Chapter 1734: Praise My True Name, Call Me Lord, All Realms Bow, Gods Worship

"Did the Lord of the Dao Palace also participate?" The Northern Sword Immortal spoke up, his face filled with curiosity.

Xu Xiaoshou nodded slightly and said, "I asked him, 'How can we counter the Emperor of All Life, who wields the Sinful Bow, is bound to the Eye of the Grand Dao, and practices both martial arts and sorcery, making him invincible?'"

"He replied, 'The best strategy is to attack the heart.'"

Everyone listened, stunned.

Attack the heart...

What a perfect strategy, "attack the heart." It truly is targeting the Emperor of All Life's emotions right now.

No one spoke, and then Master Shou calmly continued:

"I then asked him, 'The Emperor of All Life is as steady as a rock, with a heart like an ancient well, accumulating power for many years and fully settled. How can we attack his heart?'"

"He replied again, 'By using the weak to defeat the strong.'"

Everyone in front of the Transmitting Mirror simultaneously looked at Zhu Yike, who was struggling on the verge of death.

Indeed, using the weak to defeat the strong—if successful, it would be the ultimate humiliation for a powerful opponent, achieving the desired 'attack the heart' effect.

But could Zhu Yike pull it off?

As if understanding everyone's doubts, Master Shou continued:

"I then asked, 'What is considered weak, yet capable of attacking the strong?'"

"He then said, 'The Dead Sea, Zhu Yike!'"

This is indeed the direction things are currently heading.

Zhu Yike of the Dead Sea has appeared, but he's about to die miserably at the hands of the Emperor of All Life. Is this also part of your plan?

Before anyone could voice further doubts, Master Shou, idly rolling a peach pit in his hand, continued:

"Dao Qiongcang anticipated my thoughts and knew my intentions."

"Before I could ask further, he transmitted to me the method to attack Guizhe Sacred Mountain, including the route, the approach, and the sequence of initial steps, such as digging up the Ancestral Tree and entering the Dead Sea..."

Even the Drunken One in the Wind found it hard to listen to Master Shou's bold claims.

Was this truly the Dao Palace Lord's instruction?

Master Shou, are you sure you haven't embellished it in the slightest?

Xu Xiaoshou paid no mind to what others thought. After tilting his head and recalling Dao Qiongcang's exact words at the time, he finally said:

"He ultimately gave me a brocade pouch, instructing me not to open it. I was simply to hand it to Zhu Yike to take out after rescuing him."

"He said... his exact words were like this, 'Ahem!'"

Master Shou cleared his throat, imitating the tone of a master strategist that the Dao Palace Lord had used with him:

"'I have studied the Emperor of All Life for over thirty years. Though he appears to have a heart like an ancient well, he is in fact easily provoked.'"

"'If you follow my brilliant plan in the brocade pouch, and don't deviate wildly during its execution, then even if the Emperor of All Life is clad in heavy armor, his defenses will be breached.'"

BOOM!!!

The heavy thrum of the Sinful Bow exploded nearby.

The people of the Dead Sea were startled, and so were the people of the Five Domains, thinking the arrow was aimed at them.

But it wasn't.

The consecutive Evil God Arrows were still aimed at Zhu Yike on Guizhe Sacred Mountain.

Although the attack wasn't directed at them, the shock in their hearts was undeniable. Everyone was utterly astonished after hearing Master Shou's story.

"So that brocade pouch was the Dao Palace Lord's doing?"

"By that logic, the 'Ode to a Beloved Dog' was also written by the Dao Palace Lord, then?"

In the Southern Nether.

Dao Qiongcang, upon hearing Xu Xiaoshou's earnest words, was also dumbfounded.

'That trash, did I write it?'

"Dao Qiongcang..."

"DAO! QIONG! CANG!"

He continued to draw his bow, arrow after arrow.

As he shot, he listened to Xu Xiaoshou's calm and leisurely voice from the Transmitting Mirror.

Even though the Emperor of All Life knew this was a trick, and most likely Xu Xiaoshou was slandering Dao Qiongcang, a certain thought couldn't help but arise in his mind at that moment:

'From Xu Xiaoshou ascending the Sacred Mountain, digging up the Ancestral Tree, entering the Dead Sea, and even humiliating me until now...'

'Did Dao Qiongcang truly not contribute even a bit to all of this?'

Surely he did!

Xu Xiaoshou might always exaggerate when telling stories, but he couldn't possibly fabricate everything, could he?

In all of his actions, there were traces of Dao Qiongcang's involvement, along with a certain distinctive flair.

Although this was too obvious, could there be a possibility that instead, Xu Xiaoshou was intentionally highlighting Dao Qiongcang, exaggerating to the point where everyone would think Dao Qiongcang shouldn't be involved?

By doing so, he would detach Dao Qiongcang from these incidents, hiding him beneath the surface, waiting to unleash a larger wave later?

Furthermore...

The Emperor of All Life himself understood Dao Qiongcang very well.

Considering it from the flamboyant old Daoist's perspective, perhaps Dao Qiongcang used a 'to catch a hawk, first let it fly' strategy—intentionally having Xu Xiaoshou avoid mentioning him, thereby leading Xu Xiaoshou to exaggerate and bring him up everywhere, and indirectly achieving the effect of appearing to be falsely accused in the eyes of the world?

If that were the case, it would further indicate that all of Xu Xiaoshou's actions were indeed orchestrated by Dao Qiongcang!

"No..."

"I don't know..."

"I must not fall for this trap..."

The Emperor of All Life's thoughts were completely muddled.

He could no longer distinguish whether Xu Xiaoshou's 'good friend' truly existed or was merely a figment of his personal wishful thinking, conjured out of thin air.

Recalling the battle at the Wuxu Moon Gray Palace, where Xu Dao fought to the death but neither died, he no longer knew if they were truly fighting with intent to kill or if they were merely putting on a show together.

"I don't know! I don't know!"

The Emperor of All Life completely abandoned thought, and his expression grew calmer.

Perhaps Xu and Dao were colluding precisely to drive him into this state of mental confusion.

He, therefore, stopped trying to verify these things.

He now knew only one thing: the Sinful Bow could not be stopped, and Zhu Yike must be taken down!

"Die!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Like thunder from the nine heavens.

After the first Evil God Arrow exploded, transforming into a special banishment domain that sealed off the surroundings, then came the 'Nine Stars in a Row,' with nine Evil God Arrows tearing through the sky from beyond.

"How did it come to this?"

Zhu Yike was on the verge of collapse.

Before the arrowheads even touched him, he had been crushed into a bloody mess by the pressure of the holy power.

And when the 'Nine Stars in a Row' then followed closely behind, he genuinely felt like he was going to wet himself.

"I can live!"

"I can do this!"

"Zhu Yike, you cannot fall here!"

A direct confrontation was definitely not the way out.

Even though Dragon Apricot hadn't taken him into the Apricot Realm, it had at least thrown him a golden blessing.

Zhu Yike's mind became clear.

He didn't believe Master Shou would abandon him.

Senior Dragon Apricot must have had other concerns.

Indeed, that arrow just now didn't directly kill him; instead, it opened a banishment domain...

'I'm just an ant!'

'What role could I possibly play?'

'Am I even worthy of provoking the Emperor of All Life?'

'So, what did the Emperor of All Life truly intend to do just now?'

He must have used me as bait, but his real target was the Apricot Realm—he launched what appeared to be one arrow, but several more actually followed. Perhaps the Emperor of All Life intended to directly shatter the Apricot Realm and cut off Master Shou's retreat!

But Master Shou had already seen through this dog-lover... Oh, so 'this beast' referred to the 'dog-lover'?

It's not important!

This isn't important!

Zhu Yike, snap out of it! Don't let your mind wander at a time like this!

The key is...

Master Shou had already seen through the dog-lover's scheme.

He knew I wouldn't die, which is why he didn't take me in, so as not to expose the Apricot Realm's spatial coordinates to the Eye of the Grand Dao.

"Right!"

"That's it!"

Zhu Yike's combat awareness was exceptionally strong.

On the verge of death, blessed by Dragon Apricot, his thoughts raced faster than Li Fugui's, and he immediately understood.

"Hahahaha..."

Having grasped the truth, the panic in Zhu Yike's heart vanished instantly, and he burst into laughter.

Dragon Apricot had indeed given him more than just a blessing.

It had also bestowed upon Zhu Yike a karmic affinity: a controllable wisp of Dragon Ancestor power.

Although it was just a wisp, merely an external force... with its aid, Zhu Yike regained control of his body before the 'Nine Stars in a Row' arrived.

He spat a mouthful of bloody foam onto the ground, struggled to raise his body, and glared upwards.

"Clang!"

Zhu Yike held a copper coin in his hand.

Everyone in the Five Domains heard the sound of a coin being tossed almost the instant he could move.

But...

Nothing!

Zhu Yike merely held the coin; he didn't make a move.

He neither 'stole the sky and changed the sun' nor 'shifted form and changed shadow.' He simply glared at the arrow with his bleeding eyes, wide open:

"Who can kill me?"

Zhu Yike crushed the copper coin, pointed to the heavens, and shrieked, "Dog-lover, I bet you can't kill me today!"

In that instant, this declaration set the Southern Nether's evil cultivators ablaze with excitement.

A gambler!

This Zhu Yike was a pure, unadulterated gambler!

Why would he do this? Was it because Master Shou had told him beforehand that 'nothing would happen' no matter what he did after coming out?

But even now, did he still believe that 'nothing would happen,' and that this applied not only to Master Shou and the Apricot Realm but also to him?

'What virtues does Master Shou possess to earn such absolute trust from a gambler like him...' the Southern Nether people silently whispered, their silent doubts ultimately defeated by reality.

On the screen, no sooner had Zhu Yike's words fallen than the nine Evil God Arrows of the 'Nine Stars in a Row' hummed to a halt in mid-air.

"Did Dragon Apricot's blessing take effect?"

"Did Zhu Yike win his bet again?"

Zhu Yike had indeed won his bet once again.

The first Evil God Arrow wasn't aimed at him; it was a preemptive strike, crushing the Apricot Realm Jade Talisman and opening the banishment domain.

The subsequent 'Nine Stars in a Row' weren't meant to kill him either.

Instead, they successively landed, forming an arrow array, pinning themselves to specific points within the banishment domain.

An illusory and eerie grayish-black grand gate silently took shape within the banishment domain.

The gate led to the unknown.

But that wasn't the crucial point. The crucial point was that once this gate appeared, all other weak points in the banishment domain vanished, and even the concept of the 'banishment domain' itself disappeared.

It seemed that the only path to Zhu Yike now was through this single gate.

And the master of the gate was the Emperor of All Life!

"Wait!"

"This is..."

Nine arrows didn't kill anyone; instead, they formed an arrow array and summoned a gate. This was highly significant.

While the Five Domain Spirit Refiners didn't understand ancient sword arts, they knew a thing or two about the Emperor of All Life's archery and sorcery.

Immediately, someone stared at the gate, recognized something, and cried out in alarm:

"Nine Star Boundary Severing Gate!"

That cry brought back everyone's memories of the Ten Seats' War, and they suddenly understood.

The Nine Star Boundary Severing Gate was a path of arrow formations, with nine points aligning. Once the arrow array took shape and summoned the Boundary Severing Gate, all connections between the banishment domain and the outside world would be completely severed.

Without the gate's master's permission, no one could enter the banished land.

In fact, even the gate's master himself couldn't enter the gate; no living beings were allowed.

Under heaven, the only thing that could now reach Zhu Yike through the Boundary Severing Gate was...

The Sinful Bow's arrows!

The method of entry was also brutal: shoot through it!

"It's over."

"Now, forget Master Shou, even the Heavenly King wouldn't be able to save Zhu Yike!"

Everyone understood.

The Emperor of All Life had never truly regarded Zhu Yike.

His first arrow was to prevent Xu Xiaoshou from coming to rescue Zhu Yike, using the Apricot Realm's method.

His second arrow was still to prevent Xu Xiaoshou from coming to rescue Zhu Yike, by any means!

Thump.

The Nine Star Boundary Severing Gate was complete.

A heavy thrum boomed from the distant sky again.

Zhu Yike, however, felt this sound was very distant and couldn't quite hear it clearly.

The only thing he could hear was his own heart skipping a beat.

"No, this is wrong."

Cold sweat broke out on Zhu Yike.

He vaguely realized that he seemed to have trusted Master Shou a little too much?

Or perhaps, he had underestimated the Emperor of All Life too much!

That was the Emperor of All Life, one of the Ten Seats!

'What was I thinking?'

'I should have tried it just now!'

'Before, it was just banishment. I could have first used 'Deceive the Heavens' to fool the Dao laws; then used 'Shift Form, Change Shadow' to see the world outside the banishment domain.'

'The rest would have been simple.'

'Steal the Sky, Change the Sun!'

'Just find anything to swap places with myself, even move that woman in here, as long as I could get out...'

"Gone!"

"No chance left!"

After his heart skipped a beat, Zhu Yike's pulse accelerated, and his forehead began to steam.

"BOOM!"

The arrow peeking out from the Boundary Severing Gate seemed to bring with it the gaze of death.

The world itself seemed to slow down.

And Zhu Yike could no longer maintain his composure, like an ancient well.

He desperately wanted to act tough, 'Kill me, go on, kill me! Master Shou said nothing would happen, so you definitely can't kill me!'

The reality was...

His body was utterly beyond his control, convulsing violently.

Zhu Yike frantically lowered his head and fumbled in his pocket... but his prison uniform had no pockets!

"Ah—"

He let out a sharp, bursting scream.

He flipped his cuff, and from the seemingly thin sleeve, he actually managed to pull out... something from nowhere...

No copper coin!

Nothing at all!

It was all an illusion!

"Ah—"

Zhu Yike screamed again, but quickly snapped a finger off and threw it upwards.

"Tsk."

Bloody color rolled upwards.

Bloody color rolled downwards.

The finger plopped to the ground... nothing happened.

The wind stilled across the Five Domains, silencing all of Zhu Yike's dying echoes.

"Steal the Sky, Change the Sun!"

"Steal the Sky, Change the Sun, please!"

Zhu Yike couldn't even catch his fallen finger, and in his sight, the arrow from the Sinful Bow fully emerged from the Boundary Severing Gate, hurtling towards him at high speed.

It wasn't even an Evil God Arrow.

It was merely an ordinary attack, a standard shot from the Emperor of All Life that appeared as soon as he touched the bowstring.

'Are you humiliating me?'

'You're right to humiliate me!'

Regardless of external forces or aid, Zhu Yike was painfully aware of his own direct combat strength: he couldn't even withstand a single ordinary attack from the Emperor of All Life.

He was in agony, wishing he could die, yet he still cruelly snapped off another finger.

"It's fine! It's fine!"

He tossed the second finger upwards, attempting 'Steal the Sky, Change the Sun,' intending to swap places with himself and the ordinary attack.

Once their positions were swapped...

The arrow would be in front, he would be behind, and it definitely wouldn't pierce him.

Even if the arrow could turn around, he still had eight fingers, and if worst came to worst, his toes...

Snap.

The reality, however, was that once the Sinful Bow's ordinary attack fully emerged from the Boundary Severing Gate, the severed finger, once it left his body and lost the protection of the Dragon Ancestor's power, instantly shattered.

"Ah—"

Zhu Yike screamed until his throat was raw.

Something's happening!

Something big!

I'm going to die!

He still wanted to snap off a third finger...

"No time left."

The people of the Five Domains watched the three scenes on the Transmitting Mirror, and even the Spirit Refiners with the poorest eyesight could see clearly.

Zhu Yike had won his bet twice.

Dragon Apricot's blessing had greatly enhanced his combat awareness, allowing him to save himself twice from the arrows.

But it seemed the saying 'things don't go beyond three' held true.

As the Sinful Bow's arrow approached his face, everyone watched Zhu Yike, who had frantically fallen to the ground, trying to create distance but to no avail...

He was kneeling.

He was prostrating.

Across his face, only two large characters were etched:

DESPAIR!

"Ugh..."

Just as the arrow was about to pierce his head, Zhu Yike, in his despair, vomited.

When he vomited, out came blood, grayish-brown filth, and surprisingly, a hint of inexplicable... green?

That 'green' suddenly elongated, transforming into a vine that wrapped around the Sinful Bow's arrow. With a forceful squeeze, the arrow shattered with a snap.

The sudden turn of events left all spectators in the Five Domains bewildered.

After straining to discern it, they barely made out what the 'green' was.

"Willow?"

"A willow!"

In the Dead Sea, the Drunken One in the Wind cried out in surprise.

To be able to intervene in such a battle, to bring about a sudden change at this moment, and to have some connection with a willow...

At this point, he could only think of one thing.

And everyone in the Five Domains could only think of this same thing.

"God-Worshipping Willow?!"

But...

After realizing what that willow was, everyone simultaneously fell into a stupor.

'Under the Nine Star Boundary Severing Gate, how did the God-Worshipping Willow intervene in the battle?'

Indeed.

Before Zhu Yike was hit by the arrow, he had received Dragon Apricot's blessing.

At the time of the first arrow, the Nine Star Boundary Severing Gate hadn't even formed yet. Dragon Apricot could have used that opportunity to plant willow seeds inside Zhu Yike.

But...

'When the God-Worshipping Willow was dug up and taken into the Apricot Realm, it was just a broken stump!'

'How could it, with the power of mere severed branches, shatter an Evil God Arrow, even if it was just an ordinary attack?'

The Drunken One in the Wind couldn't understand this point, nor could the people of the Five Domains.

Even the Emperor of All Life, the creator of the Nine Star Boundary Severing Gate, was stunned by the sight. He couldn't understand it either.

The power he sensed in that instant made the God-Worshipping Willow seem not like a broken stump, but a fully healthy World Tree.

But...

'Even if the God-Worshipping Willow miraculously became whole!'

'Wasn't it 'forced' into the Apricot Realm? How could it help Zhu Yike, how could it help Xu Xiaoshou?'

This was the most crucial point!

This was the fatal question!

As the World Tree of the Sacred God Continent, only a few days had passed since it was dug up by Master Shou and taken into the Apricot Realm.

Even if the flow of time in the Apricot Realm was different from the Sacred God Continent, with one day being like a year?

At most, only a few years would have passed. How could the God-Worshipping Willow betray them?

For thousands of years on Guizhe Sacred Mountain, the God-Worshipping Willow had shown no particular closeness to the successive saints of the mountain. With the proud spirit of the Ancestral Tree, how could it easily succumb to the mere might of Xu Xiaoshou!

"God-Worshipping Willow, have you been controlled? Have you been manipulated by that devil Xu Xiaoshou?"

"Wake up!"

"If you leave, if our fortune leaves, what will become of us? What will we do?!"

The people of the Five Domains simultaneously fell into a deep dream, from which they couldn't fully emerge.

After a moment of stupefaction, the Emperor of All Life's facial muscles twitched slightly.

His arm uncontrollably began to tremble, and then, as his eyelids twitched wildly, he furiously drew the bowstring.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

Three Evil God Arrows, one after another, shot forth.

They first resounded in the Southern Nether, then instantly pierced into the Boundary Severing Gate.

After Zhu Yike vomited, a willow branch dangled from his mouth, looking like a drooping, eerie green tongue.

"Master Shou..."

He cried.

He wept tears of joy.

He could no longer suppress the extreme thrill of falling from heaven to hell and then rising back to heaven, and he cheered with raised arms:

"Long live Master Shou!"

He smiled.

He grinned broadly.

Waving his eerie green tongue, like an alien, he simultaneously cheered and mockingly cackled:

"Come on!"

"Shoot me!"

"Dog-lover, if you can shoot me dead today, I'll be your ox and horse in my next life! If you can't shoot me dead today, you're my son..."

The first Evil God Arrow shattered the suddenly enlarged God-Worshipping Willow 'tongue' to dust.

"Holy sh*t!"

Zhu Yike was sent flying high.

Legless, he could only thrust his buttocks high, supporting himself with his elbows on the ground, and flee clumsily.

The second Evil God Arrow nearly pierced him from back to front.

But another eerie green willow branch shot out from Zhu Yike's buttocks. Though it couldn't shatter the Evil God Arrow, it did deflect its trajectory.

The shockwave from the arrow exploding beside him sent Zhu Yike flying.

The power of the Evil God Arrow was mostly negated by the God-Worshipping Willow, and most of the remainder was absorbed by Dragon Apricot's blessing.

Even the remaining power still caused Zhu Yike's body to crack and nearly explode.

"No!"

"Emperor of All Life! No!"

"I was wrong, Little Zhu knows he was wrong..."

Zhu Yike's soul was split in two, and he instantly sobered up.

'So, turns out your God-Worshipping Willow can't defeat the Emperor of All Life? Master Shou, save me!'

The third Evil God Arrow aimed directly for his backside.

Zhu Yike was still hoping a willow branch would shoot out from his body again to save his wretched life.

None left.

His body was empty; it had all been squeezed dry.

Things don't go beyond three. Senior Dragon Apricot seemed to have only given him two willow seeds...

"No!"

Plummeting from heaven back to hell, Zhu Yike was powerless to change his fate, and could only watch as the Evil God Arrow shot towards his rear.

"Death?"

Everyone watched intently.

Everyone seemed to see Zhu Yike's dismal end.

Just then, a hum vibrated from beyond the heavens, and boundless pressure descended, causing all the people of the Five Domains to tremble and prostrate themselves.

Some resisted the pressure, straining their spiritual perception upwards.

Behind the firmament, at some unknown point, a colossal ghostly willow's phantom appeared, seemingly standing outside the world, its branches swaying and dancing.

Even in the Emperor of All Life's ears, a heavy, profound, yet ethereal echoing voice exploded:

"Praise my true name, and usher in reincarnation."

"Willow of Ten Thousand Realms, worshipped by all gods."

A colossal willow branch emerged from the God's Remains, traversed the starry sky, and descended into the Sacred God Continent.

The Boundary Severing Gate's rules were supreme, but not as high as the path of reception from the God's Remains. The willow branch forcibly pierced through.

The Evil God Arrow was forced to halt, bowing beneath it.

"Eh?"

Zhu Yike was only momentarily stunned, then he frantically roared like a madman:

"Master Shou! Master Shou! Master Shou!"

"Oh no, true name... Xu Xiaoshou, Xu Xiaoshou, Xu Xiaoshou!"

Even the God-Worshipping Willow branch paused for a moment.

But it still coiled around Zhu Yike, who was presenting his backside, pulling him away from the Boundary Severing Gate's blockade and from the descent of the Sacred God Continent.