The Shroud of Death and the Spirit World Gatekeeper

In the Glorious Palace, a winged coin suddenly materialized in the void.

This was the Spirit World messenger of the Star Coin True God, delivering a key to Rosen that would allow him to enter the Despair Abyss Spirit Realm.

In certain areas of the Abyss of Despair, time would fall into a state of peculiar disorder.

The body's time would stop flowing, while the divine consciousness's perception of time would accelerate infinitely. It was possible that only a few days would pass in the outside world, but thousands or even tens of thousands of years would pass in the divine consciousness. When the time acceleration in the consciousness ended, it would inevitably lead to a terrible backlash.

Even for deities, divine power couldn't be endlessly expended without replenishment.

During the period of accelerated divine consciousness in the Despair Abyss, the consumed divine power couldn't be restored. Once the divine power contained within the divine essence was exhausted, the self-preservation instinct of the divine essence would inevitably forcefully extract the life essence to replenish the consumed divine power.

At that point, turning into a desiccated corpse would be the least of one's worries—many would simply disintegrate into ash.

After entering the Spirit World from the Glorious Kingdom, Rosen began his journey aboard the Dragon God's Wrath, which had transformed into a void destroyer.

He could have used data transmission to reach a region in the real world closer to the Despair Abyss Spirit Realm before entering the Spirit World, but doing so would have easily revealed to the Star Coin True God that he possessed long-range teleportation abilities. Besides, arriving early wouldn't make a difference since the Spirit Realm wasn't ready to open yet.

So it was better to take his time. Along the way, he could also hunt some Spirit World creatures.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye, and the Dragon God's Wrath destroyer had already covered most of the distance.

Rosen had long realized that he had overlooked one thing: at high speeds, ordinary Spirit World creatures couldn't keep up with the Dragon God's Wrath. He also couldn't afford to stop and start frequently, so after half a month, he had little to show for his efforts.

Fortunately, this didn't affect his ability to create new skills, so the travel time wasn't wasted.

One day, as Rosen was attempting to construct a new Painter skill as usual, the little fairy playing nearby suddenly fell silent. It let out a sharp cry, flashed onto Rosen's shoulder, and startled him awake.

"Danger ahead?"

As he asked, Rosen manipulated the Dragon God's Wrath destroyer to perform a void flash, bringing it to an abrupt halt.

As a Spirit World messenger, the little fairy's perception in the Spirit World far surpassed his own.

If it hadn't sensed danger, it wouldn't have suddenly lost control and disturbed him.

"I feel like there's danger ahead, but also like there isn't…"

The little fairy spoke uncertainly.

"Uncertainty means the danger is deeply hidden, appearing and disappearing intermittently," Rosen said, activating his Ancient God's True Eye and scanning the area hundreds of miles ahead.

He soon noticed something unusual. The space in the area ahead was indeed unstable.

It was as if something from the depths of the Spirit World was descending to its surface.

Without hesitation, Rosen fired the Void Destroyer Cannon from the Dragon God's Wrath, targeting the distorted space ahead.

With a single blast, dozens of miles of space shattered, causing a corpse wrapped in tattered burial cloth to plummet from the depths of the Spirit Realm.

"The Spirit World's forbidden Shroud of Death…"

Rosen's pupils contracted sharply, and he immediately activated data transmission to escape.

His true body left with the Dragon God's Wrath, leaving behind his Bronze Dragon avatar in its place.

However, before the Bronze Dragon avatar could attack the Shroud of Death wrapped around the corpse, the tattered fabric abandoned the corpse it had been covering and instantly enveloped the Bronze Dragon avatar. In the blink of an eye, the avatar lost its life and turned into pigment.

Rosen, who had successfully returned to reality through data transmission, felt a lingering sense of dread as he experienced the suffocating sensation of the Bronze Dragon avatar's final moments.

The Shroud of Death—one of the Spirit World's forbidden entities that he couldn't afford to provoke for now.

So-called Spirit World taboos were composed of mysterious phenomena that even the World Government couldn't resolve or explain.

The Shroud of Death was one of them. Only a true god could survive a direct encounter with it. For deities, meeting the Shroud of Death meant certain death. No one knew its origins, only that it drifted aimlessly through the Spirit World without any discernible pattern.

Rosen didn't believe his luck was so bad that he would run into the Shroud of Death while simply traveling.

If he wasn't mistaken, the Shroud of Death had come for the death laws he carried.

When the Bronze Dragon avatar was finally wrapped by the Shroud of Death, it had clearly sensed a faint connection between the hidden power of death laws within its body and the Shroud of Death. Therefore, it was highly likely that the Shroud of Death had sought him out intentionally.

Rosen stayed in the real world for a long time, but the Shroud of Death never came for him.

It had only been half a month since he entered the Spirit World, and it had already sought him out.

Additionally, there were no records of the Shroud of Death appearing in the real world, so it was highly probable that it couldn't leave the Spirit World.

Still, he needed to find a way to solve this problem. He couldn't avoid entering the Spirit World forever, could he?

If it was targeting him because of the death laws, then all he needed to do was find a way to conceal those laws.

Rosen immediately sealed all the death law-related powers within him using the Source Star Core.

He then used data transmission to send the resurrected Bronze Dragon avatar to a kingdom in the real world corresponding to the coordinates near where he had left. From there, he entered the Spirit World and slowly approached the Shroud of Death. This time, as expected, the Shroud of Death didn't seek him out.

Seeing that the method worked, Rosen continued his journey in the Spirit World.

For now, he couldn't do anything about the Shroud of Death, but once he became a deity, he might be able to attempt sealing it with the Source Star Core. By then, he could uncover the true nature of the Shroud of Death.

A few days later, the Dragon God's Wrath destroyer began to leave the surface layer of the Spirit World and enter its deeper layers.

The Abyss of Despair was now very close, and traces of temporal distortion were already beginning to appear in the surroundings. These distortions were caused by the time forces leaking from within the Spirit Domain, affecting even the outer area. Without sufficient power, simply approaching the Abyss of Despair was impossible.

The entrance to the Abyss of Despair was a door—a True God-tier transcendental artifact called Boya's Gate of Time and Space.

If it weren't for this gate sealing the Despair Abyss, the impact of this Spirit Realm on the outside world would be unimaginable.

Right next to Boya's Gate of Time and Space stood a Time Tower.

Inside this Time Tower, time acceleration was also in effect. Countless individuals sought to create their own skills or comprehend and master laws here. This Time Tower could be considered one of the rare cultivation holy lands, though even the best Time Tower couldn't compare to his transcendent artifact, the Tower of Time.

Currently, the Tower of Time couldn't stack with Time Sketch, and this Time Tower was even less capable of doing so.

After all, time powers were difficult to layer unless the outer layer's time power far surpassed the inner layer's.

Since Time Sketch contained the authority of time, only time laws could be layered with it to enhance its effects.

At the open entrance of the Time Tower's ground floor, a peculiar man sat, fishing in the void.

His body was that of a child, his face was that of an old man, yet the life force within him radiated the vitality of a man in his prime. He simultaneously embodied the three most defining stages of an ordinary person's life. Though he was merely a deity, he was by no means an ordinary one.

"You're the Gatekeeper?" Rosen asked as he approached.

"You are… quite special," the Gatekeeper remarked, scrutinizing Rosen with a look of astonishment. "A young, vigorous life force, a wielder of Time Authority, and not just one, but multiple time-based Miracle Skills… I never thought I'd see such a brilliant raw gem before I died."

"You flatter me," Rosen replied humbly.

"Are you interested in making a deal with me?" the Gatekeeper suddenly asked, his tone turning serious.

"What kind of deal?" Rosen asked without revealing any emotion.

"I will give you my entire inheritance—in exchange, you will do something for me," the Gatekeeper said, putting away his fishing rod. "If one day you master Time Law, I need you to revive me, to grant me another lifetime. And if mastering Time Law isn't enough… then do it when you become a Great True God."

"I don't see a reason to refuse," Rosen said after weighing the pros and cons.

"Good. Kill me now, and my entire inheritance will be yours," the Gatekeeper stated, catching Rosen completely off guard.

"That's a bit sudden. I need to know why, and whether there are any hidden dangers," Rosen shook his head, voicing his concerns.

The Gatekeeper nodded, then conjured a memory crystal, copying a portion of his memories.

Rosen took the crystal and carefully examined its contents.

It turned out that the Gatekeeper was actually one of the legendary extinct Spirit Realm Humans.

What were Spirit Realm Humans? They were humans native to the Spirit Realm, born within it.

Spirit Realm Humans were not individuals who had died in history and been revived in the Spirit Realm, but rather the original indigenous inhabitants of the realm itself.

At first, the World Government had attempted to classify Spirit Realm Humans as part of humanity. But they had rejected that notion outright.

Not only that, but the Spirit Realm Humans stubbornly insisted that the Spirit Realm belonged solely to them.

However, when war broke out, they were slaughtered mercilessly, their blood flowing like rivers. At some point, the Spirit Realm Humans must have done something that utterly enraged the World Government—because under normal circumstances, the World Government would never have committed genocide. And yet, they had completely exterminated the Spirit Realm Humans.

The Gatekeeper was the only survivor of his race, having used a special Miracle Skill to disguise himself as an ordinary human.

He had dreamed of revenge all his life, but after twenty thousand years, he still saw no hope in sight.

In pursuit of power—and a way to resurrect his fallen kin—the Gatekeeper had dedicated himself entirely to the study of Time Authority.

He had one distinct advantage in this pursuit: he possessed a unique time-based Miracle Skill—Life.

The Life Miracle Skill allowed him to split himself into three, creating three separate living entities:

One was his childhood self.

One was his elderly self.

And one was his prime-of-life self.

Each of the three independent entities could advance into different Transcendent Sequences, and they could also merge back together. The Gatekeeper had chosen three distinct Golden Sequences, and when the three-in-one fusion was complete, he could rival a True God with the strength of a mere deity.

However, the Life Miracle Skill wasn't without its drawbacks—it carried a terrifying negative Miracle Trait.

When the three separate entities fused, they would assume a one-primary, two-secondary hierarchy.

Moreover, their divine consciousness and personalities were entirely different, essentially forming a unique kind of triple personality disorder.

The child form of the Gatekeeper clung tightly to his identity as a Spirit Realm Human.

The prime-of-life form of the Gatekeeper fully understood the overwhelming power of the World Government and wanted nothing to do with futile resistance.

The elderly form of the Gatekeeper wasn't just unwilling to seek revenge—he wanted to completely become a human, to erase both his child and prime-of-life selves and establish himself as the one and only true existence.

The older the form, the stronger it became, yet initially, it was the child form that held dominance.

This was because when the Life Miracle Skill was first awakened, the Gatekeeper was still a child. As the one who originally wielded the Miracle Skill, the child form had, through sheer force of will, kept the other two forms suppressed within his body.

But over the course of countless years, the Gatekeeper had gradually lost control over them.

For the past thousand years, the child form had been searching for a way to solve this dilemma.

In a little over a century, once the elderly form broke free from its suppression, it would undoubtedly kill the child form the moment it was released.

At this critical juncture, Rosen had appeared.

The moment the Gatekeeper laid eyes on him, he had instinctively attempted divination.

However, every method he used failed.

Even when he borrowed a divine artifact to temporarily elevate his divination abilities to the level of a True God, he still couldn't see through Rosen's destiny.

This immediately made the Gatekeeper realize that Rosen possessed power on the level of a Great True God.

His first instinct was to kill him and seize his treasures.

But every divination outcome pointed to failure.

He could not kill Rosen. Worse, if he tried, he would provoke an infinitely terrifying monster.

After weighing his options, the Gatekeeper made a gamble.

If he lost, he would merely die a hundred years earlier than expected.

If he won, he would have a future chance to start over anew.

For him, this was already the optimal choice.

Rosen reached out and grasped the Gatekeeper, sealing him bit by bit with Source Star Core as the Gatekeeper willingly cooperated.

This Gatekeeper was far stronger than Eugene. Even with Source Star Core, Rosen barely managed to seal him.

By using Chaos Star Core, Rosen read through all of the Gatekeeper's memories, confirming that he had spoken the truth.

Then, he attacked the Gatekeeper's divine essence through Source Star Core, destroying it three times in a row before finally putting him down for good.

No loot orb dropped.

Rosen immediately began sorting through the Gatekeeper's inheritance.

The most valuable parts of the inheritance included:

— Four Miracle Skill Crystals

— Three Godhoods

— One Divine Kingdom

— One Sequence 0 Miracle Artifact

And that wasn't even counting the countless other treasures.

Even Rosen was shocked by how vast the Gatekeeper's inheritance was.

The three Godhoods contained the Noble Sequence, as well as the Transcendent Sequences of Time Hunter, Playwright, and Director.

The four Miracle Skill Crystals contained Life, Space-Time Fishing, Time Script, and Persona Roleplay.

Time Hunter was a Transcendent Sequence innate to Spirit Realm Humans.

For Rosen, this could very well be the opportunity to elevate his Hunter Sequence to the next level.

For now, he could directly master Space-Time Fishing, the Miracle Skill derived from Time Hunter.

As for Time Script and Persona Roleplay, the former required him to become a Playwright to properly utilize it, while the latter could completely overwrite his existing Roleplay Skill. However, no matter what, Rosen would never master Persona Roleplay.

The reason the elderly Gatekeeper became obsessed with fully becoming a human was precisely because of Persona Roleplay.

The essence of this skill was that it genuinely transformed the user into the persona they played—down to the level of their very consciousness.

The Gatekeeper's unwavering loyalty to the World Government was entirely a result of Persona Roleplay. With it, he had managed to deceive even the True Gods of the World Government.

Under normal circumstances, Persona Roleplay wasn't too problematic as long as the user didn't roleplay for extended periods.

However, when combined with the Life Miracle Skill, both of their negative effects had been greatly amplified.

Rosen had no intention of mastering Persona Roleplay. He simply stored it away, keeping it sealed within Source Star Core in case he ever needed it.

The same applied to Life and Time Script—he had no use for these skills.

Instead, he began considering whether he could trade these unwanted Miracle Skill Crystals for ones he actually needed.

The Gatekeeper had mastered far more than four Miracle Skills, but in the end, only four of them had dropped.

Rosen stored away the ones he didn't need and picked up the Space-Time Fishing Miracle Skill Crystal, beginning the process of fusing it into his Hunter Sequence.

Time Hunter, strictly speaking, was still part of the Hunter Sequence, though unlike the World Government's Hunter Sequence, which was centered around Hunting Laws, Time Hunter was built around Time Laws. The Gatekeeper had even integrated Space Authority, ultimately creating this unique Miracle Skill.

Even among Hunter Sequence sub-branches, Time Hunter surpassed the Silver Sequence and had reached the Gold Sequence.

If it weren't for the fact that Time Hunter was exclusive to Spirit Realm Humans, Rosen would have seriously considered switching over.

Luckily, Space-Time Fishing was a universal skill, and before long, he had successfully integrated it into his Transcendent Essence.

[Space-Time Fishing: Miracle Skill]

[Passive Effect]: Able to embed space-time traps into different timelines.

[Active Effect]: Able to "fish" for prey that have fallen into these traps across different timelines.

[Miracle Trait]: Space-Time Fishing Rod, Unique in All Worlds, Eternally Indestructible.

Rosen activated the Miracle Trait—Space-Time Fishing Rod and found that his mastery over Time Authority and Space Authority had materialized into a fishing rod.

This rod could greatly enhance the power of both Authorities. Even the fishing line and hook could extend across different timelines, and anything successfully caught would be reeled in from the past, present, or future—including beings that had perished in past timelines.

The Gatekeeper had originally created this Miracle Skill in an attempt to resurrect his dead people.

But he failed—because no matter how much he searched, he couldn't find a single trace of Spirit Realm Humans in the past timelines.

This realization had made him suspect that some Great True God had erased all historical records of Spirit Realm Humans from all past timelines.

Rosen hung the Gatekeeper's Divine Kingdom onto the World Tree, allowing the tree to devour it.

This fusion of three Sequence 0 Nobles' Divine Kingdoms into a single unique Divine Kingdom was enough to push the World Tree's growth to 80%.

After all, this Divine Kingdom contained an abundance of Time and Space attribute Transcendent resources.

Rosen then retrieved the Gatekeeper's Miracle Artifact, glanced at it, and immediately decided to toss it to Daisy.

[Life Puppet: Miracle Artifact]

[Rank]: Sequence 0

[Miracle Property]: The Life Puppet can merge with a Transcendent being to create a new life.

[Miracle Traits]: Virtual Persona, Persona Reconstruction, Unique in All Worlds, Eternally Indestructible.

This was an incredibly terrifying Miracle Artifact.

If a deity merged with Life Puppet, their divine consciousness would be erased, replaced with a brand-new virtual persona. The persona could then be remodeled and reshaped, ultimately giving birth to an entirely new being.

However, using Life Puppet came with a major downside—the user would develop additional virtual personas within their own consciousness.

For Psychologists, this was a sacred artifact, as only a Psychologist could fully control the Life Puppet.

Rosen finished sorting through the rest of the Gatekeeper's belongings, which included several low-rank Miracle Artifacts and a few high-tier Sequence 0 Transcendent Artifacts.

However, none of them suited his needs.

At best, they held trade value for future exchanges.

There were still two months before the Despair Abyss Spirit Realm would open.

However, the Gatekeeper was already dead.

Rosen retrieved the Void Sketchbook and swiftly painted an incredibly lifelike portrait of the Gatekeeper.

As long as he didn't make a move, no one would be able to tell that this Gatekeeper was a fake.

(End of Chapter)