Ever since receiving the message from Elder He, Qin Muxian dared not delay. He hastily set off to find everyone who had entered the Secret Realm.

It wasn’t as if he was only looking out for his own Sect’s disciples and ignoring everyone else.

He would inform anyone he encountered of the situation.

Foundation Establishment Cultivators were fast, so Qin Muxian went off to search for people everywhere, while Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi set out for Linglong Mountain.

Linglong Mountain was in the outer region, so the two of them began heading toward the periphery.

With mixed feelings in their hearts, neither was in the mood for idle chatter. They focused single-mindedly on their journey.

After about an hour, the two of them emerged from a dense forest.

Suddenly, they saw a clearing ahead where, to their surprise, about twenty young and beautiful Female Cultivators stood!

When Jiang Xu saw them, he didn’t think much of it at first, assuming they were just fellow cultivators he’d happened upon in the Secret Realm, as was common.

He was just about to greet them, explain the situation, and tell them to head for Linglong Mountain as soon as possible.

But Jiang Xu soon realized something was wrong.

Even as Jiang Xu and his companion approached, the twenty-odd women remained completely motionless, not even shifting their positions. It was as if they hadn’t seen them at all.

This deeply puzzled Jiang Xu.

’Logically, even with their numerical advantage, which means they wouldn’t fear one or two Cultivators looking for trouble...’

’...they should still have some sort of reaction, right?’

’At least turn your heads for a look!’

Jiang Xu glanced down at himself. He hadn’t activated any Stealth technique. ’It’s not like they can’t see me, right?’

His suspicion piqued, he slowed his pace, activated his Spiritual Eye Technique to observe his surroundings, and rested a hand on his Spirit Beast Bag, ready for anything.

But when he saw the Female Cultivators up ahead, his eyes flew wide open!

Jiang Xu saw that their bodies were all covered in a thin layer of black mist, which was binding them tightly.

At first, Jiang Xu thought they had all turned into Demons. He was so frightened he was about to turn and flee, but then he noticed they didn’t resemble the Demons he had encountered before.

Those Demons were covered in a black membrane, whereas these women were covered in a black mist.

And while Jiang Xu was observing, his reduced speed meant that Zong Ziqi had walked ahead of him, becoming the first to approach the women.

"Wait!"

Jiang Xu saw Zong Ziqi was already beside them and hurriedly tried to warn him.

"What’s wrong?"

Zong Ziqi turned back, looking a little confused.

He was already just a short distance from the group of Female Cultivators.

"Uh..."

Jiang Xu observed for a moment. Zong Ziqi didn’t seem to be in any danger, so he cautiously went forward to take a look as well.

"What’s going on? Why is it like this?"

Jiang Xu came to stand before them, examining them one by one. He found that they were all frozen in a single posture without any change. Even when Jiang Xu waved his hand back and forth in front of their faces, they showed no reaction.

It was as if—they had been hit with a Body Stabilization Technique!

The more Jiang Xu thought about this possibility, the more certain he became that it was true.

’But who would be so bored as to do something like this?’

’An ordinary Qi Cultivation Cultivator probably wouldn’t have this kind of power.’

’After all, we’re talking about over twenty Qi Cultivation cultivators. And they weren’t at the Qi Cultivation Early Stage, either. Most were at the Qi Cultivation Middle Stage, and some were even at the Qi Cultivation Late Stage.’

’Even if a Foundation Establishment Elder came, killing them would be easy enough, but instantly immobilizing all of them would be difficult.’

And how did Jiang Xu know they had been immobilized in an instant?

It was because Jiang Xu saw that their formation was orderly and not scattered, which didn’t look like the aftermath of an attack.

’Only a few Golden Core experts would have this kind of ability. But who did it? Was it that Elder Demon Su? Doesn’t seem like it. He’s a Demon; it would have been more straightforward for him to just kill them. Why would he immobilize them only to leave them looking untouched?’

’Or maybe one of the two Elders? But they’d have no reason to do this, and that wouldn’t explain the source of the black qi.’

Unable to figure it out no matter how he looked at it, Jiang Xu decided to just put it out of his mind.

’Wait!’

Jiang Xu suddenly had a realization.

He was currently facing a group of beautiful Female Cultivators, as lovely as flowers with graceful figures, who were completely immobilized and couldn’t move a muscle!

On top of that, they were all Female Cultivators from the Purple Flower Palace!

An Outer Disciple from the Profound Origin Sect like Jiang Xu might not even get to meet one of them in his entire life!

And right now, there were over twenty delicate flowers, ripe for the picking!

Jiang Xu’s eyes lit up as a bold idea began to form in his mind.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he eagerly strode forward. A wicked smile spread across his face as he extended his evil hands, inch by inch, toward the delicate bodies of the Purple Flower Palace Fairies, whose terrified eyes watched his every move!

"Brother Jiang!"

Zong Ziqi roared!

"What are you doing?!"

"What’s wrong?"

Jiang Xu turned his head to look at Zong Ziqi, but the movements of his hands didn’t stop.

"Brother Jiang, how could you be this kind of person! You’re so shameless!"

Zong Ziqi was fuming.

"What did I do that’s so shameless? I’m just doing what I want to do!"

After finishing with one, Jiang Xu moved on to the next Female Cultivator.

"Do you have any idea that you’re taking advantage of their predicament?! You’re disgracing the name of our Profound Origin Sect and the Righteous Dao!"

Seeing that Jiang Xu’s actions didn’t cease, Zong Ziqi said, exasperated.

"The Righteous Dao? Can you spend that title like Spirit Stones?"

Jiang Xu was utterly dismissive.

"If you don’t put all of their Storage Bags back right now, I’d like to see how you’re going to explain yourself when an Elder from the Purple Flower Palace arrives!"

"Alright, alright, look how anxious you are. I’ll put them back, sheesh. With so many Storage Bags just lying here for the taking, I honestly don’t understand how you can restrain yourself."

As if afraid of Zong Ziqi, Jiang Xu grumbled to himself as he stuffed the Storage Bags back onto the waists of the Purple Flower Palace Female Cultivators.

"If you’re short on Spirit Stones, you could have just asked to borrow some from me. Did you really have to resort to this?" Zong Ziqi said helplessly.

"Forget it. If I borrow from you, I’ll have to pay it back. What I take from them, I don’t."

Jiang Xu refused outright, then added:

"Besides, I wasn’t planning on taking them for nothing. Saving their lives in exchange for a few Storage Bags... it’s obvious they’re the ones getting the better deal."

With that, Jiang Xu took out a stack of Talismans from his own Storage Bag. After infusing them with Magical Power, he casually waved them forward!

Instantly, intense white light erupted from the Talismans. Bathed in this brilliant glow, the black qi on the Female Cultivators’ bodies was completely dispelled.

In the next moment, the group of Female Cultivators were astonished to find they could move again. Their initial ecstasy quickly turned to fear as they recalled their earlier experience. They clung to each other, trembling so violently they could barely stand.

Zong Ziqi was dumbfounded.

"Brother Jiang... what are those? You have Talismans that can break Magic?"

Jiang Xu gave a sly laugh.

"It’s a secret. Just know that they’re very precious. Now you understand why I was taking their Storage Bags, right? I was trying to recoup my losses!"

Exorcism Talismans were also very expensive; the stack he had just used would sell for several dozen Spirit Stones.

So what if Jiang Xu was going to take their dozens of Storage Bags?

There was nothing wrong with it at all!