14. Vampire

Ko Ren studied the glowing crystal in which he and his other conspirators had ensnared the demon which had been possessing Little Bug. It glowed a faint blue color, proving that it was occupied with a spirit. However, it was not the dark red color that the ritual manual had said a demon would exude. He sensed no evil from the crystal. He sensed … not nothing. A faint energy. Not Qi, but something else. He did not know what it was.

Little Bug could have told him that it was the remains of the wards that had been concealing his location from scrying, as well as a few parting gifts. But Little Bug had vanished. Ko Ren saw it as just more proof that his possession theory was correct; the boy had been a willing host, and once the demon was exorcised he had fled the sect to avoid the punishment handed out to all demonic cultivators.

Except he sensed no demonic energy.

Perhaps the boy had not been cursed by a demon, but blessed by a sacred ancestor. That might have explained everything, and it would not violate the laws of the sect or the greater laws handed down by the immortal lord of the heavens.

It did not matter. Ko Ren was not reflecting on the crystal because of self-doubt. Rather, he was eyeing it with greed. Whatever the nature of the spirit within, the knowledge that it possessed was invaluable. In the hands of a child it had revolutionized the foundation and energy gathering stage of the Six Mountains Sect. Ko Ren was on the silver path. If he could convince the spirit to help him as it had once helped the boy, he could break through not only the bottleneck that would allow him to ascend from this lowly world, but perhaps challenge and supplant the lord of the heavens himself!

But first he must negotiate a bargain with the entity. He must speak with the spirit, be it devil or saint, and plead his case. Given how their last communication had gone, he wasn’t hopeful that the spirit would be pleased with him. Ko Ren was the spirit’s only hope of freedom, however, and with the knowledge that he had the upper hand, he began the ritual.

Unlike the exorcism, the only other ritualist this time was his sister Ko Si. She shared his heart on the matter. He had not spoken of his plans with the others, too much of a risk that they would feign righteous indignation.

Chanting the magic and powering the formation which would allow the spirit to speak, as well as the wards which would keep it trapped inside, Ko Ren enacted the ritual. It took three hours to complete, and he smiled to himself as the color of the crystal changed the further along he went. When at last he had empowered the crystal to speak, it had become a dark red, proving that it truly was a demon inside.

“To the entity trapped within, if you desire freedom, it will not come without cost! I demand--”

“I am not trapped, just visiting. It was quite surprising to find necromancy being performed so nearby. I simply had to check it out, so I popped in for a look-see,” A sonorous voice said. “Such low level wards could not stop me. In fact, they’re somewhat pathetic. Were you truly entrusting your life to them? I’ve seen imps which could tear through them and rip your throat out within a second of being summoned!”

Ko Ren’s heart clamored. The demon spoke! It blustered and threatened. “I am not afraid of you, Demon,” he said. “If you desire freedom, it must come with a price. I propose a pact. You will give me knowledge, and I will give you freedom. I demand that you give me the insights required to break through into the golden realm.”

“I agree. First lesson. You have made another foolish mistake,” the demon-crystal chided. “And a fatal one. For the contract is complete and there is nothing to keep me from slaughtering you in a painful and creative manner.”

Ko Ren balked. “I am not so easily--”

The wards erupted as a wave of energy crashed out through the crystal. An eye appeared within it, and the demon’s voice became stronger. “You may relax. I am simply being a good teacher. If I intended to kill you, you would be dead already. As I said, your protections are pathetic. You’re lucky that this crystal contained nothing but a trace of my target. Were I not following in the unbound soul’s footsteps, you might have attracted a true demon with that ritual of yours.”

Ko Ren felt his face go pale. His knees went out. He had been so confident, but to have had the wards destroyed so easily, he had little doubt that the demon spoke the truth. Then he registered what the demon had said.

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“You are tracking Little Bug?” he asked.

“You should have killed him before you tried entrapping his soul. The ritual you used is truly pathetic, but it would never work on a living subject anyway. But it’s impossible that a couple Silvers would succeed where I have failed. However, if you bring the unbound soul to me, I promise you great rewards. You wish to trod the golden path? I shall bring you to the diamond. I simply require that boy’s soul as payment.”

Ko Ren swallowed. “Is that a promise that you can truly deliver?”

The crystal was silent for a moment. Then a light flashed out, enveloping Ko Ren in a red malaise. He groaned in agony, and his sister called out. She rushed forward, but a wave of force shot from the crystal and knocked her into the wall. Despite the fact that she too walked the silver path, she was rendered unconscious.

After a moment, the light faded. But the enlightenment that the light had imparted in Ko Ren remained.

“I have given you the knowledge that will take you to the golden path,” the demon-crystal said. “I am already looking for him with my own methods; however, you might have more success given that you know him in his present life and have established karmic ties. Give me the boy, and I shall give you the knowledge to enter the realm beyond gold.”

“I-he is gone from the sect,” Ko Ren objected. “If it were in my power I swear I--”

“Find him. If you find him before I do, then capture him and signal me. You now know how”

“Yes. Yes, Master,” Ko Ren said.

The crystal eye considered him for another moment, then it went dun and fell to the floor.

Across the room, Ko Si groaned in pain as she sat up. The bolt of force that had struck her would have shattered the ribs of a non-cultivator, perhaps even killing them outright. It had simply knocked the wind out of her. Ko Ren went over to his sister and knelt next to her.

“I know how to break through,” he told her. “It wasn’t an attack, the demon was imparting knowledge. So much knowledge.”

Ko Si looked up at him and smiled. “We succeeded then? Will the method work for both of us?”

Ko Ren nodded. “Yes, it could work for both of us.”

He smiled down at his sister and cupped her cheek in his hand. “But it will only work for one of us, sister. It’s you or me.”

Before she had time to register what he had said, the Qi inside her body ignited. She tried to quell it, to bring it back under control, but for the first time since she was in the energy gathering realm the Qi in her body refused to obey her commands. Too late she realized that this was an attack, that her brother was using a technique on her.

She tried to fight, but found herself paralyzed, falling back to the floor. Ko Ren put a hand to her belly, right above her core, and he began to siphon out her cultivation. She had not even known such a thing was possible, but she understood what was happening to her.

This was not just the expenditure of Qi. That was like the flexing of a muscle; Qi replaced itself with time and meditation. This was vampirism. He was stealing much more than Qi. He was stealing insights that had taken her decades to develop. He was stealing her Dao, and leaving her with nothing.

Then he stopped. Not because he had taken his fill, but because she was empty. Her meridians were closed, her channels were empty. Her core was weak and cracked and leaking. She was back in the foundation realm once more.

Ko Ren sat next to his crippled sister in the lotus position. The paralyzation technique he had used faded, and she wanted to stand and beat him, to strike him and punish him for taking what he had taken. But she was a mortal woman now, and to strike a cultivator of his level would be to court death.

Ko Si began to sob helplessly just as Ko Ren broke through and began to walk the golden path.

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