The Sun rose, and golden rays of light pierced through the dark night. Sunlight soon poured down gently onto the Earth, warming it up and the streets of Shandong were bustling with activity.

“Hey, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pay attention! Our bus is bound for the tourist area of Mount Tai, and there were limited seats. Strictly on first come first serve basis!” a ticket seller standing in front of a huge coach yelled, trying to attract the attention of potential customers.

Wang Bugui and his sworn brothers were touring not far away from the coach, and the commotion caught his attention. If he had seen this a few days ago, he would have lamented his lack of money and went on his way alone. Now, he merely smiled. He was no longer alone. He had three sworn brothers with him now, and he could finally feel the warmth of a family after waiting for an entire decade.

Earlier on today in the morning, they had traversed the skies and hurried over. There was still another day till the meet, and they wanted to see for themselves if the people living at the foot of Mount Tai in Shandong had any unique traditions. Yu Wude even brought Zhao Changge and Lyu Hao to purchase some clothes, as they would draw too much attention to themselves if they continued wearing the ancient costumes of male fighters.

“I say, you two are really geniuses. Who told you to wear your training clothes for a long trip? Are you afraid that nobody on the streets would recognize you two? Let’s find any shop and get some clothes for both of you!” Yu Wude complained as he walked in front of them with a dark expression on his face. The other two youths dressed in ancient clothes tagged behind him, drawing a lot of stares along the way. Passers-by would either remark that they were actors in a television drama or having a cosplay session.

This was not the most infuriating thing for Yu Wude, however. Even Wang Bugui, who was slightly more normal than the other two, was also acting weirdly after they had arrived in Shandong. He had summoned an extremely female puppet and walked alongside her while controlling her movements with wires. He would bring her along to see any interesting thing or unique sights, and he even explained how he felt to her.

The appearance of the puppet and the two ‘ancient’ youths drew even more attention to themselves than before. They were the focal point of everyone’s attention wherever they traveled, and Yu Wude wondered if they would pay so much heed even if a rare artifact appeared in front of them. Yu Wude led the other four into a sportswear shop.

He pushed the door of the shop open and shouted, “Boss, help me see if you’ve anything for those two behind me to wear. Hurry up, we’re running out of time!”

The boss of the shop appeared and realized that the two people behind Yu Wude were dressed in ancient costumes. He paused for a moment before replying, “Yes, yes, I’ll find something good for you.”

After careful selection, both Lyu and Zhao changed into an all-black ensemble of active wear. They used their Tao skills to transform their long hair to short hair after exiting from the shop, and their short black tops accentuated their muscles; one of them was huge, while the other wiry. Coupled with their handsome looks and Yu Wude’s cuteness, they got plenty of warm stares coming their way.

Especially Wang Bugui would walk behind them. His looks had already made him extremely popular with the ladies, and now he had an extremely beautiful puppet with him. Their small band drew the attention of all types of passersby and plenty of them raised their phones and cameras to take photos of the four youths and female puppet. They had to squeeze their way forward and had no choice but to hurry to Mount Tai eventually.

They arrived at the foot of Mount Tai 10 minutes later, and all of them looked at the most famous mountain of the Five Peaks. Its highest point, the Jade Emperor Peak, was 1545 meters above sea level, and it bore an immense majestic aura. Upon closer examination, they could feel the huge aura of the mountain even more, and it was definitely worthy of its reputation of dwarfing all other peaks.

The famous mountain could be thought of as the essence of Eastern culture, and the place where people realized it was possible to become one with the divine.

Mount Tai was treated by people in the past as a ‘stairway to the emperor’s throne’, and it was worshipped by commoners and emperors alike. There was a saying that ‘peace would reign over the land if Mount Tai is well’. From the Qin to the Qing Dynasty, 13 emperors and kings had personally ascended Mount Tai to attend religious ceremonies or offer sacrifices to the gods, and another 24 had instructed their officials to offer sacrifice to the Heavens on their behalf for a total of 72 times.

Legend has it that the Heavenly Emperor of Mountain Tai was its mountain god. He was also known as Lord Taishan, or Lord of Taishan Residence, and ranked second in the Yuan Palace of the Yuqing Realm, and first amongst the Five Peaks. It controlled the souls of humans and dictated their fates, statuses and positions; it was basically the beginning and the end of every living being. As such, since the Period of the Warring States till the Han Dynasty, Mount Tai was the holy place where rulers paid their respects to the Heavens.

In the Onmyōdō techniques that spread to Japan, there was one of them that was named after the mountain, and it would summon Lord Taishan himself. As he controlled the souls of humans, the onmyōjis made a pact with him. Everytime they needed him to resurrect someone, they had to give another life to him in exchange. Otherwise, the onmyōjis themselves had to sacrifice some of their lives. If not, the resurrection would not be successful.

All in all, there were too many legends about the mountain that had been left behind. In the past, rulers had solemnly paid their respects to the Heavens here, while sages like Confucius and various literary figures respected the mountain greatly. Many people, Buddhists and Taoists included, treated it like sacred ground, and it could be considered as the place where the spirit of Chinese descendants resided in.

There were more than 20 ancient architectural grounds left behind on the various peaks of Mount Tai, and there were about more than 2200 carved stone tablets. Buddhists and Taoists viewed of the mountain as the ‘Divine Mountain and Kingdom of Buddha’, and they kept adding to its divine allure by erecting huge numbers of shrines and temples on it. They became a huge attraction which drew countless number of devotees who visited them for worship.

It was still early morning, but plenty of people had arrived to tour Mount Tai. After all, it was a world renowned hotspot. Odd timings could not deter passionate tourists from coming, and it was so packed that Wang Bugui and company could not tag along for a tour of the mountain.

“My goodness, Mount Tai is really popular. It’s still two to three hours before noon, yet there are so many people here already,” Yu Wude said, his face turning red as he looked at the crowd.

“After all, it has been designated as a class 5A location, and its fame is worldwide. Would you expect any lesser?” Zhao Changge said as he spread his palms open.

“It really lives up to its name as the champion of the Five Peaks!” Lyu Hao said, as he nodded and admired the grandiosity of Mount Tai as well.

“I wanted to take a look at the local traditions, but now it seems like I don’t have any chance of doing that,” Wang Bugui said. He could only admit defeat to the throng of tourists and he dared not to even let Puppet Chiou out, for fear that she would be touched by them.

“I think we’d better find a spot and erect a barrier. We can enjoy the view inside there, and it’ll be the same. We could even set one up in the skies at the peak of the mountain and take in the great view there. We wouldn’t have to compete with these commoners,” suggested Yu Wude.

The others nodded; there was no other choice. They could never hope to compete with tourists who were determined to tour the mountain, especially those from the East. Those were especially vicious. The party of four came to a secluded, forested area and began using their powers to erect a barrier. Indeed, the view from within the barrier was about the same as outside of it. In fact, it was even slightly better.

An ancient limestone path was in front of them, and it was so long that they could not see where it ended. They automatically changed back into their ancient costumes and Taoist robes while they walked along the path and took in the amazing sights. Along their way, they could see many other practitioners entering the barrier.

All of them wore modern clothing, but the aura they gave off was unique from normal civilians, and it even felt as if they had a natural superiority.

Each of them would change into ancient costumes or Taoist robes, and the modern, fashionable looking youths transformed into handsome people in period costumes. The women were equally alluring no matter in whatever type of clothes there were in, and they had a unique charm while wearing retro clothing.

“Wow, the Gathering of Practitioners really lives up to its name. We have encountered so many beautiful women even before it has even began. Could you imagine how much eye candy there would be if all of the sects were gathered?”

“Changge’s right; this is really paradise. Such a handsome, cool, unique and talented person like myself should not stop at any ordinary woman, however. Let’s go; we’ve to find some exceptional ladies!”

Zhao Changge was gazing lustily and drooling at the female practitioners, and Yu Wude was standing beside him spouting nonsense. This instantly caused the women around them to become so angry that they nearly came over to lecture the youths.

“Shut up, you two. Between the both of you, you’ll make us public enemy of the other sects before the meet even begins,” Lyu Hao said as he hit the back of their heads hard, his face dark.

“Hey, could you go lighter on us? Not everyone is as tough as you,” Zhao Changge said through gritted teeth as he massaged his head. Lyu Hao had great brute strength, and he nearly knocked his friend onto the ground with that smack.

“That’s right, that’s right! I protest! Do you believe that I’ll tell Big Brother to carve you up? There’s a huge bump on my charming face now. I won’t let you off if I end up scaring off any woman,” Yu Wude complained as he hugged his head as well.

“Alright, that’s enough. It’s more important to enjoy the scenery now, we can get our fair share of eye candy during the meet,” Wang Bugui said as he laughed gently. He then proceeded to walk forward along with Puppet Chiou. Both of them were completely dressed in black, and they looked like a perfect couple.

Zhao Changge and the other two youths stopped fooling around and kept up with him. They ceased their lustful discussions about women and instead conversed like brothers. They implored Wang Bugui to tell them about the puppet’s story, as well as all of his experiences in the West.

His family’s sacrificing their lives to seal a demon away, his father dying after engaging a foe with the strength of a true immortal, his mother dying on the same battlefield with his father, and finally the woman whom he cared about dying on his behalf. His three sworn brothers pitied him and could not help but feel their hearts ache as they heard about his life. Wang Bugui was so young then, but he had already gone through so much tragedies.

Wang Bugui told them not to worry, however. The past was history, and it was more important to focus on the present. A huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and all they had to do was concentrate on the upcoming Gathering of Practitioners. Upon hearing this, Zhao Changge and the others stopped talking about the past and chatted happily as they enjoyed the scenery around them while advancing toward the location of the meet.