Chapter 1688: Flame of Time

Ten seconds later.

The rapidly growing flesh, like a mutated granulation, swiftly filled the missing flesh.

While healing his wounds, he thought.

With the effect of the Flame of Time faded, Lin An still didn't care about the pain of flesh regrowth, merely evaluating what had just happened like a machine.

"That strike just now, I mobilized all my strength; besides rule power, I even used all my bodily strength."

"If it were my previous defense, just my amplified strength alone would have instantly pierced me and then shattered my flesh."

"Moreover, I also mobilized repulsion and electromagnetic rules..."

He lowered his head to look at his heart, already half-repaired, watching under the lingering influence of the rules, a heart that was growing somewhat deformed.

Lin An frowned, then simply crushed it and let it regenerate anew.

It's a simple logic.

His physique attribute and strength attribute are equal.

Under the triple enhancement of rules, psychic power, and mental force, the physical attacks he can produce far exceed his own defense.

Don't think Lin An, as a Body System cultivator, but Lin An has always been clear: from his rebirth to now, he has always been a glass cannon with high attack and low health.

In fact, almost all Awakened Ones are like this, even those at the Fifth Stage are no exception.

Defense is far harder to improve than attack.

Just like on Earth, humans can already make nuclear bombs, but the only defensive means are to add a few more layers of "steel plates".

"In the state of burning the future, physical attacks are indeed not weakened; this might rely on burning the past?"

"But in terms of rule resistance, I have indeed gained a huge increase."

His eyes flickered, constantly replaying the scene in slow motion; Lin An seemed like a high-speed camera, continuously separating out what had just happened.

His electromagnetic rule and repulsion were constantly weakened within the Flame of Time.

The rule power that should have killed him faster than physical attacks was, in the blazing fire, slowed to a crawl.

0.1 second still seems fast, but in a flash.

But for an Awakened One of Lin An's level, 0.1 second is enough for him to Blink and run away a hundred times!

For the Fifth Stage, it can even decide a round of life and death!

Moreover, once rule attacks completely break through the Flame of Time, the two major rule powers have been weakened to the point of being unusable.

No one knows the source of the damage better than Lin An himself.

The power that truly shattered him was not rule power, but his own bodily strength.

In other words, these rule damages have been "burned" away.

This is highly illogical, and even completely different from the effect Lin An had previously imagined.

"It's not weakening... it's negation!"

"The so-called 33% weakening effect is a direct reduction of the corresponding rule damage!"

A single word's difference makes a world of difference.

In Lin An's original imagination, or rather, anyone seeing the system's description would think this weakening effect weakens the original damage. But after actually using it once, Lin An unexpectedly discovered that it was not so.

"100 points of damage weakened by 33% leaves 77—that's weakening. 100 points of damage reduced by 33 also looks like weakening, but essentially they are worlds apart!"

"This 33-point damage reduction is fixed! It's based on the level of the Flame of Time decreasing!"

The concept is a bit awkward and obscure.

Put simply, in the state of burning the future, Lin An will gain 33 points of rule immunity. If rule damage is 33 points, it's not a matter of weakening it by 33% down to 20 points; it's simply ignored outright!

Any damage below 33 points is, to him, like air!

What a heaven-defying effect!?

Moreover, Lin An excitedly discovered that this mitigation is actually far higher than his own level!

"The mitigation effect is actually calculated based on my rule reserve!"

"Is it because the future is being burned, according to the future's strength?"

Feeling the completely excessive rule reserve within his body, Lin An took a deep breath, his expression extremely complex.

His rule level, essentially, should still be Fourth Stage Intermediate.

Merely in quantity, it infinitely approaches the advanced stage.

According to normal logic, if he is considered Fourth Stage Intermediate, then the damage he can mitigate at most "ignores" the same level; facing a higher level still poses considerable pressure.

Now, according to rule reserve calculation, the rule quality of Fourth Stage Advanced is no longer enough to overwhelm him; when opposing the peak or even Fifth Stage Initial, he can still produce the weakening effect.

This is a qualitative change!

"According to this ratio, when I simultaneously use the Flame of Time and bodily defense, originally even a Fourth Stage Peak could inflict some damage on me; now, below the Fifth Stage, it's impossible for anyone to harm me!"

"And even a Fifth Stage Initial cannot instantly kill me!"

"With a 0.1-second reaction time, combined with my point recovery, I can at least escape from a siege by several Fifth Stage cultivators!"

"If it were triple-burned..."

Lin An muttered softly, unable to help looking at his own hands, at the Cain's Blade in his hand.

After consuming the remaining Fifth Stage, further strengthen the rule reserve.

The burning effect after becoming stronger will naturally be even stronger!

According to the Flame of Time's heaven-defying performance, he really has a high chance of hard-blocking a Star-Destroying Level strike without dying!

Hard to imagine; frankly speaking, Lin An himself never even thought of such a good outcome.

Fourth Stage hard-blocking Fifth Stage...

Especially, he is still Fourth Stage "Intermediate"...

If spoken outside, it would probably scare to death those Fifth Stage out there. Who would believe it if said?

The gap between Fifth Stage elementary and Fourth Stage is like that between a giant and an infant, while the gap between Fifth Stage intermediate and elementary is like that between a demigod and a human.

To be honest, Lin An even doubts that, going by the numbers, the Star-Destroying Level's combat power is probably over a thousand times that of Fourth Stage Peak! As for Fourth Stage intermediate? That's not even on the same order of magnitude...

Yet such a huge gap was actually leveled by a single rule effect.

Is this the charm of rules? Although rules aren't as directly effective as pure force—where a punch either kills or doesn't—under the right combination they often unleash effects beyond imagination.

No wonder the Rule System far outnumbers the other two types—not just in difficulty, but more because the Rule System is truly "wondrous".

The Rule System indeed has its unique merits.

Suppressing the feeling in his heart, Lin An stopped thinking further, and did not become arrogant because of the sudden surge in his trump card.

The effect of the Flame of Time is heaven-defying, and the cost is also great.

From that brief burning just now, he could clearly feel that his lifespan had almost been burned away by one-tenth.

Through the lens of his mental power, Lin An could even see his hair tips instantly turn white.

How terrifying.

Given his current vitality, his lifespan is likely over a thousand years, and the thickness of his cellular telomeres has long surpassed human limits.

Yet in the burning, in less than a second, he had already lost at least more than a century of his lifespan.

Not only that, what was burned away likely includes something even more fundamental.

Power comes at a price.

If he burned for just a few more seconds, Lin An suspected he would drop dead on the spot.

The Flame of Time is fundamentally unsuitable for regular combat; against weak foes, the damage from the burning might even exceed that of the enemy.

With triple burning, I could probably last about one second? Or maybe a few tenths of a second?

In other words, I probably only have one chance to use it...

But... it's enough...

There's no way to continue testing.

Although Lin An wanted to test how strong triple burning would be, the sensed loss—vitality that cannot even be replenished—meant he could only give up testing.

This trump card is the key for him to hold out against a Star-Destroying Level! Even once is enough!

Of course, it's best not to use it if possible.

Not thinking further, after glancing at how little time had passed, Lin An simply decided to test the effect of the Reincarnation Eye again.

Who knows, this skill might also bring him a little surprise?