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

Liu Tianyun summoned the garrison sentries and announced the rewards for this mission. One reason was to reward those who had performed meritorious service, and another was to offer a large sum of money to buy a horse's bones.

He glanced at the numerous sentries outside the hall and spoke calmly:

"There are four great achievements on the battlefield: being the first to scale the walls, breaking through enemy lines, beheading enemy generals, and capturing enemy flags. No one has ever heard of 'scouts,' but when it comes to military merit, the army will never mistreat scouts."

Meng Yun nodded in approval.

"What we do is the most dangerous thing on the battlefield. Scouts are highly rewarded, but not everyone can get it."

I know you all had vanity in your selections as scouts; but on the battlefield, life and death come first, and only those who survive can talk about glory. I'll remind you one last time: we are fighting a war, not playing house.

Liu Tianyun waved his hand to dismiss the scouts, but Horse Face stayed behind and asked curiously:

"Father, how many of the dozen or so scouts that went out yesterday actually returned to the interior?"

"In the military, we use titles." Liu Tianyun glanced at him, not hiding anything, "There are already more than seventy people."

Horse Face exclaimed in surprise, "I've personally witnessed the power of that local deity, how come so many people survived?"

Liu Tianyun glanced at the scout report but said nothing more.

According to reports from the scouts, a strange thing happened yesterday.

Two scouts encountered the monkey-like local deity almost simultaneously. They fought desperately for a while, but for some reason, the deity suddenly stopped. The golden light was directed towards the east.

As for the other scouts, they either never encountered the land, or if they did, they never saw the other side give up halfway through the chase.

They were either rescued in time by their respective superiors, or they hid in places with sparse vegetation.

"At three-quarters past noon, what exactly happened in the eastern border of the Great Yan?"

Liu Tianyun was sorting through reports when someone suddenly requested an audience and presented him with a confession.

"Was it the cavalry unit that was escorted back from Qierzhuang yesterday?"

Liu Tianyun unfolded the Xuan paper and carefully read through it.

It contains detailed records of all the villages and fortresses along the eastern border of the Great Yan, including the approximate troop deployments at the two border passes.

How many secrets can a beginner-level cultivator and a dozen or so ordinary people know?

Most likely, the confession was obtained through torture by prison guards, and its credibility remains to be seen.

Liu Tianyun closed the confession. Although he didn't care much about it, capturing a group of enemy soldiers was a real military achievement and deserved a reward.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Meanwhile, Xu Rong and the others returned to their barracks. Instead of going to drill early in the morning, they locked themselves in their rooms and sighed incessantly.

A fourth-rank military merit!

Xu Rong's heart was bleeding.

If I had known that the trip was not actually very dangerous, I should have expressed my loyalty in advance!

It's one thing for Commander Li and He Shouli to return safely, but what about those few good-for-nothings?

Xu Rong suddenly froze, seemingly lost in thought.

They were already few in number and lacked fighting power, so how could they all return safely after encountering the local deity?

Could it be a false report of military intelligence?

This thought grew wildly in Xu Rong's mind, and his face gradually became distorted.

Ten points of fourth-rank military merit are equivalent to one hundred points of third-rank military merit, enough to exchange for a top-tier Qi-refining technique.

Such a reward is not something that a few deceitful people can accept!

Xu Rong could no longer sit still, so he ordered his men to invite his two colleagues, Sun Xueming and Chang Heng, over for a private conversation.

Meanwhile, Li Yi, having earned twenty fourth-rank military merits, immediately went to the barracks to ask for directions and found the military governor. He exchanged two of his merits for third-rank military merits, bringing his total to one hundred, and then traded the "Jia Mu Shao Yang Jing" for it. After looking at the list of fourth-rank military merits, he realized he hadn't exchanged anything.

Although Liu Zhi only had a little military merit, he could exchange it for a second-rank merit, which would give him a hundred points. He could then exchange some of his merit for a first-rank merit, which would allow him to exchange for a full five bottles of Blood Qi Pills.

Li Erhu and Guan Tian didn't have many spiritual acupoints, but they had enough Qi absorption techniques, so they each chose a top-tier Qi Refining Body Tempering Method and used up all their 5.4-rank military merits.

As for Zhong Wending, he should have also earned five points, but because he was a Qi cultivator, he was not allowed to obtain military merits.

Li Yi felt sorry for him, but he didn't care at all. Instead, he enthusiastically chose body-strengthening methods for Erhu and Xiaoguan, saving a lot of time.

The nine-rank military merit system of the Great Zhou Dynasty is indeed attractive to body cultivators.

To ensure that soldiers could redeem their military merits in a timely manner, the military governor kept a copy of the record book all to himself.

However, this method seems to be detrimental to the Baojian. I wonder if there are similar regulations in Dali?

"Murderers and arsonists wear golden belts; I think that's not bad even among soldiers!"

Li Erhu walked along the road, carrying the body-strengthening method in his heart, overjoyed.

"Don't forget what Commander Meng said. The army will be mobilized within three days. Quickly learn the method, strengthen your body, and squeeze out as much time as possible for cultivation."

The group of five returned to the barracks and saw a man absorbing qi in the courtyard. He looked familiar and should be one of He Shouli's soldiers.

The man noticed Li Yi, quickly stopped circulating his qi, and stammered:

"Greetings, Commander."

He nodded and greeted Li Erhu and the others, but looked somewhat uneasy.

Li Yi noticed something amiss, but assumed the other party had done something harmless and sordid, and went back to his barracks on his own.

As the garrison commander, Li Yi had two rooms to himself; the left one was his bedroom, and the right one was for miscellaneous purposes.

As for Erhu and the others, their treatment was not bad either. The four of them shared a dormitory room, which was much better than the other scouts who squeezed ten people into one room.

Li Yi pushed open the door and entered, just about to flip through the "Jia Mu Shao Yang Jing" when he saw Er Hu and the others follow him in.

"you……"

"It's more fun with more people, hehe."

Li Erhu stopped smiling. "I'm just afraid of arousing jealousy."

Li Yi nodded, agreeing.

Not to mention junior officers, many captains in the garrison haven't even accumulated fifty third-rank military merits to exchange for a top-notch body-strengthening method.

He entered the room and laid out a printed copy of the "Jia Mu Shao Yang Jing" on the table. As soon as the wood qi came into contact with it, another stream of wood qi entered Li Yi's body and traveled through his gallbladder meridian, the Governing Vessel, the Chong meridian, and the Conception Vessel.

Li Yi carefully sensed it, imprinting the path of Qi circulation in his mind, and exclaimed in surprise:

"The energy circulation path of this method overlaps with the 'Life-Refining Body Method' in several places?"

The twelve regular meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians of the human body together make up no more than twenty meridians.

Therefore, while the meridians through which Qi is circulated may be the same across different methods, the specific routes of Qi circulation are absolutely unique.

The acupoints in the human body are like a vast, interconnected avenue, with countless ways to access them.

However, the "Jiamu Shaoyang Jing" overlaps with the "Sheng Sheng Lian Ti Fa" in many places, which is hard to ignore.

Li Yi suppressed his doubts and circulated his Qi twice. The amount of wood Qi in his spiritual acupoint increased by more than 10%!

As expected of a top-tier Qi Refining Stage Gallbladder Wood Dao Method, its efficacy far surpasses that of the second-grade "Gallbladder Wood Qi Absorption Details".

He walked the route for another week, until he was completely familiar with it, before finally opening the book.

The very first sentence is:

[I entered the Dao through the Wood element, and even after many years of achieving Foundation Establishment, I still favored the Wood method, thus creating a set of Wood-based methods. Later generations who learn this Dao can simultaneously cultivate the *Life-Generating Body Refining Method* and the *Jia Wood Ascending to Yang Collection*, achieving twice the results with half the effort; it has remarkable effects on both Qi absorption and body tempering, as well as stance training and martial arts.]

It turns out that what Li Yi learned was created by the same person!

It's hateful that the Ministry of War has set the price of Taoist magic at the highest level. Otherwise, if someone had learned the wrong body-strengthening methods and martial arts techniques before, would they still have to spend military merits to exchange for them?

Li Yi was stunned and speechless, yet felt a sense of relief.