Chapter 304: The Past of Shadow Soul City

When Naimi Xisi woke up and felt the Mistra Holy Emblem in their hand, they confirmed that everything from last night was not merely a dream.

Along with the Holy Emblem appeared a supplemental memory, which detailed the origin of the so‑called Shadow Soul City.

Thousands of years ago, before the ancient Arcane Empire fell, a floating city called Su Er Tan Sa rose from the ground under the power of the legendary Arcane Mage—Lord Xia Duo.

In the ancient Naisuerier aristocratic tongue, Su Er Tan Sa means "shadow soul" or "dark silhouette".

Before Karsas's attempt to usurp the Magic Goddess's divinity caused the Magic Net to collapse, Lord Xia Duo happened to steer Shadow Soul City into the Ying Ying Ming Jie.

However, for some reason, Lord Xia Duo could not return the city to the primary material plane.

They spent several weeks, and in the end they succeeded in returning to Naisuerier, or at least to the remaining part of Naisuerier.

The floating city, after drifting over the ruins of the Naisuerier Empire for several days in search of survivors and finding nothing, led Lord Xia Duo to blame the Ferlin Demon Thistle and begin plotting his revenge.

However, when he realized that a single city could not match those Ferlin Demon Thistles, and that his citizens might be the empire's last people, he halted his revenge. He abandoned the plans, withdrew back into Ying Ying Ming Jie, and swore that one day they would return to rebuild the empire.

The information ends here; Naimi Xisi's knowledge of Shadow Soul City, beyond its history, remains nil, the only certainty being a fact learned directly from the Magic Goddess—that they have a full seven legendary Arcane Mages.

They are the Lord of Shadow Soul City—Tairamant Tanshu Er, and his twelve sons—the six of the Twelve Princes of Shadow Soul City.

"Tsk, this is truly terrifying; if it weren't for this Holy Emblem, I'd have fled straight back to the Knowledge Temple in Sword Bay," Naimi Xisi muttered, clutching the Emblem.

No wonder they are a remnant of the ancient Arcane Empire; a gaunt camel is larger than a horse, and within a single city there exist seven legendary Arcane Mages. Naimi Xisi truly cannot believe that on the Feren Continent, aside from the Church factions, there could be any force capable of opposing them.

Ilminster? That household‑known old sage?

Not to mention he is currently missing, completely unreliable. Even if he weren't missing, Ilminster, besides being a legendary Mage, also holds another role—the Chosen of Mistra.

Strictly speaking, he still belongs to the Church faction.

After Naimi Xisi swallowed the Holy Emblem, they quietly left Degeng City.

They wanted to see how their original domain during the Young Dragon Stage had developed within the Underdark.

Korit mentioned the black dragon Sgena yesterday, and said she has not had an easy time lately.

Naimi Xisi returned to the dust‑filled abandoned High Tower, pressed fingertips against the dragon‑shaped relief on the rock wall, and the reverse‑scale crest glowed a faint cyan in the darkness. With a clatter of mechanisms, the spiral mine shaft sealed for ten years slowly opened as gears meshed, and the scent of Tie Xiu mingled with rot assaulted the nose.

"Still the same, you love this death scent, Sgena." He chuckled lightly as he stepped onto the stairs and walked down slowly. At the bottom, Naimi Xisi was surprised to find tracks installed here, with a small mine cart parked directly beneath the passage, coated in thick dust, clearly unused for a long time.

He boarded the cart and raced through the spider‑web‑like tunnel; Naimi Xisi's silver hair was lifted by the airflow, and the characteristic mushroom aroma of the Underdark mingled with a faint rot, intoxicating.

Passing the third transfer station, a harsh metallic scrape made him squint. Three hundred feet below, a processing plant lit by fire saw Gray Dwarves arguing nonstop around suddenly corroded defensive armor.

Naimi Xisi listened quietly, then continued riding the cart to observe the domain. When the cart skimmed a natural crystal cavern, they suddenly reached out to grab a rushing stalactite, their fingertips touching a few drops of still‑liquid Drow toxin. The purple‑black fluid boiled in the palm, forming Rose's spider sigil.

"The Dark Elf has already come here?"

He sneered at the winding caravan below. On a massive barrel dragged by twenty petrified lizards, the Tulip family crest was being corroded by toxin. When a drunken Gray Dwarf tried to pry the barrel open, Naimi Xisi flicked a finger, unleashing a disjunction spell that turned the entire barrel into dust shimmering with poisonous light.

The cart suddenly jolted violently; Naimi Xisi grabbed the handrail and saw viscous cerebrospinal fluid seeping from a gap in the tracks. It was an anomaly caused by nearby Mana warping reality.

From afar came the angry roars of Sgena's Dependents; the draconic warriors training petrified lizard cavalry suddenly clutched their foreheads as their mounts slammed the rock wall in a frenzy.

When Naimi Xisi leapt out of the cart, a piercing scream beyond the material plane stabbed into their mind. They flicked a memory scroll to their forehead, and a triple Arcane Power shield blossomed around them. As vision cleared, they saw nightmarish creatures floating on the opposite bank of the underground river.

A horde of Mind Flayers were locked in opposition with Sgena and its Dependents.

The black dragon didn't notice the figure slowly approaching from behind, and snarled at the Mind Flayers: "Damned brain‑eaters! You've crossed the line! This is the domain of the great Corrosion Tide! Get out of my way!"

!

On a shattered Mana float disc, three Mind Flayers with broken tentacles were stitching their wounds with mithril chains. Behind them, two hundred Gray Dwarves with vacant eyes carried massive brain‑pool cultivation vats, their viscous Mana solution teeming with countless infant‑sized Mind Flayer larvae.

The leading Mind Flayer elder stared at them with an unflinching, icy gaze, saying, "Mature black dragon—optimal host."

"Become my slave, and I will use your body to forge the finest Mind‑drake." Elder Mind Flayer Obraen said expressionlessly.

"In the name of the Violet Marrow Symbiosis," the elder's mind whispered with a decaying honey scent, "we demand…"

Mana surged explosively; Naimi Xisi watched the black dragon standing dumbfounded shake its head helplessly, wondering how such a fool had survived ten years here. Couldn't they see that the opposing Mind Flayers' power was far beyond what they could handle?

He was wrongfully accusing the black dragon; Sgena was actually terrified inside, and everything just now was a façade she put on to try to drive away those obviously unmanageable brutes.

Who knew the other side seemed to see through her outward strength and inner weakness, and struck without hesitation!

Although the invisible mental control was unseen, the black dragon's intuition made Sgena's scales tremble continuously; she was about to flap her wings and take off in the narrow passage when a sky of silver energy erupted behind her, forming a shield before her.

(End of Chapter)