.

That light did not come from his own remaining Divine Power, but from... the core of the Temple of Civilization, the ancient bronze lamp that had absorbed the Incomplete Lost Civilization Spark!

At the wick, the faint flame that had been burning quietly suddenly flickered violently, as if sensing Lin Zhou's divinity's cracks and his will's impending dissipation! An indescribable, ancient and vast aura, following Lin Zhou's deep connection with the Sanctuary, flowed upstream and surged into his almost depleted Sea of Consciousness!

This aura contained no immense power, no specific knowledge, only an ultimate sense of civilized heritage, a tenacious will of Passing on the torch (passing on the torch) and endless vitality! It was like the gentlest comfort, yet also the firmest support, gently holding Lin Zhou's sinking consciousness and creating an unprecedented deep resonance with the dim river of civilization above his divine Domain, which had been overdrawn!

Buzz—!!!

The phantom of the river of civilization, which had been flowing slowly and emitting a faint light, suddenly boiled violently upon contact with this ancient civilized aura from the ancient bronze lamp, as if infused with the purest original power!

The river was no longer just a phantom carrying the brilliance of thought; deep within its riverbed, something more essential and foundational seemed to be awakened and activated! This was the nascent form of the principles of civilization—not any specific thought, but the “fundamental Law” that governed, integrated, and sublimated all thoughts, making them an organic whole capable of dialogue and fusion with heaven and earth, with all Dao, and with the Laws themselves!

“Dao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things...” The true meaning of the Daoist Origin emerged.

“As Heaven maintains vigor through movements, a gentleman should unremittingly practice self-improvement; as Earth's condition is to be receptive to Heaven, a gentleman should hold the outer world with broad virtue.” The Confucian Order of Heaven, Earth, and Man resonated.

“War is a great affair of the state, a place of life and death, a Dao of survival or extinction, and must not be ignored...” The fundamental Law of military strategy from the School of Military manifested.

“Law is the standard of the world, the meter of all things...” The Legalist standard of rules shone.

“Universal love, mutual benefit... Non-Aggression...” The Mohist logic and foundation of peace flowed... The essence of the Hundred Schools of Thought, no longer scattered starlight, began to spontaneously and orderly intertwine and weave under the integration of the “principles of civilization”! They used the river of civilization as a carrier to construct an incredibly complex, yet internally harmonious and vibrant three-dimensional network of rules! This network was the preliminary manifestation of the principles of civilization!

At this very moment, on the external battlefield, Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom was in a brief state of stagnation and disorder due to divine office conflicts and spatial storm damage. The dark red light of War rules flickered erratically, rules leaked from the huge wound in the edge barrier, and internal energy circulation was delayed.

“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...”

Lin Zhou's supported consciousness, like a final burst of light before death, suddenly gathered its last shred of clarity! He “saw” the rapidly changing external battlefield, saw the flaws in the opponent's divine kingdom, and felt the principles of civilization awakening and roaring within him!

He no longer hesitated, nor held anything back! He injected all the ancient will transmitted by the ancient bronze lamp, all his remaining Divine Power (those five hundred points), and the last wisp of power obtained by burning the Origin of his divinity, into the boiling river of civilization, pushing the newly formed “principles of civilization” network!

“river of civilization... heed my command! When the principles appear, all Laws are orderly! When the Dao is manifest, evil is repelled! With the Fire of Civilization, burn the fallacy of War! With the principles of the Hundred Schools, rectify the name of the universe!”

A silent roar echoed on the rule level!

Boom—!!!

Above the Hundred Schools Divine Kingdom, the river of civilization, which was originally just a phantom, for the first time erupted with dazzling light like a cascading galaxy! It was no longer a phantom, but briefly possessed a semi-substantive form between illusion and reality! Golden river water surged and roared, and what emerged in the river was not only the phantoms of ancient sages and points of thought, but also clear golden patterns composed of pure rules! These patterns interconnected, forming that vast and profound “principles of civilization” network!

This golden network of rules, as the river surged, rapidly extended and expanded like a living thing! It was no longer content with merely defending its own divine kingdom, but actively and aggressively covered towards the edge of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom, which was exposed due to disorder, especially the huge wound torn by the spatial storm!

Manifestation of the principles of civilization (nascent form) — first active strike!

Nature: A Senior composite rule complex transcending single thoughts, representing the fundamental elucidation and governing tendency of the concept of “civilization” over world rules.

Current manifestation effect:

Rule Smoothing/Assimilation: Possesses powerful “sorting,” “calming,” and “limited assimilation” capabilities against external rules that are in chaos, conflict, or rampage (such as Xuanyuan Hong's War Divine Power disordered by divine office conflicts). The principles of civilization, like the most precise comb, can forcefully sort chaotic rule flows, “smoothing” their violent and disorderly parts, and “harmlessly absorbing” or “reinterpreting” parts compatible with the principles of civilization network (such as discipline, organization, and strategy).

Thought Infection/Transformation: Combining the essence of Confucian “enlightenment” and Legalist “reform” and other thoughts, it performs high-intensity spiritual and rule-level infection on contacted heterogeneous rule carriers (such as Spartan War Souls), attempting to implant civilized concepts and change their existential foundation.

Domain Expansion/Definition: The area covered by the principles of civilization network will be temporarily defined as the “Civilization · Order Domain,” weakening or even depriving the original rules (War rules) of their home advantage, and attempting to slowly cover and rewrite them.

Consumption: Extremely terrifying! Maintaining the semi-substantive river and the actively expanding principles of civilization network for one second consumes 2000 points of Divine Power (far exceeding Lin Zhou's limit, currently supported by burning the Origin of his divinity + ancient bronze lamp, unsustainable).

The golden rule network, like the gentlest yet most overbearing flowing water, swept over the wound in the barrier at the edge of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom, immersing itself in the “fragile” territory that had become so due to rule leakage and disorder.

A miracle, or rather, a “mutation” that left all observers dumbfounded, occurred!

In the divine kingdom territory covered by the golden network (initial scope occupying about 5% of Xuanyuan Hong's total divine kingdom area, rapidly expanding as the network Advanced), the changes were visible to the naked eye and clearly layered:

First Layer: Rule Stabilization and “De-Warlikeization.” The originally violent, leaking, and flickering War rules, under the sorting of the golden network, quickly became smooth and stable. Their color rapidly faded and lightened from dark red, eventually transforming into a relatively neutral pale golden background rule field. In this area, the extreme attributes of “War” were greatly weakened, as if it had transformed from a “battlefield” into “land awaiting construction.”

Second Layer: Environmental Manifestation and Transformation. On the pale golden background rule field, faint phantoms began to appear out of thin air—the outline of Jixia Academy! Although far less solid than in Lin Zhou's divine kingdom, the phantoms of flying eaves, archways, lecture halls, and sutra pillars were clearly discernible! At the same time, faint crisscrossing field paths (School of Agriculture) and simple square and compass patterns (Mohist School) appeared on the ground. This land was being forcibly “civilized”!

Third Layer: Vassal Infection and Transformation. The Spartan War Souls located in this encroached area underwent the most drastic and shocking changes!

The bronze-colored phantom armor on their bodies began to change color from cold bronze to a warmer, more humanistic dark gold or grayish-blue, and even extremely faint textual patterns (proto-seal script, clerical script) began to appear on them!

The light of the Doric Spear and the Aspis Shield in their hands, symbolizing slaughter and conquest, rapidly dimmed, and their forms began to blur and soften! The sharpness of the spear faded, looking more like a straight ceremonial staff or a ruler; the defensive feel of the giant shield weakened, its outline leaning towards the shape of a writing desk or a stele!

Most astonishing were their movements and expressions! The flames in their eyes, which had burned with cold War, quickly extinguished, replaced by the blankness of newborn infants, followed by the confusion and curiosity of encountering new knowledge! Their originally absolutely stable combat will, born only for battle, melted away like ice and snow under the pervasive infection of the principles of civilization!

A War Soul in the front row dropped its spear with a “clank,” and before it hit the ground, it twisted and deformed in the golden light, turning into a phantom of a giant brush, and then slowly dissipated. It raised its hands blankly, looking at its empty palms, and then, as if pulled by an invisible force, slowly bent down and picked up a phantom of a bamboo slip scroll, also made of golden light, from the ground where phantoms had appeared! It held the scroll in both hands, standing rigidly, its gaze under the helmet blankly “watching” the bamboo slip, as if trying to understand the non-existent text on it.

The War Souls next to it were also like this; some abandoned their shields, some let go of their spears, each like a War machine that had been pressed with a stop button, and then in the golden light, they either picked up scrolls, or held phantom carving knives, or stared blankly at the simple star map (astronomy) phantoms that appeared... They laid down their swords, picked up scrolls (phantoms), transforming from pure War Souls into bewildered “civilization apprentices”!

Fourth Layer: Accelerated Reverse Erosion. As the first batch of War Souls were transformed, their War rule links with Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom core were forcibly weakened or even severed! This greatly reduced the resistance to the expansion of the principles of civilization network, which then snowballed, eroding deeper into Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom along the rule Veins (veins/channels).

10%...15%...20%...25%...30%!!!

Within a mere dozen seconds, while Xuanyuan Hong was desperately trying to calm the divine office conflict, repair the spatial wounds, and reorganize the War rules, Lin Zhou's principles of civilization, fueled by burning everything, actually eroded, covered, and transformed a full thirty percent of Xuanyuan Hong's divine kingdom territory with overwhelming force! Over fifteen hundred Spartan War Souls were temporarily “disarmed” and “civilized,” and large areas of the divine kingdom's land were imbued with the phantoms and Order of civilization!

On the encroached territory, the pale golden rule field flowed stably, with faint outlines of Jixia Academy and other buildings appearing and disappearing, and countless War Souls blankly holding books, forming an absurd, shocking, and incredibly magnificent scene—civilization, in the most domineering yet gentle way, was transforming the territory of War into a seedbed of thought!

“This... this is impossible!!!” Xuanyuan Hong finally completely suppressed the divine office conflict and repaired most of the spatial wounds, but when he “saw” the shocking pale golden area within his divine kingdom and the “dazed” appearance of his subordinate War Souls, his perpetually cold and majestic composure finally showed cracks! It was the shock and anger, and a trace of unbelievable fear, brought by his faith being shaken, his power being “defiled,” and his cognition being overturned!

His War, his Dao, had actually been “polluted” by the opponent in such an unheard-of manner!

As for Lin Zhou, after achieving this astounding reversal by driving the principles of civilization, the power sustained by burning the Origin of his divinity and relying on the ancient bronze lamp finally ran out. The semi-substantive phantom of the river of civilization quickly dimmed and retracted, once again becoming a faint phantom encircling his divine kingdom, which had shrunk to less than 50 square kilometers. His last shred of consciousness, like a burnt-out candle, completely plunged into darkness.

But before his consciousness sank, what he last perceived was Xuanyuan Hong's chaotic aura of shock and anger, yet having to temporarily halt his offensive and fully deal with the internal “civilization pollution,” the teammates' spiritual fluctuations of post-disaster survival, filled with shock and ecstasy, and... the utterly uncontrolled horror and uproar that erupted like a mountain collapse and sea tsunami after a moment of deathly silence in the Dome Arena!

The principles of civilization, first showed their Divine Might. The tide of battle, from then on, completely turned!