Chapter 64

Those few constables who had fallen into a deep sleep had clearly been attacked by evil spirits, losing a significant amount of their vital energy.

Fortunately,

I arrived in time, so there wasn't a major issue.

Taking a few constables back with him, Shen Changqing didn't even have time to sit down before he received another message.

Immediately,

he left the yamen, carrying his sword and rushed to another place.

After an unknown amount of time,

a commotion suddenly arose outside the city walls, with occasional shrill screams and the roars of martial artists.

"Sir, there's a disturbance outside the city!"

Zhang Yue, who was by Shen Changqing's side, also became visibly serious.

Originally, when they encountered the evil spirits on the street, they were fortunate to have been prepared, so there wasn't a major problem.

However, just as they had dealt with the evil spirits, another issue arose outside the city.

To say there was no pressure at all would be impossible.

"It seems those few sects weren't completely unprepared. The Eternal Alliance's attack on Lin'an City is primarily aimed at seizing the demon's essence blood."

Shen Changqing naturally saw the commotion outside the city.

With just a moment's thought, he connected some dots.

Compared to the evil spirits rampaging within the city, the evil spirits outside the city, fighting for the demon's essence blood, were the bigger problem.

With Shen Changqing's perception,

the evil spirits outside the city, fighting for the essence blood, were at least Grievance-level in strength.

The people from those few sects, combined, wouldn't be enough to take on even one Grievance-level monster.

Therefore,

Shen Changqing was prepared for their total annihilation.

But now, it seemed that other powerful figures had arrived.

The current commotion outside the city was the battle between those powerful figures and the evil spirits.

It was evident that

the people from those few sects were just the vanguard in the fight for the demon's essence blood, with powerful figures still backing them.

"The ones who took action are at least at the Innate realm, but I don't know how many there are!"

Only Innate martial artists had the qualifications to fight Grievance-level monsters, but Shen Changqing couldn't be sure how many Innate martial artists had arrived.

As for Grandmasters,

it was less likely.

But this also showed that the few sects placed great importance on the demon's essence blood.

Withdrawing his gaze,

Shen Changqing looked at Zhang Yue: "Continue patrolling the city. If you discover any evil spirits, report to the yamen immediately!"

Having said that,

he headed towards the Yongfu Pawnshop.

Leaping through the air, he disappeared from Zhang Yue's sight after a few bounds.

"Let's go, patrol the area!"

Zhang Yue, regaining his composure, looked at the constables who were still in shock and spoke in a deep voice.

On the other side,

Shen Changqing had also arrived at the Yongfu Pawnshop.

From the situation outside the city, he was certain that the evil spirits in Lin'an City wouldn't be rampant for long.

As long as the martial artists outside the city won, the evil spirits in the city would retreat on their own.

Similarly,

if the martial artists outside the city suffered a惨败, the evil spirits would also be severely damaged.

At that time, with himself stationed in Lin'an City, the Eternal Alliance would withdraw the evil spirits in the city to avoid further losses.

Therefore,

regardless of the outcome,

the intervention of the powerful figures from the few sects had alleviated the current situation in Lin'an City.

The Yongfu Pawnshop, like other places, was pitch black inside, as if no one was there.

With a surge of his true qi,

the door opened, and Shen Changqing stepped inside.

Immediately,

a cold and sinister aura hit him.

"Evil spirits!"

Shen Changqing's face turned cold. He was all too familiar with this cold and sinister aura, which was clearly the evil aura emanating from evil spirits.

Only if evil spirits were present or had just left would there be a lingering evil aura.

As he had suspected,

the evil spirits' attack on Lin'an City, and the lack of response from the Heavenly Surveillance Corps, clearly indicated that they had also been attacked by evil spirits.

Entering the pawnshop, he saw darkness everywhere.

Shen Changqing could see in the dark, and with a single glance, he took in the entire environment.

No one!

He moved towards the back yard.

Suddenly,

he saw a black shadow lying on the ground.

Approaching, he found a desiccated corpse.

From its appearance, the corpse seemed to have been dead for a long time, but Shen Changqing could tell at a glance that it was the result of its essence blood being completely drained.

Moreover, the face of the corpse was familiar to him.

Upon closer inspection,

he recognized it as a clerk from the Yongfu Pawnshop, who was actually a member of the Heavenly Surveillance Corps.

But now, this member of the Heavenly Surveillance Corps had become a desiccated corpse.

As intelligence operatives, the members of the Heavenly Surveillance Corps generally weren't very strong. As the head of the Lin'an City branch, Situ Bei wasn't even at the Pulse Connection stage.

Stepping over the desiccated corpse,

Shen Changqing continued towards the inner hall.

On the ground, there were many more corpses, all of which had been drained of their essence blood.

However,

each corpse had a different expression, some in terror, others in distortion.

When he fully entered the inner hall, a strong smell of blood hit him. He saw a person with their limbs cut off, resembling a human pig.

Approaching,

Shen Changqing recognized the human pig as Situ Bei.

The head of the Lin'an City branch of the Heavenly Surveillance Corps had not been drained of his essence blood but had been cut into pieces and bled to death.

Looking at the wide-eyed expression of the corpse, one could guess what had happened.

Crouching down,

Shen Changqing placed his hand over the corpse, closing Situ Bei's eyes.

He then stood up, expanding his perception to the maximum.

The surrounding area still had lingering evil aura, but it was weakening, indicating that the evil spirits that had been here had long since retreated.

After a while,

Shen Changqing withdrew his perception and refocused on Situ Bei, his face expressionless.

"You were too complacent, and now you've fallen to the evil spirits."

Earlier, he had noticed that the Heavenly Surveillance Corps in Lin'an City were too relaxed and lacked the vigilance they should have had.

Their intelligence on the evil spirits was also incomplete.

Now, with the Yongfu Pawnshop being wiped out, it was the price Situ Bei paid for his complacency.

After all, although the Heavenly Surveillance Corps weren't very strong, they had numerous survival techniques. Otherwise, as the eyes and ears of the Demon Suppression Bureau, they wouldn't have been able to survive for so long in the demon-infested Great Qin.

In short,

the Heavenly Surveillance Corps were not strong, but their survival skills were top-notch.

Examples of them being easily wiped out like the Yongfu Pawnshop were rare.

This also showed that

Situ Bei had forgotten most of what the Heavenly Surveillance Corps should have been.

After thoroughly searching the Yongfu Pawnshop, Shen Changqing confirmed that the entire branch of the Heavenly Surveillance Corps had been wiped out.

This also showed that the Eternal Alliance had come prepared.

They had immediately wiped out the Heavenly Surveillance Corps' base, effectively blinding the Demon Suppression Bureau in Lin'an City.

However,

the Eternal Alliance probably didn't expect that the Heavenly Surveillance Corps in Lin'an City were almost useless. Wiping out the Yongfu Pawnshop had little impact on the Demon Suppression Bureau or even on Shen Changqing.

After a thorough search,

Shen Changqing dug a deep pit on the spot and buried all the corpses there. He left the remaining items untouched and returned to the yamen.

As he returned,

the battle outside the city was still ongoing, and there were fires breaking out in the city.

When Shen Changqing returned to the yamen, he immediately gathered the constables who were resting there.

"There's a fire in the city, definitely caused by evil spirits. Gather the nearby civilians to extinguish the fires and prevent a major disturbance!"

"Your subordinate obeys!"

The constables hurriedly accepted the order.

Shen Changqing looked at the scene outside the yamen. The city, which had been dark, was now illuminated by the fires.

"The evil spirits are at a disadvantage; otherwise, they wouldn't resort to such extreme measures, setting fires. They must be desperate!"

Setting the city on fire was undoubtedly an attempt to create panic.

Now that all the constables had been dispatched,

"Unfortunately, Lin'an City is too small and not strategically important, so there are no troops stationed here. Otherwise, it would be easier to handle."

Shen Changqing sighed.

The Great Qin Empire was vast, and not every city had troops stationed.

In fact,

cities with troops were either large or strategically important. A small place like Lin'an City was lucky to have a few dozen constables.

Taking a step, his body leaped into the air.

Shen Changqing stood on the roof of the yamen, his field of vision suddenly expanding, allowing him to see a large part of Lin'an City.

Originally, the city was dark, and even with night vision, he couldn't see very far.

But now,

fires were breaking out everywhere.

With the help of the firelight, Shen Changqing could see much farther.

Standing on the roof of the yamen,

Shen Changqing could clearly see that many civilians had run out of their homes to help extinguish the fires due to the fire situation.

Further away,

was the battle outside the city.

Unfortunately, the distance was too great, and even from a high vantage point, he couldn't see much.

"Come on!"

"Let me see how many evil spirits are left in Lin'an City—"

Shen Changqing expanded his perception to the maximum, his gaze scanning the entire city, trying to locate the evil spirits.

Since the Eternal Alliance had resorted to setting fires, the evil spirits wouldn't be as discreet as before.

After all, in the eyes of the evil spirits, humans were like pigs and dogs.

Now that the mask had been torn off, they would surely engage in a large-scale slaughter before retreating.

Looking around,

all he saw were raging fires.

While the civilians were busy extinguishing the fires, a cold and sinister aura flashed by.

"I've found you—"

Accurately capturing that cold and sinister aura, Shen Changqing's face showed a cold and fierce smile.

In the next moment,

his body leaped into the air, heading in the direction where the sinister aura had disappeared.

Soon,

he landed in a courtyard.

The faint sinister aura had now become much stronger. Looking around, he saw corpses lying on the ground everywhere.

The way these corpses had died,

was the same as the Heavenly Surveillance Corps at the Yongfu Pawnshop, all drained of their essence blood.