Mu Qilong sat in the main hall drinking tea, lost in thought.
"Bad news! Bad news!" An urgent voice suddenly came from outside, and the Dark-Skinned Youth rushed through the door in a panic.
"What has you so flustered?" Mu Qilong demanded.
"Ah! Grand Elder!" The Dark-Skinned Youth hurriedly stopped and said, "The patrol disciples just reported that Elder Jin, the heads of the other seven lineages with shops in the Market District, and all their cultivators have disappeared! The disciples assigned to watch them never noticed how they vanished."
"What?" Mu Qilong sprang to his feet in alarm. Then a thought struck him. Could the Ancestor have dealt with them? Reassured for the moment, he cleared his throat and said, "Ahem! Understood. You may go. Pass down the order: we won't deactivate the grand formation today. We'll investigate first!"
"Yes, Elder!" The Dark-Skinned Youth asked no questions and immediately left to carry out the order.
"Heh! That lad really does put my mind at ease! He never asks what he shouldn't. A pity his aptitude is a little lacking!" Mu Qilong chuckled as he watched him leave.
"Elder Mu!" A voice suddenly came from beside him.
"Who's there?!" Mu Qilong cried in alarm. Someone had slipped right up beside him without his noticing? He hurriedly turned and saw a cultivator with snow-white hair and beard, a ruddy face, and not a single wrinkle standing beside him.
"Ah! Ancestor! Have your injuries healed?" Mu Qilong asked joyfully when he saw the old man. Indeed, this was the Ancestor, the pillar supporting the Mu Household.
"Yes! Thanks to you, I've finally recovered!" The Ancestor smiled and nodded, then sighed. "But what a pity about Ping!"
"Yes. With Nephew Ping gone, only one Core Condensation Stage cultivator remains in that generation!" Mu