Blood and Qi: A Vampire Xianxia LitRPG

Taking the cultivating mat Lilly gave him out of his ring, John asked, “Did you still want to meditate with me, Amonee? Would you like to try this runed-mat? But, first, does your grandmother approve of you staying up so late?”

Amonee’s shoulders slumped and he looked down. “She ain’t here. She over in LeDroit Park with my cousins. The ones old enough to stay.”

“Are you on your own?”

“Yeah.”

“Why haven’t you gone to live with your grandmother?”

Amonee looked up at John. “Man, no one leaves the corridor. Not since the Tree. They won’t even let me leave this building without paying. I ain’t got nothing to pay with. They make the people that bring us food pay too. Ain’t no cops coming here neither.”

“Who won’t let you leave?”

“Anyone. All the gangs pulled together. Is that a real Meghan mat? It don’t look like one.”

John held the runed-mat out and said, “I think this came from a different world. Take it. For helping with the phone. I gather energy quickly enough, I often forget to use it or even that I have it.”

Smiling, Amonee said, “For real? You giving it to me or just letting me borrow it?”

“It’s yours if you want it. If yours worked the runes would’ve lit up as you meditated. Tomorrow morning I’ll bring you to your grandmother.”

The two meditated for a bit. Amonee fell asleep and John covered the boy with a blanket.

John continued to meditate, thinking of his battle with the g’athu, how to improve, the mistakes he made, what he should’ve done differently. He converted much essence to shen, and all the shen to emptiness. Meditating allowed him to avoid thinking of his former wife and all the pain of his heart, and all else that ailed him.

Shortly after dawn, John received a notification from his NCS.

A higher being has sent you a message. User is to read message at once and take all necessary action causing the least amount of offense to higher being. Message received 25 October, 07:42 AM EST, USACS. Message follows –

My informal and semi-student,

You handled the talk with your ex-wife decently well. Stick to the plan as she is now part of mine.

Sublime Ton-Oi has returned to Terra. He cleared the three portal anchors leading to the g’athu. The core was also in contact with him so my duty here is completed. I leave to grow my business. I do not know when I will see you again.

I shall leave you with three bits of advice.

First, review what the demon Muzaran told you after your first success with blade energy.

Second, as always – think!

For ages on your world, you feared little. When truths are known and the rules constant, it is an easy thing to believe emotions have been mastered. When the environment is controlled, emotions can be too.

The unexpected, the unknown, the unfamiliar – that is the real test. When existence is shrouded in uncertainty, when chaos rules and you have no power over events, when life spirals out of control, so does the storm that rages within us all.

Finding out the truth about your wife is not the cause – it only made an obvious truth you have been ignoring undeniable. Since the Tree of Life has returned to your world, you have not had more ‘slips.’ You never had real control of your emotions.

Welcome back to reality. How life is for the rest of us. Welcome back to fear and uncertainty. Welcome back to the unexpected and unknown. Some of the spices that make life interesting and worth living. Take the bitter along with the sweet.

It is strange to say these things to someone so much older than myself but suppressing emotions is not controlling them. I do not believe emotions can be controlled, only overcome. I do not know for certain how the strongest of beings approach this struggle.

As we both know, as we both have seen, those that can be the calm within the storm, the rock others hold on to, the anchor that makes those around them feel safe and secure, a source potent enough others can draw strength from, are always, or seem always to be, imperturbable. Nothing shakes them. There is no amount of responsibility they cannot take on or shoulder. There is no obstacle they cannot overcome. They are the best, most honorable, and noblest among us. Or our greatest monsters.

We are on different paths with different goals. I enjoy strong emotions. I sometimes enjoy losing control. I see nothing wrong with losing myself in the ecstasy of relinquishment. I want to enjoy my life, not improve the lives of others. I seek riches and ease. You seek glory and victories.

The last time I wrote to you I said you must control your emotions and not let your emotions control you. I knew it would be entertaining, but I did not expect you to survive for so long. At the time, I did not know your continued existence would benefit me so greatly.

But now, you are drowning in darkness. Your method of regaining control is not working. I have no real guidance to share with you on this other than to try something different. Or see where your downward spiral takes you. The second option is preferable to me. I would like to see if your basement has a cellar.

So, here is my third and most important bit of advice to you – if you find yourself in possession of more Level Capsules, do not use them! You are far too early in the climb to waste such treasures. If you do not pass them on to me, you will pay dearly. Seriously. I will break you in terrible ways. And slowly.

– Your friend and informal mentor, Sunshine

More than two weeks later John was imprisoned at a newly constructed UN base in the district of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. If the demons reappeared, it was thought they’d do so somewhere south of his location.

John knew where he was. He had been there many times before. To his east there’d be, or used to be, a city called the Shining City or City of Light. He went there many times with his former wife. She believed there was much magic to be found there, as well as in many other of the old cities of the kingdoms of Burata. He even traveled to that city many times after he thought he killed her.

From looking around with the info function on his NCS turned on, John thought the old city he knew could be Varanasi. The name sounded familiar, but John always struggled with any language spoken in Burata. Remembering the words or pronouncing them. He thought it was strange since the languages of Elam were far more sensible to his ears and mouth. Past Elam was like another world. Or Parsa. I wish places would pick a name and stick with it for all times, thought John.

Being imprisoned didn’t bother John. Everyone knew he could leave whenever he wanted, and he only allowed his imprisonment so he’d be left alone. Even so, it still bothered him that so many pretended what he did was wrong and that he should be punished for it.

While he was on the rooftop with Amonee in DC, the boy slept late into the morning. John received a notification stating it was time for him to take the second of the gifts Sunshine had given him. He absorbed the strange contents of the pouch. It wasn’t like normal essence. It caused the area around his heart to burn greatly, and chaos swirled within him until he began to cycle as fast as he could. That tamed the storm a little. He had to invent a new form of cycle-meditation to truly bridle the strange energy that wreaked havoc within him.

John couldn’t remove the band of suffering necklace while the storm raged inside of his chest, and he was sure the necklace made the whole experience much more painful and difficult than it would’ve been otherwise.

It took a great deal of focus and effort for John to harness the strange substance, and a good deal of time. Amanee told John he was glowing during the ordeal.

Once the energy no longer coursed through John’s body, he noticed Amanee was awake and under some strain and distress.

John was the source of the boy’s issues. While absorbing the substance and cycle-meditating, John completely unveiled his soul, and his soul healed enough it exerted some pressure around him. Not much, but enough to make the boy scared and uncomfortable.

After apologizing to Amanee, John entered his Mind’s Eye. His base [Runes] [Stat] went from 16.09 to 37.14. The ‘points’ he could spend were based on effective score, and those scores went from 17.70 to 41.27. If his soul were completely healed, his base [Runes] would be the same as or close to his base [Capacity], which was 59.79. Still, he had new rune ‘points’ to use. Many. Twenty-seven of them. Enough for the weakest form of a glyph.

Avatar thought John should’ve improved on his alpha-strike, [Flashburst Pulse]. He looked into it. He could’ve made that a glyph. But there was a spray-type fire-based glyph for twenty-five points. Long had he dreamed of fire billowing forth from his hands, his enemies set aflame, screaming madly as they panicked and ran around burning. He had to have it. His dream would be denied him no longer.

The glyph was named [Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet]. With his current [Stats], and while early in the Neophyte [Skill] Mastery, the glyph shot out a cone of darkflame that could extend up to sixty-three feet long with a two-inch apex and a little over six-foot base.

Darkflame was a very destructive and hot type of substance described with words John didn’t know or understand. He knew it burned hot and was a type of fire, and that was all he cared about.

Many runes of the manifestation were dedicated to control of the jet spray. It could extend up to sixty-three feet, but it could also extend out a very short distance as well. The base could be as wide as six feet and three inches, but it could only be two inches too. The apex was always two inches, and the base couldn’t be less than the apex.

John spent much time practicing with the glyph in his Mind’s Eye before ‘purchasing’ it with his rune points. He thought it was the greatest spell that was ever conceived of. He loved it a tremendous amount. He loved casting it and when he did so he was filled with many strange and wonderful feelings he had never felt before and would never be able to explain.

Once out of his Mind’s Eye, on the rooftop with Amonee, John cast the glyph into the air. He couldn’t keep himself from laughing from excitement and the pure enjoyment doing so caused him. He hoped he didn’t sound mad. The look Amonee gave him said otherwise. Since it was already late morning, John told the boy it was time for them to head to the grandmother’s residence.

It would be a lie for John to say he didn’t want to use his new glyph. He did. He didn’t kill the ruffians to test out his new spell though. He was certain of it, no matter how madly he laughed in joy while doing so. He only killed seven of them, and their souls proved they had deserved it. He could’ve killed all of them with a clear conscience. They tried to rob him and the boy, but only seven of them had souls he felt made them deserving of death.

John hoped seeing the fate of their dead colleagues would set the living ruffians on the right path – seeing six friends set aflame and another drained, he assumed, was good motivation to reform.

Regardless, Amonee ran away in fear and demanded that John stay away from him. Amonee’s reaction confused John. Shortly after, he was surrounded by guards called police officers demanding his surrender. He respected their courage and sense of duty.

John surrendered on the condition he would be left alone and unbothered and kept in a place large enough to practice with his spells and blade energy. The police officers wanted to take his possessions. He refused. They accepted his refusal.

John was moved to Burata a few days later. He stayed inside a large and empty warehouse similar to the one he had stayed in during his imprisonment in DC. He had plenty of room to cast [Least Glyph of Darkflame Jet]. Even without targets to burn, it was still fun to cast. In his Mind’s Eye, he could use it against targets in simulations and he very much enjoyed doing so.

During his imprisonment, John also reassessed his gear. He had an open arm-slot to attune.

John liked all his current gear. Every item he wore was made for Silver to Platinum tier cultivators, and even the Silver-graded items were too good to unattune. The belt of hiding was fantastic. If ever he were in a situation where many strong opponents were searching for him while spread out, he could take them down in the way he had used to fight armies that were too strong to face all at once, as he also had done during some phases of his challenge against the demon War Academy.

Since many Silvers and above could see essence, hiding in shadows was not as effective as it once was. The stealth cloak he wore hid his essence, scaled off his [Stealth] [Skill], and worked amazingly when paired with the belt of hiding. He would replace the cloak after he next ascended and could get the [Cloak Essence] [Perk].

The boots of secrecy greatly aided the stealth cloak, dulling any noises John made while stealthing, such as footfalls, heartbeat, clanking, and all unintentional sounds, while also enhancing his already impressive [Stealth] [Skill].

The cultivation robes John wore weren’t attuned, but it also cleaned and repaired itself. He saw no reason to replace the robes since he had armor attuned already – the sleek black armor with the automatic essence-shield. Attuning the armor gave a bonus to his [Physical Fortification] and [Elemental Fortification] on top of what the armor itself provided.

John would equip heavier armor once he could use the type that turned into a block and equipped itself quickly and easily when infused with essence. He had three options, the best being the set called Bulwark he stole from Diamond Garioch. In his opinion, none of the lesser or lower-tier types of heavy armor provided enough protection worthy of the hassle wearing it every day would cause him.

Having gotten so used to the band of suffering necklace and the pain it caused, when John took it off, cycling seemed impossibly silly, like he wasn’t even cycling at all. The absence of the pins and needles feeling inside of himself felt wrong. It was like walking around with great weights strapped to the feet for a long period and then removing them. He hoped the band of suffering truly was as beneficial as Muzaran stated as he had no plans to remove it.

The plasma ring and storage ring weren’t going anywhere either.