Devil's Contract and the Fruit of Life and Death

On the balcony of his Oasis Hotel suite, Rosen gazed across the city toward Duke Morrison's divine domain. Although the domain had only one physical entrance disguised as a potion shop, the true territory stretched deep within a hidden pocket dimension. Yet, before his God-Hunting Magic Eye, there were no secrets. Rosen could see everything within the Duke's divine domain clearly.

Inside the lord's castle, he spotted over a hundred separate spirit realms. Within those realms, the total population exceeded one hundred million. For an ancient demigod, having such a vast number of subjects inside a spirit realm wasn't entirely unheard of. However, under normal circumstances, no demigod would have this many people living in their domain. The sheer resources required to sustain them would be astronomical. Especially in Oasis City, where most demigods had retired to live out their days, a divine domain with a population of a few million was already considered high. More than that wasn't impossible, but it was completely unnecessary.

Rosen's gaze moved swiftly through the domain, searching for anything unusual. Soon, he locked onto a spirit realm that was exceptionally well-hidden. It wasn't stored within a separate dimension or concealed behind divine barriers—it was inside a book. A book that had been left open, and through its pages, a steady stream of people and objects were being transported inside. If the book had been closed, even he might have missed it.

Upon closer inspection, Rosen analyzed the text and symbols covering its pages. There was no doubt—this book came from Hell.

With a single data transmission, Rosen instantly relocated himself inside the castle dungeon, appearing silently beside the book. For most demigods, infiltrating the divine domain of a fellow demigod without being detected would have been impossible. But Rosen's Wolf Totem greatly enhanced his stealth abilities, and Duke Morrison's divine perception—no matter how strong—was not capable of monitoring his entire domain at all times. The Duke had no idea that someone had already slipped into his dungeon.

Rosen carefully examined the goods being moved into the book. They were all paintings. These were not the works of an artist, yet they still contained pocket dimensions within them. He extended his divine perception into one of the paintings. Inside, he saw countless elderly people, all in deep slumber.

It wasn't difficult to deduce—these old men and women were sacrifices, offerings to the devils. Hell's devils favored consuming the souls of the elderly. Unlike the souls of the young, brimming with untamed potential, the souls of the old carried wisdom. They contained a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experience. By devouring such souls, devils could become sharper, more cunning—their intelligence and power growing simultaneously.

And if one hundred million people had to be sacrificed to satisfy this devil's hunger, then the entity Duke Morrison's family had been worshipping was, at minimum, a Sequence 0 deity. However, it was unlikely to be in perfect condition. Otherwise, it would not have needed to hide within Oasis City.

Now that Rosen had located his target, he directly expanded his divine domain. His divine domain was on par with a Sequence 0 entity, and with his control over World Authority, suppressing Duke Morrison's divine domain was effortless. The infuriated Duke Morrison tried to fight back, only to be instantly dragged into the Shadow Realm by several lurking Sequence 2 Shadow Fiends.

Without their master, the entire divine domain of the Devil-Worshipping Prison fell into chaos, and within moments, Rosen's troops had completely subdued the entire domain. However, Rosen remained cautious as he observed the devilish book.

This was no ordinary book. There was an entire world inside it. At that moment, the book suddenly began to turn translucent, attempting to escape. But under the absolute lockdown of Rosen's divine domain, it failed. The book snapped shut, and a human face appeared on the cover. The face opened its mouth, spewing forth one devil's curse after another.

But before the curses could even approach, Rosen activated King's Authority Plunder, and every single curse was forcibly seized and dragged into his King's Treasury. No matter how desperately the devil's book struggled within the treasury, it was completely trapped, unable to escape the sealing and refinement process.

This book wasn't a devil itself, but a Devil's Contract Book, crafted from the remains of a Devil God. Within its pages were the true names of devils once hunted and captured by Demon Hunters, allowing the wielder to summon and control those devils recorded in its contracts. However, with the destruction of Hell and the extinction of devils, the names inscribed in this book had long lost their power.

Now, the Devil's Contract Book was nothing more than an ownerless extraordinary relic. Duke Morrison had never truly worshipped a devil—he had merely offered sacrifices to feed the Contract Book, attempting to forcefully claim ownership over it. His goal was to harness the power of devils and advance his own strength. The so-called devil his family worshipped was nothing more than Duke Morrison himself, a fraudulent devil.

A mere Sequence 3 attempting to refine a Sequence 0 relic? That was nothing short of a fool's dream.

However, for Rosen, refining the Devil's Contract Book was effortless.

Once he had fully mastered the book, the first thing he did was inscribe the true names of all his troops onto its pages. He even had his troops inject their divine essence into their true names, further enhancing the Contract Book's control. In mere moments, the weakened Devil's Contract Book had returned to its peak condition.

The core abilities of the Devil's Contract Book were threefold: Contracts, Curses, and Wishes.

Contracts allowed the book to sign pacts with intelligent beings. Curses were used to punish those who violated their contracts. Wishes enabled the book to fulfill the desires of those who signed contracts—as long as they were willing to pay the price, any wish could be granted.

Even if someone wished to become a True God, as long as the price was sufficient, the book could make it happen.

Of course, it wouldn't be a permanent ascension—perhaps the wish would grant them a single second of divine power, or maybe it would merely redefine the term True God, turning them into nothing more than a figurehead deity in a minor civilization. When it came to contractual deception, devils were unmatched across the entire Main Plane.

When Rosen signed contracts with his troops, he didn't manipulate the terms. Instead, he leveraged the opportunity, offering the souls and divine essence of fallen soldiers to the Contract Book, in exchange for powerful wish effects that strengthened the Flesh Hell attached to his Flesh Hell Tree.

It was only at this moment that Rosen realized—the wish-granting power of the Devil's Contract Book actually consumed the remaining energy of Hell itself.

Though Hell had been destroyed, vast remnants still existed, occupied by Wisdom Evil Gods.

Thus, every contract signed through the Devil's Contract Book further drained the essence of Hell's remains.

The Wisdom Evil Gods lurking within the ruins of Hell immediately noticed this massive depletion of Hell's remaining essence. However, they were powerless to stop it—for contracts and wishes were fundamental laws of Hell, established by powerful Great True Gods. Not even True Gods could override these laws.

With no other option, the Wisdom Evil Gods attempted to trace the contract's source, hoping to locate the Devil's Contract Book.

But the book resided within the Ancient God's True Realm. No matter how they searched, they found nothing.

Seeing how he could exploit the wish-granting power to drain the last vestiges of Hell, Rosen was tempted to have all his followers sign contracts.

However, in the end, he stopped.

He soon discovered that Devil's Contracts weren't without drawbacks. The power of the contract would gradually corrupt the minds of the signers, making them increasingly drawn toward devils. Ordinary believers simply couldn't resist the corrupting influence of a Devil's Contract.

But through experimentation, Rosen stumbled upon a method for creating Fallen Angels.

First, he signed an exceptionally harsh contract with a Heavenly Soldier. Then, he forced the angel to break the contract. The Devil's Contract Book then seized the angel's soul and divine essence as punishment.

But instead of being destroyed, the angel's soul was absorbed into the book's internal space, where it merged with the essence of Hell.

When the angel returned, it had transformed into a Fallen Angel.

Though its overall strength had not significantly increased, its healing abilities had been completely replaced by curses.

Seizing this opportunity, Rosen cultivated an entire force of Fallen Angels, before shifting his focus back to developing his self-created painting skills.

Months passed, and he made significant progress. However, he couldn't afford to continue training in seclusion—the Death Black Sandstorm was approaching. If he missed this chance, he would have to wait an entire year before he could enter the sealed space of the Life Mother Tree.

That evening, Gavin, who had been preparing for months, arrived at the Oasis Hotel to meet him.

Under the witness of the God of Contract, both sides formally signed a pact for their upcoming collaboration.

Silently, Rosen activated the Ancient God's True Eye and used Seer's Gaze to lower his divine strength limit to 91 points. In that instant, he peered into the deepest secrets Gavin had been concealing.

As expected—Gavin wasn't telling the whole truth.

His true intentions weren't as simple as merely removing a curse.

The moment night completely fell, all the plants in Oasis City withered into lifeless husks. At this time, even demigods wouldn't easily leave their divine domain, as the curse upon Oasis City would reach its peak. Not even a demigod's domain could fully resist the night's curses, which was why only mechanical puppets could be seen moving through the city's streets after dark.

However, tonight, even the mechanical puppets were absent—because the Death Black Sandstorm was descending upon the city.

Silently, Rosen and Gavin left the Oasis Hotel, then ascended straight into the sky outside the city.

Under normal circumstances, upon reaching an altitude of ten thousand meters, they would be randomly teleported to the edge of the Death Desert.

But as they approached that height, Gavin pulled out a fresh tree branch—a branch from the Ancient Tree of Life.

Activating its essence and enveloping them in its power, the law domain of the Life Mother Tree in the Death Desert mistook them for elves. As long as they did not ascend beyond thirty thousand meters, they would avoid being randomly teleported away.

At that moment, in the sky above, the first signs of the Death Black Sandstorm began to form.

Its intensity was still weak, but as time passed, it would grow stronger and stronger.

Rosen could see everything clearly—at thirty thousand meters, more and more wraiths began to materialize from thin air. It was their presence that turned a simple sandstorm into the Death Black Sandstorm. The entrance to the sealed space was located at the very origin of these wraiths.

They waited for two hours until, at last, Gavin took the lead, rushing into the heart of the Death Black Sandstorm.

Rosen followed closely behind, unleashing his world domain to block the countless wraiths attempting to devour them.

In an instant, the two of them passed through an invisible spatial rift—a passage swarming with wraiths. Rosen easily fended them off, but Gavin had to expend every ounce of strength just to barely make it through alive.

The moment they emerged, they found themselves in a terrifying world teeming with wraiths.

Gavin immediately retracted the Ancient Tree of Life branch and activated the Ghost Cloak draped over his shoulders.

Instantly, the wraiths stopped attacking.

Disguised as a specter, Gavin carefully hid himself.

The Ghost Cloak allowed him to avoid attacks from the low-level wraiths at the outer edges of the sealed space. However, if they wanted to venture deeper, no amount of disguise would help—they would have to fight their way through.

Rosen expanded his world domain, merging it with the Heavenly Mountain inside his divine domain.

The moment the wraiths stepped into his domain, angels rained down divine punishment, erasing them in an instant.

Blazing a path of destruction, Rosen swiftly reached the center of the sealed space.

There, he saw a colossal black tree—though it had no physical form.

Its exterior was composed of countless elven souls, fused into a towering wraith tree, and at its core lay a black heartwood, from which a faint green glow seeped out.

Rosen instantly understood—the self-imposed seal of the Life Mother Tree had failed to save itself.

Though it had spent countless eons expelling its curse, all it had done was delay its demise.

Now, the Life Mother Tree had most likely lost its self-awareness, leaving behind only instinct. Otherwise, it would have already noticed Gavin's intrusion.

Rosen opened the door to his Divine Secret Study and, through the Window of the World, unleashed the roots of the World Tree.

Ignoring the terrifying curse, the roots plunged straight into the heartwood of the Life Mother Tree.

The wraiths covering the heartwood frenziedly attempted to stop the invasion, but the moment the roots pierced into the core, they suddenly ceased their attacks.

In fact, the heartwood didn't even resist—instead, it began actively transferring its own essence into the World Tree.

The World Tree was the source of all life, possessing absolute dominion over all plant life.

Had it not been for the World Tree, Rosen wouldn't have dared to covet the Life Mother Tree at all.

A True God at its peak, even if it had only a sliver of life left, would still possess the power to retaliate at the moment of its final breath.

If that weren't the case, then why had so many True Gods refused to enter the sealed space to finish the job? They were simply afraid of being dragged down to die alongside it.

But Rosen had nothing to fear—because he was the only salvation for the Life Mother Tree.

The World Tree feared no energy corruption. Over the years, Rosen had tested its limits—even the Apocalypse Curse could be absorbed and converted into nutrients.

The process was slow and inefficient, but it proved that no curse could harm the World Tree.

Thus, the deadly Death Curse that had doomed the Life Mother Tree was nothing more than a difficult-to-digest meal for the World Tree.

If the Life Mother Tree wished to survive, it had no choice but to cooperate.

After a few hours, the World Tree had already absorbed 99% of the Life Mother Tree's heartwood.

All that remained was a single seed, coated in blackened bark—the core of the heartwood.

This seed resisted absorption.

Because in that moment—the slumbering consciousness of the Life Mother Tree had finally awakened.

No longer needing to exhaust itself to resist the death curse, the Mother Tree of Life, though extremely weakened without its heartwood, had regained its clarity of mind. 

With the vast knowledge of the Mother Tree of Life, it instantly recognized that it was the World Tree that had saved it. 

Moreover, it was a World Tree that had not yet fully matured. If this World Tree had no owner, the Mother Tree of Life would have immediately pledged itself to it. However, the problem was that this World Tree clearly had a master. The pride of the Mother Tree of Life made it unwilling to become a subordinate to a human. 

Yet, sensing its own condition, the Mother Tree of Life ultimately had no choice but to let go of its pride. 

If death were so easy, it would not have clung to life for so long. 

As the seed was absorbed into the World Tree and the Mother Tree of Life actively cooperated, the speed at which the World Tree digested the essence of the Mother Tree of Life increased dramatically. Soon, two World Fruits appeared simultaneously on the branches of the World Tree. 

The first contained immense death energy, while the second contained immense life energy. 

The two World Fruits quickly approached maturity but stopped growing at the last moment. 

The World Tree could grow a maximum of nine World Fruits, capable of creating nine entirely new laws. However, the laws of death and life already existed in the main world. If the two World Fruits were allowed to generate the laws of death and life, the World Tree would become subordinate to the main world. 

The main world could, through these two laws, reverse control the life and death of the World Tree. 

This was something Rosen could not accept, so he began to guide the World Tree to generate new laws according to his will. 

The two World Fruits began to forcibly merge, giving birth to a new law of reincarnation that did not exist in the main world. 

The moment the law of reincarnation was born, Rosen felt an unprecedented sense of terror. 

On the Old Continent of the main world, the entire landmass began to shake violently. 

At that moment, the entire main world was drenched in a rain of blood. The newly born law of reincarnation, which was supposed to integrate into the main world, was forcefully expelled by it. Like the old law of flesh and blood, the law of reincarnation became a law unrecognized by the main world. 

Under the backlash from the main world, the newly merged World Fruit split into two once again. 

The laws of life and death were simultaneously born within the two World Fruits. 

However, this time, the laws of life and death within the World Fruits were different from those in the main world. They were more akin to the law of flesh and blood in the Flesh World Fruit, originating from the ancient laws of the previous era of the Ancient Gods. 

The Life World Fruit matured first, and Rosen's control over the World Authority reached 47%. 

Seeing that the Death World Fruit would soon mature, ensuring his control would surpass 50%, Rosen raced against time to take out the prepared Sequence 6 miracle treasure, the Ashen Emblem, and quickly integrated it into the transcendent essence of the Miracle Sequence. 

If he had been any slower, his Miracle Sequence would have suffered permanent deficiencies. 

It seems that when feeding the World Tree, I must be careful not to let it eat too much at once.

[Ashen Emblem: Miracle Sequence]

[Level: Sequence 6] 

[Miracle Attribute: The Ashen Emblem can perfectly conceal itself under the protection of apocalyptic ashes and can control the Ashen Curse.]

[Miracle Trait: Ashen Eye]

Rosen sensed the changes in the miracle attribute. The Ashen Curse was a very unique curse. 

It did not target living beings but rather civilizations. 

If he cast the Ashen Curse on a civilization, that civilization would face various calamities. The intensity of the calamities depended on his strength. This was the first ability within the Miracle Sequence to possess a damaging effect. 

Just as the Miracle Sequence had advanced, the Death World Fruit also fully matured. 

Rosen sensed the interiors of the two World Fruits. Within the Life World Fruit, a Sequence 0 Mother Tree of Life had been born. Within the Death World Fruit, there was a desert filled with death curses. Even a true god who set foot in this desert would eventually be killed by the death curses if they stayed too long. 

Finally, looking at his 59% control over the World Authority, Rosen began to worry about how the World Tree would continue to grow in the future. 

Rosen manipulated the World Tree's World Domain to merge with his divine territory. The desert within the Death World Fruit fused with the divine territory, and the desert immediately began to absorb the countless vengeful spirits of the elves within the sealed space. The sealed space began to slowly collapse. 

(End of Chapter)