From a country cook to a master chef

Inside Chunmanlou, Lin Jue and Hu Zheng chatted happily, exchanging toasts and then summoning the top courtesan, Wang Jinzhi, to sing and dance for them.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Lin Jue pretended to be a servant and left the private room of the restaurant, then quietly left through the back door of Chunmanlou.

Hu Zheng has already agreed to join forces with him to deal with the Feng family father and son. As the former leader of Sanlian Village, his martial prowess is almost on par with Feng Yucheng's, and he has long planned to eliminate Feng Yucheng and take back Sanlian Village.

Looking out the window at the young man's departing figure, Hu Zheng's heart stirred. He left Chunmanlou and headed straight for the east side of the village, where some of his men were stationed.

Currently, there are many martial artists loyal to the Feng family father and son in Sanlian Village. If they want to take action against Feng Yucheng, someone will inevitably have to restrain the others in Sanlian Village.

Of course, the plan he discussed with Lin Jue was to capture the leader first. If they could capture Feng Yucheng and his son by surprise, that would be a wonderful thing.

Deploying some personnel in advance is to be able to deal with some unexpected situations.

On the other side, after returning to his residence in the pawnshop, Lin Jue used a talisman to open his storage bag and took out a pot of spirit-summoning water.

The Spirit-Serving Gourd is only the size of two fingers, and can only produce a small drop of gourd water each time.

For the past six months, Lin Jue has been refining gourd water every nine days, and it took him just enough to refine this whole pot of spirit-controlling gourd water, weighing more than a pound.

Besides being able to control living beings in conjunction with the spirit seal, the gourd water can also be used to heal wounds and cure diseases. If added to dishes, it will make the food more delicious.

Looking at the pound of gourd water, Lin Jue rubbed his nose, rested his chin on his hand, and went over the plan he had discussed with Hu Zheng in his mind again.

Two days later, on the day of Feng Yucheng's son's wedding, he will be introduced by Hu Zheng and serve a seafood feast as the head chef. At that time, he will secretly control Feng Yucheng with the Spirit Gourd Water.

After dealing with Feng Yucheng, Hu Zheng took over and quickly wiped out Feng Yucheng's men, reclaiming Sanlian Village.

"If the Feng family didn't have the habit of testing poison with silver needles, they could have used the poison directly, avoiding all this trouble."

"However, directly poisoning people is not my intention. I only want to save people. I'll leave the matter of killing to Hu Zheng."

"We have six days left before we leave the Netherworld. After rescuing the Second Miss, we need to hurry up and hunt down strange beasts to collect beast crystals."

Thinking of this, Lin Jue couldn't help but smile bitterly. If it weren't for Zhao Xiaoyao, he wouldn't have wanted to get involved in this mess with anyone else.

According to the original plan of the Six Factions Alliance, after they entered the Netherworld Ghost Land, they would normally appear in the same place, instead of being separated and acting alone as they are now.

As martial artists, the disciples of Tianwu Mountain still have a certain ability to protect themselves. However, the disciples of the six sects have limited magical power after arriving here, and whether they can survive is another matter.

Lin Jue knew that even if he stood by and did not help, as long as no third party saw it, no one would know what he had done after he left the place.

But that's just wishful thinking. Back in the Zhao family, Zhao Xiaoyao always called him Brother Lin and took good care of him, never treating him like a servant. He couldn't just stand by and watch her be forced into marriage with someone she didn't like.

Just as Lin Jue was deep in thought, there was a knock on the door.

It turned out that Hu Zheng had arranged for someone to pick him up and take him to Sanlian Village to meet the chief, Feng Yucheng.

Soon, Lin Jue followed this person to the Feng family compound.

Before even entering the house, dozens of feet away, he could hear Hu Zheng's voice coming from inside. The other person he was talking to was probably the leader, Feng Yucheng.

Upon seeing Lin Jue enter, Hu Zheng immediately stood up to greet him and introduced him to Feng Yucheng.

Upon hearing this, Feng Yucheng coldly stared at Lin Jue and said in an unfriendly tone, "Your skin color doesn't look like that of a resident of Qingmo Island."

"I am indeed not from Qingmo Island. I entered this place by chance not long ago and was worried about not being able to find a way to leave the island. Later, I met Master Hu and learned about your son's wedding. That's why I thought I'd come and join in the fun."

Lin Jue smiled slightly and said slowly, "If the chief doesn't like outsiders, then I'll take my leave."

"Wait a minute."

Seeing that Lin Jue seemed to be really about to leave, Feng Yucheng quickly called out to stop him, and said with a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Brother Lin, please don't misunderstand. I was just a little curious."

Whether they are locals of Qingmo Island or not is not important; as long as they are here to offer their congratulations on their son's wedding, Mr. Feng will welcome them with the utmost hospitality.

And so, after a brief period of probing, Lin Jue and Feng Yucheng chatted like old friends who had been separated for a long time. If it weren't for the fact that it was lunchtime, they probably wouldn't have stopped talking.

Feng Yucheng subtly inquired about various things outside of Qingmo Island, and Lin Jue's answers left him speechless, his face showing a deep longing.

After several rounds of drinks, Lin Jue did not leave. At Feng Yucheng's enthusiastic invitation, he decided to stay at the Feng family compound for two nights.

Worried that Lin Jue might be bored at night, Feng Yucheng even wanted to specially assign two pretty maids to serve him.

Lin Jue resolutely refused.

After a moment of surprise, Feng Yucheng was taken aback, but he didn't think much of it.

As the chief of Sanlian Village and the strongest man in the village, he didn't believe anyone would dare to cause trouble under his nose.

In the entire village, the only person he could be wary of was the second-in-command, Hu Zheng. But that was in the past. Now, Hu Zheng had no one left to rely on and was no longer a threat.

Two days later, the young master of Sanlian Village got married. The entire village was decorated with red ribbons and large red "double happiness" characters, creating an exceptionally festive atmosphere.

Hearing the lively sounds of gongs and drums outside, Lin Jue, who was busy preparing a whole fish feast in the back kitchen of the Feng family, had a solemn expression on his face.

As a mid-stage Divine Illumination Realm martial artist, Feng Yucheng was incredibly powerful. Lin Jue felt that the spirit-controlling gourd water mixed into the fish and meat alone would not be enough to completely control him.

"Oh, right, let's toast!"

Suddenly, Lin Jue's expression changed, and he flashed into another room, where he found the servants who were preparing for the wedding toasts.

"You go ahead and attend to other matters. Leave the wine-buying to me," Lin Jue calmly instructed the man who was buying wine.

Seeing that it was the head chef in charge of cooking in the kitchen, the man did not suspect anything. After handing the wine pot to Lin Jue, he left the wine room directly.

After the man left, Lin Jue breathed a sigh of relief and carefully poured the prepared spirit-summoning gourd water into the wine pot.

After everything was ready, Lin Jue took off his chef's robe and went to the front yard to sit at the same table as Hu Zheng. The two exchanged glances and nodded to each other knowingly.

Before long, the auspicious time arrived, and drums and music filled the air.

The bride, dressed in a red silk wedding gown and adorned with a phoenix coronet and embroidered robe, appeared before the guests, supported by the wedding attendant.

Inside the wedding hall, lanterns and colorful decorations were hung, and red candles flickered.

Feng Yucheng's eldest son, dressed in a bright red robe and wearing a black gauze hat, stared expectantly at the bride.

As the bride and groom began their toasting ceremony, Lin Jue glanced at Feng Yucheng without making a sound, and after seeing him drink the toast, a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Halfway through the banquet, Feng Yucheng, at Lin Jue's signal, smashed a cup as a warning. The group of henchmen lying in wait in the Feng family compound reacted immediately and quickly took control of everyone, including the head of the family.

"Hu Zheng, what do you want to do?"

Feng Yucheng slammed his fist on the table and stood up, his face full of anger.

"I'm not doing anything, I just want to take back what rightfully belongs to me."

Hu Zheng stared coldly at Feng Yucheng without the slightest fear. With a wave of his hand, his men decisively took action, killing Feng Yucheng's confidants.

Seeing Lin Jue standing with him, Feng Yucheng belatedly realized that he had long since fallen into Hu Zheng's trap.

"Hahaha, hahahaha, hahahahaha!"

Feng Yucheng was furious and burst into loud laughter.

Just as he was about to take matters into his own hands to resolve the problem, he was shocked to find that he could not control his body.

This bizarre scene caused his expression to change drastically, and he stared intently at Hu Zheng.

"You despicable scoundrel, you poisoned me..."