Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 20: Full of bad intentions
Niu Yi held the incense book in his hand, slowly stood up, his heart shaken.

This thing was similar to the bamboo slips and the karma divination coins. He had never seen these things before when he first came to this Taoist temple.
Niu Yi straightened his clothes, looked solemn, took the incense book, and bowed deeply three times towards the central hall of the Taoist temple.

Although he still didn't know what secrets were contained in this Taoist temple, whether it was the Pure and Tranquil Sutra, the Cause and Effect Divination Coins, or the Incense Book, they were all a blessing to him.

He, Niu Yi, should be treated with respect as a teacher.

After Niu Yi bowed three times, he carefully put the incense book into his arms and continued to clean the side hall carefully.

Regardless of whether the incense recipe can be taken out, the Taoist temple still needs to be cleaned.

If he can't take it out, he can come in tomorrow and look at it at his leisure. It's the same.

"Whoa whoa----"

Before he knew it, another night had passed. Listening to the loud crowing of a rooster beside his ears, Niu Yi turned into a wisp of ethereal air and left his spiritual state of mind. When he came to his senses, he returned to the hut again.

However, the difference was that Niu Yi had an extra book called "The Book of Incense" in his arms.

After Niu Yi woke up, he summoned many bull spirits and handed over the affairs of Jindou Mountain to Niu Li, especially repeatedly instructing them to take good care of the vegetables in the vegetable garden. Then he followed the Earth God towards Huxiao Mountain.

Although the journey will take a long time this time, Niu Yi is not worried. With the end of the Tiger Roar Mountain catastrophe, the number of monsters within a thousand miles of this mountain area has been greatly reduced. The strength of the great monster Niu Li is enough to protect the Golden Gourd Mountain.

And if anything happens in Jindou Mountain, the Earth God will be the first to know and rush back as soon as possible.

It's a pity for his peach tree. He hadn't even seen the beauty of the tree full of peach blossoms for a few days before he had to leave. When he comes back, I'm afraid the peach blossoms will have withered.
Niu Feng scratched his head, looking at his leader who disappeared with the stinky old man, and murmured reluctantly:
"Alas, the chief is leaving for such a long time this time. It's really hard to get used to it. Niu Ping, what did the chief write here? Let me see, let me see!"

Niu Ping, who was dressed in a white robe, glanced at Niu Feng speechlessly, thinking, you don't know the human characters, what are you looking at?
But Niu Ping still patiently explained to Niu Feng:
"This is what the chief asked us to collect. He said it's the material for making incense, and the more the better."

"Making incense? Isn't that peach tree the chief planted in bloom? I went to smell it, and it smells amazing! Why would we need to make incense? Can that fragrance be manufactured?"

Niu Ping looked at Niu Feng with a curious face and opened his mouth, wanting to explain that burning incense was actually an elegant hobby among humans, but he was afraid that this guy would ask too many questions and raise a lot of more questions.

Well. Based on Niu Feng’s personality, it will definitely be like this!!
He wanted this guy to take a look at the books that the chief brought back five years ago, but in this huge Jindou Mountain, only he and the chief understood the human language.

As for Niu Feng, it was extremely rare that he didn't use those books as firewood!

"Don't worry about what the incense is. I'll draw the ingredients for you later. You and the other bull spirits will search for it according to the instructions. Also, notify the group of monkey spirits on the next mountain and have them look for it together."

When Niu Feng mentioned the group of monkey monsters, he looked unhappy.

"Why are we looking for them? We, the Bull Demons of Jindou Mountain, can find all these things ourselves. There's no need for those stinky monkeys!"

Niu Ping smiled and said:

"They are now under the command of the leader. How can the subordinates not contribute when the leader has a request? This is all free labor. If you go, they will be grateful and work hard."

Niu Feng looked at Niu Ping suspiciously. He always felt that this guy had become more and more like the leader since he read those human race books in the past few years.

What did the chief call this?

Oh yes, this is called having a bad heart!

This doesn't sound like a good thing to say, but why did the leader look so appreciative when he said it?
However, regardless of anything else, Niu Feng took the words "free labor" to heart.

"Okay! Then you draw it and I'll go there. Humph! It's their honor to work for the leader! It's really a bargain for them!" At noon, at the foot of Huxiao Mountain.

Niu Yi looked at the four land gods who quickly dived into the ground to sort out the earth's veins. He took out the incense book from his arms and began to read it bit by bit.

Regarding Lingtai's state of mind, this is a secret that belongs to him alone and will not be known to anyone else.

Even the Earth God and the little bull spirits on the mountain would never tell it.

Naturally, one must be extremely careful with the things taken out from the Lingtai Xinjing Taoist Temple.

Moreover, Niu Yi inexplicably felt that the value of the "Incense Book" in his arms was definitely not less than that of the magical weapon, the Cause and Effect Gua Coin, and it might even be more valuable.

Because the incense making techniques mentioned above are so powerful, any one of them can be regarded as the secret of the Taoist temples in the world. But now, they are all lying quietly in this "Incense Book".
Niu Yi looked at the incense chart in his hand very seriously, but he actually didn't know much about incense.

In his previous life, Niu Yi's greatest impression of incense was the thick and long incense sticks inserted in the large copper furnace in the temple.

What I still remember clearly is that a stick of incense often costs dozens of yuan.

Niu Yi didn't know much about the rest.

It was not until he traveled to the world of Journey to the West that Niu Yi realized that this incense was used far more than just in Taoist temples and Buddhist temples.

At the most basic level, incense is used in Taoist temples and ancestor worship. Of course, it is also often used to tell time. The time people often refer to as the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn out, which is about 30 minutes.

In addition, burning incense is also considered to be an elegant thing and a necessary procedure for calming the mind. When scholars are reading or studying, they often light incense on the incense table and incense burner to concentrate and calm their minds.

Not to mention those who practice Taoism, meditate, and have some wealth, this incense is a must-have item.

For example, the piece of bamboo slip he got in the Taoist temple had the words "burning incense and copying books" written on it, which shows the popularity of the incense art.

Of course, the refining of spiritual incense is very different from that of ordinary incense. Most basically, the materials used need to contain spiritual energy.

In fact, in Niu Yi's opinion, making incense is somewhat similar to refining elixirs. Most of these materials require some very complicated processing procedures, and finally they are mixed together to form incense.

Niu Yi stared at the page about jade and agarwood fragrance, but it gave him a headache.

"This jade and sunken wood fragrance is a bit too complicated. Although I got a box of century-old jade and sunken wood, it's a precious material. If I use it a little bit, it will be a little bit less. If it fails, I'm afraid I'll be heartbroken."

"Looks like I need to find a stove first, find some materials, and try to refine some simple spiritual incense to practice. Thyme and spiritual incense are the most suitable."

"Especially this Tongshen Incense. I heard that earth gods like the Earth God often practice cultivation with incense."

"Although I don't know how the Golden Pouch Earth God and other earth deities in the mountains cultivate, this incense should be of some benefit to the Earth God. It can be considered as a small token of my appreciation."

"Fortunately, the ingredients for this Tongshen Incense are not difficult to find. I hope everything goes well for Niu Feng and Niu Ping."

Niu Yi looked at it for a long time, until he felt the rapid fluctuations coming from the ground. Then he put the "Incense Book" into his arms, sat cross-legged on the ground, placed the green bamboo on his legs, and chanted the "Qingjing Sutra".
"The Great Dao is invisible, yet it gives birth to heaven and earth. The Great Dao is ruthless, yet it moves the sun and moon. The Great Dao is nameless, yet it nourishes all things."

Not long after, a breeze blew again from the foot of Huxiao Mountain.

(End of this chapter)