Lu Ming maintained his smile and corrected himself: “Miss An’an.”

Only then did Yun Ya turn his head. Lu Ming, already accustomed to this behavior, continued speaking to Feng Miaojun: “We’ve sent many spies to infiltrate Ji Yuan City, and they indeed saw a statue of the River God, but only one.”

“Not a group of statues?”

“No.” Lu Ming shook his head. “It’s an image of a river patrolling yaksha with a trident in hand, red hair, and fangs—identical to the monster that first fought with us.”

“That’s the river patrolling yaksha,” Feng Miaojun shrugged. “The crocodile demon was probably invited to assist.” Demons possessed intelligence equal to humans; what was strange about the local River God knowing he couldn’t stop the Wei army alone and asking friends for help?

“We originally thought the same, until our spies heard accounts from Ji Yuan City elders. The River God temple in the city was renovated three years ago, and the image was completely different from before because the prefect’s son who funded the renovation insisted on creating a golden statue based on the River God he had seen. The city residents initially complained about his willful actions, but the River God has still protected Ji Yuan City these past few years, showing he can still receive the power of incense offerings.”

This meant the Yaksha statue could be connected to the River God himself. She listened as Lu Ming continued: “She directed us to an old temple in the southern suburbs that also enshrines the River God. Our spies went specifically to see it—it’s a monster with a fish head and human body, holding a copper hammer, completely different from the river patrolling yaksha.”

Feng Miaojun found it interesting: “So this nest of monsters banded together and was enshrined as the River God?”

“That’s the only explanation.”

Before they finished speaking, everyone had walked onto the river. They were about a hundred zhang from the shore, with broken river ice ahead. Through the cracks in the ice, they could see shadows moving back and forth beneath the water’s surface, like countless aquatic creatures circling.

This section of the river was three li wide, but the current was slow, so in winter the river froze and people could walk on the ice. The Wei army had originally planned to do this, but unexpectedly, the ice layer wasn’t thick this winter. Taking another route would mean a detour of ten days, by which time the military opportunity would be lost.

Upon reaching this point, Lu Ming’s voice unconsciously lowered: “The River God can control the local aquatic creatures. He summoned dozens of groups of ferocious carnivorous fish from somewhere, which have devoured many of our soldiers.”

She had indeed caught a glimpse of several large crocodiles earlier. Even if they weren’t demons, humans couldn’t defeat such creatures underwater. So to capture the thief, one must first capture the leader—they needed to deal with the local River God before the army could consider crossing the river.

From here, they could even see the tall buildings of Ji Yuan City in the distance. Having the Wei army turn back now would not only be unacceptable to the Wei King but would also diminish their prestige and embolden others.

Of course, dealing with something as difficult as the River God wouldn’t be assigned to a small follower like her; she only needed to enjoy watching her State Preceptor display his divine powers.

Yun Ya had clearly understood the situation for some time. He now stood at the edge of the floating ice and called out: “I am Yun Ya, State Preceptor of the Kingdom of Wei, requesting the River God of Fu Tai River to emerge for a discussion.”

He used his supernatural ability—his voice wasn’t loud, but it carried clearly across the river surface, creating an echoing effect throughout this open area.

However, apart from the flowing river and drifting ice, there was no unusual movement nearby.

After waiting for several dozen breaths, the River God still didn’t appear.

This was within Yun Ya’s expectations. He didn’t lose his temper but repeated the same sentence, his voice carrying ten li, even penetrating below the water.

After waiting a while longer, the River God still didn’t show himself.

It seemed they had decided to stay hidden; perhaps with so many people here, they didn’t want to risk an ambush.

Yun Ya looked at several cultivators behind him and tilted his head slightly: “Go down and investigate their situation further.”

The four cultivators nodded, a red light flashed on their bodies, and they leaped into the river one after another. Two were human cultivators; the other two were a red-scaled giant python and a four-legged creature with sleek fur and a tail. They entered the water too quickly for Feng Miaojun to identify, but she vaguely recognized it as… an otter?

With their cultivation, ordinary man-eating aquatic creatures couldn’t harm them. Especially now with the State Preceptor’s elemental power enhancement, their combat strength had increased by more than twenty percent.

The waves on the water’s surface gradually subsided, and the river returned to calmness.

Feng Miaojun held her breath waiting but saw Yun Ya standing with his hands behind his back, eyes closed, serenely conserving his elemental energy.

Was he… not getting enough sleep last night?

Truthfully, standing on river ice during the coldest time of the year was extremely cold from below. The fifty thousand troops couldn’t stand here for long, or their combat effectiveness would significantly decrease.

After about the time it took to drink two cups of tea, there was a splash, and the human cultivators and giant python swam back to the ice surface. The python’s body, thicker than a water vat, was still oozing blood.

The giant python spoke in human language: “Ya Tu is still at the bottom; we couldn’t find him.”

Ya Tu was probably the otter.

Yun Ya asked: “How many opponents?”

“I only had one opponent, the river patrolling yaksha. Strangely, during the battle, I couldn’t see the other three.”

The other two human cultivators said: “My opponent was a crocodile demon wielding a spear” and “I faced seven black water pythons.”

This meant that these people went underwater simultaneously but encountered different opponents and couldn’t see each other.

Lu Ming and Feng Miaojun exchanged glances, both understanding:

An illusion array.

The opponent used an illusion array to separate these people, dealing with them individually and defeating them one by one.

An illusion array was an extremely intricate technique. If the River God mastered this supernatural ability, their side indeed couldn’t discern their true situation.

Feng Miaojun looked at Yun Ya, wondering what he planned to do. Would he, like his subordinates, jump into the river to fight? With his explosive combat power, the battle outcome would be entirely different, right?

However, Yun Ya didn’t seem to plan on going into the water in the cold winter. His palm opened, and a small bronze tripod cauldron slowly appeared in his palm.

This three-legged cauldron was smaller than the incense burners typically found in household shrines, with a diameter only as wide as a teacup’s mouth. Compared to incense burners, it just had an additional lid. Now Yun Ya casually removed the lid, and Feng Miaojun stretched her neck to look, seeing thick red smoke swirling inside the cauldron.

The wind was strong on the river surface, yet these smoke tendrils remained confined within the cauldron without spreading out, moving like swimming fish, as if alive.

Feng Miaojun had never seen such a thing, but an inexplicable desire arose in her heart as if the internal elixir in her dantian desperately wanted to possess it. Thus, she immediately understood what this was:

Elemental power.

The State Preceptor possessed elemental power. Yun Ya taking it out so solemnly probably meant that it contained a vast amount of deployable elemental power!

Yun Ya reached into the cauldron and pulled out strand after strand of red smoke as if what he grasped wasn’t elemental power but tangible red threads.

Then, he kneaded these red smoke strands, like molding rubber clay. The red smoke gradually took shape from its original chaotic state:

It had a pointed beak, long neck, wings, and a long tail, but seemed to have only one leg…