Finding a Way to Comprehend the Tao Te Ching

The plum tree really did bloom; Yun Qingyang hadn't lied to Ma Feifei.

The tiny flower buds that were originally waiting to bloom have now quietly blossomed into their full glory. A petal rises slowly, standing tall and proud, while several flower stamens emerge from the bud, swaying gently in the breeze.

Ma Feifei stood in front of the plum tree, looking at the tiny flower buds that had all opened to reveal a single petal, her eyes filled with surprise. So this was how the Plum Tree Blooms!

Eating flower buds, reciting the Tao Te Ching, new flower buds growing, then eating them again, reciting them again... it's a cycle like this.

If I remember correctly, Ma Feifei recited the Tao Te Ching twice and ate the flower buds twice, which made one petal open. Since the plum tree has five flowers, according to this calculation, Ma Feifei only needs to recite the Tao Te Ching ten times and eat the flower buds ten times for all the Plum Blossom to bloom.

"It seems quite simple..." Ma Feifei casually picked a Plum Blossom and popped it into her mouth, discovering that this time the bud was indeed sweeter than before, and the comfortable feeling after eating it was also more pronounced.

"Can I eat all of these?" Yun Qingyang asked, holding a flower bud in each hand and eating another one, her crescent-shaped eyes narrowed.

"Of course, eat as much as you want, eat as much as you can." How could Ma Feifei possibly stop Yun Qingyang Plum Blossom now? She couldn't wait for Yun Qingyang to finish all the Plum Blossom in one go.

"Ma Feifei, you're so kind." Yun Qingyang seemed very happy to receive Ma Feifei's reply.

The current Yun Qingyang is vastly different from when Ma Feifei first met, at least in her attitude towards Ma Feifei. Now, Ma Feifei can no longer sense that chilling, unapproachable aura emanating from Yun Qingyang. Instead, a familial bond has developed between them. For example, Yun Qingyang is often tricked by Ma Feifei, but she never truly gets angry; after a playful fight, they make up as if nothing happened and she still enjoys being with Ma Feifei. Similarly, Ma Feifei doesn't get angry even after being beaten up by Yun Qingyang; she continues to tirelessly set traps for Yun Qingyang, testing her intelligence.

In Ma Feifei's heart, although Yun Qingyang had lived for tens of thousands of years, she was still a simple little girl at heart, innocent and naive, unaware of the ways of the world, and had not experienced the wickedness of human nature. She was as clean as a clear spring or a blank sheet of paper.

From the moment she left Nine Heavens Mountain and met Ma Feifei became the pen that guided her, and the trajectory of Yun Qingyang's life on this blank sheet of paper was entirely in his hands.

"It's best not to change the trajectory, or it'll be troublesome if it increases intelligence." Ma Feifei patted Yun Qingyang's head and grinned foolishly. He dared not say this aloud, otherwise he would definitely get a beating.

There were so many flower buds on the plum tree that it took Yun Qingyang and Ma Feifei a long time to finish two-thirds of them. Ma Feifei felt that her stomach was so full that she sat on the Grand Tutor Chair, rubbing her lower belly, looking like she was about to die.

Yun Qingyang was clearly full, so instead of continuing to eat Plum Blossom, he started picking Plum Blossom from the plum tree and putting them into his spatial ring to eat as snacks after digestion.

"Yes, pick them all." Ma Feifei praised this. After picking them, he could recite the Tao Te Ching again, and then make new flower buds bloom on the plum tree to verify whether it was really possible to make the flower buds bloom in this way.

Yun Qingyang did as instructed and collected all the flower buds on the plum tree.

After lying down for a while, Ma Feifei took out the Tao Te Ching and began to recite it. Yun Qingyang, on the other hand, produced a Grand Tutor Chair from somewhere and sat down to rest, just like Ma Feifei.

Zhang Yunji had been quietly filling in the gaps, kept an eye on the situation out of the corner of his eye. When he saw the two of them eating flower buds on a tree, he was utterly astonished. In this day and age, people are still interested in flowers? And eating them with such relish.

And most importantly, it seems that whenever the shop owner reads the contents of that black-covered book, small white and pink flower buds sprout from that tree. It's quite magical, almost like Wood Element Cultivation Method, capable of bringing withered trees back to life and making faded flowers bloom.

"Could this be another medical book?" Zhang Yunji wondered to himself as he listened to Ma Feifei's recitation. Suddenly, as Ma Feifei continued reciting, that same feeling returned to Zhang Yunji, this time much stronger.

"This feeling is really strange. What is it?" Zhang Yunji became more and more puzzled, and his movements of filling the soil became slower and slower, as he focused most of his attention on what Ma Feifei was reciting.

Suddenly, Ma Feifei stopped speaking.

"Huh? What's going on? Why isn't it growing anymore?" Ma Feifei got up from the Grand Tutor Chair, walked to the plum tree, and looked at the still bare branches with a puzzled expression.

Based on his previous two experiences reciting the Tao Te Ching, new flower buds should have sprouted on the plum tree when Ma Feifei was about halfway through each reading. However, this time, even as Ma Feifei was nearing the end, no flower buds appeared.

There's clearly something wrong here.

"Could it be because the flower buds haven't been eaten yet?" Yun Qingyang interjected at this moment, holding up a flower bud in her hand.

Ma Feifei turned to look at the flower bud in Yun Qingyang's hand. After thinking for a moment, his face first showed a look of sudden realization, then turned to shock. He frowned and said, "May I ask, Yun Qingyang, how did you know it was because the flower bud hadn't been finished eating?"

That doesn't make sense. With Yun Qingyang's normal intelligence, it's impossible for her to come up with such a profound question, unless... unless the Blood Pact with Yun Qingyang grants her her genius-level intelligence!

Thinking of this, Ma Feifei couldn't help but take three steps back, staring at Yun Qingyang warily.

"Because you only recited the Tao Te Ching after I had eaten the flower buds the first two times!" Yun Qingyang said matter-of-factly. She didn't find this hard to understand; why was Ma Feifei making that face?

"Oh... that's true." Ma Feifei was taken aback, touching his nose to hide his embarrassment; he really hadn't thought of it that way.

Of course, this has nothing to do with IQ. As the saying goes, even the wisest person can make a mistake, and even the most foolish person can have a stroke of genius. Don't you all agree?

"Then hurry up and eat the flowers so that the plum tree can grow more buds." Now that a solution has been found for the task of putting the book on the shelves, Ma Feifei naturally hopes to complete the task as soon as possible so that the "Tao Te Ching" can be put on the bookshelf. After all, he still promised Zhou Zhuling to solve her father's troubles, which has been delayed for quite some time.

"I can't eat anymore." Yun Qingyang shook her head. Although the flower buds were delicious, she was too full to eat even one. Otherwise, she wouldn't have stored the flower buds in her spatial ring; she would have eaten them all instead.

Can't eat? Ma Feifei looked at Yun Qingyang's little belly, then at his own, and felt a little helpless. Yun Qingyang couldn't eat, then he certainly couldn't.

"Hmm?" Ma Feifei glanced at Zhang Yunji, who was silently filling the hole, his eyes lit up, and he called out to Zhang Yunji, "Yunji."

"Huh?" Zhang Yunji had actually been secretly eavesdropping on Ma Feifei and Yun Qingyang's conversation. When Ma Feifei suddenly called him, Zhang Yunji thought that Ma Feifei had discovered that he was Slack Off. He subconsciously turned around, but missed a step and fell straight in.