Drawing the Sword for an Instant Kill

Night had fallen. Ren Qing hesitated for a moment, then followed the human head with light, quick steps.

He wasn't worried about exposing himself to the Hundred-Eyed, because the eyes inside the snail and the fish belly were dead objects, merely affected by a technique.

Otherwise, the moment Ren Qing touched them, he would have already received the Hundred-Eyed's Information Flow.

The main concern was the considerable commotion coming from the direction of East City, and the large number of Constables already sealing off the streets, which made him vaguely uneasy.

Ren Qing didn't want to let go of the clue about the Hundred-Eyed. He simply kept a few hundred meters away from the head, relying on the Double-Pupil User's ability to follow silently behind.

Plop.

The head fell into a ditch used to collect rainwater and continued moving toward the South of the City. It wasn't fast, but it was extremely stealthy.

Ren Qing gripped the Short Blade at his waist, his pupils rotating against each other.

The reason he used a blade was simply that it felt convenient.

Compared to other districts, South of the City was a more chaotic mix of people. At least half of the corpses found there came from gang fights.

Although the Yamen had attempted to clean things up, the situation hadn't improved at all—in fact, it had only worsened.

But this also created a bustling nightlife in South of the City. Almost every street had a Brothel, and the scent of rouge permeated the air.

Gambling Dens were also numerous, thick with smoke and inevitably under the control of gangs.

The place where Ren Qing followed the human head was very close to a residential area, so with doors and windows tightly shut, it didn't attract anyone's attention.

When the head's speed slowed down, he adjusted his pace accordingly.

The head rolled into a dilapidated City God Temple. Ren Qing found a patch of woods to hide in, using the undergrowth to observe in secret.

After a moment, a man kept looking around nervously, then sneaked into the broken temple.

The Hundred-Eyed?

No...

Ren Qing had a vague guess forming in his mind.

He continued to wait patiently, taking out the Pig Eyes and swallowing them. The heat helped maintain the rapid flow of blood and Qi throughout his body.

After the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

The man walked out of the broken temple. He wrapped the head in a piece of Linen Cloth, held it in his arms, and intended to head toward the residential area.

Ren Qing used the moonlight to get a clear look at the man's face.

He was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old. His exposed skin was covered in knife scars, and his eyes were extremely vicious.

Carrying the linen bundle, he hadn't taken many steps before he noticed a figure in the distance.

The other person was shrouded in the shadows cast by the trees, making it impossible to discern their features. All Ren Qing could sense was an intimidating Aura emanating from them.

The man's footsteps stopped abruptly. His expression was filled with shock and uncertainty as he stared, then he instinctively pulled out the Chopping Knife at his waist.

"This Humble One is Lu Ping of the Mud River Gang. May I ask which hero this is?"

Ren Qing said coldly, "Yamen. Looking to ask you something."

Hearing this, Lu Ping took several steps back, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

"Sir, are you a Forbidden Guard?"

Ren Qing didn't reply. He kept his eyes fixed on Lu Ping, slowly closing in.

"Sir, I haven't committed any crime. And the Mud River Gang recently..."

"What's that in your hands?"

"I didn't kill him!"

Lu Ping's face turned pale. With a jolt of fear, he dropped the head on the ground.

Under the terrifying threat posed by Ren Qing, he didn't care about anything else. His skin writhed, and several eyes appeared on his forehead.

Ren Qing recalled the Eye-less Method he had found in the Bookstore. It seemed it wasn't a coincidence—the Hundred-Eyed was deliberately spreading it.

The Hundred-Eyed controlled some cultivators to collect human eyes for him, while the rest were merely pawns used to divert the attention of the Forbidden Guards.

It was very possible that the Hundred-Eyed had never shown himself at all, using techniques to stir up a muddy mess across the entire city.

At least a small portion of the Headless Cases that had appeared were committed by people who had cultivated the Eye-less Method. The truth was tangled and impossible to sort out.

This way, even if Forbidden Guards got involved, the Hundred-Eyed could easily slip away.

Ren Qing asked, "How did you hand the human eyes over to him?"

Lu Ping's expression darkened. He regretted ever touching that technique. It had dragged him deep into this mess and gotten him targeted by a Forbidden Guard.

"I don't know. I just come here once every three days, place the human eyes on the windowsill, and a bird will come to take them away."

Lu Ping pointed at the extra eyes on his forehead and said, "If I didn't do this, the physical mutation would spiral completely out of control."

Ren Qing nodded slightly.

It seemed that to hide his identity, the Hundred-Eyed hadn't set up any informants in Sanxiang City. That made the matter with Butcher Zhang much easier to handle.

Ren Qing was still approaching. Lu Ping quickly said, "I'm one of the more restrained ones. Those guys..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw Ren Qing appear in the moonlight and immediately shut his mouth, his expression turning extremely ugly.

He had thought it was a Forbidden Guard that even the big shots of the Mud River Gang feared, but it turned out to be just a yamen runner—and not even a Constable, by the looks of it.

"Since when do yamen runners meddle this far?"

"Sorry, I need your life for a moment."

Ren Qing quickened his pace, his Double Pupils already locked onto Lu Ping.

Lu Ping bared a ferocious grin, drew his Chopping Knife, and charged forward. A mere yamen runner—how could he possibly be a match for me?

The Chopping Knife slashed down from above.

Ren Qing sidestepped as if he had foreseen the move, drawing his Short Blade and cutting toward Lu Ping.

Lu Ping reached out and grabbed it, his palm meeting the blade with the clang of metal striking metal.

Ren Qing pulled the Short Blade back smoothly, noticing several eyeballs growing on Lu Ping's palm. He hadn't expected it to be so tough.

Just then, the noise from the Constables suddenly drew near.

Lu Ping felt the urge to retreat. "Let's go our separate ways—pretend we never saw each other..."

Before he could finish, Ren Qing drove the Short Blade into his ribs at an odd angle.

Lu Ping felt a sharp pain surge from within, his breathing turning ragged as his lungs took severe damage.

In his panic, his swings of the Chopping Knife grew increasingly erratic.

Ren Qing remained utterly calm. Though the Forbidden Guards were likely nearby, it was still enough to slay his foe.

He sheathed the blade.

The Double Pupils spun faster, and the flow of time seemed to slow to a crawl.

Gripping the hilt, he fixed his gaze on Lu Ping, who was riddled with openings. Countless ways to kill him sprang to mind.

Ren Qing chose the simplest.

He drew the blade.

Lu Ping held a fleeing posture, but a thin line had appeared on his neck, blood seeping from it.

His head thudded to the ground and rolled a few times, his face still frozen in disbelief.

Ren Qing glanced at the Short Blade in his hand. The edge was already curled; one more hit against something hard, and it would likely snap.

This blade had been left by his predecessor's elder brother, so its material was ordinary. He'd have to find a chance to swap it for a new weapon.

Ren Qing immediately rose and left the Broken Temple. Crouching in the grass, he watched from a distance as two Forbidden Guards hurried along the eaves.

One of them was Miss Bai, whom he had seen in the prison—a normal-looking figure that stood out from the rest.

The other Forbidden Guard had long arms and legs, covering several meters with each step.

Their target was Wang Bingquan's Human Head.

The long-limbed Forbidden Guard opened his mouth and spat out a large net like spider silk, rolling up the Human Head and leaving. Only Miss Bai glanced calmly in Ren Qing's direction.

After the two had left, Ren Qing emerged from his hiding spot.