As Shen Luo watched, several streaks of light crossed the sky. Figures flew in from afar and landed shoulder to shoulder atop the nine-foot-high platform.
At their center stood Cheng Yaojin of the Great Tang Government Office, the host of this gathering. On either side of him stood a tall, beautiful woman in splendid feathered robes and a burly man in silver armor, nearly ten feet tall.
The woman carried herself with extraordinary grace, her face concealed by a gauzy veil. One glance was enough to tell that she belonged to the Immortal Race. Though the silver-armored man had a human body, his head was that of a six-tusked silver elephant. His demonic aura was so well concealed that there was not the slightest sign he was a mighty figure of the Demon Clan.
On the other side of the silver-armored man stood a burly man with wings sprouting from his back, almost his equal in size. He wore black scale armor that covered only half his torso and one arm. With crimson brows and hair and a stern expression, his tiger-like eyes were fixed solely on Seven Kills beside the martial platform.
Beside the woman of the Immortal Race stood an elderly man in his sixties, wearing a long black robe and a jade belt. A golden cloud motif was embroidered on his chest, with the words "Heavenly Mechanism" written beneath it in Ancient Seal Script.
"Someone from Heavenly Mechanism City?" Shen Luo raised an eyebrow and murmured to himself.
"A gold-pattern elder, no less. His rank is quite high," the white-haired old man beside him chimed in.
"A gold-pattern elder?" Shen Luo asked in puzzlement.
"Do you not know, fellow Daoist? The disciples and elders of Heavenly Mechanism City are divided into ranks as well. They generally wear