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

Two miles east of Tongjiabao.

Li Yi suddenly raised his hand, stopping the cavalry.

Zhong Wending rode forward and said solemnly, "The wood energy ahead is dense, it seems that the Thousand-Household Commander and the Earth God are still locked in a battle."

Sun Xueming swallowed hard. "It's best if we don't cause trouble for the Commander Qian in a battle between Foundation Establishment cultivators. We should take a detour."

Li Yi looked towards Tongjiabao and frowned, saying, "That local deity usually uses tree cages to trap the enemy. Since the commander has not fired the command arrow and there is still wood energy gathering in front, it means that the two sides are still at a stalemate."

Sun Xueming quickly chimed in, "Exactly! We should definitely take a detour!"

Chang Heng has now recovered about 50-60% of his internal injuries, and his complexion has improved considerably. He echoed:

"Soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals. If we rashly intervene, we might harm the commander."

Even Li Erhu came to offer advice.

"Lord Xu dispatched two captains and a commander to invade the territory, intending for the three of you to join forces to annihilate the local deity. This is none of our concern."

Li Yi gazed intently ahead for a moment, then suddenly reined in his horse.

"bypass!"

The three junior officers breathed a sigh of relief in unison, and Erhu, Tianguan, and Liu Zhi also looked relieved.

Only Chung Wending looked at him with amusement, without offering any advice.

Li Yi switched to the Shadowless Chariot, and after walking a short distance, he saw a monkey's face emerge from a gray-white ailanthus tree on the side of the path.

Zhu Xing jumped off the tree trunk, a smile playing on his lips:

"Your comrades are suffering in the tree cage, are you so heartless as to not go and help them?"

Li Yi forced a smile. "I'm sorry to trouble you with your concern, but we only wish to scout out the enemy's outposts. Wouldn't it be better to leave each other alone?"

Zhu Xing's monkey-like face immediately darkened, and he scolded:

"Do you think this is child's play? I, a common spirit, can't harm you, but crushing your comrades behind you is a piece of cake!"

Before the monkey spirit finished speaking, the branches of the ailanthus trees on both sides suddenly stretched out, like pairs of dry, ashen dead hands, grabbing at the group of sentries.

Li Yi leaped forward and threw a punch, shattering the monkey spirit completely. The branches immediately went limp and shrank back.

Xu Rong and the others were so frightened that they dared not move. In the past, they only farmed in the garrison and at most patrolled the city to show off their power. They had never encountered such strange Qi cultivation methods before.

After Zhu Xing's spirit seed was destroyed, it immediately emerged from another ailanthus tree, still with a smiling expression.

"If you, fellow Daoist, are unwilling to assist Shangguan, then I, this deity, will have no choice but to take care of both sides. If I cannot kill you, I will at least leave you utterly alone!"

Li Yi's face was frosty as he stared intently at the monkey spirit, and said in a deep voice, "You all retreat to the border and await my command."

"No!"

Li Erhu grabbed Li Yi, realizing he might be acting improperly, and quickly lowered his voice:

"Yi-ge'er, are you crazy? Ignore him, at worst you'll just lose some military merits!"

Li Yi's gaze swept over Guan and Liu, and sure enough, they shared the same idea.

"The fact that this deity can harass us so easily shows that Commander Meng's forces are struggling alone. Furthermore, our task of clearing out enemy scouts is a military order. If we simply wait idly at the border and are discovered by the commander, wouldn't we be subject to military law?"

Zhu Xing nodded in satisfaction and said with relief, "It seems you've thought it through, fellow Daoist."

Li Yi suddenly turned his head, smashed the monkey's spirit seed with a punch, and repeated:

"Wait for my command!"

Xu Rong watched Shangguan flee into the distance, then suddenly gave a bitter laugh.

He glanced at his two colleagues, Sun Xueming and Chang Heng, and could see a hint of bitterness in their eyes.

"What exactly happened here yesterday that made all the local deities so concerned about Lord Li?"

Li Erhu gestured to Xiao Guan to help lead Yi Ge'er's two horses, then cast a faint glance at him.

"Just do as I say."

……

Outside the tree cage, Li Yi's tall figure suddenly appeared.

His gaze settled, but he did not immediately rush in.

"Is this local deity trying to trap me and Commander Meng inside and kill us both?"

Yesterday, even with all his spiritual roots gathered, he couldn't trap me, Li Yi. Now, with his five bodies restrained by the other two captains, what can he possibly do to me?

With this thought in mind, Li Yi punched open the tree cage and rushed inside.

Immediately, a tree branch slammed down in my face, as if a house had slid down from the mountaintop and crashed onto my head.

Li Yi glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw Meng Yunjie panting heavily to his left. He dodged the tree-like creature's clapping, rushed to Meng Yunjie's side, and handed him a handful of pills.

Five Blood Qi Pills and one Qi-Boosting Pill.

Meng Yunjie shoved the whole thing into his mouth, then saw Li Yi and said with a complicated expression:

"Why are you here?"

Li Yi looked helpless. "I don't want to cause trouble for you, but unfortunately, the local earth god won't give me a way out."

Meng Yunjie sighed softly, "Give me all the pills you have left."

Li Yin probed the spiritual acupoint and simply took out five bottles of Blood Qi Pills and one bottle of Qi-Boosting Pills, handing them over together.

He wasn't afraid that a high-ranking commander would misappropriate his meager supplies, and besides, now was not the time to fuss over such matters.

Meng Yunjie swallowed all six bottles of pills, and his complexion finally improved. He whispered:

"Take care of yourself. Just hold on until the monkey spirit's other five bodies are destroyed, and then I will seize the opportunity to take you away from this place."

Li Yi immediately agreed, but he was somewhat puzzled.

A Qi-refining Earth Deity is essentially equivalent to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, isn't it?

Why does Commander Meng look so exhausted? His fighting spirit has even faded, and he only wants to escape?

Li Yi huddled behind Meng Yunjie, dodging the blows from the tree trunks. Splinters kept breaking through the ground beneath his feet, forcing him to keep moving to avoid the attacks.

"The commander-in-chief ordered us scouts to advance through the territory of the local deity. Doesn't this mean you, sir, are to cooperate with the other captains to jointly kill this god?"

Meng Yunjie shook his head helplessly. The order he received from Commander Liu Tianyun was merely to restrain the local deity so that his scouts could easily search for enemy sentries.

Until he encountered the monkey spirit, he had always been determined to fight it to the death, but now he had lost all his fighting spirit and only wanted to drag things out until the main army was on the border, forcing the opponent to withdraw from this place.

Looking back now, it's likely that the Tongzhi (a high-ranking official) never imagined they could wipe out the entire territory in one fell swoop.

It's laughable that after only a few exchanges yesterday, one would assume that the local deities are nothing special...

Meng Yunjie suddenly remembered the Qin lands of Qifeng County.

In the past, Qin Kaixian was just an ordinary minor officer in the centurion's office under his command.

If he hadn't become a god after death, he probably wouldn't even be familiar with his own name.

Out of consideration for Qin Kaixian's promotion to the rank of Earth God, he took the initiative to go to the temple to offer incense and even met him. He still regarded himself as an official, and Qin Kaixian was also respectful.

Looking back now, it's really laughable.

"Be careful, sir!"

Meng Yunjie was caught off guard and nearly got hit by a tree branch, but fortunately Li Yi noticed and pushed him away.

He turned around and saw the monkey spirit reveal itself. He quickly activated his fiery eyes and leaped over the wall to attack.

Zhu Xing looked serious, but his anger was barely contained.

"What a brilliant feint!"

He stared intently at Li Yi, "Even with the capital's army pressing in, I, Zhu Xing, will still give it a try and kill you, the pride of the Great Zhou, on the spot!"

Meng Yunjie's expression changed, and he couldn't tell whether he was happy or worried.

Zhu Xing quietly withdrew his five bodies, gathered all his spiritual energy and cultivation, and transformed the tree palm into a complete tree trunk, looking down at Li and Meng from above.

The surrounding forest is filled with endless thorns, all locking onto one spot, engulfing the entire tree cage like a tsunami.

Li Yi dared not hold back any longer. He turned around and punched a hole in the tree cage, pulling Meng Yunjie out with him. He still dared not stop and ran a hundred feet in the blink of an eye.

At the top of the tree cage, Zhu Xing bled from his five orifices. He suddenly sighed, waved his hand to disperse the wood energy, and disappeared without a trace.