Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 293 Sun Simiao
Several months later, on Mount Jindu.

Sensing a dark, demonic aura sweeping in from not far from Jindu Mountain, Ao Xuan, who was meditating, quickly got up and looked at Niu Yi, who was sipping tea alone not far away.

Niu Yi raised his head, glanced at the dark demonic aura, and with a wave of his sleeve, caused the Five Elements Array surrounding Jindu Mountain to quickly dissipate.

Just then, a golden light flew out quickly from the dark demonic aura and landed on the stone table in front of Niu Yi.

Here you go~

Niu Yi smiled, reached out and took the golden light. He saw that the golden light was a golden pill with nine stripes on its surface, the Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill.

Niu Yi put the pill away, looked at the sullen scorpion demon opposite him, and smiled:

"What? Didn't you escape using a fake body? Why do you look so sour?"

Upon hearing this, the scorpion demon's expression grew even more dejected. She slumped onto the stone table, weakly saying:

"I haven't had a man for so many years while hiding in Ling Mountain, my cultivation has really deteriorated."

Then, the scorpion demon used a black wind to abduct Tang Sanzang, and used a poisonous fighting technique to repel the combined attack of Zhu Bajie and Sun Wukong, but despite all her efforts, she could not get Tang Sanzang to even glance at her.

Although she collapsed to the ground, her body aching and numb, after being summoned by the Rabbit Star Lord, she used this as a pretext to escape.

It was only after the divine physician Daojun went to heaven to find the Maori Star Lord and explained the matter, asking him to show some mercy.

Clearly, compared to the Sun God, the Scorpion Demon suffered more from Tang Sanzang.

Niu Yi shook his head and smiled:

"You know Tang Sanzang's background. If you arouse his seven emotions and six desires, he is just an ordinary person and will naturally find it very difficult to resist."

"But if you only use 'charm' to seduce him, Tang Sanzang is a high-ranking monk who practices Zen. He can grit his teeth and get through it."

"I can see you're quite conflicted right now, half regretful and half relieved."

The scorpion demon sighed weakly, but did not refute Niu Yi's words at all, and she no longer had any joy in repaying the Buddhist karma.

"I explained to Guanyin Bodhisattva that the incident at Poisonous Enemy Mountain in the Western Liang Women's Kingdom was also a test of Tang Sanzang's Buddhist heart, and one of the eighty-one tribulations."

"Now, the cause and effect of your listening to the Buddha at the Great Thunder Temple back then has been completely settled, and you have no further connection with that Ling Mountain."

"Now that this matter is over, do you still want to stay in the Pipa Cave on Poisonous Enemy Mountain?"

Upon hearing this, the scorpion demon perked up, sat up, and looked seriously at Niu Yi opposite her, saying:
"You have fulfilled your promise, so naturally I will not go back on my word. My demon core is still in your hands."

"If there's anything you need, just let me know. I can't guarantee anything else, but even dealing with someone like Sun Wukong, I'm fairly confident."

"Oh, right, and that Golden-Winged Roc, I've prepared an excellent treasure for it!"

The scorpion demon licked her lips as she spoke, clearly harboring a grudge against the Golden-Winged Roc for chasing her earlier.

Niu Yi conjured two jade wine cups, then picked up a wine pot from the table beside him, filled the cups, and handed one of them to the scorpion demon.

"There's no rush. I've already made all the necessary preparations with the Golden-Winged Roc. We're just waiting for the right moment to settle things with him."

"Once the matter of the Golden-Winged Roc is resolved, you can help me look after my Golden Gourd Mountain and Daojun Mountain. You don't need to stand in the open. If there is any real danger, it's not too late to take action. As for other times, you can do whatever you want."

"However, since you are now working under me, even His Majesty the Jade Emperor knows about this. If you cause trouble..."

Seeing the fleeting murderous intent in Niu Yi's eyes, the scorpion demon felt a chill and said seriously:

"Rest assured, now that my demon core is in your hands, I will certainly not do anything detrimental to you."

Niu Yi nodded slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

This scorpion demon is different from him. Although they are both of demon origin, this guy still has the nature of a demon. He has not forgotten that he attacked the scorpion demon the first time they met.

If they can take him down, they threaten him; if they can't, they beg for mercy and kneel before him. This is the nature of a demon: the law of the jungle, simple and direct, and they like to have everything in their own hands.

Since Niu Yi began cultivating Taoism, he has mostly associated with true cultivators of the Xuanmen sect or righteous gods like the Earth God who attained godhood through merit. Most of them are of very good character. Even the occasional rogue cultivator is like Jin Fu, who likes to make money through harmony.

This scorpion demon was the only pure monster that Niu Yi had encountered. He was confident that he could suppress the scorpion, but he would still have to give it a good talking-to from time to time.

Niu Yi looked towards the west.

There, Tang Sanzang and his disciples had passed the Western Liang Women's Kingdom and continued their journey towards the Western Ling Mountain. The section of the road that he was responsible for had now been completely traversed by the four of them.

He need not concern himself with the rest of the journey; Venus and Guanyin will handle it. Once they reach the Lion Camel Kingdom, he will take the initiative to settle the karmic debt with the Golden-Winged Roc.

It's over there at Zhujie Mountain.
Niu Yi flipped his hand and took out the Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill that the Scorpion Demon had returned, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"Boom——"

On Daojun Mountain, as a melodious bell rang out, the apprentices in the medical clinic rose, dressed, and left their rooms to listen to their teacher explain the medical texts in the main hall. The vast medical clinic became bustling with activity at this moment.

Outside Daojun Medical Clinic, a man was driving a horse-drawn carriage toward the clinic.

“Oh——”

The man pulled on the reins, causing the horse to stop, and the carriage came to a halt in front of the dojo.

Then, the man respectfully pulled up the curtain of the carriage behind him and said respectfully into the carriage:
"Dr. Sun, we have arrived at Daojun Medical Clinic."

"Oh? Okay, okay~~"

As an aged voice came from inside the car, the figure of an old man with white hair and beard slowly stepped out from behind the curtain that the man had lifted.

The old man looked quite old, but he was in excellent health and very agile. He didn't need the man's help; he simply picked up his cane and lightly jumped off the carriage and landed on the ground, which made the man tremble with fear.

The man couldn't help but smile wryly:

"It's only because you're old that you can do it. If it were someone your age, it's hard to say whether they could even jump it."

The old man laughed heartily, patted the man on the shoulder, and said:
"You've really gone to great lengths to travel this long journey from the Great Tang Dynasty to Daojun Mountain. Now that we've arrived at Daojun Medical Clinic, I'm safe. As you've seen along the way, the closer we get to Daojun Mountain, the safer we become."

"Please also inform Taibao when you get back that I have arrived, so that he can rest assured."

"Yes, and please take good care of yourself, Dr. Sun!"

The man bowed respectfully before setting up his carriage and turning to leave.

The old man watched the departing carriage and the man nod with a smile, then turned around and looked at the four characters "Daojun Medical Hall" above the entrance of the clinic, his expression somewhat sentimental.

He was frail and sickly from childhood, which caused his family a lot of worry. Fortunately, there was a small Daojun Medical Clinic not far from his home, where a middle-aged Daojun Medical Clinic practitioner was on duty and treated the neighbors all year round.

However, back then, Daojun Medical Hall was far less famous than it is today. You should know that in the Tang Dynasty, all the imperial physicians in the Imperial Medical Academy had read the medical hall's books, and one-third of them had even studied at the medical hall. This was a measure taken by the emperor to balance the influence of the medical hall's staff.

When he grew up, he also admired the way of medicine. However, at that time, the disciple of that medical school was about to set off from the East to make a pilgrimage to Mount Daojun. He left him with only a few sets of medical books before leaving.

Although he never went to Daojun Medical Hall for further studies due to various reasons, he read all the classics that came from there, so he could be considered half a disciple of Daojun Mountain.

Now, at the age of eighty, he has come here, to this sacred place of medicine that all doctors yearn for. How can he not be moved?

The old man composed himself and slowly walked towards the clinic, leaning on his cane.

Soon, the old man entered the gate and looked at the middle-aged man who had appeared in front of him at some unknown time.

"Old man, are you here at Daojun Medical Clinic to exchange medical techniques?"

The old man looked at the middle-aged man before him with a solemn and respectful expression, bowing deeply and saying:

"Compared to Master Fang, I dare not accept the title of 'elder'."

"Sun Simiao has met with Protector Fang of Daojun Mountain."

Fang Cheng looked at Sun Simiao in front of him and nodded with a similar sense of emotion.

He was just teaching in the clinic when he was startled by a powerful aura of merit that suddenly appeared in Daojun City, and he saw this person as soon as he arrived.

Daojun once said that in terms of talent in medicine, no one in Daojun Medical Hall has been able to surpass him in the past few hundred years. Only Fang Cheng and Bu Yanjin, who has now left the mountain, can be compared with him.

While other medical clinics were making Daojunshan's medical books their lifelong research goal, this person had already forged his own unique path based on Daojunshan's medical books.

When Fang Cheng discovered Sun Simiao in the Southern Continent, Sun Simiao was already a renowned and virtuous physician, famous throughout the land. Moreover, Sun Simiao had many karmic connections with Daojun Mountain.

"Dr. Sun, you are too kind. I am just a few years older than you. The books you published a few years ago were quite impressive to me."

"Now, on Daojun Mountain, we have received Daojun's verbal instruction that Doctor Sun's medical books are among the must-read books for our Daojun Mountain disciples."

Fang Cheng treated Sun Simiao with great courtesy, simply acknowledging his virtue and medical skills, and sharing a mutual appreciation as fellow doctors.

As for the matter of the Daoist Lord of Daojun Mountain issuing an oral decree, there is no need to hide it from this person, as the person in front of him is also a Daoist who has practiced Daoist health cultivation techniques.

Over the past eighty years, with his experience and abilities, he naturally knew that the gods and immortals of this world were real and had seen many of them, which is why he was able to recognize Fang Cheng at first glance.

"Dr. Sun, now that you're here, please don't hesitate to give me your guidance in my clinic."

Looking at Fang Cheng's sincere face, Sun Simiao felt a surge of joy and excitement. He had indeed come to the right place this time.

This Daojun Medical Clinic truly lives up to its reputation as a sacred place of medicine. It has no sectarian bias and takes relieving the people's pain and suffering as its sole mission. It is a place of great love and virtue.

(End of this chapter)