The Price of Anomalous Cultivation

The morning market was bustling, the crowd jostling against one another; even the dense, drizzling rain could not dampen the unique, rhythmic cries of the street vendors.

Suddenly, the crowd fell silent, their eyes filled with dread as they stared toward a certain spot.

Two grim-faced bailiffs carried a corpse wrapped in burlap on a wooden board, emerging from an alleyway; fresh blood dripped from the board onto the bluestone bricks.

The crowd whispered among themselves.

"Another death?"

"How unlucky."

"That's the third time this month..."

"Don't look, don't look."

Seeing this, the commoners scattered, and even the stall owners hurriedly packed their goods, as if fleeing from a plague god.

The two bailiffs carried the corpse to a more open area as if no one else were around.

The older bailiff wore black, his frame gaunt and his eye sockets slightly sunken, giving him the appearance of someone suffering from a chronic illness.

His cuffs were embroidered with "Prefecture Permit Officer," and a two-foot Water-Fire Cudgel was tied to his waist.

Although the bailiff worked for the government, he was merely a runner and subordinate within the yamen; the Water-Fire Cudgel served only as a tool for self-defense.

The other, younger bailiff was only thirteen or fourteen, wearing black robes that were slightly too large for him, lacking the "Prefecture Permit Officer" insignia.

This was a White Servant, who usually worked under a formal bailiff and would only be promoted after several years.

They set the corpse down.

The lead bailiff could not help but cough from the exertion of carrying the heavy load, taking several breaths before he could stop.

The White Servant asked with concern, "Qing Ge'er, are you alright?"

The bailiff replied in a hoarse, low voice, "It's just an old ailment, it's nothing. Xiao Wu, you watch here; I'm going into the shop."

"Qing Ge'er..."

Xiao Wu appeared terrified; his legs were trembling, and his voice was as thin as a mosquito's hum.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a moment."

The bailiff, known as Ren Qing, patted Xiao Wu on the shoulder and walked quickly toward the mouth of the alley.

His footsteps were slightly unsteady, and his breathing had grown heavy, showing that he was not as calm on the inside as he appeared on the surface.

Ren Qing walked deep into the alley, where the stench of blood hit him, so thick it was nauseating.

A dilapidated bookstore came into view, with two White Servants under the age of twenty standing at the entrance; they couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief when they saw Ren Qing.

"Officer."

Ren Qing nodded at the two of them, then said, "If you need to vomit, do it, then get inside and clean up quickly. We must finish this as soon as possible—you don't want to stay here, do you?"

"Understood, Officer..."

Li Mian and Li Heng were brothers, looking eighty or ninety percent alike; they had no connections in the yamen, which was why they had been assigned to Ren Qing.

Xiao Wu had volunteered to join from elsewhere, as he was a fellow townsman of Ren Qing's father.

The Li brothers went to the corner of the alley and leaned against the wall, dry-heaving.

Ren Qing fought back his own nausea, partly because he didn't want his subordinates to look down on him, and partly because he feared he might faint if his constitution proved too weak.

He took a deep breath and pushed open the half-closed wooden door of the bookstore.

The room was covered in bits of flesh and gore, and the bookshelves were toppled over; they held no books, making the space look abnormally empty.

The shopkeeper's corpse, which had been carried out earlier, had originally been kneeling behind the door.

His hands were splayed out, with his own gouged-out eyeballs resting in his palms.

This was after the yamen had already processed the scene once; it was hard to imagine what it had looked like before.

Ren Qing was in charge of Tan Street in the West of the City District of Sanxiang City, serving as a Fire Worker among the bailiffs.

His duty was to cremate corpses and the personal belongings of the deceased; logically, he shouldn't have encountered any danger.

But like the shopkeeper in the bookstore, anyone with eyes could see he had met an unnatural end.

A few days ago, there had been eight other Fire Workers responsible for Tan Street, but they had encountered trouble after smelling an inexplicable odor while burning a corpse that had died violently.

All the Fire Workers had collapsed, their faces frozen in eerie smiles before they died.

Ren Qing appeared to be the only survivor, but in truth, his body had already been possessed by a different soul; in his previous life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary office worker.

The days following his transmigration had been spent in a daze, but fortunately, he hadn't interacted much with others, so his odd behavior hadn't been discovered.

Moreover, this world was filled with strange occurrences; the residents rarely left the city, and people would die suddenly for no reason every few days, yet everyone had become accustomed to it.

The mountain villages outside were also in a state of panic.

Unfortunately, time did not grant him the luxury of further adaptation.

Before Ren Qing's eyes, a large number of lines surged, outlining chaotic patterns that finally formed several lines of text.

[Ren Qing]

[Age: 17]

[Lifespan: 5 years, 113 days]

This was a supernatural ability Ren Qing was born with; as long as he touched someone, he could view their lifespan, though it was limited to just that.

The reason his own lifespan was reduced to five years was due to the severe failure of his internal organs after he had returned from the dead.

Moreover, it was strange that the common folk in this world were already decrepit and near death by the age of forty, rarely living past fifty.

It was unlike any dynasty from his previous life.

Although Ren Qing had yet to find a way to extend his life, after inquiring everywhere for information, he had spotted clues from the various ranks of yamen runners.

Generally, when an unnatural death occurred, the Forbidden Guards would arrive first to inspect the scene. Only after they confirmed it was safe would Fire Workers like Ren Qing enter, followed finally by the Lictors who cleaned up the blood and filth.

Ren Qing had never come into contact with a Forbidden Guard, but he suspected they were cultivators who had mastered spells; otherwise, how could Sanxiang City maintain its facade of stability?

That was why he had steeled himself to handle this bizarre and inexplicable mess alongside three inexperienced White Servants.

Ren Qing carefully tidied up the room.

A moment later, Li Mian and the other man plucked up the courage to walk in.

They used the linen cloths they carried to wrap up the chunks of flesh, even dismantling the wooden furniture into pieces to take away, leaving nothing behind.

"Officer, there is a book in the crevice of the bookshelf."

Li Mian held the book out to Ren Qing.

He did not dare to flip through it at all; any action taken by a White Servant had to be permitted by the yamen runner to ensure no accidents occurred.

Ren Qing took the book, and suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his mind.

He collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.

"Officer!!!"

Li Heng and Li Mian wanted to approach, but Ren Qing stopped them with a wave of his hand.

"It's fine, I'm fine."

Ren Qing told the two to continue cleaning while he sat at the entrance of the bookstore to rest for a moment, clutching the book tightly in his grip.

The moment he touched the book, Ren Qing's supernatural ability triggered on its own for the first time, and a stream of information converged before his eyes.

[Eye-less Method]

[Comprehended by the Hundred-Eyed Old Monk from the Shurangama Sutra. To practice this method, one must gouge out their own eyes, consume the eyeballs with medicinal ingredients, and wait forty-nine days for them to regrow.]

Ren Qing's arm held the book against his chest, refusing to let go. After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, more information appeared.

[After gouging out the eyes, one will be plunged into boundless darkness, seeing things invisible to ordinary people. Those who master it can swallow eyeballs to recover from injuries and extend their lifespan; human eyes are the best.]

After another moment, new information regarding the Eye-less Method appeared again.

[Single-Eyed: See through illusions]

[Hundred-Eyed: Create illusions]

[Double-Pupil User: Foresee Enemy Actions]

Ren Qing couldn't help but swallow hard, his heart pounding wildly, a sickly flush appearing on his face.

[Can consume 30 days of lifespan to master while exempting the cost]

What exactly did the "cost" refer to? Was it the forty-nine days of blindness after gouging out the eyes, or something more profound and hidden?

Ren Qing did not want to hesitate and let things change.

The path of cultivation was right before him, and it could even extend his lifespan. Even if it was a bit bizarre, it was still better than waiting for death in a daze.

With a thought, thirty days of his lifespan vanished in an instant.

Besides, the residents in this alley had all evacuated; it was far less likely to attract attention here than at the crowded yamen.

New book setting sail, begging for everything!!!