An Offering of White Wine

When he'd returned to the Bloodthirsty Tree, Qin Ruo followed Mikel's instructions and quickly found the dark red, fist-sized pearl of Soulblood upon the tree's bark. Without hesitation, he reached out and plucked it right off.

Up until that moment the Bloodthirsty Tree, towering high above that solid leafy canopy called the Emerald Plain, had remained still and quiet, but after Qin Ruo removed the Soulblood and hastily stuffed it into his backpack, the whole tree shuddered, and then began to shrink back down, right before his eyes.

With an urgent commotion of swishing noises, countless crimson Vampiric Vines rose up from the gaps in between the giant leaves, like an entire nest of cobras. Soaring into the air all around Qin Ruo, they hemmed him in, surrounded and trapped.

All Qin Ruo saw was a flash of red, and then a tightening grip around his waist. Once again, he felt that nasty sensation of the Vampiric Vines drawing his blood from him.