From the Abyss Invasion to the Blasting Star.

Chapter 257: The Crow of the Phylactery
After returning to Qionghua Tianlu Lake from the training ground, Lu Heng sent a message to Chen Linian, asking him for the photo of the strange bird in the case file.

It didn't take long before the photos were sent to me.

Lu Heng took out his phone, looked at the photo of the strange bird on it, and finally recognized what it was.

This strange bird was burned into charcoal, and its wings and claws were almost burned off, so it was so difficult to identify.

I saw 013 again today and found that he had no memory of his previous life. I finally figured out what this strange bird was.

The Iron Blood Investigation Bureau consulted professors in the field of birds, but none of them could identify what kind of bird it was.

Because this is not a bird born in the human world at all, but comes from the abyss.

Yin Crow is a strange monster that eats the heart of a living creature, then lives in the heart's place and controls the creature's actions.

It is for this reason that when the first autopsy of 013's body was performed, the forensic doctor determined that the body had been dead for more than a week.

Because this corpse was not a clone at all, but a Yin Crow puppet, and its heart had been eaten long ago.

In other words, the second 013 I saw this afternoon was the same, with a Yin Crow hidden in his heart.

Moreover, there is often more than one Yin Crow, so there will be multiple 013s.

Even these 013s can appear in different places at the same time to carry out the orders of the Crow God.

The Yin Crows have a characteristic: each one is an independent individual with independent thinking and memory.

To communicate with each other, face-to-face communication is required.

Therefore, the memory of the Yin Crow that died in the process of chasing 027 was also burned to ashes.

So when the second 013 appeared, he had no idea what happened during the pursuit of 027.

……

After recalling all the details about Yin Ya, Lu Heng sent a message to Su Muyu, asking her to come to the practice room.

Since the training room at Qionghua Tianlu Lake was in the same residential area as home, it didn't take long for Su Muyu to open the door and come in, holding a plate of cut fruit in her hand.

"Watermelon is almost out of season. You won't be able to eat it in a few days. Come and try some."

She put the fruit plate on the table, took out a hairband, and skillfully tied her hair up. She grabbed her hair and pulled it to both sides to make the hairband tighter.

Her hair was still a little wet, probably because she had just washed it and hadn't blown it dry yet.

When I shake my hair, I can still smell a faint scent of shampoo.

Lu Heng picked up a piece of watermelon and took a bite, then pushed the phone over and said, "Yin Ya, 013's true identity."

When Su Muyu heard that it was 013's true identity, his expression became serious and he stared at the photo on his phone carefully.

"Well...that day I did see a bird being hit by the Dragon Breath Slash and falling down on fire. But at the time I thought it was just an ordinary flying bird as there were many trees there." Su Muyu did not expect that this bird was the key to the whole incident.

Not only her, Lu Heng also overlooked this point at that time.

After all, the coverage area of ​​Dragon Breath Slash is so large that even the aftermath has a temperature of several thousand degrees. Any bird will definitely fall down if touched by the heat wave.

"This kind of Yin Crow will eat a person's heart and then control their actions. The 013s we see are actually Yin Crow puppets. In other words, there are many 013s. Fortunately, each Yin Crow is an independent individual with independent memories and thoughts."

Lu Heng told all the information he could think of about the Yin Crows, and finally added: "So, from now on, you have to pay attention to the birds that appear around you, and be alert to the Yin Crows that are monitoring us."

Su Muyu listened carefully and nodded in agreement: "Okay, I understand."

"It's quite sweet." Lu Heng picked up the second piece of watermelon and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Are you as sweet as me?" Su Muyu suddenly held her cheek and shivered.

Lu Heng raised his eyebrows and looked at her, chuckling, "I'll have to taste it to know."

Su Muyu's ears turned red, and she quickly changed the subject: "Should we tell Master Xie about this important information?"

"I have sent him a secret message online. Let's see when he will come."

When I parted with Xie Shien, we both left each other contact information.

This kind of important information definitely cannot be sent to him online, so I just sent him a secret code and waited for him to come over and talk in person.

Xie Shien has the ability to appear and disappear mysteriously, and no one knows when he will appear.

When Lu Heng picked up the last piece of watermelon in the fruit plate, Su Muyu suddenly said, "It seems to be coming."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door.

Su Muyu got up and went to open the door. The Chongming Bird had already seen Xie Shien in advance, so it knew that the person knocking on the door was him.

After Xie Shien came in, he asked, "Aren't you going to leave one for me?"

Lu Heng threw the last piece of watermelon over and said teasingly, "You actually know how to knock on the door."

The watermelon flew into the air, slowed down, and hovered in front of Xie Shien.

Apparently he caught the watermelon with his mental power.

"027 doesn't need to knock, but thanking the teacher does." He reached out to catch the watermelon and took a bite.

Lu Heng went straight to the point, repeated Yin Ya's information, and then showed him the photos.

After listening to Master Xie, he digested it in his mind, nodded and said, "I see. When I was battling with 013's mental power, I also felt that his mental power was very strange. It turned out that he was not a human, but a bird."

Lu Heng corrected him, "To be precise, the Yin Crow is a kind of abyss monster. From the perspective of DNA, it does not belong to any classification of Blue Star creatures, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. It is not one of them."

Xie Shien nodded: "That's true. The monsters of the abyss are a different system and cannot be classified using the classification of creatures on Blue Star. They just look like birds."

Although we know that 013 is a Yin Crow, there are more than one Yin Crows.

The uncertainty remains great.

Lu Heng thought of a plan and said, "Next time you encounter 013, you can try to distinguish its mental strength, confirm whether it is the same one, and determine how many Yin Crows there are. The more there are, the more troublesome it will be to deal with."

Xie Shien pondered for a moment and said, "According to my feeling, the 013s I have come into contact with are all the same, and their mental fluctuations have not changed. This should be a matter that a single Yin Crow is responsible for, and it will continue to be responsible for it. Unless this Yin Crow dies, there will be no other one to take over."

Regarding the Yin Crow, Lu Heng had only seen relevant information in his previous life and had never seen it with his own eyes.

If I had seen it in person, I would definitely have recognized it sooner.

Moreover, there is very little information about the Yin Crow. Even in the previous life, people only knew that the Yin Crow existed. It was rumored that there was a "Crow God" behind the Yin Crow.

As for what is the "Crow God"?
No one knows, and no one has seen it.

Lu Heng also didn't expect that Yin Ya was actually the member number 013 in the Creator Organization.

If the "Crow God" is not a human, but some kind of monster from the abyss, then the members recruited by the Creator Organization are not limited to humans, abyss monsters can also become members of the organization.

There is another possibility that the "Crow God" is a human being who has mastered some ability to control the Yin Crows.

No matter which one it is, the true identity of 013 is very dangerous.

……

After talking about Yin Ya, Lu Heng mentioned another matter: "Where is the life-saving box? Can we see it?"

The two sides are already allies, and although they are not yet at the point where they can turn their backs to each other, it is possible in the future.

Sharing intelligence is mutual.

After a moment's consideration, Xie Shien took out a box, put it on the table, and said, "The life-saving box is in this box. This thing will emit an evil aura. If you want to open it, I will use my mental power to seal the surrounding air to ensure that the aura will not leak out."

Lu Heng had never seen a life-saving box before, and the box contained an unused life-saving box.

Driven by curiosity, Lu Heng reached out and opened the box.

What lay in the box was not a box, but a dark blue crystal bottle with a wooden stopper in the mouth and a vine tied around the neck of the bottle.

When I saw this dark blue crystal bottle, I did feel a strange aura.

Lu Heng was not surprised to see that the life-saving box was not a box.

Because the lich's phylactery is just a noun, meaning the container that stores the lich's soul.

This container is not limited to a box, it can be anything as long as it can store the soul.

Moreover, using a container that does not look like a phylactery would make it more confusing.

After all, the lich needs to hide the phylactery to prevent the enemy from finding it, and using common items will make it easier to deceive the enemy.

Lu Heng reached out and touched the crystal bottle, and then saw the attribute data. [Unused Life Box]

[Item Level: A-level]

[Appearance Description: This life box is made of unknown materials, with complex runes and twisted patterns engraved on the surface, emitting a faint blue light.]

[Attributes: Spirit +8 points (Necromancy only)]

[Special effects: Soul preservation, soul extraction]

[Attribute bonus: When the holder casts necromancy or curse skills, the spell effect is increased by 20%. ]

[Soul Preservation: The phylactery can be used to hold a soul. The life that puts the soul into the phylactery will be transformed into a lich. As long as the phylactery is intact, the lich can be reborn through the phylactery. 】

[Soul Drain: In battle, the holder can use the phylactery to absorb the enemy's energy and convert it into his own energy. Only necromancy wizards, demons, liches, or monsters with undead characteristics can use it. ]

The last special effect, [Soul Drain], can only be used by necromancer wizards, demons, and liches.

Similarly, the attribute of increasing spirit is also limited to the necromancy system.

In other words, this thing is basically useless to a living person.

Of course, you can choose to put your soul into the phylactery and transform directly into a lich, so that you can gain the properties of the phylactery.

However, the attribute and special effect bonuses need to be carried on the person to take effect.

In other words, if a lich carries a life box with him, it can increase his mental strength by 8 points and gain the [Soul Drain] special effect.

However, in order to save their lives, liches usually do not carry their life boxes with them, but hide them where their enemies cannot find them.

This makes the properties of the phylactery a bit useless.

Of course, when transformed into a lich, one can gain undead characteristics and obtain powerful strength.

Moreover, this life box is of A-level, which means that the transformed lich will have A-level strength, which is equivalent to the combat power of a psychic between level 30 and 40.

In addition, because the lich has a life box, it can be reborn, and has no sense of pain or fear, so it is not afraid of death when fighting.

Therefore, the actual combat power displayed is much stronger than other creatures of the same level.

After reading the properties of the life-saving box, Lu Heng asked thoughtfully: "Where did this thing come from? Do you know?"

Xie Shien nodded and replied, "I know a little bit. A team from the Creator's organization entered the magic plane, disrupted a lich transformation ceremony, and took back the life box."

Lu Heng then asked: "The Creator Organization calls this thing a holy object, and it is obvious that they value it very much. Do you know what they want to do with it?"

Xie Shien shook his head: "I'm not sure about this, but the Creator Organization does value this thing very much. I originally wanted to steal it quietly, but I was discovered."

His original plan was to create an accident so that the phylactery would be lost, and then take it away or destroy it.

As a result, the plan was not completely successful. The phylactery was obtained, but it was also discovered by 013.

Xie Shien thought back to this incident and said, "Now I know why the plan to steal the phylactery failed. I originally thought there was only one 013, but now it seems that another Yin Crow must have observed my actions."

Lu Heng closed the box and asked, "What are you going to do with this?"

Xie Shien had already thought about this question, so he put the box away and replied, "I plan to keep it for now. If I have the chance to enter the magical plane where liches exist, I will see if it has any value.

"If I am caught by the Creator Organization one day, I will destroy it before I die."

There is nothing wrong with his plan.

Moreover, he took the risk to get the things, so Lu Heng did not raise any objection.

……

After talking about business, Su Muyu asked with concern: "Is Aunt Liu settled?"

Xie Shien nodded: "The state arranged a new identity for her and she moved into another nursing home. When I visit her, no records will be kept, and the Creator Organization will not be able to find her. In the future, no one of your students will visit your wife."

"For safety reasons, this is the only way. We'll visit her when it's safe again." Lu Heng did not ask which nursing home Liu Lanying was placed in.

After all, the more people know, the greater the risk of leakage.

"Thank you." Xie Shien nodded to express his gratitude.

After the three of them met, for safety reasons, Xie Shien did not stay for long. He came quietly and left quietly.

……

In the following days, Lu Heng continued to practice swordplay. When he had accumulated enough quenching orders for half a day, he would go to the Quenching Castle to complete the orders and gain experience for his secondary profession.

Su Muyu spent more time in Quenching Fort. She stayed in the gem workshop in Quenching Fort every day, engraving rune circuits on gems.

As her skills became more and more proficient, the success rate in making rune gems became higher and higher, and it was ridiculously high.

After reaching the inscriptionist professional experience of (1500/2000), she achieved a balance between income and expenditure.

This was achieved despite the skyrocketing prices of inscription materials, and the success rate is quite astonishing.

Since rune circuits are very complex, the more advanced the rune circuits are, the more complex they are.

Therefore, if an inscriber is not focused enough, the success rate of engraving rune gems will be very low.

After all, the rune circuits are very fine, and one needs microscopic observation to see the hair-like lines.

If one mistake is made in engraving these rune circuits, the entire engraving work will fail.

Therefore, when an inscription master first starts out, his success rate will be terribly low.

This is also the reason why inscription masters need to spend money to gain professional experience in the early stages.

Before Su Muyu was promoted to senior inscription master, he had already achieved a balance between income and expenditure. He was indeed very talented in the secondary profession of inscription master.

After the rune gems are made, other jewelers will be responsible for making them into various jewelry and then selling them on the market.

Since the properties of rune gems made by low-level inscriptionists are not particularly high, the spiritual attribute added by C-level gems is usually only two points.

Two points of attributes can indeed bring improvements to psychics, but for psychics above level 20, the average attribute is around 40 points, so the improvement of two points of attributes is not particularly obvious.

Therefore, the price of rune gemstone jewelry cannot be too expensive, and can barely make back the cost of materials.

Of course, if the jewelry is made of dragon eye gemstone, with spiritual attribute +8 or even +9, that is another matter.

Now Su Muyu is seizing the time to gain professional experience as an inscription master.

Because after being promoted to a senior inscriber, she will be able to create rune gems with spiritual attributes +4 or even higher, and can try to engrave a second rune circuit.

In this way, one piece of jewelry can have two inscription effects.

In that case, the properties and inscription effects of the jewelry will be doubled.

For weapons and equipment, if the attribute doubles, the price does not just double, it will at least triple or quadruple.

If the inscription is effective and the gem attributes are higher than the standard value, the price can go up.

Therefore, as long as you reach the level of a high-level inscriber, this secondary profession can start making money.

Moreover, there is no high-level inscription master at this stage. If Su Muyu can reach the high-level inscription master at this point in time, she will be unique in the field of inscription masters on Blue Star.

By monopolizing the production of high-attribute jewelry, you can directly obtain pricing power.

Those chaebols and big families only have the power to choose whether to buy or not, and they have no right to negotiate the price.

Just like Master Guru now, his forging ability is unique on Blue Star.

Even if there are blacksmiths among human superpowers, they are only apprentice blacksmiths at this stage. There is no room for comparison between them and Guru, the master blacksmith.

Therefore, those tycoons and families who want to obtain B-level or even A-level weapons can only give their resources and materials to Guru to forge them, without any choice.

With the Quenching Castle and the Fire Emblem Club, they have established a dominant position in the three fields of quenching, forging and inscription.

A large amount of wealth from all over the world began to gather in Binhai, and more and more top psychics appeared in Binhai, hoping to become members of the Fire Emblem Club.

Not only the psychics from Daxia, but also many psychics from other countries appear in Binhai City.

This caused the situation in Binhai to become turbulent.

Because there are too many top psychics appearing, the Iron Blood Investigation Bureau is very nervous.

After all, if something happens among so many top psychics, the noise will be terrifying.

(End of this chapter)