Chapter 68 68 – A Faithful Subordinate



"Hello Sherry, I'd like to take this mission."

Ken placed his token on the counter along with the mission token in front of the receptionist. He learned her name in those past few months; he always came on Wednesday afternoons when he wanted to take a mission, and she was always there.

"Young Master Sue, I'm- I'm glad to see you here again."

She stuttered lightly when she saw Ken. She started getting used to serving this young boy while he chose missions he shouldn't take, but she still felt slightly uncomfortable and nervous when he came. He'd always threaten her with his family if she ever tried to dissuade him from taking the missions he chose.

She quickly took the mission and registered it under Ken's name. It was a mission recommended for a group of 5 disciples in the Low Core Formation Stage, so it was relatively less dangerous than the missions he usually took.

"The registration process is done, I wish you a safe trip, Young Master."

She bowed and Ken left the Mission Hall. The two subordinates waited for him in the mountains near the sect.

Ken ventured into the mountains several times in the past few months and enjoyed the change from the forest. One of his favorite features of the mountains was the occasional springs he could bath in.

Another feature he liked was the caves; the good ones were always occupied by a beast. It was almost like nature had houses fully supplied with food and he only had to come and take it.

'First, I need to deal with Nick. He has been helpful since I recruited him and has been faithful the whole time. However, his powers start to lag behind mine by too much, making him less useful. He won't catch up even with my pills.'

Ken contemplated what to do with Nick while running to the place where he summoned him. On one hand, he wanted to kill him and be over with it. On the other hand, he still had to take into account that Nick held the pills from the seventh-stage evil cultivator. 

"Hello, Young Master."

"Hello, Nick. I have some news for you."

Nick looked at him with curiosity when he heard there was news. His job was quite monotonous since he started working under this young master whose name he still didn't know. 

"What is it?"

"Here, take this pill."

Ken threw a cold turquoise pill to Nick, and the latter consumed it without thinking twice. He figured it should be the usual truth drug Ken feeds him in every meeting. He long stopped trying to hide things from Ken, so he didn't worry about it.

"Good, ingest it for 20 minutes, and let me channel the Qi in your body. Don't resist it."

Ken opened the top of Nick's robes and placed his palm directly on his chest. Luckily, such contact was enough to sense and control the Qi at the fourth stage, and there was no need for him to sit in Nick's lap naked as he had done with Sol.

20 minutes later, the duo opened their eyes and Ken gave him another pill. Nick was confused this time; he never had to go through such a long process just for taking a truth drug.

With a hesitant expression, he chose not to ask questions and just take the pill. Ken made sure to demonstrate the difference in power between them in order that he won't get any funny ideas only because he turned a tad more powerful.

"Good, give me the money you've earned those 3 months."

Nick handed him a ring with 1,000 high Qi Stones and 900,000 medium ones. It was the amount he earned from his trade with the Shang Clan after deducting the 10% prize Ken rewarded him. Serving under Ken was the most lucrative deal he had ever made.

"Is that all?"

"Yes, Young Master."

"Good, here are the pills you should sell next."

"What about the news, Young Master?"

"I'm leaving for a while and I'm not sure when I will be back. The first pill I gave you healed the poison you've been infected with completely since I'm not sure I will be back in 3 months to give you more antidote."

"And the second pill?

Nick was happy to hear the poison was cleansed from his body, but he had a bad feeling regarding the second pill. If his young master truly trusted him enough to remove the poison, he wouldn't feed him with truth drugs every time.

"It's the new poison mixed in your body. The difference is that it would act only once every 3 months, so by taking an antidote in 3 months and another in 6 months, you will be able to survive 9 months. I should be back by then."

It was the same variant of the poison that he used on Maria to reduce the times they had to meet.

Nick sighed when he heard the old poison was just replaced by a slower type of poison. He hoped he finally earned the trust of his young master, but it seemed like it will be a longer process. He didn't know what could make a child so distrusting.

"All right. Thank you for thinking of my survival in your absence, Young Master."

He thanked him anyway to leave a good impression before taking another ring from Ken and leaving. The new ring was stuffed with new pills to sell to the Shang Clan.

Ken watched Nick's back getting smaller as the man left and the distance between them grew.

'Goodbye, Nick. That was the last time I will see you alive.'

Ken thought to himself before turning around and leaving toward his meeting place with Maria. 

He felt a tinge of guilt for betraying Nick, one similar to what he felt when he betrayed Annie. Ken told Nick the truth about giving him a slower poison, but he didn't give him an antidote.

The pills he presented as antidotes to the poison were in fact only symptom suppressors. After taking them, Nick wouldn't feel the symptoms of the poison acting up until it was too late.

When that happens, Nick would start feeling dizzy and eventually collapse. He would drift into a dreamless sleep and die soon after. The best Ken could achieve for him was granting him an almost painless death.

'Although he had been faithful to me, it doesn't mean he will remain such after a few months of not seeing me. When he grows too weak to help me, he will get fewer resources from me. When that happens, he will make the same decision as Sol and betray me for the sake of having more resources.'

Ken didn't trust Nick enough to believe the man would keep his loyalty even when it won't be as beneficial anymore. Since Ken didn't plan to spoil useless subordinates with free pills only to keep their mouth shut, it was time to get rid of this subordinate before it was too late.

'I will take a loss for losing the money of this last purchase, but it's fine. I'm not short on money. I guess the evil cultivator can enjoy it. At least I took from him one set of the Luck Pill and manual.'

Ken soon arrived at the place he instructed Maria to wait for him and found her already there. When your life was in another's hands, you wouldn't dare be late to a meeting with that person.

"Hello, Young Master. You've turned even more handsome since the last time I saw you."

"I can almost feel your saliva on my ass. Stop talking nonsense, you saw me only 3 months ago."

Maria smiled awkwardly when Ken called out her ass-licking without hesitation. She was surprised to hear a call from her Young Master since she still had enough antidotes and merchandise for the next 6 months.

However, she didn't overthink it. They only knew each other for a year, and it wasn't enough to know if he usually stuck to meeting only once every 9 months or not.

"Young Master, why did you call me to meet with you? I will have you know that I had to spend a lot of money to get here so fast despite the long distance."

She said with a coquettish voice as she complained to him. This voice worked best on two types of humans - kids and men. She wasn't certain how to categorize Ken, but this voice should be a sure-kill.

"You can cover your extra expenses for this trip with the medium Qi Stones you've earned from the pills you sold to the Four Seasons Sect. Now, take this pill."

Ken gave her a pill that contained a truth drug. This time it was just a pure truth drug as the pill had no other effect. He knew that Maria and Nick were aware of the truth drug, so he didn't bother hiding it.

She took it willingly and the two waited a few minutes for the effect to kick in.

"Good. I want you to find another black market to sell my pills from now on. It needs to be managed by a family from the Divine Sword Sect, and it can't be the Shang Clan."

He didn't want his pills to be used by his enemies in the central area, so he preferred she would sell them to another clan in the Divine Sword Sect. This way, with 2 elite clans being aggressive, the conflict wouldn't die out easily.

"Young Master, do you have another subordinate who takes care of the business with the Shang Clan?"

Maria guessed it since it would be weird if Ken chose to randomly shun the Shang Clan from his pills.