The morning market bustled with life, crowds pressing shoulder to shoulder. Not even the fine, unbroken rain could stop the vendors from shouting in their distinctive singsong calls.
All at once, the crowd fell silent, their eyes filled with fear as they looked toward something.
Two grim-faced yamen runners carried a corpse wrapped in burlap out of an alley on a wooden board. Blood dripped from the board onto the bluestone paving.
The crowd murmured among themselves.
"Another death?"
"What terrible luck."
"This must be the third time this month..."
"Do not look, do not look."
The people scattered at once. Even the stallholders hurriedly packed up their wares, as though fleeing a plague god.
The two yamen runners acted as if no one else were there and carried the corpse to a relatively open area.
The older runner wore black robes. He was thin and gaunt, his eye sockets slightly sunken, giving him the appearance of a man burdened by chronic illness.
"Prefecture Permit Officer" was embroidered on his cuffs, and a two-foot Water-Fire Cudgel hung from his waist.
Though yamen runners worked for the government, they were no more than lowly servants ordered about within the yamen. The Water-Fire Cudgel was merely an implement for self-defense.
The other runner was only thirteen or fourteen. His black uniform was slightly too large for him, and it bore no "Prefecture Permit Officer" insignia.
He was a White Servant, one who usually worked under formal yamen runners and could only be promoted after several years.
They set down the corpse.
The lead runner could not help coughing after carrying the heavy burden. It took several breaths before he finally stopped.
The White Servant asked with concern, "Qing Ge'er, are you all right?"
The yamen runner replied in a hoarse, low voice, "It's an old ailment. Nothing serious. Xiao Wu, stay here and keep watch. I'm going into the shop."
"Qing Ge'er..."
Xiao Wu looked terrified. Both his legs trembled, and his voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Don't worry. I'll be back in no time."
The yamen runner named Ren Qing patted Xiao Wu's shoulder and quickly headed toward the mouth of the alley.
His steps were somewhat unsteady, and his breathing grew labored. Clearly, he was nowhere near as calm as he appeared.
Ren Qing walked deeper into the alley, where a wave of blood stench struck his face, thick enough to make him retch.
A dilapidated bookstore came into view. Two White Servants, both under twenty, stood at its entrance. The moment they saw Ren Qing, they could not help sighing in relief.
"Officer."
Ren Qing nodded to the two of them before saying, "If you need to vomit, then vomit. After that, get inside and start cleaning up. We need to finish as quickly as possible. You don't want to stay here any longer than necessary, do you?"
"Yes, Officer..."
Li Mian and Li Heng were blood brothers, seven or eight parts alike in appearance. They had no backing in the yamen, which was why they had been assigned to Ren Qing.
Xiao Wu, meanwhile, had voluntarily come over from elsewhere. His father and Ren Qing's father had been fellow villagers.
The Li brothers went to a corner of the alley, leaned against the wall, and dry-heaved.
Ren Qing fought down his nausea. On one hand, he did not want the White Servants under him to look down on him; on the other, he feared that his weak body would make him faint.
He drew a deep breath and pushed open the bookstore's half-closed wooden door.
The room was strewn with chunks of flesh and blood. The bookshelves had toppled every which way, yet there were no books on them, making the place seem strangely empty.
The shopkeeper's corpse that had just been carried out had originally been kneeling behind the door.
His hands had been spread open, with eyeballs that had been gouged out alive resting in his palms.
And this was after the yamen had already handled the scene once. It was hard to imagine what it had looked like before.
Ren Qing was responsible for Tan Street in the western district of Sanxiang City. Among the yamen runners, he was a Fire Worker.
His duty was to burn corpses and the personal ornaments the deceased had worn in life. By all rights, he should not have encountered any danger.
Yet, like the bookstore's shopkeeper, anyone with eyes could tell that he had met a violent death.
A few days ago, there had still been eight Fire Workers assigned to Tan Street. They had merely smelled an inexplicable odor while burning a corpse that had died an unnatural death, and something had gone wrong.
All the Fire Workers had collapsed, unable to rise. Even in death, bizarre smiles had remained on their faces.
Ren Qing appeared to be the sole survivor, but in truth, his body had long since received a different soul. In his previous life, he had been nothing more than an ordinary office worker.
The days after his transmigration had passed in a muddle. Fortunately, he had not interacted much with others to begin with, so no one had noticed anything amiss.
Moreover, this world was strange in every way. Its residents rarely left the city, inexplicable sudden deaths occurred every few days, yet everyone had long since grown accustomed to them.
The villages beyond the city were likewise places where everyone lived in fear.
Unfortunately, time did not give him a chance to adapt further.
A multitude of lines flowed before Ren Qing's eyes, sketching out chaotic patterns before finally forming several lines of text.
Ren Qing Age: Seventeen Lifespan: Five years and one hundred thirteen days
This was the innate divine ability Ren Qing had possessed from birth. So long as he touched someone else, he could see their lifespan, but that was all it could do.
The reason his lifespan had been reduced to five years was that, after returning from death, his internal organs had suffered severe failure.
Stranger still, the people of this world became decrepit and near death upon reaching forty. They usually did not live past fifty.
It was unlike any dynasty from his previous life.
Though Ren Qing had yet to find a way to extend his life, after gathering information from yamen runners of different duties, he had spotted some clues.
Generally speaking, when an unnatural death occurred, Forbidden Guards would first come to inspect the scene. Only after confirming there was no problem would Fire Workers like Ren Qing arrive, followed last by lictors who cleaned away the blood and filth.
Ren Qing had never come into contact with Forbidden Guards, but he suspected they were cultivators who had mastered sorcery. Otherwise, how could Sanxiang City possibly maintain even its surface-level peace?
That was why he had gritted his teeth and taken three utterly inexperienced White Servants to deal with this inexplicable, bizarre mess.
Ren Qing carefully began cleaning up the room.
A moment later, Li Mian and the others gathered their courage and entered.
They used the burlap they carried to wrap up the chunks of flesh. They even broke the wooden furniture into pieces and took it away with them, leaving nothing behind.
"Officer, there's a book wedged in the gap behind the bookshelf."
Li Mian held out the book to Ren Qing.
He did not dare open it in the slightest. Any action a White Servant took had to be approved by a yamen runner, so as to ensure that no accidents occurred.
Ren Qing took the book, and a sharp pain suddenly stabbed through his mind.
He collapsed onto the ground, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face.
"Officer!!!"
Li Heng and Li Mian wanted to approach, but Ren Qing stopped them with an outstretched hand.
"I'm fine. I'm fine."
Ren Qing had the two continue cleaning up while he sat at the bookstore entrance to rest for a moment, gripping the book tightly in his hand.
The instant he touched the book, Ren Qing's divine ability activated of its own accord for the first time. Information Flow gathered before his eyes.
Eye-less Method
Comprehended by the Hundred-Eyed Old Monk from the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. To cultivate this method, one must gouge out both eyes and consume the eyeballs with a medicinal catalyst. After seven times seven, forty-nine days, they would grow back.
Ren Qing's arm clutched the book inside his robes without letting go. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, more information emerged.
After gouging out both eyes, one would sink into boundless darkness and see what ordinary people could not see. Those who mastered it could swallow eyeballs whole to recover from injuries and extend their lifespan. Human eyes were best.
After another moment, fresh information on the Eye-less Method appeared once again.
Single-Eyed: See through Illusions
Hundred-Eyed: Create Illusions
Double-Pupil User: Foresee Enemy Actions
Ren Qing could not help swallowing. His heart pounded wildly, and an unhealthy flush rose to his face.
Thirty days of lifespan could be consumed to master it without paying the price.
What exactly did this so-called price refer to? The forty-nine days of blindness after gouging out his eyes, or some deeper secret?
Ren Qing did not want hesitation to breed unforeseen changes.
The method of cultivation was right before him, and it could even extend his lifespan. Though it was somewhat bizarre, it was still better than muddling through life while waiting to die.
With a thought, thirty days of his lifespan vanished in an instant.
Besides, every resident of this alley had already evacuated. It was far less likely to draw attention here than in the crowded, watchful yamen.
A new book sets sail—asking for everything!!!
Before you continue