Deep within the Spirit Realm, the Yuanling Immortal Emperor, who had always disguised himself as Yuanfa Immortal Emperor, trembled as he gazed at the World Will.
After being forced to escape from the Eternal Dream, he had tried his best to flee from the Spirit Realm.
Then he encountered the World Will and was easily captured alive.
It was like escaping from the wolf's den only to fall into the tiger's lair—this was exactly what happened to the Yuanling Immortal Emperor.
After countless years of managing the Eternal Dream, he lost it. Now, whether he lived or died completely depended on the World Will's whims.
So, when facing the World Will's questioning, he dared not say even a single exaggerated lie.
The World Will had learned of the changes to the Eternal Dream and realized that it had underestimated Rosen.
It hadn't expected the Ark of the Apocalypse to fall into his hands.
It was even more unexpected that Rosen, who possessed the Source Seed of the Game, was able to force five Immortal Emperors into such dire straits—dead or fleeing.
Although there was an element of luck involved, the strength displayed was still astonishing.
The World Will glanced disdainfully at the Yuanling Immortal Emperor. If he weren't still of some use, it would have killed him on the spot.
The five Immortal Emperors, who had been entrenched in the Eternal Dream, couldn't even be dealt with directly by the World Will.
Yet, to think that he would be so afraid of death, continuously risking the use of powers beyond his control.
If only he had gone all-out from the beginning instead of testing the waters, Rosen would never have had the chance to seize control of the Human Realm.
If only he had fought desperately in the Immortal Realm right from the start, he would never have allowed Rosen the chance to kill Yuanfa Immortal Emperor's soul.
Finally, after chasing Rosen into the Human Realm, he at least acted wisely once, choosing to retreat back to the Immortal Realm and give up on the pursuit.
But then, he made another foolish move, lacking even the courage to force Rosen to leave through desperation.
Had he used the awakening of the ancient gods as a threat, Rosen would have definitely left the Eternal Dream without question.
Rosen was confident in their fear of death, and thus, he was never worried that they would have the guts to awaken the ancient gods.
In the end, they made the dumbest mistake—failing to awaken the Eternal Dream Demon, and instead, they themselves fell into a state of extreme weakness, giving Rosen the chance to almost wipe them all out. The five-on-one battle ended in such a way; had he known they were so useless, Rosen would have long since taken over the Eternal Dream.
While the World Will looked down on Yuanling Immortal Emperor, it also became more cautious of Rosen's power.
Letting Rosen become an Immortal Godfiend—was that really not a wrong choice?
The World Will had confidence that below the level of Eternal Life, it had no rival.
However, if Rosen's power grew too strong, it would inevitably pose a threat to it.
After all, it was much easier to destroy things than to create them. Once Rosen became an Immortal Godfiend, he would undoubtedly have the power to harm the World Will.
It seemed that this Rosen now had the qualifications to warrant its specific vigilance.
The World Will took Yuanling Immortal Emperor away but did not head to the Eternal Dream to disrupt Rosen's plans.
Seizing the opportunity, Rosen put all his efforts into using the Immortal Kingdom to devour the Immortal Realm and the Eternal Dream.
Then, he began to slowly integrate the Immortal Kingdom into the True Realm of the Ancient Gods.
His True Realm of the Ancient Gods was originally a world primarily based on the spiritual, with matter as a secondary element. The only truly material parts were the areas surrounding the Small World Tree and the nine world fruits left by the original World Tree.
Due to the original Small World Tree now having transformed into the Root Ancient Tree,
the current Small World Tree was merely a counterfeit that had materialized from a spiritual landscape painting he had created.
Only the Sequence 0 counterfeit was barely able to sustain the original True Realm of the Ancient Gods.
However, if the True Realm of the Ancient Gods were to merge with the Eternal Dream and undergo another transformation, the Sequence 0 Small World Tree would no longer suffice.
Either the Root Ancient Tree must fully take root in the True Realm of the Ancient Gods, or a more powerful Small World Tree must be painted.
However, unlike other matters, painting a higher-grade Small World Tree required special paint of sufficient quality.
If he could obtain a Source Seed that was compatible with Eternity, the Small World Tree he painted would be flawless, even capable of existing as a true reality in the world, no longer confined to the realm of art. The only one likely to know where such a compatible Source Seed lay was the World Tree.
Rosen remained in the Eternal Dream, while his Azure Dragon Avatar quietly left the Eternal Dream aboard the Ark of the Apocalypse.
With the barrier of the Eternal Dream gone, he silently left the Spirit Realm using the Cross-Realm Gate.
A few hours later, the Ark of the Apocalypse had directly entered the Celestial Pillars where the Floating Empire's headquarters was located, deep within the void.
The spiritual realm within the mural had almost collapsed and was on the verge of being completely consumed by darkness.
Rosen took out the Creator's Divine Pen and quickly began reshaping the spiritual space within the mural by filling it in.
Once the interior spiritual realm expanded and stabilized significantly, he entered the mural and arrived in front of the stone sphere where the World Tree had once hidden.
In the previous encounters, the World Tree had always voluntarily revealed itself after noticing his presence.
However, this time, the stone sphere made of Eternal Primordial Stone unexpectedly remained completely still, without any sign of movement.
Rosen took out the Ancient God's Stone Chisel he had painted and tapped it on the surface of the stone sphere to split the Eternal Primordial Stone in two.
To his surprise, the World Tree, which had once hidden here, was nowhere to be found.
Instead, inside the stone sphere, there was only a stone slab carved from Eternal Primordial Stone.
At the center of the slab, embedded in it, was a Source Seed that was compatible with the primordial source.
Rosen glanced at the inscription on the slab, discovering that the World Tree had managed to escape with the help of the World Will.
However, unlike him, the World Tree was unwilling to trust the World Will.
Thus, it had left behind this Source Seed, intending to reach a mutually beneficial agreement with him using the Source Seed.
Through the Miracle Source Seed, Rosen learned that there wasn't just one Source Seed.
But he was unaware that there was a difference between the innate and acquired Source Seeds.
All Eternal Life beings wield innate Source Seeds, while all Immortal Godfiends create acquired Source Seeds.
The innate Source Seeds predate the birth of the universe, and some Eternal Life beings even suspect that the universe was opened up with the Temporal Source Seed as its core, along with other Source Seeds.
After the universe was born, the innate Source Seeds continued to give birth to the first Eternal Life beings.
Thus, the existence of Eternal Life beings came only after the innate Source Seeds.
Eternal Life beings are immortal because the Eternal Will is integrated into the innate Source Seed. As Source Seeds, whether innate or acquired, are one with the origin of the universe, Eternal Life beings and certain Immortal Godfiends who control Source Seeds are granted immortality and indestructibility.
However, Rosen was very clear that nothing in this world was truly absolute.
He had often pondered, was there a way to completely destroy Eternal Life?
The simplest but hardest way would be to destroy the universe. If the universe itself no longer existed, then the Source Seeds, which relied on the universe's origin, would also cease to exist. Alternatively, if one could separate the Eternal Will from within the Source Seed, then the Eternal Will, which had fused with the Seed, could theoretically be separated.
These methods sounded simple, but in reality, even the peak Ancient Gods were unable to accomplish them.
Firstly, separating the Eternal Will, Rosen had tried but failed. He could not extract the Eternal Will from the root Source Seed.
The reason being, the two had fully integrated—the Eternal Will was now part of the root Source Seed.
As for what kind of power was needed to destroy the universe, Rosen roughly estimated it and felt a chill run through him.
Taking himself as an example, he would need to devour the Ancient God Realm entirely, consume at least half of the Eternal Life beings in the universe, devour half of the Origin Abyss's primal beasts, and then drain half of the universe's primal essence from the Origin Abyss.
In total, to destroy the universe, one would need to absorb at least half of the universe's mass into their own being.
Otherwise, how could one claim to destroy the universe if they were weaker than it?
However, in the realm of the extraordinary, achieving this was nearly impossible.
Rosen had once wondered why the Ancient Gods didn't simply use the endless world origin in the Origin Abyss and cultivate all living beings in the Ancient God Realm.
But after gradually gaining control over the Eternal Dream, he began to understand.
In the vast universe, the total amount of matter far exceeded that of the spiritual by countless multiples.
Even in the nearly infinite universe, the number of life-bearing planets was incredibly small, and the space that could support intelligent life was extremely limited. Compared to the entire scale of the universe, the proportion of intelligent life was just too minuscule.
And spirit, that only existed for intelligent life forms.
The Ancient Gods did not lack energy, as the Origin Abyss contained boundless energy.
However, the Ancient Gods lacked spirit. After the Ancient Gods plundered the World Tree's origin, it was likely that their divine origin was no longer sufficient to control their own bodies. Hence, they began cultivating all living things—not to harvest the life essence but to collect spiritual essence.
This is also why the Ancient Gods fell into slumber; their bodies were too powerful, but their spirits were insufficient.
In such a case, they either had to abandon the powers they had plundered from the World Tree, or they had no choice but to fall into a deep slumber to alleviate the pressure on their divine origins.
This was also why, according to the Old Fisherman, the corpses of so many Eternal Life beings in the universe remained stagnant.
Even though these Eternal Life beings were dead, their bodily mass was beyond the scope of what the Immortal Godfiends' divine origins could control.
Moreover, the life essence of these Eternal Life beings was extremely powerful, making it difficult for Immortal Godfiends to absorb or move.
Rosen even suspected, were these Eternal Life beings truly dead, or were they only seemingly dead?
Looking at the Source Seed on the stone slab, Rosen carefully examined it after picking it up.
Since he had mastered the All-Knowing Source Seed, he could now faintly sense the Eternal Will hidden deep within the Source Seed.
However, in this innate compatible Source Seed before him, there was no trace of the Eternal Will.
This meant that the final message left by the World Tree on the stone slab was true—the World Tree had actively separated its Eternal Will.
Only innate Source Seeds were born naturally, while the Eternal Will was a later addition. Therefore, even if the Eternal Will was separated, it wouldn't affect the continued existence of the Source Seed. After the World Tree separated it, the compatible Source Seed was essentially being given to him.
Of course, this innate Source Seed wasn't a free gift—it required him to safely bring the Miracle Stone Man out of the Ancient God World.
Rosen then realized that the Miracle Stone Man was actually a deeply hidden backup resurrection plan of the World Tree.
No wonder, after he took the Miracle Stone Man, the World Tree never rushed to trade the Little World Tree with him again.
If it weren't for the World Tree being taken by the World Will, it might never have come clean with him.
As for why it didn't continue hiding, perhaps it was concerned that he would abandon the Miracle Stone Man.
After all, the Miracle Stone Man was a great true god. While it had helped him in the past, its usefulness to him had steadily decreased.
The Cross-Realm Gate opened, and Rosen sent the compatible Source Seed into his own hands.
Just as he was about to begin refining it, he suddenly stopped.
Because the reward the World Tree gave him was far too generous—so much so that it seemed incomprehensible.
Even if the Miracle Stone Man were to eventually become useless, it was still a great true god. It would never be discarded. The World Tree had no need to give him the innate compatible Source Seed, which had been separated from the Eternal Will, as payment.
Because if his bottom line had been lower, he would have refined the compatible Source Seed and then eliminated the Miracle Stone Man entirely.
So, what the World Tree really wanted—was it for him to bring the Miracle Stone Man out of the Ancient God World, or for him to refine the compatible Source Seed without the Eternal All-Knowing noticing anything wrong? This did not necessarily mean that the Source Seed had no issues.
After all, the Eternal Compatible Origin was best at perfectly assimilating and fusing everything.
Rosen sealed the compatible Source Seed. For now, he wouldn't refine it.
Having not seen the World Tree, he was also wary of refining the Source Seed.
Rosen's Azure Dragon Avatar in the Floating Empire immediately parasitized the Origin Mother Worm in the Celestial Pillar, from which he continuously drew the Eternal Compatible Origin and Eternal Primordial Stone. He wouldn't leave until he had completely drained the Celestial Pillar.
The development of the world would not stop because of the disappearance of any one individual.
As time passed, the irreplaceable resources in the Ancient God World were finally depleted by the various civilizations.
The remaining renewable resources could not keep up with the speed of consumption.
The bitter fruits of the uncontrolled population explosion had already begun to show.
If they hadn't known better days, enduring the hardships would have been bearable.
The problem was that, in recent years, due to the reckless exploitation of resources, all the races in the Ancient God World had enjoyed the benefits and were living lives they could never have imagined. But now, with resources depleted, their quality of life was quickly falling below what it had been before.
It was hard for most people to return from luxury to frugality.
But even if they couldn't, they had to try. The scarcity of resources would mostly affect quality of life. The biggest effect would be the drastic reduction in the efficiency of advancing in the extraordinary sequences, but they wouldn't starve or freeze. The Farmer Sequence had long ensured that food was abundant.
As long as they weren't worried about food and clothing, the lives of various races would not fall into complete despair.
Because if they couldn't enjoy it in reality, they could enjoy it in the virtual world.
Here is the translation you requested:
It is difficult to cultivate in the real world, but one can experience the joy of becoming a demigod or even a deity in the virtual world. The existence of the virtual world, coupled with the fact that food and drink are no longer a concern, means that the civilization order is unlikely to collapse completely.
So, at this moment, all the virtual networks in the ancient god world, except for the Main God network, disappeared.
Although the Main God Network is great, it is not a charity.
Logging into the Main God Network requires the consumption of spiritual power.
In the past, to seize the market and develop the virtual source realm created by the Main God computer, Rosen had basically been subsidizing all users by himself, drawing more spiritual power from high-level transcendent beings to subsidize ordinary people.
Now he can make the income exceed the subsidies, but he unhesitatingly abandoned the subsidies.
This is because he is now on the same side as the World Will, both needing to use the endless resentment of all living beings to deal with the ancient gods.
Without the subsidies, the transcendent beings were unaffected, but ordinary life forms were severely impacted.
They had no choice but to leave the heaven-like virtual source realm and face the resource-deprived reality.
However, this was only the beginning of the World Will's plan of universal suffering. The subsequent disasters would be the real killing blow.
Without transcendent resources, the countless newly risen transcendent beings could hardly advance in their transcendent sequences.
But logging into the Lord God network consumes spiritual power, using transcendent skills consumes spiritual power, and once the spiritual power is used up, it needs to be replenished. In the past, large amounts of resources were allocated to magic potions, and there were vast amounts of spiritual crystals that could be used endlessly.
Now, all of that is gone. Countless new transcendent beings can only draw spiritual power from the world.
If one person drinks from a pool of water, they might not even finish it before dying.
But if you divide it among ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or a million people, there might not be a drop left for anyone.
Although the ancient god world can draw countless world origins from the Abyss of Origins, the world origin is not spiritual power. To transform it into spiritual power requires a long process, and the continuous recovery of spiritual power in the ancient god world simply cannot meet the consumption of countless transcendent beings.
Thus, more and more transcendent beings find themselves in a predicament: they have transcendent powers but no spiritual power to release their skills.
Ordinary people can get by with food, and no matter how much they mess things up, the damage is limited.
But transcendent beings without spiritual power will starve to death. When people are on the brink of starvation, they are capable of anything.
Especially as the spiritual power in the ancient god world drains, various natural disasters begin to erupt on a massive scale.
No intelligent life form can avoid challenging and altering nature.
Humans, in particular, are like this: it's no good if it's too cold, no good if it's too hot, no good if the wind is too strong, and no good if the rain is too heavy.
Too dry is not good, too humid is also not good.
It was fine when there were no conditions, but in recent years, as the number of transcendent beings increased, the degree of environmental manipulation had reached a crazy level. In most areas where intelligent life forms gathered, the weather and environment had been completely controlled by various transcendent powers.
Now, transcendent beings can't even get enough to eat and have no strength to continue manipulating the natural environment.
This directly leads to the backlash of the natural environment. What was once a stable and orderly natural system became chaotic after being damaged.
The Rainfall Continent, which used to have excessive rain, now had so much rain that the people there could hardly bear it.
Countless transcendent beings managed to divert the rainwater from the Rainfall Continent into the sea and blocked the water vapor from the sea from entering the continent. But now they couldn't stop it. The accumulated water vapor from all these years gathered over the Rainfall Continent, and the entire continent was nearly submerged in a torrential flood.
There are many similar places, where the natural disasters once suppressed by various intelligent life forms have now erupted all at once.
With natural disasters came man-made disasters, which were inevitable.
Resources are limited, and if one does not compete, they can only watch others fight for them or become the ones being robbed.
In this situation, the order of the ancient god world nearly collapsed entirely.
As the order became more chaotic under the natural and man-made disasters, the most hidden malicious thoughts of intelligent life forms began to break out uncontrollably.
Naturally, countless intelligent life forms struggled for survival, their resentment growing.
When some suffer, others naturally rejoice.
The various intelligent life forms, seeing that praying to their gods was useless, gradually abandoned their belief in their respective gods.
On the other hand, the evil gods, who fulfill their followers' wishes, gained more and more believers amidst the chaos.
Some laws were also affected by this—some weakened, while others grew stronger.
Rosen, too, was a beneficiary. The fallen source seeds he possessed continuously generated more and more Eternal Fallen Origins. Correspondingly, the birthing source seeds, which had received enormous benefits in recent years, gradually returned to a normal state.
(End of Chapter)