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

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Li Yi grabbed Zhong Wending and ran, the surrounding scenery rushing past them, turning into blocks of color in their eyes.

It's so much faster than riding a horse!

The two flew quickly away from Tongjiabao, only slowing down when they returned to the bald mountain to the east.

"Where are Erhu and the others?"

Chung Wending was still somewhat shaken, and the bun on her head was a little disheveled.

"I told them to bring their horses and be ready to provide backup; they should be nearby."

He couldn't help but turn his head to look. "What kind of person did I, Zhong, unintentionally encounter? You were running on foot just now, weren't you?"

"What time is it? You still have the mind to joke around?" Li Yi said helplessly. "My martial arts include footwork, and I've been training my body all day long, it's not for nothing."

"I've never heard of anyone being able to match Yi-ge'er's speed, unless you specifically cultivate footwork martial arts of grade three or above—people who don't know you might think you're a Windwalker Body Cultivator."

Chung Wending climbed the hillside, gazing into the distance as she asked, "How did you escape?"

"It's simply that the opponent was careless and underestimated us."

Li Yi also climbed the hillside, his timid eyes scanning the surroundings. He spotted Jueying's horse's head in a valley and quickly led his men there.

Meanwhile, Li Erhu leaned against the mountain wall, looking at the dejected appearances of Guan Tian, ​​Liu Zhi, and He Shouli, and said irritably:

"Why are you all acting like Yi-ge'er is already dead? Think of something good!"

Guan Tian cast a glance at him and said coldly, "You've got quite the nerve, coming from the same village as the magistrate? Bah!"

Li Erhu glared at Guan Tian with his tiger-like eyes, grabbed him by the collar, and said, "I'm not like you guys, you can't do anything but curse people!"

"Alright, alright," Liu Zhi quickly pulled the two apart. "Yi-ge'er is in danger, and no one is in a good mood, but what can we do?"

He Shouli frowned deeply and said in a deep voice:

"Wait another quarter of an hour. If Brother Zhong and Commander Li still haven't returned, Brother Erhu and I will go and investigate. Guan Tian, ​​you are a rare and skilled cultivator in the army. You and Liu Zhi will take the message back to the pass."

Guan Tian glared at Erhu, kicked one foot against the mountain wall, and said coldly:

"They're rare in the military, what does it have to do with me? I'll go too."

Li Erhu snorted, "That's more like human speech."

Guan Tian glared at him again, but Li Erhu, as if he had encountered some joyous event, suddenly pushed him away and ran out.

Looking around, he saw Li Yi and Zhong Wending striding towards him, and couldn't help but smile and chase after them.

"What were you saying just now? All that noise!"

Li Yi looked at Li Erhu, who suddenly put his arm around Guan Tian. "It's nothing, we were just discussing how to give you a grand funeral."

"You son of a bitch..."

Li Yi was speechless. Seeing that his five subordinates were unharmed, he asked, "Have you checked the horses?"

Li Erhu immediately said in distress:

"He Xiaoqi and I each lost a pair of horses, and Guan Tian lost one of his horses."

If a scout's horse dies on the battlefield, no one can say anything, but if it is lost, no matter the reason, he will be punished.

At best, they will be ordered to make compensation; at worst, they will be subject to criminal penalties.

In extreme cases, the horse might even lose its life.

Li Yi rubbed his temples. "Let's all keep the same story and say we died in battle."

No one objected. With six people and nine horses, they took turns riding and managed to return to Fengxia Pass before the next day.

"Who entered the pass?"

Li Yi immediately picked up his waist badge, "I am Li Yi, the captain of the garrison's first sentry squad. I have urgent business to attend to when I return to the pass to see Commander Meng!"

The city guards' expressions changed drastically, and they hurriedly ordered the city gates to be opened.

Li Yi and his party were taken to the barracks office, where many people were already sitting, but there were only three sentry squads.

More than ten people sat around in the government office. Commander-in-Chief Xu Xiaofeng was at the head of the table, while Liu Tianyun, the deputy commander of the garrison and the commanders of the four military camps sat on either side, all staring intently at the three scouts below.

Li Yi couldn't resist his curiosity and secretly glanced at Liu Tianyun. He was similar to Xu Gong, looking like an old man who was idle from farming. No, he was much larger and looked more like a wealthy man.

The Commander-in-Chief was the highest-ranking official in the garrison besides the Commander, holding the rank of fourth grade, which was half a grade higher than Shi Jin.

With the army setting out, Gongsun Boyan was stationed in Qifeng County, while Liu Tianyun, the deputy commander, was in charge of the garrison troops, holding a position no different from that of the four Grand Marshals.

Looking at the two sentry squads beside him, one of them was none other than the one led by Xiao Zhou of the Tiger Might Battalion.

His leather armor was covered in wounds, and the other scouts also looked dejected.

Counting the number of people, it's clear that both scouting parties must have suffered casualties, having narrowly escaped death.

"Is it General Li who's back?" Liu Tianyun had seen Li Yi a few times, but they had never spoken.

His expression was solemn at this moment. "Tell me about the situation on your end."

"Yes."

Li Yi bowed his head, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and after a moment's thought, said:

"When we were heading to the border of the Great Yan, we encountered a cavalry force of sixteen men."

"I ordered the scouts from the Seventy-Two Villages to bring the man back. We then set off again, approaching the first village fortress on the northeastern border of the Great Yan at midday. We pretended to be bandits, but encountered the local earth god Namu, and escaped back."

Liu Tianyun narrowed his eyes. "Is there anything unusual?"

Li Yi pondered for a moment, "That local deity is a cunning monkey. I don't know what kind of escape technique he uses, but it seems that as long as it is within his territory, he can emerge from any plant or tree. Fortunately, we were right next to the edge of his territory, which is how we narrowly escaped."

"In that case, advancing into the northeastern border is not advisable..."

Xu Gong murmured to himself.

Liu Tianyun sized up the five people behind Li Yi. Although they were all covered in dust and dirt, they had no serious injuries.

"Think again carefully, is there anything you've overlooked?"

Could this person possess some kind of magical ability to see through other people's minds?

Li Yi couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. He pretended to be deep in thought and hesitated before speaking:

"Although the Wood elementalist is powerful,... from a divine perspective, he doesn't seem strong enough?"

He hurriedly added:

"I have a personal relationship with the local earth god of Qin and have witnessed his majesty. Compared to him, I feel that the monkey is somewhat lacking."

Wei Wuyan laughed heartily, "It should be the supernatural power of the Wood Element Earth Deity, 'Spiritual Root Treasury'. Those who possess this supernatural power are practically omnipresent within their territory, and the only way to escape is to flee to a desolate place."

Li Yi suddenly remembered something. After the monkey spirit's head was smashed off, four golden lights suddenly flew over, which gave it its full glory. It must be some kind of transformation technique.

Now that I think about it, the other side must have gathered all their forces in order to kill him, and let the other scouts go instead.

Li Yi's expression was strange as he thought to himself, "Did I unintentionally save many people?"

Li Shuyan had little leisure time and frowned, saying:

"It's rare to find a Wood-elemental Earth Deity with a 'Spiritual Root Treasury'; I originally thought it was at most a 'Wood-related Earth Deity'..."

"It's alright," Xu Gong said calmly. "That land deity will be a god of my Great Zhou sooner or later."

Li Shuyan turned his head to look, "Now that we've confirmed that monkey spirit's supernatural abilities..."

Xu Gonglue nodded and ordered the commanders of each scout to go and escort the men back to the pass.

He glanced at the three sentry scouts below and said gently, "The kitchen has prepared wine and food, so go and fill your stomachs. We can talk about anything else after you've woken up."