Lord: Sequence Overlord

Chapter 219 The Struggle for the Legacy of the Divine City and the Sequence 1 Painter

Chapter 218

The headquarters of the human world government is located on the Eternal Continent, the deepest part of the spirit world.

The Eternal Continent is filled with countless stars, and each star represents an immortal divine kingdom of the lowest sequence 1.

At the border of the Eternal Continent, there are steel walls that cover the entire continent and countless war fortresses.

If the borders of the human world defend against real-world alien races, then the steel walls and war fortresses of the Eternal Continent have been defending against ancient civilizations that have been destroyed in history deep within the spirit realm.

The city of Shentu, where the Painters' Guild is located, is a sacred place for all painters in the human world.

Rosen did not appear directly in Shentu City, but quietly arrived in a nearby small town through data transmission before finally heading to Shentu City. From a distance, Shentu City was not visible; only a towering, rotating frame in the air could be seen.

He saw a void gallery fly into the frame, clearly indicating that the real Shentu City was located in the world within the painting.

Rosen also released the Void Gallery, soaring into the sky and disappearing into the frame.

In the blink of an eye, his Void Gallery appeared on a colorful plain.

Although Rosen had learned about Shentu City in the deep web of the spirit world, and even seen Shentu City painted by other artists through the canvas of the mind.

But seeing it with his own eyes, he realized that the Sequence 3 painter had only painted a fraction of the Shen Tu City.

The rivers flowing over the plains are like paints of various colors, and the plants on the plains are like natural canvases, covered with all sorts of natural marks and paintings. You can even see natural paintings on a random stone.

These paintings may be simple and abstract, but they contain a rich spirituality.

Rosen looked toward the end of the plain, where the Void Gallery that had come in was getting closer and closer to the city of Shentu.

The word "涂" means to scribble or draw randomly, and the city of Shentu welcomes scribbles the most.

The exterior walls of all buildings in the city, except for the city walls, were covered with spiritual paintings. If an artist didn't like something, he could take out his brush and arbitrarily alter it, regardless of whether there were any other spiritual paintings on it.

If the alteration goes beyond the original painting, then the new painting can cover the original painting.

If the alteration is not as good as the original painting, the original painting will be preserved.

Therefore, whether or not one can leave behind their own painting in Shentu City has always been the most authoritative benchmark for testing a painter's ability.

Of course, those paintings that were covered up did not disappear. The painting rules of Shentu City can transfer those paintings directly to the canvas and then send them to the Eternal Gallery of Shentu City, where all painters can appreciate these paintings left by their predecessors for free.

Painters are eager to leave their paintings in Shentu City, not just for glory and competitiveness.

Instead, it has real benefits, because Shentu City has the Painter Sequence Ancient Tree, which is a branch of the Artist Ancient Tree composed of painting rules. It is neither the Gold Sequence Ancient Tree nor the Silver Sequence Ancient Tree, but a lower-level Bronze Sequence Ancient Tree.

Although bronze is not as valuable as silver and gold, this particular ancient tree is exclusively owned by the painters.

Whoever can master this ancient tree of the Bronze Sequence may become the true god of the Painter Sequence.

The original pioneers who created the painter sequence were all unwilling to submit to each other, which led to the birth of Shentu City. Whoever could cover all the paintings in Shentu City with their own paintings and defeat all the painters by themselves would be qualified to control the ancient tree of the painter sequence.

However, even after 20,000 years, no one has been able to take that final step.

After learning about the Divine City, Rosen immediately understood why the creator of the Five-Dimensional Painting had died.

Because there are so many paintings in Shentu City, each one is a masterpiece by painters of all ages, it is too difficult to surpass them all. However, five-dimensional painting can be done on the levels of time, space and energy, and can bypass the interior and exterior of buildings to obtain a completely new painting space.

Even if it's impossible to cover all the paintings in Shentu City, leaving the paintings themselves will still bring benefits.

The painting principles of the ancient trees in the bronze sequence will continuously bless the painters who leave behind spiritual paintings in the city. These painters will receive the favor of the painter sequence, thus making their progress in the painter sequence smoother.

The city gate of Shentu City is quite interesting; instead of doors, there are picture frames on the city wall.

Looking into the city through this frame-like city gate, it's as if the entire Shentu City has become a painting within that frame.

Rosen looked through the city gate into the city of Shentu and immediately saw a gleaming tower.

This grand event in Shentu City is actually, strictly speaking, the funeral of the Sequence 1 painter, Ashir Frasca.

Ashir, who left behind spiritual paintings on that shimmering tower, recently failed to advance to Sequence 0 and perished. Ironically, Ashir was the very Sequence 1 painter who murdered the creator of the Five-Dimensional Painting skill.

This grand event is actually about vying for the painting legacy left by Ashir.

Normally, inheritance is usually left to one's descendants or students.

However, Ashir was a ruthless man. In a final gamble, he turned his own blood relatives into paint in an attempt to create a spiritual painting of Sequence 0 quality. Ashir had killed all his blood relatives, which resulted in his estate having no heir.

Of course, this was a scandal, and he only learned the truth from the Painters' Guild through the Hunter God's Eye.

The divine essence condensed from the extraordinary source matter of Ashir's painter is now inside the Shining Tower.

According to Ashir's last words, he hoped that his divine status would fall into the hands of the most talented painter below Sequence 3. Even if he could not become a Sequence 0 painter before his death, he hoped that a painter could carry on his legacy and become a Sequence 0 painter in the future.

Because it involves the legacy left by the painters of Sequence 1, no painter below Sequence 3 is willing to give it up.

The painters are given ten years; those who arrive within ten years are qualified to compete for the inheritance.

Of course, many painters are self-aware enough to know that even if they came, they would not be able to inherit the tradition.

Therefore, unless they are relatively close to the Eternal Continent, not every painter will rush over within ten years regardless of the cost. Usually, painters who live far away will come to Shentu City to seek the opportunity to advance to Sequence 3 when they reach Sequence 4.

"Is someone watching me?"

Rosen didn't even need to turn around; he had already seen behind him with the all-seeing vision of the Hunter God's Demon Eye.

Not far to the right rear, there was a girl who had just left the Void Gallery.

The girl in Sequence 4 is undoubtedly pretending to be young.

At this moment, the girl was secretly watching him, looking both nervous and shy.

Rosen wasn't so narcissistic as to think that his back view could make a middle-aged girl fall in love with him at first sight.

Are you Rosen?

The girl mustered her courage and stepped forward to ask.

"???"

Rosen was completely bewildered. Although he had shed his Richard persona, he didn't reveal his true identity directly. Instead, he casually assumed a role, intending to remove his disguise once he was safe in Shentu City.

This woman's background is unknown; she recognized him as Rosen just by glancing at him from behind.

“I know you are Rosen.”

The girl said with some disappointment, "You haven't forgotten me, have you? Annika Higgins from Redstone City in the Blazing Shadow Duchy, your childhood sweetheart. I was taken away by our teacher back then, and I went back to look for you but couldn't find you..."

As Rosen listened, memories of young Rosen that had been sealed away in a corner of his mind resurfaced.

There was indeed a childhood sweetheart, and there was indeed an Annika, but the Annika in his memory was small and not as pretty as she is now, and she suddenly disappeared one day, which saddened Rosen for a long time.

He's the same age as me but became a Sequence 4 painter. Has all his amazing luck over the years been for nothing?
As Rosen was pondering how to answer, he suddenly felt his innate fortune plummet to rock bottom.

Even his later life fortune is unstable and is being severely depleted.

The fortunes of the people have greatly diminished and there is much unrest. As far as he knows, there are two possibilities.

The first type is when you encounter good fortune, such as successfully refining the Time Goddess Butterfly from the Time Silkworm, which consumes a huge amount of innate luck beforehand.

The second scenario is encountering bad things. The loss of good fortune is a sign of resisting misfortune, and the instability of one's fortune indicates that one is not yet completely safe.

Rosen dashed forward instantly, leaving Annika behind and passing through the picture frame city gate into Shentu City.

The moment they entered, the turbulent energy calmed down.

Rosen turned around and looked at Annika warily, only to see a look of surprise and grievance on her face.

It seems she never expected that her childhood sweetheart would avoid her so warily upon their reunion.
Disappointed, Annika walked into the City of Divine Paint, biting her lip as if she wanted to say something, but in the end she sighed and left silently. However, judging from the direction she left, she was heading to compete for the divine inheritance of the Sequence 1 painter, Ashir.

"Novelist, playwright, historian, or director?" Rosen considered a variety of possibilities.

If it weren't for the sudden upheaval and massive disappearance of fortune, and if it weren't for the Miracle Flame allowing him to directly perceive changes in fortune...

He probably wouldn't even realize that there was something wrong with Annika's appearance.

Let's not even talk about how low the chances are that a girl with a painting talent even more amazing than him could be born in a small place like Redstone City.

The world is so vast, it's too much of a coincidence that we arrived in Shentu City one after the other.

Novelists can create stories that are so realistic they seem indistinguishable from reality.

Not to mention playwrights who directly manipulate fate, historians can also modify the past to a limited extent to influence the present.

Finally, directors with high-level skills can easily manipulate their chosen characters like puppets.

Rosen's first suspects were Damon's parents, but he hadn't stopped monitoring them these past few days and hadn't found anything unusual about them. As usual, he was still using his connections to track down Damon's whereabouts.

Could it be that Damon's parents could secretly set a trap for him right under his nose?

Rosen then realized that he had been somewhat arrogant in the past few years.

Relying on the ability of the Hunter God's Eye to spy on Sequence 0, and relying on the mysterious study, the Hunter God's Eye can spy without any worries.

In addition, he was somewhat enjoying the pleasure of having Sequence 0 manipulated by him, so much so that he overlooked many things.

First of all, sometimes you don’t need evidence; suspicion alone is enough to convict him.

While he did use the Hunter's Eye to monitor Damon's parents, in turn, Damon's parents, knowing they were being watched, became even more cautious. This was a classic case of losing the big picture for a small gain.

Fortunately, it's not too late for him to realize his mistake; he still has the opportunity to correct it in time.

As Rosen walked through Shentu City, looking at the spiritual paintings on the surfaces of various buildings along the way, he realized that he had taken another wrong turn.

For painters, paintings depicting a spiritual realm appear to be more powerful than paintings depicting a spiritual essence.

The reason is simple: paintings of spiritual realms can create worlds and create life.

The core of the painter's sequence is the creation of divine authority, and paintings of spiritual realms are most capable of exerting the power of creating divine authority.

But upon arriving in Shentu City, he realized that spiritual paintings must surpass those of the spiritual realm.

Because the spiritual paintings left by these predecessors in Shentu City contain very little creative divine power, the power of the painting divine power is dominant. Therefore, if you want to go further on the path of a painter, you should focus on spiritual paintings rather than paintings of spiritual realms.

While the divine right of creation is powerful, there are too many extraordinary sequences that are dependent on it.

Nobles, scientists, artists, and gourmets—the four golden ranks—are all subordinate to the divine right of creation.

The painter sequence is just a branch of the artist sequence. In total, there are dozens of branches that are no less than the painter sequence. However, the divine right of creation can only create one true god. It is no wonder that no true god has been born in the four golden sequences so far.

To try to elevate the painter's rank to true godhood through divine right of creation is undoubtedly a dead end.

Therefore, the divine right to paint is the only way for true gods to emerge from the ranks of painters.

To gain divine authority over painting, one must obviously create spiritual paintings.

Shentu City is not very large; the entire city contains only three thousand buildings of varying sizes that preserve three thousand paintings.

If it weren't for the spiritual paintings left behind by the deceased painters being sent to the Eternal Gallery, the competition among these three thousand buildings would have been even stronger. Rosen admired the scenery along the way and soon arrived at the gleaming tower in the city center.

At that time, there were thousands of painters silently painting around the tower.

The outcome of this grand event in Shentu City is simple: whoever paints the most outstanding picture and gains the approval of the divinity remaining in Ashir's self-portrait will obtain Ashir's divine status and inheritance.

Rosen immediately took out his easel, laid out his canvas, and began to paint with all his might.

With the time-accelerated drawing, he was the first to finish.

However, after scanning the paintings of other painters with his God-Hunter Demon Eye, he immediately saw that at least several hundred painters had created spiritual paintings that were better than his. So he silently put his work into the Void Album and then laid out the canvas again.

Then came the second and third paintings, all of which were also disappointed and sent to the Void Album.

Rosen has a talent for drawing; he's not ordinary, but he's not exactly a top-tier artist.

He was able to crush the painters he encountered in the past because he had not met any top painters of the same caliber. Ordinary painters did not have his favorable conditions or strong skills. However, many painters present were no less than him in every aspect.

Rosen knew his own abilities very well; if it were a competition to create paintings of the spirit realm, he would definitely be number one.

Where do painters below Sequence 3 get the resources to create thousands of paintings of the Spirit Realm?

But now the competition is about spiritual paintings. He has special skills to improve his painting skills, and so do other painters. In particular, some painters are even descendants of gods, and they have resources that are no less than his, and the guidance they receive far exceeds his.

In this situation, there is no hope of winning through normal drawing.

Therefore, he must take an unconventional route. His advantages are that he has the Hunter Sequence, the LV7 Nen ability that allows him to wield the power of creation, the Soul Painter skill that is usually only mastered by those of divine lineage, and the Five-Dimensional Painting skill.

However, the five-dimensional painting will be presented last because he is unsure how Ashir will react upon seeing it.
They might break through his defenses and eliminate him, or they might see his work and pass on their legacy to him.

There are too many uncertainties, so five-dimensional painting should be saved as a last resort.

Rosen began to use his Nen ability to assist in his subsequent drawing.

Indeed, a painter's livelihood lies in painting the divine right, but the core of a painter's life is still the divine right of creation.

Before reaching Sequence 0, the proportion of divine authority in creation always exceeds that in divine authority in painting.

To refine his work, Rosen even reversed the application of time-based drawing techniques. While the acceleration of time-based drawing allows for faster painting, the deceleration also makes the painting process slower and more stable. It took him a full half month to complete his spiritually inspired painting at his peak level.

However, after glancing at the works being painted by other artists, his face immediately darkened.

He was confident that his painting would surpass everyone else's, but he only surpassed a few hundred people. Dozens of others also started painting again, and before they were even finished, it was already clear that their paintings were better than his.

So, unsurprisingly, the real competitors are these few dozen people.

After he finishes his drawing, he observes the others, and after the others finish their drawings, they naturally observe their competitors present.

He hadn't exerted his full strength before, and these dozens of people obviously hadn't used their full strength either.

Rosen had done his best, but these dozens of people still had some strength left.

So he lost; you really can't win with serious painting.

"If the soft approach doesn't work, then let's go for the hard one..."

Rosen laid out the canvas again, and after pondering for a long time with his magic brush suspended in mid-air, he began to paint.

This time, he painted a portrait again, since the Blood Seal of Glory can increase the attributes of a portrait by 60%.

However, unlike the previous painting which depicted elves, this one he painted the seven deadly sins demons.

With a Sequence 5 painter level, trying to paint a Sequence 0 demon is nothing short of wishful thinking.

However, he possesses the authority of the Seven Deadly Sins, can control the power of creation through his psychic abilities, has thousands of points of creative divine power accumulated over the years from painting spiritual landscapes, and has a spiritual intensity comparable to Sequence 3. All of these combined are enough to allow him to paint beyond his level.

Rosen purchased seven living abyssal demons from the alien race at an exorbitant price through the God Network.

All seven are Sequence 3, and each wields authority over one of the seven deadly sins.

It's important to know that Sequence 3 demons hold a very high status not only in the human world but also in the Abyss. They are usually the backbone of the Abyss Lord's forces, and it's almost impossible to buy an Abyss demon of this level from the Abyss.

Therefore, Rosen set his sights on the alien races, specifically those who had been at war with the Abyss for years.

Even so, the seven abyssal demons he bought were not healthy or intact.

Almost all the extraordinary materials that could be removed from their bodies were gone, their extraordinary bloodline had been almost completely drained, and even their divine essence was reduced to a tiny bit. Only their souls remained intact. Yet, these were the seven of them who used 300 million high-grade spiritual crystals.

If Rosen doesn't get the inheritance this time, he won't be happy for at least several decades.

(End of this chapter)