The Strange Branch of the Eye-less Method

Ren Qing's eyes swelled with a stinging sensation, and in a daze, he was plunged into darkness.

He couldn't close his eyes at all, only feeling heavy footsteps gradually approaching, and coming from the direction he was looking.

Just as the presence in the darkness was about to draw near.

"Constable..."

Ren Qing's body was pushed, and all the strangeness vanished.

He opened his eyes and found that the things around him had slowed down. The flies lured by the scent of blood seemed to have wings whose veins he could see.

Two streams of tears slowly flowed from Ren Qing's eyes, making his face look even more terrifying.

Li Mian and the other man retreated several steps, their backs against the wall. They wanted to flee but had no strength left in their bodies, so they could only keep calling out to Ren Qing.

It took a few breaths for Ren Qing to come back to his senses. Though he had already entered the "Eye-less Method" by consuming his lifespan, mastering it would still take some time.

[Ren Qing] [Age: Seventeen] [Lifespan: Five years and eighty-three days] [Art: Eye-less Method]

Moreover, after mastering the "Eye-less Method," there seemed to be some change in his mind, but he'd have to wait until he returned to the office to figure it out.

"Just blood rushing to my head, plus the wind and sand, that's why my eyes are sore."

Ren Qing casually made up an excuse. The Li brothers didn't ask further questions and instead proactively took on more of the physical labor.

People died violently every day in Sanxiang City, and the Fire Refining Hall couldn't avoid dealing with it, so the White Servants least dared to offend the constables who supervised them.

Otherwise, if something really happened, they wouldn't even know how they died.

They finished cleaning up the bookshop, leaving only large patches of dried bloodstains. The rest was the Lictors' responsibility.

The bookshop door was sealed with strips of paper.

Ren Qing led the Li brothers out of the alley, carrying large and small bundles toward the open space where the corpse was stored.

Xiao Wu had been waiting for a long time, pacing anxiously in circles.

The corpse beside him was placed in the most conspicuous spot of the morning market, the burlap cloth used to wrap it already soaked with blood.

"Qing Ge'er... Constable, you're here."

Xiao Wu called out with relief. At his age, watching over a corpse on an empty street was indeed a bit much to ask.

"Let's go. We've been busy all morning. Once we're back at the office, we can rest properly."

Ren Qing's brow was no longer furrowed. Now that things were on track, the pressure from his lifespan had naturally lessened.

The four of them chatted as they crossed the street and returned to the bustling area.

Several sword-bearing constables stood not far away. Seeing that the corpse had been dealt with, they nodded at Ren Qing and left.

The constables in the office were mainly responsible for patrolling the streets and didn't have to touch brutally killed corpses, so the Fire Refining Lictors couldn't help but envy them.

But the position of constable was a hereditary duty, usually passed from father to eldest son, and the responsibilities couldn't be easily changed.

Ren Qing's predecessor, for example, came from a village called Bazhi Village, about a hundred miles northwest of Sanxiang City.

He originally had an older brother, who inherited their dead father's constable position but died in an accident after just over half a year.

With no other choice, the predecessor couldn't give up the hereditary iron rice bowl, so he had to report to the Sanxiang City office. Not long after, he followed the same path.

Now, the predecessor's mother should still be at home in Bazhi Village. Every month, Ren Qing would send some silver.

But what was a bit strange was that most families in the city had four or five siblings, as if raising children wasn't a trouble for them.

He had no idea what supported such a high birth rate. It couldn't be some divine technique, could it...

Ren Qing had no clear impression of his old mother, but he had pieced together a rough picture from Xiao Wu. Since they didn't meet often, he wasn't worried about being recognized.

The four of them crossed the West of the City District and arrived at the center of Sanxiang City, where the office was located.

The main gate had red walls and green tiles, with a plaque hanging above that read "Sanxiang County Office." Constables were constantly coming and going through the gate.

As a town housing over a hundred thousand people, the scale of the office was far beyond imagination.

Just the land alone was estimated to be over ten thousand square meters, containing 254 rooms. The main gate had four entrances—east, west, south, and north—and the area was divided into four sections.

Each section had identical buildings, and they normally didn't interact.

Jailer Hall, Constable Hall, Fire Refining Hall, Lictor Hall, Prison, Kitchen Courtyard, Magistrate's Residence, Immortal Buddha Shrine, Public Trial Hall, Training Ground, Sibu Hall...

As a constable of the West of the City District, Ren Qing could only enter through the west main gate, so he had never had contact with the other sections.

"Finally here..."

Xiao Wu rubbed his wrists, a hint of fatigue showing on his face.

After death, a human body becomes as heavy as stone. Even with four people taking turns carrying it, they were exhausted, let alone with all the other odds and ends.

The Li brothers didn't complain, but their expressions relaxed as well.

"Let's go."

Ren Qing let out a helpless sigh. With so few men under his command, there was no way to avoid doing the rough work himself.

After entering the yamen, various plaques bearing aspirational mottos hung everywhere—things like "Bright Mirror Hanging High" and "Clear as Pure Water."

Passing through a path paved with West Sandstone, he arrived at the Fire Refining Hall.

The Fire Refining Hall was located in a somewhat remote spot, with several wells in the courtyard. It was mainly because the furnaces had to be lit frequently, so it was best to keep them as far from people as possible.

There were three Fire Refining Halls in the western district of the yamen, each housing the fire refiners from two streets.

Twelve side rooms were lined up in a row, with the corpse storage room at the end and the furnace near the corner.

The furnace was made entirely of iron, shaped like a hollow gourd. Its clever design allowed wood to burn for seven or eight hours once loaded.

However, in the Fire Refining Hall where Ren Qing was stationed, the other batch of fire refiners from Hexing Street had been temporarily transferred outside the city—apparently, a village had been struck by plague.

The Li brothers placed the body of the bookshop owner into the corpse storage room. Inside, there were already over a dozen corpses, all fire refiners who had died with eerie smiles on their faces.

The furnace could burn three bodies at once, but since Ren Qing had been working alone, the bodies had piled up without being cremated in time, and now they were starting to stink.

The newly arrived corpses would have to wait a few days.

"You two prepare to light the furnace. I'm going to rest in my room for a while."

Ren Qing gave the three of them a few instructions before heading back to the side room.

The Li brothers began moving the corpses and lighting the firewood, while Xiao Wu went to the kitchen courtyard to fetch some food—it was already noon.

Ren Qing sat cross-legged on his bed, activating the information stream as he closed his eyes.

He felt the information of the "Eye-less Method" begin to converge, then merge into a single point, forming a seed-like illusion.

His consciousness touched the seed, and it immediately took root and sprouted.

The seed grew three tender leaves, each with patterns on its surface that resembled an eerie eye.

Just as Ren Qing was puzzled, text formed from information appeared on the leaves, accompanied by annotations.

[Single-Eyed: See Through Illusions]

[Hundred-Eyed: Create Illusions]

[Double-Pupil User: Foresee Enemy Actions]

He paused for a moment, then noticed that each line of text corresponded to one of the three leaves.

[Do you wish to select the Single-Eyed branch? This will consume 1 year of lifespan.]

Ren Qing tried the other two options as well, finding that Hundred-Eyed and Single-Eyed each consumed 1 year of lifespan, while Double-Pupil User required 1 year and 6 months.

He hesitated for a moment, then chose to dismiss the information stream.

The "Eye-less Method" was already extremely eerie; choosing a branch would likely lead to uncontrollable consequences.

So until Ren Qing understood the power system of this world, spending a year of his lifespan on a gamble was simply unwise.

He took out the "Eye-less Method" from his bosom.