Chapter 361: Getting Stronger [1]

Chapter 361: Chapter 361: Getting Stronger [1]

Damon sat on the leather sofa, the blue interface floating before his golden eyes.

He scrolled through the store, his gaze moving past the techniques and weapons, past the pills and artifacts.

What he needed was raw power.

"System," he said quietly. "How much to reach the peak of King Spirit Realm?"

The interface shifted, numbers rearranging themselves.

[Host current cultivation is King Spirit Realm - Seventh Level. To King Spirit Realm - Eighth Level will cost 16,000,000 Lust Points and to King Spirit Realm - Ninth Level will cost 32,000,000 Lust Points. The total will be 48,000,000 Lust Points]

Damon’s golden eyes traced the numbers.

Forty-eight million.

He had sixty-five million.

That left seventeen million for other purchases. Enough for emergency pills, technique upgrades, or bloodline enhancements.

He didn’t hesitate.

"Do it."

[Acknowledged. Initiating breakthrough.]

[Cultivation increased! King Spirit Realm - Seventh Level → King Spirit Realm - Eighth Level. -16,000,000 lust points.]

Energy exploded through his meridians.

Damon’s back arched as the surge hit him, a torrent of refined spiritual power flooding every channel in his body.

The air around him thickened, pressure building like a storm contained within a glass jar.

He gritted his teeth.

The power was immense. Dense. Heavy.

It pressed against his bones, his organs, his very soul.

But he held.

[Cultivation increased! King Spirit Realm - Eighth Level → King Spirit Realm - Ninth Level. -32,000,000 lust points.]

The second wave hit harder.

Damon’s vision went white.

The pressure in the room spiked violently. The privacy formations flickered. The glass windows vibrated in their frames.

The marble floor beneath his feet cracked in a spiderweb pattern radiating outward from the sofa.

Golden-red light bloomed from his body.

It was not the pale gold of ordinary spiritual energy. It was deep, ancient, carrying the weight of dragon blood and incubus fire.

The glow pulsed through his skin, illuminating the entire living area in a divine radiance that made the shadows retreat.

His cultivation base expanded.

The Seventh Level had been strong. The Eighth Level was stronger.

But the Ninth Level?

It was a different realm entirely.

The pressure in the room peaked, and the penthouse shook.

The bedroom door slammed open.

Ariel stood in the doorway, her dark blue hair disheveled from sleep, her blue eyes wide with alarm. Behind her, Selene appeared, her platinum-white hair flowing, her frosty gaze sharp and alert.

"Damon!" Ariel’s voice cracked.

Selene stepped past her, her hand already reaching for her sword, her King Spirit Realm aura flaring instinctively.

Then she stopped.

Her eyes widened.

Damon sat on the sofa, bathed in golden-red light that seemed to emanate from within his very being.

The glow wrapped around him like a cloak of living fire, pulsing with each heartbeat.

His eyes were closed, his expression calm, but the pressure radiating from him was suffocating.

Selene’s breath caught.

She was a Fourth Level King Spirit Realm cultivator.

And the pressure coming off Damon was stronger than her own.

"Damon..." she whispered.

The glow began to fade.

Damon opened his eyes.

They were still golden, but deeper now. Ancient. The patterns within his irises swirled with a complexity that had not been there before.

He exhaled slowly, and the pressure in the room dissipated.

The cracks in the marble floor remained. The windows still hummed from the vibration. But the oppressive weight lifted, leaving only the quiet morning air.

"Sorry," Damon said, his voice steady. "I didn’t mean to wake everyone."

Ariel rushed forward, dropping to her knees beside the sofa. She grabbed his hand, her fingers trembling.

"What was that?" she asked. "Your cultivation... I felt it. It was like standing next to a volcano."

Damon squeezed her hand gently.

"I advanced."

Selene walked closer, her frosty eyes scanning him with a mixture of disbelief and awe. She had felt his cultivation before—Earth Spirit Realm, then Heavenly Spirit Realm. She had assumed that was his limit for now.

But this?

"You’re actually King Spirit Realm?" she said in shocked manner.

"Ninth Level at that."

Damon nodded.

Selene’s jaw tightened.

"How?"

Damon looked at her, his golden eyes meeting her frosty gaze.

"I have my ways," he said. "The same ways I gave you your breakthrough. The same ways I awakened Ariel’s bloodline and gave the twins their power."

Selene stared at him.

She had known he was hiding something. She had felt it in his touch, in the way his energy flowed through her during their cultivation sessions. But she had not expected this.

"You’ve been hiding this the whole time," she said.

"Yes."

"Why?"

Damon stood up from the sofa, his bare feet stepping onto the cracked marble floor.

He walked to the window, looking out at the city below.

"Because the tournament isn’t just about winning," he said.

"The Eclipse Cult is here. Kai is here. And they have seven King Spirit Realm fighters."

He turned to face them.

Ariel stood behind him, her blue eyes filled with concern. Selene crossed her arms, her expression unreadable.

The other women began to stir in the bedroom, their voices muffled through the walls.

"Tomorrow," Damon continued, "the semifinals begin. We face Crimson Eclipse Sect. And I’m not going to let any of you risk your lives against them."

Ariel’s eyes widened.

"What do you mean?"

Damon walked toward her, his steps measured, his golden eyes soft.

"I mean I’m fighting Kai alone," he said. "All of you will stay back. I’ll handle the Eclipse Cult."

"No." Ariel shook her head. "Damon, we can fight together. We’ve trained together. We’re strong enough."

Damon stopped in front of her. He reached out and cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing her skin.

"You are strong enough," he said. "But this isn’t about strength. This is about what they’ll do to you if you lose."

He turned to Selene.

"You felt my cultivation just now. You know what I’m capable of."

Selene nodded slowly.

"Then show them," she said. "Show them all."

Damon smiled.

He stepped back from Ariel and raised his right hand.

Golden-red light gathered in his palm.

It was not Sword Aura. It was not Chaos Energy. It was pure, concentrated spiritual power, compressed to the point where the air around it warped and shimmered.

He closed his fist, and the light vanished.

"I’ll show you all tomorrow," he said. "But for now, rest. We have a long day ahead."

Ariel looked at him, her blue eyes searching his face.

"Promise me you’ll come back," she whispered.

Damon leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"I promise. You two can go back I still need to cultivate to stabilize my cultivation."

Damon told them to go since he still have more upgrade to come.