The Fallen Vampire

Chapter 193: The First Test

The secret realm was a very big and dangerous place to be, but at least the weather wasn't horrible.

In the winter time, the coldest it ever got there was around 60 degrees or so. That was a very stark difference from the cavern average of ten degrees.

As such, the new cult members were already shivering. And the humans along with them were on the verge of developing a rather nasty case of frostbite.

"Are you cold?"

Taira and the girls appeared in front of the crowd of shivering cultists.

At the sight of him, the cultists kneeled in unison and cupped their fists.

The humans were a bit farther behind, but with some instruction from the young children, they were able to quickly correct their posture and manners.

They did look a little bit clumsy though… but perhaps they would learn better manners in time.

"This place is to be your new home. I know that it may not seem like it now, but you will soon get used to the weather."

It was clear that would be a bigger challenge for some than others.

For the next several minutes, Taira would go on to explain the buildings they were looking at, a bit of history behind the cult itself, and their shared vision for the future.

He didn't know when the last time he had done so much talking was… It was exhausting.

To wrap things up, Taira expressed his and Aveena's shared vision for the cult.

Did they want to fix a world the gods broke eons ago? Yes. But more than that, they wanted to successfully help everyone here reach the Upper Realm.

Needless to say, this alone was enough to get most of the cultists quite excited.

They live not only for the fight, but to see their fellow kin grow as well.

"There will be more to come later, but for now I believe that is all. I'll give you all a week to get settled before we begin your instruction, but for now… simply cross the bridge."

Taira and his wives vanished from the sight of the cultists and left them on the opposite side.

Even though this was still the Drifting Snowfall Sect… it was still nice to partake in their oldest tradition.

He highly doubted sovereign and venerable level cultivators would freeze out here, but it would still be interesting to see how they dealt with the bridge's little trick.

Sure enough, the cultists soon realized that no matter how long they walked, they did not appear to be getting any closer to the opposite side.

In fact, one of the men finally looked back and found they were still at the very edge.

"What is this..?"

"Are we being tested??"

"Probably… the Dai-Shi is a fox spirit after all."

A few of the men began to levitate off the ground as they tried to cross the stone bridge through flight.

However, that didn't seem to work either.

Next, two more members tried to jump over the bridge and into the water.

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Vaal nearly fell over laughing when the water literally rose up as if it had a life of it's own and spit them right back out.

For just a moment, it seemed as if there were faces hidden within the waves, but Vaal could not be sure his eyes hadn't deceived him.

Attempts continued for hours; each becoming more and more outlandish than it's predecessor.

Vaal was sure if he closed his eyes and cultivated while he walked backwards, then he would succeed in reaching the other side.

Imagine his embarrassment when he just looked like a sleepwalking idiot in front of the whole cult.

Several more hours went by until the group were well into the night; with the cultists being no closer to crossing the other side of the bridge.

The asanbosam were still trying their best, but the humans who were still new to this world were a bit closer to giving up than the rest of them were.

Corey Samuels: "T-This sucks…"

Big Country: "Boy I tell you what, I'd certainly be willing to do something strange for a order of McNuggets and a ice cream right about now…"

Jordan: "I can't believe Vermeil left us out here to freeze to death… It's all your fault, Sawyer."

Sawyer: "M-Me?? What'd I do?!"

Saanvi: "You couldn't keep your eyes to yourself… Sorry, make that eye."

"I've heard enough."

Suddenly, the group were approached by a tall, hulking figure.

Shakti was immensely attractive, but her build was frightening enough to put most male body builders to shame.

"I do not care if you knew the Third Lady from before or not, but you will not use her name without honorifics again unless bestowed with express permission. Am I clear?"

The language barrier was still quite present between the humans and asanbosam; making it near impossible for them to tell what Shakti had just said.

"S-Sorry… I don't understand..?" Saanvi replied timidly.

From beginning the curtains of Shakti's dark hair, Saanvi could've sworn that she saw a pair of bright red eyes staring into the depths of her very soul.

"She said you guys should cool it on using Vermeil's name so casually. It's disrespectful."

Everyone turned to stare at young, black haired Himari, who had been quiet this entire time.

Shakti surprised everyone by speaking in a somewhat clumsy version of English.

"You understand myself?"

Himari shrugged.

"Your language has a lot of similarities to Swahili from Earth. The consonants, nouns, and verb conjugations are kind of different though, but figuring it out wasn't too hard. I see you're learning some English too."

Shakti actually looked a tad bit embarrassed now.

"…Dai-Shi Taira advises, but Shakti am a poor student." It was brief and barely noticeable, but immense admiration was present in Shakti's tone when Taira was mentioned.

"Not at all. It's one of the hardest languages to learn back home. Grasping just this much in two weeks is really quite impressive."

It was easy to miss, but Shakti's ears did temporarily twitch happily from the unprovoked compliment.

As such, she decided to extend a little helping hand to the baby cultivators.

"…You all are in the mortal realm now. I know you have not had the time to learn very much, but you should atleast know how to circulate your energy properly. It will help you brave the cold."

Shakti gave some simple instructions in her native tongue, to which Himari relayed to the others.

Sure enough, once they were able to properly circulate their energy, they went from feeling as if they were on the verge of frostbite to just feeling like they were standing in front of an open freezer.

"Hm. It seems you all are not poor students." Shakti praised.

Himari cupped her fist and perform a perfect salute just as she had seen the others do countless times before.

"Thank you for your help, First Bane."

Shakti raised her brow at Himari's mistake.

"The proper translation is 'Hand', new blood."

"O-Oh, my bad.."

"No… Perhaps I like 'Bane' better. It will strike fear into the hearts of the cult's enemies."

"I really don't think you need any help with that.."

"What do you mean?" Shakti tilted her head.

"N-Nothing…"

Suddenly, a strange phenomena unfolded on the bridge.

Despite not taking a single step, the cultist all appeared on the other side right underneath the sect gates.

"Sorry for our family's little prank, everyone..."

Keran appeared from out of a dense fog wearing a helpless smile on her face and carrying a wooden box.

"It's a bit of a custom here for newcomers to have an uncomfortable first night. Shall I fix that now?"

Keran waived her black tails and nine balls of pink flame appeared over each tip.

Miniature arrows of pink flame shot out and struck the cultists in the chest before they knew how to react.

But instead of feeling pain or discomfort, their bodies instead began to warm up considerably.

Now, even though it was freezing outside, the cold didn't bother them at all. What's more, there was no more energy circulation required.

"Now that you all are no longer on the verge of freezing to death, I believe it's time we get you settled in and fed, don't you?"