Elder Baili had grabbed Yu Min’s body before he left, wanting to bring at least one of the disciples’ remains to where they would be protected. Actually, having to leave the others out there where who knew what could happen to them pained him but there was no other choice. They needed to hurry for Shen Lei’s sake and he would need time to find the others. Time he didn’t have.

He sighed at that thought and then rushed to his own courtyard, gently putting down Yu Min’s body. The other disciples needed to be informed of what had happened but they didn’t need to see this.

He gave another sigh and then rushed over to the square where Elder Xing and the older disciples were still waiting with the younger ones, protecting them in the middle. Everyone seemed tense. Even without knowing what exactly had happened, they had a rough guess. After all, a flare like that wasn’t sent out without reason. It was a distress signal, one that would be lit when there was no other way anymore.

Elder Baili didn’t stop to explain anything to them and instead rushed over to Elder Xing. "I need any pills or potions you have that can be used for healing. The disciples that went out to gather spiritual and medicinal plants today, do the same. Whatever you have that has healing abilities, we need it now."

The Elder and the disciples rushed to take everything out. Even the disciples that hadn’t been asked but had been given some resources because they were leading the groups, immediately took out everything they had and handed it to the Elder.

Elder Baili looked at the disciples that were there, wondering who had the best capabilities in medicine. "Does anyone know how to use spiritual energy to heal internal injuries?"

This was something he had thought of on the way. Wounds could be healed with spiritual energy as well but it was something difficult and could go wrong easily. He himself didn’t know enough to give it a try, especially not with the state Shen Lei already was in. One wrong move and everything would be over. But maybe there was somebody among the disciples who had the necessary knowledge.

The chances of that were slim. Among cultivators, there weren’t as many who were well-versed in the refinement of pills and potions, and among those, there were even fewer with this kind of knowledge. If it was easy to learn, would there still be a need for pills and potions? Probably not.

Thus, there were few people that specialized in this. Even a sect such as theirs might only have a handful of them. Usually, you would only go to them if you didn’t have another choice. Shen Lei was precisely in that type of situation but since Elder Baili knew how rare this ability was, he didn’t hold much hope that one of the disciples coincidentally had it.

Just as he had imagined, the disciples could only shake their heads. Clearly, nobody had learned anything in this direction or even if they had, they would be so far at the beginning of their journey that they wouldn’t be of any help.

Elder Baili sighed, hoping that there would still be enough time despite that.

Elder Xing leaned closer and lowered his voice. "What exactly happened?"

Elder Baili gave him a look, wondering if he should really say it in front of the disciples. "It’s bad. From the previous group, only Ao Jing made it back to the sect. We found Young Shen out there. He is still alive but only barely holding on. I’m afraid the others … Well, we’ve only found Yu Min so far and he …" He shook his head. "I guess the other two won’t be any better."

Elder Xing closed his eyes but he had almost expected something like this when Elder Baili returned like that. "Then Yu Min’s …"

Elder Baili motioned in the direction of his courtyard. "I put him down first so as to not scare the disciples. We’ll send him back to the sect with the others when we can be sure there won’t be another ambush."

Elder Xing nodded and then motioned for Elder Baili to leave again. "Don’t worry about things here. I’ll make sure to protect the disciples. You just take care of Young Shen for now. I guess he can’t be brought back, can he?"

Elder Baili shook his head. "Definitely not. In his situation … I’m not sure when he will be stable enough. With this, he might have a slight chance but I’m afraid that if we try to move him, we would only worsen his injuries and undo the little bit of healing we can currently do. Mei Chao Bing is on his way to the caverns to get some of the resources from the older disciples. We’ll have to see whether he returns in time."

Right now, Elder Baili didn’t have much of an illusion about the situation. Shen Lei’s situation condition was dire. There was no saying yet whether he’d manage to hold on until the end. A lot of that depended on how fast Mei Chao Bing was. And that, on the other hand, would depend on how things were in the caverns.

If Mei Chao Bing immediately managed to grab the right people, then the chances were good. But if he didn’t and the others were outside … This might become even more troublesome. And the clock was already ticking. Time was running out. So this was indeed something to worry about.

"Anyway, I will stay out there for the time being and try to find the others while I do. Let’s hope for the best."

Elder Xing nodded and then stepped back, watching as Elder Baili left. The disciples behind him had become anxious when they saw this happening, making him worry about what this would mean for the future. Clearly, some of these young ones were only now realizing just how dangerous the border region really was.

Some of them had been so unfortunate to realize that before when they saw some of their martial brothers and sisters get injured or even die here but for the most part, they had all been quite lucky. Now, it seemed that their luck was running out.