As the man was apologizing to his family for putting them into harms way. His wife hugged him back and cried with him thanking him for always trying to do his best.
"We are indeed hungry. So will we do a meal here or do it back in the temple?" The female Heavenly Judge asked.
"We can do it here. Although, you might not want to spend the night in here. We will offer you a good meal." The man spoke.
He and his wife both headed into the kitchen to make a good meal for the group. The female Heavenly Judge felt good to have stopped evil but she was also afraid that being in flashy clothes also held her back in performing her duties truthfully.
The Shadow Commander casually bumped into her. She was taken out of her thoughts long enough to see that she was indeed worried about something that she could not worry about currently.
"Thank you." She said.
"I am sorry for bumping into you. I am glad that you were not too deep into your thoughts." The Shadow Commander replied happily.
She felt her cheeks flush but she did not say anything. The Shadow Commander also was glad that this moment happened between them.
In the back of the room
"Were we that bad?" Iris asked.
"Worst." Lilith replied.
Iris could not help but think that they truly were that bad. At least they all kept Rex in mind no matter the Realm.
The meal came out. The meal was better than they expected. It was a stew like meal but the group devoured it because they were indeed hungry.
The girls had not yet learned how to control their hunger with Heavenly Qi but that is something that they will learn soon.
"Once you ladies finish, I can help you all learn how to use Heavenly Qi to control your hunger. It is a simple technique but hard to master.
It is especially hard to master when hungry. If you do not wish to learn the technique, it is fine as well. Just ensure that you all pack a lot cooking utensils when you leave from here." The man spoke.
"They will have to learn it. That is something that we can deal with later though. Thank you for your generosity." The female Heavenly Judge spoke kindly.
The man nodded back and continued to eat. The women finished after completely eating the entire stew. They were not sure why they were so hungry but the food was delicious.
"It is time for them to at least get a grip on the technique." Lilith spoke.
The five sat down in a circle. The man's wife was behind Amber, the female Heavenly Judge was behind Violet, Lilith was behind Liz, and two random neighbors sat behind Margaret and Iris.
The man stood in the center he was going to guide them through speech and help when one began to fail miserably.
"For the first step of controlling your hunger. First, slowly control the way you move Heavenly Qi. Albeit when you move it the feeling of burning alive will happen because it is your first time circulating that Qi. Everyone feels it and is why help is behind you." The man spoke.
The women could feel the Heavenly Qi slowly accepting their advances. Once it was no longer close to their Dantian that they pulled from first. The burning sensation started and all of them sweated fast and a lot.
"Child bring the water." The man said.
The child brought a pot of water. The man took it and heated it up in his palm. Once it was warm water, he began to pour endless water from the pot.
The women began to feel better but it was stuff to circulate that Qi. Thirty minutes after they started, the women could no longer move the Qi outward.
The ladies behind them immediately stopped the retreat of the Qi. The five women immediately coughed up blood.
"Cough up six more times and the first round is done."
After coughing up four times, the first one to stop was Iris. She felt she could not cough up anymore. The woman behind her could tell that the Qi was ready to continue advancing.
The next cough was to Liz who felt like she could not cough anymore. That was Liz's fourth cough.
The man was certain that there should have been more blood coughed up but wondered why they could take it.
Even Lilith now was certain what was up. The Stairway had granted them a higher priority on the Heavenly Qi. Even then, it was also their quality of Qi.
Lilith could tell that the Qi quality was at least even with hers and probably even higher than hers. That also would explain why they did not cough up as much blood.
The female Heavenly Judge took note that the Qi she felt was extremely versatile. It was as if the holder could manipulate it better than most cultivators can. She did not know if it was just them or because they advanced from the Mortal Realm.
The next cough was to Amber and the man's wife felt tiny compared to the Qi inside of Amber. She could not help but feel like a rabbit in front of a hungry tiger. She managed to stabilize the Qi inside of Amber but felt even smaller when it was done.
"This was a lot scarier than I remember. The man's wife said." Everyone looked towards her.
She had accidentally released her urine due to her fear. What surprised her was that she did not even feel wet with the urine puddle under her.
The others also noticed the urine did not go towards the group but went backwards instead.
"I will have to excuse myself and change robes." She said.
She was completely upset that she had pissed herself but she hoped that it was nothing major. In her Qi channels, they began to meld into a stronger channel than before.