Yuan Guang County, Yang Manor.
"My butt hurts so much…"
The searing pain jolted Zou Feng awake from the tattered bed made of straw.
That was close… He almost got beaten to death this time…
Zou Feng, a Transmigration, had no one to rely on, so he could only sell himself into servitude, barely surviving in this Yang Family.
Yesterday, he merely ate some leftover food from the Yang Manor’s masters, but was unfortunately reported by a petty individual, resulting in a beating.
The reason was that these leftovers were originally intended to feed several guard dogs.
So, just for eating dog food, he was almost beaten to death.
What kind of rotten world is this…
Even when he sold himself into servitude, Zou Feng already knew that in this 異世 where martial arts reigned supreme, the lives of servants were cheaper than livestock.
But it wasn't until yesterday that he truly experienced it firsthand.
At this moment, compared to the burning pain in his buttocks, the indignity of living worse than a dog was even more unbearable.
To change his fate, he could only Cultivate martial arts.
But how could a servant like him possibly have the conditions to Cultivate martial arts?
Gritting his teeth, he got out of bed, Zou Feng stumbled to a corner of the woodshed.
Then, he carefully pulled out a loose brick from the base of the wall.
Behind the brick, hidden in plain sight, was a beast skin book wrapped in oil paper.
The cover of the book only had three characters, yet they exuded an eerie aura.
These three characters, of course, were not Jin Ping Mei, but… Five Poison Palm.
That’s right, Zou Feng had studied it for a long time; this was indeed a Cultivation Technique.
Unfortunately, it was an evil Cultivation Technique.
During Cultivation, one needed to soak their hands in specially formulated poisonous liquid.
During this time, one first had to drink the corresponding antidote herbal soup, supplemented by several rather undignified Cultivation movements.
Clearly, the Cultivation process for this Cultivation Technique was not complicated; in fact, it could be described as a fool-proof mode.
However, the cost of purchasing the antidote herbal soup was simply unaffordable for ordinary families, let alone for Zou Feng, who was a servant.
Furthermore, since it involved testing poisons on oneself, the biggest challenge was the risk of accidentally killing oneself if one wasn’t careful.
But high risk usually comes with high rewards.
The greatest advantage of evil Cultivation Techniques was precisely their ability to achieve quick results.
This was a gamble: win and enjoy entertainment, lose and become fish food.
But to change his fate, Zou Feng had no choice.
As for how he obtained this Five Poison Palm Secret Manual…
It was almost certainly left behind by the previous servant who lived in this woodshed.
When Zou Feng first arrived at the Yang Manor, he heard that his predecessor had mysteriously died suddenly in the woodshed.
This almost certainly meant he had practiced the Five Poison Palm and accidentally killed himself.
So, even though he had been prepared, Zou Feng had not dared to truly commit to practicing it before.
The specialized poisonous liquid required for this Cultivation Technique only needed five common poisonous creatures: snakes, spiders, centipedes, toads, and scorpions.
These unremarkable poisonous creatures often shared the woodshed with Zou Feng, so collecting them was not difficult.
As for the antidote herbal soup…
As a prominent family, the Yang Family consumed various medicinal meals daily.
Zou Feng, while working as a kitchen helper, had many opportunities to secretly pilfer a small amount of the medicinal Materials he needed.
After accumulating them over many days, he finally managed to gather enough Materials to brew a bowl of antidote herbal soup.
After experiencing firsthand how it felt to live worse than a dog, Zou Feng finally made up his mind to go all out.
Cultivate!
Otherwise, this life truly wasn’t fit for a human.
No matter how much he endured, he might one day be beaten to death by a Yang Family master for a “legitimate” reason similar to “I don’t eat beef.”
This time, thankfully, only his buttocks were injured, which wouldn't affect his Cultivation movements later.
Now, he only hoped that the antidote herbal soup brewed according to the method described in the Secret Manual would not cause any problems.
Perhaps the previous servant who secretly practiced this Cultivation Technique and died suddenly had made a mistake in another aspect…
Zou Feng immediately began brewing the antidote herbal soup in the woodshed.
He had been severely beaten as punishment this time, and a good friend had immediately sent some wound medicine.
So, even if the woodshed was filled with the smell of medicine at this moment, it wouldn't arouse suspicion.
The antidote decoction brewed for nearly half an hour; the longer it brewed, the more nauseating the smell became, and Zou Feng almost fainted from the fumes.
How the hell can this be drunk?!
Just smelling it made him lightheaded; drinking it would surely send him straight to heaven?
But Zou Feng had made up his mind: succeed or die trying.
The next moment, he pinched his nose and tilted his head back, downing the bowl of Meng Po Soup.
Suppressing the urge to vomit violently, Zou Feng quickly plunged his hands into the clay pot containing the specially prepared poisonous liquid.
At that moment, he felt as if he had plunged his hands into a pile of red-hot nails.
"Oh, oh, oh—"
Zou Feng wailed repeatedly, like a baboon in heat.
But he stubbornly refused to pull his hands out.
Only by enduring poison within poison can one become a superior human!
Amidst his torment, several lines of text suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Five Poison Palm (Beginner), Progress: 1%"
"Cultivation Side Effects: Excruciating pain, chronic poisoning."
"Do you wish to transfer the side effects?"
"Currently available transfer target: Li Rui"
Zou Feng was stunned, then overjoyed.
Indeed, what should come, always comes!
And his Golden Finger’s function was simple and clear.
In addition to the most common proficiency display, it also had the ability to transfer Cultivation side effects.
For his current situation, it was like someone sending a pillow when he was sleepy.
As for Li Rui, the available target, Zou Feng certainly knew him.
It was this petty individual who had reported him for stealing leftovers.
As fellow servants of the Yang Family, many minor actions were usually overlooked by everyone.
Occasionally stealing leftovers to supplement nutrition was originally an unwritten hidden benefit for kitchen helpers.
But this petty individual insisted on making a big deal out of it.
Zou Feng couldn't even remember when he had offended him.
But since he was an enemy, transferring the side effects came with no psychological burden.
So Zou Feng unhesitatingly chose to let Li Rui suffer in his stead.
However, at the same time, he also had some more questions.
While Li Rui, who reported him, was indeed an enemy, Yang Yanpeng, the third young master of the Yang Family, who casually ordered thirty planks for him, should also be on the list.
Yang Yanpeng was a notorious scoundrel in Yuan Guang County; the several vicious and bloodthirsty guard dogs in his manor, who had tasted human flesh, were his playthings.
So, if another member of the Yang Family had handled it, it would most likely have only been a punishment like not being allowed to eat for a day.
It certainly wouldn't have amounted to thirty planks.
Zou Feng even suspected that Yang Yanpeng's original intention was to beat him to death, after all, those several guard dogs hadn't eaten human flesh for quite some time…
However, since Yang Yanpeng wasn't on the list, there was no need to worry too much for now; perhaps there were other triggering conditions.
He would first exploit Li Rui.
Once the selection was complete, the transfer took effect immediately.
Zou Feng's hands instantly stopped itching and hurting, and his head no longer felt dizzy.
It was as if the specially prepared poisonous liquid in which his hands were immersed had suddenly been replaced by a basin of cool spring water.
However, his beaten buttocks still hurt searingly.
After all, this was not a side effect of Cultivation, so it couldn't be transferred.
The subsequent Cultivation process, however, made Zou Feng uncomfortable.
After all, it was originally an extremely dangerous Cultivation of an evil Cultivation Technique, but now it was merely equivalent to soaking in cool water…
It was so comfortable that Zou Feng even wanted to scoop it up and wash his face.
Of course, it was just a thought; he wasn't so foolish as to seek death like that.
One must know that washing one's face with poisonous liquid was not part of the Five Poison Palm's Cultivation method; who knew if it could still be transferred?
Zou Feng continued to Cultivate for a full half an hour before stopping.
It wasn't because he felt sorry for Brother Li Rui, but because according to the Secret Manual's introduction, the maximum daily Cultivation time for Five Poison Palm when first starting was half an hour.
Forcibly continuing beyond that time would almost certainly lead to a sudden death.
In reality, being able to persist for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea was already quite good.
Half an hour was considered maxing out the intensity.
Only those with special Physiques, naturally high resistance to poison, and astonishing willpower—true poison Cultivation geniuses—could attempt to max out the time every session.
Zou Feng didn't consider himself a poison Cultivation genius, but thankfully, someone was bearing the burden for him.
After Cultivating, Zou Feng looked at the text in his mind again.
"Five Poison Palm (Beginner), Progress: 9%"
Achieving such progress with just one Cultivation session was clearly due to maxing out the intensity for the duration.
However, the display of "Li Rui" was now noticeably dimmer.
It seemed that this exploitation wouldn't last much longer.
Hopefully, Li Rui could hold out until he cultivated the Five Poison Palm to the next stage.
Or that a successor would appear soon…