The Third Young Master's Peculiar Taste?

According to Zou Feng's plan, he was supposed to lie low at Yang Estate until he entered the ranks, then leave his lowly status openly and honorably. By all rights, these days should have been rather hard to endure.

Yet never in his wildest dreams had he expected such an astonishing extra benefit to appear during this time.

Starting from the night he had "picked up" the Golden-Scaled Plague Snake, for the next five nights in a row, Zou Feng had picked up at least one venomous creature worthy of being called an "exotic poison."

Of course, that was also because he actively joined the night patrol every evening and possessed a special sensitivity to poisons, allowing him to find surprises night after night.

Altogether, these "surprises" included three Golden-Scaled Plague Snakes, two Ghost-Faced Spiders, and a hornet covered in white fuzz.

He called it a hornet because Zou Feng did not even know what this hornet-like thing was actually called.

Although the Herbal Compendium had six volumes and recorded quite a few exotic poisonous creatures, it could not possibly document every poison in existence.

That also had something to do with the fact that the Herbal Compendium was not specifically a complete encyclopedia of poisons.

Though he did not recognize it, that did not stop Zou Feng from using it directly for cultivation.

He even had this white hornet sting the middle finger of his left hand.

Clearly, he was once again randomly modifying the Passion-Chaos Finger.

He was addicted to it now. Whether it was the Five Poisons Palm or the Passion-Chaos Finger, he had begun recklessly mixing in poisons.

Yet it had to be said that, even after using so many exotic poisons, Yang Yanpeng—the one carrying the burden for him—had still not dimmed much on the panel.

Of course, that was hardly strange. Though Zou Feng was misusing exotic poisons, he was ultimately only using them for cultivation.

More importantly, Yang Yanpeng was also an expert in poison arts. His resistance to all kinds of poisons was far beyond that of ordinary martial artists.

Not to mention that this bastard was extremely rich, so he surely kept a full supply of all sorts of antidotal medicinal brews for cultivating poison arts.

But for Zou Feng, all of that was good news. Yang Yanpeng was simply too well-suited for him to stand up and pedal.

Had it been another martial artist, who knew how many would have croaked by now...

And so, these good days filled with daily surprises swiftly passed another five days.

That morning, Zou Feng was in the front courtyard as usual, cultivating the Five-Beasts Stance Exercise alongside the other servants.

He still had not given up on improving the Five-Beasts Stance Exercise into the Five Poisons Stake Art.

But he seemed to have hit a bottleneck for now and could never fully shape it into form.

The proof that it had not taken shape was that it did not appear on the panel.

On the other hand, over the past few days, Xu Haoran had made great progress with the Five Poisons Palm.

Zou Feng could tell from the scent alone that Xu Haoran had nearly completed the "first glimpse of the door" stage of the Five Poisons Palm.

Before long, he would break through to "slight accomplishment."

Though evil arts were inherently quick to master, such a rate of progress still surprised Zou Feng somewhat.

Xu Haoran might have no talent for normal cultivation arts.

But was he a rare genius in poison arts?

As he was thinking about it, Yang Yanpeng actually came to the front courtyard again to "observe" the servants practicing martial arts.

But Zou Feng already understood that this fellow was not simply wandering around because he had nothing better to do. He clearly wanted to see how the "gu" he was raising were growing.

When Zou Feng saw Yang Yanpeng again, he was no longer as radiant and smug as before.

Instead, he was visibly listless.

It seemed that after being tormented for days by the side effects mixed with exotic poisons, even an expert in poison arts could barely take it.

And that was not all. At this moment, Yang Yanpeng's gaze toward Zou Feng and Xu Haoran carried an additional trace of urgency.

Unable to figure out what strange ailment had struck his body, he could only attribute it to the outbreak of side effects from cultivating evil arts.

Thus, Yang Yanpeng became even more anxious for the gu he was raising to mature as quickly as possible, so they could help him break through.

So long as his realm rose, the side effects of cultivating poison arts would surely lessen greatly.

That was why Yang Yanpeng now looked as restless as a monkey with its tail on fire.

Yet as he watched, the fellow had an indecent reaction...

One of the side effects of the Passion-Chaos Finger was sudden, unprovoked arousal.

Even if Zou Feng himself did not cultivate it, the side effect would inexplicably make Yang Yanpeng unable to control the tent rising in his pants.

The servants practicing martial arts nearby were immediately dumbfounded.

If there had been pretty young ladies present, the Third Young Master's reaction might still have been understandable.

But the problem was that everyone practicing martial arts in the front courtyard was a man drenched in foul sweat...

Realizing that the Third Young Master actually had such a peculiar taste, most of the servants turned pale with fright and hurriedly lowered their heads, afraid that the Third Young Master would notice their not-so-obvious peerless looks.

Yet several servants were instead overjoyed, practicing even harder and showing off their muscles.

Yang Yanpeng himself was embarrassed beyond measure.

After all, he was normal. He could not endure such a misunderstanding.

So in the next moment, he hurriedly hunched over and strode out of the front courtyard in a rush.

He was getting desperate...

Before long, this fellow would be unable to bear the torment of the side effects. Even if he had to harvest the fruit ahead of time, he would no longer care.

But exactly how would Yang Yanpeng absorb a "human gu" when the time came?

Zou Feng cared deeply about that. After all, if he knew the method, he could more conveniently and smoothly turn around and refine Yang Yanpeng instead.

So he hoped this fellow would choose Xu Haoran as his first refinement target rather than himself...

At noon, after Zou Feng went to work in the back kitchen again, he entered his leisurely time for eating and taking a short rest.

While chatting idly with his master, Zou Feng's attention was on the panel in his mind.

"Five Poisons Palm (Entering the Hall): 99%"

"Passion-Disrupting Finger (Entering the Hall): 12%"

"Drunken Immortal Moon-Gazing Step (Entering the Hall): 7%"

"Compendium of Medicinal Herbs (Slight Accomplishment): 99%"

All the evil arts he cultivated had already reached the Hall-Entering stage.

In truth, Zou Feng could immediately attempt to open his meridians.

Once the attempt succeeded, the human body could produce inner qi, officially advancing one into a ranked martial artist.

But Zou Feng was clearly not content to open his meridians under such circumstances.

If he wanted to advance toward the peak, he could not afford to be ungreedy.

First, the Five Poisons Palm had to reach "mastery."

Then there were the Drunken Immortal Gazing at the Moon Step and the Passion-Chaos Finger, which should not take much longer either...

But tonight, he could let the Five Poisons Palm be the first to reach "mastery."

The Five Poisons Palm's progress on the panel was at 99%, not because it was stuck at a bottleneck.

It was because Zou Feng had deliberately suppressed it.

Once a cultivation art reached mastery, he could not just break through on the spot wherever he happened to be.

Especially since Zou Feng cultivated poison arts—the commotion caused by a breakthrough could not possibly be small.

So he definitely could not break through within Yang Estate. He needed to go out and find a secluded place.

Besides, to refine Yang Yanpeng more smoothly, he also needed to visit the ghost market and buy a few little things...

After night fell, Zou Feng once again took leave under the legitimate pretext of visiting a pleasure house to listen to music, heading for Jade-Cross Tower.

But he would definitely return at midnight and join the night patrol, since he could not miss the daily "surprises."

After all, based on his observations these past days, those "surprises" only appeared after midnight.

Once he arrived at Jade-Cross Tower, he first had to go through the usual process.

The madam already recognized him and knew that this kid only ever picked the cheapest option whenever he came.

So without waiting for Zou Feng to speak, the madam directly called Sister Zhang over.

In truth, Zou Feng was already considering changing to someone else next time.

Otherwise, if he slept unconscious through the night every time, Sister Zhang would sooner or later realize something was off.