Soft earthen-yellow light slowly rose from different parts of Huai Shan City.
An enormous canopy of mana enveloped the entire county town. The Guard Drum atop the drum tower rang on its own, its sound carrying across a hundred li.
Strands of black smoke suddenly sprang up from several houses in the county town, then swiftly vanished.
These were the Evil Spirits lurking within the city. Suppressed by both the City-Guarding Staff and the Guard Drum, they were directly scattered to the winds.
At the same time, a flowing light shot toward the northwest!
The Battle Cultivators stationed atop the walls watched that retreating light, unable to keep the worry from their eyes.
Zhao Hongyi had left.
As Huai Shan City's Garrison Commander and the city's sole Purple Mansion cultivator, his presence was like a Sea Calming Divine Needle, deterring Evil Spirits and those with ill intent alike.
Zhao Hongyi had remained at the Garrison Headquarters until now. Though several incidents of strange evil hauntings had occurred in the city, the situation had remained fairly stable, and the county's people could at least still live their normal lives.
But his sudden departure now undoubtedly cast a shadow over everyone's hearts.
There was always an ominous feeling!
Though the city-protecting formation was powerful, only under the direction of a high-level cultivator could it unleash its greatest might.
Moreover, the city-protecting formation consumed an enormous amount of power. It could not operate at high intensity indefinitely, or the Spirit Stones simply would not sustain it.
Once the formation could no longer hold, if Zhao Hongyi still failed to return in time, the entire county town would inevitably fall into grave danger.
The strange evils lurking in the darkness would one hundred percent come out to wreak havoc!
Zhao Hongyi himself knew full