The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 187: An Impossible Test

A few hours later, Taira had begrudgingly offered Inadu a tentative fairwell with a promise to reunite later.

No matter what he did, he couldn't shake off the persistent pestering of the spirit who had already died once before.

And as much as he would have liked to have kept ignoring this man, he couldn't do it.

Taira wasn't an ungrateful person.

So far, Velreth had given him many treasures and resources that were literally out of this world.

In addition to his own decent advice too.

Taira couldn't keep taking things from him while giving back nothing in return.

He was a more principled individual than that.

So now, Taira stood alone in an isolated training room.

His luxurious robes were stripped bare in favor of a simple pair of throwaway pants that he didn't mind damaging.

The room he was in was around 200 square feet; giving him enough room to move around a little bit to practice techniques should the need arise.

"Are you ready for your first test?"

Velreth appeared from within the confines of his amulet and stared at Taira expectantly.

"I could ask you the same thing." Taira muttered with closed eyes.

"And what, pre-tell would I be getting tested for, disciple?"

"Whether or not you are capable of teaching me anything that would make you worthy enough to call master."

"..."

Velreth really did wish that his disciple wasn't so unlikeable.

"An unfilial brat to the core... Alright then. Let us see if you can remain that way for long..."

Velreth's ghostly finger poked Taira in the center of his forehead; passing a small glow between the two.

A technique was passed from master to disciple.

Taira was surprised by not only it's profundity, but also by the fact that what he had been given was a breathing technique, not a series of combat arts.

Like the breath of origin and demise, this was an art that would allow him to cultivate both arcane and martial arts at the same time at a rate that was much better than he was using now.

It relied on circulating both qi and yin energy through specific unconventional acupoints in the body and brain.

The technique was very impressive indeed.

But there was one thing on his mind that Taira just couldn't look past.

"How could you possibly learn something like this..?"

In order to harness a technique with an explicit calling for yin energy, one would have to either be a woman, become a eunuch, or possess a special physique.

Taira gave his bearded master a side-eye as if he was trying to figure out which of the three fit his description.

Something Velreth immediately noticed.

"...I have never regretted my untimely death more than I have in right this moment. For it is the only thing that prevents me from being able to slap you to death."

Taira continued to stare at his master like he was waiting for an answer.

"I have a special constitution, you dullard!!" Velreth roared. "I was born with the ice element!"

"Oh." Taira went back to being uninterested.

"..." Velreth could in no way fathom just how one person could be so deplorably unlikeable.

He was so surprised that Taira had managed to survive this long without having someone forcibly string him up by his intestines.

Or that he had somehow tricked six decent women into marrying his curmudgeonly ass...

"As you've already seen, the Ice Lotus Breathing Art uses a profound depth of yin energy, just as all ice arts do.

The reason you can use them with impunity is because of your unique racial characteristics... but I'm sure you're aware of that."

Taira nodded in understanding.

Fox spirits possess both yin energy and yang energy within their bodies from the moment of their birth, giving them great proficiency with whatever ice or flame arts they decide to learn.

It's one of the many reasons why dual cultivating with them yields such large benefits for their partners; in addition to providing an experience only succubi and incubi can hope to match.

"Practicing this art should double the amount of qi you can store in your body, as well as infuse bits of your ice qi into your other cores for an added benefit." Velreth continued.

Taira didn't say anything, but he was already quite impressed.

Doubling the amount of qi his cores could hold meant that he could fight for significantly longer without rest.

He could go from spamming the same arts and techniques for six months straight to a whole year.

In all honesty he was quite surprised that Velreth would just give him such a thing and claim it was a test.

"But..." Velreth began.

'I knew it.' Taira shook his head internally.

"What I've just transferred over to you is an impure version." Velreth smiled eerily. "You will have to discover it's weaknesses and supplement them. You have four hours."

Velreth was being grossly unfair.

Altering any technique of any grade requires at least a day. And for breathing arts, which come with significantly more dangers than just ruined muscles, that length of time is unbelievably lengthened.

The old cultivator was trying to test Taira's overall knowledge surrounding qi and qi techniques, as well as see how he reacted when faced with failure and impossibility.

Because there was nothing wrong with the technique he'd been given in the first place.

"Better get started, disciple. The time you can spend with your lovely wives is dwindling."

Velreth's evil laughter echoed through the training room as his misty body disappeared into nothingness.

Leaving Taira with an unkind glare on his face and a deep feeling of agitation.

But at the end of the day, complaining about circumstances wasn't likely to get him anywhere.

So as much as he felt this task was unfair, he still got to work on completing it.

The first thing he did was take out an empty notebook from his storage ring.

He kept a great many of these on him at all times just incase he wanted to sketch a particularly eye-catching scenery, or another illicit photo of his wives.

With the notebook and pencil, he began writing out the specifics of the breathing art he had just been transferred.

He wrote down everything as if he were making a standard manual, including body diagrams, how it should feel when refining qi, and every other little detail he could think of.

Once he was done, he read over it twice just for good measure before he attempted to actually cultivate the Ice Lotus Breathing Art.

As he already expected, it felt great.

He was pulling qi in from the very center of his forehead and the area just beneath his navel.

The two energies would travel along their individual paths until they reached his heart and melded together before filling his various elemental cores.

It was an invigorating experience that lulled him into a natural rhythm.

He meant to only do this for a little bit, but unbeknownst to him he ended up cultivating for around 45 minutes.

The speed of his thoughts had increased around 15%, and the rejuvenating feeling that lingered within his muscles was comparable to when he had sex.

A quick check of his body's condition revealed that he had made decent headway into reaching the second level of the Quasi-God Realm.

He hadn't the foggiest idea of what could have possibly been wrong with this technique.

Eventually, he stood up and began pacing about the room.

He walked from the floor, to the walls, and then the ceiling all in one big circle as he tried to piece together exactly what could have been wrong with this art.

30 Minutes went by, and he had nothing.

For Taira, who was a simple lower realm being, working on an upper realm technique was practically impossible.

It wasn't much different than asking a man from the 1920's to fix a car produced in 2024.

He could barely even fathom what he was looking at.

Eventually, Taira decided that if he wasn't going to be able to fix this unconventional art, he needed a method that was equally unconventional.

Reaching inside of his storage ring again, he pulled out his own breathing technique that he'd been using prior to today.

He held up the two notebooks in both of his hands and an idea began to form in his mind. Continue reading stories on mvl

Not a good idea, but an idea nonetheless.

...This probably wasn't very smart.

And he probably should have spent more time thinking of a less risky decision.

But he had wasted enough time already.

So, as many a college student have said before:

"Fuck it..."