Chapter 417: In This Life, I Wish to Be a Mandarin Duck

In this life, I wish to be a mandarin duck.

Spending seven hundred God Yuan Value, the great System provided the meaning of those few characters.

In this life, I wish to be a mandarin duck. Could the deity who carved these characters also be a romantic at heart?

Following the deduction logic of Detective Conan, then the door on the right should also be carved with a poem full of deep affection.

Thinking of this, he looked at the charming and picturesque Tang Yunxi. At this very moment, Tang Yunxi was looking at him with eyes full of tenderness.

Alright, I admit it, I am also a romantic, and my name is the "Great Sage of Love"!

I wish to be a pair of mandarin ducks with her, never to be separated for a lifetime.

Uh, got it.

In this life, I wish to be a mandarin duck, accompanying each other and never separating.

Good poem, good poem, true and sincere, with a lofty artistic conception.

Zhang Xingyu steeled his heart, bit his finger, and left his dragon-flying-phoenix-dancing masterpiece on the blank space to the right of the mandarin ducks.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, the great gate moved.

Zhang Xingyu clapped his hands. My third-grade primary school literary level is truly effective!

The gate slowly opened to both sides, and a dazzling golden light burst out from within.

The two of them hurriedly closed their eyes. A moment later, they smelled a thick, fresh fragrance of flowers and grass.

Zhang Xingyu slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was a vast expanse of verdant wilderness.

Near the wilderness were two long strips of paddy fields, where a burly and robust farmer was holding a plow and tilling the land.

His upper garment was casually crossed and tied at his waist, his bare upper body revealing a broad back and muscles full of strength, his bronze skin reflecting a faint oily sheen under the sunlight.

Behind the paddy fields, in the center of the wilderness, amidst a cluster of green trees, the roofs of a few thatched cottages were faintly visible.

In front of the thatched cottages were a few bamboo fences, inside which two or three fruit trees were planted, and a few ridges of vegetables were grown around the fruit trees.

A farm woman was sitting in the center of the courtyard, head lowered, mending clothes. This woman was about twenty-something years old, with a wooden hairpin stuck diagonally in her hair, wearing a blue hemp cloth skirt, and holding a long bone needle with her rough right hand.

The woman finished sewing the garment, bit the thread off the bone needle with her teeth, and walked with a sway of her hips into the thatched hut on the right.

After a while, she walked out again, holding a wooden ladle in her hand, filled with half a ladle of snow-white rice.

The woman walked into the thatched cottage on the left and never came out again. After a while, wisps of cooking smoke rose from the roof of that cottage.

Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi walked inside hand in hand.

Without taking many steps, the two of them had already reached the front of the paddy field.

In the paddy field, the farmer who was waving his whip turned his head and showed a smile to the two of them: "Worthy brother, sister-in-law, you two have come. You go sit in the courtyard for a while first, and I will be back after I finish plowing this field."

Zhang Xingyu nodded, then looked at Tang Yunxi.

The two looked at each other, and both saw confusion in the other's eyes.

This farmer seemed to recognize them.

Leaving the field ridge, the two walked toward the thatched cottages.

Taking only two steps, they reached the front of the thatched cottage.

Seemingly hearing their footsteps, the woman in the kitchen hurried out. While familiarly greeting the two, she brought over wooden stools and invited them to sit by the stone table.

The two were confused, but they did not point it out.

The woman went back to the kitchen to get busy. Zhang Xingyu sat on the wooden stool, bored. If it weren't for the Fairy Sister accompanying him, he would have wanted to stand up and wander around.

He turned his head to look at Tang Yunxi, only to see Tang Yunxi's expression was solemn, murmuring to herself.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"The trees in this courtyard are all divine trees from the Primordial Era, which have long since gone extinct. And those ridges of vegetables are all divine herbs from the Primordial Era, which now only remain in legends," Tang Yunxi said.

"Does that mean we are going to get rich! Hehe." As soon as his words left his mouth, a sharp pain came from his waist.

Damn it, this stinky girl, she pinches the tender flesh on my waist every time.

Wait until I marry you home, I must make you taste our family law.

He was complaining inwardly when a series of thumping footsteps came from behind him.

The farmer was carrying an iron plow and leading a yellow ox as he walked back. Hanging on his plowshare was a green grass rope, with four or five fat yellow eels strung on it.

The farmer first tied the yellow ox to the trunk of a tree, then placed the iron plow in the corner of the thatched cottage, and only then happily said to Zhang Xingyu and the other: "Worthy brother, sister-in-law, I just caught a few yellow eels in the field. Later, I will have your sister-in-law make a stir-fried yellow eel."

"Good! Many thanks, big brother!" Zhang Xingyu nodded hurriedly.

His gaze fell on those fat and delicious yellow eels, and then he never moved it away.

These yellow eels were golden in color, covered in scales, with two feet on their heads and five claws on their bellies. These were not yellow eels at all; they were clearly five-clawed golden dragons.

My big brother is so awesome! Zhang Xingyu thought to himself.

The farmer took the yellow eels into the kitchen, then brought another stool and sat by the stone table.

"Worthy brother, your cultivation progress has not been great during this period!" the farmer said to Zhang Xingyu.

"Uh, I, I..." Zhang Xingyu stammered, not knowing how to respond.

"Oh, look at my memory. There is a problem with your cultivation technique; I have already helped you deduce and perfect it during this time," the farmer said, slapping his forehead.

The farmer reached out and tapped his own glabella, and points of light flew out as if connected by threads. These points of light rotated and danced in the air, and a moment later, they formed golden characters.

The opening sentence was: "The Dao that can be told is not the eternal Dao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth, the named is the mother of all things. Therefore, always be without desires, in order to observe its wonders..."

After reading the first paragraph, Zhang Xingyu couldn't help but feel puzzled. Isn't this the first chapter of the "Dao De Jing" annotated by Laozi?

Holding his doubts, he lowered his head and continued reading.

"When all in the world know beauty as beauty, then ugliness exists. When all know good as good, then evil exists. Therefore, being and non-being produce each other, difficult and easy complete each other, long and short contrast each other, high and low incline toward each other, sound and voice harmonize with each other, front and back follow each other..."

Good and evil are relative, being and non-being produce each other. The text in this second paragraph was still exactly the same as the second chapter of the "Dao De Jing".

If the great System hadn't said that he wasn't playing a virtual game, Zhang Xingyu would have suspected whether this scene was designed by some lazy designer.

He patiently continued to read the third paragraph: "The Dao has no form, yet it is always present. Virtue is immeasurable, and can be followed for a long time. The Dao is constant, and virtue has its divisions. Distinguishing good and evil, identifying being and non-being, measuring long and short, clarifying front and back, this is morality."

The content of this third paragraph was completely different from the third paragraph of the "Dao De Jing".

Zhang Xingyu's spirit lifted, and he continued to read: "Therefore, heaven and earth have the Dao, and the world has virtue. The Dao of heaven diminishes the excessive to supplement the insufficient, while the Dao of earth diminishes the insufficient to supplement the excessive. Practice the Dao of heaven, cultivate merit; practice the Dao of earth, reap evil fruits."

Golden light flickered in his eyes, rays of light and shadow flashed, and scenes played out. Zhang Xingyu felt he had grasped something, yet it seemed he had grasped nothing.

The golden light extinguished, and he widened his eyes to continue reading: "The Dao of heaven lasts forever, the Dao of earth has a lifespan. Without merit, one cannot last forever; planting evil fruits, one cannot live long..."

This article was about a thousand characters long. When Zhang Xingyu read the last character, the farmer waved his hand gently, and all the characters dissipated into golden light like soap bubbles.

Fortunately, Zhang Xingyu's memory was quite good. After reading it once, he had firmly recorded these short thousand characters in his heart.

"Big brother, how should this morality be cultivated?" Zhang Xingyu didn't want to miss the opportunity and hurriedly asked.

"The Dao cannot be cultivated, only realized; virtue cannot be realized, only cultivated. For cultivators like us, realizing the Dao and cultivating virtue are indispensable." As the farmer said this, he turned his head and sniffed hard toward the kitchen. Just then, waves of enticing fragrance drifted out from the kitchen.

The farmer's throat moved, he stood up, waved his hand at Zhang Xingyu and the other, and said: "Worthy brother, sister-in-law, let's talk until here for today. Once you have realized this Dao scripture, come back and discuss the scriptures and the Dao with me. As such, I will not see you off."

A gentle force struck, and Zhang Xingyu and Tang Yunxi only felt dizzy and the space-time shifted. By the time the two came to their senses, they were already outside the archway at the bottom of the lagoon.

Looking up, on both sides of the gate, two lines of large characters were shining brilliantly.

In this life, I wish to be a mandarin duck, accompanying each other and never separating.