Muscular Rabbits Legion: “No one can escape from the novice village!”
Chapter 568 - 538: Moral Muscle

Chapter 568: Chapter 538: Moral Muscle

Name after name in the Cangshan Mountain World was legendary, reverberating like thunder.

But now, they hung their heads in defeat, appearing as wildmen.

Li Batian said, "Although I don’t know what’s happened to you, I’m different! I will not bow down to fate, I will continue on my path! What about you?"

The dozen or so players stood up: "The same!"

"Then follow me, kill wild monsters, level up, and soar to the skies!" Li Batian shouted.

The players echoed his cry, and then the group rushed out of the crowd with great strides...

Three days later, several beams of golden light shone; at the Resurrection Point, a dozen people stood there with blank expressions.

Then Li Batian roared, "Damn it, I can’t beat a Rabbit, can’t I even beat a chicken, let’s go?!"

Three days later, several golden beams fell; more than a dozen players sat at the Resurrection Point crying, "Fuck, can’t even beat chickens... I refuse to believe that in the entire Newbie Village there isn’t anything I can beat, attack!"

A month later, the band of wildmen had grown.

A dozen guys hid among the crowd, surreptitiously asking, "How’s it going?"

"All’s well!"

"Everyone, continue your cultivation..."

In a large pit, five million players sat on the ground, resuming their cultivation.

Despite the lack of precious resources and food sources, everyone managed to maintain their nutritional balance by absorbing spiritual energy from the heavens and earth, barely managing to stay alive...

The only surprise was that occasionally someone would break through a minor or major realm, causing a small commotion.

Among them, individuals like Li Hongyi and Liu Yi stood out from the rest; during this time, they had never moved an inch, daily enduring tough cultivation, steadily advancing in strength.

...

Elsewhere, the Rabbits had gradually forgotten about these players; after all, always killing a bunch of newbies was really boring!

They preferred fighting, not senseless slaughter devoid of any challenge or resistance.

If there had been better toys around, they wouldn’t have stopped these players from leaving.

As days passed, new players occasionally arrived in the Cangshan Mountain World, and Li Batian’s drama continued to unfold, as fearless newcomers challenged the wild monsters of Newbie Village.

In the end, without exception, they all joined the trembling ranks of the wildmen.

Compared to their ordeal, Yi Zheng was not having an easy time either.

Almost a year had passed, and he hadn’t finished a single book!

At this moment, his eyes full of bulging blood vessels, a touch of madness emerged: "Damn it, how many times have I read it? Why can’t I still understand it?"

Yi Zheng, exasperated, slapped the book closed, only then noticing the book’s title was—Tao Te Ching!

Yi Zheng froze: "Tao Te Ching?"

Holding the scripture high, Yi Zheng examined the cover closely, then the contents, muttering, "No, this isn’t the same as the Tao Te Ching on Earth!"

Although Yi Zheng’s studies on Earth were not great, the Tao Te Ching was a universally known book in Tianxia on Earth. He might not know the details, but the phrase ’The Dao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Dao; The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.’ was almost heard by everyone...

Yet Yi Zheng hadn’t found that phrase anywhere in this book!

The only similar content was the line: "Dao, not Dao, is called Hu?"

Yi Zheng couldn’t understand the meaning of these words, but after nearly a million reads, he found the book increasingly unsettling...

He couldn’t say where the fear came from, it was just purely terrifying!

Yi Zheng became anxious; the Tao Te Ching on Earth wasn’t the original, and archaeological finds show that the older the version uncovered, the bigger the differences with the current text.

The silk manuscript was called Laozi, the bamboo manuscript was called the Dedao Scripture, and the modern version was called the Tao Te Ching.

Because ancient writing was cumbersome, every character in the scriptures was carefully chosen and concise.

Therefore, a single difference in a character could lead to a huge deviation in meaning.

And with each version differing, their meanings diverged even more...

Thus, modern Earthlings generally consider the current Tao Te Ching to be a false scripture.

If the Tao Te Ching on Earth is false, then what about the one Yi Zheng holds?

Yi Zheng also knew that some immortals like to create countless clones to project into all the worlds of All Heavens to comprehend the universe, so many deities have identities in multiple worlds.

For instance, Earth’s Laozi could be an incarnation of Senior Lord of The Three Pure Ones, meaning that the scripture would also be spread in this world.

By this logic, the scripture in Yi Zheng’s hand could very well be the real deal!

"Even if it’s real, what use is it if I can’t understand it?"

Yi Zheng shook his head, bitterly smiling to himself, and eventually tossed the scripture aside.

He rubbed his temples, picked up another book, and was about to read it when he suddenly heard someone outside calling, "Boss, when are you coming out? It’s been a long time since you taught us, when will you give another lesson?"

Zi Gong followed, calling out: "Boss, you’ve been studying for a year, why not teach us too?"

Yi Zheng felt a pang of frustration; yes, he had been studying for a year, but the problem was, he hadn’t learned anything at all!

But since the students were so eager, Yi Zheng didn’t want to dampen their enthusiasm, and besides, he was tired of studying; he also wanted to relax a bit.

Moreover, with the year nearly up, switching to Buddhism at the last minute seemed useless; he might as well spend more time with his brothers.

So, he stepped out the door and proclaimed, "Want to learn something? Fine, let’s all gather!"

Upon hearing this, Zi Gong and the others instantly perked up, immediately beating drums and gongs along the way, and before long, over a million rabbits, chickens, wild wolves, wild boars, and whatnot had all run over.

Yi Zheng stood under a large tree with a blackboard set up, cleared his throat, and prepared to start the lesson.

But soon, Yi Zheng encountered a problem.

He remembered some of the "Analects," but not much, just the more famous sentences. He had taught everything he could...

As for "Mengzi," it goes without saying that he knew even less.

He only knew a few famous strategies from "The Art of War by Sun Tzu," such as the Empty Fort Strategy or the ’best way to escape is to run’ stratagem.

Indeed, you never realize how little you know until you need it...

Just then, Yi Zheng suddenly remembered that although he couldn’t memorize other texts, he knew the "Tao Te Ching" by heart!

He had loved it since he was a child, so memorizing it was no problem at all.

It was just that he couldn’t deeply understand its meaning...

However, that wasn’t important; after all, the rabbits didn’t understand it either.

Of course, Yi Zheng also considered teaching this world’s version of the "Tao Te Ching," but he always found it a bit creepy and was reluctant to discuss it.

So, Yi Zheng cleared his throat and tapped on the blackboard, saying, "Everyone, today I’ll teach you this!"

Yi Zheng wrote three big characters on the blackboard — Tao Te Ching!

He then asked, "Who can read this, what does it say?"

Rabbits, chickens, snakes, and other animals eagerly raised their hands, wanting to speak.

Yi Zheng casually pointed to a rabbit and said, "You, tell us."

Hearing this, the rabbit was overjoyed, suddenly standing up and giving Yi Zheng quite a shock!

Zi Gong, Zi Lu, and Zi Xing, these three big rabbits, were considered outstanding and elite among the rabbits, with heights of only about two meters thirty to two meters fifty, but this rabbit was a full two meters seventy tall!

Its muscles were much bigger than those of the other rabbits; standing there, it emitted an aura that was somewhat intimidating.

Yi Zheng recognized this rabbit; he was a well-known fitness fanatic among the rabbits.

While other rabbits had abandoned working out after gaining cultivation techniques, this one kept on training day and night, only stopping when completely exhausted.

It was precisely because of his dedication that he had joined one of the seventy-two halls, becoming the Hall Master Zi Li of the Power Hall.

This rabbit had no particular flaws, his only issue being that he didn’t like to talk, hardly speaking a few words in an entire year. Now that he had volunteered to speak, Yi Zheng thought he should let him say a couple of words.

Zi Li stood up as anticipated, smiled shyly with stiff lips, and with his flapping mouth shouted, "Tao... Tao... Moral Muscle!"

Yi Zheng turned to look at the words on the blackboard, which were indeed "Tao Te Ching."

Yi Zheng asked again, "Can you say it once more?"

Zi Li shouted, "Moral Muscle!"

Yi Zheng confirmed that the rabbit’s mouth was crooked, and while gesturing for him to sit down, he encouraged, "Well said, let’s give him a round of applause!"

There was a wave of clapping...

The crowd erupted in applause.

Yi Zheng continued to write: The way that can be walked is not the eternal way.

He asked again, "Does anyone understand this sentence?"

This question obviously hit a soft spot for the Confucian disciples; even the rabbits weren’t as enthusiastic, each staring with blank expressions.

Yi Zheng thought, "As expected, even though it’s the Earth version of the ’Tao Te Ching,’ it is still not something ordinary people can understand. I must take matters into my own hands!"

Just then a rabbit jumped up, "Let me try!"

Yi Zheng looked over and saw that it was Zi Lu, the clever one.

Yi Zheng immediately had a bad feeling; it was this very guy who had completely twisted the "Analects" before, and now he was stepping forward again...

However, Yi Zheng couldn’t dismiss him and had to brave it out, "You, explain?"

Zi Lu nodded vigorously, then pointed at the line of text and said, "This sentence is surely a precious treasure left to us by Elder Kongzi. He is explaining the previous sentence!"

Yi Zheng was befuddled, "Explaining what?"

Zi Lu said, "Elder Kongzi once said, ’If you hear the Dao in the morning, you can die contentedly in the evening.’ If you learn the way to your enemy’s house in the morning, you can beat them to death at night. But, is there only one road?"

Clearly not, so Elder Kongzi added this line, ’The way, the way that leads to their house, there are plenty!’

Thus, the meaning of this sentence is that there are many ways to kill your enemy, we should not be confined to just one method!"

Roar!

The crowd of rabbits cheered, chickens hopped, and pigs howled...

In an instant, the entire Confucian Sect was in an uproar.

Everyone looked at Zi Lu with thick admiration for the academically superior.

Yi Zheng was dumbfounded; it was Laozi’s "Tao Te Ching" after all. He could forgive their mispronunciation as Moral Muscle, but how did it match up with Kongzi’s mistaken quotations?

And to complement each other?

MMP!