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

Shen Chang'an avoided the main road and quickly made his way to Building B by following the shadows.

Since the murder case in Room 401 last night has been closed as a "burglary", the entire lockdown of Building B was lifted during the day today. Except for the room on the fourth floor which is still sealed, the corridors have returned to normal traffic flow.

Shen Chang'an followed the drainpipe outside the stairs and climbed up to the sixth floor as nimbly as a gecko.

He crouched outside the window of room 604, closed his eyes, and his powerful senses instantly penetrated the walls and covered the entire room.

"It's empty; there's no sound of living people breathing."

Shen Chang'an frowned. He took out a thin steel wire from his bag and skillfully fiddled with it in the gap of the old window lock. With a "click," the window was pried open, and he jumped into the room.

"Although it's a bit perverted to break into a female classmate's window in the middle of the night, in these extraordinary times, I can only offer more compensation for emotional distress afterward."

While muttering to himself to prepare himself mentally, Shen Chang'an surveyed the room in the dim moonlight.

This is a two-bedroom apartment with a very homey feel. Although the furniture is a bit old, it's spotless. In the kitchen sink, there are two bowls that were just washed this afternoon, still with water stains that haven't completely dried.

A clean set of school uniforms, washed and discarded, was folded on the old sofa in the living room.

Shen Chang'an walked to the TV cabinet, where there was an old family photo.

In the photo, Li Xiwan, who looks about seven or eight years old, has two pigtails and a round, adorable face. She is surrounded by her parents and grandparents, smiling brightly. However, considering what He Fei said about her parents' divorce, looking at this seemingly happy photo makes one feel somewhat wistful.

"There were no signs of a struggle, and the door lock showed no signs of being forcibly broken."

Shen Chang'an quickly circled the room, finally stopping at the entrance. His eyes were instantly filled with dark red flames, activating his Fiery Eyes.

However, in Huoshaotong's vision, the entire house was very clean, with no residual demonic energy or spiritual energy fluctuations belonging to cultivators.

It seemed that Li Xiwan had left home in the afternoon and never returned.

Shen Chang'an immediately took out his phone.

[Shen Chang'an]: "@Liaison Officer 07. Immediately pull up all the public transportation routes from Beiyuan Community to Qingzhou No. 1! Also, check Li Xiwan's spending records and phone location for today!"

The liaison officer was extremely efficient; in less than thirty seconds, several route maps were sent over.

[Contact Person 07]: "The route has been sent. We found Li Xiwan's spending record: at 17:35 this afternoon, she spent 15 yuan at a stationery store outside the Beiyuan residential area. However, her mobile phone location cannot be obtained at present. The signal was completely lost after the purchase, and it is suspected that she is in a blocked area."

"She was still buying stationery at the entrance of the residential area at 5:30 pm..."

Shen Chang'an's eyes narrowed, and he didn't hesitate any longer. He opened the living room window directly, didn't even glance at it, and jumped out.

"Bang!"

With a soft popping sound, Shen Chang'an landed steadily in the grass six floors below, like a weightless leaf.

The sudden appearance startled several stray cats that were foraging near the trash can, causing them to bristle and scatter in all directions, screaming.

He walked out of the residential compound and headed straight for the stationery store at the entrance, whose roller shutter door was already down.

Standing at the entrance of the stationery store, Shen Chang'an activated his Fiery Eyes again to scan the area, but still found no trace of spiritual energy. It was as if the person had vanished into thin air.

Shen Chang'an closed his eyes, the route map sent by the liaison officer appeared in his mind, and he began to quickly deduce the route.

There are only two public transportation options for getting from Beiyuan Residential Area to Qingzhou No.1 Middle School.

Bus and subway. Based on Li tide's usual evening routine, in order not to miss her evening self-study session, she would most likely choose the subway, which is faster and more punctual.

"To the subway station."

Shen Chang'an opened his eyes and walked briskly along the sidewalk in front of the stationery store toward the subway station, which was about 800 meters away from the residential area.

In the still of the night, the streetlights cast long shadows of him. Shen Chang'an compressed his fifth-realm perception to its limit, scanning the road surface inch by inch like a radar.

Just as he reached a secluded intersection less than 200 meters from the subway station.

Shen Chang'an stopped abruptly.

Within the fiery red vision of the burning pupils, a faint trace of spiritual energy suddenly appeared on the originally clean sidewalk tiles! It was almost negligible if one did not look closely.

"This is......"

Shen Chang'an squatted down and gently touched the gray-black mark with his finger.

"It's not demonic energy, it's the residue of magic."

In this world, besides the lamplighters who belong to the official Night Watch, there are indeed many independent cultivators or practitioners from small sects in the private sector.

However, the vast majority of these people were registered in the Zhenye Division's system, that is, "on file." At the same time, the Eastern Empire has an inviolable ironclad rule: it is strictly forbidden for anyone to use magic arbitrarily in densely populated urban areas, and it is absolutely forbidden to use any supernatural means against ordinary people. If violated, the Zhenye Division has the right to execute on the spot without prior notification.

Shen Chang'an's face was ashen. He took out the Thousand-Mile Silk-Pulling Compass from his pocket again, forced out a wisp of spiritual power from his fingertips, and carefully peeled off the gray-black remnant of the spell on the floor tile, placing it in the center of the bronze compass.

"Buzz—"

The compass trembled violently, and then a dark red line shot out from it, pointing directly towards a cluster of unfinished buildings on the edge of Qingzhou District.

"We've found you."

Shen Chang'an put away his compass. This time, he didn't ride the pink scooter. The traffic lights and cars in the city would only slow him down.

He slightly bent his knees, and his calf muscles instantly unleashed terrifying power.

"Bang!"

With a shockwave that exploded from the spot, Shen Chang'an was like a black cannonball, leaping directly into the air and onto the roof of a six-story residential building next to him.

Immediately afterwards, he transformed into a dark afterimage in the night, stepping on the staggered rooftops and territories, and swiftly advancing along the dark red guiding line.

......

Zooming out, we see an abandoned, unfinished building on the outskirts of Qingzhou District.

Four masked men were sitting around a broken wooden table in the small, dark room.

"Number Seven, do you really think that high school student named Shen Chang'an is the fifth-realm monster we're looking for?"

Number Eight, smoking a cigarette, still spoke with a strong sense of skepticism.

Number Seven sat in the main seat, leisurely wiping a boning knife engraved with blood-red runes in his hand, making a teeth-grinding scraping sound: "What's the rush? Whether it's true or false, we'll know when he comes knocking. If the information is wrong, we can just go to No. 1 High School and grab a few more high school students as material, it won't take much trouble."

Hearing this, the group chuckled and then changed the subject to the next room.

"But to be honest, that little girl next door named Li Xiwan's mental resistance is really beyond my expectations."

Number 10 glanced at the watch on his wrist.

"We captured her at 6 p.m. and it's almost midnight now. She's endured six hours of mental torture in your Nightmare Illusion Array, and she hasn't completely gone insane yet."

"This girl is an exceptionally good prospect; her spirit is naturally more resilient than that of ordinary people."

Number Seven's eyes gleamed with fanaticism.

"Then why don't we hurry up and refine her?"

Number Eight rubbed his hands together, somewhat puzzled.

"A long night can lead to many unforeseen problems."

"What do you know?" Number Seven scoffed, giving them a look as if they were idiots. "To create demonic puppets, resentment and despair are the best nourishment. She hasn't completely broken down mentally yet, which means there's still room to be exploited. I'm going to make her experience the most desperate torment in the illusion, accumulating her resentment to its peak!"

Number Seven put down the boning knife in his hand and took out a sealed black glass tube from his pocket, inside which a dense wisp of demonic energy was surging.

"The moment her psychological defenses completely crumble, I'll seal this wisp of demonic energy, along with her soul, within her body. This time, I'm absolutely certain I can create a top-tier demonic puppet with limitless potential!"

Looking at the wisp of demonic energy, Number Nine clicked his tongue, glancing lewdly towards the next room: "What a waste of such a pretty, innocent schoolgirl. Number Seven, before we start refining, could a few of us brothers go in and 'try it out' first? It's just a raw material anyway, might as well use it."

"Are you looking for death?"

Number Seven's eyes suddenly turned cold, and a chilling killing intent instantly locked onto Number Nine, making the other person shiver.

"To forge a top-grade demonic puppet, the purity of the material's flesh must be guaranteed! Only by maintaining complete 'yin essence' and combining it with overwhelming resentment can it accommodate demonic energy to the greatest extent! Anyone who dares to ruin my top-grade demonic puppet for some trivial matter of the lower body, I'll skin them alive, pull out their tendons, and burn them to a pyre!"

Number Nine shrank back and chuckled dryly, "Just kidding, just kidding, don't take it seriously."

......

The room next door, separated by only one wall.

There is no light source.

Li Xiwan was tightly bound to a rusty iron chair. Several pieces of yellow paper with strange runes drawn on them were pasted on her forehead and shoulders, emitting a faint, eerie light.

At this moment, she was in a very painful semi-comatose state.

His once handsome and clean face was now completely distorted by extreme fear and pain.

Cold sweat had already soaked through her school uniform, and strands of hair clung messily to her pale cheeks.

Her body was trembling violently and uncontrollably, as if she were experiencing some kind of horrific nightmare.

"No...don't hit me..."

"Dad...Mom...don't leave me..."

"Help... Someone please help me..."

Li Xiwan kept her eyes tightly closed, tears streaming down her face, mumbling incoherently about the deepest childhood traumas and despair hidden in her heart.

The runes on her forehead flickered faster and faster; the Nightmare Illusion Array was amplifying the fear in her heart and tearing at her reason.

This string, stretched taut for six hours, has reached the brink of complete breakage and teetering on the edge of utter ruin.

......

Shen Chang'an's figure was like a black bat gliding through the night sky, finally landing lightly in a remote urban village.

This area is known as the "no man's land" of Qingzhou District. The densely packed self-built houses are crammed together like pigeon coops. Many of the small houses don't even have house numbers. The alleys are so narrow that even a tricycle can't drive in. The place reeks of garbage and swill.

The dark red bloodline on the compass eventually disappeared into an inconspicuous bungalow with a courtyard.

Shen Chang'an did not approach rashly. He crouched in the shadow of the rooftop of a two-story self-built house across the street, closed his eyes, and silently enveloped the house with his five-realm perception, like an invisible net.

"Four sources of spiritual energy..."

Shen Chang'an quickly made a judgment in his mind. Then, his brows furrowed sharply.

Beside these four sources of spiritual energy, he also sensed a faint, almost extinguished aura of an ordinary person.

It was Li Xiwan.

The aura was fluctuating violently, threatening to collapse completely at any moment.

"I can't hold on any longer."

Shen Chang'an opened his eyes, a terrifying killing intent flashing in his dark red, fiery pupils.

He pulled a small barrier transmitter from his trench coat pocket and threw it on the ground.

"Buzz—"

A pale blue, semi-transparent barrier instantly unfolded, completely sealing off the bungalow and the surrounding area within a few dozen meters.

From the outside, it looks like an ordinary dark room; even if there's a huge fight going on inside, you won't hear a sound outside.

He slowly stood up, and instead of going through the door, he jumped directly from the roof of the second floor, landing outside a mottled brick wall on the side of the bungalow.

The sensory perception had already located Li Xiwan's position; she was right behind this wall.

Shen Chang'an took a deep breath, his right arm muscles instantly swelled, and his five fingers clenched into a fist.

The violent spiritual energy was compressed wildly at the fist, and then, without any fancy moves, he punched the brick wall in front of him!

"BOOM—!!!"

A deafening roar.

The thick, load-bearing brick wall was like a fragile biscuit in the face of the terrifying power of the Fifth Realm Martial Artist, and a hole two meters in diameter was violently blasted through it! Broken bricks and cement chunks flew into the house like cannonballs!

Amidst the billowing dust, Shen Chang'an walked expressionlessly into the dark little house.

He immediately spotted Li Xiwan, who was tied to an iron chair, and the eerie yellow paper runes on her forehead and shoulders that were flashing with an eerie light.

"Nightmare Illusion Array? Using living people to create demonic puppets? You're courting death."

He snapped his fingers casually.

"Smack."

A wisp of black flame at her fingertip instantly split into several black fire snakes, precisely shooting towards the runes on Li Xiwan's body. With a few soft "hissing" sounds, the yellow paper exuding an evil aura was instantly burned to ashes, without even a spark harming Li Xiwan.

As the illusion array was broken, Li Xiwan, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown, gasped sharply.

"Cough cough cough... Haa..."

She greedily inhaled the air, and her eyes, which had been tightly closed due to extreme pain, slowly opened a crack.

"He can still stay conscious? That's incredible mental resilience..."

Shen Chang'an couldn't help but mutter something under his breath. Looking at the girl's pitiful appearance, which seemed to be on the verge of collapse, his eyes softened a little. He stepped forward and gently placed his palm, which carried a trace of warm spiritual energy, on Li Xiwan's forehead, which was covered in cold sweat.

"It's alright, go to sleep."

The gentle spiritual energy, like a warm current, instantly soothed the violent illusions in Li Xiwan's mind. The girl's tense body finally relaxed completely, her head tilted to the side, and she fell into a deep sleep.

After calming Li Xiwan down, Shen Chang'an took out his phone and pressed the voice call button: "Old Zhao, locate my phone and bring some men over to clean up the mess. I've caught four big fish here, bring a few body bags."