Bloodstained Mandrake

The night passed, and dawn arrived.

As soon as the sky began to lighten, Su Nan left the tavern with Amy.

Amy’s master, the dwelling of that mysterious wizard, was situated in the Sharp Stone Valley east of Stone Bell City.

More than ten kilometers out of the city was a pine forest. Following the dense trees eastwards, crossing over two mountain peaks, they entered the range of Sharp Stone Valley.

The further they ventured into the valley, the more desolate the environment became, and the terrain gradually turned rugged.

The surface was almost devoid of vegetation, with jagged sharp stones everywhere. Withered grass and brambles grew from cracks in the rock faces, creaking as the cold mountain wind blew through.

Su Nan was somewhat puzzled as to why the wizard would choose such desolate surroundings to live.

However, upon reflection, he realized that this was a thousand years ago. Perhaps back then, Sharp Stone Valley did not look like this.

Amy lay quietly on Su Nan’s shoulder, idly licking her paws.

Not until the sun rose from behind the distant mountains did person and cat finally reach a riverbank.

“Meow, follow the river forward, and we’ll be there,” Amy pointed ahead and said.

Instead of moving immediately, Su Nan ordered the Hidden Dragon, concealed nearby, to scout ahead.

The Starfire Cult had long known about this place. If they wanted to capture them, it was likely they would send someone to lie in wait here. It was better to be cautious.

However, after a round of searching, they found no one hiding nearby.

“It seems those guys haven’t recovered from last night’s battle.”

Relieved, Su Nan swaggered up the river.

Under Amy’s guidance, he quickly found a cave halfway up a cliff.

Empowered by wind energy particles, Su Nan effortlessly climbed up the rock face and entered the cave.

The cave was pitch black, but the passage was wide and even, displaying marks of artificial construction throughout.

Su Nan casually took out an illuminating pearl as a light source and stepped inside.

At the end of the passage was a spacious circular hall, with granite bricks laid precisely on the ground, engraved with dense, strange patterns like some large formation.

However, many of the patterns had faded and blurred, and the formation could no longer be activated.

There were as many as a dozen doors along the surrounding walls.

“Behind that door is the apprentice living area, where the wizard apprentices usually rest,” Amy introduced each door’s destination to Su Nan with familiarity.

“That side leads to the plantation. It used to be full of strange magical plants and numerous small sprites, but now they’re all gone.”

“That side is the storage, and this is the spell experiment square.”

Amy introduced each area to Su Nan like reciting from memory.

The entire structure was extraordinarily large, with interconnected passages and countless rooms, resembling a castle built inside the mountains.

Judging by the remaining runes on the walls, which seemed to be traces of crystals, this must have been a building similar to a wizard’s tower.

But now it had long since fallen into ruin and decline.

Su Nan originally hoped to pick up something of value here, but he found nothing along the way.

The Starfire Cult’s operational capacity exceeded his expectations, having wiped the place clean, leaving nothing of value behind.

“It’s a shame it’s too remote here, and the surrounding environment is too barren. Otherwise, it would be a fine spot to set up a laboratory and a magical plant garden,” Su Nan thought regretfully.

Since he couldn’t find anything valuable, he didn’t linger any longer, turning to leave with Amy.

Upon exiting the cave, Su Nan suddenly remembered something and asked Amy, “The Starfire Cult people said you were wandering around the north of the city earlier. Why was that?”

Amy hesitated for a moment and then exclaimed, “Meow, I almost forgot! There’s something I haven’t retrieved!”

Su Nan asked curiously, “What is it?”

“It’s the Bloodstained Mandrake. Those bad guys snatched this magical plant and later placed it in a big house. I wanted to get it back, but there was a powerful evil spirit guarding it, and I couldn’t defeat it!”

Bloodstained Mandrake!

Su Nan was startled.

He recalled it as a very sinister magical plant, nourished by the fresh blood of living humans. With each development, its roots and stems became redder, eventually turning as bright red as blood.

Once fully matured, the Bloodstained Mandrake would emit subtle spiritual waves, creating illusions to lure nearby creatures, consuming their souls.

After consuming enough souls, a terrifying evil spirit would be born within the Bloodstained Mandrake, beginning to kill nearby living beings and devour souls to grow stronger.

Because of these traits, it was common to set up corresponding suppression formations where Bloodstained Mandrakes were cultivated.

Otherwise, it would inevitably lead to an evil spirit catastrophe.

Connecting to the haunted rumors heard back at the tavern, Su Nan suddenly understood.

The large house Amy mentioned was most likely Lord Kubero’s manor.

“It seems that the Starfire Cult deliberately placed the Bloodstained Mandrake in that manor, but what was their purpose in doing so?”

After a brief contemplation, Su Nan quickly worked out the crux of the matter.

Stone Bell City was the central city of the Silver Moon Territory, and coincidentally, Viscount Silver Moon was a noble opposed to Marquis Jinyan.

If an evil spirit incident occurred in his territory, Viscount Silver Moon would undoubtedly seek a solution. Otherwise, if left unchecked, the threat of the evil spirit would soon be magnified, eventually endangering all of Stone Bell City.

Purely relying on knights to eliminate the evil spirit would result in numerous casualties.

Even if they ultimately succeeded in wiping out the evil spirit, the Silver Moon Territory would undoubtedly suffer severe damage.

At that time, Marquis Jinyan and the Starfire Cult could seize the opportunity to strike.

This evil spirit incident was, more likely than not, another ploy in Marquis Jinyan’s conspiracy to control Jinyan Province!

“This guy really doesn’t sit still for a moment,” Su Nan internally criticized, his thoughts becoming active.

Though the Bloodstained Mandrake was very dangerous, it was also an extremely rare magical plant with wide-ranging uses.

For instance, the recipe for the hallucinogenic potion capable of enhancing spiritual power, which he had read in Anger McLean’s journal, used the juice from the Bloodstained Mandrake as the main ingredient.

The Bloodstained Mandrake, which Anger McLean had searched for decades without success, was now within his reach; it was a twist of fate.

“Among the materials for making the hallucinogenic potion, the Bloodstained Mandrake is the rarest. The other materials can be synthesized with the Mo Cube. Once I acquire this Bloodstained Mandrake, I can continually produce hallucinogenic potions,” Su Nan was immediately thrilled but quickly calmed himself.

“Evil spirits aren’t easy to deal with. It’s best to prepare more cards before proceeding,” Su Nan thought of the two half-damaged magical items he had acquired just last night.

If he could repair these two magical items, dealing with the evil spirits would undoubtedly become more manageable.

Besides, he couldn’t just solve Silver Moon Territory’s problem for nothing. He still needed to collect his due reward.