Chapter 501: Transcending Time and Space: Parasitism and the Super Universe
In the endless deep space, shrouded in the darkness of Nightfall, more and more cosmic remnants illuminated by the Reincarnation Dark Suns vanished into the darkness. This was followed by the collapse of spacetime, completely swallowed by dark void, leaving not even energy behind.
Rosen only took 120,000 years to feed the cosmic vitality from 10,000 cosmic remnants to his Root Heavenly Eye. This Primeval Organ, originating from his Primeval Sacred Body, naturally transformed into a Reincarnation Organ.
Root Heavenly Eye: Reincarnation
Organ Attributes: Able to see the root of all things at the cosmic level Characteristics: Indestructible Source Seed, Reincarnation Root
Rosen conjured Blue Star in his hand, and his Root Heavenly Eye gazed at it. However, no matter how he observed, the Root Heavenly Eye couldn't discern Blue Star's root. At most, it could see that the Blue Star Micro-Universe originated from the Chaos Orb, and even witnessed the Chaos Orb being split by the Heaven-Splitting Divine Axe, but it still couldn't see through Blue Star. This implied that Blue Star and its spacetime reincarnation had roots that transcended even the reincarnation itself.
Rosen went to the New Universe's Primeval Plane, activated his Root Heavenly Eye, and looked at the Heart of the Universe. Since it could see the root of all things at the cosmic level, perhaps it could see everything that happened during the Starry Sky Universe and Primeval Universe eras. Under the Root Heavenly Eye's retro-causal observation, everything he saw began to regress in time. Soon, it reached before the New Universe's birth, then advanced to before the Starry Sky Universe's destruction.
Rosen witnessed everything that transpired in the Starry Sky Universe, the birth of ancient gods and the World Tree, but when he tried to look further back into the Primeval Universe era, the Root Heavenly Eye was interfered with and couldn't continue its retro-causal tracing. He immediately took out his History Recorder, then used it to assist the Root Heavenly Eye in tracing back through history.
This time, everything the Root Heavenly Eye saw finally traced back to the Primeval Universe era. He even saw dozens of Reincarnation Lifeforms jointly leading the universe's nirvana, collectively dividing the power of the Heart of the Universe to form source seeds, and witnessed those Reincarnation Lifeforms ultimately leaving the Primeval Universe in its late stage of life.
However, no matter how Rosen observed, he couldn't find the leader of these Reincarnation Lifeforms. This sole survivor of the five Primeval Lifeforms, the strongest among Primeval Lifeforms, becoming a Reincarnation Lifeform whose strength far surpassed other Reincarnation Lifeforms was not surprising. But being able to completely disregard the Root Heavenly Eye's retro-causal tracing clearly indicated that this mysterious entity also possessed powers that transcended reincarnation. If it didn't possess such power, killing a Cosmic Will wouldn't have been so easy.
Although he couldn't see the most crucial one, being able to trace the other Reincarnation Lifeforms was enough. Rosen discovered that these newly ascended Reincarnation Lifeforms didn't want to leave the Primeval Universe, because they all knew that there might not be any other intact universes in endless deep space. In such a situation, the importance of the Primeval Universe in their hearts was immense, as one could imagine.
However, the Primeval Universe at that time had already been severely depleted by dozens of Reincarnation Lifeforms. If they had continued to stay, the Primeval Universe might not have had the chance for nirvana rebirth into the Starry Sky Universe. It's important to note that, strictly speaking, this nirvana rebirth from the Primeval Universe to the Starry Sky Universe was not complete. When the Starry Sky Universe underwent nirvana rebirth into the New Universe, it thoroughly refined or expelled all foreign matter within itself, which is why the reborn New Universe could be completely revitalized and thus had the opportunity to be seized and its Heart of the Universe mastered.
In contrast, the Starry Sky Universe era retained a large amount of products from the Primeval Universe era. The Primeval Universe, which could give birth to dozens of Reincarnation Lifeforms, could only give birth to a batch of Eternal Lifeforms by the Starry Sky Universe era. The disparity was too great; one can imagine how fragile the Primeval Universe was then.
Dozens of Reincarnation Lifeforms staying would only accelerate the complete death of the Primeval Universe, which is why those Reincarnation Lifeforms were forced to leave the Primeval Universe. They prepared to travel to nearby cosmic remnants to investigate the cause of the destruction of those universes in endless deep space. Because they all possessed indestructible memories, those Reincarnation Lifeforms were not afraid of death. However, once they left, they never returned.
The Primeval Universe, to save itself, must have been continuously moving in endless deep space to absorb spacetime origin. The position of the universe tens of billions of years ago would certainly differ by an unknown distance from its position tens of billions of years later, so it wasn't easy for the Reincarnation Lifeforms to catch up. But Rosen was very certain that as long as those Reincarnation Lifeforms were still alive, they would never give up searching for the New Universe. Because without the New Universe, all Reincarnation Lifeforms would be homeless.
Rosen tried to trace further back, wanting to see how the Primeval Universe was born.
Would someone have done something that led to the Primeval Universe's cosmic vitality being so immense? As it turned out, the retro-causal tracing could only reach the very beginning of the Primeval Lifeforms' birth. Going further back exceeded the Root Heavenly Eye's tracing limit.
Rosen ended his retro-causal tracing, preparing to test the Reincarnation Root characteristic born with his Root Heavenly Eye. This characteristic wasn't independent but rather an enhancement to the Indestructible Source Seed. Through the Reincarnation Root characteristic, cosmic vitality could be thoroughly integrated into the Indestructible Source Seed. For such an Indestructible Source Seed to mature, it would require the cosmic vitality remaining from at least ten thousand cosmic remnants.
Rosen didn't even bother devouring universes to collect cosmic vitality to feed the Root Universe. Instead, he began collecting vitality to prioritize strengthening the Indestructible Source Seed with the Reincarnation Root. Since stronger power meant faster speed, he estimated success within a maximum of one hundred thousand years.
In the blink of an eye, one hundred thousand years later, Rosen had successfully created an Indestructible Source Seed fused with the Reincarnation Root. Rosen quickly arrived at the next cosmic remnant, preparing for an adventure that would cross time-lines.
The pure Indestructible Source Seed possessed a parasitic ability similar to the Nightfall Parasitic Flower. It could not only parasitize onto anything the Root Heavenly Eye saw, but as long as it successfully parasitized, it could control everything. Rosen locked onto the cosmic remnant before him and began retro-causal tracing. In his eyes, the cosmic remnant's time began to flow backward.
It quickly rewound to before the universe's destruction, rewinding to when the mysterious mummy appeared and destroyed the universe. Time, this concept, can be accelerated or reversed. Time acceleration already consumed a great deal, and that was under the premise of time flowing naturally downstream. Reversing time to flow upstream would require an unimaginably vast amount of Time Essence.
Rosen once considered reversing the time of a cosmic remnant back 160 billion years to before it was destroyed. However, after calculating, he found that the consumption would drain him a hundred times over and still wouldn't be enough. If it couldn't be done on a universal scale, could it be done locally? The smaller the range of time reversal, the less consumption, naturally.
Rosen looked at the mysterious mummy locked by the Root Heavenly Eye. This time, the mysterious mummy didn't attack him across 160 billion years. Time is unique; what is past is past. It's not that past and present exist simultaneously. Back then, the mysterious mummy didn't truly attack him across 160 billion years; rather, it used a nearly precognitive method to know that someone would pry into it 160 billion years later, so it left an attack sealed to be released 160 billion years later.
This time, the mysterious mummy didn't detect his prying, which indicates that the mysterious mummy's essence hasn't transcended a Reincarnation Lifeform. Otherwise, facing the Root Heavenly Eye, which specializes in retro-causal tracing, it would be impossible not to detect being spied upon.
Rosen locked onto the mysterious mummy and began to perform spacetime reincarnation to reverse time within a small range. All the Time Essence and Spatial Essence he had gained from consuming the last twenty thousand cosmic remnants were integrated into spacetime reincarnation. Even so, he still needed to rely on the Root Heavenly Eye's retro-causal tracing to possibly reverse one zhang (approx. 3.3 meters) of spacetime by 160 billion years.
As time continuously flowed backward, the mysterious mummy locked by the Root Heavenly Eye became clearer and clearer. Finally, at the instant it reversed to 160 billion years ago, Rosen and the mysterious mummy coexisted in that one zhang of spacetime. The mysterious mummy, seeing a Reincarnation Lifeform suddenly appear before it, instinctively moved to kill this Reincarnation Lifeform.
Rosen instantly used his Root Heavenly Eye to lock onto the mysterious mummy and planted the Indestructible Source Seed, fused with the Reincarnation Root, into the mysterious mummy's body. The rooting and parasitism of the Indestructible Source Seed took effect the moment he saw it. The instant parasitism succeeded, the spacetime reincarnation that was reversing time began to accelerate back to the future.
Although the effect of reversing spacetime was disappearing, Rosen's Root Heavenly Eye continued to retro-causally lock onto the mysterious mummy. He saw the mysterious mummy directly tear open its ribs and look down at its heart. The Indestructible Source Seed had already begun to parasitize its entire body, using the heart as its core. Soon, the mysterious mummy used unknown means to dig out the Indestructible Source Seed.
The Root Heavenly Eye, combined with spacetime reincarnation, allowed him to successfully parasitize the Indestructible Source Seed 160 billion years ago. An ordinary Indestructible Source Seed couldn't possibly have parasitized the mysterious mummy for 160 billion years in history. However, the Reincarnation Root absorbed the vitality of ten thousand cosmic remnants, effectively giving the Indestructible Source Seed a super-powerful vitality—a terrifying vitality that even time couldn't obliterate. This was enough to sustain the Indestructible Source Seed to bear fruit over 160 billion years.
Rosen carefully perceived the whereabouts of the Indestructible Source Seed 160 billion years later.
He vaguely sensed that the Indestructible Source Seed existed within the memory world. Rosen immediately used his Root Heavenly Eye, with the Indestructible Source Seed as a medium, to trace back and ascertain the current state of the mysterious mummy.
He saw it: in the deepest part of the memory world, the mysterious mummy lay dormant inside a coffin. Rosen had initially thought that the Indestructible Source Seed rooting, sprouting, and bearing fruit would stimulate the mysterious mummy to awaken and destroy the Root Fruit.
However, through retro-causal tracing, he discovered that the mysterious mummy was no longer the monster from 160 billion years ago that could easily destroy universes. Instead, it was so weak it was on its last breath, in a dying state. Remarkably, its ability to cling to life was even thanks to the Indestructible Source Seed. It turned out that the Indestructible Source Seed had transferred most of its own vitality to the mysterious mummy to keep it from dying.
Rosen manipulated the Root Fruit to detach, then, through retro-causal tracing, transmitted a bit of indestructible memory into it. Using the Root Fruit as a medium, his Indestructible Will quickly nurtured a clone within it.
The Root Fruit split open, and Rosen's clone, which had drawn power from the mysterious mummy via the Indestructible Source Seed and taken 160 billion years to be born, successfully emerged from the fruit. He then cautiously examined the mysterious mummy, whose life was hanging by a thread due to the Indestructible Source Seed.
The Indestructible Source Seed's 160-billion-year parasitism had not only absorbed some of the mysterious mummy's power. Logically, it should also have recorded everything the mysterious mummy experienced. However, Rosen found no memories related to the mysterious mummy within the Indestructible Source Seed; all memories that should have been recorded had vanished.
It was evident that all of the mysterious mummy's memories involved higher-level powers that were not permitted to be recorded. Rosen carefully examined the coffin space, which was nine zhang long and three zhang wide (approx. 30 feet by 10 feet). The entire coffin was actually made from the Heart of the Universe.
He wasn't in a hurry to leave but meticulously examined the mysterious mummy. First, he could confirm that the mysterious mummy was human, and an human who had mastered the Indestructible Will extraordinary system. Then, combining this with the power plundered by his own clone through the Indestructible Source Seed, he could confirm that besides the Indestructible Will system, the mysterious mummy also wielded the Reincarnation Dark Sun Heavenly Eye and a power completely opposite to cosmic vitality.
Rosen was very certain that this power was the cosmic death qi formed from the destruction of universes. Cosmic vitality and cosmic death qi are mutually complementary and restrictive. Cosmic vitality possesses the strongest regenerative and resurrection abilities, while cosmic death qi possesses the strongest destructive and lethal abilities. The mysterious mummy's ability to overwhelm Reincarnation Lifeforms was due to this cosmic death qi, which restrained certain lifeforms.
However, excessive use of this cosmic death qi had also eroded the mysterious mummy's Life Origin. This is why the formidable mysterious mummy from 160 billion years ago was now in such a weakened state, barely clinging to life. Rosen could clearly feel that his clone's survival was entirely dependent on cosmic vitality extending its life. Without cosmic vitality sustaining it, the cosmic death qi would go out of control, leading to immediate demise.
Based on his observation, the primary function of the coffin, made from the Heart of the Universe, where the mysterious mummy resided, was to contain the cosmic death qi. Rosen approached the edge of the coffin, placed his hand on it, and attempted to open a spacetime trans-boundary gate. Having controlled a cosmic clone for so many years, no one understood the Heart of the Universe better than him.
Soon, a spacetime trans-boundary gate opened, and Rosen stepped through it, emerging outside the Heart of the Universe coffin. He saw countless coffins in the void, densely packed. Unlike the coffin behind him, the surfaces of the other coffins were already filled with cosmic death qi. If there were mysterious mummies inside, they had clearly long since died, leading to the outbreak of cosmic death qi.
Each coffin was connected by a chain, and all chains stretched into the depths of the void. The endless cosmic death qi escaping from the coffins vanished along these chains into the depths of the void. Rosen's true form, far away in the reality of the Great Reincarnation Realm, immediately used his clone's vision to lock onto these coffins and chains deep within the memory world. Then, following the chains' trace, his vision quickly reached the end of the chains, revealing a universe entangled by countless chains.
This was a very special universe. The Primeval Universe, even at its largest expansion, was not even one-millionth the size of this universe. It was hard to imagine how powerful such a colossal universe would have been at its peak. The cosmic vitality it possessed would be unimaginable. However, now, the vitality of this universe was almost depleted by the continuous erosion of cosmic death qi. Although the entire universe still looked intact, it was already lifeless and nearing the end of its existence.
Rosen was almost certain that the Reincarnation Will of the Great Reincarnation Realm might be within this super universe. As for those mysterious mummies, they were likely Reincarnation Lifeforms from the Nightfall and Dark Sun factions. They all mastered the Indestructible Will system and had experienced the Great Reincarnation Realm's reincarnation cycles more than once. The mysterious mummies were essentially their Reincarnation Sacred Bodies. As for their Indestructible Will, it wasn't within their bodies, which is why the mysterious mummies seemed to lack intelligence and only possess instinct.
He just didn't know where their indestructible memories were, and if their methods could truly kill the Reincarnation Will. Rosen wanted to continue observing, but suddenly felt a fatal danger approaching. He didn't hesitate to deactivate his Root Heavenly Eye, and the clone outside the coffin also returned inside through the spacetime trans-boundary gate.
The feeling of danger disappeared. As expected, the Reincarnation Lifeforms of the Nightfall and Dark Sun factions were not entirely dead. He was now qualified to interact with them, but he was unsure of their attitude towards him. They might accept him into their factions, or they might kill him, just as the mysterious mummies killed the Reincarnation Lifeforms of various universes.
Until he had absolute certainty, Rosen did not intend to make contact with the surviving Reincarnation Lifeforms of the two factions.