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

Bai Chongguang pulled out a few more older photos, the edges of which were worn white and there were several obvious creases. The location was a fighting ring, surrounded by students, with the emblem of Beijing University hanging on the building behind.

"Both of them graduated from Peking University. When Xu Mingjing was in school, he was number one in almost everything, including theory, combat, magic, and formations. Gu Tianyang was pampered by the Gu family since he was a child, so how could he be convinced? The two had many conflicts at school."

At this point, Bai Chongguang pointed to one of the photos.

"As a result, Gu Tianyang was beaten several times."

Shen Chang'an followed his finger and looked at the arena in the photo. The arena had been blasted open with large cracks by magic. Xu Mingjing was standing in the center, his clothes were still relatively neat, and he was looking down at the distance.

Gu Tianyang lay on the ground, half his face pressed against the arena, with broken protective artifacts scattered around him. The photo wasn't very clear, but it didn't stop people from seeing his disheveled state.

Bai Chongguang spread out the remaining photos, taken at different times, but the results were similar. Young Gu Tianyang was clearly not one to give up easily; after suffering a loss once, he would try again.

"Gu Tianyang is a petty and vengeful person. Even after he joined the Zhenye Division, he still caused Xu Mingjing a lot of trouble. Including the matter of Gu Qin, Gu Tianyang also played a part in the Gu family's refusal to acknowledge Xu Mingjing as their son-in-law. But these are all minor matters."

"What I'm about to say can't be based on just a few people. What really made me feel something was wrong was the changes that occurred in the major families of Beijing a year before the incident."

He pulled out a stack of documents from the files and placed them in front of Shen Chang'an. At the top was a reorganized timetable, densely filled with names, family names, and dates, with information such as engagement, marriage, pregnancy, and due date marked next to it.

After reading a few lines, Shen Chang'an's expression gradually became serious.

These events were so concentrated that many seemingly unrelated weddings actually happened in the same year.

"That year, there was a sudden increase in marriage alliances among the cultivation families in the capital."

Bai Chongguang's finger traced along the timeline: "The marriage between the Gu family and the Murong family was the most watched. The Zhou family, the Baili family, the Xiang family, and several other old families that had declined also arranged their marriages at that time."

"Some are direct descendants, some are collateral descendants. Some were already engaged, but the date was moved up. There were also a few cases where the bride and groom had only met a few times before, but the family suddenly made the decision and the wedding was held not long after."

Shen Chang'an turned a page: "Family marriages shouldn't be too unusual, right?"

"Of course it's not surprising. The relationships between the various families in the capital are inherently complicated. You can find a suitable reason for any one of them."

Bai Chongguang tapped the timetable.

"But in less than a year, the core families held more than a dozen important marriages. If you include the collateral branches and the small and medium-sized families that depend on them, the number is even greater. What's even stranger is that not long after the weddings, news of pregnancies came out from each family one after another, and the timing was not much different."

He took out another piece of paper, on which more detailed months and dates were recorded, with several places repeatedly circled.

"At the time, everyone just thought that each family was eager to have children. Cult families valued the continuation of their traditions, so it was normal to leave offspring as soon as possible after marriage. But when things went wrong later, and these events were put together, it was hard to say that it was all a coincidence."

Bai Chongguang's voice gradually lowered.

"Around April 2008, at least twenty children from major cultivation families in Beijing were due to be born, and this is only what we could find out. In addition, there were fetuses that were still in the early stages of pregnancy, babies that had already been born prematurely, and several families that did not disclose any information to the public."

"But in the end, none of the records we could find showed that any of the children survived."

Du Yue, who had been looking at the group photos on the wall, turned around upon hearing this: "Are they all dead?"

"right."

Bai Chongguang put down his teacup, the smile he had shown when talking about the past gone from his face.

"The newborn babies lost their life in a very short time, while the unborn fetuses stopped beating in the womb, and subsequent medical examinations found no signs of injury."

"I heard from a friend in the medical department that it was like something that kept them alive was suddenly taken away."

Shen Chang'an looked down at the documents in his hand and remained silent.

He already knew that he was very likely the only child to survive that incident, and the spirits in the dead zone had given him some hints.

But the feeling evoked by those scattered pieces of information is ultimately different from that of the well-organized list before you.

He slowed down his page turning, carefully examining each record.

Bai Chongguang, unaware of his thoughts, continued, "The explanation given to the outside world at the time was that there was an anomaly in the earth's veins in the capital, which affected the children with cultivation bloodlines. But anyone who knows a little about the inside story wouldn't believe that."

"If there really is a problem with the ley lines, how could they be the only ones affected? Those children are scattered in different places, and each family uses different methods to protect the pregnancy, yet they all experienced the same situation at roughly the same time. This in itself doesn't make sense."

Shen Chang'an looked up: "What did you find out later?"

"I've reviewed several death records and had some of the details verified."

Bai Chongguang said, "The vitality of those children did not weaken slowly, but was rapidly drained by some force within the same period of time."

As he spoke, he picked up Gu Qin's photo: "Gu Qin also died that night."

The woman in the photo was standing by the lake, smiling brightly, holding a bouquet of flowers in her arms. Bai Chongguang looked at her for a moment before continuing.

"She was pregnant at the time, and her cultivation was not weak. She was also healthy. But after that night, she and her unborn child were gone. Most other pregnant women only lost their babies, but she had her life force completely drained."

"I have a guess: Gu Qin realized that something was wrong with the child and tried to protect the fetus with her own life force, but the force did not stop there and instead dragged her down with it."

Looking at the photo, Du Yue said softly, "So she wanted to save her child?"

Bai Chongguang remained silent for a moment, then gently placed the photo back on the table: "It should be..."