In the Reincarnation Holy Hall, Rosen cradled the apple-sized Blue Star in his palm, lost in thought. The Will of Reincarnation seemed utterly sincere, and her words appeared to make perfect sense. However, after careful consideration, he still didn't trust the Will of Reincarnation.
If the Will of Reincarnation was truly tired of living and no longer wished to exist, if he was truly a life formed from half of the Will of Reincarnation's spiritual origin, and if the Will of Reincarnation genuinely intended to bequeath everything she had meticulously planned for over a hundred thousand epochs to him... if all this were true, why wouldn't the Will of Reincarnation act openly and honestly? Having manipulated everything from the shadows for so many years, why should he believe the Will of Reincarnation now?
Regardless of whether the Will of Reincarnation's words were true or false, or what proportion of truth and falsehood they contained, strengthening his power for the future was undoubtedly the right course of action. All dangers and troubles stemmed from insufficient strength; sufficient power could disregard all schemes and plots.
Rosen's perception reached into Blue Star's deepest parallel worlds. Every second, countless layers of parallel worlds were being destroyed. However, the total number of parallel worlds within Blue Star was as countless as stars in the universe. Even if Nightfall Sovereign and the others destroyed trillions of parallel worlds per second, it would still be insignificant compared to the total number of parallel worlds. Moreover, all destroyed parallel worlds would recover under the endless space-time reincarnation.
"I can release you," Rosen's voice penetrated countless parallel worlds.
"You believe the Will of Reincarnation's words?" Nightfall Sovereign said, attempting to sow discord after ceasing his destructive actions.
"Of course, I don't believe everything, but are you still unclear about the consequences of disbelief?" Rosen sneered.
Nightfall Sovereign was speechless. Regardless of whether the Will of Reincarnation's words were true or false, at least Rosen was benefiting now. In contrast, they were trapped here with no way out. With the Will of Reincarnation and those seven existences who had transcended reincarnation, they could easily overpower both them and Rosen. So, whether true or false, they had no choice but to accept it as true.
"State your terms!" Nightfall Sovereign said helplessly.
"Become lords under my rule," Rosen stated unequivocally.
Though Nightfall Sovereign was very unwilling, after discussing with Dark Sun Sovereign and the others, this was their only path to survival. If Rosen left them, he would only lose two transcended helpers. If they left Rosen, it would be a dead end.
New Alliances and Unforeseen Dangers
A few days later, Nightfall Sovereign and the others surrendered the two portions of Grand Dao of Reincarnation authority they controlled. At the same time, they integrated more of their immortal will into the Emperor's Will, becoming its subordinates. Although Rosen, with the Emperor's Will, wouldn't instantly determine their life and death, suppressing their power by half and easily dealing with them would be no difficult task. At Rosen's insistence, Nightfall Sovereign and the others remained within Blue Star's internal parallel worlds. Rosen had completely refined Blue Star; he was a hundred percent certain that Blue Star itself had no problems. However, Blue Star being fine didn't mean that everything within its internal parallel worlds was fine. So, Nightfall Sovereign and the others still needed to investigate thoroughly; after all, they were idle anyway.
Through the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree, Rosen's gaze shifted to Yuanshi Tianwang and the others. These seven transcended beings, cultivated by the Will of Reincarnation, were currently working together to excavate the World Crystal Wall. With seven of them working together, the efficiency increased not just several times, but at least tenfold. The World Crystal Wall, which would have taken another year to penetrate, could now be broken through in at most a month.
The thinner the World Crystal Wall became, the clearer their perception of the external insect swarm became. Conversely, the insect swarm also seemed to sense someone probing and began to gather in large numbers toward the soon-to-be-breached tunnel exit.
When only a thin layer remained, the Will of Reincarnation personally made her move. She took out some powder formed from the excavation of the World Crystal Wall, then with a raised hand, tore apart the final layer of the World Crystal Wall.
The Will of Reincarnation instantly retreated, taking Yuanshi Tianwang and the others into Blue Star. At that moment, Rosen had a fleeting thought to stop them from entering. However, he ultimately gave up, because he didn't believe the Will of Reincarnation had no other life-saving methods if she left Blue Star.
The Blue Star, shrunk to the size of a speck of dust, lay within the passage like an insignificant particle. Indeed, the minuscule, dust-like Blue Star went unnoticed by the insect swarm. The swarm began to frantically burrow in reverse through the passage, which had already started to repair itself. If the original World Crystal Wall was an unbreakable dam, this passage was now the "ant's nest" that caused a thousand-mile dike to collapse.
Years passed. The original opening, with a diameter of less than a meter, had been continuously gnawed larger and larger by the insect swarm. And the larger the opening, the faster the swarm's gnawing efficiency. The faster the gnawing, the larger the opening continued to become. Seeing that the World Crystal Wall would rapidly be consumed this way, the Reincarnation Great Realm astonishingly activated its third-tier immune system.
The Reincarnation Great Realm directly created three thousand new universes, and simultaneously created three thousand End Disaster Beasts that had transcended reincarnation. Although these three thousand End Disaster Beasts were no match for the insect swarm, they possessed significant advantages. Firstly, they could move freely within the World Crystal Wall, allowing them to retreat into it if they were outmatched. Secondly, after an End Disaster Beast was killed, it would be reborn within the swarm. Thus, for a time, the war between the End Disaster Beasts and the insect swarm reached a stalemate.
However, this was only a superficial stalemate. In reality, the Reincarnation Great Realm was gradually becoming weaker. In the first few million years, there were still three thousand End Disaster Beasts, but as the war progressed to this extent, the End Disaster Beasts had already decreased to 2,999. The missing one was entirely due to the Reincarnation Great Realm being unable to sustain the immense energy consumption.
Powerful as the Reincarnation Great Realm was, the core source it could utilize was actually not much. This was because over ninety percent of its core was used to form the World Crystal Wall, resisting the pollution and corruption of the insect swarm and the vast wasteland. Therefore, the billions of universes were actually composed of only one-tenth of the Reincarnation Great Realm's core. Supporting three thousand End Disaster Beasts was already the limit.
The Reincarnation Great Realm's immune system gradually weakened, while the power of the insect swarm grew stronger. Because the World Crystal Wall of the Reincarnation Great Realm was spherical, the insects that originally surrounded the World Crystal Wall in other places were now gradually swarming towards the only opening in the World Crystal Wall. No matter how many insects the End Disaster Beasts killed, more insects would fill their place. Even after the weaker insects were killed by the End Disaster Beasts, the surviving insects were the elite of the swarm.
Separated by Blue Star, Rosen watched the fierce war surrounding the World Crystal Wall, his scalp tingling. It was no wonder that when the Will of Reincarnation had left the Reincarnation Great Realm with hundreds of transcended beings, they had all died in the vast wasteland, unable to even send back a single piece of information. The vast wasteland truly left no room for survival.
Rosen's days of hiding in Blue Star and watching the show soon came to an end. Even though Blue Star was as tiny as a speck of dust, the pollution and corruption of the vast wasteland spared not even dust. Without his realizing it, the outermost layer of the Blue Star world had already been contaminated and corrupted.
Billions of humans and countless animal species across Blue Star suddenly lost all self-awareness, retaining only the instincts of life. Humans lost their most cherished wisdom and self, lost control of their tools, and instantly plummeted from the top of the food chain to the bottom.
Rosen tried to stop it, but it was utterly useless. The ever-effective space-time reincarnation couldn't save them either. Even if space-time reincarnation could bring the dead humans back to life, the self-consciousness of humans, destroyed by pollution and corruption, could not be restored through space-time reincarnation.
After realizing that ordinary humans were completely beyond saving, Rosen began to manipulate extraordinary lifeforms to willingly accept the pollution and corruption. Without exception, the self-consciousness of all extraordinary lifeforms was destroyed. Whether it was the weakest Sequence 9, or the reincarnation lifeforms he forced into suicidal missions, none could resist the pollution and corruption. As long as they came into contact with even a tiny bit, the immortal memory of reincarnation life could not retain its self.
The only way to resist pollution and corruption was to completely isolate one's self-consciousness from it. As long as there was no contact, pollution and corruption would not harm self-consciousness. But this was easier said than done. If self-consciousness controlling the body was like broadband internet, then completely isolating and sealing self-consciousness from the body was like ancient dial-up internet. In such a situation, a reincarnation lifeform could at most control their body to unleash the combat power of a primal lifeform.
Calculated this way, a transcended being, after completely sealing their self-consciousness, would at best possess the combat power of a reincarnation life. If even transcended beings couldn't face the insect swarm and various monsters of the vast wasteland, let alone a mere reincarnation lifeform. This was also why those transcended beings who left the Reincarnation Great Realm ultimately couldn't even escape back to the Reincarnation Great Realm alive.
Rosen couldn't resist the pollution and corruption of Blue Star's surface layers, so he could only continuously abandon the encroached parallel worlds. But this wasn't a permanent solution; Blue Star, no matter how many parallel worlds it had, would eventually be completely corrupted. So now, it was a test of endurance: whether Blue Star would give in first and be completely polluted and corrupted, or whether the Reincarnation Great Realm would give in first and be forced to abandon everything and merge into Blue Star to save itself. If the judgment was wrong and they lost the gamble, it would mean cutting off all retreat and committing slow suicide.
Rosen was anxious every day, but the Will of Reincarnation seemed as if nothing was wrong.The Will of Reincarnation's Drastic Plan
Inferior in strength, he had no way to deal with the Will of Reincarnation. Of course, he wasn't thinking of simply giving up. He began to delve deeply into studying the lives in each Blue Star world that were being contaminated and corrupted. However, if it were that easy to research a result, the Will of Reincarnation wouldn't have spent a hundred thousand epochs on it.
Time flowed like water. The war between the End Disaster Beasts and the insect swarm lasted for a full three billion years. However, this war finally ended with the disappearance of the last End Disaster Beast, signifying the failure of the Reincarnation Great Realm's immune system. And the heavily damaged insect swarm finally broke through the World Crystal Wall and invaded the Reincarnation Great Realm.
Seeing that the Reincarnation Great Realm had been pushed to its limits, the imagined escape like a cicada shedding its skin did not occur. Rosen was about to visit the Will of Reincarnation again to demand an explanation when the Will of Reincarnation, silent for three billion years, finally acted.
Fuxi and Donghuang Taiyi directly surged out of Blue Star, completely disregarding the pollution and corruption of the Vast Wasteland. Since the strongest members of the insect swarm had already invaded the Reincarnation Great Realm, the insects remaining at the World Crystal Wall's breach were the weakest ones. Thus, facing Fuxi and Donghuang Taiyi, who feared no death, the insect swarm was actually scattered by them. Fuxi directly led millions of reincarnation lifeforms, at the cost of their lives, to set up a formation that blocked the World Crystal Wall's breach. And Donghuang Taiyi, fighting to the very end, perished along with the insect swarm.
This was just the beginning. Nüwa immediately rushed out of Blue Star, sacrificing her life. Using her body combined with a large amount of World Crystal Wall powder, she astonishingly repaired the breach in the World Crystal Wall in an extremely short time, re-isolating the Reincarnation Great Realm from the Vast Wasteland. Afterward, Yuanshi Tianwang, Pangu, and Yinglong, protecting Haotian Shangdi, charged into the Reincarnation Great Realm through the tunnel the insect swarm had dug. The insect swarm was repelled all the way, and the World Crystal Wall, without the continuous destruction from the swarm, rapidly repaired itself.
How could seven transcendences of reincarnation scatter the cannon fodder within the insect swarm when three thousand End Disaster Beasts couldn't stop the swarm's main force? Because they were not ordinary transcendences of reincarnation at all. Not only did their true bodies transcend reincarnation, but they also had more than one avatar that transcended reincarnation. Their total combat power added up to at least over thirty transcendences of reincarnation, and this didn't even include the hundreds of treasures of transcendence of reincarnation they possessed.
"What is your purpose in doing this? You still won't tell the truth?" Rosen found the Will of Reincarnation and demanded.
"It's not that I don't want to tell the truth; it's that if I told you the truth, you wouldn't agree to my real plan," the Will of Reincarnation said with a smile. "The Reincarnation Great Realm cannot escape like a cicada shedding its skin because that mechanism simply doesn't exist. Even if the Reincarnation Great Realm is destroyed, you cannot inherit it by relying on the Grand Dao of Reincarnation and using Blue Star."
"Then you're doing this to destroy the Reincarnation Great Realm?" Rosen shook his head, denying it as he spoke. Because if it were merely to destroy the Reincarnation Great Realm, the Will of Reincarnation could have easily done so with the power she had displayed.
"Do you know?" the Will of Reincarnation asked, as if talking to herself. "Life is an exceptionally great existence. Life possesses infinite evolutionary possibilities and infinite adaptability to environments. These maggots that grew on the rotting body of the great existence have actually adapted to the environment of the Vast Wasteland.
"However, the pollution and corruption of the Vast Wasteland possess an unimaginably terrifying destructive capability toward a life's self-consciousness. If self-consciousness wants to resist pollution and corruption, relying solely on isolation won't work. Even if it can slow down pollution and corruption, as long as the connection between self-consciousness and the body isn't completely severed and isolated, it's merely a slow death in the end."
At this point, the Will of Reincarnation remarkably removed her own head from her neck, tore open her scalp, and peeled back her skull. Rosen immediately saw a terrifying sight: the Will of Reincarnation's brain was filled with wriggling maggots, the same kind of maggots as those in the Vast Wasteland's swarm. It turned out that the Will of Reincarnation had already been contaminated and corrupted. She was merely suppressing the destructive effects of the pollution and corruption on her self-consciousness with her immense power. However, pollution and corruption were like gangrene; once contracted, death was inevitable, sooner or later. The Will of Reincarnation was not simply tired of living; she had already been tainted by pollution and corruption and could only slowly await death.
"When an environment is unsuitable for life, life adapts to the environment. Those unable to adapt are destined to perish…" The Will of Reincarnation replaced her skull, which was covered in seals, back over her brain, then returned her head to her neck.
"Ordinary evolution cannot adapt to the Vast Wasteland, so only the most drastic mutation and evolution are possible," the Will of Reincarnation said, her voice gradually becoming frenzied. "The insect swarm itself is formed from the body of the great existence, and the sentient beings of the Reincarnation Great Realm are formed from the spiritual essence of the great existence. The two are naturally from the same root and origin. The insect swarm, formed from the body, has already adapted to the Vast Wasteland. Now, it's time for the sentient beings, formed from the spiritual essence, to also adapt and evolve."
Upon hearing this, Rosen finally understood the true purpose of the Will of Reincarnation. She intended to use the Reincarnation Great Realm as a "gu-raising" field, causing the insect swarm and the endless sentient beings from the billions of universes in the Reincarnation Great Realm to collide, creating miracles amidst despair, and ultimately mutating into intelligent life capable of adapting to pollution and corruption.
However, he still didn't understand why the Will of Reincarnation had delayed for a thousand reincarnation epochs, waiting for his appearance.