Bloody Mandala

Night gave way to dawn.

At first light, Sunan left the tavern with Amy.

Amy's master, that mysterious wizard, lived in Sharp Stone Valley east of Stone Bell City.

More than ten kilometers outside the city lay a pine forest. Following the dense woods eastward and crossing two mountain peaks would bring one into Sharp Stone Valley.

Once inside the valley, the deeper they went, the more desolate the surroundings became, while the terrain gradually turned rugged.

There was scarcely any vegetation on the ground. Jagged stones lay everywhere, while withered grass and thorns grew from cracks in the rock walls, creaking as the cold mountain wind swept past.

Sunan found it strange that the wizard had chosen such a barren place to live.

But then he remembered that it had been a thousand years ago. Perhaps Sharp Stone Valley had not looked like this a millennium earlier.

Amy lay quietly on Sunan's shoulder, idly licking her paws.

It was not until the sun rose from behind the distant mountains that the man and cat finally reached a riverbank.

"Meow, follow the river ahead, and we'll be there," Amy said, pointing forward.

Sunan did not set off immediately. Instead, he ordered the Hidden Dragons lurking nearby to scout ahead.

The Starfire Cult had long known about this place. If they wanted to capture them, there was a good chance they had sent people here to lie in wait. It was better to be cautious.

However, after a thorough search, they found no one hiding nearby.

"Looks like those guys still haven't recovered from last night's battle."

Reassured, Sunan strode openly toward the river's upper reaches.

Under Amy's guidance, he soon found a cave halfway up a rock wall.

With Wind Energy Particles enhancing him, Sunan easily climbed the rock wall and entered the cave.

The cave was pitch-black, but the passage was remarkably level and spacious, with signs of artificial construction everywhere.

Sunan casually took out a luminous pearl for light and walked deeper inside.

At the end of the passage was an enormous circular hall. Neat square granite tiles covered the floor, carved with dense, strange patterns resembling some large-scale magic array.

Yet many of the patterns had faded and blurred, and the array had long since ceased functioning.

More than a dozen doors lined the surrounding walls.

"Behind that door is the Wizard Apprentice Residential Area. The apprentices usually rested there."

"That one leads to the plantation. There used to be many strange magical plants inside, as well as lots of little fairies, but they're all gone now."

"That one is the warehouse, and this is the spell experimentation plaza."

Amy introduced where each door led, as though she knew the place like the back of her paw.

The entire structure was astonishingly vast. Its passages extended in every direction, and its rooms were too numerous to count. It could practically be called a castle built inside the mountains.

Judging from the rune patterns on the walls that appeared to be remnants of Crystal Trace, this place had likely once been a structure similar to a Wizard Tower.

It had merely fallen into ruin and decline over the years.

Sunan had originally wondered whether he might find some overlooked treasure here, but after searching the entire way, he found nothing.

The Starfire Cult had acted even more efficiently than he expected. They had completely emptied the place, leaving behind nothing of value.

What a pity this place is too remote and the surroundings too barren. Otherwise, it could have been used to build a laboratory and Magical Plant Garden.

Since there was nothing valuable to be found, Sunan did not linger. He turned and left with Amy.

After exiting the cave, Sunan suddenly remembered something and asked Amy, "The Starfire Cult said you had been wandering around north of the city. Why?"

Amy froze for a moment, then cried out, "Meow, I almost forgot! There's still something I haven't retrieved!"

Sunan asked in surprise, "What is it?"

"It's the Bloody Mandala. After those bad people stole that magical plant, for some reason they put it in a big house. I wanted to take it back, but a very powerful evil spirit is guarding it. I can't beat it!"

Bloody Mandala!

Sunan was startled.

He remembered it as an extremely sinister magical plant that fed exclusively on the blood of living people. With every stage of maturity, its stem became redder, until it eventually turned as scarlet as blood.

Once fully mature, the Bloody Mandala would emit subtle spiritual waves, creating illusions to lure nearby creatures over before devouring their souls.

After consuming enough souls, a terrifying evil spirit would be born within the Bloody Mandala. It would begin slaughtering nearby living people and devouring their souls to strengthen itself.

Because of this trait, places where Bloody Mandalas were cultivated generally had to be equipped with corresponding restraining arrays.

Otherwise, an evil spirit calamity would inevitably occur in the end.

Thinking of the haunted-house rumors he had heard at the tavern, Sunan immediately understood.

The large house Amy had mentioned was most likely Kubeiro Baronet's manor.

So the Starfire Cult probably arranged for the Bloody Mandala to end up in that manor. But what is their purpose?

After a moment's thought, Sunan quickly figured out the key.

Stone Bell City was the central city of the Silver Moon Territory, and the Silver Moon Viscount happened to be one of the nobles who did not see eye to eye with the Golden Rock Marquis.

If an evil spirit appeared within his territory, the Silver Moon Viscount would certainly have to find a way to deal with it. Otherwise, if left unchecked, the evil spirit's threat would soon spread and eventually endanger all of Stone Bell City.

And relying solely on the strength of knights, no one knew how many lives would have to be sacrificed to eliminate an evil spirit.

Even if they ultimately succeeded in destroying it, the Silver Moon Territory would surely suffer grievous losses.

By then, the Golden Rock Marquis and the Starfire Cult could take advantage of their weakness.

This evil spirit incident was most likely another part of the Golden Rock Marquis's scheme to seize control of Golden Rock Province!

That guy really never stops causing trouble.

Sunan grumbled inwardly, but then his thoughts became lively again.

Although the Bloody Mandala was highly dangerous, it was also an extremely rare magical plant with a wide range of uses.

For instance, the Nightmare Potion formula he had seen in Angus MacLean's diary, which could increase Spirit Power, used Bloody Mandala juice as its main ingredient.

Angus MacLean had searched for a Bloody Mandala for decades without finding one, yet Sunan had encountered one under such circumstances. Fate truly worked in mysterious ways.

Among the materials needed for Nightmare Potion, the Bloody Mandala is the rarest. The other materials can all be obtained through cube synthesis. As long as I get this Bloody Mandala, I can continuously produce Nightmare Potion.

Sunan was immediately thrilled, but he quickly calmed down.

Evil spirits aren't easy to deal with. I'd better prepare a few more trump cards before going.

Sunan thought of the two partially damaged Magical Items he had acquired the night before.

If he could repair those two Magical Items, he would undoubtedly be more confident in dealing with the evil spirit.

Besides, he could not solve the Silver Moon Territory's problem for free. He still had to claim the reward he deserved.