Chapter 1047: Dragon Apricot

The Yuan Mansion World.

As soon as Leixier and Greed Cat entered, they were stunned by the magnificent Shennong Medicine Garden. Having lived for so long, their combined human and cat lives had not yet seen even a fraction of the spiritual herbs in this garden.

"Meow!" Greed Cat, seeing the rich life essence, lost all reason and immediately leaped towards the Shennong Medicine Garden. In that moment, it seemed to have completely forgotten its master's instructions. There was nothing it could do; the vital spiritual energy and herbal fragrance before it were too enticing for a cat, especially since Greed Cat was now an alchemy cat.

However, the next second, the pouncing Greed Cat crashed into the barrier wall surrounding the Shennong Medicine Garden. This barrier, self-constructed by Xu Xiaoshou within the Yuan Mansion World, could not be breached without the world owner's consent. Its purpose, naturally, was to prevent a certain cat from pilfering.

"Meow, meow, meow!" To look but not touch, this made Greed Cat frantically scratch its head in frustration. "How infuriating, how utterly infuriating... So many treasures were right before my eyes; if only I could eat them all, what is a Throne Dao Realm?" Greed Cat felt it could instantly grow to the Grand Void realm of an alchemist, and perhaps even inadvertently break through to some Half-Saint realm? It didn't seem impossible.

On the other side, Leixier also stared blankly at the medicine garden. She vaguely recalled her conversation with Xu Xiaoshou on the ancient tree outside. "How much did you take?" "Just a little." Xu Xiaoshou, this is what you call 'just a little'? The entire Shennong Medicine Garden has been moved here! "He's insane..." Leixier finally calmed her emotions and walked towards the barrier encircling the Shennong Medicine Garden. She reached out to touch the barrier wall, only to find her right hand passed right through it. She paused in surprise, then a smile touched her red lips as she walked into the Shennong Medicine Garden.

"Meow, meow, meow!" Behind her, Greed Cat became even more frantic at the sight. Why? Why can she go in, but I can't? That's not fair!

Leixier, now inside the Shennong Medicine Garden, had forgotten about the cat behind her. Her attention was completely captivated by the pervasive spiritual energy and herbal fragrance. "It's too wild..." Leixier had to exclaim again. Everywhere she looked, there were only sacred herbs. Simply looking for the aroma of the Sacred Trace Fruit, which she had smelled on Shuang Dai before, Leixier found no less than three or four... fruit trees! Yes. Not just fruits, but entire fruit trees! Each Sacred Trace Fruit tree had five or six Sacred Trace Fruits, totaling over twenty.

"These are the Sacred Trace Fruits that Shuang Dai risked his life to swallow?" Leixier went to a Sacred Trace Fruit tree and couldn't resist reaching out to touch the head-sized fruit, but she didn't pick it. She was astounded by the abundant spoils of Xu Xiaoshou's greed. She also lamented that people like Shuang Dai and Hong Dang had paid with their lives for a single Sacred Trace Fruit, feeling it was not worth it. Because these few sacred herbs were merely a drop in the ocean in the current 'New Yuan Mansion World: Shennong Medicine Garden'!

"Sacred Trace Fruit, Dragon Blood Grass, Black Bodhi Seeds, Supreme Sacred Cattail, Nine-Life Soul Flower..." As Leixier walked, naming the sacred herbs she recognized, her mind gradually went numb. "It's utterly insane! Truly, utterly insane!" She had received the entire memory inheritance of the Grand Void Lei Family, yet even with that vast knowledge base, she couldn't identify all the sacred herbs in this Shennong Medicine Garden. Leixier recognized perhaps only a third of them. As for the remaining two-thirds, not only had she never seen them, but the entire Grand Void Lei Family had never even heard of them!

"Xu Xiaoshou..." The further she walked, the more shocked she became, and the more she marveled at Xu Xiaoshou's madness! Truly, fortune favors the bold. While Shuang Dai and Hong Dang were still risking their lives for a single Sacred Trace Fruit, Xu Xiaoshou actually dared to empty out the entire Shennong Medicine Garden. Was he truly not afraid of death? Perhaps disturbing a single sacred herb would only attract the attention of a Void Attendant. But Leixier knew that if the entire Shennong Medicine Garden were emptied, it might trigger some kind of taboo. For example, Xu Xiaoshou might be permanently locked onto by Void Island, making his future movements difficult. Another example: if he dared to show his face on Void Island again, it's possible all the Void Attendants in the city would awaken and pursue only him. Though these were only hypotheses, what if they came true? Leixier could think of them, and she didn't believe Xu Xiaoshou couldn't. But... "Xu Xiaoshou, if there's a medicine garden, he genuinely dares to move it all!"

Shaking her head and sighing, Leixier had unconsciously walked to the center of the Shennong Medicine Garden. Soon, she stopped, staring at a golden apricot tree before her that, among countless sacred herbs, still stood out like a crane among chickens, radiating brilliant golden light. She was utterly dumbfounded. "This! This is..." Leixier gazed at the golden apricot tree in disbelief, her Divine Demon Eyes stopping their rotation in shock. This apricot tree was over three meters tall, which was quite unremarkable in the Shennong Medicine Garden where most fruit trees reached several or even tens of meters. But the power it emitted was too strong! It completely surpassed the level of ordinary sacred herbs! Leixier felt that even the power of a Saint Emperor seemed... merely so-so before this apricot tree?

"Aooo!" Just by being so close, without even touching it, Leixier could hear the ethereal dragon roar emanating from the apricot tree. Not only that, every apricot on this tree was perfectly round and plump, adorned with mysterious dragon patterns and shrouded in a faint dragon shadow. The medicinal power contained within them was a hundred times that of ordinary sacred herbs! The Lei Family's memory inheritance flashed through her mind, and Leixier understood what this was. "Dragon Apricot! How is this possible? One of the Nine Ancestral Trees, the Dragon Apricot?!" At this moment, Leixier was so startled she reached out and pressed her palm to her forehead. Is this real or fake?! A Dragon Apricot exists in the center of the Shennong Medicine Garden? This wasn't like the Blood Tree's Dark Branch encountered at the Spirit Gate Trade Fair, nor was it the Bodhi Tree root that Xu Xiaoshou acquired but wasn't sure if he could nurture. Those were merely parts of the Nine Ancestral Trees. This was the complete main body of one of the Nine Ancestral Trees—the Dragon Apricot itself!

"Legend has it that when the Dragon Ancestor, one of the Ten Ancient Ancestors, fell, his immense power caused the surrounding area to form the 'Dragon Lair,' one of the Seven Forbidden Zones. And all of his power after his demise was absorbed by this Dragon Apricot... Or rather, the Dragon Apricot became what it is precisely because it absorbed so much of the Dragon Ancestor's power, transforming from ordinary to extraordinary! Later, this so-called 'Dragon Apricot' became the revered tree of the dragon race in the Dragon Lair. Each of its apricots would become a 'Dragon God's Blessing,' bestowed upon the elites of the dragon race to purify their bloodline and gain stronger dragon power." Leixier walked around the Dragon Apricot, various pieces of information flashing through her mind. However, seeing hundreds of apricots on the Dragon Apricot, she fell silent. "How... is this possible... Weren't the Dragon Apricot's fruits said to be very difficult to bear? Also, shouldn't this Dragon Apricot be worshipped by dragons in the Dragon Lair? How did it end up in the center of the Shennong Medicine Garden? Why, exactly, is this happening?" Leixier clasped her head, silently gazing at the Dragon Apricot, feeling the world was full of absurdity. With Xu Xiaoshou's moving efforts, the main body of the Dragon Apricot, one of the Nine Ancestral Trees, was acquired?

"Buzz!" As she pondered, the Yuan Mansion World's passage opened, and Xu Xiaoshou entered. "Meow!" Greed Cat was the first to notice; its eyes lit up, and it immediately took off, leaping into its master's arms. "Slurp, slurp." It continuously licked Xu Xiaoshou's cheek, its cat face full of flattery and fawning. "Meow, meow, meow! Master, master, I'm sick, please let me have some medicine!" "Get off." Xu Xiaoshou directly tossed the mischievous white cat away, then looked towards the Shennong Medicine Garden and couldn't help but smile.

"Whoosh!" He flashed, appearing beside Leixier. "Wuwuwu..." Outside the barrier, Greed Cat weakly drew circles with its paw, casting curses. Darn it, with a new favorite, he's forgotten his old cat...

"Well?" Xu Xiaoshou settled, gesturing grandly across the Shennong Medicine Garden with his hand, head held high, looking as if to say, "Behold! This is the empire I conquered for you." Leixier gazed deeply at the man before her, noticing he didn't have a single drop of blood on him. After a long pause, she said, "Just a little?" "Heh," Xu Xiaoshou chuckled, "For the vast Void Island, isn't a small Shennong Medicine Garden just a little bit?" Leixier: "..." So, your ambition is to empty out the entire Void Island? My perspective was too narrow. "Curse received, passive points, 1, 1, 1, 1..."

"Leixier..." Xu Xiaoshou surveyed the medicine garden, then, for no apparent reason, became serious and asked, "This medicine garden, it's big enough, right?" "Hm?" Leixier's beautiful eyes turned to him, wondering why he asked such a question. "Under heaven, there's no larger place with more spiritual herbs than my Yuan Mansion World," Xu Xiaoshou smiled. "Don't you like nurturing flowers and planting trees? All these spiritual herbs are enough for you to care for a lifetime." A lifetime? Leixier paused slightly, then her eyes narrowed as she asked, "Xu Xiaoshou, what are you trying to say?"

Xu Xiaoshou took a deep breath and said earnestly, "Leixier, stay here. Become a small gardener in the Yuan Mansion World. You should like this place more than I do." He still remembered a remark his junior sister had made to him when she returned to this appearance. After this journey through the Yunlun Mountain Range, she would leave. Where to? To seek revenge. Leixier always carried the burden of 'revenge' on her shoulders. Even if she spent her leisure time cultivating flowers and trees in the Yuan Mansion World, the tragedy of the Lei family could never be forgotten. Xu Xiaoshou had thought before: Could his junior sister truly not return? If Leixier absorbed a large amount of life force, would it trigger a 'rejuvenation' mechanism, bringing back his innocent junior sister? But the reality was that, no matter what, once Leixier had emerged, she couldn't voluntarily retreat. Since 'junior sister' was an 'awareness' born from a self-protective mechanism in her childhood, ultimately, the two were of the same origin. Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't forget how happy Mu Zixi was when she didn't have the 'Leixier' identity. So now, if Leixier couldn't be made to recede voluntarily, allowing Mu Zixi to emerge, then if her great revenge was accomplished, would these two awarenesses merge and unify? A sole Mu Zixi was incomplete, and a sole Leixier was also incomplete! Xu Xiaoshou had understood: only when Leixier could also experience the innocent and carefree times of Mu Zixi would that person be truly complete!

"You, stay here." Xu Xiaoshou pointed to the Shennong Medicine Garden and stated decisively, "The revenge, I will get it for you!"

Leixier listened in silence, her beautiful eyes fixed on Xu Xiaoshou without blinking. She had imagined Xu Xiaoshou entering after emptying the Shennong Medicine Garden, boasting about the entire exciting process and how clever he was. She had also considered maintaining a cool demeanor and absolutely not giving Xu Xiaoshou a single compliment, lest he become even more smug. But she had never imagined that after entering the Yuan Mansion World and the Shennong Medicine Garden, Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't mention the matter at all. Instead, he would so seriously discuss 'leaving' and 'staying' with her.

"Revenge..." Leixier used to think that the Lei family's revenge didn't need to involve Xu Xiaoshou. After all, Xu Xiaoshou was too weak, still far from reaching his full potential. As for her, after awakening, she had the Lei family's inheritance, and her growth rate was far beyond Xu Xiaoshou's. After all, she was now in the Throne Dao Realm, while Xu Xiaoshou was merely at the Grandmaster Sky Manifestation. But now, it seemed... Xu Xiaoshou's Grandmaster Sky Manifestation was not weaker than her Throne Dao Realm at all; in fact, it was even more terrifying than an ordinary Grand Void expert! Even from the perspective of the Lei family's memory inheritance, Xu Xiaoshou's growth rate was probably no less impressive than Ba Zun'an's 'Innate in three breaths, Sword Immortal in three years.' Perhaps even superior! Perhaps he really could help her... But!

"Xu Xiaoshou, do you know how immense the Lei family's revenge is?" Leixier thought, sighing softly. "I know!" Xu Xiaoshou replied without hesitation. The Saint Divine Palace? The Five Great Saint Emperor Families? Aren't these what I'm currently fighting against? Even if I'm just a pawn for now, I can exert twelve times my strength within this situation. Now that I have this Shennong Medicine Garden, I'm not far from growing into a player myself!

"You emptied a Shennong Medicine Garden, and a single Void Attendant could kill you," Leixier said, her tone heavy. "And Void Island is a prison used by the Saint Divine Palace to imprison Half-Saints and Saint Emperors." She didn't say it explicitly, but the comparison was stark. It was easy to imagine the vast difference between them. Xu Xiaoshou, however, was never disheartened. He smiled faintly and said, "It's like this now, but it won't be forever."

"I am but one person..." Leixier said, then fell silent. "Which is why you need me even more!" "But on the other side, it's almost an entire world..." Xu Xiaoshou looked at her, calmly shaking his head. "What's wrong is wrong. Even if you're alone, if I stand before you, I dare to fight against an entire wrong world."

Leixier's lips curved slightly upon hearing this. His words sounded like a child's tantrum, yet Xu Xiaoshou said them with such righteous conviction. "Just for me?" she asked, a faint smile playing on her lips. "I'm no longer your junior sister." "Perhaps you aren't anymore, but I will always be your senior brother," Xu Xiaoshou said with utmost solemnity.

Seeing Leixier's smiling expression about to speak, Xu Xiaoshou quickly added, "Old Man Sang is still in the Dead Sea of Gui Zhe Saint Mountain. Have you already decided to sever your master-disciple relationship with him?" Leixier: "..." This statement caught her off guard, and for a moment, she couldn't retort. But precisely because of Xu Xiaoshou's sincerity, she felt unable to maintain the independence of her 'Mu Zixi' and 'Leixier' identities in front of him. Beneath the Dragon Apricot, Leixier suddenly felt a surge of joy. She no longer spoke of serious matters. Instead, she looked at Xu Xiaoshou with a playful smile and suddenly asked, "So, you moved this Shennong Medicine Garden for me?"

"Teased, passive points, 1." "Uh?" Xu Xiaoshou choked for a moment, unable to understand where the 'teasing' came from. The passive system was truly a scam! But he glanced at the Shennong Medicine Garden, considered the question, and reluctantly replied, "Half, half, I guess? I can't give it all to you; I still need some sacred herbs to upgrade..."

Leixier: ??? "Cursed, passive points, 1, 1, 1, 1..." She looked at Xu Xiaoshou, utterly speechless. At the same time, in her mind, she responded to another awakened consciousness that had insisted she ask this question: "Mu Zixi, oh Mu Zixi, this blockhead is truly not worth your affection!"