This civilization did not refer to the people within it, but to the intangible Light of Civilization.
But devoting oneself wholeheartedly to civilization was another matter entirely. At that point, no matter how powerful the individual was, they were merely a part of civilization itself, not something transcendent beyond it. Thus, there was no conflict.
Take Luo Zhen, for example. He was powerful too, and domineeringly made civilization operate according to his own will—a supreme manifestation of interfering force. Yet the Empire's civilization still flourished. The reason was that he regarded the Empire as his own private property, following the creed: mine, mine, it is all mine.
Selfishness taken to the extreme instead became selflessness.
Zhao Cheng, however, would not do such a thing.
Zhao Cheng's moral bottom line was highly flexible. So long as there was no conflict of interest, he personally respected each life's own choices; as long as they did not affect him, they could do whatever they pleased. Of course, once there was a conflict of interest, then naturally, everything revolved around him.
It was precisely this difference in mindset that prevented him from fully merging into the system known as civilization. And with such a vast system, once a deviation existed, it meant his own system and civilization's system would grind against each other. If he were not strong enough, then in the unseen currents of fate, he would be swayed by civilization. But if he were strong enough, the result would be civilization's collapse.
Take those Mythologies in the real world. Though powerful, they were not powerful enough. Thus, they still could not do whatever they wished; they remained bound by civilization, transcendent, yet not transcendent enough.
The balance between civilization and them still existed.
As for Zhao Cheng, civilization held no binding power