From the seemingly simple and honest man, Zou Feng fished out a few pieces of broken silver and several silver banknotes totaling forty taels.
He had just been worrying about having spent all his money.
Who would have thought someone would come so quickly to offer him some warmth?
'It seems the saying "murder and arson pays" is true...'
After tossing the body into the East River, Zou Feng quickly left the crime scene.
He took a long detour through the night, making sure he wasn't being followed before climbing back through the window into the Jade Cross Building.
Sister Zhang was still fast asleep and wouldn't wake until dawn.
And there were still several hours until daybreak.
Zou Feng decided not to sleep and began practicing his skills in the room.
Taking out the manual, he chose to first practice the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step.
The Qi Cultivation Mantra for the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step wasn't hard to memorize.
And the various techniques for exerting force were no challenge for Zou Feng, who already had a Cultivation Skill at the "Entering the Hall and the Room" level as his foundation.
Besides, most Evil Skills weren't difficult to learn in the first place.
The difficulty lay in whether one could withstand the deadly side effects.
After confirming there were no issues with his Qi Cultivation, Zou Feng began to frantically chug the liquor in the room.
The only downside was that the liquor was of such poor quality it could only be called watered-down alcohol.
Fortunately, despite this, a notification soon appeared on the panel in his mind.
"Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step (Initial Glimpse), Progress: 1%"
"Cultivation Side Effects: Confusion, Alcohol Poisoning."
"Transfer side effects?"
"Current available transfer target: Yang Ling."
With only Yang Ling available, there was no choice.
'Brother Ling, I'm sorry...'
After that, Zou Feng trained relentlessly in his room for over two hours.
Although the room wasn't large, it was perfect for training the evasive maneuvers of the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step in a confined space.
And even though the side effects had been transferred, Zou Feng still felt slightly tipsy.
This was a necessary sensation; otherwise, it would be impossible to bring out the subtleties of the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step.
It seemed that only confusion and alcohol poisoning were judged as side effects that needed to be transferred.
The tipsy state was not among them.
After stopping his cultivation, Zou Feng checked his progress and was surprised to see it had already reached 12%.
'As expected of an Evil Skill that can be mastered quickly.'
'Of course, it also has a lot to do with the fact that I'm already an Outer Power Realm expert with skills at the Entering the Hall and the Room level.'
He glanced out the window. The sky was still dark.
'Since I'm idle anyway, I might as well practice the Chaos Finger too.'
'I won't feel at ease until I've registered all these Evil Skills on the panel.'
'It just means I'll have to trouble Brother Ling again...'
"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO—"
The distant crowing of a rooster finally made Sister Zhang, who was sprawled out on the bed, open her eyes.
As she opened her eyes, she subconsciously tried to turn over, only to find her whole body felt like it had fallen apart, limp and weak.
'This... what on earth happened last night?'
'I got handled!?'
The thought was unbelievable to Sister Zhang; after all, in most situations, she was the one handling the clients.
The next moment, Sister Zhang struggled to sit up and, sure enough, saw that handsome face again.
At that moment, Zou Feng was pretending to have just gotten dressed and was about to get up and leave.
"Sir, you're truly... amazing!"
"Right now, I feel as if I were run over by eight horse-drawn carriages repeatedly last night..."
Sister Zhang praised him from the bottom of her heart.
Zou Feng, with his back to her, rolled his eyes.
'It's just weakness caused by being poisoned. She's being way too dramatic.'
"I have something to do. I'm leaving."
With that, he walked toward the door without looking back.
He was the epitome of heartlessness, leaving without a second thought even though he hadn't done a thing.
But Sister Zhang asked reluctantly, "Sir... will you... will you come back?"
Zou Feng couldn't be bothered to answer and slipped out the door.
On the way back to the Yang Mansion, Zou Feng didn't forget to spend some money on two jugs of good wine.
He also bought a bag of high-quality tobacco for his master, Luo Yong.
Luo Yong, of course, knew that Zou Feng had spent the night out.
And he guessed that Zou Feng had most likely gone to a brothel.
Luo Yong didn't criticize him too harshly for it. After all, he had been that age once and understood the torment brought on by those natural urges.
"You brat, remember to exercise some restraint!"
"I'm even starting to suspect that Li Rui's death was because he caught some strange disease from those disreputable places..."
There was nothing he could do about his master's misunderstanding.
Zou Feng could only pretend to take the lesson to heart, saying, "I understand, Master. Please don't worry."
Luo Yong nodded. "First, drink the ginseng soup your master's wife made, then go to the front courtyard and practice your Pile Skill."
Ginseng soup was a tonic that the Direct Lineage of the Yang Family drank daily.
But "if the cook doesn't steal, the five grains won't be harvested." They could always skim a little off the top for themselves.
Zou Feng's physique was now becoming more well-proportioned and solid, no longer the skinny weakling he was before starting martial arts. This was all because he ate so well after becoming Luo Yong's disciple.
However, as his Realm increased, just eating this much wouldn't be enough.
Especially once he was Entering Grade, the quality of his food would have to be raised accordingly...
'I shouldn't be far from Entering Grade.'
'The manual for the Five Poison Palm doesn't have a method to cultivate to the point of Entering Grade, but now I've learned the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step and the Chaos Finger.'
'Even though these three Evil Skills are all Low Grade and not considered top-tier...'
'...if I master all three to the "Entering the Hall and the Room" level, I can still try to forcibly break through to Entering Grade.'
After drinking the ginseng soup, the fatigue from Zou Feng's all-nighter was slightly alleviated.
He actually wanted to catch up on sleep more, but the Yang Mansion's mandatory Pile Skill practice was something he couldn't skip.
Practicing Evil Skills at night and then having to pretend to practice the Five Beasts Pile Skill during the day... he was busy as hell.
When he arrived at the front courtyard, Xu Haoran was already there, sweating profusely from practicing his Pile Skill.
This newly recruited Household Servant, Xu Haoran, was certainly hardworking enough.
He treated this as what might be his only chance in this life to change his fate, gritting his teeth and persevering no matter how painful the training was.
Zou Feng was quite moved by this.
'If I didn't have my cheat, I'd probably be just as desperate right now...'
After getting into position, Zou Feng stopped thinking about it and also began his Pile Skill practice.
The Five Beasts Pile Skill corresponded to five stances: the Tiger Stance, Deer Stance, Bear Stance, Monkey Stance, and Bird Stance.
Right now, the progress of all the martial-arts-practicing Household Servants was still stuck on the Tiger Stance, which they had started with.
Except for Zou Feng, of course. He had already more or less mastered all five stances.
Every time he practiced his Pile Skill, he was thinking about how to adapt the Five Beasts Pile Skill into the Five Poison Pile Skill.
The Snake Stance, Scorpion Stance, Centipede Stance, Spider Stance, and Toad Stance.
The more Zou Feng thought about it, the more he felt it had potential.
The fighting style of the Five Poison Palm was just too pathetic; it had to be improved.
"You call this practicing your Pile Skill? It's a complete mess!"
"Everyone, stop! This Young Miss will demonstrate it for you again!"
Suddenly, a feisty female voice came from the courtyard entrance.
"The Young Miss is here!?"
"What's going on? Isn't Master Zhao usually the one who teaches us martial arts?"
While Zou Feng was busy adapting the Tiger Stance into the Spider Stance, the other Household Servants around him were already buzzing with discussion.
He turned his head and saw that it was indeed Yang Qianqian.
This young lady had accidentally killed the Blood-handed Butcher's son and had been grounded by Patriarch Yang Wu for some time, forbidden from going out again.
This was, of course, for Yang Qianqian's safety.
However, it seemed Yang Qianqian was the restless type who had to find something to do even when she had nothing to do...
PS: I'm begging for follows and reads! Could all you big shots please check out the latest chapter every day? Keeping up with the latest chapters is super important during the new book period. Once it's officially on the shelves, I'll definitely release a ton of chapters. Thank you so much!