Villain Seduces to Rise in Status

They rushed toward the city gates, and by the time they arrived, the bandit leaders had already split their forces. Cale made a quick assessment—Given that he was indeed the weak one here, he let Rexa go to the master stage cultivator’s side and he himself went towards the mage with sword.

’Sigh, what days are these? Mages using swords instead of staffs? Well, these are just dumb bandits anyway. What could I even expect?’

He reached the designated battleground and saw them for the first time.

They were... normal. No overwhelming presence, no aura or something that would even make him slightly aware. Just regular thugs with slightly above-average cultivation.

He shook his head. "Well, here goes nothing."

The leader scoffed at his arrival. "Oi, who are you?"

"Cliche," Cale muttered, then mentally shut off his hearing.

There’s no point listening to their pathetic taunts and curses or he might just learn new ones. Their movement technique was decent enough, though—he’d give them that.

They surrounded him quite quickly.

A thug charged with a rusty blade wrapped in crude qi. Cale sidestepped effortlessly, his black odachi flashing out to sever the man’s leg clean. A brutal qi-infused kick followed, sending the corpse flying backward like discarded garbage.

Another thug rushed in from his blind spot. Cale snapped his fingers, launching a roaring black fireball that instantly incinerated the man into ash.

He didn’t stop moving. He parried a glowing blade from the left with his black companion and thrust it straight through the attacker’s heart, pulling it free just in time to slam his fist, shrouded in qi, into the skull of the next man.

Sharp darts and throwing daggers whistled from the shadows.

His left eye flared golden.

Half a second into the future crystallized in his vision. He saw their trajectories, the angles, deadly arc before the weapons even left their hands.

’Heh, I’m getting used to this now. The toll though...’

He vaulted off the rocky terrain, flipping through the air with millimeter precision as the projectiles whistled past. Violet-black qi trailed his movements like living smoke.

Landing smoothly, he flicked his free hand and conjured a barrage of chaos needles. Dark, slender spikes shot forward, piercing throats and skulls. Not all of them died, some were quick enough to dodge—but the advantage shifted instantly.

He activated Dash, becoming a blur. His black sword decapitated two magic-users before they could even register his presence. Their headless bodies were still falling when he was already moving toward the next group.

Around a dozen more rushed him from all sides.

Two hurled glowing qi chains, trying to bind his limbs in place. Cale became a phantom, his movements blurring as the chains snapped at empty air where he’d been a heartbeat before.

He extended his palm and grinned. "TAMAYAAA!"

Three massive fireballs erupted from his hand, detonating in the thickest cluster of bandits. Bodies flew backward, charred and smoking. Five men reduced to ash in a single spell.

The odachi flashed again, tearing through the remaining fighters with ruthlessness. A hurricane of black qi erupted around him—severing arms, piercing throats, leaving the dozen corpses scattered across the dirt in mere seconds.

The rocky ground was painted crimson, littered with dismembered and charred remains.

Only one man remained standing: their leader, a burly brute wielding a heavy curved sword that radiated fierce crimson qi.

But oh man, was he quivering?

"H-hey... hey kid... who even are you? How about it—I’ll pay you. Name your price!"

Cale didn’t respond. The man kept begging, kept pleading, but Cale had already shut his ears off. This was beneath conversation, if only the leader had some decent artifact, Cale would’ve taken it... and killed him anyways.

In desperation, the leader let out a battle cry and charged, hurling a trio of qi-infused daggers to cover his advance.

Cale conjured chaos needles in response, launching them to intercept and shatter the crimson daggers mid-air which was quite difficult at his level. He missed one, and had to use his sword to parry.

The leader leaped high, bringing his glowing blade down with all his strength.

"Waaah!"

Cale launched himself upward to meet the strike, black qi surging around his weapon like a living thing.

Sparks exploded as their swords collided. Dark energy clashed violently against crimson qi, the impact creating a shockwave that rippled across the battlefield.

They hit the ground hard and exchanged a blinding flurry of strikes—Cale’s black sword leaving violent trails of dark energy, the leader swinging wild arcs of red that burned the air itself.

He flipped backward, creating distance as a final swipe of crimson qi narrowly missed him. The leader stood tall, that bloodthirsty smirk spreading wider across his face as his sword burned brighter.

He raised the blade with both hands, forming a massive projected arc of crimson qi, and charged for one final, crushing blow.

Cale’s golden eye gleamed, mapping the attack moments into the future. He waited—barely timing it perfectly—until the very last instant before his black qi condensed around his weapon into a dense, solid edge.

The heavy glowing blade swung down. Cale sidestepped guessing where his golden vision had shown him, parrying smoothly before slipping past the man’s guard. His black sword flashed.

The leader’s sword arm severed cleanly at the shoulder.

He slammed into the dirt, screaming as his crimson aura shattered like glass. Cale crouched over him, his black sword dripping blood, and stood without hesitation.

Before the man could beg, Cale swung his blade in one clean, ruthless slash.

The leader’s severed head rolled across the dirt, his lifeless body collapsing as the mountain air fell dead silent.

Cale stood tall, flicking his sword to throw off the blood, watching it spray across the stone. "Phew. What even are these guys babbling about every few seconds? Thank god I can shut my senses off with the system’s help."

He glanced toward the opposite side of the battlefield.

"She must be done by now as well."

He ran toward Rexa’s position.