Journey to the West: The roadblock!

Chapter 141 The Battle of Wits in Chechi Kingdom (Part 11)
Now, Ao Tu had taken in eight disciples.

There were commoners, merchants, princes, princesses, Taoist priests, and Buddhist monks.

All eight knelt and bowed to Ao Tu, paying their respects to their master.

Ao Tu made the eight men stand up.

These eight disciples were all quite young.

Among them, the commoners and merchants were eighteen or nineteen years old, the princes and princesses were fourteen or fifteen years old, the three Taoist priests were in their twenties, and only the monk Alu was nearly forty.

Therefore, in order of age, Alu is the senior disciple, followed by the three Taoist priests, then the commoner and the merchant, and finally the prince and the princess.

The eight people dressed differently because of their different statuses: commoners wore cloth clothes, merchants wore brocade clothes, princes and princesses wore silk and satin, and Taoist priests and monks wore Taoist robes.

Ao Tu said, "Disciples, your attire is somewhat inappropriate."

The little princess stepped forward and said, "Master, when I came here, my mother instructed me that if I am fortunate enough to become your disciple, it would be inconvenient to wear ordinary clothes. Therefore, I have prepared several sets of Taoist robes in advance, which are placed in the carriage outside. I will go and get them now."

Ao Tu shook his head and said:
"No need. What I said was inappropriate, not because you were not wearing Taoist robes. I am a recluse. As my disciples, you don't need to follow the rules. Just wear whatever you normally wear."

Ao Tu turned his gaze to Alu and said:
“Alu, I said this because I noticed something was amiss with your attire. You are the abbot of Zhiyuan Temple, so why are you wearing a Taoist robe?”

Upon hearing this, Alu immediately stepped forward.

He was the oldest among all his disciples, and therefore the most cautious. He generally preferred to recruit disciples who were teenagers. At his age, he was naturally at a disadvantage compared to the other disciples, and if he was not careful, he might incur the displeasure of his master.

Alu knelt on the ground and respectfully said:

“Reporting to Master, although I am the abbot of Zhiyuan Temple, the Buddhist teachings I have learned are useless; I entered the Daoist path to make a living and have learned Daoist practices, hence I wear Daoist robes.”

Ao Tu said, "Buddhism is not useless; it's just that you haven't learned the true Dharma. Although you have learned Taoist practices, you are still a Buddhist disciple after all. You should change your robe back!"

Alu didn't know why his master, the True Man Taixi, wanted him to change back into his cassock, but he knew his master's orders were not to be disobeyed, so he said:
"Yes, Master. May I ask if I may go and change now?"

Ao Tu said, "Go."

Alu readily agreed, left the alchemy room, and headed towards Zhiyuan Temple.

After Alu left, Ao Tu looked at the merchant's disciple and said:

"To refine the elixir, you will need some medicinal herbs. Go and procure them."

The merchant's disciple asked, "Yes, Master. What kind of medicinal herbs do you need?"

Ao Tu said, "Listen carefully."

The merchant's disciple replied, "I'm listening."

Ao Tu said, “Take the essence of the five metals: six qian of cinnabar, one and two liang of mercury, one liang of black lead, and eight qian of realgar.”

Take the essence of eight stones: six mace of orpiment, five mace of azurite, four mace of alum, three mace of saltpeter, and one ounce of red ochre.

Extracting the essence of herbs: Nine ounces of Polygonum multiflorum, two ounces of Polygonatum sibiricum, one ounce of Platycladus orientalis seed, one ounce of licorice root, and four ounces of ginseng.

The merchant's disciple noted everything down and said, "I will go and make the arrangements now."

Ao Tu said, "Go."

The merchant's disciple left the alchemy room to purchase medicinal herbs.

Ao Tu then looked at the commoner disciple and said:

"Go and light the furnace fire and prepare the charcoal. Once you begin refining the elixir, the fire must not go out for forty-nine days."

The commoner disciple readily agreed.

Ao Tu then looked at the prince and princess and said:

"Go and clean the alchemy furnace, making sure not a speck of dust is left."

The prince and princess busied themselves with cleaning. Soon, the furnace was lit, the alchemy furnace was cleaned, the medicinal herbs were purchased, and Alu returned wearing a cassock.

Ao Tu said, "Move the alchemy furnace onto the fire."

The disciples went to lift the alchemy furnace, and with their combined strength, they managed to lift it and place it on the fire.

Ao Tu pointed at A Lu and the three Taoists and said, "Start refining the elixir immediately. The four of you will guard the furnace and watch the fire level of the elixir inside. When I tell you to fan the fire, you will fan the fire; when I tell you to reduce the amount of charcoal, you will reduce the amount of charcoal."

Alu and the other three readily agreed.

Ao Tu then pointed to the other four people and said, "You four will stay by my side. I will tell you when to release the medicine, and you will release it accordingly. I will tell you how much to release, and you will release that much."

The other four readily agreed.

Ao Tu sat in the main seat and began refining elixirs.

He learned some rudimentary alchemy skills unintentionally when he watched King Golden Horn refine pills back in Pingdingshan.

It's basically just a few steps, and there aren't any major obstacles. If you see it a lot, even an ordinary person can learn it.

This kind of alchemy technique is useful for making some ordinary pills, but it's not enough for making elixirs of immortality.

However, for this place, some ordinary elixirs are already sufficient.

Ao Tu didn't hide anything from the group. He clearly demonstrated how to add the medicine, control the fire, and mix the ingredients, and even gave extra explanations.

The eight people realized that their master was teaching them alchemy techniques, and they all studied diligently.

While Ao Tu was refining elixirs, on the other side...

After traversing mountains and rivers, the four members of the Tang Monk's group had arrived in the territory of Chechi Kingdom, but they were still quite a distance from the capital.

Chechi Kingdom has a relatively large territory, which is a good thing for Ao Tu, because the system's countdown began when Tang Sanzang and his disciples entered Chechi Kingdom.

This day coincided with the Spring Festival, marking the beginning of a new year.

Tang Sanzang and his disciples were in the wilderness, enduring wind and rain, and unaware of holidays.

However, it was time for the duty officers and the six Ding and six Jia above Tang Sanzang's head to hand over their duties.

The duty officer returned to Heaven and reported to the Emperor on everything that Tang Sanzang and his disciples had experienced over the past year.

There is a Heavenly Court's Examination and Merit Department, which specifically examines reports from various places, recording the performance of celestial officials and calculating their merits based on the principles of "conforming to the Way of Heaven, diligently performing duties, and benefiting all living beings."

Of course, there are limits to this kind of record.

The records of the Examination and Merit Office are mainly of the mountain gods and local deities in the lower realm, as well as the fairies and heavenly soldiers in the upper realm.

In places like the Dou Department and the Lei Department, the celestial officials each have their own affiliations, and even if they have the authority to record things, they dare not interfere arbitrarily.

The report mentioned the construction of a bridge over the Blackwater River.

The celestial official in charge of recording merits saw that the river god of the Blackwater River was building a bridge, which was a good deed for the people of the country, so he recorded a minor merit. Generally speaking, accumulating three hundred minor merits would allow for a promotion at the discretion of the authorities.

The celestial official in charge of recording demerits saw that the construction of the bridge over the Blackwater River was an act of privately displaying divine power to gain merit, so he recorded a major demerit. Generally speaking, having a major demerit meant execution, regardless of the amount of merit one had.

However, when the two saw the later part of the record and realized that the Blackwater River God had built the bridge to help Tang Sanzang on his journey to the West, they immediately changed the previous record, crossing out the major demerits and changing the minor merits to major merits.

One major merit is equivalent to three hundred minor merits.

Similarly, when he saw that Mingniang had been cooking for Tang Sanzang and his disciples for more than 140 days, he immediately recorded her as a great merit.

It has to be said that Mingniang was quite lucky.

Just then, the Queen Mother of the West had a flower realm that was idle, and she wanted to recruit 1,200 female immortals to tend to the flowers and plants there, and 1,200 male immortals to water and fertilize the flowers.

These spots were selected from various sectors in turn, and Mingniang happened to have made contributions, so she was chosen.

(End of this chapter)