"Second Elder, can you have your injuries examined?" Sect Master Ziyun asked tentatively.
"Thank you for your concern, Sect Master." The Second Elder smiled and extended his right hand.
Ziyun Zhenren placed two fingers on his wrist, and his true qi flowed into the Second Elder's body.
The injuries had completely healed!
Not only that, but even some old, lingering injuries were gone!
The Second Elder's body was now healthier than ever!
Seeing Ziyun Zhenren nod, the other elders exchanged glances.
The Second Elder's severe injuries had healed so quickly?
What kind of miraculous elixir had he consumed?
"Second Elder, do you remember where you live?" Sect Master Ziyun asked tentatively again.
His injuries were healed, but they were still unsure if his madness had also subsided.
"Sect Master, I live on Sunset Peak." The Second Elder looked at Ziyun Zhenren with a peculiar expression.
His gaze seemed to question if Ziyun Zhenren himself had lost his mind.
Ziyun Zhenren felt awkward and quickly signaled to the other elders.
The other elders bombarded the Second Elder with questions, one after another.
The Second Elder answered them all fluently and correctly!
"Sect Master, esteemed elders, I shall take my leave now." The Second Elder cupped his hands in farewell. "My disciples must be worried, as I have been gone for so long."
Ziyun Zhenren and the others exchanged glances and quietly followed him.
Upon returning to his chambers, the Second Elder immediately lay down on his bed and fell asleep.
Seeing the disciples sprawled haphazardly on the floor, unconscious, Ziyun Zhenren and the others twitched at the corners of their mouths.
This…
This did not look like someone who had recovered at all.
Two minutes later, outside the chambers.
"We smelled a fragrance earlier, and then we didn't know anything else..." The Second Elder's disciples replied with their heads bowed, looking embarrassed.
"It's not your fault," Sect Master Ziyun nodded in understanding.
When it came to using medicinal concoctions, these disciples could never outsmart the Second Elder.
It seemed the Second Elder had slipped away earlier, but something happened afterward that caused him to suddenly recover.
At least…
He appeared to be back to normal.
"If I'm not mistaken, my precious disciple must have intervened in secret," Sect Master Ziyun deduced. "In that case, we don't need to interfere further."
"Sect Master, what do we do with this thing?" Li Tianyu pointed at the tiger demon on the ground.
The tiger demon was still in a limp state.
However, it was clearly breathing its last breaths.
"Since my precious disciple deliberately left it behind, it must be useful to the Second Elder," Sect Master Ziyun observed. "Let the Second Elder consume it after we're done dealing with it."
Leaving a few elders to keep an eye on the Second Elder, Sect Master Ziyun departed with the others.
As they descended the mountain, they saw Erha leading an army of spirit beasts on their daily patrol.
Erha sat atop a coffin, chest puffed out, with an incredibly smug expression.
"Brother Ha has finally mastered the ultimate healing technique! From now on, you pitiful two-legged beasts will have Brother Ha as your strongest shield!"
The little fox sat beside him, also looking proud.
It didn't know why it was doing this; it just followed what Brother Ha did.
Erha's outing this time had another purpose besides patrolling the territory.
Although the elderly two-legged beast had indeed been cured by him, he was a very meticulous dog.
Only a large number of successful cases could definitively prove the correctness of his methods.
Therefore, he was looking for injured two-legged beasts to treat.
However, the two-legged beasts in the territory seemed very healthy and not injured.
Erha was troubled.
He now possessed such a powerful healing method, yet there were no two-legged beasts for him to experiment on.
It felt like hundreds of little mice were scratching at his insides.
So irritating.
"Little Fox sister, what if we find some two-legged beasts and beat them half to death?" Erha asked slyly, tilting his head.
"Brother Ha... that doesn't seem very good..." The little fox flinched, saying weakly.
"You're right..." Erha drooped his head dejectedly.
Night Shadow Forest.
"Huo'er, I've helped you refine most of the medicinal power," the old man slowly withdrew his hand from the woman's back. "From now on, you just need to absorb it slowly."
"Thank you, Master!" The red-haired woman quickly turned around and bowed.
"There's no need for such formalities between master and disciple," the old man said with a smile, waving his hand. "With the help of this medicinal power, you will surely break through within half a month. At that time..."
The old man paused mid-sentence, his eyes widening as if something unbelievable had happened!
"Master?" Huo'er asked, confused. "Did something happen?"
"Hu Wa is dead!" the old man's expression became grave. "I didn't expect Li Tianyu to have a trick up his sleeve... I must go!"
"Master, I will go with you!" Huo'er immediately volunteered.
"If the opponent could kill Hu Wa, your going would be useless!" the old man waved his hand and refused. "You must head to the Imperial City immediately!"
"Master, I..." Huo'er tried to protest.
"I will meet you at the Imperial City after I've dealt with this matter!" The old man flew away. "Remember, this is an order!"
Huo'er stomped her foot fiercely and turned towards the Imperial City.
Five minutes later.
Before the Ziyun Sect's mountain gate.
The old man narrowed his eyes slightly.
This was strange.
Hu Wa's aura indeed came from within, yet he couldn't sense any powerful auras inside.
There were two possibilities.
First, Li Tianyu used some special means to kill Hu Wa.
Second, there was a cultivator within the Ziyun Sect far superior to his own cultivation, which was why he couldn't sense them.
After a moment of thought, the old man quickly dismissed the second possibility.
He himself was at the Void Integration stage. If he couldn't sense someone, they would have to be at least two major realms higher.
This meant there was a Nascent Soul stage grand cultivator within.
But this didn't make sense.
If Li Tianyu truly had a Nascent Soul stage backer, he wouldn't have fled so miserably before.
At least, he would have said something to suppress him.
Furthermore, the sect was too small; a Nascent Soul stage grand cultivator would never stay in such a dilapidated place.
Thus, it seemed Li Tianyu had likely used some sort of grand formation within the sect to kill Hu Wa.
It was surprising that such a small sect would possess a formation capable of killing a late-stage Nascent Soul demon beast.
Unfortunately, it was only that.
Void Integration and Nascent Soul were completely different worlds!
"Is there something, fellow Daoist?" the gate-keeping disciple asked.
This old man had been standing there in a daze since he arrived. Was he perhaps not right in the head?
"Have your Sect Master come out to see me," the old man said indifferently.
Although he could easily charge in and destroy this sect, he wouldn't.
After all, it involved a matter of status.
As a grand cultivator at the Void Integration stage, coming to a sect whose highest cultivation was only Nascent Soul would be too demeaning!
A king would never personally seek out a commoner!
If the other party dared to kill his Hu Wa, and they didn't give him a satisfactory explanation today, he wouldn't be leaving!
If necessary, he wouldn't mind destroying this garbage sect!
The gate-keeping disciple nodded to himself.
He was indeed mentally unsound!
Just as he was about to say something, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted from the old man.