Luo Yong’s family was depressed for several days after Yang Ling monopolized the extra benefits.
But in the end, they could only swallow their anger.
They didn’t have the courage to overturn the table.
After all, working as a cook in the Yang Manor, even without the extra benefits, the treatment in other aspects was still good.
Luo Yong, on the other hand, cursed every day that Yang Ling, the new steward, would quickly die of exhaustion in the brothel.
“Does that Yang Ling like to go to brothels?”
Once, Zou Feng couldn't help but ask an extra question.
Luo Yong grumbled, “Not only brothels, this fellow also loves to gamble, often gambling all night in the casino!”
No wonder this guy asked for an exorbitant price and showed no Face at all.
Most likely, he’s been on a losing streak recently and lost his temper…
But then again, this Yang Ling is really useful.
In the past few days, Zou Feng increased his Cultivation intensity as planned.
He increased the toxicity of the special venom, and each Cultivation session lasted for more than an hour.
At first, he was worried that Yang Ling wouldn't be able to withstand such intensity.
However, after a few days, the brightness of Yang Ling’s name on the panel did not dim much.
This formed a stark contrast to how Li Rui’s name would dim instantly before.
It really has to be the descendants of such wealthy families; their physical fitness is excellent.
In addition, whenever they felt unwell, a doctor would come to diagnose and prescribe corresponding tonic remedies.
So, even if he pushed his Cultivation intensity to the maximum, or even beyond his limits, Yang Ling could temporarily endure it.
There was no need to spare him at all.
However, while he could endure it now, it would be a different story once he Cultivated the Five Poison Palm to the next stage…
More than ten days passed in a flash.
That day, Zou Feng finished his usual errands but did not immediately return to the manor.
Instead, he quickly walked towards the direction of leaving the city.
After leaving the city, he skillfully walked straight to a stinking ditch that never saw sunlight.
Such places are most prone to breeding various poisonous insects and creatures.
And Zou Feng was here to catch some to make poison.
Since obtaining the latter volumes of the “compendium of materia medica,” coupled with Yang Ling helping him bear the hardships of learning, Zou Feng’s understanding of both herbal and insect medicines had now reached “Minor Achievement.”
And the progress was 100%.
Perhaps because it was merely a knowledge-based book, it could only reach “Minor Achievement” for now and couldn't advance to the next stage.
Zou Feng guessed that to advance in this area, no amount of reading or memorizing would be useful.
He would have to enter the stage of clinical practice to possibly make further progress.
After he started catching poisonous insects, in less than half an hour, he caught many excellent poisonous insects.
Five-colored spiders, snow-white scorpions, three-legged toads, three-finger-thick centipedes, and poisonous snakes with bumps on their heads.
These corresponded to the five poisons of the Five Poison Palm.
But the toxicity of these poisonous creatures far exceeded that of the previous ordinary poisonous creatures.
Being able to find these excellent specimens so quickly was naturally not due to good luck.
Instead, it stemmed from his “human poisonous creature” keen sense of the location of his own kind.
In the past, Zou Feng would not even dare to look at these poisonous creatures, let alone catch them with his hands; he would feel nauseous and fearful.
But after Cultivating the Five Poison Palm and reaching “Minor Achievement,” Zou Feng completely lost his fear of these poisonous creatures.
He could even casually hold them in his hands and play with them, genuinely exclaiming things like “even the small ones are cute.”
It seems that even if the side effects of Cultivating evil Dao were transferred, he would still inevitably gradually become a pervert in the eyes of normal people…
And when these poisonous creatures were caught by him, they all became as quiet as cicadas in winter, not daring to move at all.
They were as docile as pets.
This was due to suppression at the instinctive level.
After catching enough, Zou Feng contentedly placed these poisonous creatures into a special bamboo cage before preparing to return to the Yang Manor.
“Five Poison Palm (Minor Achievement), progress 88%”
“compendium of materia medica (Minor Achievement), progress 100%”
Only more than ten days had passed since the last promotion, and the Five Poison Palm was already close to advancing to the next stage.
As expected of an evil Dao, as long as one could withstand the side effects, it was indeed a quick path to mastery.
Even if Zou Feng were to confront them head-on now, he was confident he could simultaneously defeat two of the Yang Manor’s guard martial artists.
The improvement in direct combat power was not only due to the increased Cultivation progress of the Five Poison Palm but also related to Zou Feng’s diligent study of cooking over the past ten-plus days.
Large and prolonged periods of chopping vegetables, stir-frying, etc., were inherently physically demanding tasks.
It seemed like he was learning cooking skills, but at the same time, it also strengthened Zou Feng’s physical fitness.
Especially practicing knife skills and stir-frying with his hands greatly improved his strength and control.
And these improvements were all beneficial for him to better unleash the Five Poison Palm.
That’s why Zou Feng was confident he could take on two guard martial artists head-on simultaneously.
If he resorted to sneak attacks, as long as there was a suitable opportunity, he even had the confidence to wipe out all these martial artists overnight.
This was not an exaggeration, as there were no martial artists of ranked Dao in the Yang Manor’s guard martial artists.
Without ranked Dao, there was no internal Qi; if hit by the Five Poison Palm, they couldn't use internal Qi to resist the poison or expel the toxins.
Thinking of this, the slight pride Zou Feng had just felt quickly dissipated.
Once he encountered an opponent of ranked Dao, the Five Poison Palm was still not enough!
He needed to quickly Cultivate another, or even multiple, higher-grade evil Dao.
Anyway, Yang Ge could still endure it.
In these days, Zou Feng had inquired and verified through various sources and was almost certain that the Ghost Market was indeed currently located at East River Mouth.
Every three days, the Ghost Market would open at midnight in the shantytown of East River Mouth.
As for the money issue, it was time to extract someone’s gold…
The next day, as dawn was about to break.
This was often when most people were in their deepest sleep.
And the Guangfa Gambling House, located in the south of the city, had just quieted down after another night of revelry.
A moment later, the casino door was pulled open, and then a man of about thirty, with a small mustache, walked out.
“Master Ling, please take care!” The casino attendant, helping to pull the door, was full of flattery.
At this moment, Yang Ling’s Face showed no fatigue from staying up all night; instead, it was flushed with health.
One could tell at a glance that he had had a very successful night.
After all, even the unluckiest gambler always had their occasional winning streak.
Damn it, after so long, he finally had a satisfying win!
Casually throwing a sliver of silver to the attendant, Yang Ling walked out triumphantly, heading back to the manor.
On the way back, the wonton shop he often frequented should also be open; he might as well eat there before going back to sleep.
Next, Yang Ling hummed a tune and strode off, looking so smug, as if afraid others wouldn't know he had won money.
This wasn’t because Yang Ling was too brainless, but because the public order in Yuan Guang County was generally quite good.
The local Gangs who engaged in illicit activities also had to give Face to the Yang Family and would not easily do such foolish things.
Of course, most importantly, Yang Ling had also practiced martial arts.
Although he had no talent, he had been nourished by medicinal meals since childhood and practiced a ranked “true Dao.”
Therefore, his strength was comparable to, if not superior to, most of the Yang Manor’s guard martial artists.