The Dragon-Slaying Sword Reappeared

As his thoughts raced, Shen Luo carefully studied the figure shrouded in gray light. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became.

Not a trace of aura escaped from the figure, as though it truly were nothing more than a shadow, yet it still sent an involuntary chill through his heart.

Shen Luo had only experienced this sensation in the presence of cultivators at the Out-of-Body Stage or above.

"I misjudged them. There's actually someone this powerful among them!" Shen Luo clenched his fists. His heart, which had only just begun to settle, rose into his throat again.

"The Body Refining Altar has aided me greatly, and I have certainly not forgotten. Once I become Emperor Tang, I shall establish the Body Refining Altar as the state religion, support it generously, and ensure it receives offerings for generations," the Jing River Dragon King said to the five Body Refining Altar cultivators beside him.

"Then we thank Your Majesty the Dragon King." Overjoyed, the black-robed cultivator at their head cupped his hands.

The Jing River Dragon King withdrew his gaze and looked toward Emperor Tang on the altar. A vicious gleam flashed through his eyes as he began forming hand seals.

The phantom Hexagonal Wheel above the altar immediately blazed with white light, spinning ten times faster.

The figure in gray light raised a hand and waved it. A streak of white light shot from the figure's hand—a grayish-white talisman inscribed with the image of a hexagonal wheel—and merged into the phantom Hexagonal Wheel above the altar.

The phantom Hexagonal Wheel rapidly solidified, becoming something halfway between illusion and substance.

An exceedingly strange fluctuation of magic power emanated from the Hexagonal Wheel and spread far into the distance, sweeping over Shen Luo and the others on the distant Netherstone Bridge.