61: The final showdown: A hundred schools of thought unite to vanquish evil (Part 2)

The Fire of Civilization, weak as a bean, seemed to contain the prayers and legacies of all intelligent beings since the dawn of creation. It was no longer mere energy, but a concrete manifestation of all positive concepts such as 'Order', 'Creation', 'Legacy', and 'Hope'!

When Lin Zhou's fingertip, imbued with the will of the Hundred Schools, collided with Lich Salazar's Finger of Death—which concentrated the ultimate concepts of 'Death', 'Ending', and 'Nothingness'—

There was no world-shaking explosion, no tidal wave of energy impact.

There was only a more fundamental, intense annihilation and silent screeching at the level of rules!

That speck of deathly darkness that devoured everything, the moment it touched the Fire of Civilization, was like snow meeting a blazing sun, letting out a silent wail! The rules of death that constituted the Finger of Death appeared so narrow, so fragile, and so... out of place before the flame that encompassed all things and represented the continuation of life and the progress of civilization!

Sizzle—

It was like a red-hot iron searing into accumulated snow.

The deathly darkness dissolved and collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye, and the instant-death rules contained within were forcibly neutralized and overwritten by the concept of 'Life' within the Fire of Civilization! That terrifying power, capable of instantly killing a deity, actually vanished into nothingness under this seemingly nonchalant finger!

"No... Impossible!!!" Salazar's eternally cold Soul-fire flickered violently for the first time, letting out an unbelievable spiritual shriek! "What power is this?! This isn't Divine Power! This is... the world's rejection?! The rules' loathing?!"

It couldn't understand! It had traversed the Astral Realm for thousands of years and devoured countless civilizations, yet it had never seen such a bizarre and restrictive power! This power seemed naturally born to be the nemesis of undead existences like itself!

Not only was the Finger of Death broken, but the chains of Order, transformed from the will of the School of Legalism, had already coiled around its robes and skeletal arms. Although they couldn't completely imprison it, they greatly restricted its movement and casting speed! The School of Military's Battle Intent made the coalition's counterattack sharper; the School of Mohism's analysis made it feel as if its Spell structures were being spied upon; the School of Diplomacy's interference left it flustered; and the School of Names' obfuscation even caused a trace of sluggishness in its control over its own power!

With the balance of power shifting, Lich Salazar actually fell into a brief state of passivity!

"Now is the time!" Lin Zhou gritted his teeth, enduring the massive burden of guiding the resonance of seven schools of thought simultaneously. The cracks on his Godhead seemed to widen slightly, but the light in his eyes was more blazing than ever before! "Zhao Hao! Student Yue Yao! Elwin! Attack! Its power is temporarily suppressed!"

He didn't need to remind them; all the powerhouses present seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

"Old man! Take a strike from your Grandpa Zhao!" Zhao Hao roared. Merging with the Young Golden Dragon, he transformed into a comet burning with golden Divine Power, tearing through the air as his dragon lance pierced directly toward the Lich's skull! This strike contained all his fury and power, as well as the empowerment of the School of Military's "Fierce as Fire," making its potency far exceed his usual level!

Su Yueyao waved her jade-like hand, and the phantom of a bright moon emerged behind her! Moonlight Divine Judgment! A beam of moon-white light, refined to the extreme and appearing capable of purifying all the filth in the world, descended like a heavenly punishment to envelop the Lich. Moonlight Power and death energy collided violently, producing a piercing "sizzling" sound.

Elwin pointed her longsword toward the sky, and all the Vast Righteous Qi gathered at the tip, transforming into a giant sword of light that spanned heaven and earth! Righteous Judgment: Slay Evil! The giant sword fell ruthlessly, carrying the majestic authority of Order that judges all things!

Bronzebeard, Barrend, Snik (who had just fought his way out from the direction of the Arcane Laboratory)... all the heroes and coalition elites who still had combat capability unleashed their strongest attacks at this moment!

Countless colorful attacks with different attributes but a single target converged like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, blasting from all directions toward Lich Salazar, who was temporarily bound by the chains of rules and shaken in spirit!

At this moment, it was no longer a duel between a deity and a Lich, but a collective crusade by the entire coalition and the entire civilization camp against the deathly evil!

"Ants! How dare you—!!!" Salazar let out a desperate and frenzied roar. It desperately channeled the staff of annihilation, attempting to prop up its strongest defensive barrier and summon undead shields... but it was too late!

Under the suppression of the resonance of the Hundred Schools of Thought, its spellcasting was delayed by a single instant! And in a duel between masters, that instant was the difference between life and death!

Rumble—!!!!!!!!!

An unprecedentedly massive explosion erupted at the center of the crossroads! A terrifying energy storm swept out, upturning the ground and toppling stone pillars as a blinding light swallowed everything!

After unleashing that Finger of Civilization, Lin Zhou was exhausted. The phantoms of the sages from the seven schools dissipated, and the projection of the Temple of Civilization faded. He spat out a large mouthful of divine blood and slumped down, caught just in time by Elwin. He stared fixedly at the center of the explosion.

Zhao Hao, Su Yueyao, and the others were also forced back repeatedly by the energy shockwave, looking on tensely.

The light gradually faded.

At the center of the explosion, Lich Salazar's crystalline skeletal body was covered in dense cracks, like a piece of porcelain about to shatter. Its magnificent lich robes were in tatters, and the staff of annihilation in its hand was dull and lusterless. The Soul-fire in its eye sockets was so weak it seemed it could go out at any moment.

It had suffered unprecedentedly heavy damage!

"Did... did we win?" a coalition soldier murmured.

However, Salazar let out a low and eerie laugh: "Heh... Hahahaha... Foolish! What if you destroy this shell? As long as my phylactery is not destroyed, I am eternal! On the day of my Rebirth, I shall..."

Its words came to an abrupt halt.

Because Lin Zhou, who had been monitoring the direction of the Arcane Laboratory through their mental link, curled his lips into a cold smile.

"Salazar, why do you think we would exhaust all our strength to lure you out of the Throne Room and fight you here?"

The Lich's Soul-fire froze suddenly, and an extremely ominous premonition surged in its heart.

Just then, from the right-hand passage (the direction of the Arcane Laboratory), Clever Hands Mibo's scream, distorted with excitement, spread across the field through the mental link:

"Found it! We found it! The Lich's Phylactery! It was hidden in a secret compartment in the laboratory, forged from Void Shadow Iron, and wrapped in twelve layers of Soul-isolation and anti-divination barriers! But... but Boss Snik used the nether-skeleton dissipation powder given by the Dominator earlier to destroy the energy nodes of the barriers! We have it!!"

Snik Shadowclaw's small but incredibly agile figure dashed out from the tunnel entrance. He held high a metal box about a foot square, completely pitch-black as if it could absorb all light! The surface of the box was covered in flowing, eerie runes, emitting a Soul fluctuation that shared the same source as Salazar's but was more subtle and core!

It was precisely the Lich's Phylactery!

"No—!!!" Salazar let out a roar of absolute desperation, its Soul-fire leaping frantically as it tried to rush over and snatch it!

But it was already too late!

"Smash it!" Lin Zhou roared with the last of his strength.

Without any hesitation, Snik slammed the phylactery hard against the ground! Simultaneously, the nearby Moon Elf Ranger fired an arrow enchanted with moonlight, Zhao Hao added a blast of Dragon Breath, and Su Yueyao called down a purifying lunar flame... In the instant before all the attacks landed, Salazar's final curse, filled with endless resentment and unwillingness, came from within the phylactery: "I... curse you all..."

Boom!!!!

Under the combined force of the various powers, the Lich's Phylactery exploded! It turned into countless black fragments and was finally completely annihilated within the moonlight and righteous qi, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.

At the same time, the crack-riddled lich shell seemed to lose all support. The Soul-fire in its eyes instantly went out, and with a clatter, it completely fell apart, turning into a pile of lifeless bones.

The staff of annihilation and the lich robes also lost all their spiritual light and fell to the ground.

The once insufferably arrogant Lich Salazar had completely fallen with the destruction of its phylactery!

Silence, a deathly silence, enveloped the battlefield.

A second later, deafening cheers of survival after the disaster erupted from the mouth of every coalition soldier like a mountain tsunami!

"We won! We won!"

"The Lich is dead!"

"Long live the lord of civilization! Long live the coalition!"

The surviving soldiers, whether injured or not, embraced and wept, venting the excitement and joy in their hearts to their hearts' content.

Zhao Hao jumped down from the dragon's back, strode up to Lin Zhou, and slapped his shoulder heavily (nearly shattering the weakened Lin Zhou), laughing loudly: "Old Lin! Awesome! So damn awesome! I, Zhao Hao, have never respected anyone in my life, but today I'm truly impressed by you!"

Su Yueyao also walked over, her cool gaze containing an irrepressible admiration and a hint of complexity: "Student Lin Zhou, you have performed the greatest service in exterminating this evil. The thoughts of the Hundred Schools... are indeed extraordinarily profound."

Elwin supported Lin Zhou, looking at her master with eyes full of pride and worship.

Lin Zhou smiled weakly. Looking at the cheering crowd, the comrades-in-arms who fought side-by-side, and the pile of bones representing the end of evil, his heart was filled with exhaustion, but even more so, a sense of unprecedented fulfillment and enlightenment.

In this battle, he had nearly exhausted everything, and his Godhead was severely damaged, but the gains were also immense. His understanding and application of the thoughts of the Hundred Schools had reached a new height, and the Temple of Civilization seemed to have become more solid because of it. More importantly, he had proven the potential and power of the Way of Civilization.

However, while everyone was immersed in the joy of victory, no one noticed that at the tip of the staff of annihilation—which lay on the ground, seemingly devoid of spiritual light—the dark gem that had been constantly pulsing had a tiny, almost imperceptible, deeper and darker light at its core. Like a sleeping eye, it very slowly... blinked once.