Journey to the West: Cultivation Begins at Jindou Mountain

Chapter 4 Lingtai State of Mind
At night, the moon is bright and the stars are sparse.

After leaving the yellow talisman behind and talking with Niu Yi for a while, the land god of Jindou Mountain left on his own.

Niu Yi, who was sitting in front of a stone table in deep thought, suddenly heard a suppressed voice behind him.

"Chief! Chief!"

Niu Yi turned his head and looked with amusement at Niu Feng, who was bending over, holding a wooden tray covered with cloth, and looking around like a thief.

"What are you doing?! Come here quickly!"

Niu Yi cursed with a smile, but his eyes were looking at the plate that Niu Feng was holding. His treasure-hunting talent was naturally triggered, and a clear and spiritual energy suddenly appeared in Niu Yi's perception.

"Where did you get this green fruit?"

Green Fruit (White): Rarely found in forests and mountains, this fruit, shaped like a green goose egg, carries a faint spiritual aura. It tastes crisp and refreshing, and has slight benefits for spiritual practice.

Niu Feng glanced back and forth again, and seeing that the annoying old man was indeed gone, he ran to Niu Yi with a smile on his face, presented the plate to him, and said:

"Hehe~ Chief, I picked these up when I was guarding the mountain. What a coincidence! I was walking there when these fruits suddenly fell from the tree and almost hit me~ So I brought them to you~"

As Niu Feng spoke, he felt quite proud. This was a spiritual fruit, which was rarely seen in Jindou Mountain throughout the year.

For the demon tribe, the leader has the right to distribute all the harvests and absolute command power. Any harvest must be handed over to the leader immediately.

Niu Yi looked at Niu Feng's smug look, and hesitated to speak. Finally, he sighed and said:
"Okay, I get it. You did a good job. Take two green fruits back to quench your thirst. Leave the rest here and go back to rest early."

This silly cow of his really thinks he is lucky, and spiritual fruits can fall from his hands just by walking. It is probably unknown who used Niu Feng to send these green fruits to him. It is just a few green fruits, so it is okay to accept them, but who did this?
Niu Feng didn't know what Niu Yi was thinking, but he was very happy to hear Niu Yi's praise. He put the fruit plate on the stone table, took two green fruits from it, and happily walked away.

"By the way, if the Earth God comes and asks you to serve him, you should serve him wholeheartedly."

Hearing the words coming from Niu Yi behind him, Niu Feng's face, which was full of joy, suddenly froze. He turned his head in surprise and looked at his leader.

"what???"

"What?" Niu Yi rolled his eyes. "Just be obedient. The Earth God has done us a favor this time."

Niu Feng couldn't understand how the old man who could only be teased by them could help the powerful leader and them, but the leader had already spoken, and although Niu Feng was reluctant, he still agreed silently.

Niu Yi felt a little emotional as he watched Niu Feng leaving.

"Oh, this little calf spirit, how carefree it is~"

What heaven, what three altars and sea assemblies of great gods, are too far away from them. For these little bull spirits, being able to eat a full meal, patrol the mountains and run on the grass all day is the happiest thing. But
A trance flashed in Niu Yi's eyes.

By the time he arrived at the Flat-horned Green Ox, he was afraid that there would be no more bull spirits like Niu Feng on the Golden Dou Mountain.
Although he didn't know what year it was, at least the Earth God had never heard of the Horse-Groom of Flower-Fruit Mountain, let alone the Monkey King Sun Wukong. This proved that if he wanted to wait for the Blue Ox with Flat Horns, it would take at least five or six hundred years.

However, the lifespan of an average little demon is only a hundred years, a big demon is two hundred years, and a demon general is only four hundred years. Only those who have cultivated to the fourth level of the demon clan, the demon commander, can live up to a thousand years. Of course, there are many exceptions, but this is generally the case for the demons in the mortal world.

With Niu Feng's talent, he is only at the level of a small demon now, and it is difficult for him to become a big demon. It is undoubtedly a pipe dream for him to want to cultivate to the level of a demon commander.

I wonder how many familiar monsters will still be on Jindou Mountain five hundred years from now.
Niu Yi looked a little emotional, but after a moment he collected his thoughts, returned to the hut and sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, closed his eyes, concentrated his mind, silently recited the Heart Sutra, and prepared for today's practice.

When Niu Yi entered into a state of meditation, he suddenly felt something different from before.

When practicing Taoism, the most taboo is to have too many distracting thoughts. If you can't even meditate quietly every day, what's the point of practicing Taoism?

But this seemingly simplest step is also the one that traps most people, not to mention that the world of Niu Yi's previous life was extremely prosperous and splendid, and it was no easy task to cast aside distracting thoughts and meditate. However, it was this seemingly insignificant talent that allowed Niu Yi to maintain a calm mind at all times during cultivation, suppressing distracting thoughts and focusing on the cultivation of the Tao. In just thirteen years, Niu Yi, with the help of half a scroll of the Buddhist Heart Sutra, cultivated to the current level of a demon general and cultivated a body of Buddhist magic power.

Now this talent for meditation has been advanced to a mind like a spiritual platform, which is very different from before.

"Spiritual state of mind. Let me see what this means."

Niu Yi circulated his mind like a spiritual platform, and suddenly he felt that he had turned into a wisp of ethereal air, floating freely between heaven and earth. He seemed to have never been so close to the "Tao". He only felt clear in his heart and extremely comfortable.

Niu Yi didn't know how long he had been floating. When he came to his senses, he suddenly found himself standing in a place with beautiful scenery.

Here, thousands of peaks stand in a row, tens of thousands of cliffs spread out, stars and moon shine brightly, fragrant herbs emanate from the grass beside the stone bridge, and there are exotic flowers and rare herbs everywhere, as well as tall bamboos and pines.

Niu Yi turned his head and saw only a dilapidated Taoist temple in front of him. It was quiet and silent. Not far in front of him stood a stone tablet without words, which was mostly cracked and covered with moss.

"here it is"

Niu Yi looked at the dilapidated Taoist temple under the moonlight with some surprise.

Is this the Lingtai state of mind? He originally thought it was a state of mind for enlightenment, but he never expected it would lead him here.
Looking at the scenery next to it, this is indeed a place of beauty that cannot be compared with Jindou Mountain, but why is there a dilapidated Taoist temple here?
Niu Yi's heart moved slightly. He stepped onto the stone steps, crossed the half-collapsed gate, and walked into the Taoist temple.

As soon as he stepped through the gate, what caught Niu Yi's eyes was a dilapidated courtyard overgrown with weeds.

The courtyard was silent. The stone floor was full of cracks, and weeds grew half a foot high through the cracks. In the center, a bronze incense burner had collapsed, and the ashes were scattered all over the ground. Even the few trees on the edge of the courtyard were growing wildly, almost pushing down the wall.

It was obvious that no one had taken care of this place for a long time.

Niu Yi walked around in the courtyard, looked around, and seeing that he found nothing, he walked towards the hall in front of the courtyard.

After a while, Niu Yi toured the dilapidated Taoist temple thoroughly.

This Taoist temple is quite large, with all kinds of buildings, from the central hall for discussing scriptures and preaching, to the library for storing books, to the living rooms for disciples to rest, to the quiet rooms for meditation, to the woodshed for cooking, and even the toilets. There is also a large flower garden and vegetable garden behind the temple.

However, it was obvious that this place had been abandoned for many years. Weeds were growing wildly, dust was everywhere, the Taoist flags were broken, the vermilion walls were peeling and cracked, and spider webs were everywhere. Even the ceiling of the central hall had a big hole, and bricks and tiles had fallen to the ground.

Moreover, before this Taoist temple was abandoned, most of the things should have been taken away, just like the bookshelves in the library were completely empty, without even a single piece of paper.

This huge Taoist temple seemed to have nothing but some worldly debris left behind, let alone the opportunity that Niu Yi was expecting.

"Even though this Taoist temple has become so dilapidated, one can still vaguely see what it was like back then. It must have been a blessed place for the immortals."

Niu Yi looked at the cushion covered with cobwebs and dust on the dilapidated platform in the hall.

In a trance, he seemed to see an old man with an immortal look sitting on it. As the old man continued to chant scriptures, flowers fell from the sky and golden lotuses emerged from the ground. Many disciples and students stood on both sides below, concentrating and holding their breath, listening carefully.

"It's a pity that this spiritual state of mind is not sure whether it is an illusion or reality. If it is real, I really want to meet the owner of this Taoist temple and see which legendary immortal master he is."

The more Niu Yi looked at it, the more regretful he felt. He picked up the unused feather duster in the corner of the hall and rolled down all the cobwebs on the cushions on the platform. Then he covered his mouth and nose and swept the feather duster back and forth carefully to remove the dust on the platform.

Looking at the platform that had been restored to its original neatness, Niu Yi nodded with satisfaction. At this moment, Niu Yi suddenly felt dazed, and seemed to hear the ethereal voice of an old man with the rhyme of Tao coming from the distant past, gradually becoming clearer.

"The Great Way is formless, giving birth to heaven and earth. The Great Way is emotionless, moving the sun and moon. The Great Way is nameless, nourishing all things. I do not know its name, so I call it the Way. The Way is one clear and one turbid, one still and one moving. Clear and still are the root, turbid and moving are the end. Thus, yang is clear and yin is turbid, yang is moving and yin is still."

(End of this chapter)