The Fallen Vampire

Hideyoshi was sure that he had misheard.

A challenge directed at yours truly? In the great art of pill concocting?

It was unthinkable.

No one he had come across in all of his time alive had ever even attempted to challenge him to such a thing. His reputation was extremely well known among any true pill enthusiast.

...Hence the reason why all of this sounded so exciting!

But still, he had to remain dignified. He was the senior here.

*Ahem* "Well... I'm sure since this is a member of your family that you are most proud of her abilities, but please, let us not be blinded by familial bonds and overinflate the abilities of those close to us. At only seventy years old, I'm sure that your sister here is still-"

"Aren't you somewhere around the area of a Pill Venerable?" Lucia suddenly asked Vermeil.

The jaws of several men dropped open from incredulity. Including Grandmaster Hideyoshi.

A seventy-year old Pill Venerable was a fairytale. Something that most would aspire to, but never reach for as long as they lived.

"She's lying!"

"There's no way that there could be such a young pill master!"

"How shameless can one be?!"

The room suddenly became sweltering and windy all at once.

Dangerous green flames encircled the crowd of obnoxious spectators. Gusts of fierce wind were kicked up out of nowhere; nicking the cheeks and garments of those who opened their mouths.

Lucia's horribly domineering aura pressed on the shoulders of everyone here- forcing the weaker cultivators to their knees. Explore more at empire

"I'm sorry... I don't think I asked for the opinions of a bunch of weak-knee'd animals who can't even recognize the face of greatness when they see it. All good dogs should just lie down quietly while the adults are speaking."

The flames lingered a little longer, just to give everyone a bit of knowledge as to what raw food might feel like while it's sitting inside of an oven.

However, the flames eventually died out all the same, but the room now smelled irrevocably of sweat.

…And a little bit of pee.

Dan Master Hideyoshi hadn't taken his eyes off of Vermeil once. He just stared at her with a look that they couldn't process.

"...Are you truly a Pill Venerable?" he asked; uncaring of the layer of sweat now clinging to his body.

"Last I checked." Vermeil nodded unconsciously. "I've been out of practice for about a month now though."

"Impossible... Who was your teacher??"

"I had none. The hero I was briefly under didn't place much of a focus on pill making, he just bought whatever we might need in bulk."

"So you are self taught?"

"That's right."

Murmurs filled the room- albeit this time much more quietly than before.

"She was under a hero..?"

"White hair... Don't tell me she's the Starlight Saintess..."

"I thought she was supposed to be dead...?"

Lucia was much more satisfied with this outcome. Everyone should be in awe of her sweet Vermeil, not daring to question her qualifications!

"What pill did you make for your assessment of yourself to be this high?" Dan Master Hideyoshi asked. His question seemed less like it was born of arrogance and more like genuine curiosity.

"Primeval Spirit Pills."

Murmurs of confusion filled the room. Except for the Sect Masters, No one here even had the foggiest idea of what that was.

But Dan Master Hideyoshi looked like he'd just heard Vermeil say she shit out the sun.

"Young lady... That's impossible. That recipe has been lost for an eternity. It is why there are so few Quasi-God Cultivators walking around today."

Dan Master Hideyoshi had every right to be skeptical.

Because in truth, the recipe for Primeval Spirit Pills was no longer applicable to this world. One of it's key ingredients didn't grow in the lower realm anymore.

But Vermeil is nothing if not creative.

Together with Velreth, she worked to discover a substitute plant that could be used, and now grows it in her garden back at the Cult.

"I can see why you would think that, but I promise you it is the truth. The recipe took some work to manufacture, but it was nothing so taxing that I would call it impossible."

Vermeil fished something out of her pocket and tossed it to the old dwarf.

When he saw the pill, his eyes almost punched through his silver glasses like bullets through a windshield.

"This.. this.. this... this..."

"If you are so gracious as to accept my challenge, then I will give you the recipe. I'll even put up the ones I make as a prize for the competition in two days."

The other Sect Masters finally intervened in the conversation.

Gu Mu-Song: "You're joking, right? How many can you prepare?"

Tang Gyeoksan: "Young Vermeil, can you truly afford to give such a precious thing away?"

Gradmaster Josh: "Can I have double what these guys get because we're buddies??"

Grandmaster Romula: "I am above begging... but if your words are true I would indeed be most grateful."

Vermeil thought they would be excited, but this was a bit much even for her expectations.

The family debated long and hard over what exactly they were going to put up for the competition.

Needless to say, everything that was in Velreth's vault was off limits, so this was one of the few things they could give up without them feeling like they were coming out with too much of a loss.

"You're all a bit overzealous, no? It seems you've forgotten that you have to defeat our best in order to get the prize. You're counting your chickens before they've hatched." Vermeil chuckled.

The sect masters had indeed forgotten that little detail, and backed away more motivated than ever.

"But you, Dan Master Hideyoshi, don't have to leave things to chance. If you accept my challenge and win then I will give you the recipe."

The dwarf almost said yes on instinct, but one thing still held him back.

"...What would you have me put up for this wager?"

"500 million gold should do the trick." Vermeil smiled.

"Damn!"

Everyone looked at Joshua who covered his mouth on instinct.

"...I'm sorry. That just slipped out."

The group ignored him and just turned back to the matter at hand.

"Is that really all you want?" Dan Master Hideyoshi asked. "Such a small sum?"

"DAMN!"

Sect Leaders: "Joshua!!"

"I'm sorry, there is just too much rich talk going on for me!"

Everyone rolled their eyes and ignored him once again.

"That's really it." Vermeil promised. "I'm not quite so cruel as to price gouge you on this kind of thing."

Dan Master Hideyoshi blinked his eyes several times before eventually breaking out into a huge smile.

"If you are so certain... The wager is accepted."

He held out his hand and Vermeil started to shake it before the dwarf imposed some last second conditions.

"But I'm afraid I can't allow you to make those Primeval Spirit Pills today.

In the spirit of fairness, we will both be making pills of grade 1-7. And it should be ones that each of us has made before to allow for accurate comparisons.

Our fellow Sect Leaders will be the judges, but I'm afraid that Dai-Shi Aveena cannot participate.... I'm sure you understand why."

Aveena huffed and folded her arms. She was going to give every point to Vermeil before her pills even finished cooking.

"The first to get four votes in their favor will be the winner. Are these terms I have posed acceptable to you?"

Vermeil never lost her smile. "Quite."

The old dwarf and the Saintess of Stars shook hands to seal the deal, and a riveting competition was soon underway.

-

Taira was sitting in the courtyard of their temporary abode. He wished he could say that he was resting peacefully, but the children of the Cult were busy using his large furry body as a jungle gym.

They were crawling all over him, trying to play tag with little Yukiko, who was already the most popular member of the cult by a wide margin.

As the kids ran along and played, Taira saw a familiar figure materialize into view from out of thin air.

"Haven't seen you in a while, my love. Where've you been hiding?"

Enyo smiled sheepishly.

'You were spying on someone.' Taira thought telepathically.

'...Maybe.' Enyo shrugged. 'Want to know what I saw?'

Whether Taira did or didn't, Enyo didn't really give him a choice.

She tapped him on the center of his forehead and force-feed him a rather sexy memory.

Shakti was alone in her quarters- the curtains tightly shut and the room almost completely dark.

Taira saw her undergoing a particular act of self gratification that surprisingly had nothing to do with cultivating.

"That's... You shouldn't have been watching that." Taira shook his head hard to purge himself of dirty thoughts.

'I agree, I was wrong." Enyo looked down sadly. "…Why don't we go upstairs right now so that I can apologize, and-'

'No… Maybe… you're a bad influence.'

'She called our names, you know~?'

At this rate, Taira was in need of some serious divine intervention to save him from the clutches of temptation.

"Fire!"

"There's a big fire over there! It's glittery!"

"Sooo pretty..!"

Before Taira could be swindled further, a pillar of blue fire rose up into the sky from the valley- catching the attention of the children around him.

'Well what do you know… seems that fate has given us something else to take a peek at.'