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

Li Erhu left early and bumped into Liu Zhi as soon as he arrived at the official residence. Upon closer inspection, he could still faintly see a handprint on half of the other man's face.

"Wow, sister-in-law's pretty tough! What's wrong, weren't you energetic last night?"

Liu Zhi was speechless with frustration and could only remain silent.

Li Erhu chuckled, though he stopped teasing him, his irritating expression was still quite annoying.

The courtyard gate creaked open as Li Yi opened it, and he couldn't help but glance at the handprint on Liu Zhi's face. He coughed lightly and said:

"The army is setting off tomorrow, and no one can afford to delay. Arrange what needs to be arranged and prepare what needs to be prepared. Don't miss tomorrow morning."

Five days ago, under the arrangement of Commander Meng, each of the scouts received two horses to facilitate changing horses during long journeys.

The main army is scheduled to set off at noon tomorrow, but the scouts must set off early, before dawn, to arrive at the border ahead of everyone else.

Therefore, Li Yi and his team only had one day left to prepare.

Li Erhu and Guan Tian were going to exchange all five points of their third-rank military merit for Blood Qi Pills and Qi-Boosting Pills.

Last night, Li Yi forced Liu Zhi to start something, and now he seems determined to go all the way down this path, preparing to go and spend his military merits along with his two brothers.

Chung Wending hadn't made any good preparations. He spent his days practicing spiritual cultivation, but there was no sign of large amounts of meat or fish. It seemed that he had plenty of resources to support his long-term spiritual practice.

After entering the city, the group dispersed. Li Yi, intending to inquire about the military merits of Xiaoqizhuangzi, first went to the North Street government office and met Gongsun Ling.

"The merits of the garrison troops are settled annually. Brother Li, you've only been in office for less than two months, and it's winter off-season..."

Since he was just asking along the way, Li Yi wasn't discouraged when he found out. It was just a matter of a few first or second-rank military merits anyway. So he chatted with Gongsun Ling for a bit, then took his leave and went to the Zhang residence, intending to spend the day with Zhang Junyi.

Zhang arranged a special room for Li Yi in the west courtyard, next to his daughter's.

Zhang Junyi has been busy nurturing his spiritual acupoints in preparation for breaking through to the later stages of his cultivation. He is currently practicing.

Not wanting to disturb him, Li Yi took a Qi-boosting pill and practiced boxing in the courtyard, with gusts of wind from his punches occasionally sweeping by.

He combined the stance training method in "Sheng Sheng Lian Ti Fa" with the powerful fist techniques in "Jia Mu Sheng Yang Ji" to train his body and practice martial arts, becoming increasingly adept at it.

Qifeng County is currently in a desolate state, and the two peach trees in the west courtyard of the Zhang residence are also full of withered branches.

After practicing the stance for two weeks, Li Yi gradually lost himself in the exercise. Suddenly, he pushed out with his palm, sending out a small wisp of green energy that landed on the withered branches of the peach tree, causing them to sway and shake.

This Jiamu energy flowed naturally with each punch, giving Li Yi a unique experience.

He continued practicing stances and boxing techniques, vaguely feeling that the "Life-Renewing Body Method" and the "Jiamu Shengyang Collection" seemed to be of the same lineage;

The stance training, footwork, and fist techniques became increasingly harmonious, and for a time, the palm winds were continuous, and the power was endless.

Just as Li Yi exhausted all his strength, a surge of pure wood energy suddenly emerged from his heart and mind, flowing through his body and striking out from his palm!

"This is?"

Li Yi suddenly opened his eyes, confirming that the wood energy he had felt in his chest and abdomen was not a hallucination, and asked doubtfully:

"After mastering the Lesser Mastery of the Jiamu Shengyang Collection, the power is continuous and uninterrupted. It will never show any signs of weakness until the power is exhausted, but it never mentions that it will forcefully unleash a Jiamu power."

This unexpected move was a final, desperate strike after exhaustion.

If two body cultivators of similar skill levels were fighting to the very end, and one of them suddenly threw such a punch...

Thinking of this, Li Yi was extremely excited, but he still couldn't figure out how to solve this move.

"The 'Life-Refining Body Method' does mention that when one cultivates to a high level, the Wood Qi within the body can gradually nourish the gallbladder and internal organs, preparing for foundation building."

Li Yi couldn't help but clench his fist and exclaimed in realization:

"Combining my body-strengthening method with martial arts techniques has truly proven to be incredibly effective!"

He looked up at the sky and guessed it was only just noon.

After breaking through to the late stage of cultivation yesterday, the wood qi became more solid, and the spiritual acupoint could naturally hold more spiritual qi.

In the past, the Qi-boosting pill he had just taken would have been enough to sustain him for a whole day of cultivation, but now it was far from sufficient—not to mention that Li Yi had incense offerings every day to help replenish his spiritual energy.

All things considered, one hour of cultivation for Li Yi is equivalent to several days of seclusion for an ordinary cultivator.

Without the replenishment of elixirs, relying solely on the "Detailed Rules for Gathering Qi in the Gallbladder and Wood" would likely require spending most of the day on cultivation, leaving no time for surveying and geomancy.

"It hasn't been that long, and the 'Detailed Rules for Gathering Qi in the Gallbladder' are already becoming insufficient..."

Li Yi sighed, then suddenly noticed Yu Guangzhong standing quietly by. He quickly turned his head to look and couldn't help but smile.

"Junyi, so early?"

Zhang Junyi walked over slowly and said reproachfully, "It's all because of the commotion in the courtyard."

She watched for a long time, then noticed something and exclaimed with delight, "Yi-ge'er has opened up the Heavenly Pool?"

Before Li Yi could answer, the girl suddenly frowned.

"Unfortunately, the Qishan Daoist arts cannot be passed on to outsiders. Otherwise, my daughter could ask Sister Ling'er to find someone to exchange my Kidney Water Daoist arts for merit points, so that Yi-ge'er can choose a better Gallbladder Wood Daoist arts."

Li Yi pulled the girl to sit down on the steps, about to comfort her, but was so shocked by what he saw that he forgot to speak.

The two withered peach trees planted at the base of the wall are now covered with green leaves and blooming peach blossoms. If it weren't for the frost on the wall, one would think that it was already the height of summer!

Zhang Junyi turned to look at Li Yi with a smile, "Brother Yi was surprised by himself too."

Li Yi got up and went to the peach tree to observe it carefully. Sure enough, the flowers and leaves were full of vitality.

The Jia wood energy originates from wood qi and has the effect of generating growth, but it is by no means capable of bringing withered wood back to life. This is also the effect of incense burning to strengthen the body.

The use of incense to create a golden body seems to do more than just enhance strength or physical power; it also benefits the spiritual energy of the acupoints!

Li Yi looked down at his fist, his blood boiling with unreleased energy.

To date, Li Yi has never encountered an opponent who can match his strength, so much so that he has no idea how strong he really is.

"I wonder what level I, Li Yi, am at among body cultivators of the same realm?"

"On the battlefield, everyone is a physical cultivator; there's always someone I can spar with..."

Li Yi composed himself and stopped admiring the peach tree. The thought of parting from his beloved again made him feel somewhat down.

"Has Junyi decided where to go?"

Zhang Junyi nodded, as if she had planned this all along.

"My cave dwelling in Qishan requires spirit stones to maintain the magic array in order to gather water energy; why don't I listen to you and stay by the Qingchi River to save some resources—Yi-ge'er, if you want to write letters in the future, you can send them to Li Family Village."

Li Yi fell silent for a moment.

Gongsun Ling had said this morning that during the war, a special letter-sending ceremony would only be organized once every three months. If there was an emergency, the military would have to give way to military secrets and postpone the process.

Fortunately, the Spirit Realm now exists in the Investiture of the Gods, so perhaps we can occasionally find out some news about Junyi through Xiaoqing.

Before even setting off, Li Yi had already begun to miss the people around him.