Heaven's Formula

"You're welcome." She didn't mean to evade at all.

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this." Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit weird, Wei Wushuang offered to propose, "Why don't we have dinner together today, and I will treat you to the first batch of alchemist teams in Jinxia City!"

"Agreed!" Luo You'er immediately waved her arms in agreement.

"I don't care," Shangguan Cai glanced at Xia Fan, "It's up to this one."

"Brother Xia..." Wei Wushuang winked.

Xia Fan sighed. Although he was choked by Shangguan Cai, if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have recovered so quickly.Now that he refuses, it seems that he is a little stingy.In addition to the face of the fellow countrymen, it doesn't hurt for him to accompany him.

By the way, I can pack some delicious food for Li.

"I know, let's go."

……

In the following week, Xia Fan's life became unexpectedly regular.

Similar to civil servants clocking in at work, alchemists have to report to the Privy Council every morning to confirm whether there are any new tasks that need to be dealt with today.The newcomers also spend a morning to receive training.For example, some techniques of performing spells, and how to identify evil spirits and attack their weaknesses.

Especially in terms of technique, the Privy Council has made quite a lot of improvements. For example, there are six to eight pockets in the alchemist's suit, which can be used to put medicinal materials in different categories; Two to four different types of materials are drawn out by hand. Compared with the various postures of candidates in the examination, these fast-twitch movements are actually a kind of chic duel between knights.

What is more extreme is to tattoo the talisman on the arm, so that the alchemist can perform the double technique without the need for medicinal materials.It's just that this approach is contrary to the concept of "body and skin, accepting parents", and once tattooed, there is no way to improve it, so not many alchemists choose to do this.

In addition, Xia Fan found that repeatedly performing alchemy can indeed strengthen the effect of the technique.For example, after unreservedly performing a shock in Qingshan Town, he found that his magic ability has been improved again.This is not a vague feeling, but can actually be observed.

In the past, when he performed the first-level technique without the help of primers and talisman papers, he could only feel a slight numbness on his skin, but now, he can already pull out a small ray of electric light on his fingertips, accompanied by a tingling pain.

This is slightly different from the common sense he was familiar with in the past - the control variable method does not work here, or in other words, the most important prerequisite for the spell: "thought", is also added to the variable.It's a pity that the [-]st and [-]rd stage techniques consume basically the same amount of Qi, and the effect improvement is almost nonexistent.

After the morning class, the afternoon is free time.

The place they often go to is the recording department, where many books and secret records are stored, but the number of spells is not as much as Xia Fan imagined.For example, in terms of the shock technique, apart from the thunder technique he had already mastered, there were only two other complete secret records, namely the streamer technique and the snake shadow technique.

Master Zhang's explanation is that most of the basic spells circulated in the world, after long-term use and comprehension, these spells will be branded with a personal brand, and each will have its own characteristics when performed.As for what improvements the practitioners have made and what experience they have accumulated, only they know themselves, and whether they are willing to announce it is entirely up to the individual, and the Privy Council cannot interfere.

This statement also confirms from the side why the shock technique is the least among the eight alchemy techniques-it costs tens of hundreds of taels of silver just to try out new insights on weekdays, and it may not necessarily produce results. Get out of trouble.

The newly learned shock technique "Streamer" is easy to understand. It is almost a weakened version of the thunder technique. It is not affected by the terrain. It can be used normally even in caves and other places isolated from the sky. The effect is an arc that bursts out from the palm.

The shock technique "Snake Shadow" is very strange, the material it needs is actually a fresh snake spine, according to the description in the secret record, this technique can improve the body's reaction speed and the sensitivity of the five senses in a short period of time.It's a pity that this medicine introduction is really a bit off the beaten track, and he can't get started even if he wants to try it.

Compared with alchemy, which is expensive to learn, another type of books aroused Xia Fan's interest.

He discovered that the recording department actually collected a lot of kung fu.

Here is the movement technique that Luo mentioned lightly.

It's just that these movements are not so mysterious that you can fly into the sky with a light leap by stepping on the back of your left foot. Most of them are based on the coordination of steps and breath to achieve higher action efficiency.

In addition to the common body skills and kung fu with fists, feet and sticks, Xia Fan even found several books titled "Acupressure", "Secret Biography", and "Shen Gong".

It's just that on the cover of these books, there is an eye-catching red note, which says "unverified, lack of principle description, effect is doubtful, please practice carefully".

It seems that the scientific literacy of the Privy Council is quite high.

In addition, in the recording department, he also found a few books introducing the aristocratic family - it turned out that no matter whether it was the Fang family or the Luo family, they all originated from the heroes who had the merits of Conglong.In order to protect his family's longevity, the Holy Majesty entrusted these meritorious individuals with the responsibility of recruiting people who are grateful to the world, which also reduced the burden on the Privy Council in disguise.And the fact that the knowledge of spells is prohibited from being passed on outside makes it impossible for the aristocratic family to exist independently of the Privy Council. If they want to climb up, they must become alchemists within the system.

In other words, Luo You'er and Luo Qingqing don't have any biological relationship, they just happened to be accepted by the Luo family in Youzhou.This can be regarded as an answer to another question in Xia Fan's mind: since feeling qi is determined by nature and cannot be controlled by humans, how did the aristocratic family accumulate a large number of people who feel qi.

At the same time, the existence of Sanmen is easy to understand. Either he was picked up early like him and came into contact with the magic world through another way; or like Wei Wushuang, he has some background in his family and does not want to entrust his son to the family , Even if you can't learn it, you don't want to change your surname.

He even had reason to suspect that even if the truly powerful children of rich families did not rely on the aristocratic family, they could still receive alchemy education on the same level as Luo Qingqing, or directly enter the Privy Council without taking the exam.

After all, such things as special moves exist in any era.

After a week, Xia Fan has greatly supplemented his knowledge of alchemy, and he has basically caught up with the progress of the disciples of the aristocratic family - after all, when most of the knowledge of art is monopolized by the Privy Council, the latter's first-mover advantage lies more in Literacy enlightenment and entrainment time.

In addition to studying, he also took the time to visit several blacksmith shops in Jinxia City two or three times, dismantling his hole cards for them to forge.The price of pure copper—that is, red copper—is not that high. It is a little bit cheaper than wrought iron. Magnetic magnetite is even more expensive than cabbage. The cost of materials is less than a drop in the bucket compared to lightning wood.

The only difficulty lies in smelting copper into copper wire. In ancient times, there was no special wire drawing equipment, and it could only be polished by blacksmiths.As a result, the efficiency has dropped a lot.In seven days, he prepared a total of four magnetic copper rings, each costing an average of half a tael of silver, most of which were manual costs.

The regular life after joining the Privy Council made Xia Fan feel as if he had returned to his college days. Hunger and running around were far away from him. He no longer had to sleep with his clothes on his body, and he was always on guard against attacks by wild animals or other refugees.

Just when Xia Fan thought that this would be the content of his life for a long time after becoming an alchemist, an urgent message from Jinxia City broke the tranquility.

When reporting in the morning, Mrs. Zhang took them to the headquarters on a rare occasion.

A sixth-grade alchemist took over the position of team leader.

"I am the God Judge of the Privy Council Mansion. My surname is Zhang. I am good at Kunshu. You can call me Zhang God Judge. Yesterday, I received a report from Shenzhou Gaoshan County that there was a suspected evil case in the county, which has threatened the safety of the whole county." He said. Looking around at everyone, he said slowly, "Master Fang, who is in charge of the command department, ordered me to lead the team to deal with it. This is also a good opportunity to test what you have learned. I will give you half an hour to prepare, and we will leave on time!"

Chapter 53 高山阴云

The divine judge does not refer to someone who is superb in judging cases and has great skills, but is a unique title in the Privy Council just like the instructor.

When the command department investigates a case, it usually sends one or more teams. These teams are often mixed in the form of old and new, with the number ranging from five to ten people, and the god judge is the leader of the team. Usually between seven and five grades.

The case report this time did not come from an individual, but was reported by the county magistrate of Gaoshan County, which means that it is no longer a matter that can be solved by scattered monks outside the system.

During the one-hour preparation time, Xia Fan rushed back to his residence. He originally planned to inform Li and let her settle the dinner by herself in the next few days. Unexpectedly, after she heard that it was an official case, she rejected his proposal and told Ask to follow.Seeing that her opinion had been decided, Xia Fan had no choice but to give her enough silver, told her to hide her whereabouts, and took a carriage to Gaoshan County by herself.

Next, Xia Fan saw what "Privy Council Speed" is.

All the members of the team rode, and those who could not ride a horse were driven by a special jockey. One person and two horses trotted all the way.After arriving at the post station, the whole team changed their horses, and arrived at Gaoshan County, which takes more than half a day by regular drive, in just over two hours.

After getting off the horse, Xia Fan touched his numb buttocks, and decided that the first thing he should do when he goes back is to learn how to ride a horse, otherwise he would be squeezed into the small horseback with the jockey and endure Wang Renzhi's ridicule. Don't want to experience it a second time.

"Master Zhang, I have waited for you." The magistrate of Gaoshan County was already waiting at the gate of the yamen. Seeing the arrival of the Privy Council, he hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, "Do you want to rest first, or go directly to the scene?"

"Master Hu, it's important to do something, let's see the scene first."

"Understood." Zhixian waved his hand at his captor, "Clear the way and go to the place where the crime happened!"

"Yes, my lord."

On the way, Zhang Shenpan had already introduced the basic situation of the destination to Xia Fan and the others - the county magistrate here was surnamed Hu and his name was Huairen.In terms of scale alone, Gaoshan County is an extremely ordinary county in other places, but here, it has a special meaning.

As the closest county to Jinxia City, the main responsibility of Gaoshan County is to supply food to the main city.Although the word "mountain" is in the name, it does not affect its status as the granary of Jinxia.A mountain range from north to south only separates it from the sea, while to the west it is a wide plain.Xia Fan noticed that on the way here, most of the time his field of vision was filled with square rice fields. After another two months, it should be golden here.

It is precisely because of the importance of food supply that the Privy Council responded so quickly to Gaoshan County's report.

After crossing two streets and alleys, the head catcher stopped and pointed to a blocked compound.

"My lord, this is the first case."

Before approaching the courtyard gate, Xia Fan smelled a disgusting rancid smell.

"Tell me about the situation at that time, who was the first to discover the problem?" Zhang Shenping raised his leg and stepped over the threshold, and the others had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow in.

"Returning to my lord, it's the Kong family who lives next door. Two days ago they heard noises from Qian's house at night. The ping-ping-pong-pong pong was very strange. The next day they slapped the gate and no one responded. I led the people to the scene After, uh, when we arrive at...after..." The head catcher suddenly stuttered.

"What happened after that?" Zhang Shenpan asked impatiently.

He swallowed, "When we arrived, we found four corpses—the four members of the Qian family all passed away, and their deaths were extremely tragic."

Walking into the courtyard, the stench was already very strong, Xia Fan had to hold his breath to persevere, the others were not much better, and Luo Youer looked like he was about to vomit.

He remembered that the other party's sense of smell was quite sensitive.

Four sheets of sackcloth were covering the ground in the courtyard.

"Open it." Zhang Shenping said.

"Yes." The head catcher winked at Wu Zuo who was at the side, and the latter lifted the cover slowly.

"Ouch—" Luo You'er covered her mouth and ran out first.

Then came Wang Renzhi and Wei Wushuang.

Shangguan Cai's expression was dignified, although she didn't look well, she didn't take a step back.

Only Yue Feng's expression remained the same.

No wonder his companions couldn't bear it. If Xia Fan hadn't been baptized by Dafang and Xiaofang for a long time, he would probably run out at this moment.

The corpse under the white cloth showed an extreme sense of regularity, which could be described as horizontal and vertical. At first glance, it looked like a square block of wood.

The problem is, people are not blocks.

The Qian family seemed to be forced into square spaces of different sizes by an unimaginable force, but all the protruding parts were pressed flat.This kind of abnormal compression caused a large number of epidermis to rupture, bones to break, and the inside was a mess, but no matter how broken the body was, the surface was still smooth, even the hardest head.

Xia Fan couldn't help but think of the game Minecraft.

However, seeing the cube man in reality, he just felt a little panicked.

"Are there other victims besides the Qian family?" Zhang Shenju asked.

"Yesterday there was an additional Xue family, just one street away from here. Two people died in total, and one escaped by running out of the house."

"Did two incidents happen in two consecutive days...there is a need to report it." He showed a thoughtful expression, "Did you lose the guy who survived?"

"Why, my lord was joking," the headhunter said with a smile, "We are also experienced people, so we locked him up right away. He is waiting in his yard now."

"That's right," Zhang Shenpan nodded, and then shouted out of the yard, "Hey, are you done vomiting? Come in and do business when you're done! Mrs. Zhang should have taught you how to start an evil case, right? It's time for you to act. "

……

Unless they have the ability to directly restore the situation on the spot, alchemists can only start from the part of inquiry and investigation.

Xia Fan suggested dividing people into two groups. He, Wei Wushuang, and Luo Youer inspected the scene, while Wang Renzhi, Yue Feng, and Shangguancai went to inquire about the situation. This proposal was quickly approved by most people, except Luo Youer.

"You're not intentionally taking revenge on me, are you?" She held her nose tightly and said vaguely with her eyes wide open, "If I'm smoked to death, how will you explain to my senior sister?"

Hey... Your choice of words is a bit strange, when will I have to be a guardian?

"Miss Luo," Xia Fan squatted down, put his hands on each other's shoulders, and said slowly with the most sincere expression, "We are a team, right?"

She nodded.

"If we want to find the culprit, we must grasp its tracks. Besides you, who else here can have such efficient tracking capabilities?"

She looked hesitant.

"This is the team's first mission. How fast everyone can rise in the Privy Council in the future is definitely the key. Everyone is relying on you now."

She bit her lower lip.

"I know it's not easy, but it's because of this that you can highlight your irreplaceability—just like how your senior sister Luo Qingwei stood up in front of many candidates in the face of the wild night."

"Can I be like Senior Sister..." she muttered.

"Of course, as long as you have a firm heart, it is not impossible to surpass her."

"I... Got it." Luo You'er seemed to have made up her mind.

It's done.Xia Fan thought with satisfaction, it seems that his level of filling chicken soup has not declined.

"Actually..." She turned her head when she walked to the door, and said in a low voice, "I never thought of surpassing my senior sister... as long as I don't get thrown too far by her, that's enough." After she finished speaking, she pursed her lips, Quickly walked into the house.

Looking at the other party's innocent smile, Xia Fan suddenly felt guilty.

Chapter 54 scene

After Luo You'er finished checking the house and followed the smell to find clues outside, he and Wei Wushuang also got busy in the house.

The furnishing in the room can be described as a mess, as if it had been arched by wild boars. There were obvious eruption-like bloodstains on the ground and walls, and these fan-shaped marks outlined the place where the deceased fell last.

From the first sight of seeing the victim, this case has been classified as an "evil incident".

Ordinary human beings have no way to make the corpse look like this. Even if the strength is comparable to a hydraulic machine, it is impossible to ensure a smooth surface.

The two endured the smell of spoiled blood and quickly determined the cause of death of the four victims.

Both the man and the woman of the Qian family died from being crushed by the closet, but the woman's body was shorter because of the partition on one side of the closet.Their eldest son was crushed to death by a drawer, and the place where the youngest girl fell was farthest from the bedroom, and she ran until the gate of the courtyard before stopping.It's a pity that a wooden barrel standing there killed her.

This conclusion is not whimsical. If the corpse is wrapped, it can just be stuffed back into these containers.

Remnants of flesh and blood inside wardrobes and drawers are also evidence that they once housed the dead.

Under the condition of such astonishing pressure, the container itself will not burst, this phenomenon beyond common sense is the characteristic of chaos.Only the evil spirits formed by accumulating harmonious qi can have such abilities.

"When the evil spirits appear at night, the head of the Qian family should be the first to be killed." Xia Fan pinched his nose and walked to the bedside, facing the blood-stained closet, "He may have woken up at night and didn't notice the closet The door is open."

"Agreed." Wei Wushuang nodded, "He didn't make any resistance when he was pulled into the cabinet, so one hand was still stuck in his trousers. But the scream of being squeezed woke up his wife, and the latter's first One response was to push the younger daughter out of bed, who was under six, while warning the older son in the next room."

Xia Fan glanced at the hoe mark left on the closet, then turned his gaze to the broken oil lamp on the ground, "Did the eldest son fight the evil spirit?"

"I'm afraid I just want to save my mother."

The result was obviously futile, a hoe alone was not enough to repel Xie Chong, and the direction of things after that was very clear. The eldest son tried to escape with his younger sister, but was pulled into the drawer of the table by the door by Xie Chong.Although the younger sister was the last to be targeted, she was unable to escape the catastrophe because of her age.

Then the two went to Xue's house again, the situation was similar, the only special thing was that one of the corpses was pressed into the shape of a water tank.

Xia Fan and Wei Wushuang looked at each other, and already had a preliminary answer in their minds.

His whereabouts are erratic, and he is not affected by the flames, so the possibility of a charm can basically be ruled out.