Sound of the Great Dao (Two Chapters in One)

On July 10th, Wantong Trading Market announced that the owner of Mysterious Bookstore would be giving a sermon on July 15th at the Pokémon competition venue, 20 miles Zhenbei.

On the same day, Wantong Trading Market shut down the Pokémon competition venue and sent people to make some minor renovations. Before the opening ceremony, no one would be allowed to enter the Pokémon competition venue.

As the time for the sermon was set, the important figures who had come to Dubian Town but failed to register began to panic. One by one, they spent a lot of money to buy exclusive numbers and went to the Mysterious Bookstore, hoping to find the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore and ask him to increase the number of places for them.

Today was Zhang Yunji's first day back at work. The sweat on his forehead hadn't lessened since the Bookstore opened early in the morning. The terrifying faces he encountered filled him with trepidation, and Zhang Yunji had to smile respectfully for almost every call with a unique number.

As they went along, there were at least twenty Spirit Saint, some they knew and some they didn't, and a whole bunch of Spirit Emperor. The minimum cultivation level for the four hundred reading slots was at the Spirit Emperor level!

In other words, the group of book lovers who came to Mysterious Bookstore today is the most powerful group since Mysterious Bookstore opened.

Zhang Yunji knew exactly what this group of people wanted. They were pretending to look at books; their real purpose was to ask the bookstore owner for a spot in the registration event. After all, the books in the Mysterious Bookstore didn't currently offer any revenue that would tempt these important figures.

The shop owner...

Thinking of Ma Feifei, Zhang Yunji subconsciously looked at his newly healed arm, and whether it was psychological or not, he suddenly felt pain in his arm again.

Ma Feifei didn't sleep in today. Instead, he sat on a small stool in the backyard, reciting the Tao Te Ching towards the plum tree. Watching the Plum Blossom bloom on the tree, his mood improved considerably.

"Speaking of which, I haven't used the Sound of the Great Dao that the system rewarded me with yet. Should I give it a try?" Ma Feifei finished reciting the Tao Te Ching, watched Yun Qingyang happily picking Plum Blossom, and stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Ma Feifei didn't know what the Sound of the Great Dao was. The system had only given him the effect of increasing the reader's Wuneng. But as the first Daoist Magic the system had rewarded him with, it couldn't be that bad. Besides, since it was the Sound of the Great Dao, all things should be equal. Since it could increase the reader's Wuneng, it might even increase the growth ability of plants.

"Could it be that I can turn you into a tree spirit using the Sound of the Great Dao?" Ma Feifei looked at Li Shu, still feeling a little uneasy. Last time he accidentally entered the "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" instance, he was terrified by that tree spirit.

"It shouldn't be that exaggerated, right?" Ma Feifei hesitated for a moment, but decided to give it a try anyway, and stop halfway if it didn't work out.

"Hmm... what should I say?" Since I'm going to use the Sound of the Great Dao, I naturally need to make a sound, and making a sound definitely requires saying something; I can't just say "ah ah" or "oh oh"...

Ma Feifei doesn't plan to recite the Tao Te Ching anymore. This stuff is of too high quality. He'll be reciting it during his sermons in a few days, and the effect is clearly very strong. If reciting the Tao Te Ching actually turns the plum tree into a spirit, that would be a huge mess.

After tilting his head and thinking for a moment, Ma Feifei walked towards the Bookstore. He planned to find a White Quality, or if that didn't work, Blue Quality book, to read and see what the effect would be.

As soon as Ma Feifei entered the Bookstore, he noticed that everyone's eyes were on him, which made him a little embarrassed. He glanced around with a suspicious look on his face.

Why are only the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled people here today?

Look at this old woman. Not only has all her hair fallen out, but she also looks utterly lifeless. Shouldn't she be sitting at home reflecting on her life and peacefully passing away in her final moments?

And that old man, his eyes are all white, he's obviously blind, and he's here to read? Are you kidding me?

In such a large Bookstore, with four hundred people, Ma Feifei estimated that about a hundred of them were in this situation. How did his Bookstore suddenly turn into a retirement home in such a short time?

Ma Feifei looked at Zhang Yunji, wanting to understand what was going on, only to find that Zhang Yunji was in a corner with an old man, behaving even more obsequiously than he had in front of Ma Feifei.

"That's Zhang Yunji's Ancestor, going back nine generations," Luan Feng said softly, appearing beside Ma Feifei at some point.

"Zhang Yunji's ancestor?" Ma Feifei was a little confused. He had never heard of Zhang Yunji having ancestors... oops... he had ancestors who were still alive...

However, thinking back, cultivators in this world generally have very long lifespans, with those who reach the Spirit Emperor realm having a lifespan of over a thousand years. Zhang Yunji's ancestor is already considered relatively young if we only count nine generations back.

"What's going on?" Ma Feifei couldn't help but ask.

These past few days, Ma Feifei has been busy copying books, reciting the Tao Te Ching, and researching his Dragon God Arm. He doesn't even leave the Bookstore on weekdays and is completely unaware of what's happening outside. Although the Bookstore is a place with many people coming and going, the book lovers who come in follow the rules, only wearing their glasses and never discussing Dubian Town Bookstore. As a result, Ma Feifei has no idea what's going on outside.

"They are all Hermit masters from all over the mainland. They heard that our Bookstore can help people understand the path to immortality, so they came here. This is only a small part; there are many more in Dubian Town," Luan Feng replied softly. Even though she had already Transcendent to Saint, she was still a little intimidated by so many important figures.

"I remember the registration is over, right? What's the use of them coming here?" Ma Feifei asked doubtfully. He didn't intend to make such a big fuss when he opened the forum this time! Otherwise, it would be over if he just restricted the realm of spiritual saints and above to register. Ma Feifei's original intention was to collect some money, pay back the system loan, and complete the side mission of "Tao Te Ching".

As for becoming an immortal? Don't be ridiculous. According to Ma Feifei's Analytic of all the books in the Bookstore, Epic-grade- quality books can at most help people understand the opportunity to become an immortal. To truly become an immortal, you need Legendary-grade- quality books.

There isn't a single book of Legendary-grade quality in the Bookstore right now. What can they possibly offer to help these people on their deathbeds achieve immortality?

"From what they're saying, it seems they hope you, the shop owner, can increase the number of slots so they too can listen to your teachings and gain insight into the path to immortality," Luan Feng said.

The meaning is clear: they came to read books under the guise of visiting, but actually to ask Ma Feifei to increase their number of participants in the sermon session. It's not difficult to explain; it doesn't matter how many people attend, everyone has to read anyway, and it doesn't matter who's reading to.

However, the event had been agreed upon to have 3,000 participants, so Ma Feifei couldn't simply change the rules. Therefore, he could only let these important figures off the hook for now and deal with it later.

With that in mind, Ma Feifei headed straight for the first Blue Quality bookshelf.

Everyone in the Bookstore had their eyes on Ma Feifei, their gazes filled with curiosity, doubt, calmness, and even a hint of disdain.

They are all top experts from all over the Azure Dragon Continent. Their strength is not only in terms of power, but many of them are also strong in terms of age. As the saying goes, no matter how talented you are, you can't beat me because I've lived a long time. These old monsters who have lived for hundreds or thousands of years have managed to improve their cultivation level through sheer endurance.

Many people were hearing about the Mysterious Bookstore for the first time. If it weren't for the Mysterious Bookstore's sensational offer of a chance to become an immortal, they wouldn't have been drawn out.

But since this claim had been made, and given that there were always descendants who knew a little about the Mysterious Bookstore, they became very interested in it and traveled a long distance to Dubian Town with a skeptical attitude.

So rather than being attracted by the Mysterious Bookstore, they were drawn by the sermon event it offered. Of course, since they were attracted by the sermon event, they would naturally want to learn more about the Mysterious Bookstore and its owner, Ma Feifei.

The information gathered varied. Some believed that the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore possessed unfathomable strength and might have even reached the Immortal Realm; others thought that the owner, Ma Feifei, was a kept man who relied on the Saint figure at the Mysterious Bookstore Bookstore keep it alive, otherwise it would have been wiped out long ago.

There were many such comments, making it even more difficult for them to understand this Mysterious Bookstore owner. Now that they had finally met him in person, they naturally wanted to take a good look at him.

Ma Feifei didn't care. Too many people were staring at him every day. Ever since he acquired the Bookstore System, Ma Feifei had become so arrogant that he regarded everything in the world as ants. No one standing in front of him would make him feel afraid.

In short, he has already treated himself as a player and everyone else in the world as NPCs. He just needs to drive straight through and be done with it. As long as he survives, he's invincible!

Standing before the bookshelf displaying Blue Quality books, Ma Feifei felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of titles. After two upgrades to the Bookstore, the blue bookshelf now held over 1,300 Blue Quality books. Even after accounting for those already taken by readers, there were still around 1,000 books. Choosing a suitable book from such a vast collection was proving to be quite a challenge.

Since it's meant to be read to trees, it naturally needs to fit the theme, so I'll need to find a book about trees.

"But I don't recall any books about trees?" Ma Feifei glanced at the Blue Quality bookshelf and found that there really weren't any.

"Why don't I just buy one?" With that thought, Ma Feifei immediately entered the System Shop and asked the system a question.

"System, please find me a book about trees, blue quality, preferably one that praises trees."

'Ding~ The book meets the Blue Quality —People's Education Press, Grade 8, Second Semester, Chinese Language Textbook.'

"Huh?" Ma Feifei was a little confused. This could be considered a book? A second-year junior high school Chinese textbook? I...

"Wait a minute... Does this Chinese textbook have any articles about trees?" Although Ma Feifei had gone through junior high school, he genuinely didn't know if the book contained any articles about trees.

"Ode to the Poplar."

"..."

"This system is getting worse and worse." Ma Feifei went to the cashier drawer and took out a brand new People's Edition Chinese textbook for the second grade of junior high school. She was really moved!

This book truly evokes fond memories of Ma Feifei's school days. Seeing it brings back those memories of skipping class to play games every day. The books we received at the end of the semester were practically brand new, saving us the trouble of using wrapping paper.

"Ahem..." Getting a bit off-topic, Ma Feifei snapped out of it, picked up the book, and headed towards the backyard, leaving the big shot in the Bookstore dumbfounded.

"How arrogant!" An old ancestor, whose teeth had almost all fallen out, was so angry that she picked up her cane and stomped on the ground. As a result, a powerful force surged towards her, startling her and causing her face to change.

In other words, she didn't activate her Spiritual Power; this power was just an aura. If she had activated her Spiritual Power, she might have died here today.

They had been told the rules of the Mysterious Bookstore before entering, but no one paid much attention. However, this sudden appearance startled everyone, because they had no idea where this power came from, and its terrifying power far exceeded their own.

In an instant, the air in the Bookstore thickened with discontent towards Ma Feifei, and everyone silently stared at the books they had picked up on the long table, unsure of what to do.

A moment later, the sound of someone reading aloud could be faintly heard in their ears. The voice was very soft, but they immediately guessed that it was the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore. They all pricked up their ears, wanting to hear what the owner of the Mysterious Bookstore was reading.

'The poplar tree is truly extraordinary; I praise the poplar tree... Ah, that is the poplar tree, a very common tree in the Northwest, yet truly not an ordinary tree...'

The four hundred people in the Bookstore were dumbfounded, but Ma Feifei in the backyard was reading with great expression, swaying his head and moving his body. He had never been so engrossed in reading this text before.

So much so that Ma Feifei only realized he had forgotten to use the Sound of the Great Dao after reading it the first time...

"Let's start again." Ma Feifei awkwardly closed the textbook. Because he had read it once, Ma Feifei had already memorized all the content, so this time he didn't need to look at the textbook again.

Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes slightly, calming her mind, Ma Feifei slowly opened her eyes, looked at the maple tree, and began to recite.

'The poplar tree is truly extraordinary; I praise the poplar tree...'

The sound was like a mist, elusive yet clear and penetrating, piercing straight to the heart.

At that moment, the entire backyard was filled with Ma Feifei's sudden voice. Yun Qingyang, who was picking Plum Blossom, stopped instantly and stared blankly at Ma Feifei, her eyes filled with shock.

Inside the Bookstore, four hundred important figures listened to this faint sound, and their hearts suddenly trembled, as if something had struck a chord deep within them.

The strange sound wasn't loud, but it slowly began to emanate from the backyard and drifted throughout the entire Dubian Town. There seemed to be a kind of magic in the sound, causing those who heard it to stop in their tracks and listen intently.

The sound continued to drift outwards, scattering in all directions, and slowly drifted out of the Zhenbei.

'Pop~'

With a crisp cracking sound, 'whoosh whoosh whoosh~' accompanied by the sound of breaking through the soil, a sapling sprouted from the ground.

'Mwah~'

'Mwah~'

The saplings eagerly spread outwards, one mile, five miles, ten miles, twenty miles, countless saplings breaking through the soil and slowly growing.

Gradually, the saplings began to change. They grew rapidly, slowly growing from saplings into trees.

'Pop~'

On the bare branches, tiny flower buds emerged one by one, then slowly unfolded into radiant blooms.

"My God!" A cultivator at the North Town Entrance was stunned by what he saw.

On the wasteland leading from the Zhenbei the Pokémon Championship arena, countless plum trees appeared, their branches covered with vibrant Plum Blossom.

Twenty li from North Town Entrance, there are the Plum Tree Blooms!

'Hoo~'

A gentle breeze rustled the plum trees, sending Plum Blossom soaring into the air, drifting towards Dubian Town in a flurry of Plum Blossom...