CHAPTER 279: CHAPTER 131: A WOMAN LIKE A JUICER

It wasn’t until noon that Hong Yao and Feng Chuo finally arrived, late as always. The two returned in light attire; had they really come back empty-handed?

As soon as they approached, Hong Yao began complaining to Yue Jinghua, "Boss, next time there’s a job, I really don’t want to bring this idiot with the Feng surname again. He almost botched the nightclub operation."

It turned out that last night Hong Yao, following Yue Jinghua’s instructions, stealthily returned with Feng Chuo with the intention to make a quick move, snatching only the valuables and then leaving.

Little did she know, Feng Chuo actually went off on his own during their search.

He saw a group of young boys and girls imprisoned in the nightclub and took it upon himself to release them. These children were mostly good-looking and came from good families, captured by Lady Yao, and since they were not locals, after Feng Chuo released them, he had no way to settle them down.

Hong Yao was terribly headached, and in the end, she could only take these children to the village where Feng Chuo lived before, temporarily entrusting the children to the care of the villagers. This back and forth took up most of the time.

"Hong Yao, having been through similar situations yourself, you should be aware of how miserable the future of those children would be if they hadn’t been rescued," Yue Jinghua, a female spy with no sense of morality, spoke righteously at this moment, approving of Feng Chuo’s actions and criticizing Hong Yao’s shortsightedness for her mercenary ways, causing Teng Wu and the others to nod in agreement.

"In a few days, you’ll write to the families of those children, asking them to redeem... oh, not that, to provide some living expenses, and then bring the children back," Yue Jinghua said articulately.

"..." Everyone fell silent in unison.

"Hey, what’s with those looks? In this day and age, which part of living doesn’t cost money? We need to squeeze out every last drop of profit. You wouldn’t understand this juicer-style theory of survival," Yue Jinghua said discontentedly. She had a whole family to support, including family members and dependents, as well as a mercenary group in urgent need of turning losses into profits, not to mention a slew of voracious Dark Beasts.

Save where she can, and when she can’t, she has to rack her brains for extortion... oh, earning money.

It would have been better if she hadn’t explained, but her explanation only brought more disdainful looks. Since then, however, Hongling and the others have secretly nicknamed Yue Jinghua "Juicer Boss," even though they have no idea what a juicer actually is.

Feeling misunderstood by everyone, Yue Jinghua felt slightly sulky, but soon cheered up as Hong Yao and Feng Chuo began to report the spoils from this nightclub raid.

With Feng Chuo’s help, Hong Yao’s proficiency in identifying alchemy recipes greatly improved. The several hundred Elixir Pills recipes they plundered, all of which were Spiritual-grade and even included two Holy-grade ones.

"Aside from the alchemy recipes, we’ve also found dozens of precious medicinal herbs, but the most valuable treasure this time has to be Lady Yao’s personal collection of over a hundred rare Poisons, not to mention a Poison Dragon Bracelet used as a storage medium for these poisons," the Poisons and alchemy recipes they looted were all stored in that single Poison Dragon Bracelet.

In the nightclubs of the Shang Kingdom, due to Lady Yao’s management, the most valuable items were various alchemy recipes and some of her personal collections. There were no less than several hundred recipes, but in Feng Chuo’s view, the most precious were the Poison Formulas.

Lady Yao was sly and deceitful, and her mastery of Poison Techniques was rarely exposed to the outside world. Even Hong Yao only learned about this after hearing about the events at Lie Family Mansion from Yue Jinghua.

"Medicine and poison complement each other. In some specific scenarios, Elixir Pills are poison, and vice versa, poison can be medicine. Among Lady Yao’s Poisons, there is a diverse variety, ranging from Poisonous flowers, fruits, and leaves ground into powder, to unprocessed poisons such as venom, Poison Powder, and Poisonous Gas from Dark Beasts. If these poisons were all used together, even a Dark Heavenly Peak Master would suffer a setback," Feng Chuo might be honest, but he wasn’t stupid. He hadn’t spoken about the poisons publicly, as poison and Elixir Pills differ, and on the Canglong Continent, Poisons are considered unorthodox.

Only second or third-rate Pill Masters would refine Poisons, but Feng Chuo had a significant interest in poisons, which were more complex in composition and more difficult to refine than Elixir Pills.

"Boss, may I try to concoct some poison?" Feng Chuo asked cautiously.

Yue Jinghua’s response once again caught Feng Chuo by surprise; she didn’t outright refuse but instead stroked her chin and asked with interest, "Can you refine a poison that kills on contact?"

"I cannot," Feng Chuo felt as if there were needles on his back.

Then, lowering the bar, "What about a poison that completely strips one of their Dark Power?" Yue Jinghua’s eyes sparkled with a wolfish gleam.

"That’s a bit difficult," Feng Chuo explained with some reluctance.

"Bah, those so-called ’death by laughter’ or ’limp-muscle’ poisons are all deceptive trash. Since poisons are of no use, why bother refining them?" Yue Jinghua once again displayed a capitalist-like attitude, adamantly refusing to do anything that wasn’t profitable.

"Although I can’t do any of the above, I am confident I can concoct a poison that reduces the Dark Power of a person to a certain extent," Feng Chuo, having lost face due to Yue Jinghua’s mockery, ground his teeth and managed to say.

Yue Jinghua perked up, "Let’s hear it."

"Using the poison of the Scorpion Bee Worm mixed with Blue Bell Mushroom, one can extract a powder that reduces the enemy’s Dark Power. However, it only lasts for about 15 minutes and can only affect Dark Practitioners below the level of Dark Earth," Feng Chuo analyzed, having summarized this poison from the alchemy recipes left behind by Lady Yao’s years of experimenting with poison.

"Just for human use? What if it’s used on a Dark Beast, would this poison work on group-living Dark Beasts below the Middle Level?" Yue Jinghua was interested in the poison also because of her plans.

They were to travel to the Dark Beast Mountain Ridge, where it was said to be teeming with Dark Beasts, primarily group-living ones.

The attack power of group-living Dark Beasts was astoundingly strong; if surrounded, even a Dark Heavenly Master might not be able to escape unscathed.

If it had been only Yue Jinghua, she could have relied on Small Cloud Trace Steps or the Holy Beast Star Pendant to hold her ground, but she now had a group of people following her and had to plan accordingly.

"By adjusting the dosage of the poison just right, it can have the same effect on both Dark Practitioners and group-living Dark Beasts," after pondering for a while, Feng Chuo decisively answered.

"In that case, start working on this powder immediately. I need more than a thousand doses of similar poison," Yue Jinghua naturally couldn’t use that thousand doses of poison by herself. She was thinking of the Gold Eater Worm and its Insect Special Attack Team.

As members of the Insect Clan with natural flying abilities, if the Gold Eater Worm leads more than a thousand Gray Wing Moths carrying this poison into the Xuan Beast Ridge, clearing the path as they go, it will undoubtedly speed up everyone’s progress into the ridge and could even somewhat curb the Dark Beasts they may encounter.

Feng Chuo, having received Yue Jinghua’s permission, left with great joy, hurrying off to conduct research on the poison.

Hongling and Hong Yao, listening on the side, were completely baffled, not understanding Yue Jinghua’s plans at all.

"Hongling, go invite your Lady and the young master to come over. We need to discuss our next move after leaving Shang Kingdom," after sending Teng Wu and Yun Luo away, Yue Jinghua called Shalman over and then asked Hongling to invite everyone from Jingxin Courtyard.