"Why are you in such a sorry state?"
The divine avatar turned its head and looked at the main body with a slight frown.
Hearing this, Ji Yuan's main body gave a wry smile. The current situation was indeed beyond his expectations.
Before making a move, he had already anticipated that this journey would not be easy, but he had not expected to almost perish at the hands of the enemy.
If he hadn't brought with him a clone condensed from pure incense wish power, containing his divine avatar, he would likely have died under the enemy's black flag by now.
"Let's finish this, to avoid any unforeseen circumstances," Ji Yuan's main body said, not wanting any accidents to occur.
Since he could prepare a backup, it was possible the other party also had some life-saving means.
The wish power clone nodded, and then the long river on its divine robe surged, filling with rich incense wish power and engulfing the leader of the Liuhuo bandits.
With the vibration of immense divine power, the man's body suddenly collapsed, and he was annihilated into nothingness within the long river.
Ji Yuan's thoughts were not wrong. The opponent indeed had several life-saving methods. In fact, who among cultivators who reached the third realm wouldn't have some trump cards?
However, after the battle, especially the final full-power confrontation, the man was already at the end of his rope. The black flag he had used earlier had completely depleted his magic power.
Even though he had a few trump cards, he was unable to use them now.
When the long river extinguished the enemy and returned to the divine robe of the wish power clone, Ji Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Cast the divine art," he sent out his divine sense, confirming that there were no other cultivators within a radius of dozens of feet, and then said to the wish power clone.
Upon hearing this, the latter remained silent. It merely formed seals with its hands at lightning speed, and then this clone, condensed from pure incense wish power, suddenly shattered.
All the incense wish power instantly transformed into pure divine power, which then formed a divine pattern and cast a divine art that enveloped the heavily injured main body.
At this moment, Ji Yuan bathed in divine light, and the injuries both inside and outside his body immediately stabilized and began to heal at an astonishing speed.
After a long while, when all the divine light dissipated, he had recovered more than half of his strength. As for the remaining injuries, even with healing elixirs, it would take a long time of recuperation to fully recover.
"Although it was dangerous, the harvest was also quite substantial."
He looked forward, his gaze falling on several artifacts and a storage magical artifact.
Within the colorful cloud jade pendant on his person were the mountain and river bags of the second and third leaders of the Liuhuo bandits, as well as their magical treasures.
Although the situation was perilous, and he would have likely perished if he hadn't prepared a wish power clone in advance, the rewards from this trip were undeniably significant. Just a few magical treasures were enough to compensate for the losses, with even a surplus. Not to mention the storage magical artifacts of these individuals, which surely contained other precious spiritual items.
As he put the items into the colorful cloud jade pendant, Ji Yuan took out a few pills and consumed them. He then sat cross-legged on the spot, waiting quietly.
After the time it took for nearly one stick of incense to burn, his eyes suddenly opened, and he looked to the side.
Under the moonlight, Xue Yang and the others were rapidly approaching, with two more figures joining their ranks.
Almost at the moment the wish power clone was activated by Ji Yuan, his divine avatar, far away in the Water God Temple on the peak of Mount Xiaoyuan in Feiyun County, Lingyang Prefecture, sensed something.
He turned and gazed into the distance, remaining silent for a long time before letting out a slight sigh of relief, confirming that the main body was safe.
"Master?" Zhu Tao asked softly, his eyes filled with confusion.
Hearing this, the divine avatar turned to look at him and said with a smile, "It's fine, you can continue."
In the back hall of the Water God Temple at this time, besides Zhu Tao, there were also Liu Qi and a group of other rogue cultivators.
Since the establishment of the Xuantian Temple, the many mountain and wild cultivators who followed Ji Yuan had been divided into two groups.
One group, led by Zhu Tao, remained at the Water God Temple to manage affairs.
The other group, led by Li Buwei, was in charge of the various matters of the Xuantian Temple.
"Now, within the five counties, all county towns, townships, and a large number of villages have basic Water God Temples built," Zhu Tao said, nodding. He then continued the previous topic, "With the help of Zhang Qingyang and others, as well as the Xuantian Temple, Master's incense is also spreading to the surrounding areas."
After several years, the incense of the Water God Temple had become very prosperous, no longer confined to the five counties. Every day, rich incense wish power gathered in the divine land of Mount Xiaoyuan through the connections between the divine statues.
As a result, the divine avatar's cultivation had also steadily improved. With the blessing and assistance of wish power, his realm had also made significant progress. Now, even without the aid of divine authority and the power of heaven and earth, his own cultivation realm had stabilized in the middle stage of the third realm, and he was not far from the late stage.
"However, although the Water God Temple is developing quite well now, it can still only be considered a wild god," Mo Yiyan continued, his face showing some worry.
Ultimately, Ji Yuan had not been officially appointed by the imperial court, so strictly speaking, he belonged to the category of wild gods. Although the Water God Temple had developed well with the help of various forces, it still faced many restrictions, as well as some resistance from outside the five counties. After all, every region had its own deities, and no one would be willing to have their incense wish power shared by an outsider wild god. It was only with the influence of the five counties and the cultivators of the Xuantian Temple that they were able to successfully build Water God Temples elsewhere. The current restrictions were still within their acceptable range. However, as the incense spread wider, they would face more trouble. A single oversight could even attract the attention of the imperial court.
"There is no need to worry about this; I already have a plan to deal with it," Ji Yuan said, nodding slightly, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
A few days later, without anyone's knowledge, the divine avatar quietly left Mount Xiaoyuan and went to the adjacent Fuyuan River. The last time he came to this place, he used a divine power clone. Now, with the divine avatar personally present, he immediately felt a different scene. The great river before him flowed turbulently, and the dense water vapor could not dissipate. The spiritual energy from the four directions converged, sank to the bottom of the river, and then dispersed back into the heavens and earth. This cycle made the spiritual energy of the Fuyuan River even denser and gave it a lively sense. In the eyes of a deity, the sky above the entire river was filled with divine light, and countless auspicious clouds converged here, brewing infinite incense wish power and majestic river and mountain destiny. Ji Yuan gazed intently and then discovered that among the patches of auspicious clouds, there was also a trace of imperial destiny, which was likely that of the Great Yu Dynasty. As a river god officially appointed by the imperial court, he naturally carried the destiny of a nation.