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

Li Yi and his men set off early in the morning. Although they were chasing a cavalry unit, they were following the planned route and did not waste much time.

The group of six infiltrated the border of the Great Yan Kingdom just past noon.

Li Erhu had just finished his meal when he took out paper and pen and drew out all the beacon towers and sentry posts he encountered along the way. He then compared the two with the map distributed by Commander Meng and made several changes.

The group hid in the wilderness, where people were replenishing their supplies and horses were eating hay and beans.

Most of these items were stored in the spirit cave by Zhong Wending, saving the need for someone to act as a porter.

Looking at the vast expanse of barren land before him, Li Yi sighed:

"We only have two days' worth of fodder. If we can't return to Fengxia Pass within a day, not to mention our incompetence, our horses will starve to death."

"What's the big deal?" Li Erhu put down his pen and paper, looked up, and said, "Isn't what we're doing all about using war to sustain war?"

Li Yi shook his head helplessly, unfolded the map, beckoned everyone to gather around, and pointed to a spot, saying:

"Tongjiabao is the closest to the border. We'll rest for a bit and set off in a quarter of an hour. We'll start by intimidating them. If the local landowner doesn't show up, we'll force the villagers to hand over their grain. If they still don't show up, we'll move on to the next place."

He turned his head and looked at someone.

"Old Liu, remember, you are our clerk. If we encounter danger, don't be reckless. Protecting the military intelligence is the most important thing."

Liu Zhizheng nodded, unconsciously touching the Xuan paper hidden in his bosom.

A quarter of an hour passed in a flash, and the six men remounted their horses and hurried along the map. Before long, they could see the village in the distance.

Li Yi raised his hand to stop the procession and whispered, "Tie the horses, and ride six to see the person."

Li Erhu tied up his horse, mounted it, and galloped forward, stopping below the gate of the building.

The local militiamen in the watchtowers on both sides saw the six bandits and looked at them with disdain.

"Six people dare to storm Tongjiabao?"

Two arrows were shot out from the watchtower, but Li Erhu dodged them by sidestepping.

"Robbery! If you know what's good for you, open the fortress now, or we'll spare only one category: men, women, and children!"

The two local militiamen's expressions immediately changed drastically. "They're actually bandits from the Great Zhou Dynasty!"

Upon hearing the two men's rural dialect, Li Erhu suddenly realized that although they spoke the same language, their intonations were completely different, and he would give himself away if he spoke it out loud!

No wonder Commander Meng immediately told them to pretend to be bandits from the Great Zhou Dynasty. If they wanted to impersonate local bandits from the Great Yan Dynasty, they would need to be fluent in the local dialect.

Two local militiamen suddenly sounded their horns, indicating that the gates of the building should not be opened under any circumstances.

He Shouli rode forward on horseback and examined the gate. Through the crack, he could see a whole rounded tree trunk serving as a door latch.

He tentatively pushed the door twice, causing it to shake slightly. Then he threw a punch at the crack in the door, and with a loud crash, the door latch broke instantly, and the doors on both sides opened wide.

Seeing that the thick bolt beneath them had been shattered by a single punch, and that a large amount of wood had been scattered all over the ground, the local militia on both sides quickly blew their horns three more times.

One sound means an enemy attack; two sounds mean the situation is critical; three sounds mean that a cultivator has broken into the fortress.

The entire Tongjiabao was immediately filled with a sense of unease, and every household kept their doors tightly shut.

Li Yi and his six companions walked leisurely along the road, while Li Erhu kept shouting, which eventually attracted a group of local militia.

This group of people carried sharpened wooden spears, and a few men carried rakes, shovels, and other items; their leader was an armored soldier holding a horizontal sword.

"Those who know what's good for them will leave quickly, or once the county soldiers arrive, you won't be able to escape!"

He Shouli rode forward, but was suddenly stopped by Li Yi, who instructed him, "Just knock him out."

He nodded slightly, stepped forward with his knife, and shouted, "Enough with the nonsense, do you dare to fight me?"

The armored soldier opposite grinned coldly, then suddenly roared, "Fire!"

A large number of arrows pierced through the houses on both sides. There was a clanging sound, and more than a hundred wooden arrows fell to the ground, but no one was injured.

The armored soldier's face immediately darkened. Judging from that brief moment, at least three of the six people were cultivators who had entered the Dao realm.

In this way, the backup plan doesn't need to be revealed...

"Run, run as far as you can."

The group of village militiamen were immediately taken aback, and the women, children, and the elderly who were secretly hiding in the houses on both sides were also filled with panic.

"I said, run!"

The armored soldier shoved aside the local militia, brandished his sword, and roared:

"Come on! You scum of the Great Zhou, see if I can't chop you all to pieces!"

He Shouli stepped forward slowly. Seeing the other party swing his knife, he immediately raised his knife to block it, crouched down and leaned forward, punching the other party in the chest and abdomen with his left hand.

The soldier's sword fell from his hand, and he collapsed forward, landing motionless in He Shouli's arm.

"what!"

Suddenly, a woman cried out in alarm, and the scene erupted into chaos. The local militia, having witnessed their soldier being knocked down with a single punch, seemed to have witnessed the fall of an immortal, and lost all will to fight.

Seeing the crowd in the fort scatter like birds and beasts, Li Erhu immediately chuckled.

"Run all you want! You can run away, but you can't run away the food! Let's see how many days you can last."

Upon hearing this, the villagers indeed stopped fleeing and gradually calmed down.

Li Erhu hummed in a cheerful mood, then turned his head and saw Guan Tian, ​​Liu Zhi, and Zhong Wending staring at him with strange looks.

This is everyone's first time being a bandit, how come you're so skilled?

Li Erhu coughed lightly and shouted:

"Load five cartloads of grain for the grandfathers, or we'll burn this fortress down!"

Li Yi remained seated on horseback, without uttering a word.

He silently observed the many villagers and noticed a thin man sneaking out of the crowd. He knew that the man was going to offer incense and make a wish to the local earth god.

By the time the villagers had finished packing the grain, it should have been late afternoon.

"Let's go."

The group drove out of the fort, but still did not notice any signs of land.

Li Yi rode ahead on horseback, slowly traveling two miles westward, and sighed:

"We need to go further in."

Li Erhu chuckled from behind, "Or should I go back and stage a scene of abducting a woman?"

Li Yi rolled his eyes at him, looked around, and saw a frozen stream not far away with footprints on the ground next to it, indicating that people often came here.

The scouts had to return to Fengxia Pass within a day, so they couldn't take the grain with them. Leaving it here would prevent it from being discovered immediately and avoid it going to waste.

Just as Li Yi was about to give the order, a human face suddenly appeared on the trunk of a poplar tree in front of him.

"Is robbing grain not enough? They also want to harm innocent families?"

The face gradually detached from the tree trunk, revealing the figure.

The man had thick brown hair, a hunched back, and thin cheeks; he was actually a monkey spirit.

Li Yi gestured to his subordinates to leave the carriage, feigning disdain as he said:

"A monkey spirit meddling in human affairs?"

The monkey slyly chuckled twice, "A bunch of bandits, they deserve to die!"

As soon as he finished speaking, more than ten poplar trees around them seemed to come alive, and a large number of withered branches surged like snakes, attacking Li Yi and his group of six.

"Run!"

Zhong Wending leaped onto his horse, and a fiery red bracelet on his right wrist suddenly grew larger, surrounding the six people and bursting into flames!

Hundreds of wooden snakes crashed into the ring of fire, but they couldn't break through for a while, which only made the fire seem to burn even brighter.

A naturally formed treasure!

Li Yi exclaimed inwardly, and without thinking further, led his men to flee eastward at breakneck speed.

Judging by the time, the other scouts should have already begun their operation. If we can hold them off for a moment, we can definitely make that cunning local tyrant struggle to cope.

Now that the food has been lost, He has no reason to pursue it relentlessly!

Fortunately, Zhong Wending intervened, preventing the large swarm of wooden snakes from penetrating the area in a short time. The group fled with all their might, hoping to escape the territory of the local government in one fell swoop.

The six scouts shared almost the same thought, but even after they had fled five miles east of Tongjiabao, the local stalker still lingered, as if he could keep chasing them as long as there was some vegetation around.

Chung Wending struggled to maintain the fire ring, but ultimately the fire energy was limited, and he shouted:

"Think of something quick, I can't hold on much longer!"

The monkey spirit, which had been behind them just moments before, suddenly emerged from the green trees ahead, grinning maliciously:

"You really think you can stop me, a god? You're just a mere Qi cultivator!"

Before the monkey spirit finished speaking, the branches of the locust tree behind him suddenly grew two sizes larger, branching out like human hands. It actually withstood the raging fire, held the ring of fire in its hand, and casually tossed it into the air.

Zhong Wending raised his hand and pointed at Huo Huan, causing him to retract his wrist. His expression was extremely unpleasant.

A cultivator attempting to confront a deity is like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

The tree trunk pressed down on Zhong Wending's head, making it hard for him to breathe.

Li Yi dismounted, gently stroked the horse's neck, and stared intently at the monkey spirit.

"It seems the Earth God doesn't intend to let us leave?"

The monkey spirit climbed onto the locust tree branch with one hand, savoring the taste:

What do you think?

Li Yi twisted his wrist. "Then I'll have to try my fists and feet."

A tree-like hand, as large as a small mountain, pressed down on Li Yi's head. Without dodging or avoiding, he stood firmly under the palm, suddenly bent his knees, and threw a punch at the top of his head.

"Yi-ge'er!"

"Run!"

Li Erhu and Guan Tian, ​​their eyes bloodshot with rage, leaped forward. Just as they saw Li Yi about to be crushed into a meat patty by the tree hand, they heard a loud bang from ahead.

The tree-like hand seemed to have been struck by something heavy, and countless pieces of wood gushed out from its palm.

The tree-like hand was also sent flying backward with a loud bang, and somehow, a large hole was replaced in its palm.

Crackling sounds.

A brief shower of wooden blocks fell from the sky above the six people.

Li Yi remained standing in the same spot, looking at the cunning monkey in front of him, and rotated his wrist.

"It doesn't seem powerful enough."