Chapter 16: Serum

Three days later, at the hour of the rabbit, the sky was pitch black.

In the suburbs of London, above Li Yang’s estate, thunderclouds gathered, accompanied by flashes of lightning and rolling thunder. At the center of the estate, on a lightning-attracting tower dozens of feet high, dense electric sparks flickered. Mysterious and ancient thunder runes were activated by the electrical energy, emitting a daunting, sacred aura as they guided the thunderbolts down from above.

Inside the tower sat a massive metal platform. Li Yang was seated upon it, his body wrapped in metal chains covered in thunder runes. A thin layer of silvery-white lightning shimmered around him, and his long, jet-black hair stood on end. Within the tower, the air appeared strangely distorted; the intense heat and electromagnetic fields intertwined to create a vacuum environment. Under these conditions, the lightning energy could only be transmitted into Li Yang’s body through the chains wrapped around him, significantly reducing the pressure he had to endure.

Stimulated by the continuous flow of lightning energy, Li Yang’s heart began to beat violently. Pale blue electric arcs spilled from within his body, yet in the vacuum of the tower, everything remained silent; no matter how the thunder roared outside, it did not affect him in the slightest.

Driven by the powerful contractions of his heart, Li Yang’s blood and energy surged. His muscles, bones, and internal organs began to twitch rhythmically with his breathing. Within his meridians, golden mana, infused with silvery-white lightning energy, surged like a raging torrent, flowing ceaselessly. His cells, much like starving infants, hungrily devoured the energy escaping from the meridians.

...

On an altar not far from the tower, Catherine, dressed in a maid’s uniform, watched the terrifying thunderstorm in the sky with a face full of dread. Sensing the raw power of nature at such close range, even her resilient mind could not help but tremble, as if she were on the verge of suffocation. Even from hundreds of meters away, she could clearly feel the stinging, numbness, and the terrifying heat waves. She could not imagine what Li Yang, who was currently enduring the baptism of thunder inside that bizarre metal tower, was experiencing.

She had long considered her understanding of Li Yang’s power to be profound. Especially when her Night Walkers had attacked the vampire lair and were thoroughly wiped out by Li Yang, she had never felt so powerless. Yet, seeing this scene, she realized how shallow and ignorant her understanding had been. Never before had she imagined that a human could stand face-to-face against the natural forces of the heavens.

"Does he... does he cultivate like this every day? This is..."

Looking at the strange runes lighting up on the metal tower and the aura of divine thunder filling the space, Catherine couldn't help but ask the vampire maid beside her.

"It’s magnificent, isn't it? When I first arrived, I was even more shocked than you. I’ve just grown accustomed to it. This must be the divine power of a god, manipulating the heavens and the earth."

"Only when you get closer to the great God of Bloodline Warlocks can you truly understand his boundless divine power and greatness." Angela smiled slightly at Catherine and whispered, then looked at the flickering tower with a face full of piety. "Actually, I truly admire you sometimes. You dare to confront the majesty of the great Lord. Your courage is admirable, though perhaps not a wise choice."

"Of course, the most important thing is that the great Lord did not punish you; instead, he shows you special favor. He even displays shifts in his emotions when facing you. That is what makes me curious."

Angela looked Catherine up and down. She had to admit that her fellow vampire was breathtakingly beautiful, but she did not believe the great God of Bloodline Warlocks was swayed by mere beauty. Among the vampire race, beautiful individuals were not uncommon, and having served Li Yang the longest, she believed she understood the great deity well. In her view, his dimension transcended ordinary biological limits. She had never seen the slightest emotional fluctuation in his eyes; to him, all living things seemed the same—weak and insignificant. Based on myths and legends, she concluded that a god’s worldview differed from theirs, consisting only of divinity, with no room for human emotions. In their eyes, people were divided only into believers and non-believers; there was no distinction between men and women, beauty or ugliness—much like how she, when looking at ants, could not distinguish which were male or female, beautiful or ugly.

However, the appearance of this fellow vampire had shattered her theory, as the great Lord only showed emotional fluctuations when facing her. Though subtle, they could not escape Angela’s keen observation. Before serving Li Yang, she had been the commander of Elder Amelia’s personal guard; reading people was second nature to her, so she could not be mistaken. She had heard of Catherine—the famous Goddess of Moonlight—but she could see nothing in her that would warrant such a different attitude from the great deity, which filled her with envy. She had served Li Yang for over half a year, yet unless he had orders, the great Lord had never said a single extra word to her.

"You think this is 'special favor'? Oh... God! Are you crazy, or have I lost my mind and can no longer understand this world?" Pointing at her maid outfit, Catherine stared at the fellow vampire in utter disbelief, her eyes filled with frustration.

"What do you think? Do you really believe just anyone has the honor of serving the great Lord? I had to go through layers of competition just to secure this position."

"Isn’t it a privilege to be this close to the glory of the great Lord? Even Elder Amelia vied for this spot. If the great Lord hadn't specifically appointed her to handle vampire affairs, this position wouldn't have fallen to me."

"Being able to serve beside the great Lord is a grand honor. Perhaps one day we might even follow him into his divine kingdom. Even now, our status has surpassed the vast majority of our kin. Even the once unattainable Elder Amelia must be polite when she sees us. Is this not a gift?" Angela grew more excited as she spoke, her face flushed with longing, obsession, and piety.

"Oh... shit! I've had enough." Watching the worshipful, obsessed look on Angela’s face, Catherine felt like pulling her hair out, her hand against her forehead in disbelief. She felt the world had gone mad. She even suspected that Li Yang had cast some sort of enchantment on her kin; otherwise, they wouldn't all be acting like lunatics, ready to be at his beck and call.

"Rumble..."

Just then, a dazzling pillar of red light shot into the sky, instantly shredding the thunderclouds.

"Quick, the great Lord is coming out!" Seeing the hot, blinding pillar of light, Angela called out to Catherine and immediately trotted toward the lightning tower.

"Sss..."

Amidst a cloud of white steam, Li Yang emerged from the tower. He took the towel from Angela, wiped his face, and glanced at Catherine, who stood nearby in her maid outfit with a reluctant expression, feeling a sense of amusement.

"Lord, your medicinal bath is prepared!" Angela bowed slightly and looked up at him cautiously.

"Hmm. What are you still standing there for? Come over here!" Throwing the towel at Angela, Li Yang looked at Catherine with a hint of dissatisfaction. He secretly grumbled to himself: *Do you have no sense of observation? Can't you see I'm sitting in a wheelchair?*

Amidst Catherine’s reluctant demeanor, Li Yang was pushed into a side room of the estate. The room was filled with white steam and the pungent smell of herbs, with two massive medicine cabinets on either side. In the center of the room stood a copper cauldron as tall as a person, filled with boiling, scarlet medicinal liquid.

After dismissing the two maids, Li Yang pushed himself up with his hands and vaulted into the scalding liquid. With the wealth and influence of the vampire clan, this body-tempering fluid had become an indispensable part of his daily cultivation. It was precisely because of such abundant resources that Li Yang could channel the power of thunder using the tower once every week.

One had to understand that with his current cultivation, he was still a long way from achieving a "Thunder Dharma Body." Lightning energy was exceptionally violent, and the radiation it carried caused significant damage to his cells. Each time he absorbed lightning energy, he had to nurture, refine, and purify his body for a long time to heal the damage before he could channel it again. Under normal circumstances, this process would take at least a month or two.

But with the ample resources provided by the vampires—daily tempering fluids and pills—Li Yang was able to shorten this process to once a week. This was the reason for his rapid progress. It was clear how vital resources were to a practitioner; if he had to scavenge for resources himself, he wouldn't have time to cultivate properly, let alone indulge in such extravagance.

...

The day’s cultivation ended, and the sky had brightened. Li Yang, in his wheelchair, was pushed by Catherine into the laboratory.

"Welcome, great God of Bloodline Warlocks!" The moment Li Yang appeared, the researchers immediately dropped what they were doing and knelt, their faces filled with respect and piety.

"Rise." Li Yang waved his hand, signaling them to continue their work. He had become accustomed to this routine; it happened several times a day, and it would be hard not to get used to it. Behind him, pushing the wheelchair, Catherine curled her lip in silence, unable to comprehend these people who acted as if they were possessed.

"Dr. Yorkson, how is the serum research coming along?" Li Yang asked, his face filled with expectation as he led Dr. Yorkson into the deepest part of the laboratory.

"Lord, this is the serum we have developed!" Dr. Yorkson carefully opened a metal freezer box and handed it to Li Yang, his voice trembling with excitement. "These two types of serum were created using the two genes you provided. Because the genetic samples were extremely limited, we currently only have these eight vials."

Looking at the shimmering, fluorescent serum in the box, Dr. Yorkson’s eyes were full of obsession. Though different in color—one gold, one yellow—they both possessed a transparent luster, with tiny specks flickering within like a deep, mysterious galaxy. Furthermore, they emitted energy fluctuations barely perceptible to ordinary people; they were like perfect works of art. To create these, the entire team had worked day and night for the past few days. It was only because their physical constitutions were superior—everyone in the lab was either a werewolf or a vampire—that they could withstand such high-intensity work.