Ascending to the upper realm was nothing like Paul expected.
Truth be told, it was like he just walked through the door, as the moment he stepped through the portal, he emerged on the other side.
The first thing he saw was his ladies, and he sighed in relief as it seemed that they were not separated.
Only a moment later did he notice a woman standing before them.
-Welcome to the Blue Lotus city, or what remains of it.
The stranger said, with a sigh.
-What do you mean?
Paul asked, going to the front of his group.
-You're a man.
The woman stared with eyes as big as saucers.
-Well, duh.
Paul said, also surprised at her reaction.
-What's with that reaction?
Anna asked the woman in front of them, puzzled no less than Paul and the other ladies.
-The thing is that this portal never sent a man here, at least as far as I know.
The woman answered.
-You mean to say that everyone in this place is a woman?
Irine asked, struggling to imagine such a thing.
The woman nodded in confirmation.
-Alright, then, can you explain what's going on here?
Paul asked, hoping to get a straight answer and hoping even more that he didn't land in a city of women who hated all men.
-I could, but I think it'll be better if the others explain things to you.
The woman said and turned to leave the room they arrived in.
Only then did Paul see that it was very similar to the portal room in the mortal realm.
He didn't need to wonder if they were in the beginning realm, since everyone immediately sensed the difference in Mana and Qi.
With no better option, Paul and his ladies followed the woman, and as soon as they left the building, they understood her words about what was left of the city.
The buildings around them looked abandoned, and some had even collapsed.
The building they just exited was placed on a small hill, so they could see the city around them, and it truly looked abandoned and falling into ruins.
-I thought that we were supposed to be sent to a city in the beginning realm, not to a ghost town.
Anna commented once she looked around the ruined buildings surrounding them.
-Let's go, the others will answer all your questions.
The woman they met in the portal room said and led the way down the hill, and into the center of the city.
As they walked, it became more and more obvious that this place had been abandoned many years ago, and the question that everyone had on their mind was, Why were they sent here?
-Big sisters, we have new arrivals today.
Their guide said, as she entered a building in the center of the town, which, if Paul was correct, was a city hall in the past.
Additionally, it was the first building he had seen here that looked somewhat maintained.
As they entered the main hall, they saw a group of five women sitting at a big stone table and discussing something, before their guide's voice interrupted them.
-That's a big group this time.
The woman sitting at the head of the table said, seeing their group.
-Thank you for bringing them here, Li Fei.
You can go back to your post now. We will take it from here.
-Yes, sister.
Their guide, Li Fei, said and left immediately.
-Alright, care to explain what's going on here and what the hell is this place?
Paul asked, once again coming to the front of his ladies, and the expressions of the five women were the same as Li Fei's when she saw him in the portal room.
-You're a man.
They all gasped in disbelief.
-Yes, I'm a man, now explain what the hell is going on in this place?
Paul said, starting to lose his patience.
-I'm sorry, it's just that you are the first man sent here through the portal.
The woman at the head of the table said, getting over the surprise.
-As for your question, you might want to sit down; it'll take a while to explain everything.
Another woman said.
They were not joking when they said it'll take a while, as the explanations took more than two hours.
During this time, they learned that the Blue Lotus city previously belonged to the Blue Lotus sect.
They had no idea what happened to the sect, but the city was abandoned when their predecessors arrived there, and there was no way to leave it, since the surrounding woods were full of powerful beasts, and stretched for at least seven hundred kilometers, if not even more.
Every now and then, there was a group or an individual who tried to escape through the forest and promised to send help if they managed to do so, but no one ever came, and from the ones that went out, only one person managed to return, and she was heavily injured.
The said person barely got back to the city before fainting and slipping into a coma, so she could not tell anyone what happened out there, and the most terrifying part was that she left with a group of twenty in the morning, while coming back in the afternoon alone and barely alive.
Other than that, they were also informed that, as of now, Paul was the only man in this whole city, and other than their group, there were about three hundred women stuck there.
This information gave Paul and his ladies a bad feeling, but for now, they were more concerned about finding a way out of the Blue Lotus city, preferably one that didn't kill them all in the process.
-So what's the plan for leaving this place?
Anna asked the five women once they were done explaining the basics to them.
-The safest way is to focus on cultivation and ascending, which a few of us managed to do over the years.
As for trying to get out of the city through the forest, it is as we told you.
The woman at the head of the table answered.
-Then where are you getting materials and food from, since the forest is so dangerous?
Paul asked, as it was no easy feat to feed three hundred people.
-We can enter the forest, up to three kilometers, and be reasonably safe, so we regularly hunt; other than that, we rely on the fact that at our levels, we don't need to eat too often.
Our other source of food is the fruit gardens, and we have some fields for wheat and herbs.
In addition to that, there is a river next to the city, so we have the opportunity to do some fishing.
-Wait, since there is a river next to the city, why didn't you try using it to escape?
Natalie chimed in.
-It was also tried and more than once, in both ways.
Going upstream resulted in body parts coming back down with the current, along with the pieces of the boat they used; as for going downstream, we never heard again from anyone who tried.
-So we are truly trapped here until we can ascend to the next realm or find a way to escape without dying.
Paul sighed, not liking this one bit, as he planned to travel around a bit in the beginning realm.
-It's not all bad, especially for you.
Another of the five smiled mischievously.
-Depending on your point of view, you might consider this place either a paradise or hell, if you know what I mean.
She added, and laughed when she saw the realization of his situation dawn on Paul.