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

Li Shuyan sat upright at the head of the table, a smile in his eyes.

Commander Pang glared with his tiger-like eyes, his gaze conveying five words.

Don't be ungrateful.

Li Yi did not hesitate and clasped his hands in greeting:

"I thank you for your kindness, Commander. However, Commander Gongsun has been very kind to me, and I have just been selected as a scout under the Commander. I really cannot bear to go elsewhere."

Li Shuyan raised an eyebrow and said:

"If you return to Tiger Might Camp, you can be on equal footing with Commander Gongsun. Aren't you tempted?"

Without a second thought, Li Yi thought, "Since we're about to go on an expedition, I'm not worried about not getting a promotion."

Li Shuyan laughed heartily, "Then I'll be waiting for your good news—go down, I have something to discuss with your superior."

The commander gestured, ordering his attendants to hand over all the prizes to Li Yi. Gongsun Ling also hurriedly took his leave, catching up with Li Yi outside the official residence. Seeing that Li Yi was empty-handed, he suddenly realized something and teased him:

"Sister Junyi is so considerate of you, she's even learned the art of storage?"

Li Yi was taken aback. "You are also acquainted with Junyi, sir?"

"Didn't I say I should call her 'Big Sister'?" Gongsun Ling feigned annoyance. "Sister Junyi and I have been friends since childhood, but we've been busy with our own affairs in recent years and rarely get together."

The two strolled to the waterside pavilion and saw Zhang Junyi dressed as a bodyguard.

"Sister Junyi specially asked me to join the camp and has been quietly cheering you on."

Li Yi strode forward, his face beaming with delight; Zhang Junyi removed his helmet and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Brother Yi, on being selected as a sentry."

"It's nothing," Li Yi chuckled, then turned to Gongsun Ling and asked, "I wonder if the garrison scouts need to assemble daily before the expedition?"

"The commander didn't mention it, let's go back to the estate and wait for news."

Li Yi nodded slightly and walked out of the government office side by side with the two women.

After watching the excitement, Gongsun Ling headed to the Hundred Households Office. Today, in addition to selecting scouts, the garrison was also preparing its troops and raising its flags. She said that the garrison would eventually send out two thousand soldiers.

Li Yi had no duties involved, so the two parted ways outside the central military camp.

Beyond the central camp, to the east and west, were the third and second camps, respectively. Li Yi looked eastward and whispered:

"My old squad leader Wang Li, platoon leader Wu Hao, and others should have all seen today's selection of scouts. In the past, the garrison soldiers treated me well, but..."

Li Yi looked down at Zhang Junyi, "Do you think it's appropriate to visit the barracks right now?"

Zhang Junyi pondered for a moment, "Yi-ge'er is currently riding high, but this place is not under the jurisdiction of the garrison, so it's not appropriate for him to show off here. Besides, Yi-ge'er has changed too much recently, and a sudden visit might catch him off guard, leaving him unsure of how to get along with him. It would be better to postpone it to another day."

"Then let's do it another day."

The two men left Tiger Might Camp and saw three subordinates outside the camp gate, so they returned to the manor together.

Li Yi summoned Erhu and the others back to the official residence and took out three pills and five jade bottles from the spiritual cave.

"Since we have been successfully selected as sentries, we should naturally share the spoils. Of the three Acupoint Opening Pills, Erhu, Guantian, and Liu Zhi will each receive one, and I will keep the other two for future use."

Five bottles of Qi-boosting pills, one for each person, and I'll keep two for myself.

As for that great bow made of dragon tendons…

Li Yi suddenly grasped a large bow in his hand. "As a Wind-type Body Cultivator, Xiao Guan is most suitable for this. You can have it."

Guan Tian instinctively reached out to catch it, "This..."

Li Erhu said with a smile, "Our Sanyi Village was able to win first place entirely thanks to Yi-ge and you, so you can't refuse."

Guan Tian tightened his grip on the bow handle and said earnestly, "Guan Tian will definitely use it well."

"That's right."

Li Yi distributed three acupoint-opening pills and three bottles of qi-boosting pills together. When he got to Liu Zhi, he saw that Liu Zhi looked ashamed.

"I haven't developed any external symptoms yet, so it would be a waste for me to take it. Please, my three brothers, accept it."

Li Yi patted the item on Liu Zhi's chest, "Take it, consider it a reminder."

Holding the pills and jade bottle, Liu Zhi still looked as if he felt unworthy of them, stubbornly saying:

"Then I'll take an acupoint-opening pill; that will be enough to motivate them. These Qi-boosting pills are frequently needed by the brothers; it's a waste to leave them here!"

Li Yi no longer declined. The Qi-Boosting Pill was far superior to the Blood-Boosting Pill in both value and efficacy, and it was indeed a cultivation resource that he urgently needed at the moment.

Three bottles of Qi-boosting pills were enough to replace more than a hundred Blood Qi pills, so Zhang Junyi was naturally happy for him and invited everyone to stay for lunch.

Upon hearing the good news, Qin also came to join in the fun. As everyone was chatting happily, a messenger suddenly rushed to the official residence. He was the garrison's messenger.

Sanyizhuang was selected as a scout, but he still needs to improve his skills in riding, archery, reading, writing, and surveying.

The commander has ordered that, starting tomorrow, all garrison scouts must enter the city at the beginning of the 5-7 PM daily to practice various skills for two hours, for a period of seven days.

Li Yi took the document from the messenger and only had time to go back to his room to rest for a while after the luncheon ended.

Today, busy with the selection of sentry, I had no time to burn incense and could only silently endure the pain of body shaping. Fortunately, when the villagers of Lijia Village offered incense, the selection for bravery had not yet begun.

As for Qin Kaixian's side, the incense offerings continued but didn't suddenly surge in large quantities, and Li Yi had already barely adapted.

Seeing that Zhang Junyi had already begun to absorb Qi, he silently stood up, thinking to himself:

"I should be able to open the seventeenth spiritual acupoint tonight. I only need three more acupoints to reach the Wind Pool. I'll try to reach the mid-stage of cultivation before setting off, otherwise the march will be delayed for who knows how many days..."

As night deepened, Li Yi, as expected, opened the seventeenth spiritual acupoint, "Zhengying." Although he had little hope, he still probed the acupoint with his spiritual sense and was immediately amazed.

Another instance of heightened mental clarity!

In this way, the activation time of Lingmingqing can be extended, which should be enough to support half a quarter of an hour, and the effect will naturally be enhanced to a certain extent.

If Qianhu Meng Yunjie were to use the Chaos God Technique again, Li Yi was confident that he could shorten the time to less than a breath!

"Seventeen spiritual acupoints, even excluding Tongziliao, four of them yielded the three treasures of a spiritual acupoint. How lucky!"

Zhang Junyi once said that the more spiritual points a meridian has, the more likely it is to discover the Three Treasures, but the difference is not significant, and most cultivators cannot perceive it.

Li Yi stabilized his cultivation, slowly opened his eyes, and just then saw Zhang Junyi stop her breathing exercises, looking delighted as she said:

"May the City God bless my daughter! She has finally broken through the middle stage of cultivation and is preparing to advance to the later stage!"

Zhang Junyi got up and went out of the room. He stood in front of the long table in the central hall, bowed to the bronze statue above in gratitude, and lit a stick of incense.

Li Yi followed him out and joked:

"Can the City God really help you with your cultivation?"

Zhang Junyi pulled Li Yi to bow twice, saying, "Of course, the City God entered the Dao through kidney water in his lifetime, and he is a model for us who cultivate kidney water qi."

Li Yi's mind raced. "I wonder what the City God's current cultivation level is? He must be a Golden Core cultivator?"

Zhang Junyi chuckled twice, "I only know that the High God had already established his foundation many years ago, but whether he has formed his core now is beyond our knowledge."

Judging from this, it seems the City God might not actually have reached the Core Formation stage?

Li Yi was slightly taken aback and asked a question.