The Long River Forks, Viewing Flowers Through the Mist

"How did this person appear? When did he appear?"

Questions filled Hu Qi and Dai Guo's minds, and their gazes toward the old man were filled with wariness and suspicion.

The road Qiu Yan and his companions were traveling on was a government-paved road, wide enough for horses to ride on. Although there were trees on both sides, the view ahead was clear. When they came here, there was clearly no one there, but in the blink of an eye, an old man appeared. How could this not arouse suspicion?

Moreover, Hu Qi and his companion were cultivators of the Fate Dao who had refined Three Souls; their eyesight was sharp and their senses exceptionally sensitive. How could they possibly have missed it?

"Could they be bandits? Or experts in Life Cultivation?"

Hu Qi and Dai Guo exchanged a glance, secretly gathering their strength. Their eyes were fixed on Qiu Yan, ready to act as soon as he made his decision!

Qiu Yan was sizing up the old man blocking the way.

Just now, as he was riding his horse at full gallop, he suddenly sensed something, looked down, and spotted the old man's figure. He stopped, his horse galloping ahead, stirring up the air currents, but the old man remained motionless, standing there calmly and composedly, his expression unchanged. Moreover, his demeanor didn't seem like he had appeared suddenly; rather, it gave the impression that he had been waiting there all along.

"Um?"

Thinking of this, Qiu Yan moved his mind and retrieved the memories from the past period, transmitting them through the Soul Aperture to the deity's true form for reanalysis. He then discovered that the old man had indeed been standing on the road the whole time, but his body was shrouded in a faint divine power, giving off an unnoticed feeling, as if he were not a person, but a pebble on the roadside, lacking any sense of presence.

"Divine power..."

Narrowing his eyes, Qiu Yan looked at the old man in front of him, his thoughts swirling, but he said aloud, "Old man, your waiting here can't be a coincidence, can it?"

Upon hearing the inquiry, the old man chuckled and said, "My surname is Li. I've been waiting here to avoid trouble. I'd like to travel with you for a while, young master."

"Oh? You want to travel with me?" Upon hearing this, Qiu Yan's gaze swept over the old man's hemp braid, his heart skipped a beat, and he said, "Old man, have you ever heard of the name of the Hemp-Robed Daoist?"

Boom!

The moment these words were spoken, Qiu Yan felt the scene before him suddenly change, as if he had fallen into an endless abyss. His body was transparent, but the secrets in his heart were being held captive by a force, showing signs of leaking out!

"Huh?" Qiu Yan was startled. His thoughts raced, and he separated a Heart Demon Fragment, which was then taken away by that power!

Snap!

With a crisp sound followed by a muffled groan, Qiu Yan suddenly opened his eyes. A cool breeze blew on his face, giving him the feeling of waking from a dream. Looking around, he found himself sitting in a stone pavilion by the roadside.

There was a stone table nearby. Besides Qiu Yan, Hu Qi and Dai Guo were also sitting at the table. One of them was slumped over the table, and the other was resting his chin on his hand with his eyes closed. They were both fast asleep.

Qiu Yan's awakening caused the two of them to wake up as well. A gust of cold wind blew over them, and they were initially confused before regaining their senses.

"Yes, I was tired from the journey, so I rested in this stone pavilion for a while and unexpectedly fell asleep. Oh, and I just had a dream about traveling."

"Brother, you dreamed about it too? Looks like what you've been thinking about during the day is reflected in your dreams at night."

When Qiu Yan heard their conversation, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"That old man just now must be the Hemp-Robed Daoist in hemp robes mentioned by the Prefect and the Child-Giving God. He is also a Heaven-Born Deity with wondrous abilities. First, he tried to probe the secrets in my heart, but after being backfired by the Heart Demon Fragment, he used his methods to fork the Time River, creating a sense of seeing through a fog. Such Divine Ability are extraordinary..."

Qiu Yan also had similar memories to Hu Qi and Dai Guo, except that his true form was a god, and the memories within that form were quite different. Comparing the two, the conclusion was that the scholar's avatar had done two different things at the same time.

One was rushing on their journey and encountered an old man; the other was weary from their travels and needed a rest. It was as if time had branched off, creating a parallel world.

"My clone hasn't yet formed Divine Soul, so its abilities against gods are limited. It's not surprising that its memories were altered remotely. But the fact that even the surrounding environment has changed makes this Divine Ability quite interesting..."

As he pondered, he stood up and looked around. Seeing three horses tied to a pillar of the stone pavilion, the memory of him and Hu Qi tying the horses naturally came to mind.

"The Hemp-Robed Daoist should have left. His actions this time seem to have been a spur-of-the-moment decision, without much malice, otherwise he wouldn't have left so easily."

Thinking about this, Qiu Yan wasn't too worried. Although his clone wasn't as powerful as the Hemp-Robed Daoist, he could summon his main body using the Summoning God Method at crucial moments, thus fighting gods against gods.

This Summoning God Method so powerful that even the Yin-Yang Pagoda cannot block it. It is one of Qiu Yan's trump cards. However, he will not use it lightly unless absolutely necessary, to prevent the relationship between his main body and his clone from being exposed.

Previously, when the main body entered the Yin-Yang Pagoda, it pointed a finger at the wall to confirm that the transmission of Divine Sense and divine power would not be affected before entering with peace of mind. If danger was encountered, it could be summoned out by the scholar's clone. Unexpectedly, this backup plan was not used at all.

There was no need to tell Hu Qi and the other man about these changes. After looking around, Qiu Yan called the two men over, mounted his horse, and continued north. Before long, they arrived at the edge of Xiongwu City again, took out the documents, and passed through the checkpoint smoothly.

"If it weren't for the presence of the deity himself as a reference, I might have thought it was an illusion. The supernatural Divine Ability of that Hemp-Robed Daoist are indeed not to be underestimated."

With this in mind, the scholar's clone, along with Hu Qi and Dai Guo, continued their journey. To reach Eastern Capital, they still needed to cross the Shannan Circuit. During this journey, Qiu Yan would continuously enrich himself and improve the "Collection" section of the bookshelf in the Earthly Soul.

The Anthologies Section Bookshelf do not contain summarized knowledge, nor philosophical sayings from scriptures, but rather the trivialities of daily life: the food, clothing, shelter, and transportation of ordinary people, and the poems and songs of literary figures...

On the other side, on a hill at the border of Xiongwu and Shannan Circuit, an old man in a loose robe watched Qiu Yan leave, shook his head, and sighed helplessly.

"This time, I've overplayed my hand. I knew he had an extraordinary destiny, but I didn't expect him to also have cultivation and know my identity. It's not advisable to provoke him now. I'll explain things clearly when I return."

As he thought this, the old man's figure gradually disappeared, vanishing into thin air.

At the same time, the deity himself, following the guidance of the Military Tally, arrived underground in the Southern Border of Jiannan Circuit, which was still some distance from the border of Great Rui.

Though the deity is deep underground, the Military Tally in his hand vibrates, transmitting various information from the earth to his heart.

On the ground, there was a vast forest.

In this era, mortals' conquest of nature was still limited. Forests and dense woods were everywhere, and many forests were not only home to birds and beasts, but also to many demons.

Through the Military Tally, Qiu Yan could clearly sense the Qi and Blood and emotions within the Lin Zhong, thus making basic judgments.

"Many demons live in this forest, and most of them are radiating chaotic and panicked emotions, as if they have been frightened, but I don't know why."

As Qiu Yan gained a better understanding of the forest above ground, he systematically constructed a simple structural diagram in his mind.

"According to the intelligence, after being discovered, the Ghost Mother escaped using cunning methods, but did not leave and is hiding somewhere in the Lin Zhong."

Within the territory of Great Rui, there are gods almost everywhere. In the past, the Ghost Mother was always careful and cautious in her actions, but this time she suddenly moved without any prior preparation, and was discovered by the gods along the way, which is why she fell into trouble.

As he pondered, a model of the entire forest took shape in Qiu Yan's mind. By comparing and eliminating possibilities based on the distribution of Qi and Blood within the Lin Zhong, he quickly identified several possible hiding places.

"Although we've determined the general area, I'm not here to help the City God Underworld Office snatch chestnuts from the fire, so..."

With this thought in mind, Qiu Yan grabbed with his five fingers, and the Military Tally formed from the light was directly crushed, scattering into one hundred and eight rays of light that burst forth from the ground!

The light shot into the sky, condensed, and twisted, transforming into one hundred and eight burly, strong men, each clad in golden armor and wielding a large sword, exuding an extraordinary aura.

"This is the Golden-Armored Warriors?"

Through the lingering light in his hands, Qiu Yan could issue commands to the 108 golden- Golden-Armored Warriors, sense the extent of their casualties, and also understand their combat strength.

"This is incredible! Each of these Golden-Armored Warriors is equivalent to a cultivator at the Third Realm! It seems we need to reassess Lü Liang's strength."

The First Realm of cultivation is the Aperture-Opening Realm of Nature Cultivation and the Foundation Establishment Realm of Life Cultivation;

The Second Realm of cultivation is the Soul Soul-Congealing Realm for those Nature Cultivation and the Life Cultivation Soul-Refining Realm for those who cultivate their life force.

The Third Realm of cultivators is the Unity Realm of Nature Cultivation and the Core-Forging Realm of Life Cultivation.

Regardless of whether Nature Cultivation or Life Cultivation, the Third Realm is divided into four stages, from low to high, corresponding to the Seventh Grade, Sixth Grade, Fifth Grade, and Fourth Grade deities respectively.

In other words, only cultivators who have reached the Third Realm are qualified to fight against gods.

The Ghost Mother is also a deity, and being born a god, her methods are unrestrained. To deal with her, relying solely on the ghost soldiers of the Netherworld is far from enough, and it is impossible to mobilize other deities as soldiers.

This Ghost Mother was only a Seventh-Rank Deity a few decades ago, but now she has been promoted to the Sixth Grade. Moreover, she is cunning and treacherous. It is not easy for the "Fire Sovereign" alone to capture such a deity. That is why the Prefect and the Child-Giving God have to use Military Tally.

The Golden-Armored Warriors transformed from the Military Tally are powerful enough to rival the gods in combat!

However, when the 108 Golden-Armored Warriors appeared, Feng Zhen, the Child-Giving God who was hiding behind them, suddenly changed his expression.

"He's more trouble than he's worth! If he were to lead the troops to encircle and suppress them, he should at least find the enemy first. Instead, before even showing himself, he directly exposed the Golden-Armored Warriors, brazenly hovering in the sky. Wouldn't that only make the Ghost Mother even more vigilant!"

Before his thoughts could even settle, Qiu Yan, disguised as the "Fire Sovereign," manifested from underground, his Divine Sense transforming into a vast force that roared and spread across most of the forest.

"Ghost Mother, if you know what's good for you, come out with me right now, or don't blame me for being merciless and burning this entire forest to the ground! Then you'll have nowhere to hide!"

"Nonsense! Utter nonsense! Even if he's in charge of the Jiannan Flame, causing such a huge incident will make it difficult for him to bear the Karma. This Wu Fan is simply unreasonable... Hmm? Wait a minute! Something's wrong!"

Feng Zhen was puzzled, but then a thought struck him, and he suddenly realized that something was amiss!