Rosen stood before the spatial vortex that served as the gateway to the spiritual realm, carefully sensing its fluctuations.
Sure enough, the vortex was subtly growing stronger, indicating that the spiritual realm behind it was rapidly evolving.
He unfolded his World Domain, compressing it into a narrow strip before directing it into the vortex.
Thanks to his mastery of world authority over time and space, the World Domain easily forced its way into the spiritual realm.
Through the domain, Rosen observed that the realm was undergoing continuous resets.
With each reset, the spiritual realm gained strength.
Judging by the pattern, it would only take a few more resets for the realm to ascend from Sequence 6 to Sequence 5.
Resetting a spiritual realm consumed vast amounts of spirituality. Where was this realm getting enough resources to undergo such rampant resets?
Rosen used the God-Hunting Magic Eye to lock onto the realm.
He then activated the miracle trait Void Eye, creating a miniature wormhole within the World Domain that extended into the spiritual realm. Through this wormhole, he employed the History Spyglass.
The History Spyglass was normally limited to close-range use, but with the aid of the God-Hunting Magic Eye, it could now function at a great distance.
This setup was still less than perfect. When he fully mastered the combined use of the two skills, he wouldn't even need the wormhole; the History Spyglass would simply gaze upon anything the God-Hunting Magic Eye observed.
The History Spyglass could reveal the history of all things, including that of the spiritual realm.
[Imagination Dreamscape: Spiritual Realm]
[Level: Sequence 1]
[Description: The site of a failed godhood ascension by an Imagination Dragon, which nearly became a divine kingdom. After countless years of dormancy, it transformed into a spiritual realm. The awakening Imagination Dragon is rapidly regaining its former strength...]
"An Imagination Dragon? An extinct dragon species?"
Rosen recalled records of Imagination Dragons from dragon history.
These dragons thrived within dreamscapes but lacked the innate ability to dream on their own.
As a result, they were forced to reside in the dreams of other transcendents.
To prevent the host from waking up, the Imagination Dragon would trap them in eternal slumber.
Because their presence condemned their hosts to a living death, Imagination Dragons were universally despised.
A god-tier Imagination Dragon had once attempted to ascend to true godhood by attacking a dragon god, seeking to reside permanently in the god's dreams.
Outraged, the dragon god slaughtered the entire species in retaliation.
The reason this spiritual realm was capable of such rapid resets was that it was essentially an incredibly realistic dreamscape.
Since dreams came without real consequences, resetting the realm required minimal expenditure.
It appeared to be merely Sequence 9, but that was because the Imagination Dragon was still in the process of reviving within the dreamscape.
As its recovery progressed, its control over the Imagination Dreamscape would grow stronger.
Once fully revived, the realm would reach Sequence 1.
This was an excellent opportunity for Rosen to act first and weaken the dreamscape.
If the Imagination Dragon were to fully revive within the dreamscape, defeating it wouldn't be overly difficult. However, killing it to completely seize control of the spiritual realm would be almost impossible, as the Imagination Dragon could even challenge beings beyond its level within its dreamscape.
Rosen also possessed several types of dream-related powers.
He immediately shared Xiao Longnu's Primal Dreamscape ability.
Primal Dreamscape could create a mental dreamscape, allowing the lingering spirituality of deceased beings to continue living within it.
Through the World Domain, the Primal Dreamscape extended into the Imagination Dreamscape.
The moment the two dream worlds came into contact, the Sequence 3 Primal Dreamscape was instantly overwhelmed.
Seeing it on the verge of being devoured, Rosen merged Cloud Dream Haven into it.
Under the protection of the World Domain, the Cloud Dream Law permeated the space, fusing with the Primal Dreamscape and managing to resist the encroachment of the Imagination Dreamscape.
Following the path of the World Domain, Rosen vanished from the vortex and appeared within the Primal Dreamscape.
Although the Primal Dreamscape was now holding off the Imagination Dreamscape, it couldn't stop the Imagination Dragon's continued revival.
The only way to disrupt this was to have the Primal Dreamscape devour the Imagination Dreamscape, thereby significantly weakening the dream force the Imagination Dragon could control upon awakening.
As Rosen observed the Imagination Dreamscape, he noticed a horde of dragons appearing outside the Primal Dreamscape.
These were dream creatures once imagined into existence by the Imagination Dragon.
Even though the dragon had yet to fully revive, these dream creatures, sensing the invasion of the Primal Dreamscape, instinctively attacked it.
By tearing apart the Primal Dreamscape, they would naturally make it easier for the Imagination Dreamscape to consume it.
Due to the spiritual realm only being at Sequence 6, the dream creatures were all Sequence 6 as well.
However, the moment they entered the Primal Dreamscape, a holy light arrow shot down and annihilated them instantly.
The attacker was one of a thousand Sequence 3 angels that had emerged from Rosen's Void Sketchbook.
These angels easily wiped out every invading dream creature, whose residual dream energy then became nourishment for the Primal Dreamscape.
Two days later, the Sequence 6 Imagination Dreamscape finally ascended to Sequence 5.
Its advancement speed was over ten times slower than normal.
Creating dream creatures consumed the Imagination Dreamscape's core essence, which grew slowly. This not only greatly hindered the realm's ascension but also significantly delayed the Imagination Dragon's revival.
Half a month passed, and the Imagination Dreamscape had reached Sequence 3.
But even Sequence 3 dream creatures were no match for the thousand Sequence 3 angels and were thoroughly crushed.
On the thirtieth day, the Imagination Dreamscape finally advanced to Sequence 2.
Endless Sequence 2 dream creatures poured forth, now capable of wielding dragon-tribe Draconic Magic.
At this point, Rosen's angels alone could no longer hold them back.
He was forced to manifest over a thousand Sequence 3 Abyssal Shadow Demons.
The Imagination Dreamscape's next step was Sequence 1, which would herald the complete revival of the Imagination Dragon.
Five months passed, during which Rosen hunted tens of thousands of Sequence 2 dream creatures that invaded the Primal Dreamscape.
These dream creatures left behind nothing but dream energy upon death.
Were it not for his desire to capture the Imagination Dragon alive, Rosen would have already resorted to brute force to destroy the entire spiritual realm.
One day, while the angels and Abyssal Shadow Demons were slaughtering dream creatures together, something unexpected happened—
The dream creatures suddenly began retreating in an orderly fashion.
The Imagination Dreamscape was undergoing its final reset, ascending from Sequence 2 to Sequence 1 after months of delay.
The Imagination Dragon had fully awakened.
Under its command, the previously mindless dream creatures were now a disciplined force.
Even more bizarrely, the dream creatures began fighting amongst themselves just outside the Primal Dreamscape.
Originally, there were over a thousand dream creatures, but only ten survived—and without exception, all of them had advanced to Sequence 1.
What's more, they were all intelligent dragons, each mastering powerful arcane skills.
Clearly, this had already exceeded the limits of what the angels and Abyssal Shadow Demons could handle.
Rosen set down his paintbrush and retrieved the miraculous artifact, Dragonbinding Rope.
As long as it was a dragon, the Dragonbinding Rope would naturally suppress it—even if these were merely dream-projected intelligent dragons created by the Imagination Dragon. Despite these Sequence 1 creatures being two full ranks higher than the Sequence 3 Dragonbinding Rope, they were still absolutely restrained by it.
The moment the intelligent dragons charged into the Primal Dreamscape, Rosen hurled the Dragonbinding Rope.
The dragon at the forefront, ensnared around its head, was immediately subdued, its power sealed, leaving it defenseless.
The rope twisted and turned nine times through the air, binding all ten intelligent dragons into a single bundle that crashed to the ground.
Deep within the Imagination Dreamscape, the Imagination Dragon, observing this scene through the eyes of the dragons, was utterly dumbfounded.
Through their vision, it could feel the terrifying natural suppression exerted by that rope—a primal instinct akin to a mouse seeing a cat. Its first thought was to flee the dreamscape.
But escape was impossible—the Imagination Dreamscape, having transformed into a spiritual realm, was now a one-way passage.
Calming down, the Imagination Dragon began strategizing how to survive.
That rope restrained dragons—so what if it simply avoided contact with it?
The Imagination Dragon immediately channeled the dreamscape's core power, projecting two new Sequence 1 dream creatures: a Holy Light Dragon and a Six-Armed Serpent Demon.
Both charged into the Primal Dreamscape.
The Holy Light Dragon was instantly captured by the Dragonbinding Rope, but the Six-Armed Serpent Demon rampaged on, unaffected.
Realizing the Dragonbinding Rope only restrained dragons, the Imagination Dragon ceased projecting familiar types of dragons and instead conjured Sequence 1 Abyssal Soul-Hunting Demons.
Upon entering the Primal Dreamscape, these demons quickly clashed with Rosen's angels and Abyssal Shadow Demons.
Many Abyssal Soul-Hunting Demons were slain, becoming nourishment for the Primal Dreamscape.
The angels and Abyssal Shadow Demons also began to fall, though they could regenerate from their respective paintings.
Rosen decided it was time to join the fray.
He unsheathed Dragon God's Wrath and began shooting down dream creatures.
Even the eleven dragons already subdued by the Dragonbinding Rope joined the fray, voluntarily integrating into the Primal Dreamscape and becoming dream creatures under its command.
Together, they managed to repel the onslaught of Abyssal Soul-Hunting Demons.
The Imagination Dragon, seeing the prolonged stalemate and how its dream energy was being absorbed by the enemy dreamscape, changed tactics.
It ordered all dream creatures to halt their advance into the Primal Dreamscape and instead launch long-range attacks from outside.
Even when Rosen's bullets killed these dream creatures, their dissipating dream energy was effortlessly reclaimed by the Imagination Dreamscape.
"The Primal Dreamscape has held out for half a year—it's time for an offensive."
Sensing changes in the Primal Dreamscape, Rosen summoned Xiao Longnu from the Ancient God's True Realm.
After sharing abilities, they jointly activated the Primal Dreamscape's derivative skill: Dream Entwine.
This was a skill used to invade and devour other dreamscapes.
Once activated, the Primal Dreamscape sprouted two abyssal maws, which began devouring the Imagination Dreamscape to seize its core essence.
The Imagination Dragon quickly retaliated by summoning eighteen Sequence 1 Six-Armed Serpent Demons, which launched ranged attacks on the abyssal maws.
But the Dragonbinding Rope controlled eleven dragon dream creatures that charged out to protect the abyssal maws.
Six months ago, even with Dream Entwine, the Primal Dreamscape couldn't harm the Imagination Dreamscape.
But now, sensing the weakening of its dreamscape, the Imagination Dragon couldn't sit still.
Closing its eyes, it concentrated all its dream energy.
In an instant, the attacking dream creatures vanished.
All the gathered dream energy coalesced before the Imagination Dragon, materializing into a black spear—
Dragon Soul Spear, a miraculous artifact known as a bane of dragons.
In ancient times, it had appeared in the physical world and was quickly seized and sealed by the Dragon God.
The Dragon Soul Spear fell into the hands of an imagined Abyssal Soul-Hunting Demon, who wielded it as it charged toward the Primal Dreamscape.
In the first clash, it instantly skewered the Holy Light Dragon, killing it on the spot.
Only five surviving intelligent dragons managed to retreat to the Primal Dreamscape.
The Abyssal Soul-Hunting Demon and the Dragon Soul Spear vanished in an instant, only for twenty-two Sequence 1 Abyssal Nightmares to soon appear.
These abyssal demons, resembling black unicorns adept at manipulating dreams, fired beams of black nightmare energy from their foreheads. These beams relentlessly corroded the Primal Dreamscape, integrating the fragmented dream energy back into the Imagination Dreamscape.
At that moment, Rosen activated Dimensional Sealing, which had long enveloped the entire Primal Dreamscape.
In a mere instant, the Primal Dreamscape transformed into a floating painting within the Imagination Dreamscape.
The Abyssal Nightmares could corrode dreams, but they couldn't affect a dream that had become a painting.
Once transformed into a painting, the dream was no longer driven by dream energy; instead, dimensions and artistry became its core structure. The painting began to devour the Imagination Dreamscape unilaterally.
No matter how many dream creatures the Imagination Dragon conjured, they couldn't destroy the painted Primal Dreamscape.
Rosen pushed things further by using Dimensional Art to compress the two-dimensional painting even further, reducing it to a line, and finally to a single point. This extreme dimensional compression provided unparalleled defensive capabilities.
Having secured the situation, Rosen retreated into the Mysterious Study Room.
There, he infused nightmare authority into his psychic energy, generating enhanced bullets with devastating effects on dreams. From the study room window, he unleashed round after round, shattering the surrounding sections of the Imagination Dreamscape into scattered dream energy.
Meanwhile, the compressed point of the Primal Dreamscape seized the opportunity to absorb dream energy from the Imagination Dreamscape.
The Primal Dreamscape took in without output, while the Imagination Dreamscape bled without intake.
At this rate, it was only a matter of years before the Primal Dreamscape surpassed the Imagination Dreamscape, reversing their positions from defense to offense.
The Imagination Dragon quickly realized this but had no solution.
Its dream creatures were ineffective against the enemy, and it couldn't prevent the relentless barrage of supernatural bullets from an unseen foe. Facing such a grim situation, the Imagination Dragon's only option was to watch its dreamscape grow weaker.
Two years later, the Primal Dreamscape no longer needed to compress into a point; it could safely unfurl as a two-dimensional plane, unafraid of dream creature attacks.
By this time, the Imagination Dragon could only conjure three Abyssal Nightmares.
With dwindling dream energy, it was unable to materialize more dream creatures, and its dreamscape was shrinking rapidly, leaving it with less and less room to hide.
Another year passed, and the Imagination Dragon could no longer remain in hiding.
When it finally revealed itself, Rosen instantly subdued it with the Dragonbinding Rope, rendering it completely powerless.
Without the Imagination Dragon's interference, the Primal Dreamscape devoured the entirety of the Imagination Dreamscape within ten days.
Over the years, the Primal Dreamscape had also been transformed by the Art of Painting, becoming a Sequence 1 spiritual landscape painting.
But the greatest prize was the successful capture of an Imagination Dragon.
Unlike mindless dream creatures with neither souls nor divine essence, the Imagination Dragon had a real dragon soul and a dragon crystal, along with a genuine divine essence. It became the first dragon permanently enslaved by the Dragonbinding Rope.
The Imagination Dragon's true form appeared as a mass of white, dragon-shaped mist, now reduced to the size of a clenched fist. It lay despairingly in Rosen's grip as he studied it intently.
The revival of an extinct dragon species clearly strengthened Rosen's authority over draconic divinity. He quickly came to understand the unique power of the Imagination Dragon.
In a direct fight in the physical world, the Imagination Dragon was pitifully weak.
However, if a target fell asleep and the Imagination Dragon infiltrated their dreams, a Sequence 1 Imagination Dragon could rival most Sequence 0 deities within the dreamscape.
This was likely the reason why, at the height of its divine power, an Imagination Dragon had dared to ambush the Dragon God.
If the Dragon God hadn't perceived a lethal threat, it might have merely punished the ringleader rather than driving the entire species to extinction.
After all, the extinction of a dragon lineage would weaken the race's fortune and diminish the Dragon God's authority.
The Dragon God likely feared the emergence of a new peak-divinity Imagination Dragon that could threaten its life, prompting it to eradicate the entire species at all costs.
Without the Dragonbinding Rope as a natural counter, a Sequence 1 Imagination Dragon would have been nearly invincible within a Sequence 1 spiritual landscape.
Rosen unfolded the Primal Dreamscape spiritual landscape painting within his consciousness, and the Imagination Dragon immediately dove into it, beginning to reshape the dreamscape.
Through testing, Rosen found that the Imagination Dragon could summon up to twenty-nine Sequence 1 dream creatures or concentrate all its dream energy to grant itself powers equivalent to a Sequence 0 deity within the dreamscape.
Unless confronted by a deity skilled in dream manipulation or dream suppression, the Imagination Dragon was fearless in its domain.
And this wasn't even its limit—this was a dragon that had once failed to ascend to Sequence 0.
Its failure had been due to insufficient dream power.
If the Primal Dreamscape continued to grow, the Imagination Dragon had the potential to ascend to Sequence 0.
Rosen attempted to nurture the Primal Dreamscape by feeding it the dreams of hundreds of billions of followers from the Ancient God's True Realm.
Unsurprisingly, the experiment failed.
Ordinary dreams from supernatural beings could at most replenish the dreamscape's energy but weren't enough for rapid growth. Only the dreams of genuine deities could further elevate the Primal Dreamscape and the Imagination Dragon.
Deities of other races were beyond Rosen's capabilities—defeating a heavily injured Qinuo had already been a narrow victory.
However, if the target was a dragon deity, the combined powers of the Dragonbinding Rope and the Imagination Dragon made success a possibility.
It would be best to repair the Dragonbinding Rope first.
If the Sequence 3 Dragonbinding Rope could be restored to Sequence 1, subduing a dragon deity would be a breeze.
But to repair the Dragonbinding Rope, it would need to permanently enslave numerous dragon souls.