Chapter 257: Soul Vault - Shadow Crow

Chapter 257: Soul Vault - Shadow Crow

After returning to Qionghua Tianlu Lake from the training ground, Lu Heng sent Chen Lianian a message, asking for the photograph of the strange bird from the case file.

It didn't take long for the photo to arrive.

Lu Heng held his phone, looking at the picture of the strange bird, and finally recognized what it was.

This bird was charred to a crisp, its wings and claws almost burned away, making it difficult to identify.

Seeing 013 again today and realizing he didn't have his previous memories, Lu Heng finally understood what this bird was.

The Ironblood Investigation Bureau had consulted professors in the field of ornithology, but none could identify the bird.

This was because it wasn't a bird born in the human world; it came from the Abyss.

The Shadow Crow, a bizarre demonic creature that devours the hearts of living beings and then inhabits their heart's position, controlling their actions.

For this reason, when the first 013's body was autopsied, the forensic doctor determined that the body had been dead for over a week.

Because this body wasn't a clone; it was a Shadow Crow puppet, and its heart had been devoured.

In other words, the second 013 Lu Heng met in the afternoon was the same; a Shadow Crow was hiding in his heart.

Moreover, Shadow Crows often exist in more than one, which is why there were multiple 013s.

These 013s could even appear simultaneously in different places, carrying out the commands of the Crow God.

Shadow Crows have a unique trait; each one is an independent individual with its own thoughts and memories.

They communicate with each other through face-to-face interaction.

Therefore, the Shadow Crow that died during the pursuit of 027 had its memories burned to ashes as well.

When the second 013 appeared, it didn't know what had happened during the pursuit of 027.

...

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

Since the practice room at Qionghua Tianlu Lake was in the same community as their home, it didn't take long for Su Muyu to arrive, carrying a plate of freshly cut fruit.

"The watermelon season is almost over. In a few days, you won't be able to find any. Try some," she said, placing the fruit plate on the table and taking out a hairband. With skilled movements, she tied her hair up, pulling it to the sides to tighten the hairband.

Her hair was still slightly damp, indicating she had just washed it and hadn't had time to blow it dry before coming down.

As she shook her hair, a faint scent of shampoo wafted through the air.

Lu Heng picked up a piece of watermelon and took a bite, then pushed the phone towards Su Muyu, saying, "Shadow Crow, 013's true form."

Upon hearing that it was 013's true form, Su Muyu's expression turned solemn, and she stared intently at the photo on the phone.

"That day, I did see a bird get hit by Dragon Breath Slash and fall on fire. But I thought it was just an ordinary bird; there are a lot of trees there," Su Muyu said, not realizing that this bird was the key to the whole incident.

Not only her, but Lu Heng had overlooked this detail as well.

After all, the coverage area of Dragon Breath Slash was so vast that even the residual heat was several thousand degrees. Any bird that came into contact with the heat wave would surely fall.

"This Shadow Crow devours people's hearts and then controls their actions. The 013s we've seen are actually Shadow Crow puppets. In other words, there are many 013s, but fortunately, each Shadow Crow is an independent individual with its own memories and thoughts."

Lu Heng shared all the information he could think of about Shadow Crows and added, "So, from now on, you need to pay attention to the birds around us and be vigilant about Shadow Crows monitoring us."

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

"It's quite sweet," Lu Heng said, picking up another piece of watermelon and popping it into his mouth.

"Are you sweeter than me?" Su Muyu suddenly rested her chin on her hand, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

Lu Heng raised an eyebrow at her, and with a mischievous smile, he said, "I'll have to taste you to find out."

Su Muyu's ears turned red at his words, and she quickly changed the subject, "Such important intelligence, should we inform Xie Shi En?"

"I've already sent him a code online. Let's see when he comes," Lu Heng replied.

When Lu Heng and Xie Shi En parted ways, they had exchanged contact information.

Such crucial information couldn't be sent to him online, so Lu Heng had only sent a code, waiting for him to come and discuss it in person.

Xie Shi En possessed the ability to appear and disappear mysteriously, and no one knew when he would show up.

Just as Lu Heng picked up the last piece of watermelon from the fruit plate, Su Muyu suddenly said, "He's here."

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

Su Muyu got up to open the door, and the Celestial Phoenix had already spotted Xie Shi En, so she knew it was him.

"Aren't you going to save a piece for me?" Xie Shi En asked as he entered.

Lu Heng tossed the last piece of watermelon to him, teasing, "You actually knocked on the door."

The watermelon flew into the air, slowing down and hovering in front of Xie Shi En.

Clearly, he had caught it with his psychic force.

"027 doesn't need to knock, but Xie Shi En does," he said, reaching out to catch the watermelon and taking a bite.

Lu Heng got straight to the point, explaining the information about Shadow Crows and showing him the photo.

After listening, Xie Shi En processed the information in his mind and nodded, "So that's it. When I was mentally battling with 013, I also felt his psychic force was strange. It turns out it wasn't a human, but a bird."

Lu Heng corrected him, "To be precise, Shadow Crows are deep abyssal demonic creatures. From a DNA perspective, they don't belong to any classification of Blue Star lifeforms. Whether it's the domain, phylum, class, order, family, genus, or species, they don't fit into any of them."

Xie Shi En nodded, "That's true. Deep abyssal demonic creatures are a different system, and they can't be classified using Blue Star lifeform categories. They just resemble birds."

Although they now knew that 013 was a Shadow Crow, there was more than one of them.

The uncertainty remained high.

Lu Heng proposed an idea, "Next time we encounter 013, we can try to discern its spiritual strength to confirm if it's the same one. We need to determine how many Shadow Crows there are. The more there are, the more troublesome it'll be to deal with them."

Xie Shi En pondered, "Based on my intuition, all the 013s I've encountered are the same. Their psychic energy fluctuations have never changed. It's likely that a single Shadow Crow is responsible, and it will continue to be so unless that Shadow Crow dies. Otherwise, they wouldn't switch."

Regarding the Shadow Crows, in his previous life, Lu Heng had only seen related information and never encountered them in person.

If he had seen them before, he would have recognized them much earlier.

Moreover, information about the Shadow Crows was scarce. Even in his previous life, he only knew of their existence, with rumors of a 'Crow God' behind them.

As for what this 'Crow God' was, no one knew, and no one had ever seen it.

Lu Heng hadn't considered that the Shadow Crow 013 was a member of the Creator Organization.

If the 'Crow God' wasn't human but some kind of abyssal demon, then the members recruited by the Creator Organization weren't limited to humans; abyssal demons could also become part of the organization.

There was another possibility: the 'Crow God' was a human who had mastered the ability to control the Shadow Crows.

Regardless of which, the true identity of 013 was dangerous.

...

After discussing the Shadow Crows, Lu Heng brought up another matter, "What about the Soul Vault? Can we take a look at it?"

The two sides had already established an alliance, though not yet to the point of entrusting each other with their lives. But there was a possibility that they might in the future.

Sharing intelligence was a mutual process.

Xie Shi En gave it some thought and then took out a box, placing it on the table. "The Soul Vault is in this box. It emits an evil aura. If you want to open it, I'll use my psychic force to seal the surrounding air to ensure the aura doesn't leak out."

Lu Heng had never seen a Soul Vault before, and the box contained an unused one.

Driven by curiosity, Lu Heng opened the box.

Inside was not a vault but a crystal bottle with a bluish glow, its mouth sealed with a wooden stopper and a vine tied around its neck.

Upon seeing the blue crystal bottle, Lu Heng indeed sensed a strange aura.

He wasn't surprised that the Soul Vault wasn't a vault.

The term 'Soul Vault' for a Lich was just a name, meaning a container for storing a Lich's soul.

This container wasn't limited to a vault; it could be anything that could hold a soul.

Using an ordinary-looking container for the Soul Vault made it easier to deceive enemies.

Lu Heng touched the crystal bottle and saw its attribute data.

[Unused Soul Vault]



[Item Grade: A-Grade]



[Appearance Description: This Soul Vault is crafted from an unknown material, its surface engraved with intricate runes and twisted patterns, emitting a faint blue light.]



[Attribute: +8 Spirit (Necromancy Exclusive)]



[Effect: Soul Preservation, Soul Absorption]



[Attribute Bonus: When casting Necromancy or Curse skills, spell effects increase by 20%.]



[Soul Preservation: The Soul Vault can hold a single soul. Once a soul is placed inside, the owner's life will transform into a Lich. As long as the Soul Vault remains intact, the Lich can be reborn from it.]



[Soul Absorption: During combat, the owner can absorb the enemy's energy and convert it into their own. Only Necromancy-type sorcerers, demons, Liches, or monsters with Necromancy attributes can use this.]



The last effect, Soul Absorption, can only be used by Necromancy-type sorcerers, demons, and Liches.

Similarly, the increase in Spirit attribute is also exclusive to Necromancy.

In other words, this item is basically useless to the living.

Of course, one can put their soul into the Soul Vault to directly transform into a Lich and gain its attributes.

However, the attribute and effect bonuses only apply when the item is equipped.

This means that if a Lich carries the Soul Vault, they gain 8 Spirit and the Soul Absorption effect.

But Liches, to ensure their survival, typically don't carry the Soul Vault on their person; they hide it where enemies can't find it.

This makes the Soul Vault's attributes somewhat redundant.

Of course, upon transformation into a Lich, one gains Necromancy attributes and immense power.

Moreover, this Soul Vault is A-Grade, meaning the resulting Lich will have A-Grade strength, equivalent to the power of a metahuman between levels 30 and 40.

Additionally, due to the Soul Vault, Liches can be reborn, feel no pain or fear, and fear no death in battle.

As a result, their actual combat strength is far superior to that of other beings of the same level.

After reading the Soul Vault's attributes, Lu Heng asked thoughtfully, "Where did this come from? Do you know?"

Xie Shi En nodded, "I have a rough idea. A team from the Creator Organization entered the Magic Plane and disrupted a Lich transformation ceremony, retrieving this Soul Vault."

Lu Heng continued, "The Creator Organization considers this a sacred artifact, clearly valuing it highly. Do you know what they intend to use it for?"

Xie Shi En shook his head, "I'm not sure about that. But the Creator Organization does value it highly. I originally planned to steal it quietly, but I was discovered."

His initial plan was to create an accident, causing the Soul Vault to be lost, and then seize the opportunity to take it or destroy it.

The plan did not go as smoothly as intended. They managed to obtain the Soul Vault, but 013 discovered their actions.

Xie Shi En reflected on the situation, saying, "Now I understand why the plan to steal the Soul Vault failed. I initially thought there was only one 013, but it seems there was another Shadow Crow observing my actions."

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

Xie Shi En had already considered this, and after putting the box away, he replied, "I intend to keep it for now. If I get the chance to enter the magic plane where liches reside, I'll see if it holds any value. And if I'm ever captured by the Creatrix Organization, I'll destroy it before I die."

His plan seemed sound, and since he had risked his life to obtain the item, Lu Heng raised no objections.

...

After discussing business, Su Muyu expressed concern, "Is Aunt Liu settled in?"

Xie Shi En nodded, "The state has arranged a new identity for her, and she's been placed in another nursing home. When I visit her, there won't be any records, so the Creatrix Organization won't be able to find her. It's just that there won't be any more students of the teacher visiting the teacher's wife."

"For safety, this is the best we can do. Once things are more secure, we'll go visit her." Lu Heng refrained from asking about the specific nursing home where Liu Lanying was placed.

After all, the more people who knew, the greater the risk of exposure.

"Thank you," Xie Shi En nodded in gratitude.

After their meeting, for safety reasons, Xie Shi En did not linger and departed as quietly as he had arrived.

...

In the following days, Lu Heng continued his sword training. Once he accumulated half a day's worth of tempering orders, he would make a trip to Forge Castle to fulfill them, gaining experience for his secondary profession.

Su Muyu spent even more time in Forge Castle, working daily in the gemstone workshop, engraving rune circuits onto gemstones.

As her skills improved, her success rate in creating rune gemstones soared to an astonishing level.

After reaching 1500/2000 in inscription profession experience, she managed to break even.

This was achieved despite the skyrocketing prices of inscription materials, demonstrating an incredible success rate.

The complexity of rune circuits varied, with higher-level circuits being more intricate.

Consequently, less focused inscribers would have a significantly lower success rate when engraving rune gemstones.

The delicate nature of rune circuits required microscopic observation to discern the fine, hair-like patterns.

A single mistake in engraving a rune circuit would render the entire inscription process a failure.

Thus, inscribers often faced abysmally low success rates in the early stages of their profession.

This was why inscribers needed to invest heavily in gaining profession experience early on.

Even before advancing to the advanced inscriber rank, Su Muyu had achieved a balanced income in her secondary profession, showcasing exceptional talent in inscription.

After creating rune gemstones, other jewelers would craft them into various pieces of jewelry for sale in the market.

Due to the relatively low attributes of gemstones created by lower-level inscribers, a C-grade gemstone might only provide a +2 boost to spirit attributes.

While this could enhance the abilities of metahumans, those above level 20 typically had an average of 40 attribute points, making a +2 boost less noticeable.

Consequently, the price of rune gemstone jewelry couldn't be set too high, barely covering the cost of materials.

However, jewelry made from Dragon Eye gemstones, offering a +8 or even +9 boost to spirit attributes, was a different story.

Currently, Su Muyu was focusing on leveling up her inscription profession.

Upon reaching the advanced inscriber rank, she would be able to create gemstones with a +4 or higher spirit attribute boost and attempt to engrave a second rune circuit.

This would allow a single piece of jewelry to have two inscription effects.

Consequently, the attributes and inscription effects of the jewelry would double.

For weapons and equipment, doubling the attributes would result in a price increase of at least three to four times, not just double.

If the inscription effect was exceptional and the gemstone's attributes exceeded the standard, the price could rise even further.

Therefore, once she advanced to the advanced inscriber rank, this secondary profession would become profitable.

Furthermore, no advanced inscribers had emerged yet, so if Su Muyu could reach this rank at this time, she would be the sole master of inscription in Bluesphere.

Monopolizing the production of high-attribute jewelry would grant her pricing power.

The wealthy families and conglomerates would have no choice but to buy or not buy; they wouldn't have the leverage to negotiate prices.

This was similar to the current situation with Guru Master Gulu, whose forging abilities were unparalleled on Bluesphere.

Among human metahumans, even if there were forgers, they would only be apprentice forgers at this stage, incomparable to Master Gulu's forging expertise.

Consequently, the conglomerates and families seeking B-grade or even A-grade weapons had no choice but to entrust their resources and materials to Gulu for forging, with no room for negotiation.

With Forge Castle and the Flame Seal Club dominating the fields of tempering, forging, and inscription, vast amounts of wealth began to flow into Binhai. More and more top-tier metahumans appeared in the city, aspiring to become members of the Flame Seal Club.

It wasn't just metahumans from Daxia; many from other countries were also frequenting Binhai.

This dynamic created an undercurrent of tension in the city.

The Ironblood Investigation Bureau grew increasingly anxious due to the sheer number of top-tier metahumans.

With so many powerful individuals, any incident could potentially cause a terrifying disturbance.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end