Chapter 356: Chapter 355: Flourishing Incense on Feiyun Mountain
Taoist Qingwei flew off on his own to find Taoist Qingyuan.
Taoist Yuan He flew back to Daluo Palace on his sword, bringing with him a middle-aged Martial Arts Expert to join Daluo Palace as an Outer Disciple.
In Gu Zhao’s Sea of Consciousness, the Five Thunders Order condensed another Thunder Seed.
...
"To be honest, of the Four Great Taoism Mountains, Feiyun Mountain is relatively the least famous," Gu Zhao said.
The Four Great Taoism Mountains were Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain, Zhenwu Mountain, Qingcheng Mountain, and Feiyun Mountain.
Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain was the seat of the Celestial Master’s Mansion, with a lineage stretching back over a thousand years, and it led the Southern Taoist Sect. Zhenwu Mountain integrated both the northern and southern Taoist Sects and even produced Zhang Sanfeng, a once-in-a-millennium figure. Qingcheng Mountain had a long history and could be considered the birthplace of the Taoist Sect.
Compared to the other three, Feiyun Mountain was indeed less renowned. In fact, it wasn’t even as famous as places like Lao Mountain, Void Mountain, or Three Pristine Mountain.
"Being less famous is a good thing. It allows one to cultivate in peace," Taoist Yu Zhang said with a smile.
Feiyun Mountain was located between Dragon Tiger Heavenly Mountain and Sanmao Mountain. Although it was in Jiangnan, it was originally a bridgehead for Northern Daoism’s expansion south. However, it was later evangelized in reverse by Southern Daoism, so it had become a place where both traditions merged and converged.
"So besides the Northern Emperor Sect, are there other sects on Feiyun Mountain?" Gu Zhao asked.
"Of course," Taoist Yu Zhang chuckled. "Weren’t you just talking about the obscure Southern Five Ancestors? A branch of the Purple Sun Sect is actually on Feiyun Mountain."
"Haha, I know," Gu Zhao said, nodding with a smile. "It was in the files the Taoist Office gave me. To be honest, I thought that branch had been absorbed into the Quanzhen Dao long ago and its lineage was lost."
"As long as the lineage exists, it can’t be lost. At worst, it just skips a generation," Taoist Yu Zhang said, sounding a bit emotional. "Feiyun Mountain is also home to branch lineages of the Dragon Gate Sect and the Shenxiao Sect."
"The Quanzhen Dao’s Dragon Gate Sect and Purple Sun Sect, and the Zhengyi Dao’s Northern Emperor Sect and Shenxiao Sect. It truly is a fusion of north and south."
Gu Zhao looked at the files the Taoist Office had provided. Although Feiyun Mountain was the most inconspicuous of the Four Great Taoism Mountains, its serene environment was perfect for cultivation. In fact, it held more instances of True Dao than the Celestial Master’s Mansion and Sanmao Mountain combined!
However, he didn’t have enough Thunder Seeds in his Sea of Consciousness at the moment, so he couldn’t take them all for now.
Gu Zhao and Taoist Yu Zhang walked up the mountain. There weren’t many tourists, especially when compared to Huang Mountain in the same city, which was far more crowded.
But at the same time, they noticed that the proportion of wealthy, lavishly dressed people among the tourists was a bit high.
"The rich are always the first to get the news," Gu Zhao said with a laugh.
"Even if ordinary people found out, they don’t have time to come climb a mountain and offer incense on a weekday," Taoist Yu Zhang also laughed.
Taoist Qingyuan came from a family of old farmers and had never been on a plane in his life. Although he had turned invisible and even held up the aircraft to help it glide to a landing, his execution was still too crude.
There were many illogical aspects to the passenger plane incident, corroborated by a photograph. Fortunately, no video of the plane landing without gliding circulated; otherwise, the secret would have been completely out.
But even so, with so many people inside the airport that day, not to mention the hundreds of passengers who experienced the event, the details inevitably spread through various channels, just like with the Mongolian Mine Disaster.
Famous mountains, monasteries, and Taoist Temples like Rongcheng’s Cyan Yang Palace, Qingcheng Mountain, Heming Mountain, and Emei Mountain were suddenly swamped with people!
It was said that offices in the airports of both Mountain City and Shu Province had set up Supreme Lord Statues. Three sticks of incense were offered respectfully every day, and staff members passing by could smell the soothing, pleasant aroma of sandalwood drifting through the air.
Not long after the passenger plane incident, the northern sandstorm incident occurred.
To be honest, ordinary people didn’t think much of it at first. Strange and sudden weather phenomena had become more common—earthquakes, droughts, floods, torrential rains, smog, and sandstorms.
Take the Shangdu downpour incident from a few years ago, for example. It was practically a deluge from the heavens, complete with thunderstorms. Online, it ended up being described as a great Magical Combat between a Celestial Xia Daoist and a Sakura Paste Yin-Yang Master.
So, when the sandstorm suddenly appeared and then vanished, the general public didn’t make a big deal out of it, just assuming it was another relatively bizarre weather event.
That is, until people noticed that the sandstorms had vanished suddenly in many cities. Then, some enterprising individuals compiled a timeline of the sandstorm’s disappearance in each city. Finally, someone else learned about the sandstorm that had buried a city in Northern Mongolia.
Then, a clear path emerged.
Combined with the fact that Northern Mongolia sent a delegation to Yandu not long after to reach agreements with Celestial Xia on mining, infrastructure, new energy, and environmental management, the cause and effect of the event became even more obvious.
This was by no means an ordinary weather anomaly; it was a blatantly man-made result.
Although many people guessed it was Celestial Xia’s advanced technology, those with a little inside knowledge unhesitatingly concluded that it was an Extraordinary Being acting out in anger.
The reason was simple: dumping sand directly on Northern Mongolia’s capital was definitely not the Celestial Xia System’s style!
The exposed Taoist Yellow Talisman, the rainbow over Lao Mountain, the photograph from the plane incident, the rumors of a Daoist appearing at the mine disaster site, the inside story of the Berkeley incident...
People with even a few outside connections also knew that many foreigners were entering the country to investigate something at famous mountains and temples.
Every single one of these incidents could be linked to Celestial Xia’s native religion—the Taoist Sect!
Haven’t you heard the rumors the System has been putting out recently?
’Taoist culture isn’t feudal superstition. It’s a traditional culture that originated in our country and has been passed down for thousands of years!’
Many well-informed rich people, as well as those with a bit of power within the System, began to frantically make inquiries. After all, besides Demon Suppression, the biggest selling point of Taoist culture is longevity and immortality!
However, the Taoist Cultural Exchange Support Office was extremely high-level. It was composed almost entirely of senior leaders and top experts from various departments, reported directly to the core of the System, and could mobilize resources and forces from any department at any time. Ordinary people couldn’t reach them, or rather, even if they could, they couldn’t influence them.
So, these people, who thought they had the inside scoop before the general public but had no connections to any Extraordinary Beings, could only resort to desperate measures. They went everywhere to burn incense, hoping to obtain some kind of immortal fate.
As one of the Four Great Taoism Mountains, Feiyun Mountain was naturally a key destination for their incense-burning pilgrimages.
For instance, right now, on their way up the mountain, Gu Zhao and Taoist Yu Zhang overtook a slightly overweight, middle-aged man. A pretty young woman was supporting him as he climbed.
"HUFF... HUFF..." The man was panting heavily. He looked up at Xuansu Palace, which still seemed far away, and pouted. "Why do these Daoists build their Taoist Temples so high? Are they doing this on purpose just to make things difficult for me?"
"Should we just stop climbing, then?" the woman asked.
"No way! We have to keep going!" The man caught his breath and shook his head. "There might be a True Daoist on Feiyun Mountain who can solve my problems. If it comes down to it, I’ll just offer more money."
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