A burst of green light materialized suddenly at the desolate riverbank surrounded by the forest.
As soon as the light vanished, dozens of women could be seen lying on the ground with various injuries, and one man standing in the middle.
As soon as they arrived, Paul used the search spell to make sure they were not in any danger.
Only after that did he discover that the mana and Qi in the air were way thicker and of better quality, assuring him that they had indeed reached the ascension realm.
Not wasting any time, he immediately rushed to heal the most injured ladies, and this time he had a lot of work as almost all of the women were injured.
While he was healing their injuries, Elaina, who was not injured by some miracle, told him what was going on while he was in seclusion.
-Damn, that was way too close.
Paul commented when he heard how desperate the situation was, when they were transported.
The only thing he could be happy about was that there were no more casualties, as it seemed that the creatures wanted to capture all the women alive.
Unfortunately, alive didn't mean uninjured.
Paul worked for half a day, treating the ladies as much as he could and even drinking the mana potion when he ran out of mana.
However, that was barely enough to treat the most heavily injured women.
That night, he slept like a log, and when he restored his mana the next day, he continued healing.
This time, he focused on the lighter injuries, as it would help a lot if some ladies could move with ease and even fight if they were in danger.
That decision turned out to be a correct one when a small herd of ascension spirit boars discovered them and tried to attack.
In the end, the boars ended up as food for the ladies when Paul was done with them.
It was his first time fighting anything on this level, but the fight turned out to be fast, brutal, and entirely one-sided as he slaughtered the beasts with ease, while they were focused on the ladies.
The meat also helped a lot with the recovery of the ladies, but in the end, it took Paul over a week to heal all of them, including restoring their lost limbs and erasing any scars left on their bodies.
-Ladies, since you are all healed.
It is time for me to announce something.
Paul said to the ladies right after he healed the last woman.
Then he proceeded to explain his encounter with the heavenly messenger and the deal he struck with the heavens to save them all.
-How long do we need to stay in the beginning realm before we can return here?
Gu Man asked.
Feeling the difference in the energies, which was like heaven and earth, she planned to stay in this realm to cultivate and maybe try to become Paul's woman.
-We can get back here as soon as we go back to the second realm, but we all need to go back down, and the sooner the better.
Paul answered.
He expected this question, since he asked it himself when he spoke with the messenger.
-Then what about our slavery contracts?
One of the other ladies asked quietly.
-We will need to keep them for a while until we are back in the beginning realm.
Once we get down there, I'll release all of you immediately.
He said, assuring them.
The ladies could understand this, as it was easier for all of them if they were his slaves, since going back down would cost them a small fortune if they were to go as free people.
After that, the discussion lasted for another two hours, but in the end, everyone agreed to go back down.
Not like the ladies had any choice in this matter, as they were still slaves, and Paul could simply order them to go down.
But they mainly agreed to avoid offending the heavens, which would be no different from courting death.
After a night of rest and some fun, as the ladies were still more than happy to cultivate with Paul, they set out to look for a city with portals.
It turned out that they were barely four days away from the nearest city, which was mainly thanks to the favor that Paul asked of the heavens.
Unfortunately, such a big group, comprised mainly of beautiful women, attracted a lot of attention, and before they even arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by a group of city guards sent to investigate them.
-Like I said, all we want is to use the portals to go back to the beginning realm.
We have no other intentions.
Paul explained once again, trying his best to convince a stubborn guard captain, who refused to believe his words, even when all the ladies confirmed Paul's words.
On the other hand, the captain was trying to figure out a way not to include the city lord or his sons in this mess, as all three of them were known for their fondness for beautiful women, and there were over three hundred of them here.
-Alright, but we are going to escort you there, and as soon as we arrive in the city, you are going straight to the portals without any delays.
The captain finally decided.
-That's all we want, and it's even better with your escort, since there won't be any misunderstandings on our way.
Paul smiled, seeing that they would get all that they wanted and even more.
True to his word, the captain and his men escorted them to the city and took them straight to the portals, hoping to avoid the city lord finding out about this until they were already gone.
The people at the gate building were speechless, seeing such a large group wanting to go down, but thanks to the captain's help and Paul's money, they agreed to send them down immediately.
This trip was costly, as Paul had to pay half a million crystal coins from the beginning realm for it, but money was just money in the end, and he could always earn more.
For the next two hours, the ladies were being sent down in groups of twelve, which was the maximum size of the group.
Before each group entered the portal, Paul removed their slavery marks, as it was uncertain if they would arrive at the same place.
However, before any of them went down, they all agreed to meet at the capital, since many ladies still needed to prove to their sects that they were no deserters and were trapped, not to mention that Paul wanted to inform the emperor of the beginning realm, about the fate of the Blue lotus city and its inhabitants.
-Captain, I once again thank you for all the help, and hope we have the chance to return the favor when I'm back in the ascension realm.
Paul said to the guard captain who was seeing them off.
-No problem, it's my job, and at least this way we avoided making a commotion.
The captain smiled and was glad that he had decided to help Paul and the ladies with him.
With that, they shook hands and Paul entered the portal, hoping not to end up in the deadly trap this time around.