Villain Seduces to Rise in Status

He sat down, starting to think of how and what methods to use to enhance it by a level.

It wasn’t to enhance a technique but to gain an enlightenment in it. He thought of how each of the Zenith Heaven’s skills complemented the very being of his swordsmanship.

Every move. How he moved, how he could move. His intent was actually way faster than his physical body, meaning his body still couldn’t fully catch up with his brain. Seven soul bodies did help in such things, giving his divine consciousness more tasks. His body could literally work with more than two brains. He could multitask while fighting.

He could fight the enemy, use talismans, learn the enemy’s technique, think about escaping, shoot various daggers and whatnot, all while using all eighteen blades of Thorned Lotus. Simultaneously. All at once.

Divine consciousness was way too overpowered if one could actually maintain it properly. Cale was fine since he had a soul technique. He could slowly but surely increase it.

A year passed.

Then... it happened.

Cale achieved a small enlightenment!

A pillar of purple energy erupted from his entire body, reaching far above to the heavens, coloring all peaks and lakes alike in that hue. The night looked exquisite bathed in purple.

Cale’s eyes snapped open, brilliant gold and crystalline blue blazing with power as golden light exploded outward in violent waves.

His breath came sharp and controlled, chest heaving as the trance released its grip completely.

"I’ve gained a new comprehension," he murmured. The breakthrough was undeniable. Something fundamental had shifted within his understanding of the sword.

His eyes narrowed with focus as he analyzed what he’d discovered.

’Heh... such a shallow understanding and yet I gain the right to enter.’

But something was new. The landscape around him had changed. The desolate wasteland dissolved entirely, replaced by something ethereal and unfamiliar.

A river of spiritual energy flowed before him, its waters glowing with soft blue luminescence under a star-filled sky.

Cale’s expression shifted from confusion to realization.

"Hmm? This place... is this the Sword Dao River?"

An ethereal place with mist everywhere. A river brimming with spiritual energy below him, covering up to his knees.

He looked around. Tens of thousands of consciousness surrounded him, all of them struggling to take a step. Such was the Sword Dao River—everyone trying to take a step further to nurture their sword dao.

’Who knows how many people I know are here? Is the Sword Saint here too?’

But he dismissed that idea. People at the level of Sword Saint would likely be tens of kilometers ahead, where only a handful of people existed. The cream of the crop.

He realized his legs were stuck in the river. It was the barrier of comprehension which he had to break to level up.

He tried to take a step. It was heavy. Way too heavy.

"Ugh! What the—"

It was hard. Even under ten-times gravity he didn’t feel such weight.

"Argh! Move dammit!"

He closed his eyes, concentrating, putting his sword intent into the river itself.

And it worked. He could move at least now.

Struggling, he moved. One step.

It was as if a whole train was tied to his back. Two steps.

As if tens of people were pulling him from behind. Five steps.

Forces of nature trying to tear him apart from all directions. Eight steps.

Right as he tried to take the ninth step, he collapsed on his knees.

’Is... this my current limit? Sigh. Given my current understanding, it is indeed just shallow knowing. Although I have a strong connate providence, I haven’t faced any real opponents yet. I haven’t used all these swordsmanship techniques and styles I’ve learned and developed in actual combat. I will definitely take more steps in the future.’

Exiting, he heaved a sigh of relief. The Sword Dao River was a place which actually refined whatever shallow understanding you gained, making it into proper comprehension, increasing your understanding of the sword dao itself.

[Steps in Sword Dao River: 8]

A few more days passed as he opened his eyes.

"It’s definitely improved. My sword moves and flow. Such an interesting thing, the Sword Dao River. Just by eight steps I feel like I’ve improved by loads. Maybe it will get harder in the future."

Three years remained till others came.

It was time to start setting up his array and forming the centipede. Although not exactly a goal, meeting Fiora did become something he was looking forward to.

To create and cultivate the Four-Winged Frost All-Devouring Centipede, one needed to gather rare materials.

One was the bodies of ten ice-based beasts.

A month was all it took. Then came the next requirement—three hundred thousand centipedes. Yes, weirdly so.

’Ugh... I might just not do this bullshit...’

Sighing, he kept collecting all sorts of centipedes from around the realm. Four months to collect them all. He could’ve bred them but that took longer somehow.

Next was the blood of the user and the cores of nine ten-star beasts.

Two months, and that too was ready.

"Sigh... seven months wasted on this. I hope this can actually do whatever it promises."

Sitting in the inner sanctum, Cale gathered all materials. Vials of his own blood, the beast cores, all the live centipedes in a wooden box.

This was similar to the poison gourd method. Just put all of them in one jar.

He used a huge furnace as the base, although it wouldn’t be on fire.

First the centipedes. Then his own blood.

Now, he channeled his energy into it, refining them, making them eat the blood, creating a sort of blood contract.

It took three hours just to finish the blood pool. Then he threw in the beast cores. All of them broke under the hardened teeth of the centipedes. But something new happened.

All centipedes started eating each other.

This was it. The stage where all forms one!

Then, the bodies of the ice-based beasts. They ate them with such speed.

Using talismans to create a barrier around the furnace to stop anything from escaping, he left it there.

Now all it required was time. After another week, there it was, ready.

The Four-Winged Frost All-Devouring Centipede.

Roughly one point five meters long and shaped like a flat, predatory centipede. Its entire body was made of translucent, diamond-hard glacial ice-armor that emitted a pale blue light, revealing the faint, frozen outline of its inner organs.

Sprouting from its upper torso were four translucent, cicada-like wings made of razor-thin ice crystals. Instead of standard legs, the sides of its body were lined with dozens of jagged icicles shaped like hooked teeth. Its head featured a chilling, pitch-black void of a mouth, ringed with frost-covered mandibles that constantly leaked freezing mist.

Seeing Cale, it jumped onto him. Cale flinched, but then the centipede crawled around his waist like a belt.

Cale laughed. "Does it recognize me as its master? Heh, interesting indeed. I’ll wait and see what more you can do."

He said while caressing the centipede’s body, its icy surface cold against his palm.