Chapter 70 70 – Sheathed Man Advanced



Extra chapter for power stones.

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The beast felt Ken's presence not because Sheathed Man couldn't contain the killing intent, but because Ken had to cancel the skill when he attacked. He had only one set of meridians, and no matter how talented he was, he couldn't channel two techniques simultaneously.

All this time, whenever he wanted to attack while activating another skill, he had to stop channeling the movement technique for a moment and perform his attack. The only exception were skills that relayed on the soul, like Bloodlust Sense.

Luckily, he made all his skills himself from the same database, making the skills into one set. As a set, the techniques' Qi circulation wasn't too different from one another, so Ken could switch between them relatively fast.

Only when he gets to the next stage, the Nascent Soul Stage, will he form a soul capable of supporting the execution of techniques. 

When a cultivator forms their nascent soul, they can execute multiple techniques at once, depending on the strength of their nascent soul.

Another bonus of this stage was the ability of his soul to leave his body, and other cultivators under this stage wouldn't be able to sense its presence with their normal senses no matter how close they were unless they had a relevant technique that relied on the soul.

Back to Ken, he was now sitting cross-legged in a cave in front of a bonfire he just lit, cooking the meat of the cave's former resident.

During his time outside, he always practiced his cooking skills. Thanks to his proficiency in Alchemy, he didn't need much time to be proficient in cooking. 

He had a lot of experience in handling ingredients, and the main difference was that he didn't need to extract the dishes' essences when he made them.

He used his Alchemy Qi to add richness to his food, and a simple Basic-grade technique to cool the meat before giving it a bite. 

'Mmm, tasty. But I think I could add some ground Blue Sky Flower to the seasoning to make it spicier.'

Ken always improved his recipes as he learned more about the interactions between the ingredients' flavors in cooking. Two ingredients didn't always agree with each other when their essences did in Alchemy, and the other way around was also true. 

While his main goal was to get stronger, the true meaning behind it was to make himself independent and have longevity. 

However, those things would be useless if he couldn't enjoy his long life. Thus, he did his best to have good food and comfortable lodging wherever he went. Even in nature, he carried a comfortable bed for the nights in his storage ring and slept in self-invented formations to keep the temperature pleasant.

'I achieved the Advanced mastery realm with Sheathed Man today, it has been great progress.'

Mastering techniques wasn't like climbing steps, but more like walking uphill. One didn't jump between the realms in an 'all-or-nothing' manner but improved their mastery gradually until reaching the peak of that mastery realm. 

When that happens, the cultivator needed a moment of enlightenment to climb to the next mastery realm and their usage of the skill will undergo a qualitative change compared to before.

Most cultivators had just entered the Advanced mastery realm in their skills when breaking through to the Core Formation Stage, so Ken was way early on the schedule in this sense.

Ken chose to go to sleep and return to the sect the next day. Although the meetings with his subordinates were short, he had to get far enough from the sect as well as take a 2-day break between those meetings to prevent the two subordinates from meeting one another.

Overall, he already spent 5 days outside the sect and would need another two days to get back there.

He followed his plan while avoiding his fellow disciples on the way and reached back to the sect two days later, still having 3 weeks before the time to set out for the travel.

'I have read a lot of information lately, but I didn't spend time on integrating it and processing it to form new products and ideas.'

Ken thought to himself when he remembered all the books he memorized in the clan's library. He still didn't read them all from his memory, and he still had to meditate while thinking about them.

The young Formations Master spent the next few days reading the books from his memory, turning them from mere pictures in his brain to actual content and information. 

He then spent the next few days meditating in his study room, separating the right information from the false one and categorizing everything in his mind. There was a lot of repetition which was also useless to him.

'Great, I still have one week left before I depart to the Divine Sword Sect. My only task here is to get rid of the two guards since they can't come with me.'

Dominic already made sure to give him an escort of two disciples from the older age group. They were both at the Low Nascent Soul Stage and could provide him with much better protection than his current bodyguards.

Ken understood Dominic's plan regarding his bodyguards. His grandfather planned to question them to understand better Ken's abilities in depth, and Ken didn't plan to let him pull that off.

'Politics are annoying. I must be subtle about it to avoid making it seem like I'm trying to prevent him from finding out more information about me.'

Since they made peace after having a conversation last time, the two were supposed to get along now. 

If Ken really thought of himself as the patriarch's grandson, he would share everything with Dominic, making it easier for them to plan together and pave his way to power.

However, Ken didn't trust him enough for that, and he preferred following his own plans.

·ƈθm "Go set me a meeting with the patriarch for today's evening. Tell him I want to meet with him alone."

Ken sent one of his 2 guards to bring the news to his grandfather and waited for the news of the meeting's time.

Soon, the guard came to tell him that the patriarch agreed to his request to see him, and Ken took the two guards with him.

"Enter the meeting room with me."

"Young Master, I think it's inappropriate. You requested to meet the patriarch alone, so if you bring the two of us with you, it might give him the wrong idea."

One of the guards said nervously. He didn't want to enter this meeting; he felt like he already knew more than he should.

"Don't be silly. He is at the peak of the sixth rank; he won't worry even if I bring another hundred of you."

Ken rejected his request to remain behind and the three of them entered Dominic's training room after the servant gestured for them to go in.

"Hello, Grandfather."

"Hello, Ken. Who are those two?"

Dominic asked curiously when he saw the two bodyguards. They wore plain blue robes without any decoration which pointed out their status as regular inner disciples from a common background. They weren't even on the top list.

"Those are my current bodyguards. I brought them here for you to deal with as you see fit since they know of my talent and power."

The bodyguards' anxiety soared to the sky the moment they heard Ken's words. Such a sentence would have a bad outcome in 99% of the cases, while the 1% might come from extremely good-hearted people who might let them enter their inner circle. 

Unfortunately, none of them considered the elite families as good-hearted people.

"Ken, that's not good. You can't bring them here and say such things in front of them. Look how anxious you made them; they might think you want to kill them."

Dominic scolded his grandson for his poor manners. The meaning behind his words was that he should plan their deaths behind their backs, not right in their face.

He also didn't want them to die right now, as he wanted to question them about Ken's abilities.

"Don't worry, I won't treat the guards of my grandchild poorly. I will make sure to find jobs for you in the mansion to solve the problem. I hope you won't betray our trust."

He gave the two men a warm smile and patted their shoulders with his heavy hands. The two were still nervous but relaxed considerably.

"Thank you, Patriarch Sue. It's our honor to serve under your family."

They two thanked him together and bowed while cupping their fist. Now that they believed their lives were safe, they could breathe much better.

'This grandfather of mine is good with people. He almost had me fooled with his pretty words to take care of me when I first came to the sect.'

Ken almost rolled his eyes at Dominic's conduct. He didn't plan to let it work.

"But Grandfather, you are strong enough to make their resistance futile. You said you killed everyone else who knew of my talents, even those who served under us for many years."

Ken said with an innocent voice, making his grandfather's face twitch with annoyance. The guards felt like they were on a roller coaster of emotions, and certainly, not one they would board on out of their free will.

The two guards shared a look, and with tacit understanding, the two launched toward the door in a desperate attempt to run away. While knowing they couldn't run away from a sixth-grade cultivator, they hoped they could get outside.