Chapter 69 69 – Dealing With Maria



"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.

"Yes, smart girl."

He patted her arm while speaking with a coquettish voice. She wore a smug smile when she heard she guessed it right, but it soon vanished when she saw Ken's mocking smile.

"Young Master, you're bullying me."

She realized he let her taste her own medicine, and unlike her, he succeeded; she was coaxed by a child instead of having it the other way around.

Ken ignored her and continued with the agenda. Jokes aside, he had some plans to follow.

"I'm going to be away for a while, and I'm not sure when I will be back. I don't want you to die from the poison while I'm gone, so I'm giving you extra pills. First, take this pill."

It was the same cold pill he fed Nick with, and it would cleanse the poison from her body completely. 

"Don't resist my Qi, let me channel it through your body. You should also focus on helping it take effect."

Just like he did with Nick, he placed his palm directly on her chest and closed his eyes to channel Qi throughout her body.

Maria was surprised to feel the relatively small hand touching her chest, but when she opened her eyes slightly and peeked at Ken's face, she only saw him closing his eyes, concentrating on the task at hand. His breath was steady, and his face didn't seem flushed at all.

'According to his words, he should still be 7 years old, so it makes sense he isn't interested in such things yet.'

Maria convinced herself she will still have a chance in the future and shifted her concentration toward the pill's effect. She could feel it engaging with the toxins in her body, and she could guess Ken was cleansing the poison out of her system.

20 minutes later, Ken removed his palm from her skin and waited for her to tidy her robes. 

"Young Master, did you decide to trust me and remove the poison from my body?"

"No, take this pill."

He gave her a shiny black pearl, and Maria looked at it with unwillingness in her eyes. Ken basically just told her he was feeding her with poison, so it was easy to understand why she didn't want to do it.

"Young Master, I promise not to betray you even without the pill. Wouldn't it be better to just trust me?"

"No."

Her eyebrows twitched with annoyance for a moment when she thought about how untrusting this young master was. She sighed in defeat and took the black peal, ingesting it helplessly.

"I took it. So, what's next?"

"What you just took was a fifth-grade poison. Although cultivators in the fifth stage can endure it for 3 months before having to take an antidote, you'd have to take it every month."

Ken explained to her the difference between the pill he gave her and the poison she already had before. Although his pills could affect cultivators beyond their grade, he didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.

"Here 5 antidotes. You can take one now, one in a month, then one every three months."

At first, she was annoyed, but then her eyes lightened up when she heard the last part of Ken's instructions.

"You mean it, Young Master? Are you saying I will be at the fifth stage in 2 months?"

She knew she couldn't possibly get to the fifth stage before, as it was out of her reach with her shaky foundation. Only after meeting Ken and enjoying his extraordinary pills did she improve her foundation and made it firm enough to support her breakthrough.

"Yes, I have a few gifts for you in this ring. There are 3 Earth-grade spear techniques for you to learn. I know how much you lack those, so I made sure to copy them from the sect's library."

She nodded excitedly when she heard the first part of his gift. She had a feeling there was more to come.

"I added a peak fifth-grade spear for you to replace the old one, and some pills to boost you during the breakthrough process. There's also a manual for breaking through the next stage for spear users I picked up from the sect."

It was all true; he didn't bother to make new techniques and manuals for her. He just got her some of the better ones the sect had which would allow her to get satisfactory results. 

It wouldn't hinder her advancement to the sixth stage, and as for the seventh stage, well, he didn't think she will live that long anyway.

"I added notes on when to take each pill during your breakthrough process, so make sure to follow it to maximize your gains and power."

"All right. Thank you, Young Master. I will not fail you."

She bowed in gratitude with a great smile all over her face. Until one year ago, she thought her cultivation journey was already over. If given the chance to go back in time, she'd sell all her fellow bandits to Ken right from the beginning for having this chance to advance.

"Great. I will be going now."

Ken also gave her another ring full of merchandise to sell in the next black market she finds of the Divine Sword Sect. He then left to complete his mission and return home.

The mission was to fetch a rare fourth-grade herb that was detected in the mountains and was protected by an intermediate fourth-rank beast. Ken went to the coordinates mentioned on the map and found a long snake lurking nearby.

It wasn't anything he had to worry about, so he simply swung his sword down and sent a large slash, 9 in 1. The snake, still lurking, suddenly sensed an urgent premonition of doom. 

It turned in the direction it came from and saw a tiny human for a split second before getting its head cut off. Because of Ken's Sheathed Man technique, it didn't notice Ken until his killing intent gave him away.

After slaying the beast, Ken approached the herb and plucked it from the ground. He made sure to get the roots as well, so the one to get the herb will be able to replant it. The herb was close to 1,000 years old, which made it so rare, and it needed a bit of extra time to bloom.

'The snake turned to me before I undid my Sheathed Man and executed Slash. The killing intent gives my location away despite having a concealing technique.'

Ken pondered on this problem for a while. It made his concealing pointless if he couldn't ambush his opponent. Although the snake couldn't react on time, a peak fourth-rank beast might be able to.

'I don't think I need another skill. What I need is to tweak a little bit with the current Sheathed Man.'

Ken thought about this possibility but soon shook his head. His current skill was the result of a lot of calculations and maximizing. It was already at the peak of the Heaven grade, and trying to tweak it can only worsen it.

'A sword also carries the hint of death wherever it points. The sword was forged to kill. Although noble people might say it was meant to defend those dear to you, the way you defend them is by killing your enemies with the sword.'

Ken felt like he was understanding something as he imagined himself using this skill before the snake again.

'But when a sword is sheathed, it can't be a danger to anyone. The same should be true for Sheathed Man. The problem is that my killing intent is too strong due to my bloodlust.'

He suddenly understood what was wrong. He was using it as a pure sword skill, but it wasn't necessarily one. Instead of using only Sword Qi to execute this technique, he should've mixed it with Bloodlust Qi to hide his killing intent.

Just like the Sword Qi could be used to hide the sword, the Bloodlust Qi could be used to create a 'sheath' for the killing intent and conceal it.

He used Bloodlust Sense to find another beast and approached it while under the Sheathed Man effect. 

This technique, unlike most concealing techniques, didn't make him invisible. In fact, it didn't hide him from the senses of the living beings surrounding him at all.

Instead of hiding him from their perception, it made them degrade his existence. Just like when a person sees a leaf on the sideroad yet ignores its existence, so people behave when they perceive Ken while he is under Sheathed Man.

'If a leaf has malicious intent toward you, nobody will notice. After all, nobody pays attention to leaves on the sideroad, nor feels threatened by them in any way.'

Ken looked at the beast that stood in front of him. Even he had to take a while to get used to the effect of Sheathed Man. The beast already saw and heard him, yet acted as if nothing was there.

He concentrated on his new understanding of his skill, and filled his mind with murderous thoughts, making his killing intent rise to the sky.

However, the beast completely ignored it and acted as if nothing happened. Ken smiled and performed Slash again. The moment he swung his sword down, the beast suddenly became of his existence near it.