Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Knowledge is Power

“It seems you were also injured yesterday?”

“In that case, stay here on the Dragon Gate Boat for now and focus on recovering.”

“If you’re up to it, do your best to help treat our other brothers’ injuries. We won’t treat you unfairly!”

With Xiang Kang’s words, Zou Feng’s grand plan to transfer to logistics was a success.

And being able to stay on the Dragon Gate Boat temporarily was an unexpected bonus.

This place was far safer than Chen Jingsheng’s courtyard or the warehouse.

No matter how crazy the Blood-handed Butcher and Ji Changsheng were, they probably wouldn’t go so far as to sneak onto the Dragon Gate Boat to assassinate him.

“Oh, right, Xiaoxia. Arrange for Zou Incense Master to stay in the pharmacy. It’ll be the most convenient place for him to treat our other brothers.”

There was a pharmacy on the boat?

This made Zou Feng a little curious. Didn’t they say the Black Flood Dragon Gang had no members skilled in medicine?

Before he could ask any more questions, Xiang Kang waved his hand, dismissing him.

From the looks of it, his Yang Qi had returned, and he was ready to display his masculine prowess again.

After following Bian Yixia out, sounds of playful frolicking indeed came from within the room.

Zou Feng pretended not to hear a thing and asked Bian Yixia, “Miss, why is there a pharmacy on the boat?”

“What’s so strange about it? We’re in a gang, constantly fighting for our lives. Getting injured is a daily occurrence. Shouldn’t a pharmacy be standard?”

“But, before you joined, the gang actually did have a Physician. He was also a Ninth Grade.”

’A Ninth Grade who also mastered medicine… he was obviously a rare talent, just like me!’

Bian Yixia turned to look at the river’s surface. “He wasn’t very sociable. He spent all day with various medicinal herbs and even frequently tasted hundreds of herbs and tested hundreds of poisons himself…”

“So where is this brother now…?”

“He poisoned himself to death!”

Bian Yixia sighed. “When we found him, his body had already been cold in the pharmacy for a day and a night, surrounded by scattered pills.”

“A later examination revealed that he had refined those pills himself, and they were all highly poisonous.”

“So you need to be extra careful when you get to the pharmacy. There might still be some undiscovered poisons there!”

’I couldn’t ask for anything more!’

’Medicine and poison share the same root. This guy who kicked the bucket might just be a senior of mine on the Poison Dao…’

As a multi-decked vessel, the Dragon Gate Boat was grand in every aspect. Even the now-disused pharmacy was quite spacious.

The moment Zou Feng was pushed inside, he immediately smelled the familiar, fragrant scent of poison that made him feel right at home.

This confirmed his suspicion that the senior before him had likely been conducting some kind of forbidden experiments.

But before he could inspect what poisons might still be hidden in the pharmacy, a bookshelf caught Zou Feng’s attention first.

On the shelf, besides books on medical principles, there were also quite a few books related to poisons.

Zou Feng flipped through them briefly and discovered that the knowledge on poisons and their uses in these books was far more detailed and comprehensive than what he had read in the *Materia Medica of Herbs*.

A few books even directly taught how to use poisons and what reactions a Martial Artist would have when afflicted by them.

Upon closer inspection, the text in these books was all handwritten. They were likely the personal notes and insights of his predecessor…

’This is awesome!’

Zou Feng immediately realized that he had originally transferred to logistics just for safety, but he’d unexpectedly stumbled upon a treasure trove.

’Knowledge is power!’

With this knowledge, why worry about the Five Poison Skill not advancing by leaps and bounds?

Furthermore, the Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm and the Chaos Finger were also actually Poison Skills.

Although Zou Feng had been proficient in using poisons before, he had never systematically studied the subject.

To put it bluntly, he was self-taught.

Once he could systematically learn the Poison Dao of this world, the boost to his cultivation would be immeasurable.

On his status panel, the progress for the *Materia Medica of Herbs* had long been stuck at Slightly Accomplished.

But now, the *Materia Medica of Herbs* could finally undergo a glorious evolution…

As for whether he could understand all this knowledge, Zou Feng wasn’t worried at all.

After all, someone else would be bearing the hardship of learning for him.

Speaking of which, for the predecessor, who was originally proficient in medicine, to turn to researching poisons was clearly a turn toward an evil path.

The reason wasn’t hard to guess. He must have realized his limited Talent in the Martial Dao and figured that without finding an alternative path, he would likely remain a Low Grade Martial Artist his entire life.

That’s why he developed such crooked ideas.

But his predecessor’s line of thinking was correct.

The Ten Directions Sect of today was mass-producing Entering Grade Martial Artists by relying on various Evil Pills that overdrafted the human body’s potential.

Although it seemed they couldn’t mass-produce Eighth and Seventh Grade artists yet, the principle of ’not enough Talent, just pop a pill’ still applied.

This allowed the Ten Directions Sect to forcibly create some additional Eighth and Seventh Grade Martial Artists.

Even though these pill-popping maniacs were weaker individually than the orthodox Martial Artists of the Celestial Essence Sword Sect, their sheer numbers and fearlessness of death were enough to cause the Sword Sect a massive headache.

Now, they were even forced to rely on the help of local, lower-level factions they had once looked down upon.

And so, Zou Feng officially took up residence in the pharmacy, serving concurrently as the Black Flood Dragon Gang’s Physician in his capacity as an Incense Master.

Bian Yixia even gave him a little inside information.

She said that as long as he produced some results in this position, genuinely benefiting the gang’s brothers and earning their recognition for his medical skills…

…then before long, Xiang Kang could justifiably promote him to Hall Master.

Even though a Ninth Grade Realm was a bit inappropriate for a Hall Master, special talents deserved special treatment.

Zou Feng was more than happy about the prospect of being promoted to Hall Master.

A Hall Master’s Monthly Allowance was fifty taels of silver, which didn’t seem that much higher than an Incense Master’s, but the position came with far too many hidden benefits.

Putting aside the intangible perks, just the gifts from subordinates during festivals and holidays would be a considerable sum.

Unlike his predecessor, who liked to conduct research alone, managing such a large pharmacy by himself would obviously be a huge hassle.

So, Zou Feng directly transferred Zhao Tianhu, Xiong Datian, Liu Chun, and the others over.

Additionally, Zou Feng had heard that one of the chefs on the Dragon Gate Boat was old and might resign at any time.

When the time came, it would be the perfect opportunity to arrange for his master, Luo Yong, to come over.

And by then, he would probably have been promoted to Hall Master himself.

’In Luo Yong’s eyes, this should count as making something of myself, right?’

If he then asked Luo Yong and his family to leave the Yang Mansion, he surely wouldn’t refuse.

Having returned to a life of leisure, Zou Feng naturally didn’t let his cultivation of the various Evil Skills fall behind. Aside from making house calls and studying, he spent his time crazily training Ji Changsheng.

「In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed.」

Zou Feng’s medical skills had already earned him some renown within the Black Flood Dragon Gang.

Everyone knew that while Zou Incense Master’s skills weren’t miraculous enough to easily handle any injury, he was exceptionally good at temporarily alleviating the pain from wounds.

With a single needle, those who couldn’t even sleep because of their injuries could finally get a peaceful night’s rest.

The benefits of good sleep for injury recovery went without saying.

On this day, after treating another injured gang brother with his needles, Zou Feng immediately picked up his predecessor’s handwritten notes and began to study them intently.

As he read, a flash of inspiration seemed to strike his mind.

He suddenly felt as if some strange new knowledge had been added to his mind.

He looked at his status panel again, and sure enough, the words “Materia Medica of Herbs” were beginning to change.

“*Poison Scripture* (Entering the Hall and the Room), Progress: 28%”

’It’s not even pretending anymore. It’s just the simple and clear *Poison Scripture*.’

Not only that, but there was also an unexpected surprise.

“*Five Poison Skill* (Refined Skill), Progress: 20%”

“*Chaos Finger* (Refined Skill), Progress: 15%”

“*Karmic Fire Red Lotus Palm* (Integration and Mastery), Progress: 3%”

The moment the *Poison Scripture* was generated, these three Poison Skills all saw a significant improvement.

This was especially true for the Five Poison Skill, whose progress had been stagnant for a long time.

Zou Feng had originally thought he would need to wait until the Human Gu was fully cultivated before he could solve the problem of the Five Poison Skill’s stagnant progress.

He never expected that studying toxicology could actually increase the cultivation progress of his Poison Skills.

But on second thought, it wasn’t strange. The more one understood poison, the better one could naturally use it.

The same logic applied to cultivating Poison Skills.

In the past, Zou Feng knew *what* worked, but not *why* it worked.

But now, through systematic study, he had stepped into another Realm in the Poison Dao.

’Well, I’ve had a great time swimming freely in this ocean of knowledge.’

’But Ji Changsheng, who’s been choking on the water for me, has probably reached the point where he wants to vomit at the mere sight of a book, right?’

“Zou Feng, are you there?”

Zou Feng subconsciously put away the book in his hands, then looked up to see Bian Yixia, who had already walked in.

“Miss, is there something you need from your subordinate?”

Bian Yixia nodded. “Yes. Your injuries are healed, right? Come with me!”

With that, she turned and walked out on her own.

Zou Feng immediately furrowed his brows.

He had just been faking his injuries. More than ten days had passed, and since he had successfully transferred to logistics as he wished, he couldn’t be bothered to keep up the act.

But from the look on Bian Yixia’s face, it seemed she had remembered her earlier proposal to have a sparring match with him, the cultivator of the Tribulation-Indestructible Body…

This left Zou Feng feeling rather helpless.

Her appearance didn’t match the “Martial Fool” archetype at all, but she was, without a doubt, a true Martial Fool.

During his time on the Dragon Gate Boat, Zou Feng had seen Bian Yixia on more than one occasion. Whenever she had a free moment, she would be on the deck or in the Practice Room, training like a maniac.

Even after returning from an extermination mission, she wouldn’t rest, instead starting her training immediately as if she never got tired.

But Zou Feng always felt that while she was a Martial Fool, it seemed she was largely forcing herself to train. It was as if some great danger would befall her if she didn’t quickly achieve something…

Sparring among the gang’s brothers was a very reasonable and common occurrence, so Zou Feng couldn’t very well refuse again.

’And on second thought, wouldn’t sparring with a Seventh Grade Martial Artist be the perfect way to cultivate the Tribulation-Indestructible Body?’

The more Zou Feng thought about it, the more he felt it was worth a try. The cultivation of the Tribulation-Indestructible Body wasn’t limited to any specific method of self-harm.

Circulating the Tribulation-Indestructible Body while tanking an opponent’s attacks also counted as cultivation.

Moreover, the benefits of sparring with a Seventh Grade Expert for accumulating combat experience were self-evident.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep