Chapter 532: Mutual Destruction and Separate Paths
"You have to give to get..."
The Will of Reincarnation, unable to overcome Rosen's defenses after a prolonged assault, understood the core of the problem. She couldn't bear to part with the Reincarnation Source Body. Without Rosen's Reincarnation Source Body and immortal will, she would eventually succumb to pollution and corruption. This made her hesitant in every move. If this continued, she and Rosen would be entangled for countless years without a decisive outcome. The problem was that as they stepped into the Vast Wasteland to deal with pollution and corruption, she lacked Rosen's strong resistance. So, if this dragged on, she might well be killed by Rosen due to the gradually worsening pollution and corruption. Therefore, a quick decisive battle was necessary, even if it meant sacrificing a great deal.
Everyone understands the principle of "you have to give to get," but principles are easier said than done. Even after realizing this, the Will of Reincarnation tried for several years to find a method that would result in less loss for her. Only after all possible methods were rejected did she finally make up her mind.
The Will of Reincarnation's immortal will had been tempered for a hundred thousand reincarnation epochs. This was despite dying many times while leaving the Reincarnation Great Realm; otherwise, her immortal will would have been at least twice as strong. The last time she left the Reincarnation Great Realm, she obtained the Reincarnation Banner from the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit's corpse. It was also with the power of the Reincarnation Banner that she fought her way out and returned alive to the Reincarnation Great Realm. However, a portion of her immortal will was thus contaminated. Fortunately, it was only pollution of intensity five from the insect swarm, and only a portion of her immortal will was contaminated. This portion was sealed within her head, and although the pollution and corruption continuously spread, her intact portion of immortal will grew rapidly. Even if most of her immortal will was used to maintain the seal, the remaining immortal will was sufficient.
But now, things were different. The Will of Reincarnation had decided to lift the seal. While the pollution and corruption within her immortal will would rapidly spread, the immortal will that was maintaining the seal, once freed, would be enough to increase her strength by more than threefold on her current basis. This would be sufficient to capture Rosen alive in a short amount of time. Of course, doing so carried great risks; if she failed to capture Rosen alive, only death awaited her.
The Will of Reincarnation quickly lifted the seal, and her vastly expanded immortal will poured into the Reincarnation Banner. Although this Ancestral Spirit Supreme Treasure, the Reincarnation Banner, was incomplete, it still possessed one-third of the Ancestral Spirit-level extraordinary power. The Will of Reincarnation's immortal will was infused into the hundreds of Transcendent Reincarnation puppets sealed within the banner, instantly granting these self-consciousness-less, plant-like puppets their own selves, allowing them to fight no longer just by instinct.
All of this happened in secret; Rosen was completely unaware of the Will of Reincarnation's actions. But that didn't mean he was unprepared; he hadn't relaxed his guard for a moment since the decisive battle began. Yet, even so, he was instantly forced into a desperate situation by the Will of Reincarnation.
Rosen only saw the tattered banner in the Will of Reincarnation's hand sweep away the cosmic barrage. Suddenly, the flagpole was used as a spear, locking onto him. Then the flagpole tore through the void and was hurled at him, piercing through the defensive barriers of cosmic barrage, domain, and Space-Time Reincarnation along its path. All his defenses, which should have been able to block the Will of Reincarnation's attack, were instantaneously and overwhelmingly torn apart. Rosen tried to dodge, but the flagpole, like a shadow, pierced through his heart.
He had never been injured in these years of battle because his Reincarnation Source Body possessed Ancestral Spirit-level defensive capabilities. Although his Reincarnation Source Body was barely formed and was undoubtedly at the bottom tier of the Ancestral Spirit level, even so, the Will of Reincarnation had been unable to truly harm his Reincarnation Source Body in the past. Yet now, his Reincarnation Source Body was easily torn open and pierced through the heart.
On the flagpole that pierced his heart, Rosen perceived hundreds of perfectly superimposed immortal wills. Some of these immortal wills formed Space-Time Reincarnation to accelerate the flagpole, some formed Space-Time Reincarnation to tear through defenses, and others formed Karma Reincarnation to ensure an unavoidable hit. Finally, the most troublesome was Life-Death Reincarnation, which, after piercing his heart, suppressed all the life origin of his Reincarnation Source Body.
Although Rosen was severely wounded by a single strike, the battle was far from decided. He immediately used Other Shore's Sacred Radiance to elevate his immortal will into Other Shore's Will, then used Other Shore's Will to unleash Space-Time Reincarnation. The flagpole piercing his heart began to withdraw from his heart as if time were flowing backward.
However, in the instant it was about to be withdrawn, Rosen and the approaching Will of Reincarnation both suffered mutual heavy damage simultaneously.
The immortal will that the Will of Reincarnation had infused into the flagpole was actually destroyed by this incomplete Ancestral Spirit Supreme Treasure. Then, the flagpole actively absorbed Rosen's Other Shore's Will into itself. In an instant, Rosen became the new master of the Reincarnation Banner.
On the surface, obtaining the Reincarnation Banner seemed like a good thing, but in reality, it was anything but. The pollution and corruption within the Reincarnation Banner were already worsening, and the Will of Reincarnation's extreme burst of power further intensified it. In this situation, the Reincarnation Banner actively merged with the Other Shore's Will, and along with it, the pollution and corruption within the Reincarnation Banner also integrated into the Other Shore's Will.
If calculated by the intensity of pollution and corruption, the surface pollution and corruption on the Reincarnation Banner was intensity nine. But the core pollution and corruption was intensity ten; after all, only Other Shore's Sacred Radiance of intensity ten could have transformed the Reincarnation Banner into its current state. Rosen's immortal will could at most withstand intensity nine pollution and corruption; it simply couldn't endure intensity ten. So, the moment his Other Shore's Will reverted to immortal will, the balance would break, and he would be corrupted.
This sudden turn of events surpassed the expectations of both Rosen and the Will of Reincarnation. Neither had imagined that the Reincarnation Banner would abandon the Will of Reincarnation and turn to Rosen. It was well known that the Reincarnation Banner's own spirituality had long been worn away over countless ages. By all accounts, it should have been a dead object, utterly incapable of choosing its own master.
Rosen carefully sensed the Reincarnation Banner and generally understood what had happened. Although the Reincarnation Banner had lost its spirituality and was on the brink of destruction, it no longer possessed the conditions to choose a master independently. However, the core of the Other Shore's Sacred Radiance was not pollution and corruption; its true core was mutational evolution. Pollution and corruption were merely byproducts of failed mutational evolution. Such byproducts were naturally subjected to absolute suppression when facing the Other Shore's Will. On the other hand, the Reincarnation Banner was a treasure of the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit, and its manufacturing material likely included a portion taken from the Reincarnation Source Body. The Reincarnation Banner, by piercing Rosen's heart and absorbing some of the Reincarnation Source Body's flesh and blood, surprisingly produced a certain self-repairing effect. Out of an instinctive act of self-preservation, the Reincarnation Banner repelled the Will of Reincarnation's immortal will and instead turned towards Rosen's Other Shore's Will and Reincarnation Source Body.
This choice by the Reincarnation Banner certainly backfired on the Will of Reincarnation, but it also pushed Rosen to the brink. His Other Shore's Will was not permanently present; it was merely a temporary mutation and evolution of his immortal will achieved by continuously consuming Other Shore's Sacred Radiance. Once the controlled Other Shore's Sacred Radiance was depleted and the Other Shore's Will reverted to immortal will, what would then suppress the intensity ten pollution and corruption? The reason the Reincarnation Banner could easily break free from the Will of Reincarnation's control was precisely because the Will of Reincarnation never truly controlled the Reincarnation Banner. Pollution and corruption of intensity ten meant death to any Transcendent Reincarnation who touched it.
Rosen could understand what had happened, and the Will of Reincarnation was no exception. The two individuals, who had just been in fierce opposition, suddenly lost all reason to continue fighting. The Will of Reincarnation wanted to seize Rosen's immortal will and Reincarnation Source Body. However, he was now tainted with intensity ten pollution and corruption. Such a Reincarnation Source Body and immortal will were something the Will of Reincarnation wouldn't dare to take even if offered. In the Will of Reincarnation's eyes, Rosen was already doomed to die.
However, she herself was not in a much better situation. To maximize the liberation of her immortal will, she had removed the seal suppressing the pollution and corruption within her body. Coupled with the backlash from the Reincarnation Banner, the pollution and corruption within her body were now unstoppable. Therefore, the Will of Reincarnation was also doomed to die. What was the point of two dying individuals, certainly doomed, continuing to fight?
The Will of Reincarnation took a deep breath, dug out the Reincarnation Heavenly Eye from her brow, and threw it to Rosen. Without any hesitation, she resolutely walked towards the lush mountains and green waters beyond the desolate landscape. Staying here was a dead end; only by leaving might she find a way to survive in the Vast Wasteland. As for leaving the Reincarnation Heavenly Eye to Rosen, this was to give Rosen a choice. Rosen could choose to merge with the Reincarnation Heavenly Eye, and combined with his own mutated Reincarnation Heavenly Eye that had integrated pollution and corruption, he could gather two portions of the Reincarnation Sovereign's authority and completely transform into the Reincarnation Dao Authority. Perhaps then Rosen would have a slight chance of survival.
The Will of Reincarnation had watched Rosen's birth, watching him grow step by step to his current state. Unbeknownst to herself, she had placed too much hope in Rosen. Every time Rosen grew, the Will of Reincarnation felt genuine joy. Of course, this didn't mean she would give up on seizing Rosen's Reincarnation Source Body and immortal will. As long as there was a glimmer of hope to seize them, she wouldn't let Rosen go. But conversely, once that last glimmer of hope disappeared, she was unwilling for Rosen to die, because that would mean her hundred thousand reincarnation epochs of planning would have completely come to naught.
The Will of Reincarnation refused to admit her failure; she had merely been defeated by a fated accident. Who could have imagined that the Reincarnation Banner still possessed the instinct for self-repair, and would actively betray its master and recognize Rosen as its new master at such a crucial moment? No one could have predicted this outcome. The Will of Reincarnation had, for a moment, considered dying in battle with Rosen, but then she thought that would be too ugly. She would rather face the pollution and corruption directly and fight to her last breath than admit defeat and become a hysterical madman.
Rosen watched as the Will of Reincarnation slowly receded, walking out of the desolate land formed by the pollution and corruption of the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit's corpse. He saw the Will of Reincarnation disappear into the lush mountains and green waters. The Will of Reincarnation might not be able to withstand the new world formed after the Other Shore's Sacred Radiance corrupted it, and might soon die somewhere, or she might find a way to survive, and in the future, continue to stand against him in the Vast Wasteland.
He didn't know what the future held. In the Vast Wasteland, even Space-Time Reincarnation couldn't predict the future for a single second. Rosen, with a heavy heart, pulled the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree from the Reincarnation Holy Lance and rooted it directly into the ground. It began to furiously absorb the pollution and corruption from the desolate land, then integrated all the pollution and corruption into his Other Shore's Will, converting it into Other Shore's Sacred Radiance. With new Other Shore's Sacred Radiance, his Other Shore's Will could be sustained for a longer time. Conversely, if his Other Shore's Will was sustained longer, it could convert more pollution and corruption into Other Shore's Sacred Radiance.
Rosen's only hope for survival was for the rate of acquiring Other Shore's Sacred Radiance to exceed its consumption. This was no easy feat, as sailing with the current is easy, but against it is difficult. The difficulty was probably akin to a normal person trying to restore a rotten banana to its original perfect state. Every moment, Rosen felt himself nearing death. He exerted all his strength trying to control the intensity ten pollution and corruption. However, there was only failure, no success. Below intensity nine was merely a quantitative change, but intensity ten signified a qualitative leap.
After bitterly persisting for several decades, Rosen watched himself nearing complete demise. Suddenly, he thought of a possibility: parts of the Reincarnation Banner's material came from the Reincarnation Source Body. If the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit's Reincarnation Source Body had been corrupted into insect swarms, how could the Reincarnation Banner be more formidable than the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit herself? How could only the banner itself be damaged, while the flagpole remained relatively intact? Rosen then looked at the lush mountains and green waters beyond the desolate land. The Other Shore's Sacred Radiance had killed the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit but had not destroyed the Vast Wasteland. Instead, after endless ages, the Vast Wasteland had adapted to the pollution and corruption, blossoming with new vitality. This indicated a significant difference in the effects of pollution and corruption when targeting living beings versus inanimate objects. If this was the case, he might seize a glimmer of hope.
With a thought, countless roots of the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree embedded themselves within Rosen's body, forcibly turning his Reincarnation Source Body into nourishment for the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree. As his Reincarnation Source Body gradually integrated into the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree, countless roots began to target and devour the Reincarnation Banner. The Reincarnation Banner instinctively resisted, but Rosen's Other Shore's Will had completely controlled the Banner's core. Under his suppression, the Reincarnation Banner also began to transform into nourishment bit by bit. It was only during this process that Rosen discovered that the banner part of the Reincarnation Banner was made from the Reincarnation Source Body's back skin, and the flagpole was the extracted spine of the Reincarnation Source Body. This explained why the Reincarnation Banner had actively turned to him.
Rosen's Other Shore's Will, losing the support of the Reincarnation Source Body, began to transfer to the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree. He regarded the Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree as his new body. The Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree, having absorbed the Reincarnation Source Body and the Reincarnation Banner, successfully crossed the boundary between Transcendent Reincarnation and Ancestral Spirit, and, combined with his incomplete Other Shore's Will, met the conditions to become an Ancestral Spirit lifeform. Especially after Rosen gained control of two portions of the Reincarnation Sovereign's authority, he was able to merge the two authorities into the complete Reincarnation Dao. The Reincarnation Epoch Ancient Tree, this new body, was undoubtedly at the Ancestral Spirit level. At the level of self-consciousness, the Other Shore's Will had also firmly reached the Ancestral Spirit level. And the Reincarnation Dao, a power that only Ancestral Spirit lifeforms could fully master, was now also within Rosen's grasp.
Without any surprise, Rosen naturally progressed from Transcendent Reincarnation to an Ancestral Spirit lifeform. Becoming an Ancestral Spirit lifeform allowed him to truly unleash the full power of the Ancestral Spirit Organ. His mutated Reincarnation Heavenly Eye's control over the Other Shore's Sacred Radiance instantly increased significantly. Although he still couldn't completely immunize against intensity ten pollution and corruption, his resistance had greatly improved, and similarly, his efficiency in converting pollution and corruption into Other Shore's Sacred Radiance also greatly increased.
The situation where Other Shore's Sacred Radiance consumption far exceeded its recovery began to reverse, with consumption now being less than recovery. Rosen successfully survived, but it was far from time to relax. Because the pollution and corruption in the desolate land all originated from the Reincarnation Ancestral Spirit, his efficiency in both absorbing and reversing it was very high. Once the pollution and corruption in the desolate land completely disappeared, he would face the pollution and corruption of the Vast Wasteland. That was pollution and corruption that had evolved over endlessly long ages by integrating with the environment, and at that point, the efficiency of converting it into Other Shore's Sacred Radiance would inevitably decrease significantly.
So, while he still had surplus energy, Rosen directed a root to leave the desolate land. The moment the root left, it began to be uncontrollably polluted and corrupted. He immediately embedded the root into the soil, extending it towards water sources and plants in the Vast Wasteland that had already adapted to the pollution and corruption. Then, it began to absorb nutrients from the soil, nourishment from the water, and the essence of the plants. Being able to digest nutrients and adapt to the environment of the Vast Wasteland meant survival; otherwise, it was a dead end. Rosen was now fighting for his life, and the outcome could only be determined step by step.