Some minutes later, the first of the freed people started slowly raising. Albeit in a painful way, their cultivation was returning, and they were joyful to recover it.
"You probably should think of leaving this place. The [Sha Zhu Company] main forces may be away, but even she," Bai Qi pointed at Ma Su, "is unsure of when they will return."
"Don't leave us!" "Please help us leave!" "We will die if we make the journey alone!" "Where will we go?!"
Dozens of exclamations responded to his words, and Bai Qi again felt this was the right thing to do.
"Shut up, all of you!" Ye Su was the one to shout, something Bai Qi found half-surprising, even though he knew that probably it was just part of her plan to make herself useful.
"My objective was to deal with the bandits, and I did so. Rescuing you may be something any cultivator should do, but escorting you? I am sorry, that is far above what I have to do. And while I may allow someone to follow me," Bai Qi took a pause, looked at how most of the people inched closer to him, "I am going after the main forces of the Sha Zhu company, and so, your safety will be not guaranteed at any moment."
A couple of shouts similar to the previous ones followed, but Bai Qi did not care. He continued as if nothing, explaining that he would leave the weapons, [Holding Pouches], a few low-level pills, and all the money that they had gathered before for them to divide as they saw correct.
"Benefactor will leave right away?" Pang asked while glancing at the bickering people.
"Yes, and I will take these four with me. I will guarantee their safety, and if you want, I can do the same for you." Bai Qi responded in a low voice.
"No, thank you. I will act against your wishes and free those three you refused to, and then maybe keep a watch over everyone until they can travel." Pang shook his head and explained his intentions.
"Pang, I hope that your path differs from theirs." Bai Qi left a few words to the man he had previously rescued, who had not escaped alone but even wanted to help Bai Qi's assault. And then, after sharing the easiest method to take off the collars, Bai Qi enclosed the four he chose, along with Ma Su, Ye Su, and Fan Jia in his aura before disappearing from the spot.
***
Using 'Counting Steps' for a group turned out to be a true challenge, but Bai Qi welcomed it. Eleven miles required somewhere between two and three dozens of steps for him usually, but with the added weight, it took him almost a hundred. And each of the steps cost him far above the usual ones.
"Hmm, now that we are away from that lot. I have a few companions doing something just a mile away, and I will check on them. But before that," Bai Qi motioned for the man and woman to approach, "I will destroy the collars."
Acting on his words, Bai Qi almost immediately destroyed the collars one by one, giving each a pill from his own, which were not only better but also a higher tier than the ones he had fed the rest.
"Fan Jia, Ye Su, and you remain here please. When I return, we will discuss what to do, agreed?" The question was directed at the two girls that had not stopped holding at him even now. They had freed his sleeves for Bai Qi to act, now grasping at his belt.
"Maybe just take them with you?" Seeing that the girls refused to let go of Bai Qi and that he was hesitant to use force, Fan Jia offered.
"Hmm, I am unsure that it would be wise." Bai Qi said back before bending to look at the two girls, "If you move now, it will be bad for you. So please, wait here. I will be back before your cultivation restores, okay?"
In the end, they nodded and let him go. {You two, keep an eye on them, and when I am back, we will discuss our next steps indeed.} He transmitted to Fan Jia and Ye Su.
As for Ma Su, his aura took hold of her again, and he started moving upstream along the river.
The link with Bai Ze and Bai Rui provided him with almost a full sensation of what they were doing, and he knew that a brief fight had happened, but now, neither of the [White Tiger] girls were fighting. They did not feel any pain, so they were uninjured as well.
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Kass Shaa'r, Heise Zhao, Bai Rui, Bai Ze, and Gi La had arrived near Zhua before she decided to act alone. And it wasn't like she could not, as the solitary building she had followed her prey to contained only nine cultivators, and neither of them was above the 8th level of the Warrior Lord realm.
The only problem, and the reason why she had chosen to contact Bai Qi, was that she could smell the scent of a few Spirit Beasts from inside. And as she could not sense their strength or actual presence, Zhua had thought about them being captured and collared in the same manner as the humans in the village.
While she honestly did not care about human hostages, she did worry about Beast ones, especially if her thoughts about their origin were right.
Her thoughts were then confirmed by her companions as they arrived, and Zhua thanked she had not acted yet. And then, the six of them crashed inside, killing without waiting or enjoying the fight as previously. It had been a true massacre and one that Bai Qi found as soon as he arrived on the spot.
"Well, I see that you did not hold back at all, huh?" Bai Qi murmured as he examined the bodies, torn apart and even crashed into the walls of the stone granary or whatever this single room, round, and the decently big building was.
"Sorry, we felt that they could harm them." Heise Zhao explained while he pointed at four Spirit Beasts strewn on the ground, unmoving and sporting the same collars as the people in the village.
"Mmm, you acted correctly. How are they?" Bai Qi nodded to the man-lynx and then asked Bai Rui, who was sitting near one of the beasts.
"Asleep, probably some kind of drug." Her voice was slightly glum, and she did not even look at Bai Qi when responding.
"I see. Let me take a look then."
The four beasts were of the same race, [Grey Hunters]. A close relative to the [Death Hunter] lynx-like Beast that was the origin of Heise Zhao's and Zhua's bloodline.
Slightly over seven feet long, five in height, with long and muscular legs, and a grey-colored fur. Their cat-like heads were addorned with triangle ears, with a small brush of fur at the point, and while they slept, their open maws revealed two rows of dagger-like fangs.
"Bai Rui, catch." Bai Qi threw a bottle that contained a diluted healing pill, and pointed towards the tail of one beast. while the other three showed no injury, this one lacked a piece of his long tail, the only difference from a common lynx, and the reason for their races to be sometimes mistaken for others.
"Mmm, but I doubt it will restore itself." Bai Rui nodded, as she started applying the salve.
"It will not, but at least we can prevent it from affecting it in the future." Bai Qi said while motioning to Zhua, who was nervously walking around, and her tail was making the strangest of movements as she did.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
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A few hours later, Bai Qi sent the Heise Zhao, Kass Shaa'r, Gi La, and Zhua off, along with the four rescued beasts. The beasts had been under the influence of a drug indeed, but thankfully, it was just a sleeping one, and it would wear off without harm in less than a day. Thus, Bai Qi chose to destroy the collars and made the Beastmen use their qi to waken the beasts' cores, but without awakening them at all.
"You mentioned that they are usually not interfered with, so probably it's better for them to just wake up naturally as well." He had reasoned, and everyone agreed.
***
"So, what do we do now?" Bai Rui asked Bai Qi as soon as he returned from speaking with the human part of his group.
"Well, the two low-level cultivators I rescued chose to move to a village half a day from here, where they have a few friends. I will go along with them, and you two follow us from a distance. Then we reunite and proceed to our new destination." Bai Qi explained.
"And the others?" Bai Ze asked, meaning the other five which currently formed part of Bai Qi's group.
"Fan Jia said that she wants to take a look at where we are going. Ye Su, well, she is Ye Su, and so wants to continue with us. As for her," Bai Qi motioned to Ma Su, that continued to be taken by him everywhere, "She will follow us to the [Void Palace]. If I can use her for the [Sha Zhu Company] matter, I will. And later, who knows?"
Ma Su slightly trembled as she heard Bai Qi's words and inwardly thought that it was probably better to just die already. Regretfully, she could not, as Bai Qi's consciousness strand in her mind prevented her from doing anything by herself, even though the collar on her neck wasn't so hard to take off.
"I am more worried about the other two. I mean, two human cubs? And going with us to a war zone?" Bai Rui reasoned as she pointed Bai Qi towards the two girls that were sitting nearby, covered with an illusion and so not able to see or hear what was happening near them.
"Truthfully? I don't know what to do with them." Bai Qi wryly smiled. He had no idea what to do with the two girls. They were too weak to fend by themselves, and as they did not speak, he could not know if they had any relatives somewhere. While Zhi, the woman Bai Qi would take to the nearby village, tried to speak with and even offered to take care of them, the girls did not respond to her. They did not respond to anyone except Bai Qi, even to him, only with a few simple gestures.
"Do you plan to allow them to travel with you until you find a place that both they and you like?" Bai Ze asked with surprise in her eyes.
"Yes. And I am sorry for it." Bai Qi sheepishly smiled while thinking that maybe, just maybe, he could do something good for these two.
"Haa, do what you want!" Bai Rui exclaimed, while Bai Ze only growled for a moment as if echoing her sister.
***
After resting for a few hours and confirming that everyone was in shape to move, Bai Qi's group of five, followed by the Bai sisters from behind, began their journey.
It was quite uneventful, as except for a few Spirit beasts that Bai Qi felt quickly opening the way for them, they reached the village of [Caoyuan]. A village that was not bigger than the one they had left. But fairly safer, with several members of the 3rd tier power of the [Great Forest] region called [Forest Speaking Sect] living in it.
After confirming that Zhi and Tai, as the man was called, entered the village without trouble, Bai Qi left. He had gently refused to accompany them inside and even forced them to accept a few spirit stones to restart their lives.
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A day later. [Great Forest] region border.
Bai Qi's group, now with the addition of the [White Tiger] sisters, camped beneath the six-mile high mountain, on top of which the [Void Palace] headquarters were located.
"Kass Shaa'r and the rest will get here in a couple of days. So, what do you plan to do in the meantime?" Bai Rui asked as she examined the cliff.
"Wait for them here." Bai Qi answered with a shrug.
"Huh? Weren't you worried about your friend?" Bai Ze asked in surprise as her tail moved from side to side, escaping the grasp of the two girls trying to grab at it.
"I am, but if they need help, then we should arrive altogether. And if they do not, then, why rush?" Inwardly Bai Qi was worried indeed, but at the same time, he knew that his current group was hardly a game-changer if the situation was dire.
"I see." Bai Rui murmured and asked via the link, {Are you planning to use these days to finish your healing?}
Bai Qi shook his head in response and spoke up, "No, I will make my breakthrough now."
Bai Qi's condition had recovered enough for him to reconnect his spleen meridian, and he planned to do so first. Still, that was hardly a process that would take him long, and everything else, except for the demon inside his soul, had recovered.
Ye Su and Fan Jia did not act surprised, as they had no idea of how much time Bai Qi had spent as a Peak Sage or of his condition.
As for the Bai sisters, they were aware, and so their eyes widened in response to his words, and they almost blurted out that it was too dangerous but stopped themselves at the right time.
{Don't worry, it will not be so hard. And I have an advantage prepared for this breakthrough, one that will make it happen with ease.} Bai Qi imagined the [Insight Heart] he had gotten in Shuomen and kept in his void pool.
The sisters had no idea of what was the bronze scroll-like item the image of which Bai Qi showed them via the link. But the brief explanation that followed made them understand that he wasn't being hasty or acting unprepared.
"Ye Su, Fan Jia." He called to them, and as the two turned to face him, he asked again, "Are you sure that you want to follow after me? We are in a more-or-less safe region, at least for you two, and so, you may find it better to leave."
Ye Su shook her head, and as always, began describing how she was all up for continuing following Bai Qi and that she would do anything he wanted, except leave.
As for Fan Jia, she only asked if she was being a nuisance, and receiving a negative answer, said that she is interested in the [Void Palace] and so will go look at it along with the group. Or without it, if she wasn't required.
"Ma Su, come here." Turning to the other side, he motioned for the [Sha Zhu Company] woman to approach. He felt how she shivered as he raised his hands to her neck and did what no one expected...
*Click*
Being the one to repair the collar, he had complete control over it, and so, he did not need to destroy it to retrieve it.
"What are you doing?!" Ye Su and Bai Ze exclaimed almost in unison, and the two girls behind the tiger girl shivered and paled.
*Plop*
Bai Qi did not respond but, in turn, shoved a pill into the shocked Ma Su's mouth.
"Absorb it, and regain your cultivation. Then, you will drink this, and it will allow you to heal the wound that you were unable to." Bai Qi passed Ma Su something that resembled a small bottle filled with water.
Seeing the lack of understanding, coupled with disbelief in her eyes, Bai Qi added, "The poisonous saliva that entered your wound is nothing else than a simple water element poison, and you had no way to sense it before. But if you drink a diluted version of it, you will be able to."
One of the few things that Bai Qi requested from Huo Laohu's pack members, in exchange for creating pills and other things for them, were different materials. And poisons natural to the beastmen were something he specifically asked for.
"Bai Qi, what the hell are you doing?!" Bai Rui growled, seeing that he did not respond.
"Is that so hard to see? I am allowing her to regain her cultivation. And don't worry, she will not do anything against us, at least not until she manages to expel the strand of consciousness I left in her." Bai Qi shrugged in a carefree manner.
The others may doubt ot, but he knew that Ma Su would be unable to do so, at least until she recuperated entirely and made three breakthroughs. Without reaching the 7th level of the Warrior King realm, she could not summon a domain. And Bai Qi's consciousness strand was hidden there, in her nascent, but yet unformed domain...