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

Do you all believe that Fengxia Pass and the Great Yan Dynasty have always maintained peaceful relations?

When winter comes, the Great Yan organizes cavalry, and even bandits. Do you think they come here to sing, dance and perform?

The words of the commander were still ringing in their ears. The two cavalrymen looked at each other from a distance, seemingly realizing something, and were caught in a dilemma.

Fortunately, before leaving the pass, Li Yi and his men changed their armor into leather armor, each with a knife at their waist, giving them the distinct look of mountain bandits.

"Commander, what should we do?"

He Shouli swallowed hard. Although he was a Daoist cultivator, this was his first time fighting on the battlefield, and his experience was completely different from when he was in the garrison.

Li Yi lowered his voice: "Although we have changed our clothes, we cannot let them leave. Otherwise, if the matter is exposed, we will probably be punished according to military regulations."

Zhong Wending gazed into the distance and thought, "The two sides are about a hundred feet apart. A hasty pursuit might startle them. Perhaps we should feign cowardice and play a game of feigned retreat?"

Li Yi did not answer, but his eyes gleamed as he focused intently and managed to count the enemy's men.

The opposing side consisted of sixteen people, and the same number of horses.

Each of our side had extra horses, several times the number of people, which was obviously unusual.

Sure enough, the team leader on the other side suddenly shouted, reined in his horse, turned around, and tried to run away!

"Chase!"

Li Yi shouted and leaped onto his horse. A cold wind swept across the plain, and in an instant, men and horses surged forth.

"We have too many horses, and they've already recognized us. We can't let any of them go!"

"No problem!" Li Erhu grinned maliciously, spurring his horse to catch up. "We can change trains and catch up with them sooner or later!"

The two sides ran a hundred feet in the blink of an eye when suddenly a cavalryman raised his longbow and fired an arrow into the sky.

call out--

When the voice reached the ears of the commander-in-chief behind him, He Shouli's expression changed drastically.

"It's a signal arrow! They have accomplices!"

Just then, a signal arrow was also shot out from the southwest of the banner.

Li Yi's face lit up with joy. "It's Zhong Ming's side! They're chasing another group!"

Chung Wending shouted from behind, "They have traveled a long way, and their horses are not as strong as ours."

The distance between the two sides was closing at a visible speed. The cavalry in front kept looking back and saying something. Suddenly, the whole group of people scattered.

Want to distract yourself?

Li Yi sneered, "Change to a cone formation!"

In the plains, even if you disperse, where can you run to?

Always going around in circles is just asking for trouble!

The flag bearers spread out horizontally, allowing the enemy to run around freely. If they dared to run haphazardly to the side, they could be captured without much effort.

But if you run straight ahead, it's only a matter of time before you get caught.

The group of horses chased after them for two or three miles in the blink of an eye, but the many scout horses did not see anything unusual, and it would not be a problem for them to rush for another two or three miles.

Seeing that the two sides were less than 100 meters apart, Li Yi called Guan Tian over, squeezed his legs tightly around the horse, drew an arrow from behind, aimed at the cavalry in front, and quietly activated "Lingmingqing". He felt that the arrowhead was perfectly aligned with the target, and the force in his hand suddenly loosened.

The arrow pierced the wind and struck a man in the lower back. A scream echoed through the cold wind, and the man fell from his horse and died.

Guan Tian missed with his first arrow, so he quickly drew another one. He didn't rush to draw the bow, but waited until the cavalry in front of him were in disarray before aiming at one of them.

Clang!

With a whistle, an arrow was released, piercing the back of a man's neck.

Of the sixteen cavalrymen, fourteen remained.

The two squads of the general remained in formation, but the cavalry in front were in complete disarray and would soon be surrounded.

The leader shouted a few times, then simply reined in his horse and stopped. The fourteen riders dismounted, their eyes filled with heavy sorrow, and waited for the pursuers behind them.

"Whoa—"

Li Erhu sidled up to Li Yi, smiling as he surveyed the dozen or so riders on the ground. "Not running away anymore?"

The team leader, also dressed in leather armor, subconsciously adjusted the iron buckle at his waist, ignoring Li Erhu and staring intently at Li Yi.

"Why has the Great Zhou even dispatched scouts? Could it be that they are about to launch a military campaign?"

When the man received no response, he asked again:

"We are willing to surrender, but could you spare our lives?"

Li Erhu turned to look at Li Yi.

"These are fourteen people; we can't keep them."

Li Yi remained silent for a moment, then asked:

"Ziqi, check the cultivation level of this group of people."

Zhong Wending dismounted and stepped forward. Small streams of fire energy emerged in front of him, splitting into more than ten streams that entered the bodies of the surrendered soldiers.

After a short while, he slowly withdrew his fire energy and looked at the enemy leader, who had a somber expression. "He is the only body cultivator with the cultivation level of opening three acupoints."

Opening three acupoints, regardless of which meridian, will not make one a mid-stage cultivator.

But how many people would be needed to save these fourteen lives?

After thinking it over, Li Yi asked the team leader:

How do you think you can survive?

The team leader's expression was unpredictable, and countless thoughts flashed through his mind in just a few breaths.

"You can knock me out and take me away, and you can also knock out all my subordinates and take them away on a cart."

Li Yi frowned. "Where am I supposed to find you a cart?"

He thought it over and over, and realized that if he brought too many people, he probably wouldn't be able to protect them all when they encountered the Wood Element Landlord.

The two sentries under the Seventy-Two Manor were far more skilled than that man.

Instead of risking entering the country, the commander of the 72nd village sent the surrendered soldiers back, which would not only save them from danger but also earn them a military merit.

Leaving He Shouli behind would allow Qi Erzhuang to have both the military merit of escorting enemy troops and the junior officer to continue performing his duties, thus avoiding any disobedience or dereliction of duty.

"He Shouli, knock him unconscious. Of the remaining thirteen, knock out six and let them take the surrendered soldiers back to the pass themselves—except for He Shouli, the rest of the Seventy-Two Villages will escort the surrendered soldiers back to the pass."

The cavalry leader exhaled a large breath of stale air, calmly withstood He Shouli's blow, and collapsed to the ground without hesitation.

The remaining six cavalrymen were knocked unconscious, and the rest tied their comrades to their horses. They only dared to mount their horses after the soldiers of Qierzhuang gave them orders.

From the northwest, a group of people galloped over and stopped in front of everyone; it was Zhong Ming and his party.

Seeing that the battle was over, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is?"

"Select a few men to escort the surrendered soldiers back to the pass," Li Yi replied, then asked curiously, "Are you done on your end?"

Zhong Ming sized up the dozen or so surrendered soldiers, quickly grasped the situation, and said with delight:

"We spared eight people, and Horse Face is keeping an eye on them—we were worried about what to do with them, but this is good."

The person behind Zhong Ming's expression changed slightly, and whispered a reminder:

"If we don't have enough manpower, it will be too dangerous if we encounter the local deity."

Zhong Ming's face was unpredictable, indicating that he was struggling with something inside.

"Those eight people are all mortals. Four people will escort them, including one cultivator who has entered the Dao realm. That will be enough."

The subordinate said no more, but his brows furrowed with worry.

Li Yi saw Zhong Ming and his party off, and then watched as the ten soldiers from Qierzhuang escorted the surrendered soldiers back. Only then did he turn his horse's reins and slowly set off.

He Shouli followed beside him, clasped his hands in greeting, and said:

"Thank you for your concern, sir. But in this way, our mission..."

Li Yi waved his hand and said, "It's alright. We're only responsible for fifty li to the northeast anyway. How many villages could there possibly be?"

He Shouli gave a wry smile; that was not what he meant at all.

Little did he know that Li Yi felt a great sense of relief by bringing ten fewer men with him.