Right after Xia Yao finished speaking, she raised her hand in full view of everyone and released an earth-element spell. In an instant, the entire bandit stronghold was razed to the ground.
The bandits were stunned by the scene unfolding before their eyes. Some of them went weak at the knees and collapsed on the spot. The second-in-command, who had been personally driving the carriage, managed to keep his composure—barely.
He knew very well that anyone capable of such overwhelming power couldn't possibly be a mere mortal. These two beautiful women standing before him had to be the legendary immortals.
"Fairy…"
Even his tongue got tied up.
Xia Yao was quite pleased with her display. She had done it deliberately. Most of the corpses in the pit had clearly died after having their life essence drained by the bandit leader, but these men had enabled evil and deserved no sympathy. If they hadn't been mortals, she would have acted long ago.
Yun Xi smiled and said lightly, "Let's go."
"Y-yes, of course!"
The second-in-command tried to calm his wildly beating heart, then flicked his whip and drove the horses back toward the main road.
Inside the carriage, Xia Yao spoke to Yun Xi via divine sense.
"These people aren't good at all. We're just going to let them go?"
"No. Once we find Yu Daoyou and Liu Daoyou, we'll make them turn themselves in at the county office."
"Do you really think the local officials will uphold justice?"
"We'll see. If they don't, then they'll keep working for us. Yu Daoyou and Liu Daoyou need drivers, after all."
"You make a good point."
Unfortunately, Yu Qingcheng and Liu Haotian weren't nearly as lucky as Yun Xi and Xia Yao. When they were thrown out of the teleportation tunnel, both were heavily injured by the spatial turbulence. Their meridians had torn in several places, and all the spiritual energy in their dantian had been drained just to resist the ripping force. They didn't even have the strength to open their storage pouches.
To make matters worse, they landed smack in the middle of Qixia Pavilion—the largest brothel in Jin County.
The owner of Qixia Pavilion was stunned when two stunning beauties fell from the sky, but his shock quickly turned into glee. With women like this, his business was guaranteed to flourish.
The potential profits made him willfully ignore the absurdity of their arrival. He immediately ordered his attendants to confiscate their belongings and had armed servants assigned to watch over them.
When Yu Qingcheng regained consciousness, she nearly exploded. Since the day she began cultivating, she had never been in such a humiliating position—treated like livestock and imprisoned. She vowed she would tear Qixia Pavilion to the ground. That ugly man was dead.
Liu Haotian was much calmer. He consoled her.
"Junior Sister, mortals have a saying: 'A gentleman's revenge is never too late, even after ten years.' We're already at the Foundation Establishment stage, with a lifespan of two hundred years. We have time. Right now, we need to focus on healing our injuries, recovering our storage pouches, and regrouping with Wei Daoyou and the others."
Yu Qingcheng took several deep breaths to calm her rage, then frowned.
"Thankfully, Yun Xi left us that red guiding thread. If the two of us had ended up separated, it would've been even worse. But the spiritual energy here is far too thin—it's clearly the mundane realm. Healing our meridians here will take who knows how long."
Liu Haotian also frowned. "Our spirit stones are all in the storage pouches. First, we need to get those back."
"Alright."
From then on, the two started playing along. They no longer protested the boss's arrangements, acting as if they had accepted their fate.
The owner of Qixia Pavilion tried to probe into their background in a roundabout way. Liu Haotian gave an ambiguous response, claiming some misfortune had befallen their family, forcing them to flee here. He offered no more details.
The brothel owner filled in the blanks himself. Judging by their reluctance to speak about their past, he figured they must be descendants of disgraced nobles.
Although he hadn't found any proof of identity among their belongings, their clothing and accessories were clearly luxurious. That only made him more confident in his guess—and more convinced he could control them.
When he hinted at this, both Yu Qingcheng and Liu Haotian tacitly agreed, which made the brothel owner even bolder. He dropped all pretense.
"You two have already fallen to such a state. Something serious must've happened in your family. As the owner of Qixia Pavilion, I can offer you a way out, even shelter. You should be grateful."
Yu Qingcheng was determined to get their storage pouches back, no matter the cost. She feigned a frightened look, her eyes reddening as she said,
"Young Master Shen, the two of us are deeply grateful for your help. As long as you don't reveal our whereabouts, my brother and I will obey your every command."
That pleased Shen the brothel owner immensely. He twirled his folding fan and chuckled.
"Don't worry. As long as you help me win the county magistrate's favor, I'll treat you well. You won't lack food or clothes. You'll wear gold and silver, command servants at will—your life will be just like before."
Looking at the greasy man before him, Liu Haotian had to silently talk himself down several times to suppress the urge to kill. In the end, he managed to speak evenly.
"Young Master Shen, we understand your intentions. Before we proceed, we only have one small request. We hope you'll grant it."
Boss Shen became alert. "Let's hear it. If it's not too much, I'll consider it."
In other words, they'd better not ask for anything outrageous.
Yu Qingcheng immediately spoke up.
"Young Master Shen, when we were unconscious, you had someone change our clothes. However, our personal sachets were never returned afterward.
One of them was hand-stitched by my mother. It's very dear to me. Now that she's passed on, it's my only keepsake to remember her by. Could we have them back?
Of course, you can inspect them first. They're just ordinary sachets, nothing inside, though they are delicately made."
Her phoenix eyes shimmered with sorrow, and Boss Shen found himself quite moved.
He had confiscated those sachets intending to cut off their escape routes and to investigate their backgrounds. He remembered them clearly—one embroidered with orchids, the other with a rose, both made of expensive materials.
"Alright, I'll go look for them. If I find them, I'll have them sent over."
"Many thanks, Young Master Shen."
Yu Qingcheng gave him a radiant smile, so dazzling that Boss Shen momentarily lost focus.
"Very well, you two get some rest. Take care of your bodies. There are plenty of good days waiting for you, hahaha!"
With that, he left the locked tower room.
Outside, the armed servant re-locked the door and resumed his watch by the window, ensuring there was no chance of escape.
Once Boss Shen was gone, Liu Haotian's expression darkened. He began to regret their initial decision.
Yu Qingcheng, however, comforted him.
"Senior Brother Liu, just endure it a bit longer. At least we're living comfortably while we recover. No one dares bother us. Once we get the storage pouches back and fix our meridians, that's when we settle the real score."
"Alright. We endure—for now."
Boss Shen, despite his cunning, had never encountered a cultivator's storage pouch. To him, they were nothing more than decorative sachets stuffed with cotton, nothing unusual.
Two days later, he sent the items back.
But he was still wary. He returned only Yu Qingcheng's pouch, claiming Liu Haotian's had been damaged and needed to be mended before it could be returned.