The blue smoke quickly approached the protective magic array.

The next moment, ripples appeared on the surface of the magic array that was originally able to block everything, and the smoke actually penetrated directly into it.

"It's a success!"

Yun Si Ning's eyes lit up.

The wisp of smoke seemed to have eyes, drifting all the way to the outside of Hua Yuncang's secluded cultivation room.

Then, Qingyan slipped through the crack in the door of the seclusion room.

Seeing this, the group finally felt relieved.

Yun Si Ning stared intently at the door of her master's secluded meditation room, her heart pounding with anxiety.

Whether my efforts over the years will be enough to save my master remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, inside the cultivation room...

Hua Yuncang, with his white hair, sat cross-legged on a futon, resembling an ancient stone statue that had witnessed many vicissitudes of life.

Compared to before his seclusion, he now looked much older.

Hua Yuncang's original ethereal and otherworldly demeanor was now replaced by a face full of haggardness and pain.

His eyes were closed, his brows were furrowed, and large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.

He was channeling his spiritual energy to the fullest extent, trying to repair the riddled meridians.

His body shimmered with light, and spiritual energy struggled to flow through his meridians.

However, those damaged meridians are like ancient riverbeds ravaged by storms, riddled with cracks and gaps.

Each step forward for spiritual power felt like a difficult trek through thorns.

Whenever spiritual energy impacts those severely damaged meridian nodes, Hua Yuncang's body trembles uncontrollably, and the pain on his face intensifies.

For five whole years, he tried to use various healing techniques to continuously inject the little spiritual energy he had left into his damaged meridians.

However, the damage to the meridians was too severe. Every effort only brought temporary relief, followed by an even more intense backlash.

His breathing became increasingly erratic, weak like a candle flickering in the wind, as if it might go out at any moment.

"Cough cough, cough cough cough~~~"

Hua Yuncang coughed violently, and blood seeped from his mouth.

"Is it... still not working...?"

His weathered eyes were filled with despair.

By now, Hua Yuncang had long accepted reality and was prepared to perish at any moment.

But what he could never let go of were his two apprentices.

Sigh...

“Ning’er is still young, and Yu’er hasn’t fully grown up yet.”

"After I die, who will protect them in the entire Jianping Mountain?"

Thinking of this, Hua Yuncang felt extremely sad.

He knew his two senior and junior brothers too well; if they knew he was about to die, they would probably devour Qingmu Peak whole.

"By then, Yu'er and Ning'er..."

Overwhelmed by a profound sense of powerlessness, Hua Yuncang sank into deep despair.

Just then, wisps of blue smoke suddenly appeared all around.

Hua Yuncang was taken aback.

"Hmm, what is this?"