Chapter 24: Who is Whose Gu?

The Five Poison Palm’s strength lay in its Poison Attachment. In terms of techniques, it was truly lousy.

But it wasn’t completely without techniques.

The Five Poison Palm had three basic Palm Techniques: Broken Face, Cui Xin, and Broken Pill.

Just from their names, you could tell they corresponded to three different areas of the body.

Broken Face attacked high, a Poison Palm to the face.

Cui Xin struck the middle, a Poison Palm to the chest.

Broken Pill went low... you could also call it "Ball Breaker"...

Basically, the more insidious and vicious it was, the better, all to make the opponent succumb to the poison and die faster.

Although its striking power was lacking, the Palm Technique was erratic and unpredictable. The three moves could be switched at will, so in a pinch, it could barely be used to face someone head-on.

Fortunately, Zou Feng cultivated the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step, which had already greatly compensated for his weakness in direct confrontations.

And just now, when testing Xu Haoran, he saw him use a standard Five Poison Heart-Pushing Palm. This confirmed Zou Feng’s earlier suspicions.

Xu Haoran really was cultivating the Five Poison Palm.

No wonder the guy had suddenly improved so drastically while practicing the Five Beasts Pile Skill.

Zou Feng was someone with experience in this matter; he couldn’t be clearer on the fact that poison could improve one’s constitution.

With a transformed constitution, his progress in the Five Beasts Pile Skill—which was only for building a foundation—would naturally be meteoric.

However, for a place as small as the Yang Mansion to have three people practicing a Poison Skill—all of them likely cultivating the Five Poison Palm—was very interesting...

This was getting very interesting...

"Zou Feng, you... you... you know the Five Poison Palm too!?"

After falling to the ground, Xu Haoran stared at Zou Feng in disbelief.

When he saw that Zou Feng’s palms weren’t pitch-black, but a faint, dark cyan, his jaw dropped wide enough to fit two goose eggs.

As someone who practiced the Five Poison Palm, he naturally knew that palms turning dark cyan during Cultivation meant the Skill had already reached the "Entering the Hall and the Room" stage.

’No way... I’ve been treading on thin ice during my own Cultivation, enduring immense pain and the risk of Chronic Poisoning, yet I still haven’t even broken past the introductory stage...’

"If you can practice it, why can’t I?" As Zou Feng spoke, he glanced around.

After confirming the commotion hadn’t attracted anyone else, he continued, "Speak. Who taught you the Five Poison Palm?"

Hearing this, Xu Haoran stammered, "No... no one taught me..."

"Heh, then you must be a real genius to have learned it without a master!"

Before the words had even faded, Zou Feng abruptly vanished from before Xu Haoran’s eyes.

Just as Xu Haoran was left completely dumbfounded, a strong, powerful hand radiating a light fragrance rested gently on the top of his head.

When they had just exchanged blows, Zou Feng hadn’t been Cultivating at full power, so his palm still had a cloyingly sweet scent.

After all, if he had used his full power, Xu Haoran would most likely be a corpse by now.

Only now did he unleash his full toxic power, and the scent emanating from his palm became this soul-refreshing fragrance.

Even knowing something was wrong, Xu Haoran found himself uncontrollably wanting to take a few more deep breaths of it.

The moment that irrepressible thought emerged, cold sweat instantly drenched his back.

’The toxic gas from Zou Feng’s palms is already strong enough to affect my mind?!’

’And how did he flash behind me? The Five Poison Palm I practice clearly doesn’t include a Body Skill...’

"I’ll ask you one last time. Who taught you the Five Poison Palm?"

Zou Feng’s tone was calm, but it was enough to make Xu Haoran completely break down.

"Brother Feng, really, no one taught me! I... I accidentally found the secret manual for the Five Poison Palm..." Xu Haoran finished his explanation with a sob in his voice, trembling.

It turned out this guy, just like him, had "coincidentally" discovered the Five Poison Palm manual in a hidden spot.

He had hesitated for a while, but in the end, he gritted his teeth and started practicing.

Furthermore, Xu Haoran also happened to meet the basic requirements for cultivating the Five Poison Palm.

Never mind the Five Poison Creatures; those things were easy to find.

The most important thing was the Detoxification Soup that aided Cultivation.

Without it, you really couldn’t practice at all.

And Xu Haoran, as the servant who had replaced that dead ghost Li Rui, just so happened to be working as a helper in the rear kitchen.

This gave him the opportunity to secretly pilfer the necessary medicinal ingredients.

Therefore, Xu Haoran at least had the means to cultivate the Five Poison Palm to the "Slightly Accomplished" stage.

After hearing the guy’s story, Zou Feng slowly moved his palm away from Xu Haoran’s head.

The soul-refreshing fragrance vanished with it.

Xu Haoran felt as if he’d received a pardon, his tense nerves finally going slack.

But he still didn’t dare to move, terrified that Zou Feng would go back on his word.

’It’s too terrifying.’ Xu Haoran felt that what stood behind him wasn’t a person at all, but a giant, Human-shaped Gu, ready to devour someone at any moment.

Zou Feng, on the other hand, was lost in thought.

’It’s too much of a coincidence. Every single part of this is too damn coincidental.’

It wasn’t just him and Xu Haoran "coincidentally" obtaining the Five Poison Palm manual.

The servant before him, the one who lived in the woodshed and died suddenly before Zou Feng joined the mansion, was the same.

Zou Feng had previously thought that he’d simply gotten lucky, picking up what that man had left behind.

Now, learning that the same coincidence happened to Xu Haoran, the conclusion was obvious.

There were no such coincidences in the world. Someone was one hundred percent orchestrating this intentionally.

’So, who is stirring up trouble?’

’At the moment, Yang Yanpeng is naturally the prime suspect.’

’It was most likely him, using "coincidences" to arrange for servants who met the conditions to receive the Five Poison Palm manual.’

’As for his motive...’

At this thought, Zou Feng’s eyes sharpened. ’Yang Yanpeng’s actions... why do they look so much like he’s practicing Cultivation Gu?!’

One had to understand that once a non-poisonous person cultivated the Five Poison Palm, they could indeed be considered a Human-shaped Gu.

And since they were a toxic creature, they could naturally be used to create a Gu!

Zou Feng was suddenly struck by a sense of enlightenment.

’No wonder I always felt this Five Poison Palm manual was incomplete. It doesn’t even have the Cultivation method for after the "Entering the Hall and the Room" stage.’

’It forced me to try all sorts of things, pinning my hopes on Cultivation Gu, but it was still difficult to advance my progress.’

’As for Yang Yanpeng, from the glimpse I got of him cultivating last time, he has very likely already cultivated the Five Poison Palm to the stage of "Integration and Mastery."’

’The reason he hasn’t achieved Entering Grade and advanced to the Inner Qi Realm is probably because the "Human Gu" he’s raising haven’t matured yet.’

’Once the Gu Poison matures, he can instantly perform Refinement and absorb it. Only then will his Poison Skill achieve Great Success. The quality of his Inner Qi after Entering Grade will be terrifyingly immense...’

After thinking through these questions, Zou Feng felt no fear. Instead, he was overjoyed.

Yang Yanpeng was raising him and Xu Haoran as Gu to help his own Poison Skill achieve Great Success, but in reality, he was just paving the way for Zou Feng!

This wasn’t just Zou Feng’s wishful thinking. Yang Yanpeng was already on his transfer list. He could fleece him for all he was worth and greatly weaken the bastard’s strength.

Not to mention, Zou Feng wasn’t just relying on the Five Poison Palm.

With the Drunken Immortal Moon Gazing Step and the Chaos Finger, with all three Evil Skills working together, how could he possibly worry about not being able to handle Yang Yanpeng?

’Therefore, Yang Yanpeng is the real Human Gu I’ll use to bring my own Poison Skill to Great Success!’