Chapter 178: Seraphina’s Worry
Damon turned from the fading light and walked toward Seraphina.
She stood at the edge of the stone platform, her silver hair tangled and her robes disheveled.
Her eyes were fixed on the spot where the Azure Dragon Spirit had vanished, her expression hollow.
Damon stopped a few feet away from her, close enough to see the fine trembling in her hands, the way her green hair clung to her damp cheeks.
The cavern around them had grown still and cold, the grand spectacle of the inheritance reduced to nothing but drifting motes of emerald light that floated lazily toward the vaulted stone ceiling before winking out one by one.
"What are you going to do now?" he asked.
Seraphina’s lips parted. The question hung between them, simple and devastating.
Her gaze remained fixed on the empty air where the Azure Dragon Spirit had stood, as though she expected it to reconstitute itself, to offer her some second chance, some consolation.
No words came.
She stared at the hollow cavern, at the last few drifting sparks of emerald slowly dying in the dark, and her throat worked silently around an answer she clearly didn’t have.
"I... I don’t know."
Her voice cracked on the last word, raw and small, entirely unlike the composed, green-haired cultivator she had been when she first entered this place.
"I lost my chastity. I failed to get the bloodline. I came here for the inheritance, and I leave with nothing."
She wrapped her arms around herself, her shoulders trembling.
"My world is crumbling, Damon. I came here expecting to become stronger. To prove myself. And now..."
She trailed off.
Damon watched her.
There was no accusation in her voice. She understood there had been no other way.
The mist had taken her choice, and he had helped her survive.
But understanding didn’t erase the weight of what she had lost. It didn’t fill the hollow space where her ambitions had lived, where the Azure Dragon’s inheritance had once seemed inevitable and certain.
The grief on her face wasn’t directed at him — it was something deeper, more formless, the kind that came not from a single wound but from the collapse of an entire future she had built her identity around.
"I don’t blame you," she whispered, the words barely carrying across the quiet dark of the cavern.
"I know what happened in that mist wasn’t your fault. I know that."
She pressed her lips together, her green hair falling forward to partially obscure her face as she looked down at the stone floor.
"I just don’t know who I am anymore."
The admission seemed to cost her something.
It came out stripped of pride, stripped of the careful composure she had worn like armour since the moment they’d first crossed paths inside this place.
Without the inheritance, without the bloodline, without even her chastity intact — all the pillars she had built herself upon had given way at once.
Damon stepped forward.
He cupped her face with one hand and pressed his lips to hers.
Seraphina stiffened, her hands rising to push him away. But she didn’t. She stood frozen as he kissed her, her breath catching in her throat.
When he pulled back, her eyes were wide, confused.
"Don’t worry," Damon said.
He held her gaze, his golden eyes steady and warm.
"If you want, you can be my woman."
Seraphina’s expression shifted. The confusion faded, replaced by something harder. More guarded.
"I don’t want to be just another woman," she said, her voice gaining an edge.
"I don’t want to be someone’s trophy. I’ve spent my entire life cultivating to be taken seriously. I won’t throw that away to become a decoration in some man’s harem."
Damon didn’t flinch.
"Don’t worry," he repeated.
He stepped closer, his hand still resting on her cheek.
"All my women get stronger. They don’t stay in my shadow. They grow with me. I don’t leave anyone behind."
Seraphina’s eyes searched his face, looking for the lie.
"You think I’m lying?"
"I think every man says that," she replied.
"But I’ve never seen it happen."
Damon smiled.
"Then look at Ariel."
Seraphina blinked.
"She was a noble girl who sold by her family. When I met her, she was at the Elementary Spirit Realm. Now she’s at Earth Spirit Realm and She’s going to the Eastern Continent Tournament."
Seraphina said nothing.
"Look at the Nightrider twins," Damon continued.
"Mio and Mia. Core disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect. Everyone knew them. But they were stuck at Earth Spirit Realm for years. Now they’re at Heavenly Spirit Realm. They’re stronger than they’ve ever been."
He paused, letting the words sink in.
"They’re all my women. And they’re all growing faster than they ever could have alone."
Seraphina’s gaze dropped to the stone floor.
She thought about Ariel.
The quiet blue-haired girl who had appeared at the sect selection with nothing but potential.
Now she was a core disciple and advancing at a pace that made elders take notice.
She thought about Mio and Mia.
The infamous twins who had been stuck in the same cultivation stage for years.
Now they were breaking through barriers that had held them back for a decade.
And they all orbited around Damon.
Around the man standing in front of her.
She looked up.
"What about me?"
Damon’s smile widened.
"You’ll get the Azure Dragon Bloodline."
Seraphina’s breath caught.
"What?"
"I have a way," Damon said. "You’ll have the Azure Dragon Bloodline and Physique. You’ll be stronger than you ever imagined."
Seraphina stared at him, her mind racing.
"Are you sure? You... you can do that?"
Damon nodded.
"I can do a lot of things."
He reached out and took her hand.
"So what do you say? Do you want to be my woman? Not a trophy. Not a decoration. A partner who grows stronger with me."
Seraphina looked at his hand, then at his face.
She thought about her shattered plans. Her lost chastity. The inheritance she thought she had failed to claim.
But then she thought about Ariel. About the twins. About the power they had gained in such a short time.
She thought about the Azure Dragon Bloodline waiting for her.
And she made her choice.
"Yes."
Damon pulled her into his arms.
"Good."
She pressed her face against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart.
"I won’t regret this," she whispered.
Damon kissed the top of her head.
"No. You won’t."