Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 193 The Appointment of the弼马温 (Bima Wen, a low-ranking official in charge of horses) and Yang Jian of Meishan
Venus and the boy behind him rode the clouds and mist all the way to the Water Curtain Cave of Flower and Fruit Mountain.

"Hey! Who goes there? State your name!"

Looking at the magnificent waterfall nestled in the lush forest, and then at the monkeys that were gathering around, Venus quickly called out to the little monkeys at the cave entrance:

"I am a messenger from Heaven, bearing a divine decree. I request that Your Majesty ascend to Heaven to assume office and quickly inform Your Majesty!"

Upon hearing this, the little monkey standing outside the Water Curtain Cave immediately hopped and ran into the cave, relaying the message to Sun Wukong deep inside.

On Venus's side, he stood calmly, looking at the group of monkey soldiers around him who were holding swords and spears and watching them warily.

A moment later, the little monkey emerged from the cave and called out to Venus and the boy:

"His Majesty invites you in!"

Upon hearing this, Venus exchanged a glance with the boy behind him, smiled and nodded. He then went into the cave with the little monkey. After crossing the bridge at the cave entrance, they saw a stone tablet at the end of the bridge. The tablet was inscribed with a line of large characters: "Blessed Land of Flower and Fruit Mountain, Water Curtain Cave Heaven".

Venus and the boy behind him continued to venture deeper into the cave, under the scrutinizing gazes and calls of the many monkeys inside.

The boy surveyed the Water Curtain Cave, where emerald moss piled high with blue, white clouds floated like jade, and shimmering light danced in the misty haze. He couldn't help but admire it, thinking to himself that this place was truly a masterpiece created by nature.

As they traveled, the two soon arrived at the deepest part of the cave and met the Monkey King.

The two looked closely and saw a figure wearing golden chainmail, a phoenix-winged purple-gold crown, and lotus-silk cloud-walking shoes reclining on the throne, leisurely eating a peach while crossing his legs.

As if hearing someone approaching, the Monkey King sprang to his feet, tossed the peach in his hand into the fruit plate beside him, and in a few steps arrived in front of Venus and the boy.

Niu Yi couldn't help but admire in his heart that once he put on this outfit, he truly looked like the Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain; he was indeed very handsome.

Taibai Jinxing and Niu Yi, disguised as children, were observing Sun Wukong, while Sun Wukong was also sizing up the two ethereal figures. When his gaze swept over the child, it lingered on him for a moment, and he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with the child.

Venus stopped, cupped his hands in greeting to the Monkey King who had approached him, and said:

"Your Majesty, I am Venus, the planet of the West. I have come to the mortal realm by order of the Jade Emperor to grant you amnesty and to invite you to heaven to receive your celestial ordination."

Sun Wukong withdrew his gaze, scratched his cheek, and chuckled:
"Hehe~ I, Old Sun, was just thinking of taking a trip to the heavens in the next couple of days, but I never expected a celestial messenger to arrive today~ Thank you for descending, Old Star Lord~"

After Sun Wukong finished speaking, he shouted to the monkeys behind him:

"My children! Prepare a feast to entertain them!"

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

Taibai Jinxian quickly stepped forward and stopped him, saying:
"Your Majesty, please wait! I am carrying an imperial decree and cannot linger. Please come with me to the Heavenly Court. We can enjoy this banquet at our leisure after your promotion!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Wukong's eyes darted around, and he nodded. He stopped the little monkeys and summoned the four old monkeys in the cave. They were the two red-bottomed macaques called Marshal Ma and Marshal Liu, and the two gibbon-backed monkeys called General Beng and General Ba.

“Take good care of your children and grandchildren, let them practice well, and I will go up to heaven to see the way, so that I can take you all to live in heaven in the future.”

"Yes! I will obey!"

Seeing this, Sun Wukong nodded in satisfaction. Then, he casually waved his hand at the fruit plate next to the throne, and together with Taibai Jinxing and the boy, they left the cave and flew into the sky on clouds.

But then Sun Wukong somersaulted onto the cloud, and by the time Taibai Jinxing and the boy arrived at the cloud, Sun Wukong had already disappeared.

Venus shook his head helplessly and hurriedly gave chase.

"Oh, this impatient monkey."

Sun Wukong's somersault cloud can travel 108,000 li in a single leap, and is known as the number one ability to cross seas and fly over mountains. It is far superior to ordinary cloud riding. Even with Niu Yi's current mastery of the Golden Light of the Earth, which he has cultivated for many years, and his body can fly in golden light, he is probably only comparable to the speed of the somersault cloud.

Fortunately, Venus was also fast, and soon arrived at the South Heavenly Gate, where he saw Sun Wukong arguing with the Heavenly King of Growth and a group of heavenly soldiers.

Venus quickly stepped forward and called out:

"Heavenly King! Heavenly King! Please don't do this! This person is a celestial being from the lower realm. I have been summoned here by the Jade Emperor to serve as an official!"

When Sun Wukong saw the old man pulling him up, but the men blocking him with weapons, he became angry. It took Taibai Jinxing a long time to persuade him to stop, and then he entered the South Heavenly Gate with Taibai Jinxing.

Sun Wukong was captivated by the scenery of the Heavenly Court. He half-ran and half-hopped around, looking at the pavilions, towers, golden beams and jade pillars. His eyes were full of joy. He thought to himself that the Heavenly Court was indeed a wonderful place. He had really made the right choice in coming here.

The three arrived at the Tongming Hall in front of the Lingxiao Palace. The boy, without waiting for instructions, stood outside the hall and did not enter. Sun Wukong noticed this and quickly went to the boy's side, asking curiously:

"Why did the fairy boy stop moving forward?"

Before the boy could reply, Venus quickly approached and said with a smile:

“Your Majesty, I, your servant, am not qualified to enter the Tongming Palace.”

As Venus spoke, he winked at the boy and waved his hand, saying:
"Tong'er, you should go back now."

"Yes."

The boy bowed to the two people before him and was about to turn and leave when Sun Wukong quickly said:

"Wait a minute!"

Seeing that both the boy and the star lord looked over in surprise, the monkey chuckled and came to the boy. With a flick of his hand, he produced two spirit peaches and stuffed them into the boy's arms. These were the peaches that Sun Wukong had brought out from the Water Curtain Cave.

Sun Wukong laughed:
"Fairy Boy~ Have we met before?"

The boy looked at Sun Wukong with surprise, seemed to ponder for a moment, then shook his head and said:
"I have never seen Your Majesty."

"Hehe~ It's alright if you've never seen them before. Keep these two peaches to quench your thirst. Thanks for showing us the way, Old Star Lord~"

As Sun Wukong spoke, he used his body to block Taibai Jinxing's view from behind, conjured several peaches, and stuffed them all into the boy's arms. Then, he quickly grabbed the boy's shoulders, turned him around, and pushed him in the opposite direction from the Tongming Hall, saying:
"Hehe, let's go home, let's go home~"

Sun Wukong himself couldn't explain it, nor did he remember where he had seen this celestial child before. He just felt that looking at this child was inexplicably pleasing and familiar.

After doing all this, Sun Wukong ignored the boy's reaction and grabbed Taibai Jinxing, pulling him towards the gate of the Tongming Palace. "Star Lord~ Star Lord~ This peach is for you. Thank you, Old Star Lord, for leading this old Sun!"

"Very well, then thank you very much, Your Majesty. Please slow down, please slow down..."

Taibai Jinxing, who was being dragged along by Sun Wukong, put the peach into his sleeve. He was speechless for a moment, wondering why this monkey looked like he would steal a few peaches from a child.

On the other side, the boy stood outside the Tongming Palace gate, looking at the spirit peach in his arms, speechless for a while. After a long while, as a cloud of mist drifted by, the boy's figure quickly transformed into the Divine Physician Daojun.

Looking at Tao'er in his arms, the Divine Physician Daojun saw in his eyes the image of the monkey in his simple clothes, carefully climbing the mountain, and he also seemed to see the majestic, proud, and triumphant Monkey King.

The two figures slowly merged together, transforming into Sun Wukong, who had sat opposite him at the stone table years ago, eating peaches and drinking wine amidst laughter and joy.

The Divine Physician Daojun revealed a gentle smile. Just then, a voice came from behind him.

"Daoist Lord? Why has the Daoist Lord come to Tongming Hall today?"

The Divine Physician Daoist Lord simply flipped his hand, collecting all the peaches. He then turned to the Daoist Celestial Master in his robes, who was emerging from the Tongming Hall with a whisk in his hand, and greeted him with a smile:

“Master Xu, I was just passing by and was about to leave.”

In the Tongming Hall in front of the Lingxiao Palace, there are four Celestial Masters: Zhang Daoling, Qiu Hongji, Ge Xuan, and Xu Xun. The one in front of him is Xu Xun, also known as Xu Jingyang Zhenren, the Celestial Master Xu.

These four celestial masters usually kept a low profile, but Niu Yi dared not underestimate them in the slightest.

He had met these four celestial masters once before at Lü Dongbin's gathering, and they had spoken, so they were somewhat acquainted.

Xu Xun returned the greeting with a cupped hand, exchanged a few words of laughter with the Divine Physician Daojun, and watched him leave. In his heart, however, he wondered why the direction of this Daojun's palace should not pass by the Tongming Hall.

The Divine Physician Daojun returned to Daojun Palace and soon received a message from Taibai Jinxing. He learned from Jinxing that Sun Wukong had gone to the Heavenly Court's Imperial Stables and taken up the post of Bi Ma Wen (弼马温).

The divine physician Daojun, who was eating peaches in the palace, merely smiled upon hearing the news, then descended to the mortal realm and returned to his own Daojun Mountain.

Now that his junior brother Wukong has taken up his post at the Imperial Horse Stables, he has seen enough of the excitement and should return to his own Daojun Mountain to guard it.

Moreover, it seems that even this divine incarnation of his should appear less often in front of his junior brother Wukong in the future. When he transformed into that child, his junior brother felt a sense of warmth. But now, if he were to see that monkey, he would probably come to visit his Daojun Palace every few days.

His junior brother is incredibly cunning. If he doesn't see him often, it's fine, but if he sees him too often, he might figure out something at any time.
The Divine Physician Daojun pondered, then picked up the spirit peach and took another bite. He couldn't help but marvel at how the peaches from Flower Fruit Mountain were so juicy and full of spiritual energy, even tasting better than the peaches from his Rotten Peach Mountain.

Guanjiang Estuary, Meishan.

At this moment, in the plum blossom forest on the mountain, where plum blossoms were in full bloom, two figures were sitting cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by golden light of merit. Their hands were changing hand seals. They were the eldest and second eldest of the six brothers of Meishan, the two Grand Commandants Kang and Zhang.

At this moment, a broadsword was floating in front of Kang Anyu, while a fiery red bead was floating in front of Zhang Boshi. Streams of golden light of merit were constantly flowing into these two magical treasures, continuously enhancing their power.

As Grand Marshals Kang and Zhang merged all the golden light of their merits into the magic weapon, they slowly opened their eyes. Just then, a burst of laughter came from not far away.

"Hahaha~ Big brother, second brother, why are you two refining merit-based magic treasures today?"

Upon hearing this, the two slowly stood up, turned their heads with smiles, and looked at the two people who were walking towards them.

The two men were quite different. One was short and bald, wearing a straw hat and a brown short jacket. The other was tall and thin, with an extremely ugly appearance, his hair sticking up on both sides, and wearing a red and yellow striped long robe.

The two men, the bald one named Yao Gonglin and the tall, thin one named Li Huanzhang, were respectively the third and fourth of the six brothers of Meishan, Yao Taiwei and Li Taiwei.

"Third brother, fourth brother."

Kang Anyu picked up the broadsword floating in front of him, stepped forward, and laughed:

"My second brother and I gained a lot of merit when we went to help last time. Combined with the merit we've accumulated over the years, we can use it to refine two merit-based magic treasures."

The burly Zhang Boshi also reached out and picked up the fiery red bead with golden patterns that was burning, and he seemed quite fond of it. When he heard his elder brother say this, he quickly nodded.

"It seems that Brother Guangyi is quite generous."

Just then, a clear voice rang out again, and the four of them looked up immediately. They saw a cloud descending rapidly from the sky, and a figure wearing a loose black robe with gold patterns appeared in front of them.

This man was handsome and refined, with a mysterious black vertical line between his brows. He walked with an indescribable elegance and grace, truly a peerless gentleman.

"Second Master! You're back!"

When the four Grand Commandants Kang, Zhang, Yao, and Li saw the newcomers, they all smiled as if they had found their pillars of support and quickly stepped forward.

The visitor was none other than Erlang Xiansheng Zhenjun of Guanjiangkou, Yang Jian.

"Hmm~" Yang Jian nodded, then looked at the treasures of merit in the hands of Grand Commandants Kang and Zhang, and smiled:
“This Brother Guangyi is indeed generous. He is thinking of our brothers when he has such an opportunity to gain merit.”

The opportunity to gain more than two hundred merits at once is not common, and he had also heard from his two sworn brothers that Brother Guangyi seemed to have several extremely powerful magic treasures.

Even he himself might not lose to those three great demons, but he still invited his two family members and Jin Fu from Golden Toad Mountain to go, and let the three of them do as they pleased, taking the lion's share of the merit.

This is enough to show that this person is someone worth befriending, not to mention that he had previously used his personal connections to ask the Nine-Headed Lion to rescue his two brothers.

Yang Jian pondered for a moment and said:

"When Guo Shen and Zhi Jian return in a few years, we might as well invite this Brother Guangyi over so that we can get together and get to know him, and thank him for his care on the previous two occasions."

Yang Jian was willing to be called one of the Seven Sages of Meishan with the six brothers of Meishan. They would share honor and disgrace, advance and retreat together, and their friendship would be stronger than gold!
Niu Yi saved Grand Commandant Kang and Grand Commandant Zhang at Jinchan Mountain, which was no different from saving himself for Yang Jian, who valued loyalty and righteousness.

Meishan's fourth brother, Yao Li Huanzhang, laughed loudly and gruffly:

"Second Master is right. I've known this man for a long time. If there are any more good things to do in the future, Boss Kang, please ask him to take me with you. I'm quite a fighter too, hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, the other three Grand Commandants smiled and nodded, thus finalizing the matter.

(End of this chapter)