Lord: Sequence Master

The headquarters of the human world government stood on the Eternal Continent, deep within the spiritual world.

Stars filled the skies above the Eternal Continent, each one representing an immortal kingdom of a Sequence 1 God. At the borders of this vast land, towering steel walls and countless war fortresses stretched across the horizon, safeguarding the continent. These defensive measures were not only built to protect against real alien races but also to guard against the ancient, long-destroyed civilizations buried deep within the spiritual world.

Shentu City, home to the Painters Association, was considered a holy site for all painters in the human world.

However, Rosen did not arrive directly in Shentu City. Instead, he made his way to a nearby small town using data transmission before finally heading to the city itself. From a distance, Shentu City was invisible, hidden behind a massive picture frame that stood ten thousand miles high, continuously rotating in mid-air.

Rosen observed as a Void Gallery floated into the frame. It was clear now: the true Shentu City existed in the world within the painting. Without hesitation, Rosen released his own Void Gallery, guiding it into the frame. In an instant, he was transported to a vibrant and colorful plain.

Although Rosen had studied Shentu City in the deep web of the spiritual world and had seen its depictions by other painters through mind canvases, experiencing it firsthand revealed something far grander. The city captured only a fraction of the divine beauty of the God-Painted City.

Rivers flowed across the plains, each one tinted with different shades of paint. The plants growing here were natural canvases themselves, displaying various spiritual and artistic imprints. Even random stones on the ground bore traces of artwork, with some simple and abstract but undeniably imbued with a strong spiritual essence.

Rosen turned his gaze toward the end of the plain, where the Void Gallery he had entered was now nearing Shentu City itself.

The word "Tu" means graffiti, and graffiti was the most cherished art form in Shentu City.

Across the entire city, every building's exterior walls—except for the city walls themselves—were painted with spiritual artworks. Any painter, regardless of their standing, could alter these paintings at will. If a painter disliked a work, they could simply take out their brush and make changes, without worrying about the existing spiritual paintings left by others.

When alterations exceeded the original work's scope, the new painting would overwrite the old one. However, if the new painting was deemed inferior, the original painting would remain untouched.

In Shentu City, the ability to leave one's mark in the city was the most authoritative measure of a painter's skill. The paintings left by artists, particularly those who could add to or alter existing works, were highly regarded.

While painters sought to leave their art for the glory and competitiveness, there were tangible benefits to doing so. Shentu City was home to the Painter Sequence Ancient Tree—a sacred relic that symbolized the power of the painting rules. Unlike the Gold Sequence Ancient Tree or the Silver Sequence Ancient Tree, this was a lower-level Bronze Sequence Ancient Tree.

Though not as revered as its silver and gold counterparts, the Bronze Sequence Ancient Tree was exclusively linked to the Painter Sequence. To master this tree meant the potential to become a true god within the Painter Sequence.

The Painter Sequence was born out of rivalry among its earliest pioneers. The creators, unwilling to submit to one another, founded Shentu City. The challenge was clear: anyone who could cover every painting in the city with their own, defeating all other painters, would earn the right to control the Ancient Tree of the Painter Sequence.

Yet, despite the passage of 20,000 years, no one had succeeded in claiming this honor.

Rosen, upon learning of Shentu City's history, understood why the creator of Five-Dimensional Painting had perished. With so many masterpieces scattered across the city—works that spanned generations of painters—it was an impossible feat to surpass them all. However, Five-Dimensional Painting, with its mastery over the dimensions of time, space, and energy, offered a unique advantage. It could bypass the physical limits of buildings, creating an entirely new space for painting.

Even if one could not entirely cover the works within Shentu City, simply leaving behind a painting would still offer significant rewards.

The painting rules of the bronze sequence ancient trees continuously favored the painters who left spiritual paintings in the city. These painters were favored by the luck of the painter sequence, making their journey in the painter sequence smoother.

The gate of Shentu City was very interesting. There was no door, but a picture frame on the city wall. Looking into the city through this frame-like city gate, it seemed as if the entire Shentu City had become a painting within the frame.

Rosen looked into Shentu City through the city gate and saw a shining tall tower.

Strictly speaking, this grand event in Shentu City was actually the funeral of Sequence 1 painter Achille Frasca.

Achille, who had left behind spiritual paintings in that shining tower, had failed to be promoted to Sequence 0 and died not long ago. Ironically, Achille was the Sequence 1 painter who had murdered the creator of the five-dimensional painting skill.

This event was actually a competition for the painting heritage left by Achille.

Normally, inheritance was usually left to one's descendants or students. However, Achille was a ruthless man. In his final attempt to surpass others, he turned all his relatives into paint, trying to create a spiritual painting with the quality of Sequence 0. All of Achille's relatives were killed by him, leaving the estate without an heir.

This scandal was only known through the Painters Association, as Rosen had spied on the truth using the God-Hunting Magic Eyes.

The divine nature condensed from the extraordinary essence of Ashir's painter now resided within the Shining Tower.

According to Achille's last words, he hoped his godhood would fall into the hands of the most talented painter below Sequence 3. Even if he couldn't become a Sequence 0 painter before his death, he wished for a painter to carry on his legacy and eventually become a Sequence 0.

Because it involved the inheritance left by the Sequence 1 painter, no painter below Sequence 3 was willing to give up.

Painters were always given ten years to compete for the inheritance. Those who could arrive within ten years were qualified to vie for it.

Of course, many painters were self-aware and knew they could never inherit the tradition. Therefore, unless they were relatively close to the Eternal Continent, not every painter would rush to Shentu City at all costs within the given ten years. Typically, painters from far away would arrive at Sequence 4 to seek opportunities to advance to Sequence 3.

"Is someone watching me?" Rosen thought, without needing to turn around, as his God Hunter's Magic Eyes provided him an all-round vision.

Not far behind and to the right, there was a girl who had just left the Void Gallery. The Sequence 4 girl was undoubtedly pretending to be younger than her age.

At this moment, the girl looked at him secretly, feeling a little nervous and shy.

Rosen wasn't narcissistic enough to think that his back could make an older girl fall in love with him at first sight.

"Are you Rosen?" the girl asked, mustering up the courage to step forward.

"???" Rosen was completely confused. Although he had removed Richard's identity, he did not use his true face. Instead, he had played a random role, planning to remove his disguise after entering Shentu City and ensuring his safety.

This woman recognized him as Rosen just by looking at him from behind, and he couldn't figure out how.

"I know you are Rosen," the girl said, her voice filled with disappointment. "You won't forget me, will you? Annika Higgins from Redstone City of the Blazing Shadow Principality, your childhood sweetheart who grew up with you. Back then, I was taken away by my teacher, and later I went back to look for you, but couldn't find you..."

As Rosen listened, the memories of his younger self, which had been sealed away in a corner of his mind, resurfaced. There was indeed a childhood sweetheart, and there was indeed an Annika, but the Annika in his memory was small, not as beautiful as the one before him. She had suddenly disappeared one day, and little Rosen had been sad for a long time because of her absence.

A painter of Sequence 4, the same age as him, had worked so hard to reach this stage.

Rosen pondered on how to answer when he suddenly felt his innate luck plummeting to the bottom.

Even his acquired fortunes were unstable, severely consumed. The fortune had disappeared in large quantities and was in turmoil. From his knowledge, there were two possibilities.

The first possibility was encountering good things, such as obtaining the Silkworm of Time and successfully refining the Goddess of Time Butterfly, which consumed a huge amount of innate luck beforehand.

The second was encountering bad things. The disappearance of luck was meant to resist bad luck, and the turbulent movement of luck indicated that he was not completely safe yet.

In an instant, Rosen sprinted forward, shaking off Annika, and passed through the picture frame gate into Shentu City.

The moment he stepped inside, the turbulent luck calmed down.

Rosen turned around and looked at Annika warily. She looked a little surprised and aggrieved.

It seemed she hadn't expected that her childhood sweetheart would be wary of her when they met again.

Annika walked into Shentu City with a disappointed expression, biting her lip. She wanted to say something but ultimately sighed and left silently. Judging from the direction she was heading, she was going to compete for the godhood inheritance of Sequence 1 painter Achille.

"Novelist, playwright, historian, or director?"

All kinds of possibilities flashed through Rosen's mind.

If it weren't for the sudden turbulence and the disappearance of a large amount of luck, if it weren't for the miracle fire that allowed him to directly sense the changes in luck, Rosen might not have realized that there was something wrong with Annika's appearance.

Not to mention that, in a small Red Stone City, the probability of a girl with painter's talent greater than his was very low. The world was so vast, and it was just a coincidence that they had arrived at Shentu City at the same time.

Novelists could make up stories and make them seem real. Playwrights could directly manipulate fate. Historians could modify past history to influence the present in a limited way. Directors from high sequences could even manipulate selected characters like puppets.

Rosen's first suspect was Damon's parents. But he had not stopped monitoring them these days. He did not find any abnormal behavior from them, and they were still using their connections to track down his whereabouts.

Could it be that Damon's parents could set a trap for him quietly, right under his nose?

Only then did Rosen realize that he had been a little arrogant in previous years. With the God Hunter's Magic Eyes, he could spy on Sequence 0, and with the mysterious study, he could ensure that the God Hunter's Magic Eyes could spy on him without worry.

In addition, he was enjoying the pleasure of playing tricks on Sequence 0, so he had ignored many things. First of all, sometimes no evidence was needed, just suspicion was enough to nail him down. Then, although he used the Godhunter's Eye to monitor Damon's parents, they knew they were being watched and became more cautious. This was a typical case of losing the watermelon and picking up sesame seeds.

Fortunately, it wasn't too late to wake up, and he still had the opportunity to correct his mistakes in time.

Rosen was looking at the spiritual paintings on the surfaces of various buildings along the road in Shentu City when he realized he had taken the wrong road again.

For painters, spiritual paintings appeared to be more powerful than spiritual realm paintings.

The reason was simple: spiritual paintings could create worlds and create life. The core of the painter sequence was the power of creation, and spiritual paintings could best exert this power.

But when he came to Shentu City, Rosen realized that spiritual paintings were superior to spiritual realm paintings. The power of the divine power of creation in the spiritual paintings left by senior painters such as Shen Tucheng was very weak, and instead, the power of the divine power of painting was dominant. So, if one wanted to go further on the path of a painter, one should focus on spiritual paintings rather than spiritual realm paintings.

The power of creation was indeed powerful, but there were too many extraordinary sequences depending on it. Nobles, scientists, artists, and gourmets—the four golden sequences—were all attached to the divine power of creation. The Painter Sequence was just a branch of the Artist Sequence. In total, there were dozens of branches that were not inferior to the Painter Sequence. However, the power of creation could only create one true god. It was no wonder that the four golden sequences had not yet produced a true god.

Trying to use the power of creation to advance a painter to the level of a true god was undoubtedly a dead end. Therefore, the theocracy of painting was the only way for the painter sequence to give birth to a true god. And if one wanted to master the divine power of painting, it was obviously necessary to paint spiritual paintings.

Shentu City wasn't very big. There were only three thousand buildings of various sizes in the entire city, which preserved three thousand paintings. If the spiritual paintings left by dead painters had not been sent to the Eternal Gallery, the competition among these 3,000 buildings would have been even more intense. Rosen admired them all the way and soon arrived in front of the shining tower in the center of the city.

At this time, thousands of painters were silently painting around the tower. The winner of this event in Shentu City was very simple. Whoever drew the best painting and could be recognized by the divinity remaining in Achille's self-portrait would obtain Achille's divinity and inheritance.

Rosen immediately took out his easel, spread out the canvas, and began to paint with all his might. As time accelerated, he was the first to finish.

However, after scanning other painters' paintings through his God-Hunting Magic Eyes, he immediately saw that at least hundreds of painters' spiritual paintings were better than his. So, he silently put his work into the Void Album and then re-laid the canvas.

Then came the second and third paintings, but they were all sent into the Void Album with disappointing results.

Rosen had a talent for painting. He was not ordinary, but he was not even close to being the best. He had been able to crush the painters he met in the past because he had not met top painters in the same sequence, and because ordinary painters did not have as good conditions and skills as he did. However, many painters present were not inferior to him in every aspect.

Rosen was very clear about his abilities. If the competition were about drawing spiritual realm paintings, he would definitely come first. How could other painters below Sequence 3 get the resources to paint thousands of spiritual realm paintings? But now, the competition was about spiritual paintings. He had special skills that could improve his painting level, and others had them too. Some painters were descendants of gods, their resources not inferior to his, and their guidance far more extensive than his.

In this situation, winning through normal painting was hopeless. Therefore, he had to take an extraordinary route. His advantages were the Hunter Sequence, the LV7 Nen ability to harness the power of creation, the Soul Painter, a high-sequence skill usually only mastered by descendants of gods, and five-dimensional painting.

However, the five-dimensional painting had to be saved for last. He wasn't sure how Achille would react when he saw it. He might break through his defense and eliminate him, or he might miss the person and leave the inheritance to him. There were too many uncertainties, so five-dimensional painting should be his last resort.

Rosen began using telepathy to assist with his subsequent painting. It was true that a painter's livelihood was the theocracy of painting, but the core of a painter remained the theocracy of creation. Before reaching Sequence 0, the weight of the Creation Divine Authority always exceeded that of the Painting Divine Authority.

To refine his work, Rosen applied the time drawing technique in reverse. Accelerating it meant painting quickly, but slowing it down made his hand slower and steadier. It took him half a month to complete his spiritual painting at the highest level. However, after looking at the works of other painters, his face darkened. He was confident that his painting surpassed everyone's, but he only surpassed a few hundred people. Dozens of others had started repainting their works, and it was clear that their paintings would surpass his before they were even finished.

So, the real competitors were these dozens of people. After finishing his own painting, he would observe others, and once others finished, they would observe their competitors. He hadn't tried his best before, and these dozens of people obviously hadn't either. Rosen had tried his best, but these dozens still had more strength left. So he lost. Serious painting truly couldn't win.

"If the soft approach doesn't work, then let's use the hard approach..." Rosen spread the canvas again, held the magic brush mid-air, and pondered for a long time before beginning to paint.

This time, he painted a portrait. After all, the Blood Seal of Glory could improve the attributes of a portrait by 60%. However, unlike the previous painting of an elf, this one depicted the Seven Deadly Sins. With a painter level of Sequence 5, painting a Sequence 0 demon would be wishful thinking. However, he possessed the authority of the Seven Deadly Sins and could control the power of creation through telekinesis. He also had thousands of points of creative power accumulated from painting spiritual realms over the years, as well as spiritual strength comparable to Sequence 3. All these combined were enough to allow him to paint beyond his level.

Rosen bought seven living abyss demons from aliens at an extraordinarily high price through the Lord God Network. All seven were Sequence 3, each possessing the authority of one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Sequence 3 had a very high status, not only in the human world but also in the Abyss. These beings were usually the backbone of the Abyss Lord, and it was nearly impossible to buy an Abyss Demon of this level from the Abyss itself.

So, Rosen turned to the alien races, those that had been at war with the Abyss for years. Even so, the seven abyss demons he bought were far from healthy or complete. Almost all the extraordinary materials that could be removed from their bodies had been drained away, their extraordinary bloodlines were gone, and only a small fraction of their divine origin remained. Only their souls were still intact. Yet, even in this condition, Rosen had spent 300 million high-quality spiritual crystals on them.

If Rosen failed to obtain the inheritance this time, he wouldn't be happy for at least decades.

(End of chapter)