Zong Ziqi felt terribly guilty.

"I’m so sorry, Brother Jiang. I thought I was upholding the name of the Righteous Dao, but I never imagined I’d be committing an injustice in its name! It was wrong of me to doubt your character. Now, it seems the only thing I can do is compensate you for your losses."

"Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s not like I’m short on a few Spirit Stones. As long as you recognize your own mistake, that’s enough. I, Jiang Xu, am not some petty person who nickel-and-dimes everything," Jiang Xu said, feigning magnanimity.

Once again, Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi started trading compliments.

Meanwhile, the group of Female Cultivators from the Purple Flower Palace was starting to recover.

They all gathered together.

Previously, although they had been subjected to Body Stabilization, their awareness and sense of touch remained.

In the time between the mysterious man’s departure and their discovery by Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi, they had remained fully conscious, yet utterly unable to move.

This had lasted for about an hour.

During that hour, they had been subjected to utter terror and panic.

These Female Cultivators worried constantly. During the time they were immobilized by the Body Stabilization, would a hungry, vicious Demon Beast come and devour them? Or would some lecherous bandit "devour" them in an entirely different sense?

And so it went, right up until Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi arrived.

Initially, while no one was around, the Female Cultivators of the Purple Flower Palace had been in agonizing suspense, paradoxically hoping no one would find them.

But when someone finally did arrive, they breathed a sigh of relief.

It was like a prisoner on death row, for whom the most agonizing time is the night before the execution; when the moment finally arrives, the suffering feels less intense.

Later, when they saw that Jiang Xu merely wanted to take their Storage Bags, they actually began to feel grateful.

After all, this was far better than the worst outcomes they had imagined.

It was like being sentenced to death, only to be pleasantly surprised at the end when you’re just fined and let go.

Then, to top it all off, this newcomer actually rescued them from their state of Body Stabilization. And, overhearing the two men’s conversation, they realized he had paid an extremely high price to do so.

Although the Female Cultivators of the Purple Flower Palace had no idea what this price specifically entailed.

However, they could all sense it.

To free them from the Body Stabilization cast by that mysterious and powerful man, the price must have been immense.

Little did they know, the mysterious man who had immobilized them never intended to harm them in the first place.

In reality, after an hour, most of the black qi on their bodies had already dissipated on its own, leaving only a pitiful amount behind.

They would have been able to move again in another fifteen to thirty minutes.

Jiang Xu’s Exorcism Talisman had merely served to catalyze the process.

But they didn’t know that!

Once the Female Cultivators had recovered from their fright, they all stepped forward and surrounded Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi.

Jiang Xu thought they were going to repay his kindness with ingratitude and was about to lash out, but then he saw them all bow in unison. A woman who seemed to be their leader stepped forward and began to express her thanks to Jiang Xu and Zong Ziqi:

"Thank you both for saving our lives. A moment ago, you..."

At this, the Female Cultivator became a little shy, her cheeks flushing red.

"...wanted to take the Storage Bags from our waists as compensation for our rescue. While your actions were a bit forward, we of the Purple Flower Palace are not without an understanding of etiquette."

Jiang Xu recognized her. He thought she was the first Female Cultivator whose Storage Bag he had removed, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward.

"Ahem, I was just joking around earlier. Don’t take it seriously, not at all!"

"No, no, no!"

The Female Cultivator waved her hands dismissively and took out another Storage Bag, handing it to Jiang Xu.

"We can’t give you our personal Storage Bags directly—after all, they contain many of our private, feminine items. However, we have moved the majority of our Spirit Stones and other valuables into this ownerless Storage Bag as your compensation. Please, do not refuse it."

Jiang Xu was ecstatic, but he put on an act, feigning a little restraint:

"Actually, I just love helping people. I’ve made it my life’s mission to promote the Righteous Dao. But look at you... this is unsettling my Dao Heart."

"In that case, perhaps..."

The moment Jiang Xu heard that, he hastily snatched the Storage Bag from her hand.

"Now, now, since you’ve put it like that, it would be my fault if I didn’t accept. I couldn’t bear the thought of you developing a Heart Demon over this, which would in turn place a burden of sin on my own shoulders. Ah, fine! Since you’re so insistent, I’d be rude to refuse. But don’t do this again, you hear!"

The Female Cultivator nearly choked. ’Did my sisters and I get the wrong impression of this man?’ she suddenly wondered.

As Jiang Xu was gleefully inspecting the mountain of Spirit Stones in the Storage Bag, Zong Ziqi piped up with a curious question:

"Fairies, if I may ask, why were you all subjected to Body Stabilization here? Did you encounter some kind of special Restriction, or were you attacked?"

At these words, Jiang Xu pulled his focus away from the Storage Bag.

He was also extremely curious. After all, with something so bizarre, who’s to say he wouldn’t run into it himself someday?

If he did, having a precedent to go by would help him devise a countermeasure.

Hearing this, the Female Cultivators exchanged frightened glances. After a long, fearful silence, the leader finally recounted the course of events.

Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary at first. They were just walking along the road as they always did.

Then, suddenly, they found they couldn’t move or speak. Their Magical Power was sealed within their bodies, impossible to circulate.

Then, a strange-looking, mysterious man appeared before them. He held out a bead, and from it flowed a stream of inky black qi.

After the black qi had circled a person’s body, the man would shake his head in disappointment, mutter, "Not this one," and move on to the next.

After he had done this twenty-six times, the man vanished.

And after that, they just had to wait, until the two of you arrived.

"Twenty-six?"

Jiang Xu’s brow furrowed. He subtly swapped the Storage Bag in his hand for a Spirit Beast Bag.

"Aren’t there twenty-five of you now?"

The Female Cultivator froze. She whipped her head around, her eyes sweeping across the group!

"AH!"

The color drained from her face!

"Where is Nan Huaying?!"

At this, the disciples of the Purple Flower Palace erupted into chaos.

Despite their frantic searching, they couldn’t find any trace of Nan Huaying.

No matter who they asked, everyone said they hadn’t seen her.

This was because Nan Huaying had been the disciple at the very back of their formation.

At the time, they had all been facing forward; not a single one had been looking behind them.

Thus, Nan Huaying had been in everyone else’s blind spot.

No one had seen how she vanished.

After about ten minutes of this, one of the Female Cultivators cried out, her face deathly pale:

"I remember!"

"I was right in front of Nan Huaying at the time. I think... I think I heard the man say one thing—’I’ve finally found one!’"