Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 189 Destiny
At dusk, at the top of Jindou Mountain, in the stone bridge pavilion.

By this time, Niu Feng, Niu Ping, and Niu Li, who had rushed over upon hearing the news, had all left and returned to Jin Du Cave. Niu Yi, however, looked at the pink wine swirling in his glass and exclaimed:

"The taste of this peach blossom wine is truly getting better year by year."

The Golden-Beaked Earth God stroked his beard, chuckled, and nodded. He then looked at the peach orchard, a sea of ​​pink blossoms, and then at the clusters of small white flowers amidst the lush green of the orange grove. His aged voice sighed with emotion:

"These peach and orange trees should still be some time away from blooming, but as soon as you return, they will all be in full bloom."

After Niu Yi returned, the entire Jindu Mountain became somewhat different from before, and the whole Jindu Mountain became more and more vibrant.

Niu Yi glanced at the peach and orange groves, nodded, and smiled:
"Three hundred years have passed, and they are all growing well now. It's worth all my hard work over the years."

"Wow~~"

Just then, a gentle breeze blew by, rustling the leaves and flowers, as if echoing Niu Yi's words.

Niu Yi felt a gentle breeze brush against his face, and a sense of comfort washed over him. He couldn't help but smile, and slowly stood up, looking at the bright moon that was already hanging high in the sky.

Niu Yi then brought his fingers together and drew a wisp of silvery moonlight down to his fingers, pointing towards the bright moon in the sky.

Niu Yi looked at the silvery moon dew on his fingertip, flicked his finger and threw it into the air. The moon dew quickly dispersed in mid-air, turning into countless silver specks that slowly fell onto Jindu Mountain, like a beautiful silver rain. The spiritual roots on the mountain stretched their branches and leaves, clearly benefiting from it.

Niu Yi used the Sun and Moon Dew Technique.

“Lord Earth, in a few days, why not invite the Lord Earth of Baoquanjian, the Lord Earth of Yunwu Mountain, and the Lord Earth of Huxiao Mountain together for a gathering?”

The Earth God stroked his beard and nodded, saying:
"It all depends on what you, the host, think."

Niu Yi smiled and nodded, then turned and walked towards the thatched hut.

The Earth God also picked up the wooden staff beside him, slowly stood up, looked at Niu Yi's back, his expression became somewhat wistful, and a look of reminiscence flashed in his eyes.

Three hundred years have passed, and Niu Yi is still as unpretentious as when he first came up the mountain. Time has not left a trace on him; on the contrary, it has made him shine even brighter, like gold refined by fire.

Niu Yi did not hide many things from him. Who would have thought that the person drinking with him and still calling him the Earth God was a Daoist Lord who could rule a region and receive incense offerings from the region with just one clone?

In terms of divine status, even Niu Feng and Niu Li today should respectfully bow to him and address him as a guardian deity or a general, no longer the little bull demon he once was.

If he were placed in the territory ruled by Niu Yi, he would probably rank last among all the local deities.

Over the years, they have truly become like family. Niu Yi has been gone for more than two hundred years, and Niu Li and the others have gotten used to it. If there is anything, they will seek him out to discuss it together.

Niu Yi was partly to blame. He was gentle and polite, but he never forced the bull spirits on the mountain to learn etiquette and rules. However, his words and actions constantly influenced them.

Just like Niu Li and Niu Feng, who received the immortal talisman, they immediately learned to restrain their divine aura to avoid putting too much pressure on this old local deity of the mountain.

"My luck is truly unpredictable~ utterly unpredictable~"

The Earth God, with a ruddy complexion, glanced at the empty wine bowl on the table, smiled, tapped the ground with his wooden staff, and his figure disappeared with a gust of wind.

On the other side, after returning to the thatched hut, Niu Yi sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, slowly closed his eyes, and quickly entered a state of spiritual tranquility.

Niu Yi slowly opened his eyes, looked at the familiar main hall and the blank memorial tablet on the altar, walked forward, picked up the incense sticks on the table and lit them.

Niu Yi bowed respectfully to the memorial tablet and inserted incense sticks into the incense burner in front of it.

The patriarch did not take away the memorial tablet, but the food that Niu Yi offered every day no longer disappeared. Although Niu Yi was somewhat disappointed, he still came to visit his master every day.

He had been cooking for his ancestor in this spiritual realm for over nine hundred years, and now that he only needed to cook for himself every day, he was quite unaccustomed to it.

At the same time, Niu Yi could also sense that some subtle changes seemed to have occurred in his mental state.

After leaving the central hall, Niu Yi went straight to the back mountain and arrived at the Five-Colored Treasure Chicken's Nest, where he looked at the huge five-colored egg in front of him.

Niu Yi ignored the colorful chickens playing around him and instead looked thoughtfully at the colorful eggs in front of him.

"The existence of a clear mind and state of mind seems to be closely related to the rooster?"

Since he left the mountain gate, Niu Yi's perception of his spiritual state has become increasingly acute over time. His entire spiritual state seems to have some connection with the colorful egg that the old rooster in front of him has turned into.

Furthermore, judging from Niu Yi's current perspective, his master should no longer be in control of his spiritual state.
Even if his master no longer controls this spiritual realm, Niu Yi at this moment is still unable to control this place, and is completely unable to understand what this spiritual realm is all about.

"At present, we only know that the existence of this Lingtai Mind State is closely related to the Great Dao of Dreams. As for the rest, we still cannot comprehend it and are completely confused."

"Is this the method of a powerful being like Master, who is above the Great Luo Golden Immortal level?"

Niu Yi shook his head, no longer thinking about it.

He had a strange feeling that there was still a considerable secret in his mind, but it was not something he could worry about right now.

Niu Yi looked at the colorful eggs for a while, then left the back mountain and returned to the library to continue browsing through the classic works of various authors.

The next morning, Niu Yi slowly opened his eyes, glanced around at the thatched hut that had remained unchanged for over three hundred years, and then looked at the golden sunlight streaming through the window onto him, and couldn't help but be a little lost in thought.

After a moment, Niu Yi came to his senses and slowly got up.

He could sense that two familiar presences had already arrived at the foot of the mountain.

At the foot of Jindou Mountain.

The land deity of Falling Cherry Blossom Valley, dressed in a cherry blossom robe, and Yao Qing'er, in a pink dress, arrived together.

At this moment, Yao Qing'er, whose brow bore a cherry blossom mark, wore a complex expression. She looked at the Falling Cherry Blossom Earth God beside her, her eyes filled with gratitude and a touch of helplessness, and said:

"Lord Earth God, I haven't yet repaid the kindness of Chief Niu Yi for his help last time, and now you're troubling me again."

The local earth god of Falling Cherry Blossom Valley looked at Yao Qing'er, but shook his head and said:
"But if you don't come to find Chief Niu Yi, who else can help you? Qing'er, your lifespan is at most only about forty years left. Even with this period of preparation, how confident are you of breaking through?" When he and Yao Qing'er came to find Niu Yi, Yao Qing'er was still at the Great Demon Realm. Later, with Niu Yi's help, she broke through to the Demon General Realm. At that time, she was already over one hundred and fifty years old.

Now, more than two hundred years have passed, and Yao Qing'er is still only at the Demon General level. Her lifespan is also nearing its end. Limited by her resources, her chances of condensing her primordial spirit and breaking through to the Demon Commander level are really slim.

Yao Qing'er sighed softly, about to say something, when she suddenly heard a soft laugh coming from in front of the two of them.

"Hehe~ Since you two are here, just go up the mountain. There's no need to wait here."

Yao Qing'er and Luo Ying Tu Di Gong quickly looked over and saw Niu Yi, dressed in a green robe, standing not far away, smiling at them.

"Chief Niu Yi!"

Niu Yi smiled and nodded, exchanged greetings with the two men, and then led them directly to the top of Jindu Mountain, where they sat down in the pavilion.

Niu Yi looked at Yao Qing'er and said:
"I observe that Miss Qing'er still has forty-three years of lifespan remaining. Her aura is pure and ethereal, clearly indicating that she has worked hard over the past two hundred years. If she can overcome her fear of breaking through to a higher realm, she should have a 30% chance of breaking through."

For Niu Yi, given his current mastery of karmic divination, he could easily calculate Yao Qing'er's lifespan with a simple calculation.

Upon hearing this, Yao Qing'er and Luo Ying Tu Di Gong exchanged bewildered glances. They had thought that Yao Qing'er would be lucky to have even a 20% chance of success.
Niu Yi looked at the two of them, then slapped his palm against the green gourd at his waist, and two incense boxes immediately appeared on the table.

Niu Yi laughed:

“A 30% chance is still too low. You two, these two boxes of incense are Spirit Nourishing Incense and Soul Nourishing Incense, which are spiritual incense that strengthen the soul and can increase Qing’er’s chances of breaking through her realm by another 40%.”

Upon hearing this, Yao Qing'er and Luo Ying Tu Di Gong looked at the two boxes of spiritual incense on the table, their eyes sparkling with admiration.

The reason why Yao Qing'er had difficulty breaking through to the Demon General realm was mostly because her soul was not strong enough, and she had no confidence in condensing her primordial spirit.

If one has these two boxes of spiritual incense to make the soul stronger, then the chances of condensing the primordial spirit will naturally increase significantly.

Just as Yao Qing'er was about to say something, she saw Niu Yi slap the gourd again, and a crystal-clear white jade wine jar flew out of the gourd and appeared on the table.

"Gentlemen, this wine was brewed by my sect more than a hundred years ago. Although it doesn't taste good, it has strong medicinal properties and is most suitable for improving cultivation."

This wine was created by Niu Yi and Guangwu when they had nothing to do, using many rare and precious treasures that Guangwu had found.

This wine should actually be called a medicinal wine, because it tastes bad and has no effect on people with cultivation levels like Niu Yi and his companions. The few jars of wine that were refined back then were all sealed up by Niu Yi and left to gather dust in the corner of the gourd.

But now it seems that this wine is just right for Yao Qing'er's current situation.

With the presence of the Spirit-Nourishing Incense and the Soul-Nourishing Incense, Yao Qing'er's soul will become much stronger. In addition, with this medicinal wine to enhance her cultivation, she can begin to break through her realm once her cultivation is stable.

"Isn't this a bit too precious?"

Yao Qing'er looked at the two boxes of spiritual incense and the white jade wine jar on the table, her face flushed slightly, and she became somewhat restless, but her eyes remained fixed on the three items, unable to look away.

According to Chief Niu Yi, if she had these things to help her, then condensing her primordial spirit and breaking through to the Demon General realm would be a sure thing.

If she broke through to the Demon General realm, she could live for another six hundred years and witness the blooming and withering of the cherry blossoms in Falling Cherry Valley six hundred more times. How could she not be tempted?
Niu Yi smiled and shook his head, pushing all three items in front of Yao Qing'er, and said:
"Don't worry, Miss Qing'er. These are nothing special to me. I would be very happy if I could help you in any way. Miss Qing'er and I are old acquaintances, so there's no need to be so polite."

For Niu Yi at his current level, this is indeed the case. Just as he helped a group of little bull demons reach the Demon General level back then, it will only be easier for him to help Yao Qing'er break through to the Demon General level now.

"leader!"

Just then, Niu Feng's excited voice came from not far away. Niu Yi turned his head and saw that it was Niu Feng, Niu Ping, and Niu Li walking over together.

Looking at Niu Feng, who was running excitedly at the front, a gentle light flashed in Niu Yi's eyes. He then looked at Yao Qing'er and Luo Ying Tu Di Gong and smiled:

"Gentlemen, I was planning to give a sermon in the mountains today. Since you're here, why don't you listen in together?"

Yao Qing'er finally forced herself to look away, meeting Niu Yi's clear eyes. Her face flushed again, and she quickly stood up and bowed, saying:

"Thank you so much, Chief Niu Yi!"

The land god Luo Ying also quickly stood up, his face full of gratitude, and bowed, saying:

"Chief Niu Yi, this old man is extremely grateful!"

Niu Yi stood up to return the greeting and said solemnly:

"You two are too kind. We've known each other for nearly three hundred years. It's no easy feat to maintain such a friendship. There's no need for such formality."

Yao Qing'er and Luo Ying, the Earth God, exchanged a glance, then nodded solemnly to Niu Yi, remembering this kindness in their hearts.

As evening fell, Yao Qing'er and the local earth god of Luoying Valley had no choice but to stay overnight at Jindu Mountain.

Because Yao Qing'er listened to Niu Yi's sermon during the day with such rapt attention that she unknowingly entered a state of enlightenment and is still sitting there cross-legged. How could anyone disturb her?

This was actually the result of Yao Qing'er's accumulation over two hundred years, and with Niu Yi's sermon, the accumulation of these two hundred years finally blossomed and bore fruit at this moment.

This time, in addition to Yao Qing'er benefiting greatly, the entire Golden Gourd Mountain was shrouded in various Daoist auras. The little bull demons in the mountain were sleeping soundly, and every now and then a breakthrough could be heard.

Even the nearby Monkey Mountain was affected, with significant breakthroughs also occurring there.

The landowners of Falling Cherry Blossom Valley were now guarding Yao Qing'er with complex expressions.

He thought to himself, "No wonder when Liu Gui, the local deity of Tiger Roar Mountain, was conferred his title, Zhao Chenghuang of Xiaping City addressed Niu Yi as an immortal with such respect."

Niu Yi preached during the day, which resonated with the Great Dao of Earth, clearly indicating that he had thoroughly comprehended the Great Dao of Earth. This man, who had only left Jindu Mountain for a little over two hundred years, had already reached the realm of Taiyi True Immortal.

To be honest, he was quite uneasy at this moment. Even though he knew that Niu Yi treated them as usual, Niu Yi was a Taiyi True Immortal, a high-ranking figure even in the Heavenly Court, someone they could not even come into contact with or dare to even think about.

(End of this chapter)