Chapter 189: The Traditional Art of the Black Key

Chapter 189: The Traditional Art of the Black Key

The death of the divine messenger not only stripped the Spider City of its final trump card but utterly shattered the morale of the dark elf army.

A single charge was all it took for the dark elf army to crumble, turning the tide into a one-sided slaughter.

The battle was decided!

The dark elf matriarchs, regaining their senses, immediately ordered a retreat. However, under the relentless pursuit of the golem army and the Magic Mark Knights, the retreat quickly turned into a chaotic flight.

In the end, only a handful of survivors managed to escape back to Spider City.

The losses in this battle were so severe that it would be an understatement to say Spider City was devastated.

With the divine favor of the Spider Goddess lost, Spider City had no value left. Su Nan had no intention of leaving it intact and ordered an immediate assault on the city.

The golem army marched to Spider City that very day and breached the city gates in less than an hour, slaughtering their way inside.

Thus, Spider City fell.

The last stronghold in the southeastern domain of the Underworld now belonged to the Star Alliance.

The southeastern domain of the Underworld now had its sole ruler.

In the Dragon Skeleton Tower, in the laboratory, Su Nan brought back the remains of the half-spider divine messenger and immediately extracted the divine energy.

As he had expected, the divine energy contained within the half-spider divine messenger far exceeded that of the spiderized elves, totaling 213 standard units.

To Su Nan's surprise, the cube's display revealed that this divine energy not only contained faith corruption but also a soul toxin.

This soul toxin would curse a wizard's soul, causing irreversible damage that would take a considerable amount of time to heal.

"That cunning spider had this up her sleeve."

Su Nan sneered.

It was clear that the Spider Goddess had guessed his intention to collect divine energy and had laced it with a trap, hoping to strike him from behind.

If not for the cube, he might not have detected this trap.

"Truly a god known for deceit, even considering retaliation in defeat."

Another wizard might have fallen for the Spider Goddess's trap.

Fortunately, this trick was useless against Su Nan.

As for the veiled threats the Spider Goddess had made, Su Nan paid them little mind.

While it was still unclear how the Spider Goddess had managed to extend her influence into the Starlight Continent, her actions suggested she was still constrained by the continent's limitations and could not infiltrate much of her power.

Especially now that she had lost the faith of the dark elves, along with the lack of sacrifices and conduits, it would be even more difficult for her to infiltrate the Starlight Continent.

By the time the dimensional barriers of the Starlight Continent were restored, the wizards would return.

At that point, even if the Spider Goddess had ten times the courage, she would not dare to openly infiltrate the Starlight Continent, let alone manifest herself.

Her final words were nothing more than the barking of a mad dog, and Su Nan dismissed them as nonsense.

Perhaps her focus on creating spiderized elves had left no room for holy relics, as none could be found in Spider City. Only a few statues of the Spider Goddess contained a trace of divine energy.

Su Nan extracted all of it and combined it in the cube.

The synthesis not only eliminated faith corruption but also purified the soul toxin.

After purifying the divine energy with the cube, Su Nan immediately absorbed it. Once he had digested all the divine energy, his mental condensation had increased by 17.57%.

[Qi Phase: 40.19%]



Looking at the data on the cube, Su Nan breathed a sigh of relief with a smile.

This wave of divine energy had been a feast, saving him decades of cultivation.

Even if he had no more divine energy to absorb in the future, he could still break through to the first level of the Liquid Phase in about two hundred years with systematic cultivation.

Moreover, the lack of divine energy did not mean there were no other means to accelerate his cultivation.

Su Nan had not forgotten the initial purpose of attacking Spider City.

One of the twelve families of Spider City, the Felier family, likely held clues to one of the three great wizard legacies, the Black Forest.

Finding the Black Forest might lead him to something that could enhance his mental condensation.

To this end, Su Nan had specifically instructed Xeman to interrogate the Felier family immediately after capturing Spider City.

The results should be in a few days.

However, the results came faster than Su Nan had anticipated.

The day after capturing Spider City, Xeman brought Su Nan what he wanted.

"So, a dark elf provided the information voluntarily?"

In the study, Su Nan raised an eyebrow in surprise, looking at Xeman.

"Yes, Master."

Xeman's expression was a bit peculiar.

"On the day we captured Spider City, I arrested all members of the Felier family, including the matriarch and the martial leader, and immediately handed them over to the sphinxes for interrogation. All the female dark elves refused to speak, but the male dark elves were willing to cooperate, though they had little valuable information."

The dark elves are a matriarchal society, a tradition that originated from the influence of the Spider Queen. This female deity favors female dark elves, often granting them more blessings than their male counterparts, which has led to the low status of males within their society.

Thus, male dark elves have no access to high-level information, so it’s no surprise they don’t know about the clues to the Black Forest.

What is surprising, however, is the stubbornness of the female dark elves.

It seems the Spider Queen has taken some action, causing these female dark elves to have a deeper faith corruption.

This is the only explanation for why they would rather die than speak.

However, this makes the female dark elf who willingly provided the clues even more unique.

“Who is this person in the Felir family?” Su Nan asked.

“Her name is Targana. She is a common warrior in the Felir family, but she is the daughter of the matriarch.”

Su Nan’s expression became somewhat peculiar.

A daughter betraying her mother?

Well, upon closer thought, it’s not so strange. In the dark elf society, which is rife with internal strife, many matriarchs often seize power by betraying their mothers, a tradition that is quite common among dark elves.

And if Targana is the matriarch’s daughter, it’s not surprising that she had access to information about the Black Forest.

What Su Nan found surprising was why Targana, unlike the other female dark elves, was not affected by faith corruption.

This piqued Su Nan’s curiosity.

“Bring that dark elf here.”

“Yes, Master.”

Once Xeman left, Su Nan turned his attention to a black branch lying on the desk.

This was the item Targana had revealed, which Xeman and his team found in the Felir family’s temple.

The branch was about ten centimeters long and as thick as a finger, with a rough, bark-like surface covered in fine patterns.

Upon closer inspection, these patterns seemed to follow a certain rule, hinting at some kind of enchantment.

In fact, this was not an ordinary branch but a magical item.

It was also the key to unlocking the Black Forest.

After placing it in the synthesis cube, Su Nan received all the information about the branch.

Unfortunately, the cube didn’t provide the specific method of use, so he would need to study it further to determine how to use it to find the Black Forest.

The thought of soon discovering a second wizarding legacy filled Su Nan with joy.

“The only thing left is the Falling Star City.”

He definitely needed to acquire the resources from the three major wizarding legacies.

Otherwise, it would take an eternity to advance to the second level of wizardry using only the resources available on the Starlight Continent.

Before long, Xeman returned with a dark elf girl.

She had a tall, slender figure and delicate, beautiful features, much like most dark elves. Her obsidian skin, while not conforming to the typical human aesthetic, might be a plus for some.

As Su Nan observed Targana, she was also secretly watching him.

The thought of standing before the actual controller of the Star Alliance, a powerful wizard who had slain a divine messenger, made Targana tense.

This was an involuntary physiological response of a creature in the presence of a being of vastly superior power.

Noticing Targana’s nervousness, Su Nan cast a hypnotic spell, causing the dark elf girl’s eyes to become blank and lifeless.

With Su Nan’s current mental strength, the hypnotic spell was so powerful that anyone below the level of a legendary knight couldn’t even struggle for a moment.

He then walked around the desk and placed his hand on Targana’s head.

Xeman watched this scene with curiosity but didn’t interrupt.

After a moment, Su Nan ended the mental probe and returned to his desk.

He was now certain that Targana had not been affected by faith corruption, likely due to her exceptional mental strength.

The Spider Queen’s faith corruption was a widespread phenomenon, and for an individual, as long as their mental strength reached a certain threshold, they could resist or even become immune to it.

Targana was one of those who could resist it.

“I didn’t expect to find an individual with such high mental strength among the dark elves.”

"A good seed for a wizard."

Su Nan thought to himself.

While he was deep in thought, Tashana gradually recovered.

Her superior mental strength made the dark elf girl sense something was off. Something had happened, but she couldn't quite recall what it was.

"Why did you offer the clue willingly?"

Su Nan's voice suddenly broke the silence, startling Tashana.

She hesitated, then gritted her teeth. "Everyone has gone mad, controlled by the Spider Queen and that man. She even killed my best friend. I don't want to play along with her. If she wants everyone to keep the Black Key a secret, I'll tell it myself!"

Xie Man glanced at Tashana, surprised. He could hear the hatred in her voice, and it didn't seem like she was faking it.

Su Nan said calmly, "That's because they've been affected by faith corruption."

"Faith corruption?" Tashana looked confused.

Xie Man glanced at Su Nan's expression and began to explain to Tashana in a low voice.

As a wizard's apprentice, he naturally knew about faith corruption from the gods.

After Xie Man's explanation, Tashana's face showed a mix of shock and disbelief.

She had never imagined that the so-called gods were creatures that controlled their followers through faith corruption.

It was simply... too hateful!

Tashana didn't doubt that Su Nan and Xie Man were deceiving her; there was no reason for them to do so.

For a moment, her hatred for the Spider Queen grew even stronger.

After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, "Great Wizard, is there any hope for my people?"

Su Nan shook his head slightly.

Faith corruption wasn't irreversible, but reversing it would come at a significant cost. He couldn't afford to pay such a high price just to save a group of dark elves.

Tashana's face fell, and she lowered her head.

"Great Wizard, what do you plan to do with us?"

"Considering your cooperation, I will spare your people. As long as they work diligently in the mines, I won't execute them."

This answer was completely unexpected for Tashana. She looked up at Su Nan, stunned.

Even Xie Man was taken aback.

In his mind, keeping the male dark elves made sense, as they were less affected by faith corruption. However, keeping the female dark elves would be more trouble than it was worth. Based on his teacher's usual methods, he would have undoubtedly eradicated the females.

Now, he was showing mercy because of this dark elf girl?

Xie Man couldn't help but glance at Tashana, his thoughts drifting in a different direction.

Could it be that his teacher had taken a liking to this dark elf girl?

But Su Nan's next words quickly dispelled his thoughts.

"You have the potential to become a wizard. Would you like to try?"

Both Xie Man and Tashana were stunned.

A dark elf wizard apprentice?

Is the teacher joking?

But then Xie Man realized that there was no rule stating dark elves couldn't become wizards. He had just never seen a wizard apprentice who wasn't human, so he had subconsciously assumed it was a human-only path.

Tashana was equally surprised but couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement.

How powerful wizards were had already been proven by the man in front of her!

Even a divine messenger couldn't stand against him!

Even if she could only achieve half, no, a third of his power, it would be enough to dominate the Underworld.

Tashana wasn't foolish. She knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and immediately agreed without hesitation.

Su Nan nodded in satisfaction. "Starting today, you are an official student at Starlight Academy. Work hard, and if you have any questions, you can come to me when I'm there."

"Yes, thank you, Great Wizard." Tashana said, barely containing her joy.

Xie Man looked at her enviously.

He had never seen a student receive such favor from their teacher.

Xie Man then led Tashana away, while Su Nan leaned back in his chair, deep in thought.

Wizards weren't exclusive to humans; other races had produced wizards as well, though they were extremely rare.

And almost all of them were demi-humans, similar to humans.

After all, existing wizard knowledge was almost entirely created with humans in mind. Other races would inevitably face 'cultural incompatibility' and find it much more difficult to learn and practice.

It was rare to encounter a dark elf with the potential to become a wizard, and one with such exceptional talent at that. This was the perfect opportunity to see how a demi-human wizard compared to a human wizard.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end