"A large number of dragon souls... that's going to be tricky," Rosen muttered, stroking the Dragonbinding Rope as he pondered possible solutions.
Directly hunting living dragons in the Dragon Realm was out of the question—he had no intention of facing the wrath of the Dragon God.
Killing a few dragons here and there might go unnoticed, but if too many perished, it would destabilize the legacy of the dragon civilization. That would inevitably attract the full attention of the Dragon God. In that case, even those dragons whose bodies had been secretly replaced by his flesh avatars might be investigated and exposed.
Therefore, targeting living dragons was off the table.
That left only the souls of deceased dragons.
But even this was risky—raiding dragon tombs on a large scale in the Dragon Realm was a perilous endeavor he wanted to avoid unless absolutely necessary.
Additionally, dragon souls that had been dead for a long time would be much less effective for repairing the Dragonbinding Rope.
After much deliberation, Rosen's thoughts turned to the Dragon God Continent.
According to what he knew, the Dragon God Continent was the true ancestral land of the dragons. The Dragon Realm had merely been established by the Yinglong. The current dragon race had simply discovered and claimed it as their own.
Back when the World Government occupied the Dragon God Continent, countless dragons had been slaughtered there.
After the birth of the Spirit Realm, numerous spiritual landscapes had formed on the Dragon God Continent, centered around fallen dragons.
Since these dragons' deaths were closely tied to the Holy Light Dragon God, that god had refused to provide any divine protection for these dragon-centric landscapes. On the contrary, the Holy Light Dragon God even encouraged supernatural beings to enter these spiritual landscapes and continue hunting the dragons within, thereby trapping them forever in the Spirit Realm.
However, this operation required utmost caution. The Dragonbinding Rope absolutely could not be discovered.
If it was, the first to hunt him down would undoubtedly be the Holy Light Dragon God.
Secrecy was paramount.
…
Upon transmitting himself to the Dragon God Continent, Rosen began releasing the Holy Grail Knights one by one.
He left twenty Holy Grail Knights back in the Glorious Kingdom, bringing the rest with him to the Dragon God Empire.
The Holy Grail Knights could share most of his Painter sequence skills and could effectively command the Sequence 3 angels and abyssal shadow demons he had drawn. As long as they carried enough spiritual paintings, they wouldn't have much difficulty capturing dragon souls in Sequence 3 spiritual landscapes.
As for the Sequence 2 dragon landscapes, Rosen planned to send his two self-portrait avatars for the task.
Finally, he himself would personally handle the Sequence 1 dragon spiritual landscapes.
This division of effort would allow for the most efficient harvesting of dragon souls.
By hacking into the Dragon God Empire's Intelligence Bureau through the Spirit Realm Network, Rosen quickly pinpointed the locations of a handful of dragon spiritual landscapes.
The rest, which remained undisclosed, were largely monopolized by hereditary nobles.
Once the official landscapes were cleared out, he would attempt to purchase access to the privately controlled ones at high prices.
If that didn't work, he would have to resort to secretly breaking in.
Venom Dragon City was located in the toxic rainforest once inhabited by the Venom Dragon clan.
The rain there was green, and while rainfall was manageable, in dry weather the area became shrouded in clouds of poisonous miasma. Every plant in the rainforest contained potent toxins. To make matters worse, when humanity invaded the region, countless plagues were spread to decimate the defenders.
The area contained more than a thousand Venom Dragon spiritual landscapes, with the weakest being Sequence 6 and the strongest Sequence 1.
One-third of all doctor-sequence practitioners in the Dragon God Empire were concentrated in Venom Dragon City. Since doctors typically lacked strong combat abilities, the Venom Dragon landscapes were not monopolized but instead remained open to attract external transcendents.
Rosen arrived directly in the city via a teleportation gate from a nearby metropolis.
The entire city was enclosed by an elemental barrier; otherwise, no one could survive building a city in the poisonous rainforest.
At the city's center stood Venom Dragon Hospital, one of the largest medical institutions on the Dragon God Continent. Right next to it was Venom Dragon Tower, a Sequence 2 wizard tower that not only maintained the elemental barrier but also housed all the known Venom Dragon spiritual landscapes.
Rosen assigned his hunter-sequence followers to clear all Venom Dragon spiritual landscapes below Sequence 3.
Starting with Sequence 3, he personally swept through the landscapes, slaying Venom Dragons.
In less than half a month, Rosen had wiped out numerous landscapes, collecting dozens of dragon souls ranging from Sequence 6 to Sequence 1.
But only dozens—not thousands.
The reason was simple: the Venom Dragons in the spiritual landscapes were resurrected manifestations of the Spirit Realm. They didn't truly die; once the landscape reset, they would revive.
However, dragon souls, tied to a unique spiritual essence, were singular entities. Once Rosen harvested a dragon's soul, that Venom Dragon could never revive in the landscape.
If the dragon happened to be a core figure tied to the landscape's storyline, its inability to resurrect would cause the entire landscape to collapse.
Thus, all the dragon souls Rosen collected without exception belonged to secondary entities, not the main storyline figures.
Feeling dissatisfied with the limited harvest, Rosen frowned.
However, targeting main storyline Venom Dragons and destroying the landscapes would obviously be unacceptable to Venom Dragon City. These landscapes were the city's economic foundation, supporting countless transcendents. Destroying them would not only cripple the city's economy but possibly lead to its decline or collapse.
…
At Venom Dragon City's Lord's Manor, Rosen's visit left the city lord, Tam Webster, on edge.
As a Sequence 3 doctor and hereditary marquis, Tam was accustomed to receiving powerful external transcendents because of the Sequence 1 Venom Dragon landscapes under his city's jurisdiction.
Most of these visitors came seeking information about the landscapes, so Tam had already prepared detailed reports, not wanting to offend Rosen, a foreign king.
However, Rosen rejected the information outright.
"That's not why I'm here," Rosen said.
"Then what is your purpose?" Tam asked with a puzzled expression.
"I need a large number of dragon souls, but harvesting them would cause the collapse of Venom Dragon City's spiritual landscapes…"
Before Rosen could finish, Tam's face had already turned ashen.
"But I understand that these landscapes are the foundation of your city's survival," Rosen continued calmly, "so I'm proposing a trade. I'll destroy one of your landscapes but leave behind a spiritual landscape painting of the same level."
Tam's face immediately lit up with joy, changing colors like a chameleon.
The Venom Dragon spiritual landscapes weren't particularly popular, as the toxic rainforest already provided an abundance of poison-element transcendent materials.
Of course, being unpopular didn't mean they were unimportant. Without these spiritual landscapes, the doctors nurtured within Venom Dragon City wouldn't have a safe environment for growth in lower sequences. After all, venturing into the rainforest without sufficient strength was suicide.
Transforming some Venom Dragon landscapes into spiritual landscape paintings would undoubtedly benefit Venom Dragon City immensely.
With both sides standing to gain, the deal was quickly struck.
In just a few months, Rosen had painted three Sequence 1 and nine Sequence 2 spiritual landscape paintings.
Since he didn't utilize the Painting Principle, progress was admittedly slow.
The Sequence 1 landscapes were particularly challenging. If not for the support of dimensional paper, even his current divine essence wouldn't have been enough. He had captured the dragon soul of a Sequence 1 Venom Dragon and sealed the crumbling landscape into dimensional paper for secondary creation.
Even so, Rosen's achievements were impressive enough to astonish countless painters.
For landscapes below Sequence 3, he left the work to the Holy Grail Knights to assist in the painting.
In just a few months, Rosen effortlessly harvested hundreds of dragon souls.
Combined with the enslaved Imaginative Dragon bound by the Dragon Binding Cord, the artifact had finally recovered from Sequence 3 to Sequence 2.
Over the next decade, Rosen traveled across nearly the entire Dragon God Continent, barely managing to collect over ten thousand dragon souls.
Ninety percent were below Sequence 3, with fewer than a thousand at demigod levels, and only a dozen reached Sequence 1.
Still, the sheer volume triggered a qualitative change, restoring the Dragon Binding Cord to Sequence 1.
During this time, Rosen was based in Venom Dragon City. Since the city's only connection to the outside world was through teleportation, it had a highly developed teleportation network.
Initially, Rosen had to approach local hereditary nobles to propose trades, but soon enough, they sought him out, begging for paintings.
Though exhausting, these years had yielded extraordinary gains.
Restoring the Dragon Binding Cord to Sequence 1 not only meant it could suppress Sequence 0 dragons but also allowed for the reactivation of its core miracle trait, Ten Thousand Dragons Dance.
If Rosen didn't mind the potential losses among dragon souls, Ten Thousand Dragons Dance could even pose a deadly threat to non-draconic deities.
That day, Rosen was finishing the last few orders for spiritual landscape paintings.
Deep in the toxic rainforest, an ancient teleportation gate buried underground silently activated.
Rosen, painting in his Void Gallery, suddenly felt a premonition and put down his brush.
He casually sketched a predictive painting.
In it, he saw the toxic rainforest, the emerging teleportation gate, and several figures stepping out. It was clear they were coming for him.
The figures were depicted vaguely, indicating that their very existence disrupted the predictive painting.
"Gods coming for me?"
Rosen was puzzled. He hadn't provoked anyone in recent years, so why would gods seek him out?
The God-Hunting Magic Eye locked onto the depths of the rainforest, and Rosen soon caught sight of the first figure emerging from the gate.
He withdrew his gaze immediately to avoid detection, but that single glance was enough.
The ones coming for him were familiar faces—or at least familiar to him.
They were dragon deities. Over the years, Rosen had gathered plenty of intelligence on dragon deities while selecting potential targets for his future hunts.
Who would've thought he hadn't even set foot in the Dragon Realm to hunt them, and they were already coming after him?
Rosen didn't believe his plan to hunt dragon deities had leaked.
These dragon deities were likely here for the dragon souls.
It was easy to imagine that even though the dragons had withdrawn from the Dragon God Continent, they must have left behind various contingencies.
That secret teleportation gate leading to the Dragon Realm was one such contingency. It was also likely that there were plenty of dragon spies pretending to have defected to the Radiant Dragon God.
If the dragons reclaimed the tens of thousands of dragon souls Rosen held, using them for reincarnation or direct resurrection, it would be enough for the weakened dragon race to regain its vitality. No wonder the dragon deities had sent several of their gods to hunt him down.
Indeed, the roles of hunter and prey could reverse at any moment.
In less than a few minutes, five dragon deities would arrive in Venom Dragon City together.
The only way to stop all five at once would be to unleash the Dragon Binding Cord and activate Ten Thousand Dragons Dance.
But doing so would undoubtedly provoke the Dragon God into pursuing him.
This was a fight he couldn't afford.
Regardless of the outcome, just engaging would mean a loss for him.
Rosen dashed into Tam's office and placed the predictive painting in front of him.
"Five dragon deities. They're probably coming for me."
"..."
Tam's first thought was that they were doomed. Then he looked desperately at Rosen, hoping for a solution.
"Tell Venom Dragon Tower to abandon resistance. I'll seal the entire city into a painting and get us out of here," Rosen said decisively.
Tam didn't dare hesitate. Having dealt with Rosen over the past decade, he was well aware of how formidable this man was.
A Sequence 3 transcendent mastering a self-created skill related to dimensions, capable of painting Sequence 1 spiritual landscapes—too many painters and Sequence 1 experts had come to visit Rosen over the years. And as the king of a nation, Rosen commanded immense respect.
Half a minute later, the spatial suppression and anchoring from the wizard tower were lifted.
Rosen's divine perception enveloped the entire Venom Dragon City. He activated Dimensional Sealing, transforming the entire city into a painting.
The commotion was enormous, immediately alerting two dragon deities who had just stepped through the teleportation gate.
One of them swiftly approached Venom Dragon City, drawn by the disturbance.
Seeing Rosen sealing the entire city, the dragon deity immediately realized their movements had been detected.
Otherwise, it was too coincidental for the city to be sealed at this exact moment—clearly a prelude to escape.
Without waiting for the other dragon deities, the Void Dragon God Martik prepared to act alone to stop Rosen.
Martik intended to lock down the void and cut off all avenues of escape.
But just before he made his move, Rosen preemptively activated his World Domain, heavily emphasizing the Darkness Authority.
All possible prying eyes were immediately shrouded in darkness.
Before Martik could tear through the domain with his divine rule field, the Dragon Binding Cord had silently approached.
Martik sensed the cord just in time and instinctively unleashed a spatial disintegration dragon spell to sever it.
But in the next instant, the Dragon Binding Cord vanished, reappearing as a noose tightening around Martik's neck.
The Void Dragon God immediately transformed into a humanoid form to attempt escape, but the Dragon Binding Cord slithered along his body, sealing all his transcendent power.
No matter how he struggled, Martik couldn't break free and was completely bound, rendered utterly powerless.
Martik finally realized that he had encountered an unprecedented nemesis of the dragon race.
A Sequence 0 deity rendered defenseless by a Sequence 1 treasure?
Allowing this human to wield such a dragon-suppressing artifact would undoubtedly spell disaster for the entire dragon race.
Knowing he was doomed, Martik mustered the last of his strength to contact his divine avatar stationed in his divine kingdom, hoping to relay his discovery to the Dragon Gods. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't establish contact.
The moment Martik was captured, Rosen had already transported the World Domain into the Mysterious Study Room.
The isolation provided by the Mysterious Study Room completely cut off Martik's connection with his divine avatar.
Rosen sealed the now-paintified Venom Dragon City and unleashed Dragon God's Wrath, making his escape.
Behind him, two dragon deities who had arrived late gave chase.
But in the next moment, the teleportation gate deep within the toxic jungle exploded as a massive golden dragon claw emerged, blotting out the sky. The entire toxic jungle was incinerated into ash by searing flames, and the claw tore through the void, reaching for Dragon God's Wrath.
Rosen hadn't expected the Solar Dragon God to act so decisively.
This indicated one thing: the Solar Dragon God had already been watching this area.
Martik's capture had immediately prompted the Solar Dragon God to intervene through the teleportation gate, intending to capture Rosen alive.
Rosen and Dragon God's Wrath vanished instantly as they slipped into the Time Domain, anchored in the past.
Missing his mark, the Solar Dragon God instead grabbed the two remaining dragon deities and returned to the Dragon Realm.
The Radiant Dragon God arrived moments too late, unable to prevent the Solar Dragon God's retreat.
It was several days before Rosen left the Time Domain and returned to the scorched wasteland that was once the toxic jungle.
As soon as he re-entered reality, the surrounding space shifted, and the Radiant Dragon God appeared before him.
The existence of the Time Domain, which had been revealed during the rescue of those demigods at Mount Deity, was no longer a secret.
The Radiant Dragon God waited for Rosen, clearly not just to chastise him. It was obvious that he suspected Rosen possessed some artifact capable of utterly suppressing dragon deities.
"I suppose you can explain what exactly happened?"
The Radiant Dragon God, in humanoid form, restrained his draconic aura and scrutinized Rosen.
"I didn't expect to draw the attention of the Dragon Realm's deities either," Rosen said with a bitter smile.
He tossed a divine crystal containing recorded information to the Radiant Dragon God.
The Radiant Dragon God's expression darkened as he viewed the contents, and a murderous aura briefly flickered.
Rosen had mastered a terrifying transcendent artifact creation technique from an unknown civilization — the crafting method for the Dragon Binding Cord.
Creating such an artifact required vast amounts of dragon tendons and dragon souls, and once crafted, it became a dragon race nemesis.
However, after a more careful examination, the Radiant Dragon God's killing intent subsided.
The reason was simple: crafting a Dragon Binding Cord was excessively difficult.
To forge a Sequence 1 Dragon Binding Cord required tens of thousands of dragon tendons and souls. Despite Rosen nearly stripping the Dragon God Continent of its dragon-related spiritual realms, he had only managed to produce one Sequence 1 Dragon Binding Cord capable of capturing a Sequence 0 dragon deity.
Creating a Sequence 0 Dragon Binding Cord would be impossible unless someone wiped out all the dragon deities.
And the dragons were far from defenseless — they wouldn't stand by and watch their gods be slaughtered.
If someone had the power to kill all the dragon deities, they wouldn't even need a Sequence 0 Dragon Binding Cord.
Moreover, now that the Radiant Dragon God knew the crafting method, it was only a matter of time before he found a way to counter it.
Therefore, Rosen posed no threat to him. The real danger for Rosen came from the dragon deities in the Dragon Realm.
"This thing is quite valuable. I can't just take it for free."
The Radiant Dragon God said as he tossed a shard of dragon crystal to Rosen before disappearing in a flash of light.
Rosen caught the fragment, realizing it was a piece of the Wisdom Dragon God's dragon crystal.
The Wisdom Dragon God had perished on the Dragon God Continent, besieged by the Radiant Dragon God and the human true gods. This single fragment of dragon crystal was incredibly valuable, nearly on par with the crafting method for the Dragon Binding Cord.
After all, the Dragon Binding Cord hadn't always been a miracle artifact — it had originally been a crafted treasure.
As long as Rosen didn't threaten the Dragon God himself, there was no need for the Radiant Dragon God to harbor killing intent toward him.
On the contrary, with the crafting method in hand, the Radiant Dragon God would be tempted to forge a Sequence 0 Dragon Binding Cord if he still had any of the Wisdom Dragon God's tendons.
If that happened, it would be the Radiant Dragon God, not Rosen, who would end up clashing with the Solar Dragon God and others, significantly reducing Rosen's future challenges in controlling the Dragon Realm.
Even the Sequence 0 Dragon Binding Cord would be no match for Rosen's true divine artifact version.
Restoring the Dragon Binding Cord to Sequence 0 and devouring another Sequence 0 cord would be the fastest shortcut for Rosen to ascend further.