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

After several attempts, Li Yi came to a conclusion.

The Investiture of the Gods is not an innate spiritual treasure.

Or rather, it is not entirely a primordial spiritual treasure.

Like magic and spiritual clarity, once comprehended, it becomes one's own skill, whether tangible or intangible, entirely within one's own mind.

Even so, Li Yi cannot simply categorize it as magic.

Because he couldn't summarize the cultivation method of the Investiture of the Gods; it was just there, moving at will like a magical treasure.

Li Yi didn't dwell on it. It was enough that he was certain that the Investiture of the Gods wouldn't be easily discovered or plundered by high-level cultivators.

Sitting beside him, Zhang Junyi noticed his fluctuating expression and asked worriedly, "What's wrong?"

Li Yi rubbed his temples. "I guess I used Lingmingqing too many times during the day, which made me feel a little drowsy."

He glanced at the bed, got up, took a square pillow from the closet, placed it next to his own pillow, and chuckled:

"The official residences are all full right now, so please make do with me, Junyi?"

Zhang Junyi kept her lips tightly closed, tilted her head and took off a simple wooden hairpin, placed it on the table, sat back on the edge of the bed, took off a pair of woolen boots with rolled edges, lay down on the bed, moved her body further in, and covered herself with the quilt.

Li Yi remembered that wooden hairpin; it was the one she wore on her wedding day, and one of the few things she took with her when she went down the mountain.

He also took off his outer clothes and boots, leaving only a cotton-padded coat, and lay down on the outside, just like he had in Lijia Village.

"I'll get you a new hairpin next time I go to town."

Zhang Junyi turned to the side, as if facing the wall in repentance, and gave a barely audible "hmm".

Li Yi didn't want to make a fool of himself, so he put his hands behind his head and stared at the curtain covering the bed frame, feeling that time was passing very slowly.

It might take an hour, a quarter of an hour, or even less. Li Yi quietly turned to the side, lifted a corner of the quilt to cover himself, and slowly moved forward.

Zhang Junyi's waist, slender and graceful, resembled the beautiful curve between the two humps of a camel.

Li Yi used his right hand to support himself on the quilt as he flipped over the curve and landed in front of Zhang Junyi. He reached up and down and grabbed a soft, smooth, delicate hand.

He was still bracing himself against the quilt with his right arm, and there was some distance between his chest and the woman's back, but he dared not move again.

Over time, it became extremely awkward, but he enjoyed it immensely, as if he were under a spell.

……

Li Yi frowned slightly, feeling pain all over his body.

When he opened his eyes, it was already broad daylight. His current sleeping position was much more comfortable. He was lying flat on his back, with something pressing down on his abdomen and thighs, giving him a strange sense of security.

Looking at her from the side, Zhang Junyi's eyes were closed, there was still a ring of water stains around the pillow, her left arm and left leg were draped over her body, and she was snoring softly.

Looking at the sky again, I realized that the days are short and the nights are long in winter. It was so bright that it was probably close to noon. Normally, I should have finished my Qi absorption and started the incense-based body shaping and wood Qi training long ago.

"The villagers of Lijia Village have all started body shaping, no wonder they're in pain all over..."

Li Yi carefully pulled himself off the bed, placed a pillow under Zhang Junyi's left leg as she stepped forward, and quickly sat down by the window. Using the remaining wood energy in his spiritual acupoints, he digested some of the incense offerings to temporarily relieve the pain, and then hurriedly absorbed energy to prepare for the large incense offerings from Qin Kaixian.

Tsk, you'll have to practice diligently.

Caring.

Fortunately, the people in the county town live a little later in life; otherwise, if two waves of incense were to be used to sculpt the body at the same time, no one would be spared from crying out in pain.

Zhang Junyi first opened his eyes a crack, waited a while before sitting up and silently breathing in and out Qi to nourish his spiritual acupoints.

Just as the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen, Zhang Junyi finally finished her breathing exercises, allowing the water and qi within her body to return to calm. She happened to see Li Yi turn around and look at her, and asked curiously:

"What is Yi-ge'er's current cultivation level?"

Li Yi curled the corners of his mouth, "I just finished reading 'Head Weeping'."

Zhang Junyi's mouth opened slightly, and after silently calculating the time, he sighed:

"In less than two months, he has reached the level of fifteen spiritual acupoints, starting from the external Qi absorption stage. Yi-ge'er is indeed exceptionally talented. If he were to become a Qi cultivator in Qishan, he would definitely be sought after by all the peaks."

Li Yi, on the contrary, remained calm and composed. Gathering Qi and opening acupoints was too commonplace. Compared to opening spiritual acupoints, he had focused most of his energy on the Investiture of the Gods.

Unfortunately, the number of imperial conferment quotas has not been increased. It is estimated that there will be changes when the twentieth spiritual cave, "Fengchi", is opened.

After having lunch and using up half of his Wood Qi to temper his body, Li Yi stopped his day's cultivation and asked Old Wang:

"Did Erhu and the others come here early this morning?"

The old man nodded hurriedly, "I came, but was turned away by Madam Qin. She heard that the two military officers, Erhu and Liu Zhi, wanted to learn to read and practice surveying, so she went with them."

Li Yi scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, then went back into the room and informed Zhang Junyi:

"I'm going to set up two targets in the village so I can practice archery on horseback and also check on Erhu and the others' progress."

Of the four skills for scouts, Li Yi and Guan Tian were naturally chosen to take the exams for archery and martial arts, while Li Erhu and Liu Zhi were chosen for the remaining two skills.

Li Yi looked for two wooden planks, led his horse out of the official residence, and walked a few steps to the drill ground of the manor. Although it was almost a flat area, it was much larger than the official residence.

Guan Tian was riding a horse among them, and a target had been set up in the distance. He took his hands off the reins, drew his bow and shot, and was already hitting the target three or four times out of ten. He was making rapid progress.

As expected, the plank was extra. Li Yi tossed it aside and was about to mount his horse when he saw the man with big eyes striding towards him.

"Brother Gongsun, why aren't you at the government office today?"

"I was punished by Miss for not managing my subordinates properly..." The man with the uneven eyes smiled sheepishly, not wanting to dwell on the matter, and said slyly, "I heard that a beautiful woman visited Sanyi Manor yesterday. Could it be that Brother Li already has someone he loves?"

Li Yi was taken aback by the question. When he saw Zhang Junyi yesterday, he was so overjoyed that he forgot about this.

At this time of year, all the military households are staying indoors during the winter. If they see anything new or interesting, they will spread the word to each other.

Junyi is, after all, a direct disciple of Qishan and the daughter of the Zhang family. How could she tolerate the idle gossip of those rough men and shrewish women?

Li Yi said solemnly, "Brother Gongsun, please don't spread rumors and ruin people's reputations; it's just an old friend visiting, and he won't be staying for more than a few days."

The man with the uneven eyes chuckled mischievously, then turned to look at Guan Tian and praised him:

"As expected of the Windwalker cultivator, he wields the bow with even greater skill."

Indeed, the progress was rapid. Without Ling Mingqing's blessing, Li Yi would probably not be as good as Guan Tian. He couldn't help but echo this sentiment.

The man with the small eyes patted Li Yi on the shoulder and said, "Windwalker cultivators are exceptionally sensitive to air currents. Once Guan Tian's cultivation is more advanced, he will be able to use wind energy to aid the momentum of horses and arrows. He is an excellent candidate for scouts. Even for his sake, the Commander-in-Chief will not easily eliminate you."

Li Yi was quite honored. After chatting with the other party for a few minutes, he mounted his horse and called Guan Tian over. They practiced for another half a day.

Now that the four skills of scouting and riding were no longer a problem, Li Yi no longer focused on horseback archery. He continued to concentrate on cultivating Qi and strengthening his body. He spent most of his remaining time practicing the "Jia Mu Sheng Yang Ji". Only when there was any left over did he allocate time to horseback archery and literacy.

Li Yi's mind is now clear, far surpassing that of ordinary people. With Zhang Junyi's careful guidance, he learns more and more easily. He can guess most of the words by simply connecting them to the context, so he is no longer stumped by a letter.

Days passed by, and two more days went by in the blink of an eye.