337: Chapter 338 New God-Defying Bond Effect

During this time on the Velos Continent, Lin Muyang never stopped exploring and mastering his cheats.

The God-Tier Auras within him, as complex as a sea of stars and interwoven with countless rule fragments, were themselves an endless treasure waiting to be excavated. Many individual Aura effects were already world-shaking, but when combined and resonated in specific ways, they could trigger bond powers beyond imagination.

Coming to the Velos Continent, where magic elements are active and rules are relatively basic, provided him with a relatively quiet testing ground.

In the intervals while waiting for the convergence of Yin and Yang, he had been trying to combine and debug God-Tier Auras of different natures and domains.

Among the many God-Tier Auras, the powers of the Space and Time series belong to the highest level, closest to the essence of the universe, no matter which world it is. Lin Muyang naturally possessed relevant God-Tier Auras.

One of them was Space Solidification. The effect of this Aura directly acts on space itself.

Once activated, the spatial structure within the Aura's coverage becomes exceptionally firm and stagnant, as if flowing river water turned into frozen soil. Its direct manifestation is cutting off the flow of spatial energy within range, making any skill relying on spatial jumping, teleportation, or even partially utilizing spatial characteristics for enhancement (such as an assassin's Blink or a mage's short-range teleportation) completely ineffective. This partially overlaps with the effect of another God-Tier Aura, [Space Interruption].

But the uniqueness of [Space Solidification] lies in it giving space itself a viscous resistance. Targets within the Aura's range, whether moving, attacking, or casting spells, will feel an invisible hindrance originating from the spatial level, as if moving in high-density glue.

The higher the target's level and the stronger their base attributes, the stronger their resistance to this spatial hindrance, and the relatively smaller the impact. Because of this, when facing opponents whose strength far exceeds the level of the Velos Continent, the control effect of this Aura is not prominent, so Lin Muyang rarely used it alone before.

Another one was Time Deceleration. The effect of this Aura is more direct—acting on the flow of time. With Lin Muyang's current attribute strength, when fully activated, it can slow down the time flow of the entire world to about one-third of normal; that is, while one second passes outside, only about 0.3 seconds pass inside the Aura. This is undoubtedly a terrifying strategic-level ability, invaluable when encountering strong enemies and needing to gain reaction or charging time.

But the reality is that the opponents Lin Muyang has encountered so far, whether Mythical-grade Demonic Creatures from Blue Star and Atlantis, or Dragon Riders and imperial elites from the Velos Continent, have an insurmountable gap in paper strength compared to him. Often, no control or support Auras are needed; the Cooperative Linkage attacks of the young ladies or his own attribute crushing can easily solve the problem.

Therefore, the powerful Aura [Time Deceleration] also seemed somewhat like a hero with no place to use his skills.

However, while he was quietly pondering on the Velos Continent and trying to link the powers of different Auras at a deeper level, an accidental—or rather, inevitable attempt based on a deep understanding of the rules—brought an amazing discovery.

When he simultaneously activated the two God-Tier Auras, Space Solidification and Time Deceleration, with a specific frequency and resonance, an unexpected chemical reaction occurred!

The powers of the two Auras did not simply stack; instead, they produced wonderful interference and resonance! The ultimate solidification of the spatial structure and the forced slowing of the time flow formed a nearly paradoxical yet real absolute equilibrium within the area covered by the dual Auras!

A brand new, powerful bond effect was activated!

Lin Muyang named it—Absolute Stillness.

When the bond takes effect, centered on Lin Muyang, within a spherical area with a radius of about ten meters (the specific range expands with the improvement of his mental attributes and control over the Auras), the flow of space and time enters a state of absolute stagnation.

This is not a metaphor. In this area, air molecules stop Brownian motion, light is frozen on its path of travel, energy fluctuations are frozen at the moment of transmission, and all microscopic and macroscopic physical processes, chemical reactions, and even mental ripples at the soul level are completely solidified, like a video with the pause button pressed.

But the most incredible thing is that this effect of Absolute Stillness is ineffective against Lin Muyang himself. He is like the only observer and actor with permissions in this frozen space-time. He can move freely, observe, and even... attack the frozen objects within this domain of Absolute Stillness.

This means that any attack from the outside—whether physical swords and arrows, magic fireballs and ice cones, mental shocks and curses, or even weirder rule-based damage—will have its motion forcibly stopped the moment it enters this domain of Absolute Stillness. It's like hitting an invisible Wall of Sighs composed of space-time itself, unable to cause even the slightest damage to Lin Muyang at the center of the domain.

Absolute defense! No, it's an existence exemption that goes a step further than absolute defense! As long as he is within the Absolute Stillness domain, Lin Muyang can theoretically ignore any form of attack or damage.

Of course, such a heaven-defying effect comes with an extremely high price.

The Absolute Stillness bond does not consume ordinary mana or stamina, but directly drains Lin Muyang's mental power, and the consumption speed is terrifying. With his current vast mental power, which has been strengthened countless times and is thousands of times greater than that of experts at the same level, he can only sustain the Absolute Stillness domain for about forty minutes at most while simultaneously maintaining other commonly used Attribute Amplification Auras.

If he turns off other Auras and focuses all his mental power on maintaining Absolute Stillness, the duration might be extended to nearly an hour. However, losing the attribute buffs would cause his overall combat power to drop significantly, which is not a wise move.

"Pity, this bond effect consumes mental power instead of mana, which is easier to recover..." Lin Muyang once thought with some regret.

He has a God-Tier Aura [Soul Tide] that can restore mental power, but its recovery efficiency is linked to his own mental attributes. Under the consumption level of activating Absolute Stillness, the recovery speed of [Soul Tide] is far from keeping up. According to a rough estimate, once he consumes his mental power to near exhaustion, even with [Soul Tide] and natural recovery, it would take at least a dozen hours to fully recover.

This means that Absolute Stillness is currently an ultimate trump card in his hand with peerless power but great usage restrictions. In a battle, there might only be one chance to activate it, and it must be used at the most critical moment.

"However, at this current level range, having this level of life-saving ability is already heaven-defying enough." Lin Muyang quickly adjusted his mindset.

He knew that for every level he gained, the resulting all-attribute growth was a multiple unimaginable to ordinary people. As his level increases and his mental attributes skyrocket, the duration and range of Absolute Stillness, as well as its resistance to higher-level powers, will increase accordingly. Level is always the fundamental cornerstone that carries all powerful abilities. Even with God-Tier Auras, without the attribute support brought by sufficient levels, their true power cannot be unleashed.

His current attributes at level 130+ already allow Absolute Stillness to have a theoretical absolute safety zone when facing enemies at the level 600 godhood stage. This is already one of his greatest reliances for traversing many worlds.

At this moment, in front of the entrance to the strange space where the plane core is located, Lin Muyang decided to use this trump card.

The unknown often means risk. As the most fundamental power core of a world, what might happen around the plane core is something even Feng Ling, who possesses the Phoenix Inheritance memories, cannot fully predict. He could not let Lilia face this uncertainty alone.

"Are you ready?" Lin Muyang confirmed once more.

"Mm!" Lilia held his hand tightly and nodded heavily.

With a thought from Lin Muyang...

Buzz—

An extremely faint, nearly imperceptible strange fluctuation quietly spread out from him as the center, forming a completely transparent spherical force field about ten meters in diameter, enveloping him and Lilia. Inside the force field, light seemed to become somewhat viscous, the sense of air flow completely disappeared, and even sound seemed to be partially absorbed, becoming exceptionally muffled.

Lilia was surprised to find that her action of holding Lin Muyang's arm seemed to have become incredibly stable, without even the slightest tremor. This wasn't because she was controlling it well, but because within this tiny space, all minute disturbances had been smoothed out.

Absolute Stillness was quietly activated.

"Let's go."

Lin Muyang no longer hesitated. Holding Lilia's hand, he stepped into the spatial rift flowing with chaotic colors that led to the world's origin.

After a brief weightlessness that felt like traversing endless colors and reality, the view suddenly opened up.

They found themselves in a pure white space that was difficult to describe accurately with language.

The white here was not monotonous. It was pure, soft, and seemed to contain the starting and ending points of all light spectra. It wasn't dazzling, yet it was full of an unspeakable sense of presence. The space had no clear concept of up, down, left, or right, but one's consciousness could naturally perceive the existence of a center.

There, a pure white sphere of light floated, pulsating slowly.

It was the plane core.

It was not a regular sphere; its surface flowed with ripples like liquid halos. Each slow and powerful pulsation seemed like a breath, a heartbeat of the entire Velos Continent.

Incalculable, extremely pure origin energy, along with its pulsations, spread and nourished like a warm tide towards the entire pure white space and even through the spatial barriers towards the rule pathways of the entire outside world.

It emitted an ancient, vast, inclusive, and great Aura that nurtured all things. Just by looking at it, the soul would feel peaceful, small, and a sense of warmth and safety like returning to the womb.

In the space around the plane core, countless black and white air currents, so solid they were almost physical, permeated and swirled. This was a scene formed by the high concentration and manifestation of Yin-Yang Power.

The black air currents were deep and quiet, representing the silence, inclusion, and reincarnation of "Yin"; the white air currents were warm and active, representing the creation, vitality, and movement of "Yang." They were not static but slowly rotated and intertwined under the rhythmic pull of the plane core's pulsation, forming a huge and harmonious dynamic balance, like a binary star system orbiting a star, constituting the lowest and most fundamental rule cycle of this world.

Gui Wanwan, Feng Ling, and the others were floating not far from the plane core. Their faces were slightly flushed from feeling the world's origin at close range, and their eyes were filled with shock and awe. Seeing Lin Muyang and Lilia appear safely, the two women clearly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly flew closer.

"Master, everything is normal. The state of the plane core is very stable," Gui Wanwan reported softly. Her Underworld Physique did not seem to feel uncomfortable here; instead, those pure "Yin" powers made her feel very comfortable.

Feng Ling pointed to the slowly pulsating pure white light sphere, her molten-gold eyes flashing with excitement and solemnity: "Master, Sister Lilia, we can begin. The absorption process is not complicated. You just need to get close to the plane core, relax your mind, and try to establish resonance with its energy fluctuations. The plane core will recognize and guide the compatible one. The whole process takes about half an hour."

She paused, her tone becoming extremely serious: "But there are a few things that must be kept in mind: First, only beings whose soul origin brand belongs to this realm can absorb the energy of this realm's plane core. For non-native beings, forced contact is not only ineffective but may also trigger a rejection backlash."

As if to verify her words, while maintaining the Absolute Stillness domain, Lin Muyang also tentatively sent out a wisp of perception to gently touch the incredibly pure origin energy tide permeating the space.

Sure enough, the warm energy, as if alive, lightly slid away from his perception, as if he were a drop of oil that could not merge into clear water. No matter how he tried to guide or absorb it, those energies ignored him and could not be absorbed by him at all. The plane core had its own identification mechanism.

"Second," Feng Ling looked at Lilia with encouraging eyes, "when absorbing, you must proceed step by step and not be greedy. The energy level of the plane core is too high. If too much pours in at once, even if your talent is compatible, your soul and body may not be able to withstand it. When you feel you've reached your limit or the plane core stops supplying, you must stop immediately."

"Third, and most importantly," her gaze fell back on the plane core with a trace of complex emotion, "the energy of the plane core is its origin accumulated over hundreds of millions of years. Every time it is successfully drawn for God-Tier Enlightenment, a significant portion is consumed, and it takes a long time to slowly recover."

"In the depths of my bloodline memories, there is even a record of an extremely evil secret technique that can forcibly drain and extract the energy of a plane core in a short time to achieve some unspeakable purpose... but the consequence of doing so is the collapse of this world's rules, the depletion of energy, the severance of vitality, and ultimately leading to complete silence and extinction."

She looked at Lilia and said seriously, "Sister Lilia, you are a child of this world. I think, like me, you would never want to see your homeland destroyed for selfish reasons, right?"

Lilia shook her head vigorously, her light green eyes full of determination: "Of course not! Sister Feng Ling, I only need enough! Just a little bit! I will never hurt this world!"

Lin Muyang nodded approvingly. Draining the pond to catch the fish was not what he wanted, nor was it what Lilia wanted. What he wanted was for Lilia to gain power safely, not to destroy her home.

"Go on, Lilia." Lin Muyang let go of her hand and gently pushed her back, a gentle and trusting smile on his face. "We'll be right here guarding you. Don't worry, I'm here."

The domain of Absolute Stillness still quietly enveloped him and also included Gui Wanwan and Feng Ling, who were standing beside him. This was the first and strongest insurance he had prepared for Lilia's absorption process. Once any unexpected dangerous energy explosion or rule disturbance occurred, this frozen space-time of Absolute Stillness would become the safest haven.

Lilia took a deep breath and looked back at Lin Muyang one last time, gaining endless strength and courage from his eyes. She turned around, facing the slowly pulsating pure white light sphere that emitted a warm and vast Aura, and stepped forward firmly, one step at a time.

As she approached, the pulsation of the plane core seemed to speed up slightly, and the black and white interwoven Yin-Yang air currents around it also seemed to be attracted, swirling more actively.