The Last Chance

The resplendent grand hall looked like an emperor's traveling palace.

It was brightly lit, a blaze of gold and jade.

If it had not stood amid the mountains, no one would have guessed it was a demon den.

"Buddha!"

At that moment, in the center of the hall, a broad-shouldered, powerfully built giant of a man in a bright yellow robe was kneeling on the ground, performing a solemn kowtow toward the figure above.

Above him sat a gaunt middle-aged man. His plain, clean robes clashed sharply with the hall's splendor. Rough fingers rolled a string of prayer beads as his indifferent eyes rested on the burly man below. "You stole my sect's treasured scripture."

"I found it! This junior found it!" The burly man hurriedly raised his head and clasped his fists again and again.

"Have you read it?" The middle-aged monk did not waste words, merely continuing his questioning.

At those words, the burly man's expression stiffened, guilt instantly rising within him. After hesitating for a long while, he finally murmured, "I have."

"How much did you learn?"

"Replying to Buddha, fifty percent." The burly man lowered his head again, no longer daring to look at the other party.

"Why did you learn so quickly?" No joy or anger showed on the monk's face.

"It was all thanks to my children and grandchildren being diligent, finding this junior quite a bit of that human imperial aura..."

By this point, the burly man had gone ashen-faced. As a great demon ruling one region, there was no way he could have simply found a fruit-position grand scripture.

Knowing full well that the expelled disciple had been a member of the Bodhi Sect, and that he possessed such a precious treasure despite having only seventh-rank cultivation, it had still failed to