I Can Transfer the Side Effects of Evil Skills

’It seems the situation at the Celestial Hearing Tower is far murkier than I anticipated.’

”By the way, you didn’t keep all that poison mushroom dust for yourself, did you?” Su Qingyu, of course, had no idea that Lian Zexing had developed a murderous intent. She quickly dismissed the matter, her thoughts turning instead to the poison mushrooms from before.

As a Poison Cultivator, she could naturally sense how potent the stuff was. So, she wanted to study it and see if she could absorb it for her own use after Refinement.

”Palace Master, rest assured. How could I possibly hoard such a good thing for myself? I was just holding onto it for the time being.”

”But this stuff was, after all, an evil object created by the Ninefold Celestial Court. It’s best if the Palace Master doesn’t absorb it directly...”

Su Qingyu didn’t have any ability to transfer side effects, so Zou Feng naturally had to give her a reminder.

Unexpectedly, Su Qingyu heard this and said casually, ”It’s fine. I won’t be absorbing this poison mushroom dust internally. I’ll use it as a topical ointment!”

”A topical ointment?” Zou Feng asked, puzzled.

Su Qingyu nodded. ”That’s right. To apply on my feet!”

’Although slowly refining it through external application was indeed safer, the problem is that this stuff smells awful. If she really puts it on her feet, wouldn’t that mean...’

”Palace Master, please reconsider! If you apply the poison mushroom powder to your feet, you’ll really get athlete’s foot!”

Su Qingyu snorted coldly. ”Anything that touches my feet only becomes more fragrant!”

’Huh? Her feet have that kind of effect?’

’In my past life, Su Qingyu would have been perfect for the job of stomping on pickled cabbage...’

After a bit more banter, Zou Feng and Su Qingyu returned to the Celestial Hearing Tower.

On this trip to the Jade Dragon Marketplace, his main gains were some new poisons he’d never seen before and a large quantity of miscellaneous, low-quality Evil Techniques.

The most valuable acquisition, however, was the powder from the human-head mushroom.

Just now, Zou Feng had inhaled the powder through his nose and mouth, condensing it into two Elixir Pills inside his body.

One of the two Elixir Pills was large, and the other was small.

The large one was the size of a fist, while the small one was only the size of a marble.

Zou Feng gave the smaller one to Su Qingyu.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling to split it evenly. Rather, the stuff was genuinely sinister. He was truly worried that Su Qingyu was overconfident and wouldn’t be able to withstand it, turning the originally fragrant prison guard into a stinky, sweaty-footed mess.

’If that really happened, how could I have pleasant Poison Cultivator exchanges with Su Qingyu in the future?’

Having received the poison mushroom Pill, Su Qingyu couldn’t wait to return to her own room. She wanted to immediately begin her research and try applying it to her feet after dissolving it.

Meanwhile, Zou Feng received a message from Qin Fengwu.

”Brother Zou, it’s done!”

Previously, Zou Feng had sent Qin Fengwu to gather intelligence, and most importantly, to persuade Zhang Chi to join him.

’She got it done so quickly. It seems this woman is quite efficient.’

”Good. Bring Zhang Chi to my room.”

”By the way, how much did it cost?” Zou Feng didn’t forget to ask Qin Fengwu how much Immortal Fate she had spent to persuade Zhang Chi.

Qin Fengwu knew Zou Feng wasn’t short on Immortal Fate, but the expenses still had to be clearly accounted for. After all, no one wants to be taken for a ride.

So she immediately gave a detailed report: ”I found Zhang Chi earlier and first tried to persuade him with reason and emotion. I told him that working for Brother Zou would guarantee a limitless future...”

”However, he was unmoved and didn’t want to bother with me, so I offered him ten thousand points of Immortal Fate.”

”He showed a hint of struggle in his eyes but ultimately refused righteously.”

”I then raised it to twenty thousand, and he froze on the spot, his body trembling slightly as he tried to put up one last bit of resistance.”

”So I announced a new offer of thirty thousand points of Immortal Fate. Zhang Chi then bowed solemnly and expressed his willingness to serve you loyally...”

Seeing Qin Fengwu’s reply, Zou Feng was relatively satisfied. At least she hadn’t just thrown the entire fifty thousand points of Immortal Fate he’d given her at the problem all at once.

”Alright, bring him over.”

’The fact that Zhang Chi dared to talk back to me before was enough to show that his personality was very straightforward and unyielding.’

’If she hadn’t spent a good amount of Immortal Fate and just kept trying to persuade him, she probably would have been yelled at.’

’But thirty thousand points of Immortal Fate was simply too much for him to refuse.’

Before long, a knock sounded at the door. Qin Fengwu had arrived with Zhang Chi.

”Greetings, Brother Zou!”

The Zhang Chi of this moment was like a completely different person from the one who had talked back to Zou Feng earlier.

”No need for formalities. Sit.”

”Junior Sister Qin, serve us some tea.”

A flash of joy crossed Qin Fengwu’s face. She immediately agreed and hurried to find the tea set in the room.

’To her, the more casually Zou Feng treated her, the more it meant he had accepted her, which was a blessing she couldn’t have hoped for.’

”Brother Zou, I don’t understand why you would have me...”

After taking a seat, Zhang Chi couldn’t hold back any longer and asked the biggest question on his mind.

After all, that was thirty thousand points of Immortal Fate. With that amount, he could have recruited far more outstanding disciples in the Spiritual Energy Realm.

As for Zhang Chi himself, he knew his strength wasn’t particularly outstanding among the guards of the Celestial Hearing Tower.

He was even worse at socializing and was basically ostracized by many of his colleagues.

”Junior Brother Zhang is an honest man. That’s enough!”

’An honest man?’

’I suppose that’s true...’

A moment later, Zou Feng smiled. ”What are your thoughts on the current situation in the Celestial Hearing Tower, Junior Brother Zhang?”

Hearing this, Zhang Chi’s expression immediately became hesitant.

”Speak freely. I want to hear your honest opinion, not some polite platitudes to brush me off,” Zou Feng added.

Hearing this, Zhang Chi decided to just go for it.

’I’ll just say it. There’s no way Zou Feng would spend a huge sum of thirty thousand Immortal Fate just to set a trap for me.’

”It’s rotten to the core!” Zhang Chi said indignantly. ”The entire Celestial Hearing Tower, from top to bottom, is completely rotten!”

”They have no intention of fighting those Tribulation Cultivators to the death. As long as it’s not a large-scale invasion, they basically just go through the motions.”

”The reason the Tribulation Cultivators are so rampant now, in my opinion, has a lot to do with their passive and lazy attitude...”

”I even suspect... someone in the higher-ups has been bewitched by the Tribulation Cultivators...”

Zou Feng raised an eyebrow. ”Who’s the most likely suspect?”

Zhang Chi shook his head. ”That, I don’t know. And I wouldn’t dare make baseless speculations.”

”Hmm... Then tell me in detail about any intelligence from the Celestial Hearing Tower that you think is valuable...”

Zhang Chi immediately told Zou Feng everything he considered to be valuable intelligence.

”By the way, you must have captured Tribulation Cultivators before, right? Have you ever confiscated any of their Evil Arts?”

”Brother Zou, are you looking for an Evil Art from the Yama Underworld or the Ninefold Celestial Court?”

The moment he heard this, Zou Feng knew he was in luck. ”Either one!”

Next, Zhang Chi actually took a jade slip directly from his Storage Pouch and handed it to Zou Feng.

Zou Feng took it and looked. On it were written the four words, ”Nine Immortal Ascension Skills.”

But even though it was called the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills, the item had not the slightest trace of immortal aura. Instead, it exuded a thick, sinister energy.

”Brother Zou, I obtained this item after killing a Tribulation Cultivator from the Ninefold Celestial Court.”

”I heard that after Tribulation Cultivators infiltrate a place, they bewitch followers and teach them this Skill. I kept it on me privately only because I wanted to understand its sinister aspects, so that I could be better prepared when fighting Tribulation Cultivators from the Ninefold Celestial Court in the future and not get caught off guard by some strange trick...”

After hearing this, Zou Feng went with the flow and asked, ”So, how has your research been going, Brother Zhang?”

Zhang Chi’s expression immediately turned awkward. ”It’s embarrassing to say, but every time I try to read this slip, I can’t look at it for more than a moment before I get dizzy and my head starts to ache. I always feel like some entity is whispering in my ear...”

”So every attempt to read it has ended in failure. I’m really afraid that I’ll be unconsciously bewitched and become one of those lunatics who wants to become ’Immortal’...”

’Zou Feng deeply agreed with this. If you don’t have the ability to transfer side effects, you should never court death.’

’Otherwise, it’s very likely a case of ”try it and die.” ’

”Good. In that case, this slip...”

”If Brother Zou has a use for it, please take it!” Zhang Chi said respectfully.

Of course, Zou Feng wasn’t going to be polite. He was already interested in the Ninefold Celestial Court’s Evil Skills and had no reason to pass this up.

However, looking at the jade slip now, it was clear that this was only one of the Nine Immortal Ascension Skills—the Outer Alchemy Dao!