Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 271 Baoxiang Saves the King

After bidding farewell to the celestial child before him and asking him to convey his gratitude to the Supreme Dao Ancestor, Dao Lord then ordered the many celestial officials in Dao Lord's palace to move all the large boxes containing rare and precious materials at the entrance back into the palace.

Daojun himself returned to the alchemy room of Daojun Palace in the Heavenly Court.

Inside the deep green alchemy room, the aroma of medicinal herbs filled the air, and at the very center stood a jade cauldron inscribed with the names of hundreds of herbs from around the world.

This cauldron looks as tall as Laozi's alchemy furnace, with no gaps at all, as if it were made from a single piece of jade, and inside it is burning with blazing green flames.

This cauldron was named the Hundred Herbs Cauldron by the Daoist Lord. Although the name is somewhat unremarkable, it is the Daoist Lord's fifth divine treasure after the Green Bamboo Staff, the Medicine Box, the Vow Power Coin, and the Tiger Support.

This treasure has no other use but to refine pills, medicines, and incense. However, it is most suitable for him. He can achieve twice the result with half the effort when using this cauldron to refine medicine. Although it is not as good as the Hunyuan Furnace, it is far superior to other treasure cauldrons.

At this moment, Daojun waved his hand, and one after another emerald green light spots flew out of the alchemy furnace and landed in the emerald green gourd hanging on the roof beam.

These pills were made from celestial herbs and contained extremely pure celestial energy, making them a great tonic for DouDou.

"Once these spiritual materials are refined, DouDou will have enough food for the time being. As for now..."

Daojun looked at the wall and saw that, apart from the door, the other three walls of the alchemy room were lined with antique-style medicine cabinets, and each wall had a large, golden character written on it.

These three large characters are 丹 (dan), 药 (yao), and 香 (xiang), with the medicine cabinets under the character 香 (xiang) being the most numerous.

He had already memorized the "Incense Classic" that his senior brother had taught him.

In the years since he ascended to heaven to become an immortal, with an abundance of rare and precious materials, he had already refined most of the spiritual fragrances in the "Fragrance Classic," except for those whose materials were truly difficult to gather.

The medicine cabinet beneath the character for "fragrance" is where many precious and rare incense and fragrances are stored.

Daojun stepped forward slowly, pondered for a moment as he looked at the medicine cabinets with inscriptions in front of him, and then beckoned to the middle medicine cabinet in the top row. The medicine cabinet quickly opened, and a precious incense stick with golden patterns and as white as jade flew out and landed in Daojun's hand.

"The Golden Jade Resurrection Incense, this precious incense should be enough to bring the King of Wuji Kingdom back to life, completely merging him with his body, making him no different from when he was alive."

Daojun looked at the precious incense in his hand. Even for him, this incense was of the highest quality, and he only had three sticks of it.

However, since the Supreme Dao Ancestor had given him so many rare and precious materials, he only needed to find some relatively easy-to-find auxiliary materials to start the furnace again.

Many of the spiritual materials given by the Supreme Dao Ancestor were even needed to refine the Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, which shows how precious they were.

As Daojun held the Golden Jade Resurrection Incense, about to leave the alchemy room, his gaze suddenly shifted, looking towards the direction of the Daojun Palace gate.

"That monkey came pretty fast."

Meanwhile, outside the gate of Daojun Palace, Sun Wukong arrived by riding the clouds.

"Although I, Old Sun, only passed through here back then and never came to pay a visit in person, I still remember the medicinal smell of this palace."

Looking at the somewhat familiar, deep green palace before him, and smelling the familiar scent of medicine, Sun Wukong chuckled twice, quickly walked to the gate, and knocked on the palace door.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Is the Divine Physician Daoist Lord at home? Sun Wukong has come to pay a visit!"

Upon hearing the knocking, the two minor officials tending the flowerbeds in the Daojun Palace courtyard exchanged a glance, both noticing the surprise in the eyes of the person opposite them.

One of the slightly thin clerks murmured:
"Sun Wukong? Why does that name sound familiar? But it's been so long, I've memorized most of the immortals who have come to visit our Dao Lord. This must be his first time here."

When they were in the mortal world, they were both disciples of the Daojun Palace. The reason they were willing to stay in the Heavenly Court was because it contained almost all the legendary spiritual materials of heaven and earth. They also rarely went out, and when they ascended to immortality, it had been quite a long time since the incident of causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace, which is why they did not recognize Sun Wukong.

Another minor official nodded thoughtfully, then suddenly seemed to remember something, his eyes lighting up.

"Sun Wukong? It's the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong! The one who, according to legend, wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago!"

"I'll go open the door! Daojun just returned to his palace from heaven. I'll go see what this person's intentions are. With Daojun here, he certainly won't be able to cause any trouble."

As the official spoke, he quickly ran to the gate of Daojun Palace, opened the gate, and saw a hairy-faced monk with a thunder god's mouth standing outside, who greeted him.

"Greetings, celestial official. May I ask if the Daoist Lord is at home?"

The minor official looked at the monkey before him and thought to himself, "This must be the legendary Monkey King who wreaked havoc in Heaven. He seems quite polite, doesn't he?"
The minor official returned the greeting to Sun Wukong.

"The Daoist Lord is at home. I wonder what business the Great Sage has? I can convey his message."

"Alright, alright, then I'll trouble you."

Just as Sun Wukong was about to nod in agreement, he heard a deep laugh coming from behind the door. It was the laughter of the Divine Physician Daojun.

"Qingfeng, there's no need to look for me. You should go and do your own thing."

"Yes, Lord Dao."

The minor official named Qingfeng nodded hurriedly, turned around and walked towards the flower garden. At this moment, the Divine Physician Daojun had already arrived at the gate, opened the gate, and looked at the monkey scratching its ears and cheeks in front of it.

Upon seeing the Daoist Lord before him, Sun Wukong chuckled and stepped forward to pay his respects once more.

"Daoist Lord, Daoist Lord, I, Old Sun, greet you."

Daojun smiled and said:

"Great Sage, with Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West to retrieve the scriptures, how could you possibly have time to visit my Daoist Palace? It seems you wouldn't come here without a reason."

"Hehe~ Daoist Master, you really understand me, Old Sun~"

Sun Wukong stepped forward and said:

"I, Old Sun, have an important matter to ask of you, Daoist Lord."

"Oh?"

"Hey~ Daojun, my master and I were traveling westward when we passed Baolin Temple. My master was appeared in a dream by the king of Wuji Kingdom in the lower realm, crying out for justice."

"The king was thrown into the well by the monster and died. Fortunately, the Dragon King of the Well used a youth-preserving pill to fix his body and prevent it from decaying."

“My master has taken pity on me again and wants to save the King of Wuji Kingdom. Since the healers in the lower realm respect the Daoist Lord, I, Old Sun, have come to ask the Daoist Lord if you have any prescriptions for saving lives.”

“Since the King of Wuji Kingdom’s body is incorruptible and his soul is still intact, then this recipe must also exist.”

Sun Wukong's eyes lit up.

"Oh? It really works?" Daojun took out the Golden Jade Resurrection Incense from his sleeve and handed it to Sun Wukong, who then took it.

He smiled, knowing full well the monkey's impatient nature, and simply went to Sun Wukong's side to explain:

“If the Great Sage wants to save the King of Wuji Kingdom, he might as well light this Golden Jade Resurrection Incense next to the King. His soul will naturally return with the fragrance of this magical incense and enter his body.”

"Moreover, this incense can nourish the body and soul, bringing them together. Even though the king has been dead for three years and his body and soul have been separated for three years, it is still fine."

“Great Sage, take this precious incense and save the king’s life; let that be considered a meritorious deed for you.”

Sun Wukong grinned happily and quickly bowed to the Daoist Lord.

"Okay, okay, thank you very much."

After saying this, Sun Wukong was anxious. He leaped up and rode his somersault cloud back to the mortal realm to save the King of Wuji Kingdom.

"Heh~ This monkey's still as impatient as ever~"

Daojun smiled and shook his head. He turned around and was about to return to Daojun Palace when suddenly he felt a familiar aura flying from afar.

Daojun turned his head and saw Lü Dongbin, dressed in a Daoist robe, wearing a Huayang turban, and carrying a sword, walking towards Daojun Palace.

"Daojun, there is now progress on my reincarnation and tribulation."

Upon hearing this, Daojun's expression turned serious, and he quickly welcomed Lü Dongbin into Daojun's palace, leading him to the main hall for a detailed discussion.

Inside the room, Tang Sanzang looked at the incorruptible body of the King of Wuji Kingdom, whose face still exuded majesty despite being lifeless. He silently prayed that his eldest disciple could truly find the way to save him.

"Master! I, Old Sun, am back!"

Upon hearing the words, Tang Sanzang quickly looked towards the door and saw Sun Wukong leap into the room, arriving in front of Tang Sanzang in a few steps.

"Wukong, have you found a way to save the king?"

"Hehe~ Master, how could you not trust me to do things? This precious incense in my hand is something I obtained from the Divine Physician Daojun. Just take a good look at it~"

Seeing Sun Wukong's reaction, Tang Sanzang smiled slightly, relieved, nodded, and walked to the side, letting his eldest disciple do as he pleased.

Not far away, Pigsy and Sandy also walked over quickly. They saw Sun Wukong place the incense on the head of the King of Wuji Kingdom, exhale lightly, and ignite the Golden Jade Resurrection Incense.

After the Golden Jade Resurrection Incense was lit, a warm, white fragrance rose up and enveloped the King of Wuji Kingdom. At the same time, another fragrance spurted out and extended in an unknown direction, as if it were drawing something away.

In just a short while, the four disciples saw the soul of the King of Wuji Kingdom stepping on the fragrant jade steps and walking towards his body, finally lying down on the table and merging with the body.

Soon, as the Golden Jade Resurrection Incense burned out, the last wisp of fragrance entered the nose of the King of Wuji Kingdom. The king's complexion was rosy, and he had clearly recovered his vitality.

Several days later, on Mount Jindu, Niu Yi was looking at the chessboard in front of him, looking thoughtful. The figure opposite him was not the Earth God of Jindu, but Taibai Jinxing, who was stroking his silver beard and holding a whisk.

"The Tang Monk and his companions on their journey to the West have already passed through the Kingdom of Wuji and are heading towards Drill Mountain. Judging by the time, they should be able to reach Drill Mountain and meet Red Boy in a few days."

Upon hearing this, Niu Yi raised his head and smiled:

"The Star Lord seems to care quite a bit about this matter, but I suppose Guanyin Bodhisattva is watching over there, so there shouldn't be any more problems."

Venus looked at Niu Yi, but shook his head and chuckled.

"You, you, why are you talking about an old man like that?"

"I think if you hadn't given those eye drops to your junior brother earlier to treat his old eye disease, you would probably be even more anxious than I am right now."

Niu Yi didn't hide anything and readily admitted:

"That's natural. That Red Boy's Samadhi True Fire is no ordinary thing. I see that he has now forged five Five Elements Chariots. With the help of these Five Elements Chariots, that Samadhi True Fire is naturally extremely powerful."

"If my junior brother's old eye disease were to come into contact with the thick smoke of this Samadhi True Fire..."

Niu Yi shook his head, clearly not optimistic about the matter. The reason he was able to sit still was because Sun Wukong's old illness had improved a lot. Although he would suffer a bit when encountering that smoke, it wouldn't cause any major harm.

Taibai Jinxing was clearly aware of Niu Yi's thoughts, and knew that the person in front of him still cared a lot for his junior brother, especially since Sun Wukong had been helping him all the way since the journey to the West.

Venus said:
"Speaking of which, didn't you also compete with Red Boy in the power of the Samadhi True Fire back then? If you were to face the Samadhi True Fire now, aided by the Five Elements Chariot, would you be confident of defeating it?"

Niu Yi smiled upon hearing this:

"I am confident, Star Lord. That Red Boy has the Five Elements Chariot, and my Fire Spirit Orb and my Fire Gourd are not just for show."

Speaking of which, he has rarely used either the Turbid Qi Gourd or the Fire Gourd since he obtained them. The Turbid Qi Gourd is mostly used to release turbid qi, which has evolved into the ever-expanding Hunyuan Island.

The fire gourd is now in the hands of the divine avatar, used by the Dao Lord to set off and extinguish the fire for alchemy.

In this short time, Daojun also condensed a Hundred Herbs Fire Seed. This fire seed is the most gentle and controllable, and can perfectly bring out the essence of heaven and earth materials. It is suitable for refining medicine. It is stored in the fire gourd together with the Six Ding Divine Fire Seed.

With his supernatural abilities, it would only take him an instant to send the magical artifacts he transformed into to his side, and he could take them whenever he wanted.

Niu Yi simply hasn't encountered a situation where he needs to use it yet.

Several more days passed, and at Drill Mountain, in the Fire Cloud Cave of Dry Pine Stream.

"Ouch! Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me!"

Red Boy sat on his throne, watching his minions whip the trapped local gods and mountain spirits below. Seeing the two deities' pathetic and unfortunate state, he felt a surge of joy and burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha~"

"Minions, make way for me! Let this great king handle this!"

"Yes!"

The child-like Red Boy leaped up and arrived in front of the two mountain gods and local deities. He took the red whip from the little demon beside him and lashed it at the mountain gods and local deities!
"what!!!"

Red Boy's eyes flashed with ferocity, his face hardened, and his long whip lashed out, creating a series of whistling sounds and fiery red afterimages.

"Hmph! I hate you mountain gods and local deities the most! Falling into my hands is your bad luck!"

Red Boy seemed to recall some unpleasant past events, and he swung his whip even harder.

(End of this chapter)