Seven days allotted for the Mercury Lamp's survival were down to just two; it was now the morning of the sixth day.

Bound with Rei, Lin Luo had been tracking Mo Xinming through the "sound" of the wind. Though he hadn't pinpointed the exact location yet, definite progress was showing; at least the initial state of utter confusion had passed. If there was anything that still worried Lin Luo, it wasn't combat power, but rather which would win out in Mo Xinming—his rationality or his desires?

Since the Mercury Lamp's life was at stake, Lin Luo could not maintain absolute calm in his thinking. Therefore, whether viewed subjectively or objectively, Mo Xinming’s chances of escaping this world seemed higher. But—

"As expected, the most terrifying thing in this world is still humanity…" Two hours later, Lin Luo stood in the void, sighing out a breath laced with a strange mix of relief and derision.

He had been entirely wrong.

Not only had Mo Xinming not fled this world, but he had appeared openly within Lin Luo’s sensory domain, issuing a direct challenge… a counter-hunt was coming.

"Then... as you wish." From the information gathered in his domain, the opponent was exactly ten li ahead. Lin Luo didn't hesitate, flying toward that precise location.

Minutes later, Lin Luo halted. Fifty meters opposite him, Mo Xinming stood proudly in the void.

At this moment, Mo Xinming was no longer the beaten, stray-dog figure fleeing after being crushed by Evangeline over half a month ago, nor was he the eager, ferocious face he wore five days prior when he first escaped with the World Heart. He stood in the sky above Lin Luo, looking down with eyes that radiated contempt for everything.

"You really have guts, knowing I was waiting for you here, yet you dare come to your death." Mo Xinming stood with his hands clasped behind his back, viewing Lin Luo from his superior altitude as if looking at an ant on the ground.

Even an idiot wearing titanium-alloy glasses could see that Mo Xinming’s confidence had swelled to an unprecedented, suffocating level; he clearly held Lin Luo in no regard whatsoever.

"..." Lin Luo felt momentarily blinded. That this man would proactively provoke him meant he must have had absolute assurance; Lin Luo knew this much. But he never imagined the opponent would be this "assured" so quickly. Just two days ago, he was a stray dog; now, he was as arrogant as the Emperor of Heaven himself. This enormous sense of dissonance made Lin Luo extremely uneasy.

What was "a petty man achieving his ambition"? Lin Luo finally had a concrete understanding of the term.

"I should be the one saying that. Honestly, I was worried you’d flee this world." Lin Luo remained where he was, not contesting the high ground, and spoke looking up. Since the other party underestimated him, this was undoubtedly a good thing; the careless always fall quickly.

"Flee?" Mo Xinming paused, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, then burst into loud laughter. "Ah-ha-ha-ha! Are you talking in your sleep?"

As the laughter subsided, Mo Xinming spread his arms wide, lowering his head to look down at Lin Luo, coldly sneering, "Hmph. Now that I possess the most supreme power, no one in this world is my match. Why would I run? The remaining seven World Hearts, and this entire world—once I kill you, they will all be mine. You think I’d just hand them over? Don't joke!"

"Come on then." Mo Xinming extended a hand, hooking his fingers mockingly toward Lin Luo. "I can let you strike first. If you can even touch a single hair on me, I might consider giving you a complete corpse."

This guy is insufferably arrogant!

Lin Luo was suddenly speechless. He had met many proud people, but someone this arrogant and conceited was truly the first he had ever witnessed.

Not only arrogant and conceited, but also utterly idiotic and self-obsessed.

"Perhaps you should change your name to 'Lord Overlord'," Lin Luo stated calmly, his body suddenly vanishing from his spot, reappearing instantly behind Mo Xinming. The Blade of the Verdant Wind swept down toward the back of his head... Lin Luo had already intended to cleave the man, and since Mo Xinming was practically begging for it, Lin Luo certainly wouldn't be polite.

But to Lin Luo’s surprise, the blade, sharp enough to slice iron and stone, stopped abruptly thirty centimeters from the back of Mo Xinming’s head. It was as if an invisible field of energy had blocked his attack, preventing any further progress.

"Too weak!" Mo Xinming roared, quickly spinning around and launching a punch at Lin Luo.

It was a seemingly ordinary straight punch, yet it erupted with the force of a tsunami. The deafening sound instantly changed Lin Luo’s expression, and he teleported away to dodge.

Then, the shockwave shot out from the opponent's fist, traveling hundreds of meters, pulverizing a distant mountain peak into dust.

"..." Witnessing this, Lin Luo felt somewhat speechless. If they were in the world of Negima! Magister Negus Magi, he would suspect this guy had been possessed by the muscular Uncle Lacan... However, a mere casual punch possessing such devastating power certainly justified his arrogance; it was nearly equivalent to a B-rank Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.

"See? This is the power I wield!" Sensing the shift in Lin Luo’s expression, Mo Xinming's vanity was immeasurably satisfied. He laughed heartily, "Tremble, fear! Trash like you is simply no match for me!"

Of course, his chuunibyou tendencies and idiocy were escalating right alongside his strength...

Lin Luo drew a shallow breath. He dared not be careless against an opponent at the 100% Rule level. His initial probing strike having failed made him even more vigilant; he couldn't grasp what kind of Rule Force the opponent possessed.

"Then let's test the power of the trash you speak of!" Lin Luo let out a cold snort, gripping the Blade of the Verdant Wind. A colossal pillar of white wind shot skyward centered on him. Immediately after, he swung the blade forward, sending a white spiral churning with vacuum fluctuations sweeping forward.

It was... the Ring of the East Wind.

"Good timing!" Facing such an attack, Mo Xinming showed no fear, punching fiercely forward... In that instant, the surrounding air seemed to shatter. The fist, brimming with explosive power, met the white spiral storm at point-blank range.

Boom!

With a tremendous sound, the white spiral was shattered; the Ring of the East Wind was defeated.

"Trash is just trash. You should have brought that vampire girl. Your current contractor is completely useless, hahahaha!" Mo Xinming laughed arrogantly. He reveled in this feeling of looking down on others, savoring the supreme pleasure of watching a foe he once couldn't defeat now rendered helpless against his power.

The world was already within his grasp.

"Lin Luo, New Anthem."

Hearing Mo Xinming’s insulting words, Rei’s tone carried a rare trace of anger. Her soul form materialized behind Lin Luo, speaking softly, "New Anthem?"

"New Anthem, huh..." Lin Luo paused slightly. He had intended to take his time, first ascertaining the nature of his opponent's Rule Force. But since Rei was rarely upset, he conceded, "Then let's sing together, the Song of You and Me."

"Mm." Rei nodded heavily, then closed her eyes. A clear and distant voice issued from her lips; the two voices slowly merged, converging into a captivating melody.

"The night wind brushes the dawn, the awakening Azure Dragon. Only a heart seeking atonement can gallop high, unveiling the moon's hazy light..."

The moment the song began, the entire world fell instantly silent, the only sounds being the melodious singing and the suppressed rush of wind. The white storm was drawn toward the Blade of the Verdant Wind, swirling rapidly around the blade's edge. Simultaneously, more wind rushed in from outside, as if all the wind in the world had converged at this single point, its terrifying fluctuation stifling everything.

"Hm?" Mo Xinming frowned, unconsciously taking a step back, cautiously bracing himself.

"...String of the South Wind."

As the low voice fell, Lin Luo swept both hands forward. The storm, already pressed to its absolute limit, let out a beast-like roar, shooting out rapidly like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.

The whistling String of the South Wind converged into a single point; between heaven and earth, there was nothing but the piercing howl of the wind.

If the Ring of the East Wind was a spiral of wind that swept and tore, the String of the South Wind was an arrow of wind that pierced and penetrated everything.

"Mere wind... Break for me!" Facing the rapidly approaching massive tornado formed by countless wind arrows, Mo Xinming suddenly roared. Visible Nen enveloped his entire body, his right fist clenched, he punched out, resembling the roar of a raging dragon.

Nen formed into a white dragon, roaring as it charged toward the String of the South Wind.

Wind creaked, Ki tore, and the two forces locked in stalemate, emitting a mournful sound. Then, the sharp wind arrows pierced the white dragon, instantly submerging Mo Xinming before them.

But it was only submergence.

Lin Luo was astonished to find that Mo Xinming, engulfed by the myriad wind arrows, was completely unharmed... Around him seemed to be an invisible field of energy. Although his entire person was trapped within the massive vortex of wind arrows, every single arrow was stopped outside that energy field, flowing harmlessly past his sides.

The half-meter radius centered on Mo Xinming was an absolute safe zone.

"Is this his Rule Force? Is this why my cleave was blocked before?" Lin Luo frowned, musing inwardly.

Several seconds later, the violent wind arrows gradually dissipated into nothingness, and Mo Xinming, suspended in mid-air, remained untouched.

"A decent power, but... useless against me." A trace of ferocity flashed across Mo Xinming's face. The pre-battle fun was over; now he was preparing to obliterate his opponent with his full might.

As the words faded, he instantly shot forward, appearing before Lin Luo. His right hand, wrapped in visible Nen, slammed down like a millstone toward Lin Luo.

A strike like Mount Tai crushing down!

Although Lin Luo was shocked internally, his expression remained unchanged. He stepped backward; he had already vanished from his spot, teleporting behind Mo Xinming, the Blade of the Verdant Wind striking again.

"..."

It was the same result as before: no sound, no sensation of collision, but the blade stopped thirty centimeters behind Mo Xinming, unable to penetrate further.

Damn it, what kind of ability is this?

Seeing Mo Xinming turn to attack, Lin Luo swiftly retreated, teleporting four steps back, clearing a distance of a hundred meters.

"Coward! Are you planning to run away? Hahaha!" Seeing this, Mo Xinming immediately burst into laughter. His forward speed was no less than Lin Luo's; in less than a second, he reached Lin Luo and attacked again with his raised hand.

Lin Luo retreated once more. Equally, Mo Xinming followed right behind.

Thus, the fight instantly devolved into a linear chase, the two maintaining a constant, unchanging distance between them—one advancing, one retreating.

"Coward! Didn't you want revenge? Then stop running around and attack me!" Mo Xinming taunted as he pursued. "Are you too scared witless by my power? Hahahaha!"

Lin Luo ignored him. It wasn't that he didn't want to attack; it was that the opponent's ability was too bizarre. Generally, even against Rule-level powerhouses, if an attack couldn't harm them, it would at least make physical contact or be neutralized by their own power.

For example, Eve’s Rule of Consumption could devour all power directed at her and convert it for use; or Lin Luo's own Creation Domain could generate opposing forces to nullify enemy attacks; or Sieg’s Blazing Demon Domain could incinerate incoming attacks with flames... In any of these cases, one could generally grasp the principle after witnessing it once.

But Mo Xinming was not among them.

Be it the previous cleave or the wind arrows, they were not forms of confrontation; they simply failed to arrive.

Based on what Lin Luo knew, abilities that could produce this effect were limited to Time or Space manipulation, or perhaps vector control like Accelerator's.

However, if Mo Xinming's ability involved Time or Space, Lin Luo would have sensed some temporal or spatial anomaly within himself, and vector manipulation wouldn't be used this way either; Lin Luo hadn't felt any change in vectors just now.

Clearly, Mo Xinming's power did not fall into any of the above categories.

Book of Nen... Book of Nen... What kind of Rule could this generate?

Lin Luo pondered secretly. Based on the Nen techniques Mo Xinming had used, his Rule Force should also be close to the category of Qi. The core question was: what was the essence of his Rule derived from?

Since he couldn't figure it out, he had to try...

While evading Mo Xinming's pursuit, Lin Luo slowly raised his hand and shot an Atomic Collapse from his fingertips toward the pursuing enemy.

He had originally planned to use the Black Flame of Destruction, but after careful thought, he dismissed the idea. Destruction was his ultimate trump card; exposing it before understanding the essence of the enemy's ability was unwise, especially since the opponent possessed a mind capable of seeing through everything.

Facing the Atomic Collapse aimed directly at him, Mo Xinming neither dodged nor evaded, colliding directly with it—but... like the previous attacks, it failed to reach its target.

The white stream of electrons stopped precisely thirty centimeters in front of Mo Xinming, then flowed past his sides like water.

Following this, Lin Luo used electricity, magic, every usable power he possessed, one after another—all yielding the identical result.

"Are you playing tricks? No matter what attack you use, it’s useless against me." Mo Xinming laughed triumphantly, casting a disdainful look at Lin Luo.

"All attacks are useless... So that's how it is."

After more than ten tests, Lin Luo finally had a slight grasp of the fundamentals of Mo Xinming's ability. Indeed, if his assumption was correct, no attack of any kind could affect him.

"What a monstrous ability," V