The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun.

Jiang Ning smiled and said, "Thank you for your concern, Senior Brother. I'm fine."

Faxing also smiled and said, "Master asked me yesterday to take Junior Brother Jiang to visit Mount Tai today. Where would you like to go today, Junior Brother?"

Jiang Ning thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go to Jade Emperor Peak."

Jade Emperor Peak is where emperors performed the Fengshan ceremony; it would be a shame to visit Mount Tai without going there.

"Row."

Fa Xing readily agreed and then climbed to the top of Mount Tai with Jiang Ning.

Jade Emperor Peak is located at the highest point of Mount Tai, with an altitude of over 1,500 meters.

"Actually, in ancient times, the emperors did not only perform the Fengshan ceremony at the Jade Emperor Peak. At the Jade Emperor Peak, it was simply called Fengshan. This is also recorded in the Fengshan section of the Records of the Grand Historian."

As Faxing led Jiang Ning up the mountain, he explained the specifics of the Fengshan ceremony.

"The Qin Emperor built an earthen altar on the top of Mount Tai to worship Heaven and repay Heaven's favor, hence the name Feng. Then he cleared land on some small hills at the foot of Mount Tai to repay the land's favor, hence the name Chan. This is the Feng Chan ceremony."

As Fa Xing walked, he laughed and said, "After Qin Shi Huang built an altar on Jade Emperor Peak to report to Heaven, he reported to Earth on Liangfu Mountain. If you want to see it, Junior Brother, you can go to Liangfu Mountain to take a look."

Jiang Ning nodded upon hearing this.

"In fact, before the Song Dynasty, Mount Tai was controlled by the royal family and no one was allowed to go up the mountain."

Fa Xing then laughed and said, "However, after Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai, no emperor ever came here to perform the Fengshan ceremony again, and this place was abandoned."

"Speaking of which, our Taishan Sect should thank this Song Dynasty emperor. If no emperor had come here to perform the Fengshan ceremony after he did, my sect's founder would probably not have had the opportunity to establish the sect here."

Jiang Ning laughed upon hearing this.

"Junior brother, look, this is the Five Great Pine Trees, which is said to be where the Qin Emperor took shelter from the rain."

Faxing pointed to a pine tree not far away.

At this time, he and Jiang Ning also arrived at Wusong Pavilion.

Fa Xing was also telling Jiang Ning about the local history.

"It is said that after Qin Shi Huang unified the world by conquering the six states, he planned to go to Mount Tai to perform the Fengshan ceremony with his civil and military officials. Qin Shi Huang originally planned to go up the mountain by carriage, but the Confucian scholars said that they could not go by carriage. Even if they had to go by carriage, the wheels should be wrapped with cattails so as not to damage any of the plants and trees on Mount Tai. Qin Shi Huang was furious and forbade the Confucian scholars from going up the mountain with him to perform the Fengshan ceremony."

Fa Xing was just as familiar with the stories about Mount Tai's singularity as Jiang Ning was with the stories about Mount Hua, and he spoke eloquently about them.

"Later, after Qin Shi Huang performed the Fengshan ceremony at Yuhuangding, he was suddenly caught in a downpour. He thought that the mountain god of Mount Tai was angry and wanted to send down a rainstorm to wash him away, so he ran away and ran all the way to Wusongting. There he found a big pine tree, so he hid under the tree and hugged the trunk with his hands to pray for the protection of the tree god. Later, Qin Shi Huang named this tree the Wudafu Pine."

Jiang Ning nodded in agreement.

Fa Xing then laughed and said, "However, this is just a rumor. There is another rumor that when the Qin Emperor was climbing the mountain, it suddenly rained and happened to pass by here, so he took shelter from the rain. It is hard to say whether these two rumors are true or false, but the first rumor is widely circulated and many people believe it, but I am more inclined to believe the second one."

"why?"

Jiang Ning laughed.

Fa Xing also laughed and said, "Because the first one was too exaggerated."

Although subsequent dynasties after Qin did not have a good opinion of Qin Shi Huang, not everyone felt that way.

At least Fa Xing believed that Qin Shi Huang, who could unify the six kingdoms, would not panic and flee when faced with heavy rain. The first rumor was more like a smear against this first emperor in history.

After a brief stop at the Five Pine Pavilion, Jiang Ning and Fa Xing continued climbing the mountain. Not long after, they saw several Taoist priests coming down from the mountain, dressed in mourning clothes.

The Taoist priests snorted coldly when they saw Faxing beside Jiang Ning.

When Fa Xing saw these people, the smile on his face turned cold.

The atmosphere between the two sides was somewhat awkward.

Chapter 295: Jade Emperor Peak

The people coming down the mountain and those coming up the mountain looked at each other coldly.

"Humph!"

"Humph!"

Fa Xing snorted coldly and led Jiang Ning up the mountain, ignoring the people opposite him.

Several Taoist priests dressed in mourning clothes on the opposite side also snorted coldly and went down the mountain, not even glancing at Faxing and Jiang Ning.

The two just passed each other by.

"Senior brother, who are they?"

Jiang Ning glanced back at the group of people descending the mountain.

Fa Xing replied, "They are from the lineages of Grand Master Yu Ji and Grand Master Yu Yin."

Jiang Ning then took the opportunity to raise a question.

"Senior brother, what disease did Senior Yujizi and the others contract and die from?"

Fa Xing was a little embarrassed when he heard Jiang Ning's question.

"This...I..."

Jiang Ning looked at him: "Is it inconvenient to talk about it?"

"no no."

Fa Xing quickly shook his head.

"The main problem is that we don't know what illness Grand Uncle and the others have."

Seeing that he said that, Jiang Ning did not press the matter further and changed the subject.

"Senior brother, do you not get along well with those senior brothers from earlier?"

At this moment, Jiang Ning seemed unaware of the internal conflicts within the Taishan Sect.

Upon hearing Jiang Ning mention those people, Fa Xing's expression turned cold, and he blurted out...

"It's not that I have a bad relationship with them, it's that our lineage has a bad relationship with all of their lineages."

As soon as he uttered the words, Faxing realized his mistake and quickly shut his mouth.

No matter what, they are all disciples of the Mount Tai Sect, so it's really hard to talk about their discord.

"Oh? Why is that?"

Jiang Ning asked the question knowing the answer already.

Seeing Jiang Ning's persistent questioning, Fa Xing's expression became somewhat conflicted. However, after recalling what Daoist Tian Song had told him yesterday that Jiang Ning's identity was extraordinary and that he should try to build a good relationship with Jiang Ning, Fa Xing hesitated for a long time before finally speaking.

"Actually, junior brother, you don't know this. Although we are all fellow disciples, Grandmaster Yuji and his group are not on good terms with my master and Uncle Tianmen. The relationship among us disciples is also very tense."

Jiang Ning nodded upon hearing this and asked, "Why are Senior Yu Jizi and the others at odds with Master Tianmen?"

Fa Xing pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, I don't know either. I've only heard my senior brothers mention it. It seems to have started from the generation of our grandmaster. It is said that when our grandmaster's master handed over the position of sect leader to our grandmaster, Grand Uncle Yu Ji and the others were not satisfied. Until our grandmaster passed the position of sect leader to our grand-uncle before he passed away, Grand Uncle Yu Ji and the others were even more dissatisfied."

“They felt that their grandmaster had ulterior motives and wanted to monopolize the position of sect leader in our lineage, so they have been opposing their grandmaster ever since he became sect leader.”

The strained relationship between the elders also affected their disciples. The relationship between the disciples of Master Tianmen and the disciples of Yujizi's lineage was also very tense. But at least they could maintain a superficial peace before. What really brought the two sides to the current situation was Master Tianmen's return from Shaanxi.

"I heard that the Songshan Sect proposed merging the Five Sacred Mountains into one sect at Mount Hua. Junior Brother should know this as well."

Fa Xing then spoke.

"Ah."

Jiang Ning nodded; of course he knew, he was there at the time.

Fa Xing continued, "My senior uncle would never agree to the merger, but Grand Uncle Yu Ji and the others want to merge. After they came back, they kept telling us how good the merger would be, and that their disciples had already agreed to it, but we don't agree."

At this point, Fa Xing's expression became resolute: "Our Taishan Sect has been passed down for three hundred years. This merger would sever the lineage of our Taishan Sect. We will never agree to the merger."

"After Uncle Tianmen returned, he heard the news and had a few arguments with Grand Uncle Yuji and the others. Not long after, Grand Uncle and the others passed away, reportedly from a serious illness."

The Heavenly Gate Daoist dealt with Yu Jizi and the others in secret. No one knew about it except his fellow disciples, not even his own disciples like Fa Xing.

Since the deaths of Yu Jizi and the others, their disciples have suspected that Tianmen Daoren was responsible for their deaths, although there is no evidence. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two sides has deteriorated rapidly. In addition, their differing ideologies have led to one side agreeing to merge with the other while the other disagrees, making the already strained relationship even more irreconcilable.

The disciples under Yu Jizi and his group have gradually drifted apart from the disciples of Master Tianmen's lineage, resulting in the situation we see today.

"Qingsong and the others thought that Grandmaster Yuji was killed by Senior Uncle Tianmen, so they were very hostile towards us, but didn't we also hate them?"

Fa Xing sneered, "Our Taishan Sect has been passed down for hundreds of years. Grandmaster Uncle Yuji and the others said they would merge the sect and that's it. They want to destroy the foundation of the Taishan Sect. Let's not talk about whether they were killed by our grandmaster uncle. Even if they were, so what? What's the difference between what they did and betraying the Taishan Sect? Grandmaster Uncle Tianmen is good at dealing with people like them."

After talking with Jiang Ning yesterday and today, Fa Xing had a very good impression of him. He talked a lot without realizing it, and now his emotions were running high, so he blurted out these words. Even though he realized it was inappropriate, he did not change his words, but just stopped talking.

"..."

Listening to Faxing's words, Jiang Ning keenly noticed a fact.

It's likely that there are quite a few disciples in Master Tianmen's lineage who share the same thoughts as Faxing.

Those disciples who disagreed with the merger probably harbored not only hatred towards those who did agree, but also murderous intent towards them.

Jiang Ning had not expected that the conflict between the two sides had escalated to this point.

Based on what he has observed so far, if Tianmen Daoist continues to suppress this matter, it won't be long before internal strife breaks out in the Taishan Sect.

The lineage of Tianmen Daoren has more than 200 people, while the lineage of Yujizi has more than 150 people. If the two sides really break out into internal strife, the consequences for the Taishan Sect may not only be a severe blow to its vitality, but may even lead to its complete collapse.

The Huashan Sect suffered a setback in the past due to a dispute over sword energy, and has not recovered for decades.

For the rest of the journey, Faxing remained silent, seemingly in a bad mood. He only briefly mentioned the stories of the strange points along the way, and the two finally arrived at Jade Emperor Peak.

Jade Emperor Peak is the summit of Mount Tai, with an altitude of over 1,500 meters.

"Junior brother, look."

Faxing pointed to a stele in the northwest corner of the Jade Emperor Hall.

"That's where the ancient emperors set up an altar to offer sacrifices to Heaven."

Jiang Ning was also admiring the scenery at the top of Mount Tai.

Looking out from the top of Mount Tai, the clouds surge and roll. To the east, you can see the sun hanging above the clouds, and to the west, you can see the Yellow River, like a jade belt.

Jiang Ning looked up and gazed into the distance. The sun high in the sky shone brightly, and the scorching light made Jiang Ning unconsciously squint.

Ancient emperors believed that the summit of Mount Tai was the closest place to heaven and the sun, making it the most suitable place for the Fengshan ceremony.

"It is indeed a good place."