The god-figure on the offering platform sat in solemn, killing-edged dignity, wrapped in incense smoke.

The slightly lean young man stood without hurry, blood-threaded fingers resting on the scabbard.

A blade that appeared to come out at an easy pace drove into the flood dragon fifth prince's abdomen in the same instant. Then a flash of cyan light.

Clothes and flesh opened without a sound.

Shen Yi pulled out the flood dragon core, and used his other hand to throw the body out of the temple.

The middle-aged man's large frame expanded as it flew — in the span of a few breaths he had become a hundred-zhang flood dragon, crashing to the mountainside and writhing there like an injured eel.

"Everyone carry on."

He gave a small nod. He didn't believe in river deities, but he understood what drove people to this. Even in his previous life, places like that had people praying — and this was a world genuinely overrun by demons. As long as it wasn't the kind of thing that Shuiyun Township's river demon had been, he had no interest in interfering.

He turned and walked out of the river god temple.

The long line of worshippers had become a scattered, frightened mass. Even though he'd thrown the flood dragon considerably further away, the impact had knocked quite a few people off their feet.

But the moment the dark-robed young man walked out — the panic on their faces shifted to bewilderment, and then to a collective blank stare.

Dozens of demon-hunters were also staring at the barely-alive flood dragon in something like stunned disbelief.

They watched Shen Yi walk toward it, give a casual swing, and put another cyan arc through the massive, twisted head.

【Full-Core Flood Dragon slain — Total Lifespan: 5,100 years. Remaining: 1,500 years. Absorbed.】

Two silver-bell demon-hunters steadied themselves and walked over.

"May we ask which personal attendant under General Chen we have the honor of addressing?"

Even with Demon Suppression Generals, demon-hunters didn't typically need to be so deferential — but what they'd just watched had the word sir appearing…