Chapter 197: Getting Stronger
Seraphina’s body went limp on top of him.
Her breathing came in ragged gasps, her skin flushed and slick with sweat.
She lay there for a long moment, her cheek pressed against his chest, her fingers curled weakly against his shoulder.
Damon stroked her hair gently, waiting for her to catch her breath.
When she finally stirred, she tried to push herself up but her arms gave out. She collapsed back onto him with a soft, embarrassed laugh.
"I think I need a moment," she said.
Damon looked past her to where Ariel, Mio, and Mia were watching from the bed.
They had woken during the commotion and were observing with knowing smiles.
"Teach her how to cultivate my yang qi," Damon said.
Ariel nodded first. "We’ll take care of her."
Mio stretched like a cat. "Don’t worry, we’re experts by now."
Mia just smiled, her eyes glinting with amusement.
Damon eased Seraphina off him and onto the bed beside him.
Ariel moved closer, positioning herself next to Seraphina while Mio and Mia flanked her on the other side.
"Rest first," Ariel murmured, her voice carrying that gentle, unhurried warmth that came naturally to her.
She reached out and brushed a damp strand of hair from Seraphina’s cheek with the back of her fingers.
"Once you’ve caught your breath, we’ll walk you through everything."
Damon watched the exchange for a moment before easing himself back, shifting his weight and settling into a comfortable cross-legged position near the head of the bed.
The sheets were warm beneath him, the air in the room still faintly charged from everything that had transpired.
He exhaled slowly, the quiet of the chamber wrapping around him as his golden eyes half-lidded in focus.
He pulled up his status window.
[Name: Damon Arcknight]
[Age: 18]
[Cultivation: Earth Spirit Realm - First Level]
[True Cultivation: Heavenly Spirit Realm - Seventh Level] [Can advance with lust point]
[Affinities: Fire: 85, Water: 165, Ice: 205, Wind: 205, Earth: 105, Lightning: 435, Nature: 85, Light: 85, Dark: 225, Space: 50, Time: 50, Sword: 115] [Can be upgraded with the lust point]
[Spiritual Roots: Elemental Spiritual Roots] [Saint Grade - Low] [Can be upgraded with the lust point, and new roots can be bought in the lust store]
[Bloodline: Blood of Incubus Lord] [Earth Grade - Low] [Can be upgraded with lust point]
[Physique: Body of Incubus Lord] [Earth Grade - Low] [Can be upgraded with lust point]
[Lust points: 35,500,000]
[Harem Members: Ariel Aquaria, Mio Nightrider, Mia Nightrider, Selene Frostborn, Seraphina]
[Beasts Bonds: Neko [Heavenly White Tiger]]
[Ability: Incubus Touch, Incubus Aura, Incubus Celestial Eyes, Incubus Fluid, Incubus Dream, Polymorph]
’More than enough to work with.’
He let the window linger for a moment, golden eyes scanning the figures with quiet satisfaction before dismissing it with a thought.
There was plenty to spend, and he already knew where to start.
Seraphina lay curled beside Ariel, her breathing slow and even, her storm-marked features finally unburdened of their usual rigid composure.
She had a long road ahead of her if she was going to keep pace with the others. Her Earth Grade spiritual roots were a ceiling he intended to shatter on her behalf.
He opened the Lust Store and navigated to the spiritual roots section.
[Heaven Spiritual Root Advancement Pill - Flawless Purity.]
[Price: 500,000.]
He confirmed the purchase.
[You bought Heaven Spiritual Root Advancement Pill - Flawless Purity, -500,000 lust points.]
The pill materialized in his hand, a small white orb that pulsed with gentle light.
He set it aside, placing it carefully on the low table beside the bed, within easy reach for when Seraphina woke.
Then he turned his attention inward, to the question he had been deferring for longer than was strictly necessary.
His true cultivation sat at the Seventh Level of the Heavenly Spirit Realm, a fact known only to him and the System.
To everyone else — the sect, his fellow disciples, even most of his harem — he was an Earth Spirit Realm cultivator, a newcomer barely worth a second glance.
He had kept it that way deliberately, using the concealment as a blade.
An enemy who underestimated you handed you the first strike.
But the tournament was drawing closer with every passing day, and the comfortable margins he had enjoyed were narrowing into something uncomfortably thin.
There were opponents ahead of him who would not fall to misdirection alone, and he had more than enough lust points burning a hole in his reserves to do something about that.
He turned back to the System, navigating to the cultivation advancement option, and selected it without hesitation.
[Cultivation increased! Seventh Level of the Heavenly Spirit Realm → Eighth Level of the Heavenly Spirit Realm. -3,200,000 lust points.]
Energy flooded his channels.
His meridians expanded, accommodating the surge of power. The sensation was familiar now, the rush of spiritual energy reshaping his body from the inside out.
He breathed through it steadily, jaw set, letting the torrent of spiritual energy work its way through every meridian and channel until the initial roar of power softened into something he could bear.
The familiar heat of advancement radiated outward from his core, prickling along his skin before gradually sinking back inward, condensing and refining itself into something dense and clean.
Then he advanced again.
[Cultivation increased! Eighth Level of the Heavenly Spirit Realm → Ninth Level of the Heavenly Spirit Realm. -6,400,000 lust points.]
The second wave hit harder.
His cultivation base groaned under the pressure, but his foundation held.
The Incubus Lord’s Bloodline and Physique worked in tandem, reinforcing his body as the power pushed through him.
He opened his eyes slowly, the residual energy still crackling faintly beneath his skin like embers cooling after a great fire.
Ninth Level of the Heavenly Spirit Realm.
The gap between where he stood and where the likes of Selene operated had shrunk to a single, decisive step.
But that could wait.
Forcing a breakthrough to the King Spirit Realm in the middle of a tournament, in a room not his own, was the kind of recklessness he did not indulge in.
Advancement of that magnitude required time, space, and conditions he did not presently have.
He exhaled slowly and cast his gaze inward, checking what remained of his reserves.
[Lust points: 25,400,000]
’That enough for now. Let’s upgrade some more.’