The next day, the morning light began to dew.
The mist of the old town has not completely dissipated, and the air is filled with the vapor of the Mead River and the smoke of the morning market.
Dr. Malwyn dragged his worn-out suitcase stuffed with all sorts of weird treasures behind Liu Qian and Janis.
When the boat carrying them left the port and merged into the open blue sea of Whispering Bay, Liu Qian stood at the bow of the ship, facing the salty sea breeze, and finally a relaxed smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
The harvest of this trip to the old town far exceeded his expectations.
Malwyn leaned alone on the side of the ship, his cloudy gaze over the sparkling waves, staring for a long time at the shrinking white shadow in the direction of the old town, the tower.
The flames on the top of the tower looked less dazzling in the morning light, but they were still burning stubbornly.
Liu Qian walked to him silently and followed his gaze, and the tower looked both sacred and a little treacherous in the morning mist.
"That Earl of Old Town..."
Liu Qian's voice broke the silence: "With his daughter, who is said to be insane, he has locked himself up on that tower for more than ten years, what are he studying? "
Malwyn shook his head slowly, his eyes still not leaving the tower: "For more than ten years, they have never stepped down from the tower, only some rumors are floating in the streets and alleys of the old town, saying that they are studying magic on it." "
He paused, his tone confused: "But what kind of magic is it?" No one knows, the tower is too high, too closed, and the secret is buried too deep. "
Liu Qian's eyes fell on the burning spire of the tower, thinking in his heart.
At the same time, deep in the school city.
A black-winged raven fluttered its wings and landed accurately on a busy clerical desk.
A young assistant bachelor skillfully untied the thin tube tied to the bird's leg and took out the tightly rolled paper inside.
Unfolding the letter, after reading only a few lines, the blood on his face quickly faded, replaced by incredible horror.
"Quick, report to the manager."
He raised his head sharply and shouted to the other apprentices in the room: "King's Landing is urgent, the Oriental wizard in the Stone Steps has completely defeated the pirate leader Salado Thorn.
The letter said that he had a legion of dead people under his command, and sent Schir to urgently request the school city and immediately send a scholar who was proficient in necromancy to King's Landing to find a way to deal with the wizard necromancer. "
...
The seven-day sea journey passed quietly.
When the ship sailed into the familiar Bloodstone Island again and docked at the pier of Prince's Harbor, Liu Qian took Cobain to set foot on solid land.
Janice and Malwyn continued their boat to the Torture Abyss to study the secrets of the Black Stone contained in the ruins.
Liu Qian placed Coburn deep in the fortress and deliberately set aside several spacious, sturdy stone chambers that were far away from the hustle and bustle for his use.
Choosing to keep Coburn on Bloodstone Island instead of Torture Abyss, Liu Qian has his own deep meaning.
In the prison of Bloodstone Island, there are many stubborn pirates who are loyal to Salado and would rather die than surrender.
They will be the most direct source of material for Coben's "research".
In a makeshift "laboratory" that was still simple but well-tooled, Liu Qian looked at the unconcealable excitement in Cobain's gentle blue eyes and asked the first question.
"Bachelor of Science and Technology, what do you think is the essence of the force that drives the corpse to remove? What makes a dead body stand again? "
When Coben heard this, the usual smile in his eyes restrained a little, revealing an almost fanatical focus.
He pondered for a moment, his voice with the characteristic inquisitive tone of a scholar: "My lord, based on some of the thoughts and experiments I conducted in the school city that were not recognized by the mainstream, I tend to think that the key lies in the 'soul'.
After death, the soul does not dissipate immediately, like embers, it will still be attached to the corpse for a short time.
But over time, this 'ember' will gradually cool, drift away, and eventually return to nothingness.
This is the natural law of the passage of life and the root cause of the complete decay of the corpse. "
Liu Qian asked with great interest: "So, how to re-stabilize this 'soul ember' that is about to dissipate, and even regain control of the body that has lost its life? "
"This is an extremely complex and taboo problem, my lord."
Coben's eyes flashed with wisdom, and he spoke faster: "As far as I know, some ancient and powerful magic can bind the soul fragments that are about to escape, delay or even prevent them from dissipating.
In this way, the corpse can maintain a special 'active' state, like a puppet being lifted, and can execute simple commands. "
He paused and added, "But this is just a theoretical conjecture, and the specific magical rituals, energy sources, and the stability of soul binding are all huge challenges." "
Liu Qian had a clear smile on his face, and did not answer directly, but clapped his hands gently.
The heavy wooden door of the laboratory was silently pushed open.
A figure dressed in Valyrian armor walked in.
Under Coben's astonished gaze, the dragon spirit guard, transformed from the corpse of the Torture Abyss pirate, unfastened his armor and clothing with a slightly stiff but extremely obedient movement, and then lay upright on the wide stone table in the center of the room, like a specimen waiting to be dissected.
The cold stone surface reflected his cold skin, revealing an inhuman sense of strangeness.
"Bachelor of Science and Technology," Liu Qian's voice was calm and unwavering: "This is a dead body that has been 'resurrected' through magic, we call it the 'Dragon Spirit Guard', and now it is yours for you to study carefully." "
The smile on Cobain's face instantly froze, replaced by an almost obsessive ecstasy.
He slammed into the stone table, his wrinkled hands trembling uncontrollably, carefully stroking the cold, inelastic skin of the Dragon Spirit Guard, pressing on the muscles that had long lost their function, and checking the connections of the joints.
He exclaimed in his throat:
"It's a miracle, this magic is amazing, my lord."
His voice was hoarse from excitement, and his blue eyes burned with a fiery light, which was a flame of intellectual curiosity.
Liu Qian looked at him and asked slowly: "So, Bachelor of Science and Technology, can you replicate this magic with your knowledge and ability?" "
Coben raised his head suddenly, his eyes took away from the dragon spirit guard, and nodded vigorously, his voice with unprecedented firmness and fanaticism:
"My lord, please give me a moment, I promise you that I will not let you down."
Liu Qian must have thought about it.
Cobain's reaction confirmed his judgment.
This "madman" who was expelled from the school city does have the talent to touch the boundaries of life and death.
If he could really master this necromancer transformation technique, then assembling a tireless army of necromancers who are not afraid of death will no longer be a fantasy.
At that time, even those walking ghosts outside the Great Wall would probably be dumbfounded.
He left Coburn's laboratory filled with cold corpses with satisfaction, and outside the door, Rollo and Hal had been waiting for a long time.
Rollo immediately stepped forward, lowered his voice, with a hint of invitation and vigilance:
"My lord, in the past few days when you were away, I took Sir Jorah to the black market in Spearhandle Village as you instructed, and he really connected with those people again."
The Broken Spear Island, where the Spear Handle Village is located, is currently the only place in the Shijie Islands that is not under Liu Qian's control, and the other is the main island of Tai Luo Xi.
They are solitary in the northeast corner of the Shijie Islands, adjacent to the Sea of Mir, and are sensitive to their location.
Liu Qian was not surprised by this.
The first time he asked Rollo to take Jora to Spearhandle Village, he expected that the former lord of Bear Island would inevitably use this channel to contact King's Landing's chief intelligence officer, "Octopus Spider" Varys.
This is almost Jorah's only hope of regaining her freedom and Linis.
He instructed Rollo to take Jorah again, just to use Jora's mouth to leak the "intelligence" he carefully screened to the Iron Throne.
He could almost imagine how Jorah would try to exaggerate his threat in the secret letter, how to describe the undead legion in exchange for Robert's amnesty, and pin his hopes on the Seven Nations army to flatten the Stonestep Islands and rescue Linnis.
"Well done."
Liu Qian affirmed Luo Luo's surveillance, and then changed the subject: "How is the matter of me asking you to lay an intelligence network in the Seven Kingdoms before departure?" "