The young girl seemed to notice Shen Luo and Hu Bugui as well. Smiling sweetly, she waved at them in greeting.
She looked completely different from the spoiled, willful girl who had sold wine that day.
Just then, another sudden change occurred!
A series of roaring dragon cries suddenly rose from Chang'an City. Azure light shot into the sky from the east, and the phantom of an Azure Dragon soared upward, circling in the air as a sea of clouds gathered from all directions.
The west answered with an earthshaking tiger's roar. A phantom White Tiger pounced into the sky, and a chilling wind of slaughter swept forth. Immediately afterward, the Vermilion Bird cried sharply in the south, while the divine form of the Black Tortoise appeared in the north.
Dense runic patterns emerged across the highest reaches of the sky, like a massive cauldron turned upside down. The stars of the Azure Dragon Seven Mansions, White Tiger Seven Mansions, and the rest occupied their respective positions, shining with brilliant starlight.
It was broad daylight, and ordinary people could not see the phenomenon in the sky at all. They only felt as though the heavens had suddenly pressed down upon them, filling them with an indescribable oppression.
Yet every cultivator could sense the awe-inspiring power and spiritual pressure within it.
"It's the Four Symbols Celestial Timing Formation," someone cried softly.
"What an imposing formation indeed..."
Hearing this, Shen Luo understood. Yuan Tiangang must have activated this city-protecting formation immediately upon returning to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.
As the runic formation in the sky continued to descend, the Human Race cultivators within it were relatively unaffected, merely feeling an irresistible force pressing down. However, the cultivators of the Demon Race and Demon Clan were already growing fearful.
They could clearly sense