Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 181 Leaving the Mountain
A moment later, Niu Yi, along with his senior brothers Guanghui and Guangwu, sat around the stone table, sipping peach blossom wine.

Master Guanghui took a small sip, then put down his wine cup. Looking at the clear, pinkish wine within, he nodded in praise and said:

"Junior Brother, this wine is different from the ones I've had before; it has a unique flavor!"

Niu Yi smiled and said:
"Senior Brother, this is my first time brewing wine. Compared to the wines I brew now, it is quite bland. The brewing materials are just some peach blossoms from peach trees that have just formed spiritual roots."

"Perhaps it's because we fellow disciples are used to drinking fragrant and mellow wines, but we find this bland wine quite interesting."

Master Guanghui shook his head and smiled:

"Junior brother is mistaken. When I drink this wine, I find it to be rich and flavorful, with an unforgettable aftertaste."

"Oh?"

Guangwu couldn't help but turn around curiously. Although his junior brother Guangyi said that this wine had been brewed for three hundred years, it still had a certain foundation. As he drank this peach blossom wine, he felt it was rather bland.

"Hehe~ Junior Brother, this wine truly encompasses your three hundred years of cultivation journey. Its flavor is certainly extraordinary~"

Upon hearing this, Niu Yi was taken aback. He looked down at the wine glass in his hand, only to see his experiences over the past three hundred years flashing by on the pink surface of the wine like a revolving lantern. But in the end, all he saw on the water was his own reflection, lost in thought.
Niu Yi couldn't help but smile freely and nodded to Senior Brother Guanghui:

"What my senior brother says is true. This wine is indeed rich and flavorful, with an unforgettable aftertaste."

"Exactly, exactly, hahaha~"

Guangwu glanced at his senior brother, who was laughing heartily, and then at his junior brother Guangyi, who was also all smiles. He looked down at the wine cup in his hand, somewhat bewildered.

Alcoholic. Rich and full-bodied?
After bidding farewell to Niu Yi, Sun Wukong never returned to Rotten Peach Mountain to disturb his senior brother Guang Yi.

The following year, as spring turned to summer, Sun Wukong was discussing the Dao with his fellow disciples in front of the mountain gate. His fellow disciples inquired about Sun Wukong's progress in learning the method of avoiding the three calamities that their master had taught him.

The monkey then proudly declared that he had mastered all those transformations, and asked his fellow disciples to give him a challenge. He immediately showed off his magical powers by transforming into a pine tree.

The pine tree appeared flawless, as if a truly verdant and upright pine tree had actually grown on the stone slabs of the courtyard, drawing praise and cheers from the fellow disciples. However, this praise and cheers attracted the attention of Patriarch Bodhi.

As soon as the patriarch appeared, he reprimanded the disciples, saying bluntly, "When a cultivator opens his mouth, his spirit dissipates; when he moves his tongue, trouble arises. How can you be a cultivator when you make such a racket?"
Seeing that many disciples apologized, the Patriarch dismissed them and left only Sun Wukong to give him a lecture.

"Wukong, I taught you these seventy-two transformations so you could show off in front of others? If you see others who have them, won't you ask them for help? Others will surely ask you for help if they see you have them. If you are afraid of disaster, you should pass them on. If you don't pass them on, they will surely harm you, and your life will be in danger."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowed, and repeatedly admitted his mistake.

"Please forgive me, Master! Please forgive me! Your disciple knows he was wrong!"

The Bodhi Patriarch looked at Sun Wukong, then slowly shook his head and said:

"I don't blame you. Go back to where you came from."

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong immediately raised his head, looking at his master in shock, his eyes filled with tears.

"Master... are you trying to get rid of me?"

Sun Wukong took two steps forward and said sincerely:
"Master! I have yet to repay your kindness in imparting knowledge to me, how can I leave!"

Bodhi Patriarch shook his head slightly and said:

"What's the point of talking about gratitude? If you cause trouble in the future, just leave me out of it."

Seeing that his master's mind was made up and could not be changed, Sun Wukong could only kneel down with tears in his eyes and kowtow to express his gratitude to his master.

“Once you go there, you’ll definitely cause trouble. No matter what trouble you get into, you’re not allowed to say you’re my disciple.”

"Please rest assured, Master, I would never dare to mention you once. I will only say that I learned it on my own."

After Sun Wukong finished speaking, he took two steps down the steps, but his heart was heavy. He turned around, knelt down again, and kowtowed several times to his master.

"Master, Wukong is leaving. Please take care of yourself!"

After bidding farewell to his fellow disciples and leaving the mountain gate, Sun Wukong did not leave directly on his somersault cloud, but instead went to the back mountain, at the foot of Rotten Peach Mountain.

He looked toward the mountaintop with his golden eyes, but did not see the Taoist he was looking for. The purple-gold cauldron outside the thatched hut had also disappeared. Even the stone table was covered with withered branches and rotten leaves, clearly indicating that no one had taken care of it for a long time.

"Senior Brother Guangyi, your junior brother has left."

Sun Wukong looked saddened by the memory. He solemnly bowed and clasped his hands towards the Rotten Peach Mountain, but then gritted his teeth, somersaulted into the air, and quickly left his sect on his somersault cloud.

As Sun Wukong flew through the air, he heard a familiar, clear voice in his ear.

"Take care, junior brother."

Sun Wukong was startled and quickly turned around, but he had already flown far away. All he could see was a vast sea of ​​clouds, and Lingtai Fangcun Mountain was nowhere to be seen.

"Senior brother." Sun Wukong's eyes flickered, but he wiped his eyes, turned his head, and continued flying towards Flower Fruit Mountain.

Inside the thatched hut on Rotten Peach Mountain, a gourd emitting a bluish light was slowly rotating.

Inside the Chaos Green Gourd, Niu Yi sat cross-legged in the gourd's space, devoid of chaos, gazing at the Primordial Chaos Cauldron before him. His hand seals shifted continuously, causing the Dragon-Tiger Fan within the Primordial Chaos Furnace to emit bursts of dragon roars and tiger howls.

The voice seemed to carry an extremely angry emotion, as if it were a fight to the death. The Dao of Slaughter and the Dao of Water were constantly clashing within it, each trying to overpower the other, but they were always balanced by a certain force.

Despite the extremely dire situation within the Dragon-Tiger Fan before him, Niu Yi remained calm and unperturbed.

This was something the three brothers had anticipated long ago. Once they got through the period of greatest conflict between the True Dragon and the White Tiger, the subsequent refining of this magic weapon would be much easier.

A moment later, Niu Yi slowly dissipated his magic power, looked at the Dragon-Tiger Fan floating up and down in the Primordial Chaos Fire, and sighed slightly.

"Now that Junior Brother Wukong has left, it seems we won't be able to meet in his true form for quite some time."

However, what he needs to focus his attention on now is the banks of the Tongtian River, where a storm is brewing.

"According to the local deities, recently some demons of varying sizes have appeared in various places, and the malevolent energy in the world seems to have fueled the ferocity of these demons."

"Sure enough, just like those five demons before, they saw the rich land on both sides of the Tongtian River as a piece of fat meat."

A cold glint flashed in Niu Yi's eyes.

Fortunately, he had already given many instructions, and the two places where the message was sent had responded. This time, it seems a large-scale massacre is about to begin.
"Speaking of which, Ao Xuan should have arrived at Jindu Mountain by now."

At the summit of Jindu Mountain, the two attendants, Jin Feng and Jin Yun, were looking at the dragon-horned youth with trepidation, while Ao Xuan watched the scene with equal embarrassment.

The master once said that he also kept a pair of koi fish at home, and later, after receiving enlightenment, he took them in as his disciples.

He had assumed that the koi fish raised by the master must be extraordinary, and he had also concealed his dragon aura. He never expected that just a slight leak would lead to this scene.

Even with Niu Yi's guidance, this foundation is still far from perfect.

Ao Xuan was born from a true dragon in the West Sea Dragon Clan, and his starting point was the end point of the Golden Wind and Golden Cloud bloodline, which is extremely difficult to surpass.
Ao Xuan shook his head helplessly, forced two drops of ordinary blood from his fingertips, and sent them flying to the pair of children in front of him.

"Since you are both servants under the master, these two drops of blood will be given to you two. Do not disgrace the master in the future."

After Ao Xuan finished speaking, he didn't look at the two boys' reactions. Instead, he held the Dao Lord Seal in his hand and turned to look at the four bull demons, including Niu Feng, who were walking quickly towards him not far away.

"I imagine all four of you are ready."

But Niu Feng and the other bull demons nodded solemnly. Ao Xuan then raised the Dao Lord Seal in his hand and pointed it at them.

"By order of the Divine Physician Daoist, now..."

On the west bank of the Tongtian River, at the foot of Daojun Mountain.

A handsome middle-aged man, riding a tall horse, wearing a magnificent white robe and a lotus crown, was gazing at the majestic palace on the mountain, a glint of greed in his eyes.

And that palace was naturally the Palace of the Divine Physician Daojun.

Beside this man stood a young man with shifty eyes, dressed in armor, who was gesturing to the middle-aged man:

"Master, the Divine Physician Daojun Palace is extremely popular, with worshippers coming in an endless stream all year round. Look at that palace, I heard that in recent years, wealthy gentry have donated to its renovation and expansion of two side halls. Over the years, there must be a lot of gold and silver treasures inside."

"If you, Master, were to have the temple priests in this hall offer up so much gold and silver, and we were to expand our army, then Fenghua City would be nothing more than a piece of cake for us, and Zhu Dayou would certainly be no match for us!"

"Hmm~"

The middle-aged man, referred to as the cult leader, nodded slowly, clearly very tempted.

"No!!!"

Hearing the anxious shouts from behind, a shadow of gloom flashed in the eyes of the shifty-eyed young man, while the cult leader also frowned slightly, a look of disgust flashing in his eyes.

No, no, it's no again!
He had heard this sentence countless times since the rise of their Tongtian Sect!
Just then, an old man rode up quickly on horseback, bowed to the leader of the Tongtian Sect, and said anxiously:
"Master! This is absolutely unacceptable! The Divine Physician Daojun enshrined in this Divine Physician Daojun Palace is the most popular deity along the Tongtian River, holding a very important position in the hearts of the people! If people find out that you have seized this Daojun Palace, you will likely lose the hearts of the people in the future!"

"Furthermore, I have heard that the incense money collected by Daojun Palace each year is used partly to buy medicinal herbs, and partly to hire numerous itinerant doctors to provide free medical consultations in various places. The scale is enormous, so how can there still be so much incense money left over?"

The old man spoke with heartfelt sincerity, and the cult leader, upon hearing this, couldn't help but show a look of hesitation.

If what his uncle said is true, then this Daojun Palace is truly untouchable. The most important thing is not the people's faith. If he wins, let's see who dares to disobey him!

Most importantly, he feared that after all his efforts, the Daojun Palace might not have any offerings, and he might have offended everyone. That would be quite a mess.
"nonsense!!"

(End of this chapter)