When Fang Xue saw the eight women lying on the ground, dead, with serene and peaceful smiles on their faces, a wave of exhaustion washed over her body.

Feeling the cold sweat on her forehead, Fang Xue noticed her legs slightly faltering.

"Are you okay?" A pair of small purple eyes, filled with concern, fixed on Fang Xue.

Fang Xue noticed the worry in Li Qiang's eyes, and the wave of exhaustion was replaced by a wave of warmth. She managed to control the blush on her face, although the sweet smile was still visible to Li Qiang.

Feeling dazed by Fang Xue's smile, Li Qiang stood still, watching Fang Xue's beautiful face. However, Fang Xue's voice soon snapped her out of her thoughts, which were taking a strange turn.

"It's nothing, but converting the World Qi into Pure Yin Qi, injecting it, and balancing it with the Yang Qi in the bodies of these women was more complicated than I imagined," Fang Xue said, thinking about the difficulty she had in controlling the Pure Yin Qi, especially when it entered the women's bodies.

"That's normal. Even with your Heaven-defying ability, you still have limitations. Besides, you were only able to do this because these women are mortals. If you tried it with a cultivator, you could face serious consequences," Li Qiang said seriously to Fang Xue, especially in the last part.

Fang Xue simply nodded in agreement. After all, she knew it would be impossible to do what she did with cultivators, since they have much larger amounts of vitality based on Yang Qi.

Moreover, the stronger a cultivator is, the more defenses their body develops, especially against foreign Qi, in other words, another person's Qi.

"Well, let's not dwell on it anymore," Fang Xue said, storing the bodies of the eight women in her spatial ring to give them a proper burial.

Fang Xue began walking towards the mansion of the Ming brothers, where she asked the remaining women to wait and rest for a while.

Li Qiang followed her silently, knowing that even though Fang Xue appeared fine, she was probably still dealing with complicated emotions internally.

And Li Qiang was right. Fang Xue was thinking about the path she chose to tread.

'Even though I desire to walk the path to freedom, I still feel strange for killing eight innocent people, even if it was their will...' Fang Xue sighed internally. However, the image of Ming Bai trying to kill Li Qiang appeared in her mind, causing all these complicated feelings to vanish instantly.

'Forget it, it doesn't matter anymore... I'll carry these eight women in my heart and remember that they were important in paving my way to the top.' With a renewed wave of determination, Fang Xue walked decisively to deal with the other women.

Upon arriving at the location, Fang Xue saw the 42 women gathered in front of the mansion. Some had tears streaming down their faces, while others had swollen eyes from crying.

'It seems they have finally realized that they are free,' Fang Xue quickly thought, but didn't delve too much into the reason why the women were crying.

"As I said, I will escort you to the nearest village. From there, the Village Chief will arrange for you to go to your homes. We will depart in 30 minutes," Fang Xue said succinctly, then turned to cultivate in a corner.

The women listened in silence, and after Fang Xue's brief words, some couldn't contain their emotions again.

Fang Xue gave them little time to rest, knowing that every minute there only reminded them of what they had endured.

Deciding not to dwell on it too much, Fang Xue used the remaining 30 minutes to cultivate and refine the idea she had to advance to the Qi Sense Realm.

The women gradually calmed down and decided to eat the food they found in the bandits' houses and rest to finally leave that hellish place.

Soon, 30 minutes passed quickly...

Fang Xue stood up with a satisfied smile on her face, not because her cultivation had been consolidated in just 30 minutes, but because the idea she had to advance to the Qi Sense Realm was taking shape.

Fang Xue walked towards the group of women, who were calmer now and showed a slight anticipation to leave the bandits' camp.

"Let's go, we still have a way to go to the nearest village," Fang Xue said without wasting much time, storing everything the women had gathered in her spatial ring.

Li Qiang stood beside Fang Xue, thinking that she would have to walk the entire way alone, without being in Fang Xue's arms. However, she quickly snapped out of her thoughts when she realized she was no longer on the ground.

Li Qiang began to feel the familiar warmth and the scent she liked so much, so she didn't have to think much to know that she was once again in the arms of the person she loved.

'Hehehe, indeed, being a small animal has its advantages,' Li Qiang laughed inwardly. However, on the surface, she remained quiet and closed her eyes, afraid of doing something that would irritate Fang Xue and lose her only advantage.

Thus, the Ancient Goddess of Chaos, considered the strongest existence of the Current Era, was at the mercy of the will of a mortal.

In this way, Fang Xue, Li Qiang, and the 42 women began to make their way to the nearest village.

'Now I just want a bit of peace. This mission I randomly took turned out to be more complicated than I thought,' Fang Xue sighed inwardly as she escorted the 42 women through the forest and caressed Li Qiang's soft fur.

Little did Fang Xue know that upon returning to Cloud City, the last thing she would have was peace.

yuuhL

I'm sorry for how short this chapter is, but I've come down with the flu, which is wrecking me, but I'm getting better. Tomorrow there's a new chapter, I promise.
With Love, Author.