The elders stood guard around her, not daring to breathe too loudly.
They had thought dealing with that old fiend would be child's play for Mu Qinglan. Who knew she would stumble here instead?
If the Sect Master held them accountable afterward and charged them with dragging their feet, they would be in serious trouble.
"Elder Jiang, how... how is the Sect Master?" one elder could not help asking quietly.
The old woman addressed as Elder Jiang shook her head. "Nothing serious."
As she spoke, she took out a jade bottle, removed a pill wreathed in spiritual radiance, and carefully slipped it into Mu Qinglan's mouth.
Then she steadied her aura and slowly channeled a stream of pure spiritual power into Mu Qinglan's abdomen, helping her absorb the medicine.
Just then, in the distance-
"Hiss... hiss, hiss..."
Black smoke inexplicably rose from Crow Daoist's corpse. Then it began bubbling like boiling water, and in the blink of an eye, it dissolved into a foul-smelling puddle of black liquid.
The others glanced over, but none looked surprised. They seemed long accustomed to such sights.
This was a kind of restriction some cultivators placed on themselves to conceal their identities and protect the loved ones they left behind.
Upon their death, it would automatically destroy their bodies and erase all traces, preventing enemies from tracking down their relatives through their appearance and wiping out their entire families.
Even elders of prestigious sects like themselves carried similar contingencies, primarily to prevent anyone from tracing their origins during special missions and implicating the entire Azure Cloud Sect.
"Cough..."
Just then, Mu Qinglan, who lay on the ground, coughed softly and slowly opened her eyes.
Seeing the circle of people surrounding her, she rubbed her forehead in a daze.
The moment she touched the large