Although there were many Evil Skill Secret Manuals for sale at the Ghost Market, Zou Feng knew that what suited him was what's best.
From the moment he started his Cultivation of the Five Poison Palm, Zou Feng had been planning to learn a Body Technique Martial Arts as well.
This would allow him to better complement his Five Poison Palm and make up for his lack of direct combat strength.
Therefore, his primary goal at the moment was to find a Body Technique Evil Skill.
Zou Feng had initially been a little worried. How could a Body Technique Martial Arts be considered an Evil Skill?
After all, a Skill that wasn't "evil" enough couldn't be entered into his panel.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before Zou Feng actually found a Cultivation Skill that seemed quite promising.
"Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step?"
Pausing before a stall, Zou Feng asked with a hint of doubt in his eyes, "This is an Evil Skill?"
The stall owner was a fat man with a bushy beard and a sinister, cruel look on his face.
But after catching a whiff of the fragrance coming from Zou Feng, he subconsciously took a step back.
"That's right, it's an Evil Skill, the real deal. You buying or not?" After speaking, the fat man pinched his nose and added, "Brother, can you stop Cultivating? Reign in the smell a bit, it's making my head spin."
Zou Feng deliberately let out a sinister "Heh heh heh" laugh. "It's not poison, you don't need to worry."
But the fat man's eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Can you tell me what makes this Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step an Evil Skill?" Zou Feng continued to ask.
The fat man said impatiently, "Do you even need to ask? It's the Cultivation method, of course. It takes an unorthodox path."
"It's called Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step. You obviously have to drink massive amounts of strong liquor until you're dead drunk before you can even begin Cultivation."
"Everyone knows that drinking too much is bad for your body. To cultivate the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step, you'd better be prepared to drink yourself to death!"
Hearing this explanation, Zou Feng immediately understood.
Imagine getting dead drunk every day for a prolonged period. Even with a Martial Artist's tough constitution, you would eventually be ruined.
And being in a constant state of drunkenness not only harms the body, but also the mind.
This was especially true for the liquor in this world, which was of poor quality due to backward brewing techniques.
Seemingly noticing Zou Feng's interest, the fat man's tone changed. "But if you're lucky enough to master it, you'll truly become like a Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon. Your shadow will be traceless and your movements unpredictable..."
"When facing an enemy, even you won't know where your next step will land, so your opponent will have no chance of predicting it!"
"..."
'This sounds so damn unreliable, and the side effects are massive!'
'Could anyone actually master this?'
'Still, I don't know if anyone else could, but I can certainly give it a try.'
'Anyway, if the sky falls, Yang Ling is there to hold it up.'
Besides, after looking around, he found that there were very few Body Technique Evil Skills. His choices were extremely limited.
The others he had heard about from stall owners sounded even more outrageous.
"How much?"
The fat man finally grinned. "Sixty-eight taels!"
"Too expensive. Will you sell it for eight taels?"
"Brother, if you're not going to buy, please don't waste my time."
"How about eighteen taels?"
"It's cooler over there. Why don't you go rest over there..."
After a fierce round of haggling, they finally settled on a price of fifty taels.
Zou Feng was sure he hadn't been ripped off. After all, he had gotten a general idea of the prices for these Evil Skill Secret Manuals while wandering around earlier.
For a Cultivation Technique Secret Manual, this price was, of course, still too cheap.
The problem was, these were all considered second-rate Cultivation Skills. They were also handwritten copies, so their content was likely incomplete or flawed.
Not to mention, Evil Skills weren't respectable in the first place.
Very few people would be foolish enough to actually practice a Skill like the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step.
After the sale, perhaps because he had finally made his first sale of the night, the fat man was in a great mood.
He pointed to another handwritten manual on his stall and said, "I see you're a fellow practitioner of Poison Skills, brother. Why not give this one a try?"
In truth, Zou Feng had already noticed it without the fat man's recommendation.
"The Chaos Finger. As the name suggests, one touch of this finger, and if your opponent has no defense against it, they will immediately be overwhelmed by passion and at your mercy!"
"It's truly an essential Skill for seducing women!"
"However, to cultivate this Skill, you must choose one finger and let a Red Flower Scorpion sting it more than ten times a day..."
Next to the Chaos Finger secret manual was a bamboo cage containing the very Red Flower Scorpion the fat man mentioned.
This type of scorpion was recorded in the Compendium of Insects and Medicines.
It was described as extremely lustful and aggressive, often taking the initiative to attack passing animals.
If stung by its Poison Needle and deeply envenomed, the victim would first experience chaotic hallucinations, followed by a reaction of extreme pleasure.
At the same time, they would sweat profusely, eventually leading to death by dehydration.
However, Zou Feng had never seen this kind of Red Flower Scorpion in the outskirts of Yuan Guang County Town. The fat man must have caught it elsewhere specifically to sell this Cultivation Skill.
After hearing the fat man's introduction, Zou Feng asked on a whim, "What if, after mastering it, I use it on a man?"
The fat man's expression turned strange. "Well... if the man can't resist the poison, then he... will become very dangerous..."
"Uh, right. To be honest, mastering this Chaos Finger is no easy task."
"First, you need to adapt to the Red Flower Scorpion's poison. Although there's a corresponding Cultivating method to help, the process is still incredibly difficult to endure."
"Even living in a brothel every day might not be enough to suppress it..."
After a pause, the fat man added, "But since you already cultivate a Poison Skill, brother, your resistance to this poison will be much higher."
"There should be a good chance you can successfully cultivate it while maintaining your sanity."
In reality, Zou Feng's interest in this Cultivation Skill was not, of course, so he could become a womanizer.
Rather, he was currently fascinated by all sorts of strange and wondrous poisons.
His ultimate goal in researching and understanding more poisons was to improve his Five Poison Palm.
The Five Poison Palm secret manual he had obtained only contained instructions up to the "Entering the Hall and the Room" level of mastery; there was no method for further Cultivation.
He didn't know if this meant the Skill itself was simply second-rate, or if his manual was only the first half.
Either way, it meant he couldn't cultivate Inner Qi and advance to Entering Grade with his current Five Poison Palm.
Furthermore, the Red Flower Scorpion was a scorpion, one of the Five Poison Creatures.
It was a natural fit for improving the Five Poison Palm.
"How much?"
"One Cultivation Technique Secret Manual, plus one Red Flower Scorpion. The price is naturally a bit higher. A flat eighty-eight taels of silver!"
"Too expensive. Eight taels, take it or leave it."
"I already told you, it's cooler over there! Go rest over there!"
Another fierce round of haggling later, they finally settled on sixty taels.
The twelve taels in silver coins and the hundred-tael silver banknote he had previously fleeced from Yang Ling were now all spent.
Fortunately, Zou Feng was quite satisfied with the two Cultivation Skills he had bought.
The next step was to go back, try cultivating them, and let Yang Ling suffer on his behalf.
But a new problem arose.
Yang Ling could barely endure the side effects of cultivating the Five Poison Palm alone.
But what if he added the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step and the Chaos Finger...
'With three Evil Skills piled on at once, wouldn't Yang Ling die on the spot?'
'So, why hasn't that Third Young Master Yang Yanpeng, the one who ordered me beaten half to death, appeared on the list yet?'