Ken's cultivation techniques mainly focus on the balance of Yin and Yang so in the inner stage he was going cultivate his heart which was extremely close to yang and was fire-attributed.
Which also helped him regulate his heartbeat which had many benefits including increasing his stamina. There are many combinations you could do in the inner and core stages but Ken had a problem in that he had to cultivate his ice attribute or blood. This left out his advantage which was his lightning-attributed body.
Ken didn't stay on this kind of thing as he knew he couldn't change them.
For the next 2 weeks, Ken focused on his cultivations and that meant a new challenge every day. The challenges became so frequent that the group who all hate men started to get used to him. Ken didn't win all his challenges but he was damn near perfect which ignited a competition in the group about who could conquer Ken which they all failed.
Meanwhile, as the date for the first evaluation neared the mostly calm ship city turned chaotic. Where everyone was for themselves, Ken was mostly unaffected because he knew this would come so he didn't choose any faction which was rare. Even candidates from neutral factions chose.
Today Ken was meditating after one of his cultivation sessions. His heart was beating so slowly that some might think he was dead and it was hard even for him to stay conscious but cultivating has become second nature to him as it didn't take much brain power.
Inside Ken, his heart was pulsating with light as his essence and qi purified his heart muscle which was like injecting the new cells that were being created to make a superior form to replace the dying ones.
After some meditation, Ken got out of his room and went up to the roof to look at the city. Ken had formed this habit because he didn't like to go out and get involved in the mess that was occurring in the city.
Ken watched the city from his house and it looked magnificent and tranquil with little to no people on the road. But inside the city's dark corners, it was another story where many would see extortion, rape and killing.
The city has become a place divided by borders from gang wars. There are many factions but most of them were created to push back against aggressive ones. The major two factions were the Nexus Mountain which mostly consisted of orthodox faction candidates and the vast Rift mostly had demonic faction candidates.
Both of the groups had their hierarchy and laws like a pseudo-government. They even controlled most of the shops in their territory to give their members discounts. Ken was amused by this as he knew that the shop owners weren't just random people and if they wanted they could wipe out the whole group.
He knew these little groups might not be a natural occurrence as they organized too quickly and without major setbacks. He felt like they were being manipulated like puppets which he loathed.
This gang war even reached his house multiple times as his house was on the border of the two major groups which was unlucky for him. But this is life so Ken prepared as he packed his most prized possessions in his storage ring in case of an emergency.
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On the upper city of the ship, some elders were having a conversation in one of the main pavilions.
A peak elder from the magma coffin peak spoke "I can't seem to find any clues as to who the shadow garden elder and that old witch were talking about."
Another elder "Yeah, they looked like they wanted to kill each other for this kid. I first thought he might be revealed after some time but the most outstanding candidate from the shadow garden is a woman.
There are some men but they shouldn't attract our attention with their progress."
As they were talking the old lady entered the spacious hall and invited herself to the group.
There was a moment of awkward silence so the old lady spoke "Have you guys found the treasure that ripened as we were in the Thousand Fragrance City?"
All of the elders shook their heads as it would have helped with their cultivation or at least they could exchange it for other resources in the sect.
The old lady slightly smiled as she asked another question "Well the little cliques they formed aren't a terrible idea. Which candidates are doing better?"
The elders didn't want to answer this question as they knew every time a good candidate appeared in the sect ancestors demanded them and they never came back. If it weren't for this old lady and her scheming the sect would have been devoured by one of the two factions.
This lady always intervened when one group got a better chance. The elders hated her to the bones but they couldn't do anything about it. Strength ruled the world.
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Ken was taking the view of the beautiful clouds and dreaming about the day where he would fly himself when he saw a couple of people stealthily approaching the house he quickly recognized their emblems which were mostly from the depraved profanity sect.
It didn't take a genius to know who they were. Ken didn't want to alarm them so he casually got up and went to his room but in actuality ken entered the house and started to conceal himself as he breathed chimera breathing art and ran to opposite side of the window that is in front of the house.
He checked if the cost was clear and found two men getting ready to ambush. He didn't worry as hoped from the window to a nearby tree quietly as he moved towards the barber shop where he knew there won't be any people. They weren't expecting people to come out before the ambush so they didn't suspect a thing.
After putting a safe distance between the house and himself ken watched as they barged in. ken knew all of his roommates were in the house but he didn't warn them.
Ken always believed he was cultivating for himself not to help people and alerting them would have put him in danger as he either had to fight or escape with them and with this making an enemy of the vast rift. Even if it didn't drag him down leaving them there would offer a distraction to the intruders as he escaped.