In recent years, the overall influence of the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty had significantly diminished.
The most powerful of its three True Gods had gone missing, and the dynasty had also lost its nation-stabilizing Xirang Spirit Pearl. Externally, this loss removed a major deterrent, while internally, the supply of immortal herbs and spiritual plants needed for the cultivation of deities and True Gods had drastically decreased.
As a result, over the past few decades, the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty had been forced to keep a low profile.
Immortal Ruins
Rosen examined himself in the mirror.
The unfamiliar face belonged to the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God, whose divine position he had taken over by using a soul avatar to replace him.
Normal possession could seize the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God's body but couldn't inherit his divine position. Only a soul avatar could deceive the divine position and inherit it.
As for the Earth Dwarf King, he now lay in a vegetative state, half-dead, sleeping and recovering in the Ancient God's True Realm.
Feeling the surging divine essence of a True God within him, Rosen felt more powerful than ever before.
If the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God, a mere Sequence 3, could control a divine position and become a True God, then Rosen, a Sequence 1, would only be stronger with the power of the divine position. This was why he hadn't killed the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God but instead sealed and imprisoned him for years.
Now, he needed a new identity, and taking over the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God's position to control the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty was the perfect solution.
After leaving the Immortal Ruins, Rosen immediately used the Five Elements Great Escape technique to head to the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty.
Unlike the Sun-Shooting Heavenly Dynasty, which was predominantly human and focused on plains filled with fertile farmland, the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty was characterized by mountains, forests, and wetlands.
Tiger demons roamed the mountains, while flood dragons and serpents inhabited the waters. Neither species had a concept of communal living.
The only city in the entire Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty was the Dragon-Tiger Capital.
After traveling over mountains and rivers for less than half a month, Rosen approached the Dragon-Tiger Capital.
The closer he got, the clearer his connection to the remaining two divine positions of the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty became.
The outskirts of the Dragon-Tiger Capital were surrounded by mountains, with a lake in the center. The mountains were dotted with pavilions, towers, and palaces, while deep beneath the lake lay a dragon palace.
Throughout history, the three True Gods of the dynasty had taken turns inheriting the position of emperor. Currently, the White Tiger Mountain Lord held the throne as the Dragon-Tiger Emperor.
Standing atop a mountain peak, the White Tiger Mountain Lord sensed the approach of the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God and breathed a sigh of relief.
Now that the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God had returned, he no longer had to serve as the Dragon-Tiger Emperor.
"Where have you been all these years?"
The White Tiger Mountain Lord merged with the breeze and instantly crossed dozens of miles to intercept Rosen.
"I was ambushed while robbing someone and nearly got killed instead," Rosen replied indignantly. "It took me a long time to recover from my injuries. You've had it tough these years, so I'll stay in power longer this time to make it up to you. I really took a big loss this time…"
"As long as you're fine, that's what matters. But remember, you said you'd stay in power longer this time."
The White Tiger Mountain Lord laughed heartily, clearly satisfied.
Rosen nodded unhappily, though inwardly he was thrilled.
In the various heavenly dynasties of the Old World, the position of emperor wasn't something everyone coveted.
The reason is simple: power and responsibility always go hand in hand.
If one only seeks power without taking responsibility, the fate of the Scorching Sun Imperial Dynasty serves as a cautionary tale.
To bear responsibility, one must divert attention to governing the nation.
Throughout history, being a wise ruler has never been easy. Many wise rulers, in their later years, didn't truly become incompetent—they simply wanted to enjoy the privileges of power without bearing the responsibilities. Their energy no longer allowed them to shoulder the burdens while reaping the benefits of power.
The True Gods of the various heavenly dynasties each stand at the pinnacle of their respective dynasties.
Moreover, their fates are intertwined—prosperity and decline are shared. As a result, there is almost no internal conflict of interest.
Under such circumstances, naturally, no one is willing to take on the role of emperor and bear the responsibilities. Roaming freely to slay the Dark Sun's offspring and gather resources not only offers freedom but also allows them to exchange resources for more life-extending treasures. In such a context, few True Gods are obsessed with power.
Therefore, when Rosen proposed extending his tenure as the Dragon-Tiger Emperor, the White Tiger Mountain Lord not only didn't object but was actually delighted.
After Rosen handed over the Xirang Spirit Pearl to the White Tiger Mountain Lord, the latter eagerly left, abandoning the imperial seal.
Upon returning to the dragon palace, Rosen ordered the removal of all belongings of the White Tiger Mountain Lord.
With the imperial throne changing hands every hundred years, the human attendants in the dragon palace were already accustomed to such transitions.
Thus, the dragon palace was quickly refreshed inside and out. Only then did Rosen sit on the Dragon-Tiger Throne and begin refining the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal.
This Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal originated from the Holy Court. It allowed its wielder to control the civilization's fortune and faith of the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty, thereby sustaining the continuous divine power consumption of the various divine positions within the dynasty.
Thus, by wielding the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal, one could suppress the divine power of the White Tiger Mountain Lord's position.
While it wouldn't render the White Tiger Mountain Lord completely powerless, it could at least suppress him to Sequence 0.
This is also why, in some heavenly dynasties, the emperor—who might not even be a True God—holds a higher status than the True Gods themselves.
However, unless the emperor is foolish, they would never openly clash with the True Gods within the dynasty.
The pressure of survival brought by the Dark Sun is too great. For the top echelons to engage in internal strife, they would either have to be brainless or tired of living.
Those who are truly brainless would never rise to a position where they could inherit a True God's divine position.
Rosen set down the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal. The true divine transcendent artifact that controlled the civilization's fortune was not the Dragon-Tiger Emperor himself but this seal. However, with the assistance of the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal, he could quickly use the Miracle Flame to fully grasp the civilization's fortune of the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty.
Transcendent artifacts imbued with the authority of the New World have their power reduced by at least half in the Old World.
However, miracle artifacts are unaffected by such limitations, maintaining their full power in both the New and Old Worlds.
This suggests that the power behind miracles likely surpasses even the laws themselves.
Rosen summoned the Miracle Flame, enveloping the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal to refine and control the civilization's fortune of the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty—or, more accurately, the dynasty's national fortune. As he fully grasped the national fortune, he realized he had gained even greater control over the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal.
When the holders of divine positions in the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty died, their divine positions would return to the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal.
The wielder of the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal could, at most, suppress the holders of divine positions.
Directly stripping a divine position was beyond the capabilities of the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal.
But now, Rosen could revoke any divine position within the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty at will. Clearly, this was the true upper limit of the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal's power. However, past Dragon-Tiger Emperors had never truly mastered the national fortune and thus could never unleash the seal's full potential.
Rosen had initially worried about the other two True Gods opposing him, but now he no longer had to.
As long as he wished, the White Tiger Mountain Lord would instantly lose his divine position, leaving him with only the power of a mere Sequence 3.
However, as Rosen continued to study the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal, his joy quickly faded.
He discovered that the national fortune of the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty was being steadily drained away by the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal.
This meant that the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal was essentially siphoning off the dynasty's national fortune.
The destination of this fortune, unsurprisingly, was the various Holy Courts.
Since the imperial seals of the heavenly dynasties were provided by the Holy Courts, it was only natural that they would quietly take a share of the benefits.
What worried Rosen was whether there were other hidden mechanisms and whether the Myriad Paths Holy Court would discover that he had fully mastered the Dragon-Tiger Imperial Seal.
The Fate Divination Painting was quickly completed, and no danger was revealed.
The laws of fate he controlled were of the old system, and their manifestations in the New and Old Worlds were entirely different. While the World Government in the New World could deceive the Fate Divination Painting, in the Old World, unless it was a Great True God specializing in prophecy, it would be difficult to mislead the painting.
On the other hand, the power of the Dark Sun had significantly limited the strength of True Gods and Great True Gods.
True Gods controlled laws, and these laws were dispersed throughout the world, omnipresent.
Thus, the larger the range of a True God's divine perception, the greater the total amount of laws they could control.
However, the Old World was shrouded in the Dark Sun, and the laws within its reach were corrupted by it.
If a True God carelessly controlled laws within the Dark Sun's influence, they risked being corrupted by it.
Therefore, typically, True Gods could only control laws within the limited areas illuminated by sunlight.
If normal laws were like an omnipresent internet spanning the world, this network had now been corrupted by the Dark Sun, leaving only the Holy Courts and heavenly dynasties as isolated local networks in the darkness. As a result, all powers based on laws were severely restricted.
As long as Rosen didn't enter the local network of a Great True God's Holy Court, he basically didn't have to worry about abilities like prophecy.
Because in these disconnected local networks, even if a Great True God possessed divination abilities, it would be difficult to locate him hiding in another network.
This was also why Rosen chose to replace the Tiger-Flood Dragon True God and ascend to the Dragon-Tiger Emperor's throne.
Now that he was completely safe, Rosen planned to continue lying low for a while.
Even if the World Government had connections with the Great True Gods of the Old World, the Great True Gods couldn't possibly search every heavenly dynasty across the world for him. It was even less likely that they would discover his true body hidden in the Mysterious Study Room, and the soul avatar's replacement ability wouldn't be easily detected either.
Rosen grabbed the mouse of the Main God Computer and began continuously injecting divine energy at the True God level, empowered by his divine position.
Soon, his divine energy was nearly depleted. The Gluttony Nen Beast began devouring divine crystals to convert them into his divine energy, while the Small World Tree continuously transmitted divine energy of the same origin. The tree's roots absorbed divine crystals to replenish its own losses.
The Main God Computer was a valuable tool, bound to him and under his control.
But it was only control, not complete mastery.
At times, the Main God Computer would act on its own without his commands.
For example, it had devoured the divine sparks and essence of the Seven Deadly Sins Demons and had prompted him to refine the World Window.
Rosen used the Main God Computer while remaining wary of it.
After becoming a demigod, he had transferred valuable resources to the Ancient God's True Realm and no longer carried them into the Mysterious Study Room. This directly caused the Main God Computer's self-repair to stall, leaving it stuck at Sequence 2.
For things he couldn't fully control, Rosen never dared to place complete trust in them.
Now that his strength had improved and he had ample time in the Old World, he decided to dedicate some time to further refining the Main God Computer.
If he allowed the Main God Computer to absorb divine crystals directly through the network cable, the repair process would be faster, but it wouldn't help Rosen gain control over the computer. However, if the Main God Computer absorbed divine energy that had been converted by him, his will would also seep into the computer through this energy.
Like water dripping through stone, the more divine energy the Main God Computer absorbed from him, the deeper his will would penetrate it.
At first, he only fed it divine energy. Later, after confirming that this method truly enhanced his control over the computer, Rosen began feeding it divine essence as well. He would feed it 12 points at a time, wait for his reserves to replenish, and then continue feeding it.
This process continued for several years in real time, and finally, the Main God Computer was repaired to Sequence 1.
The most significant change was the evolution of the Main God Computer's network cable.
Previously, the cable was difficult to regenerate, but now it could regenerate infinitely with ease.
Moreover, the Main God Computer could cut off a section of the network cable. Even if this severed section was separated by vast distances from the main cable, it would still maintain a flawless connection. The severed section could even integrate with the laws of the world.
Although the Main God Computer couldn't use the network cable to control the laws, it could use the cable to build the Main God Network.
It was only now that Rosen understood how the Main God Network in the New World had come into existence.
In its prime, the Main God Computer must have integrated its network cable into the fortune laws of the main world. This was why all individuals with great fortune were anchored and linked to the Main God Network. Only those who could control their own fortune could avoid being anchored by the network.
Rosen began frantically consuming divine energy to generate network cables, which he then integrated into the laws of fate.
Soon, a local Main God Network covered the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty, but the network couldn't expand further.
The cost of producing network cables was too high. The Main God Network in the New World spanned the entire world, and the resources consumed to build it were likely enough to drain the World Government. Just look at how much the World Government spent constructing the Spirit Realm Deep Web—the Main God Network's cost would only be greater, not less.
Moreover, the laws of the Old World were corrupted by the Dark Sun's power. Expanding the Main God Network here might inadvertently benefit the Dark Sun.
If the network were to be expanded, it would have to be done by discreetly setting up local networks in various heavenly dynasties and Holy Courts, then connecting these local networks through the Main God Computer.
While setting up the local Main God Network in the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty, Rosen also discovered that integrating the network cable with different laws produced different effects.
Integrating it with the laws of fate enhanced his mastery over fate.
Although integrating it with other laws didn't directly enhance his control, it increased the probability of him mastering those laws.
Rosen immediately began generating a large number of network cables, constructing a local Main God Network integrated with laws such as origin, imperial authority, civilization, life, death, and flesh. As expected, his control over these laws was also strengthened.
In theory, if there were an infinite number of network cables integrated with all the laws and covering the entire world, the Main God Computer, through the Main God Network, could potentially harness all the laws.
This was likely the intention of the Main God Computer's creator. However, the gap between theory and reality was vast. Even at its peak, the Main God Computer in the New World probably hadn't integrated its network cables with more than a few laws to cover the entire world.
Rosen continued repairing the Main God Computer, and this time, the process took a full two hundred years in real time.
After absorbing an immense amount of divine energy and divine essence, the Main God Computer was finally restored to Sequence 0.
During this refining process, Rosen's control over the Main God Computer also underwent a qualitative enhancement.
At the very least, he could now see part of the Main God Computer's attributes.
[Main God Computer: Miracle Artifact]
[Level: Sequence 0 (Great True God)]
[Miracle Attribute: Can generate a virtual source world that fully simulates reality.]
[Miracle Traits: True Creation, Main God Network, Main God System, Unknown, Unknown, One and Only in Heaven and Earth, Eternal and Indestructible.]
Rosen probed the virtual source world, which was essentially a spirit realm generated by the Main God Computer.
Using the virtual source world, it could create different virtual spirit realms based on text, images, and videos.
Then, through the True Creation trait, everything in the virtual spirit realm could be made real.
This was an ability the Main God Computer had demonstrated from the beginning. However, in the past, the computer had been too severely damaged, limiting both the virtual source world and the True Creation trait.
Next was the Main God Network. The ability to generate network cables and integrate them with laws to form the Main God Network was the function of this miracle trait.
Finally, after reaching Sequence 0, the Main God System miracle trait was successfully restored.
With the Main God System, Rosen could truly control the Main God Computer.
He quickly created an administrator account, and for the first time, he had genuine control over the Main God Computer.
Through the Main God System, he could program different software on the Main God Computer.
Whenever the Main God Network integrated with a law, it would automatically analyze that law and generate corresponding spiritual runes.
These spiritual runes served as programming code, allowing the development of various software.
Rosen input the spiritual runes that constituted the Painter Sequence into the Main God System. Soon, the painting software on the desktop underwent a qualitative transformation.
Now, by opening the painting software, he could fully amplify all the abilities of the Painter Sequence through the Main God Computer.
For example, the Original Painting Sealing Technique, which originally could only collapse a world domain and seal everything into a painting, could now collapse the Main God Network and seal everything into a painting, as long as the area was covered by the network.
If needed, and if the Main God Computer had enough stored divine energy, the entire Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty could instantly be turned into a painting.
Rosen continued by inputting the Hunter Sequence into the Main God System to generate software. Now, when he fired a shot at the screen, the transcendent bullet could traverse the void and land anywhere within the Dragon-Tiger Heavenly Dynasty covered by the Main God Network.
He then attempted to input the Noble Sequence and the Miracle Sequence, but both attempts failed.
The Miracle Sequence failed because its essence seemed to surpass the Main God Computer.
The Noble Sequence failed simply because the virtual source world wasn't qualified to fully simulate a divine territory.
However, Rosen continued experimenting. By using the Source Star Core to seal the transcendent essence or even divine sparks of other sequences, he could import these sequences into the Main God System to generate different software. Through these software programs, he could use the Main God Network as a conduit to unleash the abilities of these transcendent sequences.
As more and more sequence software was generated, the Main God System grew increasingly powerful.
It was only then that Rosen realized the Main God Computer might be far stronger than he had imagined.
At the very least, as a Great True God-level artifact, the Main God Computer's potential far surpassed that of the Fate Clay Tablet.
He had previously thought the Main God Computer was weaker than the Fate Clay Tablet, but that was only because the computer's incredible growth potential had been stunted by its damage. Now, as the Main God System continued to grow, the true potential of the Main God Computer was being unleashed.
Rosen couldn't even imagine how powerful the remaining two miracle traits of the Main God Computer would be.
The fourth miracle trait might not necessarily be stronger than the others, as many miracle traits weren't unique.
But the final miracle trait, which possessed the One and Only attribute, was undoubtedly the core and most powerful ability of the Main God Computer.
However, fully repairing it would require more resources than Rosen currently possessed.
(End of Chapter)