The next day, a young Taoist came to wake Edward Lewis up. After washing up, he drank some blood prepared by the young Taoist—it was unclear what animal it came from. Edward Lewis followed the young Taoist to the main hall, where Brian Lane was already waiting for him. Brian Lane pointed to a seat for Edward Lewis to sit down, waved the young Taoist away, and then said to Edward Lewis, “Starting today, we will begin cultivating the Corpse King. However, since you are a vampire, your meridians are probably different from us humans, so we’ll need to study this together. Hopefully, nothing will go wrong.” Edward Lewis replied easily, “Just do as you see fit. Since I’ve come with you, I trust you can help me become the Zombie King.” Brian Lane nodded and said, “Alright. Actually, cultivating the Zombie King is divided into internal and external parts. I have a mental cultivation method here, a secret technique passed down in my sect for a thousand years—this is for internal cultivation. For the next half year, you’ll soak in medicinal liquid during the day and absorb the energy of the moonlight at night. Every full moon night, I’ll use golden needles to pierce your acupoints and reverse your blood flow—this is the external cultivation.”

Brian Lane taught the mental method to Edward Lewis, then led him to the medicinal pool—a four-meter-square pool, with blue flames swirling underneath. As the black medicinal liquid bubbled, unknown herbs would occasionally float to the surface. Edward Lewis felt a chill in his heart at the sight, nudged Brian Lane and said, “Boss, you want me to soak in this?” “Yes.” “Ah!” Edward Lewis let out a miserable cry, “Do you want to drink bat soup? You want me to soak in this boiling water?” Brian Lane looked completely relaxed, “It’s fine, it’s fine. Have you forgotten? You’re a vampire. This bit of hot water is nothing to you…” “But this isn’t hot water, it’s boiling water…” Brian Lane rolled his eyes, too lazy to explain, grabbed him by the neck, and tossed him in. “Ah—” Edward Lewis’s scream echoed to the sky.

After soaking in the medicinal pool all day, by evening Brian Lane pulled Edward Lewis out and threw him onto the bed. Although his skin was scalded and torn, during this time Edward Lewis had been constantly practicing the mental method taught by Brian Lane, and now he could clearly feel a surge of power filling his body. However, the pain on his body was like being cut by knives. Even though he wanted to test the effects of soaking in the medicinal pool all day, he didn’t dare move at all. The physique of the blood clan was indeed far superior to ordinary people. The mental method Brian Lane gave him could only be practiced through six meridians by normal people, but in Edward Lewis’s body, there were nineteen meridians through which this method could operate, absorbing energy more than three times faster than normal. Bored while soaking in the pool, Edward Lewis remembered he had promised his parents to call home, so he asked Brian Lane for a phone and made a call. Ordinary phones had no signal here, and Brian Lane’s phone, specially modified, could only make outgoing calls, not receive them. Edward Lewis had to explain to his parents that he was working in the wild and had no phone, so from now on he could only call them, and after a round of promises to call home whenever possible, his parents finally let him off.

At night, Edward Lewis sat cross-legged on the mountaintop, operating the mental method, all nineteen meridians working together, frantically absorbing the cool energy from the moonlight. As soon as the moon’s energy entered his body, it tangled wildly with the energy absorbed during the day in the medicinal pool, rapidly fusing together, and the fused energy grew at a geometric rate. Strands of silvery light from the moon wrapped around Edward Lewis’s body, spinning constantly. Sitting upright, Edward Lewis looked like the moon god descending to earth. Watching from afar, even Brian Lane couldn’t help but sigh, “A blood clan Zombie King—his future is limitless. Just look at how easily he can form a moon energy field while cultivating. Maybe that Divine Sect will really need his help someday.” Under the moonlight, Edward Lewis suddenly felt a stir in his heart. The demon wings of the blood clan suddenly unfurled, and the moonlight shone on the demon wings, which, like solar panels, frantically absorbed the moon’s energy, sending a huge surge of power back into Edward Lewis’s body. Edward Lewis operated the mental method at full speed, rapidly refining the moon’s energy. From a distance, Brian Lane smiled wryly to himself, “Good kid, smart enough. I just hope it’s not dangerous. Hmm, looks like I’ll have to work a bit harder and keep a close eye on him.”

When the first full moon night arrived, Brian Lane had basically figured out the meridians throughout the vampire’s body. Their meridians were even more suited to storing energy than humans’, and their network was much more complex, with the major acupoints in different places than humans—the acupoint equivalent to the dantian was actually in the chest. At night, Brian Lane set up an energy-gathering array on the mountaintop, drawing all the nearby moon energy into the formation. Then he had Edward Lewis lie in the array, and used eighty-one golden needles to pierce the major acupoints all over Edward Lewis’s body. The moon energy gathered in the array flowed into Edward Lewis’s body through the golden needles, like water running through all his meridians, muscles, and organs, repairing the meridians that had been damaged from a month of frenzied energy absorption, strengthening his muscles, and quietly transforming Edward Lewis’s body. A gentle silver light enveloped Edward Lewis, who was immersed in a rare moment of tranquility for the month, while Brian Lane, keeping a close watch on Edward Lewis and ready to deal with any emergencies, cursed inwardly, “Damn brat, I’m worried sick over here, and he’s sleeping so soundly. Outrageous, truly outrageous!”

Chapter Three

Six months passed quickly. Edward Lewis thought he was about to escape, but Brian Lane believed his cultivation should continue a bit longer. One extension after another, before he knew it, Edward Lewis had spent five years on the mountain.