"Death Entombment..."
Rosen summoned the full power of the Eternal Hell, converting it entirely into the force of death.
The Death God's avatar swung a reaper's scythe forged from the Laws of Death, compressing death energy with the Aggregation Origin Seed, controlling it with the Enslavement Origin Seed, and finally overlaying it with various Sequence skills that amplified the Law of Death. He locked onto the Old Fisherman and unleashed a charged slash from the Sword Saint Sequence.
Even though the thatched hut was a supernatural construct at the level of an Immortal Godfiend, and even though it was reinforced by the Eternal World within the fish basket...
It was still reduced to ashes in an instant. Under accelerated time, the falling scythe clashed with the Old Fisherman's fishing rod.
The Old Fisherman blocked it, but the rod in his hands nearly snapped in two.
At the same time, Rosen looked down at his own chest.
His heart had vanished—now violently beating and struggling on the hook of the Old Fisherman's fishing rod.
"Causality Origin Seed…"
Rosen muttered in awe.
When the Old Fisherman fought the Ancient God's avatar, he had only revealed two Origin Seeds—Fishing and Void. No one had expected he'd also been hiding a Causality Origin Seed.
At this moment, Rosen's heart was severed from his own causality. Even if he retrieved it, it would no longer belong to him.
However, the power of the Time-Space Origin Seed surpassed that of the Causality Origin Seed.
Time-space reincarnation enveloped the heart, and both the Causality Hook and the heart dangling from it disappeared.
The Old Fisherman looked grimly at his fishing rod—his Eternal Relic, the Void Fishing Rod, had almost been destroyed.
While the rod could be repaired, the hook absolutely couldn't be lost.
The Old Fisherman tried to recall the Causality Hook, but Rosen's hand had already reached across space and grabbed his own heart—hook and all. He had no intention of letting it go, and that was why the time-space reincarnation had reversed back to the moment the hook pierced the heart.
The Old Fisherman pulled the rod back with all his might; Rosen responded with all his strength, freezing the heart with glacial frost.
Neither side was willing to back down. The Death God's avatar, having forced out that swing of the scythe, was now too drained to assist further. All it could do was begin regenerating itself and reconstructing the Eternal Hell, sealing off the Purple Light Island and cutting off the Old Angler's escape.
Over and over, the Old Fisherman tried to snatch Rosen's heart away, only for Rosen to reverse time and pull it back again.
As the tug-of-war continued, the Dark Sun Origin Seed began slowly corrupting the Causality Hook.
The Old Fisherman had already considered fleeing multiple times. Even if he had to give up a Causality Hook, he was willing to do so.
But Rosen actually possessed the Space Origin Seed, completely suppressing his Void Origin Seed.
If the stalemate dragged on, the outcome would only become worse for him.
"Hand over the Miracle Origin Seed, or I won't stop until one of us is dead."
Rosen threatened.
After weighing the risks, the Old Fisherman gritted his teeth and separated the Miracle Origin Seed from his fish basket, distorting space to toss it away.
Rosen had locked onto the Old Fisherman's true body, making it impossible for him to escape the suppression of the Space Origin Seed.
But sending a single Miracle Origin Seed away through twisted space was still doable under the pressure.
Now Rosen had to choose: chase the Miracle Origin Seed, or keep dragging this out.
As the Causality Hook and line voluntarily detached, Rosen stopped using time-space reincarnation to tug against the Old Fisherman. Instead, he opened an interplanar gate, reclaimed the Eternal Hell, and vanished.
Taking advantage of his departure to pursue the Miracle Origin Seed, the Old Fisherman scooped up the entire Purple Light Supercluster into his fish basket and fled.
Moments later, Rosen returned to the now-empty ruins of the Purple Light Supercluster, holding the Miracle Origin Seed in hand.
He had succeeded in retrieving the Miracle Origin Seed, and even managed to snatch two hooks imbued with Causality Origin Seeds.
But the Old Fisherman had escaped. He had still underestimated the Old Fisherman's strength.
The Old Fisherman had chosen to cut off a limb to save himself, and Rosen didn't want to remain entangled with him either.
Because the Old Fisherman was unexpectedly powerful—perhaps even the Immortal Particle was too. If the Immortal Particle came to reinforce the Old Fisherman, it would only end in mutual destruction. It was better to take the gains and scheme again later.
Rosen examined the two Causality Hooks, and with them and the two Causality Origin Seeds in hand, he opened a portal and returned to the Heaven-Scorching Creation Furnace.
With the Creation Furnace shielding him and the Heaven-Scorching Soulfire burning, the Old Angler's senses were completely cut off.
The Causality Origin Seed was second only to the Destiny Origin Seed, which confirmed one thing—
The World Will and the Old Fisherman had indeed deliberately lost to the Ancient God's avatar.
Rosen even suspected that they had also read the Book of Destiny's Creation.
That would explain how they foresaw their own fates in advance and successfully used the Causality Source Seed to alter their destinies, deceiving the Ancient God's avatar.
Those who toy with fate are ultimately mocked by it.
For when one becomes increasingly reliant on fate, the sudden shift of destiny may trap them before they even realize it.
What Rosen didn't know was whether the Ancient God's avatar was aware of their feigned defeat—or whether he had simply gone along with their scheme, turning their trick against them.
Rosen then took out the Miracle Source Seed. After confirming that there were no issues, he tossed it into the Sea of Miracles.
The Sea of Miracles immediately began fusing with the Miracle Source Seed, and soon gained new attribute enhancements:
[Sea of Miracles: Miracle Sequence]
[Rank: Eternal Relic]
[Miracle Attribute: Capable of assimilating, coexisting with, fusing, and sublimating all things]
[Miracle Trait: Miracle Source Seed]
With this, the Sea of Miracles gained the ability to sublimate on top of its original powers.
Anything that already possessed growth potential could now be further enhanced.
Even objects or entities that were previously unable to evolve could now be granted the potential to grow and transcend.
Rosen now understood why the Old Fisherman was so wealthy.
Besides fishing up resources all across the universe, the real reason was the power of the Miracle Source Seed in his possession, which allowed him to sublimate matter. That's how he had accumulated enough resources to forge two Eternal Relics—his fishing rod and basket—and even piled up enough on Purple Light Island to potentially create another Eternal Relic.
Rosen left the Sea of Miracles inside the Heaven-Scorching Creation Furnace, using it to assist in refining and sublimating cosmic matter.
Then, he activated the Interdimensional Gate and arrived at the Star Cluster Supergalactic System.
The Old Fisherman had failed in his ambush, which surely meant that Immortal Particle had already been alerted.
The chances of a successful hunt on Immortal Particle were now slim—and worse, there was the risk of a counter-trap if Immortal Particle teamed up with the Old Fisherman for a reversal.
By contrast, the Immortal Star God was not allied with the Old Fisherman and would be far easier to deal with.
Rosen reasoned that the true alliance of the World Will included only the Old Fisherman and Immortal Particle.
As for Immortal Dawn, she was probably just like him—kept entirely in the dark.
Moments after Rosen appeared, the Immortal Star God finally showed himself.
He had yet to realize that this time, the guest had come with ill intent.
The Immortal Star God looked at Rosen with displeasure. He didn't like being repeatedly disturbed during his slumber.
Though he hadn't truly slept in recent years due to his relentless search for Blue Star, the ordeal had still felt like torture to him.
Anyone would be irritated by constant interruptions during sleep—especially when the search for Blue Star was going nowhere. Perhaps he had been too lenient with this pawn. Was that why Rosen had lost his reverence?
Before the Immortal Star God could decide whether to discipline him, Rosen struck first without warning.
Rosen, wielding the Eternal Miracle Sequence, had even upgraded the Immortal Emperor to Eternal level.
Although the Immortal Holy Sword attached to him had not reached Eternal rank—since the Glorious Empire's national fortune in the True Realm of the Ancient Gods wasn't yet at that level—bringing it to a quasi-Eternal tier was no issue for the Miracle Sequence.
In particular, with the sublimating power of the Miracle Source Seed, the Holy Sword's power had been further elevated.
Rosen's domain of the Creator unfolded at a thousandfold acceleration, instantly enveloping the Immortal Star God. At the same time, he locked him in place with full-powered Temporal Reincarnation.
No matter what defensive or countermeasures the Immortal Star God tried, they were all reversed by Temporal Reincarnation back to an undefended state.
The Eternal Holy Sword pierced through the Immortal Star God's body, unleashing an endless storm of Judgment Lightning Punishment.
Although these judgment bolts weren't enhanced by any Judgment or Lightning Source Seeds, the Ring of Judgment had been elevated to Eternal grade by the Miracle Sequence, and so its core attribute—Judgment Lightning Punishment—naturally reached the Eternal level as well.
The raw damage might not be bolstered by a Source Seed, but it was more than enough to maximize the Miracle trait's effect.
The Ring of Judgment's Miracle Trait, Judgment of Sin, activated the endless guilt and sins buried deep within the Immortal Star God through the medium of the Judgment Lightning Punishment.
It was only because Rosen had mastered the Causality Source Seed that he had noticed upon meeting that the Immortal Star God was heavily steeped in sin.
After all, Source Seeds originate from the very foundations of the universe.
The original lifeforms of the cosmos created Source Seeds from that primordial essence, and as Source Seeds continuously drew on this universal origin, they also bore the responsibility of maintaining the universe's proper operation.
Take the Immortal Star God as an example: the more stars there were in the universe, the stronger his Star Source Seed would become; the fewer stars, the weaker it would grow.
If the universe had more stars than normal, the Immortal Star God would be credited for contributing to its balance.
But if the number of stars fell below what was expected, then wielding the Star Source Seed while allowing such decline meant he was only consuming resources without giving back—plundering the universe without providing any contribution.
In that case, karmically, he was steeped in sin.
In the Chaos Star Sea—half the universe—only extraordinary stars had survived.
Countless other stars had been destroyed by the immortal gods and demons of the Chaos Star Sea.
And the Immortal Star God had simply turned a blind eye.
By now, his sins had accumulated to a staggering level without him even realizing it.
Clearly, the universe had already lost its judgment mechanism. At most, it could only attempt some basic instinctual purging.
Rosen suspected that the universe must have originally had a judgment mechanism—otherwise, how would it maintain the orderly functioning of its systems?But since the wills of the universe had all been killed off by the Primordial Beings, that mechanism had naturally been obliterated as well.
Even so, the sheer size of the universe was enough that, at this moment, the Judgment Thunder Punishment maximized the explosion of sins within the Immortal Star God. Even if it was only the instinctive rejection of the universe at play, it still exerted tremendous pressure on the Immortal Star God, reducing His combat power by at least thirty percent.
With his sneak attack successful, Rosen retreated without following up with Death Entombment.That was, after all, a technique released through the destruction of the Eternal Hell. Although reconstructing the Eternal Hell was relatively simple, it would still take some time, so he couldn't execute Death Entombment for now. Instead, he chose to send the Root Tree—which had degenerated into seed form—into the Immortal Star God's body, following the surge of Judgment Thunder Punishment.
The Root Tree took root and sprouted from seed form, with countless roots growing outward from within the Immortal Star God's body.
Under a thousandfold time acceleration, the Root Tree, having already fused with the Life Source Seed, opened up an immortal world and ascended to the rank of Immortal Godfiend.
Among all of Rosen's avatars and pets, only the Root Tree could share the True Creator Sequence.
However, being a plant, the Root Tree's innate abilities were vastly different from his own.
Combining the powers of various Source Seeds, the Root Tree did not give rise to a spacetime reincarnation skill, but rather a life-death reincarnation ability.
Life-death reincarnation could undergo frenzied growth, convert all vitality into death, and resurrect life from death.
As the Immortal Star God's origin of life was converted into the origin of death, even His true body began to wither.
At this point, though, the Immortal Star God had become familiar with the universe's rejection mechanism and, without hesitation, revealed His true form as a black hole. The Root Tree was unable to parasitize an intangible black hole and could only unfurl a life-death domain in the void, merging it with the Creator Domain to trap the Immortal Star God.
Having escaped the Root Tree, the Immortal Star God instantly shifted from a black hole into a transcendent star.
As long as it was a cosmic celestial body, the Immortal Star God could transform into it at will.
His true body wasn't fixed—every naturally formed celestial body in the universe was part of His true body.
However, before the Immortal Star God could release His infinite Solar Divine Fire, Rosen's Dark Sun Eye, opened at the center of his brow, had already locked onto Him. Visible to the naked eye, the Immortal Star God began to turn black, frightening Him into immediately transforming into a supercluster.
From the cosmic perspective, a supercluster was also a massive celestial body.
Thus, after transforming into a supercluster, every single star within it became a transcendent star.
Trillions of transcendent stars together formed the Grand Stellar God-Sealing Formation.
Here, the term "god" referred to the Ancient Gods. This was one of the strongest formations in the universe that the Immortal Star God had prepared specifically for dealing with Ancient Gods.
It could gather the power of countless stars to seal all things, and could generate indestructible starlight that condensed the strength of the star cluster.
Originally, Rosen had planned to let the Miracle Star Sea rest and recover—after all, hunting the Immortal Ancient Tree had consumed considerable power. But now it seemed there was no chance for the Miracle Star Sea to recuperate. He opened the World-Piercing Gate from his palm, and the Miracle Star Sea leaped across the void, falling into the Creator's Palette in his hand.
Within the Creator Domain's cover, the Law of Time acted upon the Creator's Divine Brush.
Rosen used the Miracle Star Sea as pigment, the void within the Creator Domain and the supercluster transformed from the Immortal Star God as canvas, and the Creator's Divine Brush penetrated space, leaving marks in the void. Through multidimensional painting, he added color to all things in the void.
The formation formed by the supercluster that the Immortal Star God had turned into depended on the resonance of all the stars' power.
Formations—whether immortal formations, military formations, magic circles, or arcane arrays—were essentially mechanisms that used structure to harness the power of heaven and earth, or to gather and transform the energy within the formation.
However, the Immortal Star God could not borrow the power of heaven and earth, as it was completely cut off by the Creator Domain.
More importantly, the universe's rejection severed any pathway to access that power.
That left only the option of gathering and transforming the power of countless transcendent stars. Yet as Rosen painted, stars were frozen, black holes erased, and all kinds of gaseous planets had their properties transformed. The transcendent stars that composed the formation fell into chaos, and the structure of the formation unraveled completely.
Seeing that He was being pushed into a desperate situation, the Immortal Star God dismissed the supercluster form.
His body instantly shrank and became the Blue Star—familiar and unfamiliar to Rosen.
The spacetime lockdown granted by the Spacetime Source Seed within the Creator Domain suddenly failed against Blue Star.
The Immortal Star God seized the opportunity to escape. However, the Miracle Star Sea, which had previously been dispersed into pigment and merged into the void painting, now used the power of the Convergence-Divergence Source Seed to instantly reassemble into the Miracle Star Sea, trapping the Blue Star form of the Immortal Star God.
As the Miracle Star Sea shrank, the Blue Star was sealed within its depths.
For the time being, He wasn't getting out. But it also seemed impossible to eliminate the Immortal Star God entirely—because the Blue Star He had transformed into actually possessed spacetime reincarnation abilities identical to the true Blue Star. Even the Spacetime Source Seed was powerless against the spacetime reincarnation of the Blue Star.
(End of Chapter)