Journey to the West: Starting with becoming an apprentice of the Nine Heavens Demon-Subduing Patriar

After the small gathering of reminiscing ended.

At first, the clouds moved about in twos and threes, but later they formed a large group.

One of the monsters was carrying a piece of charred wood, which it had picked up from the edge of the Thunder Pool. Some, having gained nothing, simply flicked their sleeves, bowed behind their backs, and stepped onto a thin wisp of cloud, heading towards the outside of the mountain.

The lingering influence of the Old Mother of Lishan's sermons has not yet dissipated.

That innate vitality still lingers in the mountains, seeping into the very bones, warming one so much that one doesn't want to move.

The demons moved slowly, ultimately because they couldn't bear to leave.

Lu Shanjun stood under an old pine tree, watching the scene unfold.

The lame old ape was gone sometime ago. He remembered seeing the old ape squatting at the bottom of the stone steps before the meeting ended. In the blink of an eye, only a small pile of sunflower seed shells remained on the steps, and with a gust of wind, even the shells were gone.

Wujiao was the last one to come down from Leichi.

It had the head of a bull and the body of a human, its black robe splattered with mud, and water vapor still clinging to its two curved horns. It panted with every step it took.

When he saw Lu Shanjun from afar, he first said "Hey," and then spread his empty hands to both sides.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, don't even mention it. I squatted by that pool for ages, my eyes were practically popping out of their sockets. I reached out for every single one I saw, but those things are as slippery as eels, they disappear in a flash. In the end, I didn't even manage to catch a single hair of lightning."

"You're ruthless," Lu Shanjun laughed.

"He's got bad luck." Wu Jiao recognized it readily, but added reluctantly at the end, "He's also just unlucky."

Lu Shanjun didn't reply, but looked up and glanced towards the Thunder Pool.

The pool, though called a pool, is actually a depression that was struck by lightning hundreds of years ago. The water is whitish, and a thin layer of electric light floats on the surface.

As the crowd dispersed and the pond calmed down, the light sank into the water, revealing a few faint, flickering lights on the bottom, like the last fireflies unwilling to leave on a summer night.

A wisp of water dripped from Lu Shanjun's sleeve and dipped into the pool.

The wisp of water vapor lingered at the bottom of the pool for two breaths, circled a point of reddish-purple light halfway, and then suddenly disappeared.

A soft "humming" sound.

A seed of lightning emerged from the water.

It was reddish-purple, round and plump, about the size of a thumb, shaped like a bean roasted by lightning. It crackled all over and hopped all the way to Wujiao's feet, even bouncing twice on his shoes.

Wujiao looked down for a long time, but didn't dare to move.

"What are you looking at?"

Lu Shanjun said, "If you keep looking at it, it will run away."

The bull-headed demon then seemed to wake from a dream. He slapped his two palms, each as big as a fan, together, covering the thunder bean in his palms. Purple light leaked out through his fingers, illuminating half of his bull face with intermittent light and shadow.

He stood there for a moment, then suddenly looked up, his eyes wide open.

"Fellow Daoist..."

"What's in the forbidden zone, whoever takes it keeps it."

Lu Shanjun stood with his hands behind his back, looking away.

These words were spoken casually, but Wujiao understood them perfectly.

He's a rough man, but a rough man isn't necessarily stupid.

He knew perfectly well where that wisp of water vapor came from and how that lightning seed had ended up at his feet.

Wu Jiao carefully tucked Lei Dou into his bosom, took a half step back, and bowed deeply to Lu Shanjun.

"Old ox can't talk."

"Just one sentence... Heishuidong will remember this favor."

As he spoke, he took a token from his waist and stuffed it into Lu Shanjun's hand.

The sign was made of ebony, and it was extremely heavy. The edges were polished to a shine, indicating that it was an old item that had been worn on the body for many years.

The front is engraved with two ancient characters, but the back is engraved with a car.

A four-wheeled, bulging carriage, with even the shafts clearly carved.

Lu Shanjun held the sign and froze.

He had seen the tokens of the demon race.

Some are engraved with clouds, some with the moon, some with fangs or blood patterns, and the more elaborate ones even have a piece of their natal scale inlaid.

This is the first time I've ever seen a carved carriage.

Seeing his expression, Wujiao's bull face became somewhat embarrassed. He raised his hand, scratched the base of his horn, and chuckled twice.

"Please excuse my poor skills, fellow Daoist. We from Blackwater Cave have many minor demons, but few with real abilities."

"My mother has a saying: 'Those who earn their living through their own labor will not be disgraced.' This saying has been remembered by generations of people in the village. We can't just go into the mountains to rob people, and we can't compete with them anyway, so we figured we must have some skills here."

"Escorting goods. Human caravans, demon goods—as long as it's not something immoral, we'll go if you pay."

"I've walked the path of Xiniu Hezhou for three hundred years; I could walk it with my eyes closed."

At this point, the simple smile on his face suddenly faded.

"It's just been strange lately. Those wild animals are getting up too frequently. In previous years, they would only cause a disturbance once every thirty or fifty years, but now it's happening every three to five months. They're not coming to eat people, they're just... running away."

"They ran eastward in groups, their eyes bloodshot, crashing into caravans, even if it meant killing someone, they wouldn't stop. Last month, I was by the Liusha River, and seven of my brothers died in one night."

After he finished speaking, he realized that his words were too serious, so he quickly raised his voice again.

"However, I've recently heard that the trade routes over Huangfengling are doing quite well!"

"A new market has opened, and they say the Tiger God is in charge, so the roads are safe and the commission is fair. I plan to go there after spring."

Lu Shanjun listened and smiled.

"That...is my territory."

Wujiao let out an "Ah".

He stood there with his mouth agape, stunned for a full three breaths.

The expression on the cow's face went from blank to sudden realization, and finally to a look of regret that said, "I should have thought of that sooner." He raised his hand and slapped his forehead.

"Tiger God..."

He drawled, "No wonder, no wonder!"

Wu Jiao thought about it more and more clearly, and the clearer he understood, the happier he became. He grabbed Lu Shanjun's wrist tightly, as if it were an iron hoop.

"Next spring, I, Old Niu, will bring some specialties from Heishuidong to your market. We'll have plenty of black perch and lotus root from our village. Just one thing: you must prepare as much fine wine as we did today!"

"Keep it in hand."

Lu Shanjun said, "If you don't come, I'll drink the wine myself."

"Come on, come without fail."

Wu Jiao patted his chest, making the thunder bean crackle twice.

This caused quite a stir.

The demons who hadn't yet cleared the clouds all heard the words "Tiger God of Yellow Wind Ridge" and turned around, their gazes towards Lu Shanjun changing somewhat.

Some of the clever ones cupped their hands in a respectful gesture across the clouds. Others, more shy, only dared to steal a few extra glances.

One of the low clouds slowly turned back.

A catfish was coiled in the clouds, its whiskers so long they could reach the bottom of the clouds. On the fish's back sat an old woman in green, carrying a carrying pole that was empty at both ends but worn smooth and shiny.

Without descending from the clouds, she looked down at Lu Shanjun from head to toe.

"Little Tiger, you're all soaking wet, it's really scary."

Lu Shanjun bowed: "Senior."

"The old woman has been carrying water at the Baishitan Water God Temple for three hundred years."

"In three hundred years, what kind of water haven't I seen? The turbidity of the Yellow River, the sinking of the Weak Water, the death in the well, the saltiness of the sea. Your body is the purest Northern Ren and Gui. How pure? So pure that it doesn't seem like it was cultivated, but rather like it was born with it."

She paused, then suddenly chuckled.

"What's even more remarkable is that beneath this dampness lies genuine incense offerings and vows. These are real offerings, not something obtained through deception."

Lu Shanjun nodded, without denying it.

He thought of the newly built houses at the foot of Huangfeng Ridge, the small temple at Fangshikou that he had never allowed to be built too high, and the prayer branches in front of the temple that were bent crooked by the wind.

"rare."

The mother-in-law nodded, but glanced westward.

"The water veins of Xiniu Hezhou have recently been disturbed by a powerful force from the west. When the earth's veins are disrupted, the water veins are disrupted first. When the water veins are disrupted, there will be drought followed by floods, and then drought again, which people cannot endure. In this situation, how can your incense offerings continue?"

As she spoke, she casually tossed it down.

A jade scale.

It was about the size of a palm, shed from the old catfish, and was milky white all over. When held up to the light, it looked as if a line of water was flowing in the scales.

Lu Shanjun caught it and felt its icy coldness seeping into his wrist.

"If one day you encounter a severe drought or flood in Huangfeng Ridge, or if you reach a point in your cultivation where you cannot achieve anything, take this and come to Baishitan to find the old woman."

"Can we pray for rain?" Lu Shanjun asked.