Chapter 220: The Han Emperor Comes from the West to Ascend Mount Tai

Eastern Peak Divine Mansion.

Huang Feihu also followed Fang Longye's gaze to look outward, and seeing Liu Che, this Human King of the current age, arriving to perform the Seal of Mount Tai, he was filled with joy.

Ever since the Conferring of the Gods Tribulation passed and he assumed the divine office of Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak, he, this Wucheng King, had been living off the fortune and blessings brought by the emperors' Seal of Mount Tai.

Every Human King qualified to come to Mount Tai for the Seal of Mount Tai was no simple figure; they were all individuals who shone through the ages.

The baptism brought by the Human King Dragon Qi alone was enough to make him, this Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak, benefit immensely.

Naturally, he was overjoyed~

Of course—

This was only because he had not yet met Song Zhenzong, who spent money to bribe his ministers just so he could perform the Seal of Mount Tai.

Otherwise, Huang Feihu would have been able to witness what was meant by "Great Song characteristics"!

"Long awaited, I have finally waited for another Human King to perform the Seal of Mount Tai~"

Huang Feihu stroked his beard and said heartily.

Huang Tianhua was also beaming with joy and spoke from the side: "Father, the last time a Human King performed the Seal of Mount Tai, it must have been that First Emperor, the current His Majesty the Black Emperor!"

Huang Feihu sighed with emotion: "Who is to say it isn't! It was precisely that time that I, your father, advanced from a Taiyi True Immortal to a Taiyi Golden Immortal."

Originally, the father and son were rejoicing.

Unexpectedly, just as the group led by Liu Che, who had come to perform the Seal of Mount Tai, entered the vicinity of Mount Tai and had not yet begun their ascent.

A sudden, abrupt horror rose in the hearts of Huang Feihu and his son, like shards of ice from the depths of winter entering their bosoms, bone-chillingly cold.

It doused their enthusiasm, leaving them feeling thoroughly chilled.

Huang Feihu seemed to sense something as he raised his head to look at the sky above Mount Tai.

Heavenly Luck and Calamity Qi intertwined, forming Yin-Yang Fish invisible to the naked eye, devouring in all directions and encompassing space and time.

"How is this possible?"

He exclaimed.

He hurriedly formed seals and gestures, and Clear Qi rose in wisps above his head, supporting the hexagrams; the Eight Trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams changed back and forth, with the heavens, earth, ghosts, and gods all contained within.

Yet, after a round of divination, he did not obtain a concrete result.

He only knew that the Heavenly Secrets were chaotic and dragons and snakes were rising everywhere~ Fang Longye heard the exclamation of Huang Feihu and his son, looked toward the void, and frowned.

He also concentrated and began to divine; for a time, images of all sizes appeared around him.

Finally, these scrolls of images converged to form a hexagram, with stars falling into it, swaying back and forth, shooting out light, and condensing into seal script that rotated unceasingly.

"Return to Heaven and Reverse the Sun? Reverse Knowledge of the Future? And Star-Shifting?" Huang Feihu could not help but exclaim.

After the exclamation, he hurriedly fell silent, his eyes fixed tightly on Fang Longye, fearing he might disturb his divination of the Heavenly Secrets.

"Father, this Dragon Lord truly has profound fortune. Such comprehension is truly extraordinary and peerless!" Huang Tianhua could not help but transmit his voice to Huang Feihu.

He was, after all, a disciple of the Chan Sect, so he naturally understood the difficulty of comprehending these Great Divine Abilities.

"Who is to say it isn't? I originally thought this Dragon Lord was just lucky to have formed a karmic connection with that Great Divine Ability holder. I never expected him to have such comprehension."

He had been the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak for nearly a hundred Yuan eras. Even if a pig were placed in this position for so many years, it would have long since become a divine pig or an immortal pig.

And Huang Feihu, after all, was the Wucheng King of the Yin-Shang period. After so many years, having reached the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, he would naturally not still be as ignorant about the path of cultivation as he was during his mortal days.

How could he not see through a principle that even Huang Tianhua, a Golden Immortal, could see? Furthermore, he had not yet succeeded in cultivating the divine ability of Star-Shifting.

Naturally, he understood Fang Longye's transcendence.

However, now was not the time to sigh over this person's profound comprehension.

He stared eagerly at Fang Longye's divination movements, hoping that this virtuous brother, who mastered multiple divine abilities related to Heavenly Secrets, could give him an answer.

Before long, Fang Longye dispelled the strange phenomena, his brows locked in a frown.

Seeing his expression, Huang Feihu could not help but ask: "Brother, do you have any clues? Is this kind of Calamity destined to fall upon Mount Tai? Will it affect us, father and son?"

Fang Longye shook his head and said: "Forgive your younger brother for his shallow learning; I have not divined anything either. However, for you, brother, there should be no major obstacles."

Hearing this, Huang Feihu could not help but feel a little disappointed, though he also knew that it was normal for Fang Longye, with his Golden Immortal ability, to be unable to divine it.

He no longer pressed the matter~

He turned his head to look at the Human King Dragon Qi reflecting in the void, and without his previous joy, he sighed: "It seems this Calamity is brought by this Han Emperor!"

"I wonder, is this Human King performing the Seal of Mount Tai a disaster or a blessing for us, father and son?"

Fang Longye did not respond; he merely calculated the fortune and misfortune of his own previous plans and realized there was no harm.

He immediately smiled and said: "Since that is the case, shall your younger brother test it for you, brother?"

Having said that, without waiting for Huang Feihu to reply, he reached out and pointed at the Mount Tai plank road, breaking it in half.

He then destroyed the path up the mountain, one section after another.

Cutting it off halfway~

"No wonder this Dragon Lord came to Mount Tai for no reason. It turns out he wants to manifest his divinity in the human world and seize fortune while the current Han Emperor is performing the Seal of Mount Tai~"

Huang Feihu's eyes flickered, lost in thought.

He was an old fox and would naturally not take Fang Longye's polite words seriously.

How long had they even known each other?

Don't look at them calling each other brothers; they were likely not even as close as drinking buddies.

Did he really expect someone to shed blood and sacrifice their life for him?

In his dreams!

Fang Longye's purpose was naturally obvious. Let alone Huang Feihu, even Huang Tianhua saw it~

The plan was to artificially create difficulties, and after the Human King was blocked from ascending the mountain, manifest his divinity before the people.

By then—even if he couldn't get the Han Emperor to build a temple to worship him, simply spreading his name and leaving behind a legend would allow him to seize quite a bit of faith and fortune.

This kind of thing was not without precedent.

For instance, a newly promoted talent under Huang Feihu—Changqingzi—was the Five Great Officials Pine that the First Emperor personally bestowed a title upon during his Seal of Mount Tai, which then transformed into a Human.

After all, the Human King rules over all the people, and every little detail about him will be talked about with relish by the common folk.

Manifesting divinity during the Human King's Seal of Mount Tai leaves behind legends that are bound to be passed down by word of mouth, enduring for ages—it can be said that the investment is small, but the harvest is great.

Of course, such a sure-fire operation is not that easy to implement in practice.

To be able to perform the Seal of Mount Tai on heaven and earth, the dynasty ruled by that Human King must be in its prime, like the sun at high noon.

The Human King Dragon Qi is naturally awe-inspiring in all directions, radiating immense brilliance, causing ghosts and gods to retreat, and is impossible to resist.

No matter how extraordinary your supernatural powers and Dharma arts are, in the presence of the Human King, I fear you would not be able to exert even one-tenth of your strength.

For ordinary immortals and gods, wanting to operate like Fang Longye is not that easy.

The stone path of Mount Tai.

The road winds and curves, snaking in a loop, with various stone stairs piled upon it.

Along the way, vines are green and pines are verdant, branches and leaves are thick and shaded, clouds and water level the steps, and the sound of springs rises and falls, echoing with the cries of apes in the distance.

With ornate canopies held high and colorful banners fluttering, it is the monarch and officials of the Great Han heading to Mount Tai for the Seal of Mount Tai.

On the outermost perimeter, a group of Yulin Guards protects the surroundings.

Clad in black armor, with ring-pommel sabers with scarlet tassels hanging at their waists, their gazes are like lightning, protecting Liu Che and the civil and military officials so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through.

Huo Guang, wearing heavy armor, leads the team himself, pacing back and forth, calling out to his subordinates, very strict.

This is only because, not long after they passed the foot of Mount Tai, there was suddenly a rumbling sound on the mountain, a commotion.

Clearly, it was nothing good.

Originally, these officials intended to let His Majesty return to the foot of the mountain to stop and rest first, to investigate the truth of the situation before proceeding.

As a result, His Majesty insisted on going his own way, determined to go personally.

There was no other way, so he had to urge his men to investigate the truth as quickly as possible while whipping his horse, all the while bracing himself and scanning the surroundings with twelve-fold attention.

Just in case.

In the procession, Liu Che was calm and composed, still chatting and laughing with Dongfang Shuo beside him: "Manqian, I hear you have quite a talent for divination. Could you calculate for me whether the road ahead is auspicious or ominous?"

Dongfang Shuo secretly gave a bitter smile; with the suppression of your Dynasty Dragon Qi, Your Majesty, how could I possibly divine anything?

"Your Majesty, you are the Human King of this age, coming to perform the Seal of Mount Tai on heaven and earth; how could there be any great ominous events? Even if there are some small setbacks, you naturally have the help of Heaven."

"Hahaha! Then I shall rely on your auspicious words, my dear official!"

Just as they were chatting, soldiers had already returned from the front, informing Huo Guang, who was leading the patrol, of the situation halfway up the mountain.

After hearing this, Huo Guang's brows locked tightly, and cold sweat poured down. After all—

It is exactly when His Majesty is performing the Seal of Mount Tai, yet the mountain path has collapsed halfway, which is truly too easy to provoke criticism! But there was no help for it; he still braced himself, came to the center of the procession, and reported to Liu Che: "Your Majesty, the road ahead, the road ahead, the road ahead has inexplicably collapsed—"

"Hmm?"

Liu Che's brows furrowed, majestic even without anger.

Huo Guang's heart skipped a beat, and he continued: "The other paths up the mountain have also inexplicably collapsed halfway—"

Hiss—

The civil and military officials on the side could not help but gasp upon hearing this.

"Your Majesty, when things happen contrary to the norm, there must be demons. Why don't we retreat down the mountain first!"

An old man who looked like a civil official said tremblingly.

"Hmph! Spreading rumors to confuse the public. Now that we are at the critical moment, if we just retreat like this, how are you to let His Majesty and the imperial court conduct themselves? If this were in the army, I would have to punish you for disrupting military morale!"

Seeing Liu Che's displeased expression, Wei Qing immediately opened his eyes wide in anger and scolded.

"Enough!"

Liu Che waved his hand, stopping the commotion of the civil and military officials beside him, and said with a light smile: "Let's not worry about other things for now—"

"We must at least see with our own eyes what this mountain road has broken into, right?"

After some effort, the monarch and his officials, under the protection of the soldiers, finally arrived at the place where the road had collapsed.

Whoa—the road was broken straight through, forming a vast deep valley. Water and stones swirled together, making a tinkling sound.

But to the ears of the officials, it was exceptionally noisy.

No matter who it was, their faces were very ugly.

Everything was prepared for the Seal of Mount Tai, almost everyone in the world knew about it, and yet such a big blunder occurred.

Wouldn't this become a joke? Only Dongfang Shuo was calm and collected, because he had vaguely guessed whose handiwork this was.

Sure enough—

Ang—just as the civil and military officials were looking at each other in dismay and Liu Che's gaze was deep and heavy, a dragon roar suddenly resounded through the clouds.

The clouds all over the sky moved like a pearl curtain, revealing a divine dragon so huge it was unimaginable.

The dragon head, like a mountain, held itself high, exhaling vast and mighty clouds that gathered in clusters to form a dense and heavy cloud bridge.

It lingered for a long time—

Afterwards, the divine dragon circled in the air several times, and accompanied by a dragon roar, it submerged back into the void.

"This—"

"The divine dragon manifests an omen, congratulations to Your Majesty, congratulations to Your Majesty!"

"Indeed! This is a great omen!"

Many officials could not help but exclaim, one after another praising Liu Che.

Only a very few close officials who knew of Liu Che's plans noticed the coldness in his eyes.

"Your Majesty, this cloud bridge can be traversed."

It was Huo Guang who was quick-witted and sharp-eyed, having long since dispatched bold soldiers to attempt to cross this cloud bridge.

"Heh—" Liu Che hid the cold light in his eyes, chuckled softly, and said, "Let's cross first and talk later!"

Arriving at the edge of the cloud bridge, the monarch and his subjects paced onto it; their feet felt light, and looking closely, it was white clouds drifting leisurely and misty waters rising on all sides, gathering to form a bridge.

It was like a layer of fine, dense feathers, or perhaps willow catkins and frost-snow, a snowy white expanse that was extremely soft; stepping on it felt spongy.

As people walked upon it, looking down revealed deep valleys and stacked ridges, looking straight ahead showed lush vegetation, and looking up felt as if the clouds were pressing down on their brows.

Some were filled with heroic spirit, some felt as if they were floating toward immortality, and some were trembling with fear; it was a varied scene.

After crossing the cloud bridge, many officials cheered and jumped for joy, and some even knelt and bowed in gratitude toward the direction where the divine dragon had vanished.

"Do not be so, I am Yuanlong of Cangmang Mountain. Today, while practicing the Great Dharma, I inadvertently shook the Earth Vein of Mount Tai and disturbed the Human King's Seal of Mount Tai procession. This is merely a slight compensation!"

A vast, deep, and majestic voice arrived, causing echoes all around.

The lingering sound trailed off—

"Yuanlong of Cangmang Mountain? So this divine dragon is a Dragon Lord—"

"Where is Cangmang Mountain? How come I have never heard of it—"

"It must be a hidden immortal mountain!"

"......"

For a time, the crowd was clamorous.

"Manqian, you have always been learned in the past and present; do you know of this Yuanlong?"

Liu Che's eyes were as deep as an abyss as he looked at Dongfang Shuo and asked.

And Dongfang Shuo, having already received a voice transmission from Fang Longye, was quite confident this time.

He feigned a look of deep thought, and after a moment, he bowed to Liu Che and said respectfully, "Replying to Your Majesty, this subject does know a thing or two about this Yuanlong."

"According to what this subject knows, this Cangmang Mountain is not in our Central Plains, but far away in the Bei Zhou overseas."

"And this Yuanlong is the master of this Cangmang Mountain, a famous divine being of Bei Zhou."

"Oh? So, this Yuanlong is an overseas divine being?" Hearing this, Liu Che considered his previous displeasure temporarily set aside.

Although this so-called Yuanlong, in his view, was clearly deliberately manifesting his divinity to manipulate people's hearts.

But the most urgent matter at present was still to depose those gods who were acting arrogantly within the borders of Great Han.

A divine dragon that had popped out from nowhere, one he had never even heard of before, was not worth worrying about.

Moreover, as an outsider, perhaps he could become a piece on the board to keep these Central Plains immortals and gods in check.

However—

These thoughts flashed through his mind and vanished; the most important thing right now was still the Seal of Mount Tai.

The summit of Mount Tai.

All around were ancient mounds and green pines, with a desolate chill; white clouds drifted leisurely, permeating the surroundings. The colors of frost and green ground against each other, and further away, there were faint sounds of bells, drums, and jade chimes.

Approaching slightly, a vast, atmospheric, majestic, and solemn Aura filled the space in front and behind.

At the very center of the summit.

A vast and magnificent high platform rose up, ninety-nine zhang high, covering several miles in circumference. It was backed by emerald mountains and faced by distant waters, looking from afar like a screen surrounding the area.

It was precisely the Fengshan Altar for an emperor to perform the Seal of Mount Tai.

Looking closely, troops were already stationed around the Fengshan Altar. Just like the Yulin Guards who escorted the monarch and his subjects up the mountain, they were clad in black armor, with ring-pommel sabers hanging at their waists, standing solemnly.

A short while later—

The sound of carriage wheels arrived; the canopy was held high, dragon flags fluttered, and Liu Che sat in the Heavenly Son's carriage, fully adorned in his ceremonial robes.

All around were eunuchs, palace maids, and civil and military officials, each with a solemn expression, following the Heavenly Son's carriage as it moved slowly.

It was—

After the monarch and subjects of Liu Che ascended the summit of Mount Tai and settled into the palace built there, after bathing, changing clothes, and observing the rites, they formally began the Seal of Mount Tai.

The carriage stopped not far from the Fengshan Altar, and Liu Che adjusted his crown tassels and stepped down from the carriage.

He let out a breath, suppressed his excitement, and looked toward the Fengshan Altar ahead.

This Fengshan Altar was very ancient; it was said to have been left behind when the First Emperor performed the Seal of Mount Tai.

But Liu Che knew this was not entirely correct; the Fengshan Altar from when the First Emperor performed the Seal of Mount Tai had long been destroyed in that great war.

And this Fengshan Altar was rebuilt by the High Ancestor Emperor after he gathered the remains of the altar from the First Emperor's era.

It had just never been used before his time.

Standing here and observing this Fengshan Altar, a sense of all streams returning to their source, where the energy of mountains and rivers gathered here, and the posture of Yin and Yang being divided, came into view.

Yes, Yin and Yang divided, cycling back and forth.

Even without being right in front of it, there was a feeling of one side being warm and the other cold.

Adjusting his ceremonial robes once more, Liu Che stood tall, his hand resting on the Heavenly Son Sword, and with a high-spirited posture, he headed toward the Fengshan Altar.

The Seal of Mount Tai officially began! (End of chapter)