Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 190 The Dragon King's Memorial
"I wonder what kind of expression the local deities of Yunwu Mountain will have when they find out."

"However, the Golden-Hooped Earth God's luck is truly enviable."

The thought of the scene of the Golden Pocket Earth God chatting and laughing with Niu Yi brought an undisguised look of envy to the Cherry Blossom Earth God's face.

That's a dignified Taiyi True Immortal. Given Niu Yi's relationship with the Golden Pocket Earth God, he will surely take good care of him in the future. And according to the Golden Pocket Earth God, he himself found such a powerful backer back then.
"When one attains enlightenment, even one's chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Qing'er and I are also thanks to the support of Chief Niu Yi, which is why we have achieved what we have today. Speaking of which, the fish demon of the Baoquan Earth God's family should be approaching that point soon as well."

When Luo Yingtudigong thought of Baoquantudigong and his fish demon, a playful smile appeared on his face.

On Daojun Mountain, Niu Yi, the incarnation of the deity, stood with Ao Xuan, watching the last pilgrim slowly descend the mountain.

"Xuan'er, now that things are settled here, you should return to Jindu Mountain and focus on your cultivation."

Ao Xuan hesitated, then said:

“Master, Xuan’er wants to make a trip to the West Sea first. The West Sea Dragon King sent me a message using a secret technique of the dragon race, saying that there is a treasure that my father prepared for me that he wants to give to me. Also, it seems that something happened to the West Sea Dragon Clan some time ago.”

Niu Yi looked surprised and began to calculate with his fingers. After a moment, his expression became even more strange.

The four sea dragon clans seemed to have made unusual moves recently, gathering in the East Sea, and the West Sea Dragon King even seemed to have taken out a set of golden chainmail.

He couldn't have foreseen what his junior brother Wukong would do, but Niu Yi was well aware of the actions of the Four Seas Dragon Kings. It turned out that his junior brother Wukong had gone to the neighboring house of the East Sea Dragon Palace to retrieve the Iron Ruyi Needle, and also asked the East Sea Dragon King for a suit of armor.

The Dragon King of the East Sea couldn't produce anything at the moment, so he rang the iron gong and golden bell, summoned the other three Dragon Kings, and put together a set of armor: a pair of lotus-silk cloud-walking shoes, a set of golden chainmail, and a phoenix-winged purple-gold crown, and sent Sun Wukong away.

As for what happened next, the four of them gathered together to discuss how to submit a memorial to the Heavenly Court. However, it seemed that the Dragon King of the West Sea had already returned, and they didn't know if the memorial had been written yet.

Niu Yi pondered for a moment and said:

"I understand. This matter is not a problem. You may go now. Once you leave the Western Sea, head straight for Jindu Mountain."

"Yes, sir!"

As Niu Yi watched Ao Xuan ride the clouds and leave quickly, he suddenly felt his celestial talisman vibrate and heard a voice from Venus.

Upon hearing this, Niu Yi was taken aback. He then activated his celestial talisman and instantly appeared in the Divine Physician Daoist Palace of his Heavenly Court, looking at Venus who was waiting for him.

"Star Lord, why have you sought me out today?"

Venus quickly stepped forward, took out a memorial, handed it to Niu Yi, and said:

"Daojun, this is what His Majesty the Jade Emperor asked me to give to you, saying that you should take a look at it."

Upon hearing this, Niu Yi was startled and quickly took the memorial from Taibai Jinxing's hand. After a close look, he saw that it was indeed a petition from the Four Dragon Kings to the Heavenly Court, saying that Sun Wukong was going too far in bullying people.
After reading the memorial, Niu Yi was speechless for a moment.

To be honest, he really had no opinion on this matter. His junior brother Wukong not only took the Ruyi Jingu Bang iron by half begging and half snatching, but also asked for a set of majestic armor. This was the cause. The Dragon Kings of the Four Seas were furious and reported to the Heavenly Court. This was the effect.

Everyone has to walk their own path. His junior brother Wukong has learned a lot of skills, and as his master said, he is bound to be restless. What kind of cause you sow, what kind of effect you reap. What can he say?

At this point, Sun Wukong was already quite capable, but he still had a very long way to go before becoming the Sun Wukong Sun Xingzhe of later generations, who was honed by numerous events and protected Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West.

Seeing Niu Yi's expression, Venus seemed to understand what Niu Yi was thinking, and said with a smile:
"Rest assured, Daoist Lord, His Majesty only asked me to bring it to you for a look, and did not give any other instructions."

Niu Yi shook his head helplessly and handed the memorial back, saying:
"Thank you for making the trip, Star Lord."

"Hehe~ It's alright, it's alright~"

Seeing Taibai Jinxing leave with a smile, Niu Yi was still unsure of the Jade Emperor's intentions.

This person clearly knew that Sun Wukong was his junior brother.

But for some reason, he had a feeling that he had been called to the parents' house in his previous life.

It's like when a child who fights and bullies others gets their parents called to the office, the teacher throws the injured child's medical report at them, and stares at them with an expression that says, "This is your child."
Judging from His Majesty the Jade Emperor's temperament during their two previous encounters, this person probably really just wanted to show him something.
Niu Yi's face showed a hint of helplessness, but he really didn't want to pay attention to this matter, nor could he control it. He hadn't even entered the Lingxiao Palace yet.

Inside the Golden Palace, the Jade Emperor sat on his golden chair, eyes closed in repose, but a smile had inexplicably appeared on his face, as if he had seen something amusing.

Niu Yi continued to live his life in an orderly manner at Jindu Mountain.

Although the Jade Emperor showed him the memorials from the Four Dragon Kings, he was not worried. The more Niu Yi thought about it, the more he felt that, given the Jade Emperor's personality, he simply wanted to show them to him.

Three days after his return, Niu Yi found the other three local deities and gathered them together at Jindu Mountain. Everyone was overjoyed to see each other after so many years. Only the local deity of Baoquanjian had a complicated expression on his face when he saw Yao Qing'er, who was in seclusion.

At this moment, Yao Qing'er was sitting cross-legged in the peach grove, surrounded by spiritual energy. The environment of Jindu Mountain was also nourishing Yao Qing'er.

Niu Yi even set up two simple formations to protect Yao Qing'er, allowing her to focus on comprehending the Great Dao.

The local earth god Baoquan looked at Yao Qing'er with great envy. She had been on good terms with Niu Yi for many years and now had such good fortune. Breaking through her cultivation level seemed to be a sure thing for her.

His stupid fish is still far behind Yao Qing'er, and there is basically no hope of making a breakthrough. But now that the local earth god of Baoquan sees Yao Qing'er, a few more hopes have inexplicably risen in his heart.

When Niu Yi saw that the local earth god Baoquan had come looking embarrassed, he knew why. Niu Yi generously gave the earth god a share of the three items he had given to Yao Qing'er.

Even the local earth god of Baoquan hadn't expected that Niu Yi would just hand it over to him like that.
However, for Niu Yi, these three items were more for the Land God of Baoquan than for the Blue Fish Demon. He was on good terms with the Land God of Baoquan and naturally did not want to see him sad in the future. It was just a few sticks of incense and a cup of medicinal wine.

As for the rest, that depends on the fate of that fish demon.

The local earth god of Baoquan was extremely grateful, and Niu Yi repeatedly said that there was no need for such formalities.

After everyone had gathered for a while, as evening approached, the local earth gods were about to leave. However, Liu Gui, the earth god of Tiger Roaring Mountain, stayed behind and sat alone with Niu Yi in the pavilion.

Niu Yi looked at Liu Gui with some surprise and said:
"Oh? Dongchen came here a few years ago to visit you?"

Liu Gui nodded repeatedly and said:

"That's right. He asked me to tell you that he has regained his memories of his past life and is currently undergoing the trials given to him by the Heavenly Venerable. Once the trials are over, he will come here to visit you."

"Dongchen said that he has always kept the Taoist's teachings in mind, which has given him greater confidence to make further progress. He will definitely come to thank you in person in the future."

Liu Gui still finds it somewhat unbelievable that his son is actually a disciple of the Taiyi Jiuku Tianzun, whom his family worships, who has descended to earth for trials.

His daughter was also favored by the Moon Goddess and was undergoing training under her.

He now understands why his family is where they are today, and why the Celestial Venerable appeared in his dream to warn him when the flood struck.
Niu Yi did not tell Liu Gui the whole story from back then, since if he were to tell someone, it would be best to have Liu Dongchen and the others tell him.

However, upon hearing that Liu Dongchen is doing well now, and that even after regaining his memories, he still remembers to visit Liu Gui, he is quite gratified.

"Since Liu Dongchen is doing well now, I can rest assured."

Liu Dongchen, after all, had been by his side for two whole years.

After telling Niu Yi about this, Liu Gui took his leave.

For the next few years, Niu Yi spent his days either comprehending the Great Dao, feeding the spirit fish, tending the trees and watering the flowers, and also refining all the Yin Iron that the Yin Soldiers sent every now and then into Yin Spirit Iron, which he then incorporated into the God-Locking Chains.

The bull demons on the mountain are now cultivating quite diligently. This scene began after the ancestor returned and met with the bull demon with the highest cultivation level, Niu Yan.

The mountaintop where the Ancestor lived has been a forbidden area for the many bull demons on Jindu Mountain for many years. Even now that the Ancestor has returned, it is still a rare sight. Being able to go to the mountaintop to meet the Ancestor is the proudest thing in the eyes of many bull demons.

Eight years after Niu Yi returned to the mountain, he had just finished comprehending the Great Dao of Cause and Effect with the help of the Cause and Effect Divination Coin. He was standing in front of the Nine-Leaf Treasure Orange Spirit Root, which already had a faint aura of immortal spirit, and was quickly channeling streams of precious energy into it.

As Niu Yi continuously poured his precious energy into the Nine-Leaf Treasure Orange Spirit Root, it emitted a burst of spiritual light, and the roots continued to extend, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

After a while, as Niu Yi slowly withdrew his palm, the Nine-Leaf Treasure Orange Tree in front of him grew several feet taller, and a refreshing fragrance accompanied by immortal energy continued to emanate from it.

Niu Yi reached out and patted the precious tree, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.

He obtained the seed of the Nine-Leaf Treasure Orange from Brother Jin Fu. You should know that this tree was planted in the heavens. It accidentally fell to the mortal world and became contaminated with earth energy, thus losing its grade. That's why he was able to plant it on the mountain.

Now that his essence has been replenished and he has grown on the mountain for so many years, he has finally regained the grade of gold-level spiritual root.

Just then, a look of surprise appeared on Niu Yi's face. He flipped his hand, and a black jade ghost token that was trembling slightly appeared in Niu Yi's hand.

(End of this chapter)