He gazed at the hundred-some figures in the hall, some sitting, some standing, and a bitter taste rose in his throat—
These cultivators who had narrowly escaped the claws of the demon beasts now bore none of the fire in their eyes.
The young man in the green robe clenched his blood-stained sleeve, his knuckles pale from exertion.
He remembered vividly how, last night, when the Seventh Elder had swapped an entire chest of spirit stones for mere rocks, the half-heart protection mirror hidden in his storage bag had burned hot as a branding iron.
Now, as he looked at the somber expressions of the three elders seated in the main positions, he suddenly thought of his fellow disciples who had been devoured by the demon beasts, those comrades who had once fought shoulder-to-shoulder with him, now reduced to chilling white bones outside the Mountain Protection Array.
"Everyone!"
Leaping to his feet, the young man knocked over the table, scattering jade scrolls across the floor,
