The establishment of the Celestial Dynasty began with the bestowal of the title upon the River God.

The four of them sat around in the east room.

Yi-ge'er's successful absorption of Qi is a major event for the whole family.

Li's mother even specially asked her adopted son to call her daughter-in-law over, saying, "Let her see what her husband is capable of."

Li Dashan, the father, was beaming with joy. When his wife told him that Yi Ge'er had eaten the whole table of food, he was pretty sure it was true. And when he saw Yi Ge'er break a piece of firewood as thick as a bowl in half with his own hands, he had no more doubts.

"You and I both know that Yi-ge'er has achieved success in his cultivation. Openly doing so in the village won't bring him any great benefits; on the contrary, it might attract envy. Returning to the army safely is the most important thing."

Once you've earned military merits and received a rank and title, you'll have truly established yourself in this Great Cold Mountain.

Li Yi nodded in agreement. Actually, he was somewhat eager to experience what it was like to perform in front of others, and seeing his adoptive father's solemn tone, he kept it in mind.

"Dad, what about my mountain run tomorrow?"

Li Dashan nodded with a smile, "Yi-ge'er is willing to do his part for the family, and as his father, I can't stop him. However, the mountains are dangerous, and wild animals are preparing for winter. Even if you have achieved success in your cultivation, you can't be careless."

Li Yi replied obediently, "My son will definitely listen."

In just a few minutes, the adoptive father mentioned "achievements in cultivation" twice, which was inevitably embarrassing—a beautiful woman at the mid-stage of Qi Refining was sitting right next to him.

"Father, how many people in the village have mastered this breathing technique?"

Li Dashan shook his head repeatedly, "I've never heard of it. From the older generation to the younger generation, out of a total of about a thousand male soldiers who learned the method, not a single one of them succeeded."

Li Yi was speechless. No wonder his adoptive father was so serious about it and kept saying that he had achieved something in his cultivation. But... what exactly was so difficult about it?

Li Dashan glanced at Zhang Junyi from time to time, and seeing the surprise on her face, he chuckled inwardly and gave the order:

"Good daughter-in-law, take good care of Yi-ge from now on, and good fortune will come your way. Go back to your room, I want to talk to Yi-ge for a while."

Just as Zhang Junyi showed her "surprise" at the right time, she showed no trace of the rebellious spirit she had shown early in the morning, and obediently got up and went back to her room.

In fact, Li Dashan didn't pass on any secrets to Li Yi. However, for the hunters of Dahan Mountain, the tips and precautions for hunting in the mountains were already extremely important and not something to be told to women.

"It's a way of showing off my status," Li Yi thought to himself.

Running in the mountains is a matter of life and death. Although he knew that his adopted son was different from ordinary people, Li Dashan still gave him detailed instructions.

Finally, Li Yi asked, "Besides bears and wild boars, are there any other large insects?"

Li Dashan said solemnly, "It's inside the restricted area. Some of the older generation saw it, but fortunately, the tiger seemed to have eaten its fill and escaped with its life."

"Understood..." Li Yi stood up. "Then my son will go to sleep now. We'll get up early tomorrow."

Li Dashan responded, and Li's mother, still immersed in the joy of her adopted son becoming a squad leader, happily said:

"Once Yi-ge'er also gets a duke title, our family will be able to have a hundred acres of fertile land."

"What fertile land? When will Quan Ge'er ever be able to reclaim those hundred acres? It's better to grow up peacefully than anything else."

The voices of his adoptive parents gradually faded from Li Yi's ears. When he got to the main room, he realized that it was already midnight.

Li Yi pushed open the door to the west room and froze on the spot!

Besides Zhang Junyi, there was a strange man sitting at the table. He was dressed in animal skins, with a rugged and tough face, and thick hair growing down his cheeks to his chin.

Li Yi felt a void below his line of sight. Looking down, he saw a pit that had appeared in the ground, wide enough for one person to pass through.

Just as he was about to reprimand him, a male voice, as resounding as a bell, struck into Li Yi's mind.

"Now that everyone's here, let's talk."

The burly man glanced briefly at Li Yi, then focused his attention on Zhang Junyi, and said:

"I am fully aware of what you did during the day. My fellow practitioner, you and another person attempted to ambush me, and you should have died today. However, it seems that the other person's ambition lies not with me, but with you."

The man in animal skin scrutinized Zhang Junyi's expression, then changed the subject: "However—since you've angered me, you should pay the price. Fellow Daoist, I can help you break through your spiritual acupoints and restore your early Qi Refining cultivation."

Zhang Junyi asked, "You want to use me as bait?"

The man in animal skin smirked, "If you and I join forces, we can ensure that human cultivator never returns."

Zhang Junyi asked again, "If you kill him, what about me?"

"If I kill you, and Qishan sends more people, I will be in for a lot of trouble." The man in the animal skin was confident, seemingly certain that Zhang Junyi would join forces with him.

Having said that, Zhang Junyi roughly understood what the other party was thinking.

If one person is spared, they can be sent back to Qishan to report back, and the mountain lord can be falsely accused of fleeing, thus securing temporary peace.

Cooperation would benefit both sides, which seems like a viable option.

Li Yi heard the gist of it and was deeply shocked.

So this man was actually the giant tiger from the restricted area in disguise?!

Listening to the conversation between the man and the beast in front of him, he almost lost his train of thought. Damn it, is my mind no match for a wild beast?

This world is truly wondrous!

Li Yi wanted to interject, but his skill in opening a single acupoint was hardly impressive enough, so he could only let the young lady compete with him.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Junyi thought, "Although Zhang Lingbao failed to acquire any magic techniques from the spiritual cave, he still wields a magical artifact, which is enough to injure a physical cultivator. His lung yin metal qi is also not to be underestimated. Mountain Lord, you must be careful."

The man in the animal skin laughed loudly, "I am deeply impressed by your profound water magic."

As he spoke, two wisps of pale yellow earth energy emanated from his fingertips and were sent into the soles of Zhang Junyi's feet, specifically to the Yongquan point, the starting point of the Shaoyin Kidney Meridian.

The earth energy was of pure yang nature, and it was no weaker than Zhang Lingbao's lung yin metal energy. In just a moment, it opened up the three spiritual acupoints: Yongquan, Rangu, and Taixi.

However, the earth energy stopped at Taixi and no longer flowed into the cave.

The man in the animal skin withdrew his hand and said, "Please understand, fellow cultivator, I must be somewhat cautious. The remaining few days should be enough for you to open a few more spiritual acupoints. Even if you don't reach the mid-stage of cultivation, you should be close enough."

Having said that, he walked to the edge of the pit, glanced at Li Yi a second time, and said coldly:

"Boy, if you want to live, don't meddle, and don't ruin my grand plan, or else—"

Before he could finish speaking, the man leaped into the air and waved his hand before disappearing. The surrounding sand automatically returned to its original state, leaving Li Yi dumbfounded.

Zhang Junyi sensed the water energy within his body and tried to impact the fourth acupoint of the kidney yin, "Dazhong." It felt like punching a wall with his bare fist, and he couldn't help but sigh, "My initial cultivation level is indeed too weak..."

She looked up and saw that Li Yi was still standing there. Perhaps his cultivation had recovered and his mood had improved a lot, so she smiled.

He wanted to open his mouth first to facilitate conversation, but restoring his cultivation was the priority, so he could only send out water energy to communicate through thought:

"I'm sure you have many questions, Mr. Li. Let me explain slowly..."

In fact, Li Yi himself didn't know where to begin, but Zhang Junyi, being quick-witted, started by talking about the matter of cultivating Taoism.

"We cultivators, whether we cultivate Qi or Body, all cultivate the Great Dao of the Five Elements. We absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to cultivate our own microcosm, so 'Qi Sensation' is also called 'External Sensation,' and it is more accurate."

Qi cultivation uses the five elements of Qi to nourish the internal organs and spiritual acupoints, ultimately gathering the five elements to cultivate the Great Dao of the Five Elements Golden Elixir.

Body cultivation involves using the five elements of Qi to refine the internal organs, blood, marrow, tendons, bones, skin, and flesh. When the five elements are integrated into the physical body, and one reaches a profound level, one can achieve physical sainthood…

Zhang Junyi spoke eloquently, instructing Li Yi with his spiritual knowledge for a full half hour, until his spiritual energy was depleted, at which point he finally stopped.

That night, the girl slept soundly, but the young man couldn't sleep at all.

It turns out that regardless of the type of cultivator, as long as they have not opened up an entire meridian and acupoint, they are considered to be at the Qi Refining stage.

Li Yi, having just begun to grasp the basics, was filled with confusion. He asked, "The number of acupoints varies along each meridian; how do I differentiate between levels?"

Zhang Junyi asked and answered:

"Although the number of acupoints varies among the twelve meridians of the human body, the difficulty of accessing acupoints also varies greatly among different meridians."

For example, my daughter's Shaoyin Kidney Meridian has 27 acupoints, which is much fewer than Li Lang's Shaoyang Gallbladder Meridian of 44 acupoints, so the difficulty of breaking through the barrier will be greater for her than for Li Lang.

As for the different levels of Qi cultivation, they are not simply divided into three equal parts based on the number of meridians and acupoints. Rather, one progresses from the initial to the intermediate stage as the number of meridians increases, with each meridian exhibiting different characteristics.

"..."

Li Yi still had many questions, but Zhang Junyi's water energy was exhausted, and he needed to replenish it the next day to facilitate the flow of energy to the acupoints, so he had no choice but to give up.

"My wife will teach me a method for cultivating qi tomorrow morning. Although it's just an introductory method from Qishan, it'll be enough for now. She doesn't have a method for cultivating body qi. Once I return to the army, I should be able to properly develop my natural talents and receive some training."

Li Yi suddenly blushed and cursed inwardly, "You shameless bastard, you're used to calling me 'wife'!"

He shook his head, recalling the arrogant mountain lord, and gradually made up his mind.