I can receive unlimited protection; my parents handed me over to the state.

Inside the divine body.

The ocean of rules has been stirred up into a monstrous wave!

The will of Poseidon, the god of the sea, has become utterly enraged!

He mobilized all the power of the rules in this space, transforming them into devastating energy storms that frantically crashed against the golden devouring vortex in the center!

They were trying to crush this audacious thief completely!

Lu Yuan, on the other hand, is like the most solid reef in a stormy sea.

No matter how strong the wind and rain, I remain steadfast and unmoved!

His mind was completely absorbed in analyzing and absorbing the chains of rules that had been swallowed up.

"So this is how the rules of water work..."

"A storm is a combination of water and air..."

"Lightning, it turns out, can also be born from the ocean..."

Countless mysteries about the ocean's most fundamental origins flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.

His understanding of "rules" is improving at an alarming rate!

But soon...

He then encountered a bottleneck.

Poseidon's power of rules is truly immense!

It's like an inexhaustible treasure trove.

Although this "thief" carried a sufficiently large "sack" (devouring vortex), his "appetite" (soul-carrying capacity) was limited!

He could feel that his soul was about to be burst by this massive amount of information about the rules!

If this continues, before he can even finish absorbing the phantom of the sea god, he will perish from "indigestion"!

"Damn it! Was it still too much of a stretch?"

Lu Yuan gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.

For the first time, he felt his own insignificance.

Just when he was about to give up, an ethereal, emotionless voice suddenly resounded deep within his soul.

"Do you need any help?"

"zero?!"

Lu Yuan was startled.

He never expected that Zero could transmit his voice directly into his soul!

"I can help you 'delete' the 'junk information' that you can't digest right now, so you can only absorb the most essential and valuable part."

"However, in exchange, the 'source of rules' generated after the collapse of this divine projection shall belong to me."

She offered zero on her terms.

"The source of the rules?" Lu Yuan was taken aback.

"Every living being made up of rules has a 'singularity' at its core. It is the beginning and end of all rules, and also the most fundamental 'mark' of a world. This is useless to you, but it is very important to me," Zero explained succinctly.

Lu Yuan did not hesitate at all.

"make a deal!"

He's now in a bind! Let alone a "source of rules" he's never even heard of, even if Zero wanted to take half of his spoils, he'd have to swallow his pride and accept it!

"very good."

After receiving Lu Yuan's affirmative answer, Ling stopped arguing.

outside world.

The mysterious girl who had been silently hovering at the edge of the battlefield slowly raised her right hand. Her blue eyes, which seemed to contain the stars and the sea, quietly watched the illusory image of the sea god struggling frantically in the sky. Then, she extended a slender, jade-like finger and gently touched the void.

"Rule deletion - redundant information".

"Buzz—"

An invisible gray wave instantly traversed the distance of space and entered the body of the sea god's phantom.

Inside the divine body.

Lu Yuan, who was struggling to hold on, suddenly felt the pressure on his body lighten abruptly! The massive flow of information that had been surging into his soul like a flood was wiped out by a mysterious force just before it entered his soul, with 99% of it being erased out of thin air!

The remaining one percent, though still enormous, has become the purest and most fundamental source of rules! It's as if someone has highlighted the key points and extracted the central ideas from a multi-million word ancient book, allowing him to absorb and understand it effortlessly!

"This...this is the power of Zero?"

A tidal wave of shock surged through Lu Yuan's mind! This ability to "delete" and "filter" information directly from the dimension of information was a million times more domineering and unreasonable than his "Blessing of All Things," which he still needed to slowly analyze! This was simply a dimensional reduction attack!

"Don't get distracted." Zero's cold voice rang out again. "My power won't last much longer either. Hurry up."

"good!"

Lu Yuan immediately composed himself. He knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! He held nothing back any longer, unleashing his Devouring Vortex to its unprecedented maximum!

"Suck it!!"

"Boom—!!"

outside world.

Everyone saw that the phantom of the sea god, which had been slowly collapsing, suddenly deflated rapidly at a visible speed, like a punctured balloon! His enormous body transformed into a torrent of pure energy, which was frantically devoured by the golden vortex on his chest!

"No--!!"

Amphitrite let out a heart-wrenching scream! She could feel that the projection of the sea god's will left in this world was being completely erased!

"I……"

An ancient sigh, filled with resentment and anger, came from the other end of that enormous blue vortex.

Immediately afterwards, "Bang!!"

The once invincible phantom of the sea god, who reigned supreme over the East Sea, finally succumbed and shattered with a deafening roar! It transformed into a sky full of blue light rain.

In the center of the rain of light, a black figure slowly emerged. He hovered silently in the air, his eyes closed, emanating no powerful energy fluctuations. Yet, everyone present, human and Atlantean alike, felt an overwhelming, primal fear upon seeing him!

It was as if they were no longer facing a person, but a deep, vast ocean that held the power of storms and thunder!

"it's over……"

In the command center, Dean Qian Sen watched as the illusory image of the sea god, which had transformed into a shower of light and slowly dissipated on the screen, slumped back in his chair, utterly exhausted. His back was completely soaked with cold sweat.

"We...we won?" Li Qingcang asked, his voice trembling, looking at the black figure that was quietly suspended in the center of the rain of light.

"We won."

Su Lie slowly uttered those two words. His voice was soft, yet it carried immense weight.

Won.

Humanity, with its mortal bodies, has defeated a genuine projection of a god! Although this victory is filled with incredible, even absurd, elements, a victory is a victory! This result is enough to overturn the entire world order!

"Whoosh—!! Hooray!!"

"We've won!!"

After a brief silence, a deafening, thunderous cheer erupted from the entire Chinese fleet and command headquarters! Countless soldiers embraced and wept! They had witnessed a great miracle worthy of being recorded in history!

In stark contrast, Atlantis was shrouded in deathly silence. All the Atlantean soldiers stared blankly at the sky, as if their spines had been ripped out. Their god had fallen. Though it was merely a projection, it was enough to utterly shatter their millennia-old, deeply ingrained faith!

"No... my lord..."

Amphitrite knelt on the dilapidated throne and let out a mournful cry like the lament of a cuckoo weeping blood.

She lost, utterly and completely. She not only lost the war, but also personally destroyed the majesty of the sea god. She could already foresee the miserable fate that awaited her upon returning to Atlantis.

On the battlefield, the Tide Legion, which had been fiercely battling the Legion of Gods and the three SSS-level Star Envoys, seemed to lose all motivation and intelligence the moment the Sea God's phantom collapsed, turning into mindless zombies driven only by the instinct to kill. The battle had become a one-sided massacre.

"Hahaha! That's great! That's great!" Xiang Batian swung his giant axe, cleaving a huge deep-sea whale in two as easily as chopping vegetables, and laughed wildly.

"Boss, you're awesome!!" Gu Tianye also excitedly roared to the sky.

Everyone's face was filled with the joy of surviving a disaster and the ecstasy of victory. Only a few people remained vigilant.

"Something's not right." Ten thousand meters above the ground, Tian Shu frowned, staring at the massive blue vortex on the radar that showed no signs of dissipating. "Why hasn't that dimensional portal closed yet?"

"That guy named Poseidon doesn't seem to be planning to let this go so easily..." Senior Zhenshan stroked his long beard, looking at the center of the vortex with a solemn expression.

At the edge of the battlefield, the instant the phantom of the sea god collapsed, Zero reached out and gently grasped at the void. A gray "singularity," no bigger than a fingernail and composed entirely of the purest rules, was pulled from nothingness and then quickly put away.

After doing all this, she raised her head and looked at the huge vortex. For the first time, a hint of "disgust" appeared on her eternally icy face.

Just then, Lu Yuan, who had been hovering quietly in the air with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes.

In his eyes, one side was a blazing crimson flame that burned with the power to destroy everything, and the other side was an endless deep blue that froze everything.

wrong.

Deep within his deep blue eyes, there seemed to be something else entirely. It was an absolute power of control, as if it could unleash towering waves and summon countless thunderbolts!

He succeeded! He not only devoured the vast power of the rules from the phantom of the Sea God, but also completely transformed that power into his own! Now, although his level is still 0, his understanding and control of the "rules" are no less than any top-tier SSS-level Star Envoy! In fact, he may even surpass him!

He slowly raised his head, his gaze also falling on the enormous blue vortex, as if he were silently gazing at some great being on the other side of the vortex.

Suddenly, the enormous blue vortex began to fluctuate violently! A divine power a hundred times more terrifying than when the phantom of the sea god descended earlier was projected from the other end of the vortex without warning!

This time, it was no longer a projection of will! Rather, it was more like Poseidon himself, casting a gaze filled with endless killing intent from beyond the infinitely distant space and time!

"Buzz—!!!"

The entire battlefield of the East China Sea seemed to freeze at this moment! Time seemed to stop flowing! Everyone, whether human or Atlantean, their thoughts, their actions, everything about them was forcibly frozen by this "death stare" that transcended dimensions!

The same thought arose in everyone's mind: they were going to...die...

This is the absolute annihilation of lower-dimensional beings by a higher-dimensional life form! There is no reasoning involved, and no resistance is possible!

However, amidst this terrifying divine power that could bring the world to a standstill, only one person was still able to move.

That's Lu Yuan.

Because he had just absorbed a portion of Poseidon's original rule, he developed a slight resistance to this divine power of the same origin. Although his body felt as if it were carrying an ancient divine mountain, making every movement incredibly difficult, he still stubbornly raised his right hand and slowly extended his middle finger towards the enormous blue vortex.

Although there was no sound, the gesture, filled with endless mockery and provocation, was clearly transmitted to the other side of the vortex through some mysterious connection.

"..."

The enormous blue vortex paused eerily for a second. It was as if even the sea god opposite was bewildered by Lu Yuan's greeting, which was full of "human characteristics."

Immediately afterwards, a raging inferno, powerful enough to make the entire planet tremble, erupted from the vortex!

"Mortal...you will pay the price for this..."

A voice filled with boundless majesty and chilling killing intent resounded throughout the world.

Then, the huge blue vortex slowly began to close.

Atlantis has withdrawn its troops.

But everyone knows that this is not the end, but only the beginning.

As the divine power that had imprisoned the entire world slowly dissipated, everyone who had regained their mobility stared intently at the boy who was still giving the middle finger, with eyes that looked at a monster, a god, or some kind of completely incomprehensible being.

In their minds, only one thought remained: the world was about to change. And this man who dared to give the middle finger to the gods was the eye of the storm that would unleash this colossal wave!

When the terrifying divine power that had imprisoned the entire world dissipated with the complete closure of the blue vortex, the entire East China Sea battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

Everyone who had regained their mobility, whether they were jubilant Chinese soldiers or distraught remnants of Atlantis, seemed frozen in place, staring blankly at the black-clad youth who was slowly lowering his right hand in mid-air.

What just happened?

It was as if they had been glared at by a true god.

Then, the boy named Lu Yuan seemed to make a very impolite gesture towards that true god.

And then, that true god... it seems he just left?

"Cough cough..."

It was Senior Zhenshan who was the first to react. He coughed twice, breaking the awkward silence. He looked at Lu Yuan, his weathered old face displaying a complex expression—admiration, shock, but mostly a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"These young people nowadays... they're truly formidable, truly formidable..."