Chapter 1047: Beneath the Dragon Apricot

In the Yuan Fu World, Lei Xier and Tan Shen were completely captivated by the grand and impressive Shen Nong Medicine Garden as soon as they stepped inside.

The two of them, with their combined lifetimes—one human and one cat—had never seen even a fraction of the spiritual herbs found in this garden.

"Meow!"

Tan Shen, overwhelmed by the dense aura of life, lost all sense of reason and leaped forward, charging straight toward the Shen Nong Medicine Garden.

In that moment, it had completely forgotten its master's instructions.

There was no helping it—the life energy and the fragrance of the spiritual herbs were simply too enticing for a cat, especially one that was a refining cat like Tan Shen.

But the very next second...

Tan Shen, mid-leap, crashed into the barrier surrounding the Shen Nong Medicine Garden.

This was a boundary constructed by Xu Xiaoshou himself in the Yuan Fu World—impenetrable without the approval of the world's master.

Its purpose, of course, was to stop a certain cat from sneaking in for a snack.

"Meow, meow, meow!"

Unable to get close, Tan Shen clawed at its head in frustration. It was infuriating, absolutely infuriating...

All these treasures were right there in front of it. If it could just eat them all, what need would there be for Wang Zuo Dao Jing or anything else?

Tan Shen felt like it could instantly reach the Tai Xu realm of a refining master, or even accidentally break through to Ban Sheng—it seemed entirely possible.

Meanwhile, Lei Xier stood staring at the medicine garden, equally stunned.

She vaguely recalled the conversation she had with Xu Xiaoshou on the ancient tree outside.

"How much did you take?"

"A little bit."

Xu Xiaoshou, is this what you call "a little bit"?

You've basically moved the entire Shen Nong Medicine Garden!

"He's gone mad..."

It took Lei Xier a while to calm her thoughts. She walked toward the barrier enclosing the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, reached out, and to her surprise, her right hand passed right through it.

She paused, then smiled slightly and stepped inside.

"Meow, meow, meow!"

Behind her, Tan Shen went even more berserk at the sight.

Why?

Why could she go in while it couldn't?

This was so unfair!

Once inside the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, Lei Xier forgot all about the cat behind her. Her attention was fully captured by the overwhelming spiritual energy and medicinal fragrance.

"This is insane..."

Lei Xier couldn't help but marvel again.

Everywhere she looked, there were sacred herbs.

Just searching for the scent she had noticed on Shuang Dai before—the Sheng Ji fruit—she spotted no fewer than three or four fruit trees!

Yes, fruit trees, not just fruits.

Each Sheng Ji fruit tree, whether with five or six fruits hanging from it, added up to more than twenty fruits in total.

"Is this the Sheng Ji fruit that Shuang Dai risked everything to swallow?"

Lei Xier approached a Sheng Ji fruit tree and gently touched one of the head-sized fruits without picking it.

She was shocked by the bountiful results of Xu Xiaoshou's greed.

She also felt sorry for people like Shuang Dai and Hong Dang, who had paid with their lives for just one fruit—it seemed so pointless.

In the context of this "new Shen Nong Medicine Garden in the Yuan Fu World," those sacred herbs were barely a drop in the bucket.

"Sheng Ji fruit, Long Xue grass, Black Bodhi seed, Shang Shang Sheng Pu, Jiu Sheng Hun Hua..."

As Lei Xier walked and named the sacred herbs she recognized, her mindset gradually turned numb.

This was madness!

Absolute madness!

She had inherited the full memory legacy of the Tai Xu Lei family, yet even in that vast knowledge base, she couldn't identify all the sacred herbs in this Shen Nong Medicine Garden.

Of what she saw, she only recognized about a third.

The remaining two-thirds? She had never even heard of them in the entire history of the Tai Xu Lei family!

"Xu Xiaoshou..."

The more she walked, the more shocked she became, and the more she marveled at Xu Xiaoshou's sheer audacity.

It was truly a case of the bold thriving while the timid starved.

While people like Shuang Dai and Hong Dang were fighting desperately for a single Sheng Ji fruit, Xu Xiaoshou had dared to empty the entire Shen Nong Medicine Garden.

Was he really unafraid of death?

Perhaps taking one sacred herb would only attract the attention of the Void Attendants.

But Lei Xier knew that if the whole garden was emptied, it might trigger some forbidden consequence.

For example, Xu Xiaoshou could be permanently locked onto by Void Island, making every step a struggle.

Or, if he ever showed his face on Void Island again, all the Void Attendants might awaken and hunt him down.

These were just speculations, but what if they came true?

Lei Xier could think of it, so she didn't believe Xu Xiaoshou couldn't.

Yet...

"Xu Xiaoshou, he really went ahead and moved the entire medicine garden!"

Shaking her head in amazement, Lei Xier unknowingly reached the center of the Shen Nong Medicine Garden.

Soon, she stopped and stared at a golden apricot tree. Even among the multitude of sacred herbs, it stood out like a crane among chickens, radiating brilliant golden light. She was utterly dumbfounded.

"This!"

"This is..."

Lei Xier gazed at the golden apricot tree in disbelief, her Shen Mo pupils freezing in shock.

The tree was over three feet tall, which made it quite unassuming compared to the other fruit trees that reached several or even dozens of feet high in the garden.

But the power it emitted was overwhelmingly strong!

It far surpassed the level of ordinary sacred herbs.

Lei Xier felt that even the power of a Sheng Di might pale in comparison.

"Roar..."

Just by getting close, without even touching it, she could hear the faint, illusory sound of a dragon's roar from the tree.

Moreover, every apricot on the tree was plump and round, etched with mysterious dragon patterns and wrapped in vague dragon shadows. The medicinal power within each one was a hundred times greater than that of ordinary sacred herbs!

Flashes of the Lei family memory legacy crossed her mind, and Lei Xier realized what this was.

"Long Xing!"

"How is that possible?"

"One of the nine ancestral trees, Long Xing?!"

In that instant, Lei Xier was so startled that she pressed her hand to her forehead.

Was this real or not?

There was a Long Xing in the center of the Shen Nong Medicine Garden?

This wasn't like the blood tree Yin branch she had seen at the Ling Que trade fair, or the Bodhi tree root that Xu Xiaoshou had obtained but might not be able to nurture—they were just parts of the nine ancestral trees.

No, this was the complete, authentic Long Xing itself!

"Legend has it that in ancient times, when the Dragon Ancestor of the ten ancestors fell, its immense power created one of the seven forbidden zones, the 'Long Xu'.

"And all the power left after its fall was absorbed by this Long Xing...

"Or rather, Long Xing became what it is precisely because it absorbed so much of the Dragon Ancestor's power, transforming from something ordinary into something extraordinary!

"Later, this so-called 'Long Xing' became the sacred tree worshipped by the dragon race in the Long Xu.

"Every apricot from it is considered a 'divine gift from the Dragon God,' bestowed upon the most outstanding members of the dragon race to purify their bloodlines and grant them greater dragon power."

Lei Xier circled the Long Xing tree, her mind racing with all this information.

Yet, as she looked at the hundreds of apricots on the tree, she fell silent.

"How could this be..."

"Aren't Long Xing apricots supposed to be extremely hard to produce?"

"And shouldn't this Long Xing be in the Long Xu, being revered by the dragons? How did it end up in the center of the Shen Nong Medicine Garden?"

"What on earth is going on?"

Lei Xier held her head, silently staring at the Long Xing, feeling like the world had turned absurd.

With this move, Xu Xiaoshou had basically claimed the entire Long Xing ancestral tree.

"Buzz!"

While she was deep in thought, the passage to the Yuan Fu World opened, and Xu Xiaoshou entered.

"Meow!"

Tan Shen spotted him first, its eyes lighting up as it leaped into the air and pounced into its master's arms.

It licked Xu Xiaoshou's cheek repeatedly, its face full of flattery and adoration.

"Meow, meow, meow."

Master, master, I'm sick—please let me have some medicine!

"Get off."

Xu Xiaoshou casually tossed the silly white cat aside and then turned to look at the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, unable to suppress a smile.

Whoosh!

He flashed over and landed next to Lei Xier.

"Woo, woo, woo..."

Outside the barrier, Tan Shen weakly scratched at the ground with its paws, cursing in circles.

How awful—found a new favorite and forgotten the old cat...

"What do you think?"

Xu Xiaoshou glanced around the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, standing tall with a proud air, as if to say, "Look! This is the empire I've built for you."

Lei Xier stared intently at the man before her. He didn't have a single drop of blood on him. After a long pause, she said:

"A little bit?"

Xu Xiaoshou chuckled. "For the vast Void Island, a small Shen Nong Medicine Garden is just a tiny bit, isn't it?"

Lei Xier: ...

So, your ambition is to empty the entire Void Island?

I must have underestimated you.

"Cursed, passive value, 1, 1, 1, 1..."

"Lei Xier..." Xu Xiaoshou surveyed the medicine garden, suddenly growing serious. "This garden is pretty big, right?"

"Hmm?" Lei Xier looked at him curiously, wondering why he asked that.

"Under the heavens, there's no world with more or larger spiritual herbs than my Yuan Fu World." Xu Xiaoshou smiled. "You're fond of growing flowers and trees, aren't you? There's enough here to keep you tending them for a lifetime."

A lifetime?

Lei Xier was slightly taken aback, then narrowed her eyes and asked, "Xu Xiaoshou, what are you getting at?"

Xu Xiaoshou took a deep breath and said earnestly, "Lei Xier, stay here and become a little gardener in the Yuan Fu World. I think you'd like this place more than I do."

He would never forget what she had said when she first reverted to this form.

After they finished their journey through the Yun Lun Mountains, she would leave.

To go where?

For revenge.

Lei Xier always carried the burden of revenge on her shoulders. Even if she spent her free time growing flowers and trees in the Yuan Fu World, she could never forget the tragedy of the Lei family.

Xu Xiaoshou had once wondered.

Could his junior sister ever truly return?

If he fed Lei Xier a massive amount of life force, would it trigger some kind of "rejuvenation" mechanism and bring back that innocent junior sister?

But reality was clear—now that Lei Xier had emerged, she wouldn't willingly go back.

Since his junior sister was a "consciousness" born from a self-protection mechanism in childhood, they were essentially from the same source.

Xu Xiaoshou wouldn't forget how happily Mu Zi Xi had lived without the "Lei Xier" identity.

So now, if he couldn't make Lei Xier step aside for Mu Zi Xi, would avenging her allow the two consciousnesses to merge and become one?

Mu Zi Xi alone was incomplete, and Lei Xier alone was incomplete!

Xu Xiaoshou had realized that only when Lei Xier could experience the same innocence as Mu Zi Xi would she be whole.

"You, stay here."

Xu Xiaoshou pointed at the Shen Nong Medicine Garden and said firmly, "I'll handle the revenge for you!"

Lei Xier listened quietly, her beautiful eyes fixed unblinkingly on Xu Xiaoshou.

She had imagined that after emptying the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, when Xu Xiaoshou came in, he would boast about the whole thrilling process and how clever he was.

She had even planned to keep her cool and not give him a single word of praise, to stop him from getting even more arrogant.

But she never expected that upon entering the Yuan Fu World and the Shen Nong Medicine Garden, he wouldn't mention it at all. Instead, he was seriously discussing staying or leaving.

"Revenge..."

Lei Xier had always thought the Lei family's grudge didn't need to involve Xu Xiaoshou.

After all, he was too weak, and it would take him a long time to grow strong.

She, on the other hand, had awakened with the Lei family inheritance, allowing her to grow much faster than him.

Now, she was already at Wang Zuo Dao Jing, while Xu Xiaoshou was still at Zong Shi Tian Xiang.

But from what she could see now...

Xu Xiaoshou's Zong Shi Tian Xiang was no weaker than her Wang Zuo Dao Jing—in fact, it was more terrifying than most Tai Xu experts!

Even by the standards of the Lei family memories, Xu Xiaoshou's growth rate might rival or even surpass that of Ba Zun An, who achieved "three breaths to innate and three years to sword immortal."

Perhaps he really could help her...

But!

"Xu Xiaoshou, do you know how massive the Lei family's grudge is?" Lei Xier asked with a soft sigh.

"I know!" Xu Xiaoshou replied without hesitation.

The Sheng Shen Hall?

The five great Sheng Di families?

Wasn't that exactly what he was up against now?

Even if he was just a pawn at the moment, he could still exert twelve times the effort in that game.

With this Shen Nong Medicine Garden, he wasn't far from becoming a player himself.

"You emptied an entire Shen Nong Medicine Garden, and a single Void Attendant could kill you." Lei Xier's tone was heavy. "Void Island is a prison used by the Sheng Shen Hall to hold Ban Sheng and Sheng Di experts."

She didn't spell it out.

But the stark contrast made the gap between them obvious.

Xu Xiaoshou never wavered, smiling as he said, "It's like that now, but not forever."

"I'm just one person..." Lei Xier said, trailing off into silence.

"That's why you need me even more!"

"But they're basically an entire world..."

Xu Xiaoshou looked at her and shook his head calmly. "Wrong is wrong. Even if you're just one person, as long as I stand in front of you, I'll take on the whole wrong world."

Lei Xier smiled slightly at his words.

It sounded like something a stubborn child would say, yet Xu Xiaoshou delivered it with such conviction.

"Just for me?" she asked with a teasing smile. "I'm not your junior sister anymore."

"You might not be, but I'll always be your senior brother." Xu Xiaoshou said it with utmost seriousness.

Seeing the smile on Lei Xier's face as she was about to speak, he quickly added, "Lao Sang is still in the Dead Sea of Gui Zhe Sheng Mountain. Are you really thinking of cutting ties with your master?"

Lei Xier: ...

His words caught her off guard, leaving her momentarily speechless.

But because of his sincerity, she felt she couldn't maintain the separation between her "Mu Zi Xi" and "Lei Xier" identities in front of him.

Under the Long Xing tree, a sense of joy suddenly welled up in Lei Xier.

She stopped talking about serious matters and instead looked at Xu Xiaoshou with a playful grin, suddenly asking, "So, did you move this Shen Nong Medicine Garden just for me?"

"Teased, passive value, 1."

"Uh?"

Xu Xiaoshou was caught off guard, not seeing any teasing in that, but his passive system was clearly messing with him!

He glanced at the Shen Nong Medicine Garden and thought about the question, reluctantly replying, "Half for you, half for me? I can't give it all to you—I still need some sacred herbs to upgrade..."

Lei Xier: ???

"Cursed, passive value, 1, 1, 1, 1..."

She stared at Xu Xiaoshou, completely speechless.

In her mind, she responded to another consciousness that had awakened and insisted she ask that question:

"Mu Zi Xi, oh Mu Zi Xi, this blockhead really isn't worth your affection!"