High-level martial arts: Long spear with black flames to suppress demons.

Inside a dark and dilapidated rented room in Qingzhou District.

The heavy curtains completely blocked out the light from the streetlights outside. The room was a mess, with leftover takeout boxes and some miscellaneous items that smelled of pungent chemicals piled on the floor.

"Click".

The key turned, and the rusty security door was pushed open.

A man wearing a large black windbreaker and a hooded jacket slipped in and locked the door from the inside.

In the center of the room stood a large, old wooden table. Beside the table sat three people wearing masks of various colors.

"Didn't succeed?"

Number Eight glanced at Number Ten and asked in a hoarse voice.

The four people didn't communicate by name, only by code names. The ones sitting at the table were Number Seven, Number Eight, and Number Nine, while the hooded man who had just entered was Number Ten.

"without."

Without saying a word, Number Ten slammed the heavy black weapon case onto the table with a bang, then pulled a tactical miniature camera from his pocket and threw it in the center of the table.

"But I managed to capture the face of the lamplighter from Qingzhou District."

Upon hearing this, the people at the table immediately perked up.

Number Nine reached for the camera and pressed play. On the screen, a young face, dressed in a blue and white school uniform, was captured. It was a snapshot of Shen Chang'an hiding from snipers in the woods of the northern suburbs.

"A high school student?"

Number Eight frowned, his tone full of doubt.

"Are you sure this isn't a fake hood he's wearing? Those nuclear-powered beasts of burden in the Night Town Division love to disguise themselves on missions. How could they possibly be openly running around with their real faces?"

"Just look it up and you'll find out."

Number Nine was a tech whistle. He sneered, pulled the memory card out of the camera, and inserted it into a laptop computer in front of him that had been modified with multiple layers of encryption.

Fingers flew across the keyboard as the facial recognition system began frantically comparing faces on the dark web and hacked household registration systems.

In less than a minute, a regular personal file popped up on the screen.

"Match successful. Shen Chang'an, male, 18 years old. Student of Class 7, Grade 12, Qingzhou No.1 High School."

Number Nine looked at the information on the screen, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"A clean family background, an orphan, raised in someone else's home. Nothing special about him."

The air suddenly became quiet for a few seconds.

Then, a burst of snickering erupted in the room.

"Fake! It's definitely a fabricated decoy file!"

Number Eight slammed his hand on the table.

"An eighteen-year-old at the Fifth Realm Spirit Sea stage? Do you even know what that means?!"

"Of course I know."

Number 10 took off his hood, revealing a gloomy face.

"This means that as long as he doesn't perish along the way, he's guaranteed to reach the eighth level of the Spirit Aspect Realm! He might even touch the threshold of the eighth level by the age of twenty-four or twenty-five, and could break through to the legendary ninth level, the Spirit Torch Realm, before the age of thirty!"

"This is absolutely a fucking joke!"

Number Nine also shook his head, indicating that he absolutely did not believe it.

"Looking across the entire Eastern Huang Kingdom, a seed of this caliber would be treated like royalty by the Capital Bureau. How could they possibly send someone to a run-down place like Qingzhou District to be a low-level leader whose life could be hanging by a thread? This is definitely a fabricated identity created by the Zhenye Division to lure us out!"

The three of them, one after the other, all concluded that it was a clumsy trap.

Just then, Number Seven, who had been sitting silently in the main seat, suddenly let out a chilling chuckle.

"Whether it's true or not, we'll find out by trying."

Standing at station number seven, he walked to the computer screen and gently swiped his finger across the information about Class 7, Grade 12 of Qingzhou No. 1 Middle School.

"The Night Watchers care most about their bullshit rules for protecting civilians."

"I'm currently crafting a magical artifact and need a batch of fresh 'puppets.' These energetic high school students, who haven't yet experienced the harsh realities of society, are the perfect materials."

Number Seven's gaze swept casually across the class roster, finally stopping at one person's ID photo.

"This one will do."

Number Seven tapped the screen: "The home address is quite close to our current safe house, a good target. Tomorrow night... make your move."

The next morning, sunlight streamed into the room through the gaps in the curtains that weren't fully drawn.

Shen Chang'an sat up in bed, rubbed his messy hair, and reached for his phone on the bedside table.

As soon as I unlocked the app, the work group chat on the Zhenye Division app started buzzing with messages, the screen filled with work reports. Because of the resurgence of demonic energy and the sniper incident last night, the entire Qingzhou District branch had entered a state of high alert.

[Baiyin]: "Patrols of lanes 3 to 7 of Laobei Street completed; inspections of the Joy City shopping area in the East District completed. Safe. (Cat yawning.jpg)"

[Zhao Changfeng]: "The Logistics Department 1 and 2 have deployed all personnel to inspect the old industrial belt in the western district, and no abnormalities have been found so far."

Looking at the reports from Lao Zhao and Bai Yin, who were leading their men around the block, Shen Chang'an breathed a sigh of relief and casually replied, "Received, thank you for your hard work."

At noon, the special courier arrived at Guanlan Mansion on time.

Aunt Li Yue was resting at home on the weekend and was busy preparing lunch in the kitchen. Shen Chang'an signed for the package, took it back to his room, and opened it.

The amulet, worth a thousand contribution points, was disguised as an antique redwood peace plaque. The wood was of excellent quality, smooth and warm to the touch, and its surface was carved with seemingly ordinary auspicious cloud patterns, but in reality, it was a profound miniature defensive array.

Shen Chang'an took the wooden sign downstairs and saw Zhang Qingqing sitting cross-legged on the sofa, eating potato chips and watching TV.

"Here, this is for you."

Shen Chang'an walked over and threw the mahogany plaque directly onto the coffee table in front of Zhang Qingqing.

Zhang Qingqing was startled. She picked up the exquisitely carved wooden plaque with suspicion and looked at it. Then she looked up at Shen Chang'an, her big eyes widening instantly.

She abruptly pushed the potato chips aside, crossed her arms, and adopted a wary and arrogant posture, blurting out in a nonchalant tone, "Shen Chang'an, what are you doing?! Giving me a gift all of a sudden, you're not trying to pursue me, are you? I'm warning you, even though we live under the same roof, my attitude towards you..."

"stop."

Shen Chang'an interrupted her rambling thoughts with a blank expression, pointing to the wooden plaque: "I passed by Nanshan Temple a couple of days ago and casually picked it up. The old monk said it's made of century-old lightning-struck wood and has the effect of calming the mind, warding off evil, and protecting against disasters. Seeing that you're under too much pressure with the college entrance exam approaching, he was afraid you'd suddenly die in the exam hall, so he gave it to you to wear for fun. Don't overthink it."

"You're the one who died suddenly!"

Zhang Qingqing said irritably.

She pursed her lips, reluctantly took the wooden plaque in her hand, and said stubbornly, "Fine, since you're a blockhead with at least some conscience, I'll accept it."

"remember."

Shen Chang'an suddenly stared at her seriously.

"Since I'm giving this to you, you have to carry it with you at all times. You're not allowed to take it off when you shower, sleep, or go to the toilet, understand?"

Startled by Shen Chang'an's sudden, sharp gaze, Zhang Qingqing nodded subconsciously, "I...I know, stop nagging."

After saying that, she quickly grabbed the wooden sign, as if afraid that Shen Chang'an would change his mind, and ran back to her room on the second floor in her slippers.