Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step

Although plenty of sinister martial arts manuals were sold at the Ghost Market, Zou Feng knew full well that only what suited him was truly the best.

Ever since he had begun cultivating the Five Poisons Palm, Zou Feng had been planning to cultivate a movement technique as well.

That was the only way to better complement the Five Poisons Palm and make up for his lack of frontal combat power.

Thus, his foremost goal at present was to find a sinister movement technique.

Zou Feng had originally been somewhat worried. How could a movement martial art possibly be connected to sinister arts?

After all, techniques that were not sinister enough could not be entered into the panel.

Fortunately, before long, Zou Feng really did find a technique that seemed quite promising.

"Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step?"

Stopping before a stall, Zou Feng asked doubtfully, "This is a sinister art?"

The vendor was a fat man with a bushy beard and a thoroughly vicious look on his face.

Yet after catching the scent on Zou Feng, he instinctively took a step back.

"That's right, it's a sinister art, genuine as they come. Are you buying or not?" After saying that, the fat man pinched his nose and added, "Brother, can you stop circulating your technique? Hold back that smell a little—I'm getting dizzy."

Zou Feng deliberately let out a sinister "Heh heh heh" and said, "It isn't poison. You needn't worry."

The fat man's eyes were full of disbelief.

"Can you explain exactly what makes this Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step sinister?" Zou Feng continued.

The fat man said impatiently, "Do you even need to ask? Naturally, its cultivation method takes a crooked path."

"It's called Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step, so naturally you have to guzzle huge amounts of strong liquor and get dead drunk before you can cultivate it."

"But everyone knows drinking too much harms the body. To cultivate Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step, you have to be prepared to drink yourself to death!"

With that explanation, Zou Feng immediately understood.

Just imagine being dead drunk every day for an extended period. Even if a martial artist had a sturdy constitution, sooner or later they would be ruined.

And remaining in a drunken stupor for too long did not merely harm the body—it damaged the brain as well.

Especially since the liquor in this world was of poor quality due to backward brewing techniques.

Seemingly noticing Zou Feng's interest, the fat man abruptly changed his tone. "But if you are lucky enough to master it, then you will truly be a drunken immortal gazing at the moon—phantom shadows without a trace, impossible to grasp..."

"When facing an enemy, even you yourself will not know where your next step will land. Your enemy will have even less chance of predicting it!"

"..."

It sounded fucking unreliable, and the side effects were ridiculously severe!

Could anyone really master it?

Still, whether others could master it or not was unclear, but he could certainly give it a try.

If the sky fell, Yang Ling would hold it up anyway.

Besides, after making a round of the market, he found that sinister movement techniques were truly scarce, leaving him with extremely limited choices.

As for the others, merely listening to the vendors' introductions made them sound 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 aren't buying, could you please stop delaying my business?"

"How about eighteen taels?"

"It's cooler over there. Please go rest over there..."

After an intense round of haggling, they finally settled on fifty taels.

Zou Feng was certain he had not been cheated. After all, while wandering around earlier, he had already gained a rough understanding of the prices for these sinister martial arts manuals.

For a martial arts manual, this price was naturally still far too cheap.

But the problem was that these techniques were all the lowest of the low, and they were copied manuscripts at that. Their contents might very well have omissions.

Not to mention that sinister arts had never been fit to see the light of day.

For a technique like Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step, practically no one would be foolish enough to actually cultivate it.

After the deal was made, the fat man was probably in a great mood because he had finally made his first sale of the night.

He pointed at another handwritten manual on his stall and said, "Since you're a fellow practitioner of poison arts, brother, how about giving this technique a try as well?"

In truth, even without the fat man's recommendation, Zou Feng had already noticed it.

"Passion-Chaos Finger, as its name implies—one finger strike, and if the opponent has no appropriate defense, they will immediately be thrown into passion and confusion, left at your mercy!"

"It is simply an indispensable technique for plucking flowers and stealing fragrance!"

"But to cultivate this art, you must choose one finger and let a Red Flower Scorpion sting it more than ten times every day..."

Beside the Passion-Chaos Finger manual sat a bamboo cage containing the Red Flower Scorpion the fat man had mentioned.

This kind of scorpion was recorded in the Compendium of Insect Medicine.

It was extremely lustful by nature and highly aggressive, often taking the initiative to attack passing animals.

If one were stung by its venomous barb and badly poisoned, one would first experience all sorts of chaotic hallucinations, followed by reactions of extreme pleasure.

At the same time, one would sweat profusely, eventually dying of dehydration.

However, Zou Feng had never found any Red Flower Scorpions outside Yuan Guang County, so the fat man had likely captured them elsewhere specifically to sell this technique.

After listening to the fat man's introduction, Zou Feng inexplicably asked, "Then if I master it and strike a man with one finger?"

The fat man wore an odd expression. "Well... if that man cannot resist the poison, what follows will become very dangerous..."

"Uh, right. To be honest, cultivating this Passion-Chaos Finger is by no means easy."

"First, you need to acclimate yourself to the Red Flower Scorpion's venom. Although there is a corresponding cultivation method to assist you, the process is still extremely hard to endure."

"Even living in brothels every day might not be enough to suppress it..."

After pausing, the fat man added, "But since you have already cultivated a poison art, your resistance to this venom will be much stronger."

"There should be a good chance that you can master it while retaining your sanity."

In truth, Zou Feng's interest in this technique was naturally not because he wanted to become a flower-plucking thief.

Rather, he was now deeply interested in all sorts of strange and wondrous poisons.

The ultimate purpose of studying and understanding more poisons was still to improve the Five Poisons Palm.

The Five Poisons Palm manual he had obtained could only be cultivated to the stage of entering the hall. It contained no method for further cultivation.

He did not know whether the technique itself was simply inferior or whether the manual was merely its first half.

Either possibility meant he could not cultivate inner qi from his current Five Poisons Palm and thereby enter the ranks.

Moreover, the Red Flower Scorpion was a scorpion, likewise one of the Five Poisons.

Using it to improve the Five Poisons Palm was naturally a perfect fit.

"How much?"

"One martial arts manual, paired with one Red Flower Scorpion—the price is naturally a little higher. One fixed price: eighty-eight taels of silver!"

"Too expensive. Will you sell it for eight taels?"

"I told you already, it's cooler over there. Go rest over there!"

After another intense round of haggling, they finally settled on sixty taels.

The twelve taels of cash and one hundred-tael banknote he had previously squeezed out of Yang Ling were all spent now.

Fortunately, Zou Feng was fairly satisfied with the two techniques he had bought.

Next, he only needed to return and try cultivating them, then have Yang Ling suffer on his behalf.

But a new problem arose.

Yang Ling could barely endure the side effects of cultivating the Five Poisons Palm alone.

But if Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step and Passion-Chaos Finger were added as well...

If all three sinister arts were piled on at once, would Yang Ling not immediately ascend to heaven on the spot?

So why had Third Young Master Yang Yanpeng, who had previously ordered him beaten nearly to death, not gotten listed yet?