Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 218 Medicine Book
"Oh dear~ Fellow Daoist, your timing is perfect. I have only recently returned from the Mi Luo Palace, and you have already come looking for me."

"Perfect timing! I borrowed a few jugs of Jade Lotus Wine from my senior brother; it's only right that you, fellow Daoist, are fortunate enough to have such a taste!"

Jinguan Cave, Qianyuan Mountain.

Master Taiyi warmly pulled Niu Yi along, his face beaming, towards the gate. In his hand, he carried a jade pot of fine wine, from which wafted the delicate fragrance of lotus leaves.

Niu Yi was pulled by the Taiyi True Immortal all the way to the garden, where he sat down at the stone table. Only then did he find a chance to speak, asking curiously:
"Has Fellow Daoist Taiyi recently encountered any joyous events?"

As Taiyi Zhenren took out two wine bowls from a bundle beside him, he laughed smugly:
"Hahaha~ To tell you the truth, my master recently summoned me to the Mi Luo Palace to examine my cultivation over the years. If my cultivation is not up to par, I will be punished by being forbidden from drinking alcohol for a hundred years."

"To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to succeed either, but fortunately, I have excellent natural talent and aptitude. After ten years of seclusion, I've made progress again and passed my master's test without any major mishaps~ Hahahaha~"

Niu Yi looked at Taiyi Zhenren, who was pouring wine and laughing smugly, with a strange expression.

That Primordial Celestial Venerable truly understood the principle of teaching according to aptitude.
Master Taiyi, having said this, looked around at the vast, empty garden land with only a few tender shoots, and smiled:
"It's a pity that my garden was burned down again by that naughty Nezha a while ago, and it looks so bare now. Otherwise, my fellow Daoist and I could enjoy the flowers and wine here, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"But you know what, the residue from burning spiritual materials melts into the soil and makes excellent fertilizer!"

Niu Yi accepted the wine bowl handed to him by Taiyi Zhenren, nodded and smiled:

“What you say is true, fellow Daoist. I observe that your spiritual field is now brimming with spiritual energy.”

This person and Nezha are indeed compatible in temperament.
However, on the other hand, nowadays only Taiyi Zhenren would call Nezha a naughty child.

This is perhaps why Nezha so fond of his master.
Niu Yi and Taiyi Zhenren toasted each other for a while, and after finishing the whole pot of Jade Lotus Wine, Taiyi Zhenren was about to get a new pot of wine when Niu Yi stopped him.

Niu Yi patted the gourd at his waist, and two jars of fine wine, each made of white jade, appeared on the table.

Niu Yi immediately opened the tightly sealed lid of the wine jar, and a refreshing aroma of orange wine, along with a misty spiritual aura, slowly rose from the jar, making Taiyi Zhenren's eyes light up.

“Fellow Daoist Taiyi, this wine is made from the Nine-Leaf Treasure Orange grown in my home, brewed with water from the Heavenly River.”

"In fact, the brewing process for this wine is exactly the same as the orange wine you drank before, except that the mountain spring water has been replaced with water from the Milky Way. Please have a taste!"

Taiyi Zhenren watched as Niu Yi lifted the wine jar and filled the wine bowl in front of him, his eyes full of smiles, and nodded repeatedly.

"Excellent! This wine is definitely to my liking!"

The two drank the orange wine together, chatting and enjoying themselves, as if they had returned to the thatched cottage on Yuanci Island.

The banquet between the two lasted all day long, until the bright moon was high in the sky. After drinking to his heart's content, Taiyi Zhenren realized that it was getting late and hurriedly arranged accommodations for Niu Yi, saying that they would continue the next day.

Niu Yi watched with a smile as Taiyi Zhenren, holding a whisk and swaggering away, left. He knew that Taiyi Zhenren was in high spirits when he was happy, and with Niu Yi accompanying him, he would surely be drinking and having a good time with him in the coming days.

Niu Yi shook his head, closed the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and slowly closed his eyes.

In the spiritual state of mind.

After offering incense at the main hall, Niu Yi went to the top floor of the library, leaned against the railing, and looked at the bright moon on the horizon with a glint in his eyes.

"After all these years, my state of mind remains the same as always."

At this moment, my mental state is exactly the same as it was when Niu Yi cleaned it up years ago. The passage of time seems to have no effect on this place, and there is no sign of the passage of time here.

For him, in the more than a thousand years that had passed in his spiritual state, he had been living the same days almost every day.

Offering incense, cleaning the Taoist temple, farming, cooking, reading and calligraphy, etc.
Fortunately, even after more than a thousand years, he has not grown tired of it in the slightest. When he cleans the Taoist temple every day, he is also cleaning the dust and distracting thoughts in his heart. This is also a long-term path of self-cultivation.

Niu Yi looked towards the back mountain and muttered to himself:
"I wonder when the rooster will finally awaken. Over the years, the five-colored egg has only become slightly stronger in terms of spiritual energy. I wonder when the rooster inside will finally hatch."

"Besides these, there are also those colorful Baoji chickens."

So many years have passed, and even though the rooster's offspring have grown into magnificent adult five-colored roosters, its hens and other five-colored roosters have remained unchanged for over a thousand years.

Niu Yi had used his primordial spirit to probe the bodies of these five-colored treasure chickens. Apart from feeling that these five-colored treasure chickens had an unusually strong vitality, he did not find any other strange phenomena.

Niu Yi looked at the bright moon in the sky, slowly closed his eyes, and the five elements circulated around him.

Although he was still far from mastering the Great Dao of Fire, he could already attempt to glimpse the profound mysteries of many of the Five Elements Great Daos. Niu Yi used the Five Elements Great Daos, which form the foundation of heaven and earth, to comprehend the Lingtai state of mind. In his perception, the existence of the Lingtai state of mind began to become somewhat subtle.
Slowly, a smile appeared on Niu Yi's lips.

Just as he expected, the most important thing in this entire Lingtai state of mind was not the Taoist temple, nor the supernatural secrets in the library, nor the countless medical books and classics of various schools. In fact, the most important thing was always the Lingtai state of mind itself.

Even with his current abilities, he could only grasp the basics of this place. But even so, it greatly helped him to create a prototype of a world within the Chaos Green Gourd.

"This spiritual realm, as it now appears, should be a world that Master created based on the Great Dao of Dreams, using the specifications of a rudimentary world. And the core of this world has always been closely related to the rooster."

In any case, he is now qualified to comprehend the essence of the spiritual realm, which is no different from his master's hands-on teaching.

In fact, this was a gift that his master had prepared for him long ago, but only now did he have the right to discover it.

On Daojun Mountain, Fang Cheng carried five thick books into the incense space of Daojun Palace and went straight to the third floor of the pavilion, where he met the Divine Physician Daojun, who was sitting cross-legged with golden light condensing around him.

As if sensing Fang Cheng's arrival, the Divine Physician Daojun slowly opened his eyes and looked at Fang Cheng.

"Daojun, the five volumes of the 'Medicine Book' have been compiled. All the medicinal materials required for the prescriptions recorded in the 'Hundred Herbs Elixir Classic' have been recorded in it."

"The medicinal properties, growth habits, and age identification of these herbs have all been clearly described. After final confirmation by many physicians and doctors, this five-volume 'Pharmacopoeia' is accurate and error-free. Please take a look."

The Divine Physician Daojun smiled and nodded. With a wave of his hand, the five volumes of the "Medicine Book" that Fang Cheng was holding flew to him and stood side by side, turning their pages automatically without any wind. Once every word in the five books had fallen into the Daojun's eyes, he nodded, waved his hand again, and the five books flew back to Fang Cheng's hands.

"Indeed, there are no errors or omissions. It can be passed down to the world along with the other two sets of books. You have done a great job, Fang Cheng."

"Over the years, you have been running the clinic while also overseeing the compilation of three books: 'The Classic of Herbal Elixir,' 'Acupuncture,' and 'The Book of Medicine.' You have worked so hard."

Upon hearing this, Fang Cheng immediately bowed and said earnestly:
"It is Fang Cheng who is grateful to Daojun for giving his subordinate such an opportunity to dedicate himself to what he wants to do!"

His family has always been a lineage of doctors, and practicing medicine and saving lives is something ingrained in their blood and bones. But in Fang Cheng's view, there is something else that is equally important: medical books.

All his knowledge came from his family's medical books, which provided him with ample nourishment. This was also the reason why he was later chosen by the Daoist.

The three sets of medical books he has compiled can all be called classic medical books for posterity. Even in the vast and resource-rich Southern Continent, where there are many talented people, everyone regards the medical books he has compiled as essential classics for physicians.

This was something he had always dreamed of.
Daojun looked at Fang Cheng and nodded with satisfaction.

He chose Fang Cheng from among many itinerant doctors because Fang Cheng met his requirements in terms of both talent and temperament.

Furthermore, the fact that Fang Cheng was the first to discover the plague spread by those demons back then shows that the opportunity between Daojun Mountain and Fang Cheng has arrived.

Judging from the current situation, his judgment is indeed quite good.

Fang Cheng truly deserves his praise for this dedication that has lasted for over a century.

"Fang Cheng, even though these three sets of medical books have been compiled, your task is far from over. The clinic still needs your management."

Upon hearing this, Fang Cheng nodded earnestly.

"Yes, Dao Lord!"

Tongtian River, Water Palace.

The Tongtianjiang Water Palace at this time was much more magnificent and larger than when Niu Yi first came here. Bright luminous pearls, glowing water plants, and pearls emitting precious light could be seen from time to time, illuminating the water palace.

At the same time, the building of this water mansion has been expanded again and again. If it was a landlord's mansion back then, it is now the residence of high-ranking officials and nobles.

However, the materials used to repair the Water Palace were not provided by Yuanze, but were accumulated by the Old Turtle Clan over generations.

This old turtle was also very shrewd in dealing with people. Although he was a demon king and the master of the Tongtian River back then, even with the accumulation of his lineage over tens of thousands of years, he still dared not take out too many good things, for fear of being coveted by others.

Things are different now. His grandson, Yuan Liu, is now a guardian general under the Divine Physician Daojun, and is a deity who has received the Heavenly Register.

Not to mention, both banks of the Tongtian River are now the fiefdom of the Divine Physician Daojun, and their clan has benefited immensely from this.

In previous years, he had attended two meetings between Daojun and numerous local deities and immortals on both sides of the Tongtian River, which made him somewhat familiar with them. He was even personally introduced to the immortals by Daojun, which was quite a prestigious occasion.

Of course, with the old turtle's shrewdness, he would not rely on his grandson's power to show off. Now, as long as someone is wary of his grandson and Daojun Palace and dares not make any plans to come to the Water Mansion, he is already very happy.

In the Shuifu Garden.

The old turtle sat cross-legged in the center of the garden, surrounded by streams of water-based magical power, clearly in the middle of a cultivation session.

Centuries have passed, and Yuanze has also sent many good things to the Water Palace with the help of his Dao Lord, which has made the old turtle's cultivation speed far surpass that of the past. However, it seems that it is still quite a distance away from the Great Demon King realm.

After a long while, the old turtle slowly opened its eyes, its magical power receded, and it landed slowly with a sigh.

"Sigh, I really don't know how long I'll have to cultivate before I can shed my tortoise shell and transform into a human form."

"Perhaps we could ask Xiao Liu to inquire with the Daoist Master how many more years I need to cultivate before I achieve success. At least that way we'd have something to look forward to."

The old turtle flipped its hand, took out a wooden staff, and walked out of the garden.

Just outside the garden, you see several turtles playing and frolicking; these turtles are none other than Six's brothers and sisters.

The turtle race has a long lifespan; even a small turtle that doesn't cultivate can easily live for hundreds of years, so for someone at the Demon King level, living for tens of thousands of years is also easy.

However, everything has its pros and cons. The turtle race is neither a rare breed nor favored by the heavens. While they have long lifespans, their cultivation speed and mental development are far slower than other races.

It can be said that this species often competes to see who lives the longest. Those who live the longest naturally have greater abilities, rather than competing for short-term gains.

But when the old turtle looked at its brothers and sisters, Yuan Liu, it sighed slightly.

Normally, if he hadn't met the immortal back then, even though hundreds of years had passed, his Yuan Liu should still be among these many little turtles, playing and joking around, still childlike and unaware of responsibility.

But it was precisely because of the appearance of the immortal that Yuan Liu underwent such a significant change. Even he, as the grandfather, felt a sense of pressure when facing the current Yuan Liu, General Yuan Ze.

"It's a pity that only Yuan Liu in my Water Palace has such an opportunity. Not only does he benefit the Water Palace, but he can also ascend to immortality. Moreover, that immortal is extremely extraordinary and may have a chance to go even further in the future."

"But thinking about it that way, it seems I was being greedy."

The old turtle sighed to itself, ignoring the carefree turtles, and strode out of the water palace.

On the Tongtian River, a treasure ship that has sailed along the banks of the river for hundreds of years and changed hands several times is now sailing towards the west bank.

(End of this chapter)