Mysterious Study Room
Rosen stared at the Main God Computer, hesitating.
Through the World Fruit of the Small World Tree, he had created several laws that no longer existed in the Old World.
Most of these laws couldn't spread across the Old World.
The Dark Sun shrouding the world had almost completely cut off the possibility of these laws covering the Old World.
However, there was one exception: the Primordial Law. If he wished, it could easily spread across the entire Old World, omnipresent.
But doing so would result in most of the Primordial Law being corrupted by the Dark Sun.
Even though the Dark Sun's offspring didn't actively harm him and even showed goodwill, he still didn't dare to let the Primordial Law merge with the darkness.
But now, he was considering whether to allow the Primordial Law to merge with the darkness.
The strength of laws was never static.
For example, the Law of Painting grew stronger as more painters emerged and more beings appreciated art.
The Primordial Law was second only to the Laws of Time and Space in the hierarchy of world laws. Without the Primordial Law, the world's essence would only be depleted, leading to its eventual demise. In the Old World, the Primordial Law had likely been extinguished by the Ancient Gods.
Now, the newly born Primordial Law, though weak, would rapidly grow stronger by drawing on the Old World's foundation.
The Old World, in its instinctive struggle for survival, would spare no effort to strengthen the Primordial Law and prevent the world's destruction.
If Rosen integrated the Main God Computer's network cables into the Primordial Law and allowed it to merge with the darkness, the Primordial Law would grow stronger, and the Main God Network integrated with it would also expand.
In a very short time, a Main God Network even more powerful than the one in the New World could be established in the Old World.
As a result, the power of the Main God Computer would also rise alongside the Primordial Law.
However, this approach came with both benefits and risks. The Primordial Law would be corrupted by the Dark Sun, and even the Main God Network might fall under its influence. In the end, everything would only benefit the Dark Sun. In the past, Rosen wouldn't have even considered such a reckless move.
But now, things were different. After the Main God Computer analyzed the divine spark of the Burrow Demon Dragon, it had gained a new software program.
This software could maximize resistance against the Dark Sun's corruption.
Even if the Dark Sun's corruption became unstoppable one day, Rosen could still destroy the corrupted Primordial Law by self-destructing the Main God Network.
Based on his experiments, the Burrow Demon Dragon's sequence abilities could resist the Dark Sun's corruption.
However, at present, it could only resist large-scale corruption from the Dark Sun.
The darkness enveloping the world was likely just a derivative of the Dark Sun's true power.
If it were the Dark Sun's most primal power—the force that had killed the World Tree and forced the Ancient Gods to abandon the Old World—the Burrow Demon Dragon's sequence abilities would be utterly incapable of resisting it. This was why Rosen was so hesitant.
After much deliberation, Rosen finally decided to take the gamble.
He was betting that, just like the World Tree and the Ancient Gods, the Dark Sun was also in a weakened state.
If the Dark Sun were truly awake and at full strength, how could the Holy Courts and heavenly dynasties still exist in the Old World?
Therefore, it was highly likely that the Dark Sun was also in a poor state, much like the Ancient Gods, and had fallen into a deep slumber.
If the Dark Sun were to awaken one day, the Old World would likely come to an end.
By then, if the Old World itself couldn't be saved, the corruption of the Primordial Law and the Main God Network wouldn't matter much. As long as the Main God Computer severed its connection to the Main God Network, even in the worst-case scenario, the computer itself would remain unharmed.
Once Rosen made up his mind, he got to work. He completely unleashed the Primordial Law, allowing it to spread across the main world.
As the Primordial Law merged with the darkness, the Dark Sun's power didn't corrupt it. Instead, it cooperated with the Primordial Law, helping it cover the entire Old World and even actively providing primordial energy to strengthen it. In just a few years, the Primordial Law had completely enveloped the Old World.
The once lifeless Old World began to revive, transitioning from death to life during this period.
The Main God Network, integrated with the Primordial Law, also expanded alongside it, becoming omnipresent.
The moment the Primordial Law reached its peak, the Dark Sun, which had previously cooperated, began to corrupt it.
However, the intensity of the corruption clearly didn't exceed the resistance provided by the Burrow Demon Dragon's sequence.
Even though the Dark Sun's corrupting power would gradually strengthen after the Primordial Law's revival, based on the current rate, it would take at least tens of thousands of years in real time to fully corrupt the Primordial Law and force the Main God Network to self-destruct.
With such a long span of time, Rosen would have no excuse not to become a Great True God.
By then, he might not even need the Main God Network anymore.
Rosen's gamble paid off—the Dark Sun's condition was indeed as he had speculated, far from optimal.
Having risked the Main God Computer and the Primordial Law, Rosen now reaped the rewards of his successful bet.
First, through the Main God Network and the Primordial Law, he could continuously siphon off the world's essence from the Old World.
In the past, the Ancient Gods and the Dark Sun had divided the Old World's essence between themselves. Now, Rosen could also take a share.
Whether it was expanding the Ancient God's True Realm, nurturing the Small World Tree, or repairing the Main God Computer, everything became much easier.
Next, through the Main God Network integrated with the Primordial Law, Rosen could use the Main God Computer to spy on almost everything in the Old World.
Even the Holy Courts couldn't escape his surveillance unless a Great True God retreated into their divine kingdom or activated their domain. Within a few years, Rosen would have a complete understanding of the current state of the Old World.
The treasure map of the Apocalypse, which supposedly pointed to a hidden treasure in the Old World, would soon reveal its secrets as well.
The revival of the Old World due to the full spread of the Primordial Law couldn't be hidden from the various civilizations.
All the Great True Gods had mixed feelings about the reappearance of the Primordial Law.
They were pleased that their Holy Courts were no longer rootless, but they were also worried that the Primordial Law's resurgence was linked to the Dark Sun.
If the Primordial Law had reappeared because of the Dark Sun, then the complete annihilation of sunlight was only a matter of time.
Fortunately, as the years passed, the Dark Sun's erosion of sunlight not only didn't accelerate but actually slowed down.
It was only then that some Great True Gods began to deeply engage with the Primordial Law and soon discovered the Main God Network built upon it.
Some Great True Gods from the New World quickly realized that this was the Main God Network of the New World.
Openly and covertly, some Great True Gods began searching for Rosen's whereabouts.
By this time, Rosen had already arrived at a mountain range on the surface of the Old World, completely corrupted by the Dark Sun.
Through the Main God Network, he had confirmed that the Apocalypse Treasure Map ultimately pointed to this location.
So, he took the Immortal Ruins Divine Pill and used data transmission to descend to the surface of the Old World, which was still bathed in sunlight.
However, when he took out the Apocalypse Treasure Map, there were no expected changes.
Rosen pondered this. The power of the Dark Sun was peculiar.
The Dark Sun devoured sunlight, but it didn't completely destroy it.
On the contrary, the Dark Sun used the devoured sunlight to construct an inner world that had only day and no night.
This inner world was somewhat similar to the Spirit Realm of the New World.
Like the Spirit Realm, it completely overlapped with the real world. However, unlike the Spirit Realm, which was a mental world, this inner world of the Old World, bathed in endless sunlight without darkness, was a material world. The Dark Sun had effectively split the Old World into two.
In the inner world, there was only sunlight and no darkness, while in the real world, there was only darkness and no sunlight.
Some speculated that this was because darkness could only exist in the presence of light.
If light were completely extinguished, darkness would lose its reason to exist.
There was even a theory that the Dark Sun had the power to extinguish all light in the underground world. But if it did so, the civilizations of various races would be completely annihilated, leaving nothing for the Dark Sun to corrupt. Thus, the underground world might have been deliberately left as a "livestock pen" by the Dark Sun.
Of course, these were just speculations, and they were considered heretical and unwelcome theories.
There was even debate over whether the sunlit world was the inner world or if the dark world was the inner world.
As the effects of the Immortal Ruins Divine Pill in Rosen's body gradually dissipated, he began to leave the sunlit world and reappear in the surface world shrouded in darkness.
This time, the Apocalypse Treasure Map immediately reacted, wrapping around him and disappearing into the location marked on the map.
Passing through endless darkness, Rosen's vision was filled with light once more.
He stood firmly on the ground, but when he looked down, he saw mountains and rivers tens of thousands of miles below.
When he looked up, he saw the stars and galaxies of the universe.
Rosen instantly expanded his spatial domain outward and confirmed that everything he saw was an illusion. In reality, he was in a small chamber about ten meters in diameter. A few meters in front of him floated a shattered eyeball covered in countless cracks.
The moment he sensed the eyeball, it rushed toward his right eye and merged with the God-Slaying Demon Eye.
[Apocalypse Demon Eye: Miracle Pupil Technique]
[Level: Great True God]
[Miracle Attribute: What you think, you can see; what you see, you can appraise.]
[Miracle Traits: Void Eye, Demon Eye Capture, Data Transmission, Miracle Synthesis, Furnace Destruction, One and Only in Heaven and Earth, Eternal and Indestructible.]
The words "Great True God" next to the level left Rosen utterly shocked.
Rosen carefully sensed and gradually gained control over the Apocalypse Demon Eye, which had evolved from the God-Slaying Demon Eye after merging with the shattered eyeball.
"What you think, you can see"—now, even Great True Gods could be seen.
Moreover, without relying on the Hidden Brass Book, he would no longer forget the true appearance of the Great True Gods in his memory.
Next was the ability to appraise whatever he saw. Rosen turned his gaze toward the Myriad Paths Holy Emperor of the Myriad Paths Holy Court.
The moment he saw the Myriad Paths Holy Emperor, he instinctively knew his true name: Zhang Lingyue.
Rosen continued to stare with the Apocalypse Demon Eye, and his divine essence began to burn permanently.
Just as he was about to drop to Sequence 1, he finally appraised more information.
Zhang Lingyue, a child of the Dark Sun born from the corpse of the Taoist Patriarch of the Old World, wielded the Laws of Nature.
The Myriad Paths Holy Emperor was not only the supreme ruler of the Myriad Paths Holy Court but also governed all nearby heavenly dynasties, resisting the corruption of the Dark Sun.
Yet, according to the Apocalypse Demon Eye's appraisal, the Myriad Paths Holy Emperor Zhang Lingyue was actually a child of the Dark Sun?
Rosen didn't even have time to take the Flesh Secret Fruit to restore his lost divine essence. Instead, he activated the Apocalypse Demon Eye again and looked toward the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty. This time, he wasn't looking at a Great True God but at the attendants in the dragon palace.
Without exception, they were all children of the Dark Sun. He continued to look at other beings, and there were no exceptions.
If it wasn't that the Apocalypse Demon Eye was faulty, then the information it provided was completely false.
After ruling out all impossibilities, Rosen realized a terrifying truth.
It was likely that all life in the Old World had already perished, and those who remained were all children of the Dark Sun. However, much like the abilities of soul parasites, these Dark Sun offspring living in the Old World retained their intelligence and were completely unaware that they were already dead.
Rosen continued to inspect the treasure chamber but found nothing else.
He could also sense that the treasure chamber was collapsing.
Using data transmission, he returned to the Dragon Palace in the Dragon-Tiger Capital before the treasure chamber completely collapsed.
With a complex expression, Rosen looked at the attendants in the Dragon Palace. He retreated into the Mysterious Study Room and began to restore his consumed divine essence.
Under time acceleration, it took less than half a month to fully recover his losses.
Rosen could no longer hold back. He activated the Apocalypse Demon Eye and looked at the Apocalypse Treasure Map.
It turned out that in the Old World, there had been a celestial immortal named Apocalypse. In the Old World, celestial immortals were equivalent to Great True Gods.
Apocalypse had become a celestial immortal by chance after obtaining a broken eyeball.
Using the eyeball's ability to appraise all things, Apocalypse smoothly ascended to the status of a celestial immortal. However, at that time, the Old World had reached the end of its life. Apocalypse could only watch helplessly as the Old World teetered on the brink of destruction due to the battle between the Ancient Gods and the World Tree.
Finally, the Dark Sun descended, delivering the fatal blow to the Old World.
Before his death, Apocalypse hid the mysterious broken eyeball and left behind the Apocalypse Treasure Map.
However, when creating the treasure map, Apocalypse had already been corrupted by the Dark Sun and was in a state of delirium. As a result, while the map pointed to the treasure chamber, it lacked specific details about the location. After instinctively leaving clues with his nails, Apocalypse had completely lost control.
Now that he knew the origin of the Apocalypse Treasure Map, Rosen continued to use the Apocalypse Demon Eye to spy on other Great True Gods.
Even with the permanent consumption of divine essence, the information he could obtain was still very limited.
However, he did confirm one thing: the Great True Gods of the Old World had indeed all become children of the Dark Sun. However, those Great True Gods from the New World had not become Dark Sun offspring, though they were contaminated by the Dark Sun to varying degrees.
Rosen also discovered that the Great True Gods from the New World were likely aware of their contamination by the Dark Sun.
But they had no choice but to use every means at their disposal to resist the corruption.
It made sense. In the New World, Great True Gods—or rather, Forbidden True Demons—were like rats scurrying in the streets. Neither the Ancient Gods nor the World Will would allow them to survive. Therefore, aside from fleeing the New World and escaping into the cosmos, the only place left for them to hide was the Old World.
Although the Old World was contaminated by the Dark Sun, at least they could survive there.
Realizing that the waters of the Old World were deeper and more dangerous than he had imagined, Rosen began to feel nostalgic for the New World.
Compared to the Old World, the New World felt almost excessively safe.
Finally, Rosen manipulated the Apocalypse Demon Eye to detach from his right eye socket and turned to look at himself.
He was curious to see how much information about himself the Apocalypse Demon Eye could reveal.
He had already examined the Main God Computer and the Mysterious Study Room beforehand. The Main God Computer was the pinnacle of transcendent creation from the Main God Civilization, while the Mysterious Study Room remained a mystery even to the Apocalypse Demon Eye. However, he did discover a method to further control the Mysterious Study Room.
"Even now, I still can't see why the Mysterious Study Room brought me to this era?" Rosen muttered in surprise as he looked at the appraisal results.
The Apocalypse Demon Eye's appraisal simply showed that he was Little Rosen.
Clearly, the fact that he had replaced Little Rosen was something even the Apocalypse Demon Eye couldn't detect.
Rosen didn't dare to recklessly look at the Dark Sun. He retracted the Apocalypse Demon Eye and began to consider his next steps.
Originally, he had planned to develop steadily in the Old World. But now that he knew the true nature of the Old World, how could he stay there with peace of mind? Sometimes, ignorance is bliss, and knowing too much only brings greater troubles.
The God-Slaying Demon Eye had evolved into the Apocalypse Demon Eye, not only gaining the ability to appraise but also enhancing its original capabilities.
Rosen thought about seeing the Ancient God's Black Cavity, and sure enough, he saw it.
It was quite far from the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty, requiring him to cross three Holy Courts.
Finding the Ancient God's Black Cavity meant finding the way back to the New World.
Through repeated appraisals of a Great True God, Rosen had learned that the way for Great True Gods to return to the New World was through the Ancient God's Black Cavity. However, while the Black Cavity remained fixed in the New World, its location in the Old World constantly shifted.
Moreover, to return to the New World through the Ancient God's Black Cavity, one would have to face the Earth Demon Dragon guarding it.
Regardless of whether he could successfully return, finding the Ancient God's Black Cavity was the first step.
The distance across three Holy Courts was vast, but data transmission through the Main God Network was incredibly fast.
In the blink of an eye, Rosen had arrived in the Ascension Heavenly Dynasty via data transmission.
"Flesh is weak, machinery ascends"—this was the transcendent path followed by all the heavenly dynasties surrounding the Cosmic Holy Court.
As for the Cosmic Holy Emperor, he originated from the legendary Nine Tribulations Civilization, a cosmic civilization from the New World.
When Rosen first obtained this appraisal result, he thought the Cosmic Holy Emperor was the supreme being of the Cosmic Civilization.
However, upon deeper appraisal, he discovered that the Cosmic Holy Emperor was merely one of the Great True Gods of the Cosmic Civilization. Both the Cosmic Civilization and the Main God Civilization had more than one Great True God, and the status of the other Great True Gods in the Cosmic Civilization remained unknown.
The Ancient God's Black Cavity was within the territory controlled by the Cosmic Holy Court. Naturally, the Cosmic Holy Emperor had long since discovered it.
However, he had chosen to ignore it, allowing the Black Cavity to gradually destroy the Ascension Heavenly Dynasty.
The New World would draw essence from the Dark World through the Ancient God's Black Cavity. Since the Old World was contaminated by the Dark Sun, the Black Cavity's extraction of essence caused the Dark Sun's power to densely gather around it, easily forming multiple Dark Sun Nests.
With five Dark Sun Nests and over three hundred Dark Sun offspring, a direct conflict erupted with the neighboring Ascension Heavenly Dynasty.
In just a few decades, the True God divine positions in the Ascension Heavenly Dynasty had changed hands seven times.
Thus, the Ascension Heavenly Dynasty was fighting with its back against the wall, with no way out. If the Ascension Heavenly Dynasty fell, its divine positions would vanish. Without divine positions, the True Gods would fall back to Sequence 3. Even without the Dark Sun Nests, a Sequence 3 being wouldn't be able to cross the darkness to reach other heavenly dynasties.
Rosen had originally planned to leave as soon as he arrived. However, just as he was about to depart, the Mind Canvas automatically generated a divination painting.
On the Fate Divination Painting was a familiar figure.
(End of Chapter)