Stand Up and Pedal!

As the saying went, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.

Zou Feng had already mapped out a plan to save up and buy a wicked martial art as soon as possible, only to have a basin of cold water dumped over his head.

"What!?" Wang exclaimed. "He wants to keep it all for himself?"

Before this, they had always split the money fifty-fifty.

Yang Ling was utterly disregarding the years of friendship between Luo Yong's family and himself, built through cooking in the Yang Estate's back kitchen.

"That bastard, isn't he afraid we'll expose this to the master?" Wang said indignantly.

Luo Yong gave a bitter laugh. "He really isn't afraid..."

"This was never something that could see the light of day. If we truly exposed it, Yang Ling would certainly be punished, but the best outcome for our whole family would still be packing up and leaving... Ah!"

Before he could finish, a sharp pain shot through Luo Yong's abdomen again, forcing him to double over.

Clearly, Luo Yong had likely argued a few words earlier and been kicked by Yang Ling.

"Master, are you all right?"

Even as he voiced his concern, Zou Feng felt a pang of sorrow.

Luo Yong's family had cooked in the Yang Estate for years, and their favorable treatment had made the other servants green with envy.

Yet they could still be so easily manipulated by a fringe figure of the Yang Family.

Now they could only swallow their shattered teeth and endure this humiliating outcome.

So learning to cook was useless. He still had to practice martial arts—and attain a rank in the martial path.

As the saying went, where there was skill, there was no cowardice!

"I'm fine. I probably haven't damaged my muscles or bones. A few days of rest should do."

"It's just this pent-up anger. Holding it in feels awful..." Luo Yong said dejectedly.

At that moment, he seemed to have aged several more years, and all light vanished from his eyes.

Though he had been busy beyond measure these past few days, Luo Yong had originally been in excellent spirits because he believed he had found a fine disciple.

"Master, please don't stay angry. A man like Yang Ling will receive his retribution!"

Luo Yong smiled bitterly, unwilling to respond to his disciple's childish innocence.

What he did not know was that Zou Feng had not said it casually at all.

"Available transfer targets: Li Rui, Yang Ling."

Just then, Yang Ling's name had appeared on the panel.

Brother Li finally had a successor.

As for why Yang Ling's name had appeared, Zou Feng was not particularly surprised.

After all, cutting off someone's source of wealth was like murdering their parents.

Not to mention that Yang Ling had even struck his master, Luo Yong.

That grudge was no small matter. His inclusion on the list was only natural.

After finishing work and leaving the back kitchen, Zou Feng immediately tried adding Yang Ling as a transfer target.

But it did not work. The text feedback read: "Unable to transfer to two targets simultaneously for the time being!"

For the time being?

Did that mean that, once some condition was met, selecting multiple transfer targets at once would be possible?

As for what exactly that condition was, Zou Feng guessed it was still related to his own cultivation progress.

Just imagine: once he attained a rank in the martial path and practiced even more immoral wicked arts, one person alone obviously would not be enough to carry the burden.

Sooner or later, more people would have to join this big family.

Perhaps, as he grew stronger and stronger, all it would take in the future was one glance to directly designate someone for the list.

Whoever he glared at would have to work for him.

But for now...

Brother Li, sorry about this!

Zou Feng had no intention of letting Li Rui go. He had decided to squeeze out the last of his remaining warmth.

After cultivating the Five Poisons Palm to "a slight accomplishment," Zou Feng instinctively felt that practicing only half an hour each day was no longer enough to improve much.

And the specially prepared venom used to soak his hands had to be increased in dosage as well.

But Li Rui's previous condition had already been such that he could collapse at any moment, and Zou Feng had been reluctant to increase the intensity.

But now that Yang Ling had appeared as a successor, there was no need to use Li Rui so cautiously.

He could stand up and pedal him directly!

Also, when he had just left the back kitchen, Zou Feng had brought back all five remaining volumes of the Herbal Compendium.

Since he had managed to read through and memorize the first volume so quickly, Luo Yong naturally did not think he was aiming too high.

He readily handed the other five volumes over to Zou Feng.

After returning to the firewood room, Zou Feng used the Quantum Reading Method to swiftly skim through the tables of contents of the remaining five volumes.

He intended to find the knowledge he needed and prioritize studying it.

Sure enough, the final three volumes no longer introduced medicinal herbs, but recorded animals that could be used in medicine.

Many poisonous creatures could be used as medicine as long as their dosage was properly controlled.

Naturally, that required a deep understanding of their venom.

The book naturally contained detailed records of all such matters.

This made it much easier for Zou Feng to understand the toxicity of the Five Poisons Palm.

When preparing even more potent venom, he would be able to handle it with far greater ease...

The next day, on his way to the kitchen, Zou Feng heard that Li Rui had suddenly died.

But no one found it surprising. Li Rui had already looked as though he had contracted some strange illness and was beyond saving.

Most servants ate worse than pigs and worked harder than donkeys. Nearly every year, a few of them croaked.

To the Yang Family, Li Rui's sudden death was merely an insignificant everyday occurrence.

The Yang Family had already sent people to handle the aftermath.

In short, Zou Feng did not even have time to see Li Rui's corpse one last time.

The previous night, Zou Feng had increased the intensity of his cultivation according to plan.

Not only had he increased the venom dosage, he had also trained for a full hour.

He had truly stood up and pedaled Brother Li hard.

Then, just as expected, Li Rui croaked.

Yang Ling had taken his place now.

To be fair, Yang Ling was definitely a higher-quality transfer target.

As a member of the Yang Family, Yang Ling had possessed the conditions to practice martial arts since childhood.

Perhaps limited by his talent, or perhaps because he had not worked hard enough, Yang Ling surely had not achieved much in the martial path.

Otherwise, he would not merely be a steward in the Yang Estate.

But he had at least some foundation as a martial artist, and his physical constitution far surpassed that of ordinary people.

In one word: durable!

Compared to him, Li Rui had been far too fragile.

In any case, Zou Feng finally did not need to worry, at least for now, that he would cultivate his transfer target to death with a little too much force.

With Yang Ling, he could almost certainly cultivate the Five Poisons Palm to its next stage.

The only fly in the ointment was that his original source of income had ultimately been cut off.

He still had to find another way to save money.

As for that, Zou Feng had developed some new plans.

Speaking of which, why should an "evil man" practicing wicked arts make money through ordinary means?

There were clearly so many ways to amass wealth quickly.

It was just that these methods had basically all been written into the Great Yan Code.

But laws were ultimately only meant to restrain ordinary people.

After all, one reason people practiced martial arts was to gain privileges and stand above certain rules.

And he was gradually acquiring the ability to break the law with martial force...

The atmosphere in the back kitchen today was rather gloomy.

It was not because Li Rui had suddenly died, but because the shadow cast by the new steward, Yang Ling.

As for the shortage of hands in the back kitchen, it would probably be resolved by the afternoon.

Whether they hired a helper or bought a servant, it was the simplest thing in the world for the Yang Estate.