Lord: Sequence Master

The Myriad Races Auction ended before it even began, turning into the biggest joke among the gods of the Main World. 

However, the loss of reputation was not Phantom Sovereign's biggest headache. 

In order to obtain a sufficient number of deity and True God-tier auction items, he had already sold Abyss Layer 69 to other Abyssal Sovereigns. But now that he had failed to become the God of Commerce and ascend with his divine kingdom, leaving Abyss Layer 69 meant certain death. 

Too many deities and True Gods had already seen the auction catalog and knew exactly how much wealth he possessed. 

Without an abyssal domain or a divine kingdom, he would be nothing more than a fat lamb waiting to be slaughtered. 

Phantom Sovereign had no choice but to breach his agreements with the other Abyssal Sovereigns. 

After much deliberation, he shamelessly decided to sell off entry slots to the newborn abyssal plane. 

He had already accepted deposits from several Abyssal Sovereigns. Breaking the deal was an option, but returning the deposits was unavoidable. The thought of parting with his hard-earned wealth pained him so much that he resolved to father a few more godborn succubi to sell at a high price. 

The Phantom Auction was reopened the next day, but this time, the venue had reverted from opulent luxury to simple austerity. 

Rosen successfully secured an entry permit to the new plane and began waiting for the day it would stabilize and open. 

Two months passed in the blink of an eye. The emergence of the new plane took slightly longer than originally expected. 

This was normal. Not even the Abyssal Sovereigns could pinpoint the exact day a new plane would be born. 

On the appointed day, Rosen received a summons and took his permit to the palace Phantom Sovereign had built in Phantom City. 

By then, abyssal demons were already setting up teleportation gates leading directly to the banks of the Abyssal Blood River. 

The Abyssal Blood River was the true core of the Abyss. All abyssal planes were merely its appendages. 

Over ninety percent of abyssal demons were born from the Abyssal Blood River. Likewise, every new abyssal plane was birthed from its source, drifting downstream until it reached Abyss Layer 99. 

At the final stage, when the new plane could no longer merge with the Abyss, it would inevitably collide with Abyss Layer 99. 

At that point, the new plane was doomed to be devoured. 

Naturally, the other Abyssal Sovereigns wouldn't allow that to happen. 

Thus, the division of the new plane had to take place before it completed its descent. The Abyssal Sovereigns had to claim the world's core essence before the plane reached the end of its journey. 

What remained afterward would be nothing more than a shattered husk, left to be used as raw material for reinforcing the battlefield of Abyss Layer 99. 

Rosen had previously passed through the Abyssal Battlefield, but he had never realized it was built from the remnants of former abyssal planes. 

Stepping through the teleportation gate, Rosen and dozens of Sequence 1 abyssal demons arrived at the banks of the Abyssal Blood River. 

Normally, high-sequence abyssal demons were unable to approach the river. 

The surrounding area was home to low-rank abyssal demons, who were protected by the river until they had fully matured. 

But as with all things, there were exceptions. 

The Abyssal Sovereigns had worked together to craft a ship capable of navigating the Abyssal Blood River. 

This ship, a True God-tier extraordinary vessel, was constructed from the remains of a fallen Abyssal Sovereign of True God rank. Not even the Abyssal Blood River could overturn it. 

Now, the ship was making its way upstream from Abyss Layer 99. 

Phantom Sovereign personally extended his domain, shielding Rosen and the others from the rejection of the Abyssal Blood River. 

After only a brief wait at the riverbank, the Abyssal Vessel cut through the dense blood mist shrouding the river and docked at the shore. 

Phantom Sovereign spread his domain over the ship, and Rosen's group immediately began boarding. 

From the outside, the vessel appeared no more than a few dozen meters long, but its interior was as vast as a small world. 

By now, over a thousand Sequence 1 abyssal demons had already gathered aboard. The battle for the new plane would involve at least five thousand Sequence 1 abyssal demons, and the eventual casualty rate was estimated to reach one-fifth. 

Such a massive loss of Sequence 1 combatants was something only the Abyss could endure. 

The Abyssal Vessel sailed upstream for three months, passing through layer after layer until it reached Abyss Layer 1. 

Every abyssal layer had its own Abyssal Sovereign, yet no one had ever seen the sovereign of the First Abyss. 

For countless ages, the one ruling Abyss Layer 1 had always been the Abyssal Vice Sovereign, Anatole. 

Anatole was the only vice-sovereign in the entire Abyss and the second most powerful abyssal demon. Even without the status and authority of an Abyssal Sovereign, his strength was equal to any of them. He was also one of the few recorded abyssal demons who had personally slain an Abyssal Sovereign. 

By all logic, such a powerful entity should have been able to claim any abyssal layer for himself. 

Yet, for eons, Anatole had remained a loyal vice-sovereign. 

This had given rise to numerous rumors—some claimed that the true sovereign of Abyss Layer 1 was none other than the Abyssal Will itself, meaning there had never been an actual Abyssal Sovereign for the First Abyss, and Anatole was merely playing the role of vice-sovereign as a personal hobby. 

Others speculated that Anatole was simply a projection or avatar of the hidden Abyssal Sovereign of Layer 1. 

There were many theories, but none had ever been proven. 

The source of the Abyssal Blood River could only be seen in Abyss Layer 1. 

For the majority of the Sequence 1 demons aboard the Abyssal Vessel, this was their first time setting foot in Abyss Layer 1 and witnessing the river's origin. 

That was because, apart from the native abyssal demons, no abyssal being from the other layers was allowed to set foot here. 

Several Abyssal Sovereigns had once joined forces to break into Abyss Layer 1, but without exception, they had all perished. 

Thus, even the other Abyssal Sovereigns had no knowledge of what truly lay within the First Abyss. 

Having spent years researching history, Rosen was naturally curious about Abyss Layer 1. 

Yet, neither the Main God Network nor the God-Hunting Eye could see anything within it. 

Even now, standing at the river's source, both riverbanks remained shrouded in an endless veil of blood mist. 

As a hundred abyssal demons emerged from the mist and boarded the Abyssal Vessel, the thousands of abyssal demons already on the ship cast curious glances their way, scrutinizing them closely. 

Why were they, too, abyssal demons, yet the First Abyss refused to accept them? 

Rosen observed carefully and immediately sensed something unusual. 

These abyssal demons lacked innate fate—a phenomenon he was all too familiar with. 

Units produced by creature nests were artificial lifeforms, created fully formed without a natural growth process, meaning they had no innate fate—only acquired fate. 

Could it be that these Sequence 1 abyssal demons were also extraordinary units? 

If so, then Abyss Layer 1 likely contained a Sequence 1-tier creature nest. 

However, as far as he knew, units of the same rank were generally weaker than natural extraordinaires. 

Yet, in every battle for a new plane, these abyssal demons from the First Abyss were always swarmed by demons from other abyssal layers—outnumbered several times over—and still managed to emerge victorious. 

If these abyssal demons, who lacked innate fate, were merely units, then how were they so powerful? 

Once the last batch of passengers had boarded, the Abyssal Vessel set off toward the source of the Abyssal Blood River. 

The entire source resembled a pulsating heart. 

Legend had it that this was the heart of the Abyssal Will, but Rosen could see that it was something akin to an Ancient God's Heart. 

After all, he possessed a similar heart himself—though compared to this one, his was as feeble as an infant. 

The Abyssal Vessel followed a waterway spewing torrents of blood, sailing deep into the Ancient God's Heart. Days later, it arrived at an endless sea of blood. 

Floating on the surface near the river was a massive, crimson meat egg, drifting closer and closer to the Abyssal Vessel. 

As soon as they neared each other, the abyssal demons from the First Abyss all took to the air, leaving the ship. 

Once they landed atop the meat egg, they instantly vanished. 

The abyssal demons from other layers also began grouping together, departing the vessel one after another in the order of their respective layers. 

Soon, it was the turn of those from the Sixty-Ninth Abyss. 

When Rosen arrived above the meat egg, he noticed something resembling a navel. 

The moment any abyssal demon approached, they would be forcibly sucked into the meat egg through this navel. 

Crouching down, Rosen reached out and touched the meat egg, deep in thought. Then, he followed his team into the navel-like opening. 

This wasn't a navel at all—it was more accurately the stem cavity of a fruit. 

The true nature of this new abyssal plane was that of an incomplete, malformed World Fruit, its growth stunted and warped into flesh. 

This meant that somewhere beneath the sea of blood at the Abyss' source, there was likely an abnormal, undeveloped World Tree. 

For Rosen, this was great news. If his World Tree could consume the world essence of this plane, it would undoubtedly reap immense benefits. 

As soon as he entered the stem cavity, Rosen was pulled into the depths of the fruit's flesh. 

The entire journey felt like being squeezed through an organic tunnel of raw flesh, subjected to terrifying pressure. 

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally emerged into a vast world composed entirely of living flesh. 

For the first ten days, all abyssal demons were forbidden from fighting, no matter how deep their grudges ran. 

The newborn abyssal plane was teeming with extraordinary resources. Every abyssal demon who entered was not only assisting their sovereign in securing the world essence but also looting as much treasure as possible for themselves—after all, who would willingly fight to the death without a reward? 

In the past, there had been no ten-day ceasefire. The moment demons set foot here, it was a battle to the death. 

The result was heavy casualties with little to no gain. 

That was why the ceasefire had been established. During this period, everything depended on speed—any resource or treasure found belonged to the first to grab it. If someone else got to it first, there were only two choices: let it go or wait until the ceasefire ended and take it by force. 

Only the poor threw their lives away recklessly; the wealthier someone was, the more they valued their survival. 

Once the abyssal demons had gathered plenty of extraordinary resources during the ceasefire, their desire for battle naturally diminished. 

After all, if they died, they would lose everything, but if they survived and left with their haul, they would emerge as true winners. 

Of course, Rosen wouldn't let this golden opportunity slip by. 

He quietly took out his Miracle Pouch, along with a large number of Miracle Treasure Maps crafted by Daisy. 

While his own true-god-level innate fate prevented him from making Miracle Treasure Maps, he could give an Apocalypse Treasure Map to Daisy instead. 

Then, by using Miracle Embers to enhance Daisy's innate fate, he could have her produce Miracle Treasure Maps on his behalf.

With his powerful treasure-seeking abilities combined with the auto-pickup function of the Royal Treasury inherited from the Scavenger Space, Rosen swept through the area like a locust swarm, forcing nearby abyssal demons to avoid him altogether.

However, this also earned him quite a bit of animosity—after all, his gains were too outrageous for anyone to ignore.

Once no one dared to come near, Rosen opened the Mysterious Study Room and connected with the Ancient God True Realm.

With thousands of Sequence 1 demons fighting in a chaotic brawl, the outcome was unpredictable.

Even he wasn't confident he could survive the carnage, so from the very start, he had no intention of staying until the end.

Through the World Window, Rosen released a root of the World Tree, controlling it to pierce into this flesh world.

In an instant, the root spread, expanding across the entire realm, quickly locating traces of scattered world essence.

After extracting just a tiny fraction of world essence, the World Tree root immediately retreated into the Ancient God True Realm.

The fact that the abyssal sovereigns had agreed not to enter didn't mean they were incapable of doing so.

On the contrary, they were already working together outside, exerting pressure on the new plane to force its scattered world essence to condense into a single mass.

World essence only existed in two types of world formations.

The first was in new worlds, where world essence was newly generated and dispersed to create all things.

Once everything within the world had been formed, the remaining world essence would be minimal.

Afterward, the world would absorb energy from the boundless void and gradually convert it into world essence to further its own growth.

If a world developed for countless years, becoming strong enough that the accumulation of new world essence vastly outpaced its rate of evolution, the excess world essence could gather into a World Essence Sea.

At this stage, the new plane had yet to even begin its evolutionary process, and it was already being forcibly compressed and reversed by the abyssal sovereigns.

Under their external pressure, its world essence was being artificially concentrated, barely forming a crude World Essence Sea.

Rosen dared not take too much—just a tiny bit before pulling out immediately.

That minuscule portion of world essence was quickly refined into Divine Paint.

He then took out a dimensional canvas made from a World Tree leaf and, using the accelerated effects of Temporal Sketching, employed the miracle skill God's Hand to paint the entire new plane along with thousands of abyssal demons.

Painting a world was actually quite simple—after all, a newborn world contained nothing except resources.

If anything, finding complex details to depict was the real challenge.

However, painting thousands of abyssal demons was no easy task. The only reason he could do it so quickly was because he had prepared in advance.

Using the Godslayer's Eye, Rosen had already locked onto all the Sequence 1 abyssal demons within the Abyss.

Then, he preemptively sketched portraits of them, fitting over ten thousand abyssal demons onto a single painting.

Finally, through his Painting Domain, he merged different paintings together, transforming those Sequence 1 demons who hadn't entered the new plane into mere dots and lines via Dimensional Art.

With that, he was able to complete the Flesh Abyss Painting—containing thousands of abyssal demons—in an incredibly short time.

Since he had used God's Hand in the process, the painting possessed the miracle trait of Divine Will.

Through this painting, he could amplify the power of the Calamity Apostle tenfold, even a hundredfold.

Once unleashed, natural disasters and human calamities would rain down upon the new plane, drastically intensifying hostilities among all the abyssal demons caught in the chaos.

Originally, the expected casualty rate for the battle was around one-fifth.

Now, it would rise to at least half.

Under normal circumstances, even with Divine Will and the Calamity Apostle, achieving the intended result would have been impossible. 

However, the moment the new plane was born, it instinctively fought for survival. While the abyssal sovereigns worked together to carve up and destroy it, the plane itself instinctively sought self-preservation. At times like this, instead of being rejected, Divine Will and the calamities of war were actually aided by the world's survival instincts. 

Otherwise, no matter how strong Divine Will's power to manipulate reality through painting was, influencing thousands of Sequence 1s simultaneously would have been nothing more than a fool's dream. 

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed, and the entire new plane began to wither from the outer edges inward. 

As the world marched toward destruction, it paradoxically gave birth to even rarer treasures. 

These treasures, born only from a dying world, were at least Sequence 0 in quality. In some cases, they could even produce extraordinary materials of true god level. However, the quantity was always scarce, far from enough for all five thousand abyssal demons to claim a share. 

As a result, not long after the ceasefire period ended, abyssal demons scattered around the world's edges started forming groups to fight over the treasures. 

Where there was conflict, there were casualties, though these skirmishes were generally controlled to a certain degree. 

If multiple groups of abyssal demons set their sights on the same treasure, the battle would typically stop once one side successfully secured it. The victors were not allowed to continue seizing other treasures and had to retreat to the rear, while the losers were the only ones permitted to keep fighting. 

Though this was not an explicitly enforced rule, it had long since become an unspoken convention. 

Rosen continuously used the Misfortune Decree, channeling it through the Flesh Abyss Painting to influence the consciousness of various abyssal demons. 

He deliberately targeted those who lacked mental resistance—unlike the various races of the main world, who were all highly developed in terms of spirituality, abyssal demons primarily relied on bloodlines and physical prowess. 

Ironically, abyssal demons with strong spiritual abilities were a rare minority in the Abyss. 

More and more abyssal demons fell in battle. 

By nature, abyssal demons were already inclined toward chaos and slaughter. Under the combined influence of the Misfortune Decree and the allure of powerful treasures, the brutality of the battlefield escalated to an unprecedented degree. 

When the new plane had shrunk to a critical point and the world essence finally began to visibly condense, the once five-thousand-strong abyssal force had already lost over two thousand combatants. 

Fortunately, all the treasures born from the world's destruction had already been seized. 

To avoid being discovered as the one behind the chaos, Rosen discreetly withdrew the Misfortune Decree, allowing the free-for-all among the ninety-nine abyssal squads to temporarily cease. 

Next came the division of the world essence. Each team's share depended on the value of the resources and treasures they had gathered. 

Representatives from the ninety-nine abyssal planes stepped forward, each presenting their collected treasures for evaluation. 

This process would take time, which also meant that the abyssal demons had a window to recover from their wounds. 

But after that, the final challenge would begin. 

Each team could send up to nine abyssal demons into battle, with up to nine chances to challenge another squad. Winning meant taking a treasure from the opponent. Losing didn't require compensation, but it almost always meant death. 

Rosen knew that now was the best time to make his move. 

The birthplace of a World Essence Sea would only reveal itself once the world essence had fully converged. 

It wouldn't necessarily be at the exact center of the world, but it would always be somewhere near it. 

Sequence 1 beings had an extremely difficult time directly sensing the world essence of a true god-level world, making it nearly impossible to pinpoint the precise location where the World Essence Sea would form. 

However, for Rosen, who had already mastered the Laws of the World, he had long since determined where the World Essence Sea would emerge. 

Before it had even begun to form, Rosen's true body had already infiltrated the area and entered the Mysterious Study Room. 

At this very moment, roots from the World Tree were extending from the World Window, wildly absorbing world essence from the depths of the World Essence Sea. 

His time was running out. 

He had to withdraw before the abyssal sovereigns sealed off the new plane.