In the small courtyard, an excited young man stood in the courtyard, his bright eyes flickering.

This person was Li Yuanqing, who had been in seclusion for many days.

Ever since he obtained the Advanced Weapon Refinement Manual, Li Yuanqing had not stopped studying about it for a moment.

In addition, he had some free time now, so he began to refine one of the powerful weapons.

It was the rumored powerful Immortal Binding Rope. It was said that the powerful Immortal Binding Rope could bind people stronger than him.

Of course, he had to use it well to have such an effect.

Immortal Binding Rope has a high requirement for its grading. As long as there were any flaws, it was very difficult to unleash its greatest effect. It could basically only be considered a semi-finished product.

Therefore, ordinary Weapon Refinement Masters did not have any methods to touch this thing.

Li Yuanqing took out a golden rope. As soon as the rope was out, it twisted nimbly with Li Yuanqing’s hand. As he waved it continuously, the rope twisted nimbly in midair.

After twisting around, Li Yuanqing pointed at the tree beside him. The rope, which was wrapped around Li Yuanqing’s hand, suddenly escaped and twisted towards the tree.

After this Immortal Binding Rope, which was originally less than a meter long in Li Yuanqing’s hands, wrapped around the old tree tightly, it became dozens of meters long.

Li Yuanqing raised a finger and slowly raised it. The old tree, which was more than half a meter thick, was vaguely pulled up by the rope.

Li Yuanqing stopped while he was ahead and nodded in satisfaction.

The rope also retracted with a whoosh and wrapped around Li Yuanqing’s arm again. It disappeared with a gentle sway.

Li Yuanqing was quite satisfied with the results of the past half a month. The power of this Immortal Binding Rope was extraordinary. If he used it well, it would be very useful in the future.

As soon as Li Yuanqing came out, Little Man could not wait to appear in the small courtyard.

“Congratulations, Master. Congratulations on coming out of seclusion!”

“Get up.”

Little Man circled Li Yuanqing happily.

In the past half a month, Li Yuanqing had been busy refining this Immortal Binding Rope in his domain and stabilizing his cultivation.

After half a month of seclusion, his third-grade Formation Arrangement Realm cultivation had already stepped into the fourth-grade Formation Arrangement Realm.

After feeling the majestic power emitted from Li Yuanqing’s body, Little Man also revealed a happy expression.

“Master, you’re really powerful. You’ve successfully broken through in the past half a month and passed such a huge hurdle. I’m afraid it’s difficult to find an opponent in the world with your current strength!”

“You sly little thing, stop being so glib-tongued.” Li Yuanqing patted Little Man’s head gently. “Take it. These are your rewards.”

The Man-eating Vine opened the small bag and saw a few golden pills inside.

These pills were the Vitality Reinforcement Pills that Li Yuanqing had obtained from signing in at a cave in the Dongming Mountain.

Pure energy kept overflowing from it, causing Little Man’s eyes to light up. “Master, are these for me?”

“Of course, you’re at a bottleneck now. These pills can help you break through in one go. Don’t disappoint me.”

The Man-eating Vine was already at the peak of the seventh-grade Spirit Transformation Realm and was about to step into the eighth-grade.

With the help of these pills, breaking through to the eighth-grade was simply easy. Just using one pill was enough to break through.

The Man-eating Vine carefully put away the pills and calculated when she would break through in seclusion.

“By the way, I’ve been busy cultivating recently and didn’t care about the matters in the city. How is the city now? Did anything major happen?”

Li Yuanqing completely handed the decision-making power in Ping City to Hu Jiujiu.

Moreover, he had been in seclusion some time ago, so Hu Jiujiu did not dare to disturb him. Therefore, Li Yuanqing knew nothing about the expedition team that had already set off a few days ago.

Little Man looked at Li Yuanqing and said carefully, “Master, there’s also some trouble on Sister’s side. The guard team of the City Lord Manor has gradually grown stronger. More and more humans have joined in. The entire guard team has become very large with hundreds of thousands of people.”

Li Yuanqing nodded slightly and said, “It’s not a bad thing. I’m afraid there will be even more trouble in the Catacombs in the future. If we want to completely consolidate the status of the human race, we still have to have our own strength.”

“It’s just that…”

“Just what?”

“It’s just that the generals of the human race only think that the Sword Immortal is the leader of the entire Ping City. Therefore, they secretly have some complaints about Sister and the Great General Minglun. Right now, Sister’s management is not very smooth.”

These humans naturally knew about Hu Jiujiu’s contributions to the human race. Therefore, they only teased her accordingly and did not dare to do anything to Hu Jiujiu.

However, it was different for Minglun. As Hu Jiujiu’s vassal, although Hu Jiujiu was extremely grateful to Minglun, the people below did not approve of the current demon general.

Li Yuanqing nodded again. “Little Jiu wants to stabilize her rights. This is a very necessary lesson. Without experiencing some difficulties, she will definitely not be able to learn true skills.”

Little Man laughed. “That’s what Sister said. Sister said that Master gave her such a mission to train her and make her more like a leader.”

Li Yuanqing laughed when he heard that. Hu Jiujiu was really…

Little Man was happy and said, “A few days ago, when the expedition team left, Sister personally went to send them off. It was a huge scene.”

“What? An expedition?”

Little Man stuck out her tongue and said softly, “I forgot to tell you. Sea City has been attacked by many devils and there’s a lot of trouble there. There are many human generals in the city who feel that we humans are strong enough now. Therefore, they advocate sending troops to Sea City and seizing it from the devils.”

“When did this happen? Why didn’t you inform me?”

“The news happened to come back from there when you were in seclusion. The situation was quite urgent. Moreover,you were at the critical moment of seclusion, so Sister didn’t disturb you and made her own decision.”

Li Yuanqing frowned slightly. It was naturally a good thing that Little Jiu dared to make the decision herself, but this matter sounded a little strange.

According to what he knew, the devils should be outside the barrier and not here. Why were they here?

The devils were different from humans and demons. They were more like a group without any racial boundaries. They were powerful and violent by nature. They were not restricted by the morals and forces of the human world at all.

Not only did they escape this time, but they also occupied Sea City. This was a huge matter.

“What happened in Sea City? Where is Hai Changping now? Did they send any news back?”

Although Hai Changping was an unreliable person and could more or less find some common language with him, the devils had nothing in common with the human race.

Little Man replied honestly, “I heard from Sister that the devils escaped from the other side of the river. They must have sensed that the demons here had been greatly weakened, so they came and burned, killed, and plundered Sea City. The people in Sea City were completely unable to resist and quickly fell.

“I heard that their City Lord, Hai Changping, was also captured by the devils early on and was cruelly killed. They even cut off his head and hung it on the city gate.”

When Little Man mentioned this, her face was filled with disgust.

“This is only the news from before. Our expeditionary army has just arrived at Sea City and has yet to completely enter, so our understanding of the situation there is not completely accurate.”

Li Yuanqing asked, “How many people did they bring? Who is leading them?”

“It’s General Sun. He brought fifty thousand people.”

Li Yuanqing thought that things are going to go wrong. Even the millions of demons in Sea City could not resist the devils. If General Sun brought fifty thousand people over, even if they were not the main attack force, they would be discovered by the devils and would not even have the chance to escape.

They actually dared to do such a dangerous thing. They were really too bold.

“Come with me!”

As he spoke, their figures flashed in the small courtyard. The two people who were chatting disappeared.

On the high platform in the center of the most prosperous market in Ping City.

As an important guest today, Hu Jiujiu was speaking to the citizens below on the platform.

“I’m very happy that everyone can come here today.”

Cheers sounded from the audience. Everyone looked at the City Lord standing on the stage with admiration.

Hu Jiujiu continued, “Ping City is becoming more and more prosperous, and the trade in Ping City has become more frequent. The original few trading places are no longer enough.”

Laughter erupted below.

The trade in Ping City could be said to be extremely rich now, and the market was far more prosperous than before. Under the current situation, everyone’s emotions were very high.

After obtaining such a large-scale victory, the entire Ping City was filled with high-pitched joy.

“Not only that, but this place also represents the first large-scale victory for us humans against the demons. Its memorial is even more extraordinary.”

“Humans!”

“All hail the human race!”

The citizens below kept shouting. They were extremely proud of such a victory.

However, at this moment, the smile on Hu Jiujiu’s face suddenly froze. It was as if she had heard some news. Hu Jiujiu suddenly looked at the citizens below apologetically.

“I’m really sorry, everyone. I have some special matters to deal with. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave this to the Great General.”

In a small attic not far from the market, Li Yuanqing stood in the corner of the corridor and looked at Hu Jiujiu from afar.

After saying goodbye to the people, Hu Jiujiu disappeared in a flash. After a while, Hu Jiujiu appeared beside Li Yuanqing again.

“Master!”

Hu Jiujiu’s face was filled with smiles as she looked down at the ground.

However, Li Yuanqing’s expression was very ugly.

“What happened? Why did you agree to let them take the risk to Sea City?”

Only then did Hu Jiujiu realize that Li Yuanqing had come here for this matter. She immediately put away the smile on her face and became serious.

“Master, we had to make a choice at that time. The situation in Sea City is critical. We have to send a team over to investigate the situation first. At the very least, we have to understand the situation there before we can make a decision.”

“Then we can send a team of sentries with thousands of people to investigate. Why did we send so many people at once?”

A hesitant expression flashed across Hu Jiujiu’s face before she replied, “Master, I feel that in the situation at that time, we had just obtained such a huge victory. There’s no need to be too cautious. In addition, the people below have the intention to show off, so I think this opportunity can increase morale.”

“Is that true?”

Hu Jiujiu nodded heavily and said, “That’s right, Master. This is my decision alone. If you want to punish me, punish me.”

“Nonsense.”

Little Man hurriedly stepped forward and said, “Master, you can’t blame Sister completely. You said that she had raise the humans so that they could stand on their own, so Sister did this. The human generals below kept pressing forward, leaving Sister no choice.”

“Is that it?”

Hu Jiujiu glared at Little Man, but Little Man stubbornly raised her head and said to Li Yuanqing, “Yes, it’s like this. It has nothing to do with Sister.”

Li Yuanqing frowned at the crowd outside.

He had only casually instructed her back then. He did not expect Hu Jiujiu to accommodate the human generals below because of this.

“Do you know how risky it is for them to go like this? Don’t do this again.”

Hu Jiujiu lowered her head and nodded dejectedly. “Master, I understand. I will definitely take this as a warning. It’s just that everyone has already gone out. I wonder what Master has planned. Should we call everyone back?”

“How long have they been gone?”

“It’s been seven or eight days. According to their schedule, they should be close to Sea City.”

“It’s indeed too late. They’re probably already at the periphery of Sea City. They’ve already been discovered by the devils. It’s too late to call them back.”

“Then what should we do now, Master?”

“Stay here and guard the city. I’ll make a trip.”

“But Master, you’ve just fought against the four Great Lords and your body hasn’t recovered. Now…”

Li Yuanqing instructed in an unquestionable tone, “Guard here well. Don’t let the demons or those devils take the opportunity to enter.”

Li Yuanqing also wanted to meet those devils too. He had heard that the devil world at the end of the river was very mysterious. This was an opportunity.