That sentence was like a bolt from the blue, catching everyone off guard and leaving them stunned.

Several seconds passed before an uproar erupted. The students' expressions changed drastically, and Teacher Luo Lesheng sprinted out, intercepting Fairy Niu Lan Shan and shouting sternly:

"What did you say? What did you say!

"What do you mean Xia Chaoxue is dead? Explain yourself clearly! If you dare to spout nonsense, I'll break your legs!"

This teacher, who claimed to be gentle, showed extreme irritability and impulsiveness.

"Teacher Xia Chaoxue is dead, in her room in the girls' dormitory. I didn't touch anything in the room." Fairy Niu Lan Shan calmly finished speaking and looked at the students. "Yuanshi Tianzun, take Ren Junzi and Guo Hezu to investigate the scene. Teacher Luo Lesheng, you go and inform the college's teachers to immediately gather downstairs in the girls' dormitory."

She arranged things in an orderly manner, as if by instinct. Although they were students, the Holy Ones present were all experienced officials who worked on the front lines. Their ability to respond to emergencies and handle affairs was even stronger than that of teachers who had retired to the second line for many years.

Without Fairy Niu Lan Shan urging them, the students acted quickly and rushed to the girls' dormitory.

Xia Chaoxue is dead? That's not scientific. Killing a colleague in the academy is a suicidal act. What kind of hatred could there be? Zhang Yuanchu acted immediately, leading the students towards the girls' dormitory. His heart was filled with confusion and shock. If he didn't understand Fairy Niu Lan Shan's personality, he would have suspected her of talking nonsense like Luo Lesheng.

Thinking of this, he glanced back at the students. He saw everyone frowning, their expressions solemn and full of confusion. Obviously, the experienced Holy Ones also felt that this matter was incredible. What kind of motive could drive someone to such extremes in the academy?

His gaze swept over the faces of the students one by one. Zhang Yuanchu saw Tianxia Guihu subtly winking at him. He didn't need Insight to understand Tianxia Guihu's hint.

*A murder has occurred. The academy will definitely conduct a strict investigation into the students' whereabouts last night. The dean is a Sentinel. The academy also has lie-detecting props. The trip to the underground palace will definitely reveal loopholes. I can use the Ghost Mirror to smooth out emotional fluctuations and avoid the Sentinel's Insight. If the lie-detecting prop is also Sentinel-type, the Ghost Mirror can solve it as well. If it's mental control, I can transfer it to Little Doubi. I'm very stable, but Tianxia Guihu and Xiahou Aotian are not stable. Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang are only stable against the latter. They can't avoid the Sentinel's Insight.*

*I finally got the First Emperor's relic. Nothing went wrong last night, but something like this happened today?* Zhang Yuanchu felt extremely anxious. Now, he could only take things one step at a time. This kind of sudden situation tested his ability to adapt. First, he had to send the Ghost Mirror to the princess, but if he proposed to return to the dormitory at this time, it would be illogical and arouse suspicion.

Zhang Yuanchu suddenly stopped and said, "Niu Lan Shan, come here for a moment."

Hearing this, Fairy Niu Lan Shan, who was jogging, stopped, and the students turned their heads to look. Zhang Yuanchu calmly instructed the students, "You go first. I'll say a few words to Fairy Niu Lan Shan."

Against the background of a murder case, it was normal to chat privately with the first person to come into contact with the crime scene. The students only glanced at him a few times before continuing to rush to the girls' dormitory.

"Don't call me Niu Lan Shan, call me Little Fairy." She pouted.

"Little Fairy and Gentleman are not compliments, okay?" Zhang Yuanchu didn't have time to waste words and quickly said, "I'm giving you a task. Go ask the academy's plants and animals, especially those in the girls' dormitory. See if you can find a Mu Yao (wood spirit) who understands animal and plant language and can get inspiration from the plants and animals. Although the flowers and plants may not be able to give you answers like 'Chang Wei is beating Lai Fu' as soon as I came in, you can always get some vague clues. It's better than nothing."

"Okay." Fairy Niu Lan Shan accepted the order and left. Zhang Yuanchu's vision reflected her back, reflected the backs of the students in front of him. Confirming that no one was paying attention to him, he inconspicuously took out the Ghost Mirror and threw it into the grass. Without changing his expression, he followed the main group.

Behind him, a round and cute little baby, with sparse lanugo on his head, was carrying a bronze mirror and quickly moving his limbs, like a nimble cat, using the cover of grass and trees to crawl towards the boys' dormitory.

Soon, the group arrived at the girls' dormitory. Ren Junzi and Guo Hezu, as swordsmen, cautiously pushed open the door and entered first. Zhang Yuanchu stopped at the door and said to the crowd, "Lingjing Yijia's (Lingjing One Family's) people stay outside. Those who have made C-level or higher achievements, come in with me. Everyone else, wait where you are."

At this time, he changed his lazy, slacking-off style and took out the aura of "Yuanshi Tianzun", the aura of a peerless genius and a big shot with meritorious service. The reason why he only allowed those with C-level merits to enter was because merits were directly linked to ability. Elite participation was enough to handle the murder case. There was no need for others to get involved. As for the disciples of Lingjing Yijia, there were few of these second-generation disciples who could compare with the executives working on the front lines, referring to handling cases.

Hearing this, the Holy Ones silently took a few steps back. Tianxia Guihu, Zhao Chenghuang, Sun Miaomiao, Fairy Niu Lan Shan, Yuan Ting, and Peony Fairy followed Yuanshi Tianzun into the house. Passing through the entrance hall, they arrived at the bedroom. Guo Hezu and Ren Junzi were examining the corpse and observing the room.

Zhang Yuanchu entered the bedroom and looked at the bed. The white sheets were stained black and red with blood. A young woman wearing a silk nightgown was lying on the bed, her eyes staring at the ceiling.

"It is Xia Chaoxue." Her beautiful face was bloodless, her beautiful eyes were wide open, her neckline appeared disheveled, and the hem of her skirt covered the base of her thighs. Black chiseled silk underwear hung on her ankles.

With a cold and stern expression, Guo Hezu said, "There are two fatal wounds. One is that the skull was crushed, destroying the brain tissue. The other is that the chest was pierced by a sharp weapon, directly opening the heart. Xia Chaoxue had almost no resistance."

"He then looked at the chiseled silk underwear hanging on the ankle and said, "Which of you female students can come and see if she was **raped**?" Hmm, this statement is not accurate. Should I say, is there any sign of her being **defiled**?"

Peony Fairy looked at Sun Miaomiao and then at Fairy Niu Lan Shan and said, "I'll do it. I have experience in autopsy and have handled similar cases."

After speaking, she walked to the bed and lifted Xia Chaoxue's nightgown. The gentlemen present consciously turned around. After a few tens of seconds, Peony Fairy said, "There were signs of **defilement** before death."

"I have a question." Zhang Yuanchu suddenly said.

In the boys' dormitory, in room 404, Princess Yin Yao, elegantly sitting at the desk, tilted her head and saw the round and cute infant spirit crawling through the wooden door like a little seal, with a phoenix-carved bronze mirror on its head.

Princess Yin Yao knew Yuanshi Tianzun's meaning when she saw this. *Communicate with the brand in the sea of consciousness. I agree.*

She immediately sat motionless. A few seconds later, she possessed the infant spirit. The other hand of the infant spirit touched the bronze mirror on its head and wiped it on the forehead. A pale light lit up, and the pigment-like light submerged the entire face. Black and red pigment outlined upward-sloping eyes and downward-turned corners of the mouth, depicting a cunning and sinister white facial makeup. The White Face is insidious and cunning, good at using conspiracies.

After entering the Yin Corpse, Zhang Yuanchu leaned lazily against the back of the chair and conveyed a mumbling mental wave: *If any of the four of them have an accident, the underground palace operation will fail. It's too late to kill them now. I have to think of a way, have to think of a way... Hiss, which bastard chose this time to kill someone and ruin my plan? I'm going to skin him and pull out his tendons. What's the problem?*

Guo Hezu cast a questioning glance.

"Why is it **defilement** instead of rape?" Zhang Yuanchu asked.

Ren Junzi answered this question for Guo Hezu: "Because there are no signs of fighting in the room. The state of Xia Chaoxue's body also proves that there was no fighting. Her facial expression shows that she did not expect the murderer to kill her before death. In addition, there are signs of ***defilement***, so it is judged that the crime was committed by an acquaintance."

"It is very likely that it is Xia Chaoxue's lover. We need to investigate her interpersonal relationships. However, one thing is very suspicious. Xia Chaoxue is a Sand Ghost. The Sand Ghost's passive immunity to physical attacks can save her life."

"Even if Xia Chaoxue didn't expect to be attacked, she should have reacted after being attacked, right? That's what I'm referring to." While Zhang Yuanchu was delaying time, he used the White Face's buff to quickly think of countermeasures. "If Xia Chaoxue was being influenced by a mental control skill, the absence of fighting doesn't necessarily mean that the crime was committed by an acquaintance. It could also be the situation I'm talking about."

Ren Junzi nodded: "A very logical conjecture, but I think there can be a simpler and easier way. This requires the help of you Star Officials."

Zhao Chenghuang nodded with a cold expression: "I'll do it."

Anxious was not only Zhang Yuanchu, but from beginning to end, the underground palace team had not exchanged glances, had not shown any abnormalities, and showed good psychological qualities.

Zhao Chenghuang turned his gaze and stared at Xia Chaoxue's body. Black, viscous energy quickly stained his eye sockets, covering his pupils and whites of his eyes. After looking at it for a few seconds, his brows suddenly furrowed, the blackness in his eyes receded, and his tone became particularly solemn: "The spirit body has been erased."

"Erased?" Hearing this, Sun Miaomiao, Zhang Yuanchu, and Yuan Ting all showed strange expressions.

The eyes of the others also became complicated, and their gazes swept back and forth across the faces of the three from Tai Yi Sect.

Erasing the spirit body of the deceased was a power that only Night Watchers possessed. There were so many Star Officials in Qinfeng Academy: four students, one teacher. Ren Junzi swept across the four Star Officials and said lightly: "My intuition tells me that this case may be very troublesome."

Just as he was speaking, the door to the room was pushed open, and the gray-haired old dean, carrying the "Star Observer" and "Teacher Song Man", arrived. Seeing the corpse on the bed, the dean's expression instantly sank, and then he looked at the students in the room. "Tell me your findings."

Tianxia Guihu reported the analysis of the two swordsmen and the results of Zhao Chenghuang's soul questioning without missing any details to the dean.

"In Qinfeng, I have taught in the college for so many years and encountered a murder case for the first time, and the deceased is still a deacon..." The dean pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled a heavy breath. "Xingkong, go and take a look."

The "Star Observer" walked to the bed and used his Soul Eating skill. Soon, he shook his head and said: "The spirit body has indeed been erased."

The dean nodded slowly, personally walked around the room to do a second verification, and then asked: "Time of death?"

Guo Hezu responded: "Probably in the second half of the night or close to dawn."

So far, no technology can accurately pinpoint the time of death of the deceased. Even scouts with rich experience in autopsy can only pinpoint it within a general range.

The dean "hmm" and cast a sharp gaze over the students in the room. "Everyone, gather downstairs. In light of this incident, there will be no more classes. It would be best if the murderer could be found before the end of the training. If not, it can only be handed over to headquarters."

His tone was no longer gentle, revealing a sharp edge, as if the students were no longer students, but potential suspects. He, the dean, could not escape responsibility for a murder in the academy and would definitely bear the blame. Finding the murderer could be considered making up for his faults.

"Second half of the night, close to dawn..." White Face Yuanshi Tianzun vaguely grasped inspiration.

In the second half of the night, they had already broken up and went to sleep. If the lie detection content could be set on "second half of the night", "dawn" and other words, then the lie detection props would not be able to distinguish the lies, because they were not lies in the first place.

While various thoughts flashed through his mind, Zhang Yuanchu suddenly noticed a detail, that is, Xia Chaoxue's sleeping position. Why didn't she take off her skirt when she went to bed? Why was Xia Chaoxue still wearing a skirt? Xia Chaoxue had a very good figure, with large breasts, a thin waist, and full hip curves. It was conceivable that her buttocks were also very large. If it were him, he wouldn't let her wear clothes.

The crowd in the room left with the dean. The Star Observer, who was walking at the end, closed the door and came to the bottom of the dormitory building with the students waiting in the corridor.

A murder occurred in Qinfeng Academy. This was the first time since the school was founded. The teachers of the academy were summoned to the downstairs of the girls' dormitory and divided into two camps with the students.

Everyone listened to the dean's low voice telling the results of the investigation. Now, Song Man and Fairy Niu Lan Shan had not obtained inspiration from the plants and animals. No outsiders had entered the girls' dormitory during the time of the incident. The case suddenly became tricky.

The old dean said in a sad voice: "I am the second dean of Qinfeng Academy. I have been here for six years. The previous dean served for eight years. I have served for six years. In the past fourteen years, the academy has never had a murder case. Xia Chaoxue's death makes me feel shocked, sorry, and angry."

After a pause, he slowly said: "But since things have already happened, we can only accept reality. Next, stop all courses until the case is clarified and the murderer is caught. During this period, students, teachers, and students and teachers must supervise each other and be vigilant against each other. You already know the results of the investigation. Who knows which male student Xia Chaoxue usually gets close to?"

No one answered. The male students looked at each other, and the female students scrutinized the male students. At this time, Yuan Ting said: "Dean, out of the twenty-two students, Sun Miaomiao and Zhao Chenghuang are from Tai Yi Sect, Sanyang Kaitai and Ren Junzi are from the same branch, Yuanshi Tianzun and Tianxia Guihu are from the same branch, and the rest are from different branches. That is to say... um, theoretically speaking, Xia Chaoxue shouldn't have a lover here, right? I'm not saying she has a problem with her private life, I'm just stating the facts."

Yuan Ting is the ultimate social butterfly, right? Zhang Yuanchu was both impressed and had a headache. If Xia Chaoxue shouldn't have a lover in the academy, then who did she sleep with last night? The complexity of the case suddenly skyrocketed.

"Is that **forced**?" Zhao Feiwu looked at Hongjige and said, "There aren't many people in the academy who can do this, right?"

"Who the hell are you looking at?" Hongjige was furious. "I have a harem of wives and concubines outside. The women who admire me can line up from Huadu to Jingcheng. Do I need to force it?"

The old dean scrutinized Hongjige. "The case is a bit complicated, and it doesn't seem like he did it."

Hongjige didn't know whether to be angry or happy for a moment.

"Is this case difficult? I think it's very simple." A voice with a sneer sounded. Everyone turned their heads to look. The speaker was Zhu Mingxu, who was dressed like an idol trainee. He met the gaze of the students and teachers and put his hands in his pockets and said: "Just now the dean said that there were no signs of fighting, it was a crime committed by an acquaintance, and the spirit body was erased after death. There are not many people who can do these two things, right? Yuanshi Tianzun."

As soon as these words came out, the crowd roared. Sun Miaomiao, Peony Fairy, Fairy Niu Lan Shan, and other female students glared at Zhu Mingxu.

"Sissy, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"Does Yuanshi Tianzun need to force it? Do you believe that as long as he wants, your mother will strip herself naked and lie there for him to do it?"

"It's not popular to be a sissy now. You don't even deserve to question Yuanshi Tianzun with your appearance."

The level of vulgarity when women cursed was no less than that of men. Most of the official Holy Ones, especially the female group, were fans of Yuanshi Tianzun. To take a step back, even if they weren't fans of Yuanshi Tianzun, they were people from the same organization. How could they allow the people of Lingjing Yijia to slander him?

Zhu Mingxu was splashed with foul language and insulted by women, and suddenly became annoyed and sneered, "The only ones who can erase spirit bodies are Night Watchers. The only ones who can come and go without a trace are Night Watchers. The only ones who can possess and control are still Night Watchers. You group of stinky women tell me, who isn't Yuanshi Tianzun? Of course, it may also be Teacher Zhao Chenghuang, Yuan Ting, and Xingkong. Anyway, it's just these few people. Investigate them."

The female students were still scolding angrily, but no one could say a word of rebuttal.

Zhang Yuanchu said loudly: "The clear are clear. Dean, I am willing to accept a lie detection."

The noise and scolding stopped. The dean nodded slightly: "This is a test that will inevitably occur."

Saying that, he grabbed a six-inch long brown horn from the item bar. "Hold this prop and answer my question. If you lie, it will glow."

Not being a Sentinel, Zhang Yuanchu frankly took the brown horn. Without waiting for the dean to speak, he took the initiative to say: "I didn't go to the girls' dormitory last night. Xia Chaoxue was not killed by me. I didn't defile her."

With the blessing of the White Face, his thinking speed was significantly accelerated, becoming more cunning and more agile, and his ability to respond to emergencies was stronger.

The crowd stared at the brown horn. It didn't have any reaction. Many female students secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Zhu Mingxu was stunned, his face full of disappointment, and then he fell into contemplation.

The four members of the underground palace operation team immediately understood that Yuanshi Tianzun was demonstrating to them. Following his set of procedures was feasible.

The old dean silently scrutinized him and nodded. Suddenly, he asked: "You were in the dormitory all night last night?"

"Why are you asking this?" Zhang Yuanchu looked at the dean with calm eyes. If it weren't for the Sage Time of the Ghost Mirror, his eyes would definitely be suddenly sharp or his pupils would shrink. This simple question exploded with a huge amount of information in Zhang Yuanchu's ears.

He had already proved his innocence. According to normal logic, since he didn't kill the person, why ask more questions? Did staying in the dormitory all night have something to do with the deceased? If he hadn't proved his innocence, such questioning could be understood, but the dean clearly knew that he was not the murderer through Insight and lie detection props, but still asked this question.

Only one person would care about whether the students left the dormitory at night, and that was the Armored Man. But how did he know that the stone door had been opened?