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

Inside the tiled house, the monkey huddled on a straw mat, its eyes closed, its upper lip pressed against its lower lip, and a patch of hairless skin on its abdomen with a long, narrow wound that had not yet healed.

It murmured occasionally, sometimes sad, sometimes smiling faintly, and then suddenly startled.

Four demonic beasts sat around the table inside the house. Hearing the sound, they looked over and exclaimed with delight:

"You're finally awake! Your brothers have been looking for you for ages!"

The ape, its face filled with terror, caught a whiff of blood and cried out:

"Where is Liu'e—the human woman in this house?!"

A pig demon with a long snout and a round head grunted and smacked its lips, saying, "I ate it."

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.

"Yi-ge'er, Yi-ge'er!"

Li Erhu called out anxiously twice, finally bringing Li Yi back to his senses.

"What are you thinking about—" He and Li Yi hid behind the cliff, pointed to the corner ahead, and continued in a low voice, "Two bird demons just passed by, they should be patrolling nearby."

Li Yi's eyes had been glazed over, and his pupils had even contracted slightly. He was still somewhat dazed.

"What?"

Li Erhu was furious and quickly repeated it again.

Guan Tian followed behind and whispered, "Those two little demons should come back. If we capture them, interrogate them to find out where the leader is hiding, and take one back, that should be enough to complete our mission, right?"

"There's no need to get entangled with these minor demons."

A high-pitched voice suddenly rang out among the five people, startling them all. They all looked in the direction of the voice and were shocked to see a brown-haired ape with a hunched back and thin cheeks, whose appearance was exactly the same as that of the eastern lands!

The ape, however, remained calm and continued its sentence:

"I will personally lead you to the Star Chart Cave. Help me slay the Star of Germanium, and you will be richly rewarded in the future!"

It really is the Earth God!

The soldiers of Sanyi Manor had been intimidated by Him quite a bit. Even though they knew that the two sides were no longer enemies, they still subconsciously tensed up.

Li Yi looked helpless; this time, his address of "fellow Daoist" wasn't as menacing as before.

but……

"Reporting to the local deity, I am merely a Qi Refining cultivator serving as a scout in the army. Scouting is my primary duty. You expect me to deal with a Foundation Establishment demon?"

Zhu Xing glanced at Li Yi with a strange expression, then looked at the other four people.

"Stop pretending! I'm just asking you to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Are you going to hide your strength from even your own brothers?"

Li Yi was even more speechless. "I am grateful for the divine favor, but I am truly powerless to help. Besides, the commotion is too great. There are forty or fifty sentries here. Are they all blind or stupid?"

"No way!" Zhu Xing said angrily. "Since I have voluntarily left my territory, you should know how much determination I have put into it."

"In that case, why don't you simply send out a few Foundation Establishment cultivators from our army to join forces and kill the demons? Why go through all this trouble and make things difficult for us scouts?"

Zhu Xing was quite impatient, but all her hopes were now on Li Yi, so she had no choice but to explain patiently.

"I left a spiritual seed near the Starry Sky Cave. This body is not my true form, but one of the 'Five Bodies' of the Spiritual Root. Previously, Gray Spot captured a human and brought back news of the Great Zhou's conquest of the Great Yan. Now, the Herb Star has led its people to pack up and head to the Western Mountains!"

"My true self remains in this territory to maintain the spiritual seed and one of the five bodies here, but the authority is gone, and this body can only be treated as an ordinary Qi cultivation cultivator."

So that's why He was so anxious.

The supernatural power of "Spiritual Root Treasury" is truly profound. Ordinary people can only use it when they leave their territory and their cultivation level drops drastically.

However, Zhu Xing's true form remained within the territory, yet he could still command the spiritual seeds and his five bodies to travel. Even if he couldn't mobilize the land's authority, he was still powerful enough.

It's infuriating that this guy just now lied to me with such a resolute look on his face, putting on a do-or-die attitude.

"How about it? I'm counting on you."

Li Yi's four subordinates fell silent, but their hearts were filled with turbulent waves.

According to the local earth god, Yi-ge'er really has the ability to fight against a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Judging from Yi-ge's expression, he seems to be seriously considering it...

"Lead the way first. If there is no one around, I will give it a try. If I am outnumbered and unable to succeed, I will only hold them off for a while, and you will still need to seek help from the army."

Zhu Xing's face lit up with joy, and he clasped his hands in thanks, saying, "Thank you in advance!"

The group of six immediately leaped off the cliff and ran wildly along the mountain path.

Two bird demons behind him were flapping their wings and patrolling low along the path. Suddenly they saw the figure in front of them and immediately hovered, about to roar.

The dead tree by the roadside suddenly came to life, sprouting two branches that wrapped around the necks of the two demons. With a sudden burst of strength, two headless corpses tumbled down the path, and two bird heads also smashed to the ground, losing consciousness.

Meanwhile, Xiao Zhou, a Thunderclap Body Cultivator from the Tiger Might Camp, had already obtained the location of the leader from the little demon.

A group of scouts circled the cave on the mountainside and slowly ventured inside. After half an hour, they reached the depths, killed a few lesser demons, and spotted the leader's lair, but could not find the leader himself.

Xiao Zhou grabbed a pangolin and asked, "Do you have a fixed day to come out of the mountains? What day is it today?"

"No, no! It's not a special occasion!"

The pangolin had no human form and seemed to have only recently gained sentience. Even a seasoned hunter could have dealt with it. At this moment, it was terrified, like a quail.

Xiao Zhou frowned and asked again:

How many routes are there downhill from Luopanshan?

"Two routes to the east, one to the west!" The pangolin, though expressionless, showed no backbone. "If it's a demon king, he doesn't care about the path when he goes down the mountain. Like the Third King Grayspot, he usually flies down the mountain."

The Third King... is he a bird?

"How many kings do you have, exactly?"

"Four! — I heard there used to be a second king, but now there are only four!"

A troop of scouts waited silently for their superior's orders, when suddenly they saw Xiao Zhou toss the pangolin to his subordinates.

"Take this monster back to the army for training, and also tell the other scouts to go down the mountain and await further orders."

Xiao Zhou led his men out of the cave, ordered most of the scouts to spread the word, and then called three trusted men to go off to explore the western mountains on their own.

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.

It's on the western side of Luopan Mountain, in a sunny spot.

The demons, having traveled halfway, couldn't help but complain as they braved the mountain winds:

"Winter in the Great Yan is truly bitterly cold; I've had enough of it! When I get to the Great Li, I'll find a place without gods, one that's warm!"

"I know a method that may create a demon god."

The pig demon, Zhe Xing, chuckled softly, but his words were devoid of joy, filled with chilling intent.

The Fourth King had a pair of ram's horns on his head, but his face was no different from that of an old human. He quickly offered a few words of flattery, then suddenly remembered his "old friend" and sighed:

"It's a pity that Wanwu insisted on going to the Great Zhou, determined to immerse herself in a group of men and suck their life essence."

"The Great Yan army is a bunch of rats. Ever since the battle fifteen years ago, they have avoided Luopan Mountain like the plague, which has made it impossible for that fox spirit to find good prey, and has actually forced her out of Great Yan..."

The Second King, with his pointed snout and long ears, appeared to be a dog demon. When he mentioned Wanwu, he couldn't help but lick his lips.

"I wonder how she is now? Could she have been captured by the Great Zhou army and turned into a pill?"