"The Cultivation Skill I will be teaching you is called the Five Beasts Pile Skill!"
"As the name suggests, this skill's main practice method is holding stances. Watch closely..."
The Hospital Martial Artist in charge of teaching the skill was a burly, barrel-chested man named Zhao Tianhu.
After he finished speaking, Zou Feng heard the other Household Servants nearby begin to murmur amongst themselves.
"The Five Beasts Pile Skill? I heard this Cultivation Skill is only good for strengthening the body."
"This skill is so mediocre..."
"Sigh, I guess we shouldn't have gotten our hopes up..."
These discussions naturally reached Zhao Tianhu's ears.
His eyes bulged, and he bellowed, "Quiet!"
"What the hell do you know? While the Five Beasts Pile Skill is a method for strengthening the body, if you can truly master these five stances, you will be completely transformed! You'll learn any other Cultivation Skill much faster in the future!"
"Besides, whoever among you manages to practice the Pile Skill to the 'Entering the Hall and the Room' realm, I will personally teach them the 'Five Beasts Skill'."
The Pile Skill was just a training method, not a combat technique.
No wonder everyone had been so disappointed earlier.
But now that they heard Zhao Tianhu promise to teach them a combat technique once they mastered the Pile Skill, everything was different.
Everyone was overjoyed once more, each one of them as pumped as if they'd been shot up with adrenaline.
Unfortunately, even with guidance from a Martial Artist, how could the Pile Skill be so easy to practice to the realm of Entering the Hall and the Room?
Zhao Tianhu's promise was more like writing a check he couldn't cash.
Zou Feng was no longer the newbie he once was; he was naturally well aware of these kinds of tricks.
But even though the Five Beasts Pile Skill was lame, he still wanted to try it and see if practicing this Righteous Skill would have any auxiliary effect on him.
'I wonder if it will show up on the panel.'
'Practicing a Righteous Skill is safe, but if I cultivate it like a madman and completely exhaust myself, that should count as producing a side effect, right?'
'If I can transfer that kind of side effect, that would be absolutely incredible...'
However, Zou Feng was soon disappointed.
After practicing with Zhao Tianhu for a while and officially beginning the stances, forget about transferring side effects—the Five Beasts Pile Skill didn't even appear on his panel at all.
This definitely wasn't because Zou Feng hadn't even met the basic requirements for "Initial Glimpse."
After all, for an Outer Skill expert who had already cultivated the Five Poison Palm to the realm of Entering the Hall and the Room, learning an ordinary Cultivation Skill like the Five Beasts Pile Skill was like a high schooler doing elementary school problems. There was practically no difficulty.
So, this was quite awkward. It seemed he was destined to practice only Evil Skills.
'However...'
'Learning the Five Beasts Pile Skill isn't a bad disguise.'
'It'll make it easier for me to legitimately achieve Martial Arts Entry in the future and escape my Lowly Status.'
An Entering Grade Martial Artist was considered to have truly stepped into the privileged class of the Great Yan Dynasty...
After finishing his morning stances, Zou Feng immediately returned to work in the rear kitchen.
Although there were benefits to practicing martial arts, having to both practice and work was a bit too demanding.
But to the Yang Mansion, servants were no different from cattle or horses. They couldn't care less whether such labor was reasonable or not.
When the midday rush was over, during a break, Zou Feng tentatively asked, "Master, who exactly did our Yang Mansion offend?"
He knew Luo Yong was on good terms with several of the Hospital Martial Artists, so he likely knew the specifics of the situation.
Luo Yong took a few puffs from his dry pipe, his eyes filled with worry for the future. "Yesterday, at a restaurant, Miss Qianqian accidentally killed a scoundrel who was harassing her."
"Upon investigation, it turned out that the scoundrel was actually a wanted criminal, so not only was Miss Qianqian not at fault, she performed a meritorious deed."
"But the problem is, that guy has a father who is extremely powerful and also a wanted criminal."
"He's known as the 'Blood-handed Butcher.' He mastered the rarely learned Blood-Burning Bone-Devouring Claw, and since then has seldom met his match. He has committed major crimes and escaped multiple times, causing endless headaches for the Government Offices of the nearby counties."
At this point, Luo Yong rubbed his temples and said with a bitter smile, "If a ruthless man like that decides to take revenge, it will most likely end in the extermination of our entire household..."
'The Blood-handed Butcher?'
'Blood-Burning Bone-Devouring Claw?'
'A classic follower of the Evil Dao.'
'We're cut from the same cloth.'
'But something like the Blood Burning Demon Skill sounds so much more impressive than my Five Poison Palm.'
'I really want to learn it. It's not like I'll be the one suffering the consequences anyway.'
But after hearing the whole story, although Zou Feng was also afraid of the Blood-handed Butcher, he felt that there was no need to be on edge, at least not for the time being.
For such a ruthless man to commit major crimes repeatedly and still remain at large meant he was extremely cautious and would never act on impulse.
Even if he was determined to avenge his son, he would absolutely not choose to do it now, while tensions are high.
Right now, practically the entire Yuan Guang County knew that the Young Miss of the Yang Mansion had killed his son and would now face retaliation.
The Government Office, therefore, must have already prepared countermeasures, just waiting to spring a trap.
Not to mention the Yang Mansion also had the support of the Heart Meeting Martial Arts Hall.
So, as long as the Blood-handed Butcher wasn't an idiot, he wouldn't rush in to his death.
A gentleman's revenge is not too late even after ten years. That guy would definitely lie low, biding his time until the moment their defenses slackened...
'By the time that actually happens, I'll have most likely already shed my Lowly Status and left the Yang Mansion.'
'Of course, I'll have to take Master Luo Yong and his family with me then.'
That night, Zou Feng joined the ranks of the night patrol team.
Although there were several teams patrolling in shifts, so it wasn't like he couldn't rest, the entire Yang Mansion was on high alert, and Zou Feng could no longer sneak out.
Fortunately, as long as it didn't interfere with their primary duties, Household Servants were allowed to request leave to exit the mansion.
So, Zou Feng chose a day when he wasn't scheduled for patrol, found an excuse, and requested leave to depart the Yang Mansion in the evening.
After leaving the Yang Mansion, he went straight to the cheapest local brothel.
Before his death, Li Rui had been a regular at this place.
He'd basically sunk all his wages into it.
Some of the able-bodied Household Servants in the prime of their lives naturally had such needs, and the Yang Mansion had no reason to interfere.
As for why Zou Feng was here, it wasn't to satisfy his needs, of course, but to be cautious and create a diversion.
After all, with the Yang Mansion in a state of panic, who knew if his act of taking leave would arouse suspicion and get him followed.
His real purpose, of course, was to make a trip to the Ghost Market later...
Whether in his past life or this one, Zou Feng had never been to a pleasure quarter like this.
So, looking at the scantily clad, heavily made-up women at the brothel's entrance, he actually felt his resolve waver a little.
It couldn't be helped. As a normal man who had just turned eighteen, he was at that wild age where he'd wake up every morning with a body of steel.
He was starving!
Fortunately, a moment later, the scent of cheap powder on the women, along with a faint, unconcealable fishy smell, snapped Zou Feng back to his senses.
'No, I can't be so desperate that I'll take anything.'
'Who knows how many strange diseases are hidden in the cheapest kind of brothel.'
'If I catch one, there's no way to transfer it!'