359: Chapter 294: The Efficacy of Tea Trees, Assisting in the Deduction of New Divine Arts

Hundred Schools Divine Kingdom, Core Area.

The valley was quiet, with Spiritual Qi as dense as mist. The enlightenment tea tree seedling transplanted here, under the daily nourishment of the Fire of Civilization, appeared increasingly lush and vibrant with spiritual light. Seven leaves, shaped like fine jade with veins resembling Dao patterns, stretched quietly; three of them had developed a thin layer of translucent white fuzz on their edges that radiated an alluring Dao rhyme—this marked that they had reached the "Elementary" maturity level available in their current state.

Lin Zhou sat cross-legged on a blue stone not far from the tea tree, with a simple set of jade tea utensils laid out before him. He did not rush to harvest but first closed his eyes, adjusting his breathing to allow his mind to settle completely.

Over the past few days, he had not used this precious enlightenment tea. On one hand, he wanted the tea tree to stabilize and adapt to its new environment; on the other hand, he was also digesting the vast amount of information and insights gained from his recent high-intensity special training, especially the deep reflections on "rule application" and "inter-civilization warfare" brought about by his consecutive battles against the Zerg Mother Empress and the Mechanical Prime God.

Many ideas, inspirations, and tactical prototypes swirled in his mind like scattered pearls, yet they could not be strung into a truly valuable "necklace" due to the lack of a sufficiently tough and spiritual "thread." He vaguely felt that he had touched a certain threshold—one that could integrate the Hundred Schools of Thought, the power of the river of civilization, and a deeper understanding of rules into a brand-new, more strategically deterrent means.

But inspiration was always fleeting, and the scrutiny of details and the construction of rules required extreme focus and Comprehension Ability.

"It is time." Lin Zhou opened his eyes, his gaze clear and firm. He extended his fingertips, wrapping them in Divine Power, and carefully plucked the three enlightenment tea leaves whose edges shimmered with white light.

The moment the leaves left the branch, a more fragrant and mellow scent that pierced the Soul permeated the air, causing even the Spiritual Qi in the surrounding valley to ripple gently. The tea tree's own light dimmed slightly, but it soon returned to normal under the radiance of the Fire of Civilization, beginning to slowly nurture new leaves.

Lin Zhou took one leaf and placed it into a warm jade cup. Then, he drew a stream of the purest Spirit Spring Water from the core of the Divine Kingdom—this spring water had been soaked at the source of the river of civilization and nourished by the rules of the Divine Kingdom, making it no ordinary water. He used a civil fire (simulated with Divine Power) to slowly bring it to a boil; as the steam rose, miniature scenes of civilization faintly flickered in and out of existence.

The boiling water poured like a thread into the jade cup.

"Chiii..."

A slight sound, as if the first note of the Dao had been struck. The emerald leaf slowly unfurled in the boiling water, like a sleeping Fairy awakening and dancing gracefully. The original emerald green gradually transformed into a warm jasper hue that seemed to contain a galaxy within. Even more astonishingly, as the leaf unfurled, a thin but clearly visible current of Chaos naturally emerged above the cup, intertwining with the Dao rhyme emitted by the leaf itself to evolve into various mysterious and profound miniature runes and natural phenomena—like clouds rolling and unrolling, stars being born and extinguished, and plants flourishing and withering!

Just by watching and smelling, Lin Zhou felt as if his Divine Soul had been washed, becoming clearer and more transparent than ever before, while his thinking activity and perceptual sensitivity began to climb at an incredible speed!

He no longer hesitated, picked up the jade cup, and drank the enlightenment tea in one gulp.

The tea entered his mouth, slightly bitter at first, then turning into an indescribable sweetness, like a warm and vast current of wisdom instantly flowing through his limbs and bones, finally surging straight into his Sea of Consciousness!

"Boom—!!!"

It wasn't a real roar, but a violent vibration and sublimation at the level of consciousness!

In an instant, Lin Zhou felt as if his "thinking" had broken free from some invisible shackles, entering an unprecedented "overclocked" state! His vision (internal observation) was incomparably clear; every thought represented by a wave in the river of civilization, every fragment of foreign civilization knowledge absorbed, and even every trace of the rules' trajectories within his own godhead became perfectly visible and distinct!

Rule problems that previously required long periods of painstaking meditation to even begin to grasp now had several possible analytical paths and optimization solutions automatically emerge with just a thought! Those scattered tactical inspirations and insights were rapidly linked, combined, and deduced as if by an invisible hand, striking even more and finer sparks!

Enlightenment State (Temporary) activated!

Comprehension Ability increase: +100% (Based on base Comprehension Ability; actual thinking speed, depth of understanding, and frequency of inspiration bursts grow exponentially).

Rule Perception: Insight and analysis efficiency of personal and environmental rules increased by 300%.

Information Processing: Divine Sense bandwidth and Information Processing speed temporarily increased to 500% of the normal state.

Duration: Approximately 1 hour (Divine Kingdom time).

Side Effects: None (The effect of enlightenment tea is gentle and pure). After the effect ends, he will enter about 12 hours of "Sage Time" (Inspiration returns to normal, but memories and insights are retained).

"Time is precious!" Lin Zhou's thoughts moved like lightning as he immediately focused his entire mind on the prototype of the "new divine art" he had been conceiving for a long time.

The inspiration for this divine art came from reflections on multiple battles, especially the [Undying Civilization Barrier] that was difficult to maintain when fighting the God King's resentful spirit in the Ancient Battlefield, as well as various attempts to influence the battle by defining rules during subsequent simulated combat. He yearned for a more proactive, flexible, and controllable way to use rules—a Domain-type strategic skill that could temporarily bring a local area of spacetime under his own "principles."

He called it—[Scroll of Civilization]!

As the name implies, using civilization as the brush, rules as the ink, and a portion of spacetime as the paper to draw a "scroll" temporarily dominated by his own will!

The concept was grand, but the specific implementation involved too many problems:

Spatiotemporal Anchoring and Stripping: How to briefly "strip" a piece of real spacetime from the original rules of the Universe to form a relatively independent "canvas"? This required extremely high attainment in spatial rules and massive Divine Power support.

Temporary Rule Writing and Overwriting: How to quickly write and overwrite his own established temporary rules within the stripped spacetime? This required an extremely deep and flexible understanding and application of the "principles" (the rules manifested from the Hundred Schools of Thought) he possessed.

Stability and Consumption: How to maintain the stability of this "scroll" and prevent it from being rapidly assimilated by the external rules of the Universe or collapsing from within? This would inevitably be accompanied by huge consumption of Divine Power and mental energy.

Balance of Range and Duration: The larger the range and the more complex the rule writing, the consumption would grow exponentially, and the duration would inevitably shorten. How to find the optimal balance point?

Any one of these problems would normally be enough for Lin Zhou to spend months or even years slowly pondering. But with the extreme Comprehension Ability boost from the enlightenment tea, his mind was like the most efficient supercomputer, performing deductions, trial and error, and optimization at an unprecedented speed!

He first started with the most familiar "Foundation"—the river of civilization.

"The river carries civilization and flows through spacetime, inherently possessing the characteristics of 'recording' and 'evolving'... Perhaps the phantom of the river can be used as the base and framework of the 'scroll,' using its inclusiveness to buffer the impact of external rules, and its recorded principles of civilization as the 'material library' and 'grammatical Foundation' for temporary rule writing..."

His consciousness sank into the river, and rule fragments contained in countless waves were rapidly extracted, analyzed, and reorganized. The "Order" of the School of Confucianism, the "Law" of the School of Legalism, the "Structure" of the School of Mohism, the "Spontaneity" of the School of Daoism, the "Change" of the School of Military... even the reverse understanding of the "Life Network" and "Absolute Logic" obtained from the confrontations with the Zerg and Mechanical civilizations became the bricks and tiles for constructing the "Scroll Rules."

Next was spatial rules. He recalled the spatial fluctuations when he used the [Civilization Ark Engine] for jumping, the feeling of encountering spatial turbulence in the Ancient Battlefield, and the theories about "Divine Kingdom expansion and spatial overlap" in academy courses... Combining the imagery of the river of civilization "flowing through myriad worlds," a bold concept gradually took shape—not to tear through space with brute force, but to "permeate" and "define" local space with the principles of civilization, making it temporarily "identify" itself as part of the scroll, thereby achieving an effect similar to "stripping" and "overwriting."

"Just like ink spreading on Xuan paper, my principles of civilization are the ink, and the target spacetime is the paper... The key lies in the rate and depth of 'permeation,' as well as the concentration and stability of the 'ink' (rules)..."

[part:gemini-3.1-flash-lite]

Next was the construction of the Divine Power model.

This was an extremely delicate and dangerous task, requiring the design of special operational circuits capable of efficiently converting Divine Power into "Spacetime Infiltration Force" and "Rule Writing Force," while ensuring it would not collapse or backfire during operation.

Leveraging the super-strong computational power of his Enlightenment State, Lin Zhou constructed thousands of simulated Divine Power models in his consciousness, rapidly testing, discarding, and optimizing them.

Time flew by during the deep deduction process.

Sparks of inspiration brought by the enlightenment tea tree burst forth wildly, as one problem after another was raised and then overcome or bypassed through various ingenious ideas.

Lin Zhou's expression shifted between solemnity and relaxation, occasionally flashing with the joy of sudden enlightenment.

Around his body, a faint glow of civilization began to emanate unconsciously.

Within the glow, miniature, constantly shifting phantoms of a "scroll" flickered in and out of existence—sometimes a plain covered by a golden web of laws, sometimes a valley modified by Mohist Mechanisms, and other times a bamboo forest where the literary energy of the Confucian school fell as fine rain.

These phantoms were extremely unstable, often twisting and dissipating after a mere moment, but each dissipation allowed Lin Zhou to deepen his understanding of the 【Scroll of Civilization】 and further perfect the Divine Power model he was building.

Inside the divine kingdom, because Lin Zhou's deep deduction involved core rules, a subtle resonance was produced.

The light of the "Sun of Civilization" in the sky accelerated its flow, the rushing sound of the river of civilization seemed clearer, and even the evolved kin could vaguely feel an inexplicable, soothing, yet majestic rhythmic rule echoing throughout the heaven and earth of the divine kingdom.

Although Su Yueyao, Qin Qing, Li Mo, and the others were outside the divine kingdom (at the Academy), they could vaguely sense the extraordinary rule fluctuations within Lin Zhou's divine kingdom through their faith links and divine kingdom marks.

They knew Lin Zhou was in seclusion deducing an important technique, so they all silently watched over him and ensured the members of the Society did not disturb him.

As the one-hour peak effect of the Enlightenment Tea was coming to an end, deep within Lin Zhou's consciousness, a relatively complete, stable, and theoretically feasible 【Scroll of Civilization】 divine technique model finally emerged clearly, like a work of art tempered through thousands of trials!

The model was dizzyingly complex, composed of over three thousand basic Divine Power runes nested in specific sequences and geometric structures.

Its core was the projection circuit of the river of civilization, the periphery consisted of dual arrays for spacetime infiltration and rule writing, and the center used his understanding of the Hundred Schools of Thought as a "converter" and "rule library."

【Divine Technique Deduction Complete: Scroll of Civilization (V1.0)】

Essence: Strategic-level Domain divine technique.

Temporarily overwrites and rewrites the rules of a region of space and time using one's own principles of civilization.

Activation Process:

Anchoring and Infiltration: Consumes Divine Power, using the phantom of the river of civilization as a guide to "mark" and "penetrate" the target area at the rule level, causing it to temporarily break away from the influence of some of the original environment's rules (depending on the strength of the target area's rules), forming a "canvas."

Deployment and Painting: Projects the pre-constructed "scroll model" onto the "canvas," consuming Divine Power and mental energy to rapidly write and activate up to 5 temporary rules based on one's own Hundred Schools of Thought (rules or frameworks must be pre-set before activation).

Maintenance and Dissipation: Continually injects Divine Power to maintain the existence of the scroll, resisting external rule assimilation and internal rule conflict.

After the duration ends, the scroll automatically dissipates, and the regional rules gradually return to their original state.

Core Parameters (Current Deduction Version):

Influence Range: A spherical area with a maximum diameter of 500 meters (range is inversely proportional to rule complexity and duration).

Rule Formulation Limit: 5 rules (can be combined, but must be logically consistent and cannot exceed the limit of one's own understanding of the corresponding "Dao").

Duration: 10 minutes (Divine Power is continuously consumed during maintenance).

Divine Power Consumption:

Activation (Anchoring, Infiltration, Deployment): 5000 Divine Power.

Maintenance (per minute): 500 Divine Power.

Total (10 minutes full capacity): 10000 Divine Power.

Cooldown: 24 hours (Divine Kingdom time).

Because it involves deep rule interference, time is needed to soothe the burden on the Divine Soul and divinity.

Casting Requirements: Requires high concentration, with a channeling time of about 3-5 seconds (depending on proficiency), during which it is easily interrupted.

Effect Examples (Examples of rule entries based on current understanding):

Rule 1: "Within this Domain, all flight not approved by me is illegal." (No-Fly Zone)

Rule 2: "Energy attack intensity reduced by 30%." (Weakening)

Rule 3: "All attributes of friendly units increased by 15%." (Buff)

Rule 4: "Confusion and mental control effects are ineffective." (Mental Protection)

Rule 5: "The ground turns into quicksand, movement speed reduced by 50%." (Environmental Change)

(Note: Actual rule effect intensity, range, and priority are affected by the depth of rule understanding, Divine Power gap, and environmental factors of both sides.)

Risks:

Massive consumption; once activated, if a decisive advantage cannot be gained within the duration, one will fall into an extremely passive position.

If the enemy's rule understanding far exceeds one's own, or if they possess powerful means to break Domains, the scroll could be forcibly shattered from the outside or collapse prematurely due to internal rule conflicts, causing a backlash.

Over-reliance may lead to tactical rigidity.

The model was complete, but it still required an actual, small-scale test to verify its feasibility and adjust details.

Lin Zhou exited the deep deduction state.

Although the effect of the Enlightenment Tea had passed and his mind was slightly fatigued, his eyes shone with excitement and anticipation.

He stood up and went to a desolate valley in the divine kingdom specifically used for testing divine techniques.

Taking a deep breath, he mobilized the divine technique model he had just finished deducing.

With a thought, the phantom of the river of civilization flowed out from behind him, and a strange fluctuation that seemed capable of rewriting reality began to spread from him as the center.

"Scroll of Civilization... Deploy!"

Amidst a low shout, Lin Zhou locked onto an area about thirty meters in diameter, a hundred meters ahead, and channeled his Divine Power!

Hum—!

The pale golden glow of civilization, like mercury spilling onto the ground, rapidly infiltrated the space of the target area.

The scene in that area seemed to be shrouded in a layer of transparent, shimmering crystal, creating a subtle "sense of separation" from the surrounding environment.

Immediately afterward, within the glow, a virtual "scroll" outlined by simple lines and containing the essence of "imprisonment" and "heaviness" flashed and vanished!

【Temporary Rule Writing (Test): 1. Gravity in this Domain increased threefold; 2. Energy leakage speed reduced by 50%.】

Instantly, in the area shrouded by the "scroll," the air seemed to solidify, the ground sank slightly, and several rocks used for testing let out groans of being unable to bear the weight.

Everything within the area became sluggish and heavy.

Success!

Although the range was small, the rules simple, and the duration only maintained for less than a minute (consuming about 800 Divine Power), the basic framework and effects of the 【Scroll of Civilization】 had been verified!

Feeling the drain of Divine Power within him and the slight mental fatigue, a satisfied smile appeared on Lin Zhou's face.

The consumption was indeed terrifying, but the effect was absolutely Heaven-Defying!

Imagine, at a critical moment, incorporating the enemy's core elite or a key area into the "scroll" and temporarily enacting several rules extremely unfavorable to them... This would be enough to change the battle situation in an instant!

"With this technique, combined with the continuous production of the Enlightenment Tea... in the upcoming tournament, our tactical options will be richer, and our trump cards will be even more unpredictable." Lin Zhou felt full of confidence.

He dispersed the divine technique, and the area quickly returned to normal.

Although the test was successful, he knew this was just the beginning.

The real difficulty lay in how to quickly and accurately formulate the most effective "scroll rules" in complex and ever-changing actual combat, and how to coordinate with other teammates and the Hundred Schools Battle Array to maximize the power of this strategic divine technique.

"Next, it's about familiarization, optimization, and... secrecy." Lin Zhou's eyes were deep.

Such a Heaven-Defying divine technique must be kept hidden as an absolute trump card before the Universe Academy Tournament.

He turned and looked at the enlightenment tea tree growing quietly under the nourishment of the Fire of Civilization, his heart full of gratitude.

Without its assistance, the deduction of this divine technique would have required at least several more years of hard work.

Three tea leaves every day meant three precious opportunities for deep enlightenment and deduction every day.

This Innate spiritual root had already become an indispensable treasure on his path to preparing for battle.

"It's time to go out." Lin Zhou's figure disappeared from the divine kingdom.

Outside, the next stage of special training was waiting for him and his companions.

And in his pack, there was quietly added a "Scroll of Civilization" capable of painting the heavens and earth at a critical moment.