After obtaining the tripod, the emperor discussed the Fengshan ceremony with the ministers and Confucian scholars. Because the Fengshan ceremony had not been held for a long time and was almost lost, no one knew the specific etiquette. Confucian scholars all proposed to use the rituals recorded in the "Book of Documents", "Zhou Li" and "Wangzhi" to hold the ceremony. Ding Gong of Qi was already over 90 years old. He said: "'Feng' should mean immortality. Qin Shihuang was unable to climb Mount Tai to hold the Fengshan ceremony. Your Majesty must go up. As long as you climb to a slightly higher place, there will be no wind and rain blocking you, so you can climb Mount Tai to hold the Fengshan ceremony." The emperor therefore asked the Confucian scholars to practice the ritual of shooting the bull and drafted the etiquette used in Fengshan. After a few years, the Fengshan ceremony was about to be held. The emperor had heard what Gongsun Qing and the alchemists said, that when the emperors before Huangdi performed the Fengshan ceremony, they would attract some strange things that could communicate with the gods. So he planned to imitate the method of Huangdi to welcome the immortal Penglai gods, so as to transcend the world and be comparable to the virtues of the Nine Emperors, and also adopted many Confucian techniques to embellish it. The Confucian scholars could not distinguish the specific etiquette of Fengshan, and were deeply bound by ancient texts such as "Book of Songs" and "Book of Documents", so they did not dare to give full play to their talents. The emperor showed the sacrificial utensils used for Fengshan to the Confucian scholars. Some of the Confucian scholars said, "This is not the same as the ancient ones." Xu Yan also said, "The etiquette performed by the Taichang Temple officials is not as good as that of the ancient Lu State." Zhou Ba gathered a group of Confucian scholars to plan the Fengshan event this time, so the emperor demoted Xu Yan and Zhou Ba and dismissed all these Confucian scholars.
In March, the emperor went east to Gaoshi County and climbed Taishi Mountain in Songshan to hold a sacrifice. The accompanying officials seemed to hear someone shouting "Long live" at the foot of the mountain. When asked about the people on the mountain, they all said they had not shouted; when asked about the people below the mountain, they all said they had not shouted. Therefore, the emperor granted Taishi Mountain 300 households to facilitate its sacrifice and named it Chonggaoyi. Going east to Mount Tai, before the grass and trees on the mountain had grown leaves, he ordered people to transport the stone tablet to the mountain and set it on the top of Mount Tai.
The emperor then went east to inspect the sea and held a ceremony to worship the eight gods of heaven, earth, soldiers, yin, yang, moon, sun and four seasons. The people of Qi reported to the emperor that there were nearly 10,000 gods, spirits and strange magic, but none of them worked. Therefore, the emperor sent more ships and ordered the thousands of people who reported about the sea god mountain to go to Penglai to visit the immortal. Gongsun Qing held the talisman and went to various mountains to wait for the immortal. When he arrived at Donglai, he said that he had seen a man at night, several feet tall, and disappeared when he approached. He saw that his footprints were very large, very much like the footprints of animals. One of the ministers said that he had seen an old man with a dog, who said, "I really want to see the emperor," and then disappeared in the blink of an eye. The emperor had heard about the big footprints, but he didn't believe it until someone among the ministers mentioned the old man. Then he really thought that the old man was a fairy. So he stayed at the seaside, gave the alchemists post carriages, and sent thousands of secret envoys to visit the fairy.
自得宝鼎，上与公卿诸生议封禅。封禅用希旷绝，莫知其仪礼，而群儒采封禅《尚书》《周官》《王制》之望祀射牛事。齐人丁公年九十余，曰：“封者，合不死之名也。秦皇帝不得上封。陛下必欲上，稍上即无风雨，遂上封矣。”上于是乃令诸儒习射牛，草封禅仪。数年，至且行。天子既闻公孙卿及方士之言，黄帝以上封禅，皆致怪物与神通，欲放黄帝以尝接神仙人蓬莱士，高世比德于九皇，而颇采儒术以文之。群儒既以不能辩明封禅事，又牵拘于诗书古文而不敢骋。上为封祠器示群儒，群儒或曰“不与古同”，徐偃又曰“太常诸生行礼不如鲁善”，周霸属图封事，于是上绌偃、霸，尽罢诸儒弗用。
三月，遂东幸缑氏，礼登中岳太室。从官在山下闻若有言“万岁”云。问上，上不言；问下，下不言。于是以三百户封太室奉祠，命曰崇高邑。东上泰山，山之草木叶未生，乃令人上石立之泰山颠。
上遂东巡海上，行礼祠八神。齐人之上疏言神怪奇方者以万数，然无验者。乃益发船，令言海中神山者数千人求蓬莱神人。公孙卿持节常先行候名山，至东莱，言夜见一人，长数丈，就之则不见，见其迹甚大，类禽兽云。群臣有言见一老父牵狗，言“吾欲见巨公”，已忽不见。上既见大迹，未信，及群臣有言老父，则大以为仙人也。宿留海上，与方士传车及间使求仙人以千数。
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