Chapter 1467: Smiling Face Welcomes the Flirtatious Old Daoist, Three Crossings of the Apricot Realm, Zhu Yike

Apricot Realm.

Inside and outside the Crystal Palace.

Sizzle, sizzle...

One by one, the image clones suddenly dissolved into spiritual energy, returning to the cycle of heaven and earth's spiritual qi.

Among them were clones of Ba Zun, Dao Qiong Cang, Xu Xiaoshou...

Some were crouching, some sleeping, some had transformed into small grasses, and others were soaking in pools...

Without exception, when their creators perished, these clones followed suit, vanishing without so much as a whimper.

In the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot sensed something amiss and awakened instantly. After scanning the surroundings, it curled its claws and settled back onto the ancestral tree.

That premonition had returned...

A great catastrophe was imminent!

The last time the Apricot Realm faced danger was during the invasion by Saint Emperor Bei Huai, and thankfully, Xu Xiaoshou had used a strategy of attacking Wei to rescue Zhao, averting the crisis.

This time, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot was restless and uneasy.

The sudden intuition indicated that this calamity was no less severe than the previous one...

"Xu Xiaoshou!"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot murmured, calling out the true name of the Apricot Realm's master.

Inside the Crystal Palace, the Greed God was still refining Human Pills, using the life spiritual qi leaking from its master's body to create pills, then feeding them back to its master and mistress.

Hearing the call, the Greed God lifted its cat head and raised a paw, signaling that its master had not yet awakened.

At that moment, Xu Xiaoshou's true body looked ruddy and full of vitality, as if he could wake up at any time.

But...

This state had persisted for a long time.

Xu Xiaoshou had not awakened, and the spirit of the Dragon Apricot knew the rough reason: excessive depletion!

His battle with the Saint Emperor had completely drained him.

Whether it was his physical body, soul, or mental will.

After such extreme exhaustion, with Xu Xiaoshou's foundation, his physical strength and other aspects could recover quickly.

Yet, even when fully restored, it didn't mean he would wake up immediately—it could even mean he had become...

A vegetative state!

"Soul lost in wandering, will adrift..."

"Treating dreams as reality, awakening within the dream..."

There were far too many possibilities, each more terrifying than the last.

Perhaps Xu Xiaoshou had planned everything perfectly before, even timing it precisely and accounting for every detail.

But human plans are no match for heavenly fate.

Sometimes, accidents happen, and no one knows when they will strike.

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot had lived for so long and witnessed many similar cases.

Among them, some were even more talented than Xu Xiaoshou, reaching the level of the Ten Ancestors, yet they still became lost.

So...

Maybe Xu Xiaoshou would awaken soon;

Or perhaps it would take a thousand years for him to return.

Anything was possible!

This was one of the reasons the spirit of the Dragon Apricot was extremely cautious—it only wanted to live on and witness history, not engage in battles.

Once it fought, the ancestral tree might as well be renamed— the spirit of the Dragon Apricot had even considered that possibility!

Buzz...

Not long after.

Right after Xu Xiaoshou's second true body perished and a large number of image clones in the Apricot Realm vanished,

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot received an "entry application."

Someone outside had crushed an Apricot Realm jade talisman, seeking to enter.

This situation was familiar, and the spirit of the Dragon Apricot had approved it many times before. It received the signal as usual but instinctively took precautions:

First, observe the person, then decide whether to let them in.

With a sacred thought probe, the image of the one who crushed the jade talisman imprinted in its mind, and the spirit of the Dragon Apricot relaxed.

"Zhu Yike..."

It recognized this person.

A member of the Heaven's First Tower, who had entered during the Void Island period to rest and recover.

For this action, Xu Xiaoshou had specifically instructed that if this person applied to enter the Apricot Realm, it must be approved promptly.

Because he was handling matters, and it might be urgent—delay could mean his life was at risk.

"Very well."

With a lift of its dragon claw,

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot opened the spatial passage.

At the same time, it saw the human Zhu Yike grinning with his crooked, uneven teeth, showing a devout and respectful smile.

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot took pleasure in this.

It enjoyed the reverence from humans like Li Fugui and Zhu Yike, of course, including Xu Xiaoshou's.

This was one of the few small hobbies it had accumulated over countless eras.

Just as Zhu Yike stepped into the spatial passage, and the spirit of the Dragon Apricot was about to speak, uttering the words "Human, welcome to the Apricot Realm"...

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot suddenly snapped to attention.

"Disaster bringer!"

Earlier, it had that intuitive premonition of a great calamity for the Apricot Realm.

In the blink of an eye, someone applied to enter, and it hadn't sensed anything unusual at all, not even considering this possibility—it was about to let the person in...

Without a doubt, someone was using guiding forces to influence it, attempting a legitimate smuggling into the Apricot Realm!

"Break!"

Better late than never.

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot shattered the spatial passage just as the person was about to enter.

Rumble...

An invisible storm descended.

As the passage shattered, the disaster bringer was met with spatial fragments and even temporal fragments.

But...

At the critical moment!

As Zhu Yike's form was about to be swallowed by the spatiotemporal fragments, he slowly extended his flawless, jade-white hands.

"Let me in, Dragon Apricot senior, I'm about to die..."

He let out a plea, still smiling on his face, and as he spoke, he grasped a wisp of the Apricot Realm's qi!

Was he trying to force his way in?

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot was startled.

This scene was even more terrifying than when Bai Yi Bei Huai manifested a divine soul hand to probe into the Apricot Realm.

In fact, it was more shocking!

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot knew how weak Zhu Yike was—how could he do this?

"Transform!"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot erupted.

In an instant, the ancestral tree in the Shen Nong Medicine Garden burst with golden light, so brilliant that even the Greed God was drawn to it.

Turning its cat head, it saw the ancestral tree Dragon Apricot transform into the immense World Tree form, merging into a pattern and uniting with the world.

This form had only been used when the Yuanfu Small World evolved into the Apricot Realm, and the spirit of the Dragon Apricot had treated it with such gravity...

"Meow!"

The Greed God's white fur stood on end, feeling an inexplicable fear, its paws trembling slightly.

It shifted its plump body, positioning itself in front of the pill cauldron and its unconscious master.

"Reject!"

A ancient voice echoed through the Apricot Realm.

In that moment, the world's power was fully mobilized, mounting the strongest resistance...

Resisting the unknown arrival!

Resisting the descent of disaster!

Resisting, at this very moment, the invasion of all unidentified or known beings!

Boom!

Zhu Yike, who was desperately clinging to the Apricot Realm's qi and struggling, was ultimately overpowered by the force of the ancestral tree Dragon Apricot and sent flying back into the spatiotemporal fragments.

"No—"

He let out a shrill, unwilling roar.

Yet, as his face disintegrated, what remained for the spirit of the Dragon Apricot was still that skin-crawling, respectful smile.

"Xu Xiaoshou!!!"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot shouted the true name of the Apricot Realm's master, its voice laced with fear.

Was this the unique "shock" that cunning humans could bring to other beings in the world?

In any case, it was something other beings could never achieve—even in failure, it inspired fear!

Humans truly only made trees feel disgusted!

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot felt it would be hard to forget Zhu Yike's smile for centuries.

But its call did not rouse Xu Xiaoshou, who continued to sleep deeply, still lost in his state.

Having successfully repelled the disaster bringer's attempt, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot remained uneasy.

It feared another try and dispatched a wisp of sacred thought to circle the Apricot Realm, constantly monitoring the surrounding spatiotemporal fragments for anomalies.

Soon, in the even more chaotic temporal fragments, it spotted two figures.

One was Zhu Yike.

The other was also Zhu Yike.

"Two Zhu Yikes?"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot's eyes widened.

The images projected by the temporal fragments were unstable and disordered.

They didn't follow the normal forward flow of time—they could be reversed, jumbled, or concurrent.

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot initially thought it was the same person, projected concurrently in the fragments.

But it quickly realized otherwise, because it saw the content in the first scene.

In that scene, the skin-crawling Zhu Yike was about to smuggle in when, behind him, another Zhu Yike urgently shouted:

"No!"

"Dragon Apricot senior, he's a fake!"

"He's stolen my Apricot Realm jade talisman—don't let him in!"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot was deeply alarmed, confirming that its intuition had been right—it had nearly made a grave mistake.

The temporal fragments continued to fluctuate, projecting another related scene, which the spirit of the Dragon Apricot hurriedly examined.

In the scene, Zhu Yike was trapped inside a headless, big-bellied evil ghost, rapidly heading toward the Gui Zhe Sheng Mountain Dead Sea.

But he secretly pulled out half a thread from his clothing, and an aura of Shu Zu power emanated from him.

Ancestral source power, superior to all.

The token on his neck, which suppressed his spiritual yuan from fluctuating, seemed temporarily deceived by the Jin Men technique.

Zhu Yike vanished, escaping the evil ghost's belly, and appeared beside a young ancient sword cultivator.

Before the sword cultivator could react, Zhu Yike smiled and pulled out a copper coin, flicking it at the cultivator's forehead before disappearing.

When he teleported away, thinking he would return to the sea unrestricted, he found someone standing before him...

It was that skin-crawling Zhu Yike!

The fake Zhu Yike knocked out the real one with a single strike, searched his body, and took the Apricot Realm jade talisman.

This led to the earlier scene.

And then the real Zhu Yike waking up and chasing after him, shouting in urgency.

"So that's what happened..."

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot finally understood the sequence of events.

But before it could breathe a sigh of relief, the temporal fragments concurrently projected the scene that was happening right then:

The fake Zhu Yike, who had failed to smuggle in, confronted the real Zhu Yike.

His face still bore that skin-crawling respect, but his words were ice-cold:

"Whistleblower, die!"

Without hesitation, the fake Zhu Yike extended his flawless, jade-white hand and struck viciously at the real Zhu Yike's head.

The real one was utterly powerless to resist, left only with despair.

Witnessing this, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot fell into a dilemma...

Should it save him or not?

It was seeing this scene in the temporal fragments, and the spatial fragments showed the same—meaning this wasn't the past, but happening right now!

In fact, entry into the Apricot Realm wasn't limited to those holding the jade talisman.

As the World Tree, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot could send a single thought to rescue the real Zhu Yike from his dire situation.

But...

Was it worth breaking the rule that "only holders of the Apricot Realm jade talisman may enter" for such an insignificant person?

If it were Xu Xiaoshou on the brink of death, the spirit would definitely save him.

But Zhu Yike was, at best, just one of Xu Xiaoshou's subordinates—nothing more.

Without him, there would be another Zhu Yike.

Just like Li Fugui, who was good-looking, but if he were gone, someone else could take his place.

"I am a noble ancestral tree—how can I act on compassion and disrupt the Apricot Realm's rules?"

Yet, perhaps from spending too much time with the human Xu Xiaoshou, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot knew that if it saw this today and did nothing, Xu Xiaoshou would hold a grudge if he found out later.

As for hiding it?

The spirit hadn't even considered that.

Great powers could traverse the river of time and know all.

When Xu Xiaoshou became a great power and witnessed this scene in the temporal fragments, it would have made a huge mistake.

"The World Tree should be in harmony with the world's master."

With a sigh, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot chose to intervene at the last possible moment.

Buzz!

A golden light guided him in.

Just before Zhu Yike was struck down, he was pulled away by the Dragon Apricot's power and teleported into the Apricot Realm.

"I..."

Upon setting foot on solid ground, Zhu Yike was stunned, feeling it was all unreal.

Then, looking up at the towering World Tree pattern, he realized it was real and immediately exclaimed with joy:

"Thank you, Dragon Apricot senior, for saving me..."

But as soon as he spoke,

The World Tree pattern of the spirit of the Dragon Apricot crumbled, reverting from its form out of sheer fright.

"Disaster bringer!"

Yes, on this real Zhu Yike, the spirit still sensed the impending unexpected disaster.

And the cause of it all was this very person!

A dream within a dream?

Was it still under guidance?

"Exile!"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot gave him no chance to act.

Without a word, it severed a small part of the Apricot Realm and cast him out entirely into the spatiotemporal fragments.

A massive gap tore open in the Apricot Realm.

It was as if the earth had been abruptly erased by an eraser—the creatures on that part were naturally lost with it.

Zhu Yike hadn't even finished his sentence when the beautiful scenery of the Apricot Realm vanished before his eyes.

Then, the spatiotemporal fragments engulfed him again, and he realized the spirit of the Dragon Apricot had decisively detected something wrong and discarded part of the world.

"Don't abandon me, Dragon Apricot senior, I'll die..." Zhu Yike roared desperately.

As his figure completely disintegrated in the spatiotemporal fragments, the last thing left for the spirit of the Dragon Apricot was that respectful smile, now twisted with his desperate screams—just like before, unchanged!

Thud!

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot slammed heavily to the ground, its illusory dragon scales nearly standing on end.

It belatedly realized that these two Zhu Yikes were actually the same person.

The chase and mutual attacks were all a ploy by the disaster bringer for a second smuggling attempt.

"Human..."

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot gritted its teeth.

It swore that, aside from the world's master Xu Xiaoshou, it would never trust any human again.

And it would never welcome any human into the Apricot Realm, even if it was what the world's master Xu Xiaoshou required.

Whoosh!

It leaped back onto the ancestral tree.

Gazing at the corner of the Apricot Realm that had been lost, the spirit felt a lingering fear but finally exhaled in relief.

The world had lost a part, but it could regenerate.

If this matter ended here, it would be for the best.

Lazily settling back onto its body, about to enter a rest after the great shock, the spirit of the Dragon Apricot suddenly noticed...

On the crown of the ancestral tree, one of the earliest Dragon Apricot fruits— which even Xu Xiaoshou wasn't allowed to pick—had patterns of starlight unlike its own dragon patterns glowing on it.

"This pattern..."

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot leaned in closer, widening its dragon eyes for a look, sensing that this power felt familiar.

Was it the weaving dao patterns that Xu Xiaoshou had used?

Was Xu Xiaoshou about to wake up?

Before it could turn to check the Crystal Palace,

It heard a low, devout, and respectful voice from the Dragon Apricot fruit:

"Great deity, descend the technique!"

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot tilted its dragon head, baffled.

In that moment, its mind went blank. It only saw the patterns around the Dragon Apricot fruit light up, forming a smiling pattern.

Then the fruit cracked open, and from it, step by step, growing from small to large, emerged a figure...

Zhu Yike!

The spirit of the Dragon Apricot was horrified.

This Zhu Yike, like the first and second ones, wore that same skin-crawling, respectful smile.

This smile was identical to the pattern that had formed before the Dragon Apricot fruit cracked.

Zhu Yike grinned, stepping from illusion into reality, looking at the spirit of the Dragon Apricot before him—which was now filled with shock and powerless to stop anything—and said with a skin-crawling smile:

"Long time no see, Dragon Apricot senior. Do you still remember me?"

(End of this chapter)