Divine Feet Scripture: Wolf-Foot User

Li Mian sighed. "I keep feeling there's something fishy about the epidemic outside the city."

Li Heng nodded worriedly. "Bo Feng has been asking around among the constables. Let's wait until he gets back."

Ren Qing did not pay much attention to it. When soldiers came, generals blocked them; when water came, earth dammed it. In any case, the Forbidden Zone could not move, so it would not reach Sanxiang City.

Still, he planned to advance the Divine Feet Scripture as soon as possible. Once the Fire Workers from Hexing Street returned, there would be too many eyes around for a breakthrough.

As for the choice of Aberration path, aside from the obviously mutated Elephant-Foot User, the Wolf-Foot User and Leopard-footed each had their own advantages.

The Leopard-footed's agility could increase speed, but it also came with facial Aberration.

The Wolf-Foot User's stamina probably was not meant in the literal sense. It likely possessed the ability to strengthen qi and blood, indirectly enhancing both strength and speed.

On further thought, for the strange path, the seemingly well-rounded yet mediocre Wolf-Foot User might carry the lowest risk of Aberration.

"Wolf Walker... as I advance, I suppose it'll become increasingly suited for fighting alone?"

As night drew near, Ren Qing began preparing dinner. There was conveniently an iron pot in the courtyard now, so there was no need to make a special trip to the Kitchen Courtyard.

As the fragrance of the food gradually spread, everyone began setting out bowls and chopsticks.

Since no corpses were being burned in the furnace, they simply laid the dishes on the stone table. With the faintly cool spring breeze blowing through, it was rather pleasant.

Only then did Bo Feng hurry over.

Li Mian hurriedly asked, "Brother Bo, what exactly happened to the Fire Workers from Hexing Street?"

"I sounded out the constables. It probably has nothing to do with the plague. Since they're being kept at Sibu Hall for observation, though, they should be fine."

Xiao Wu asked indistinctly, "They weren't hurt, were they?"

"The three of them are safe and sound. They were just mentally shaken."

Xiao Wu and the others blanked out for several breaths, but soon returned to normal.

Without anyone noticing, the number of Fire Workers being discussed had become three, as though two people had never existed.

"Wait..."

Ren Qing suddenly sensed that something was wrong. He vaguely remembered there being more than three people, yet when he thought back carefully, three was indeed correct.

"We discussed this before, didn't we? Li Mian, how many did you say there were?"

Li Mian answered with utter certainty, "Three. Though I heard it from someone else too."

Ren Qing closed his eyes and pondered for a long while, a faint swelling pain rising in his head.

He used a finger to carve the character for "three" into the underside of the stone table, then forcibly suppressed the strangeness in his heart.

After dinner, the others cleared away the bowls and chopsticks.

Ren Qing practiced his blade technique for a while. Driven by an inexplicable sense of danger, he returned to his room to prepare for advancing the Divine Feet Scripture.

Ren Qing shut all the doors and windows, then sat cross-legged and visualized the Eye-less Method for two hours. Only in the dead of night did he summon the Information Flow.

Choose the Wolf-Foot User branch? This will consume 1 year of lifespan.

He had long been mentally prepared, and with the experience of his last advancement, one year of lifespan vanished at once.

Time passed second by second.

Yet the agonizing pain he had expected never came. Instead, it felt like the stillness before a storm.

Ren Qing continued waiting for more than half an hour. Other than digesting most of his dinner, he felt no further abnormalities.

His gaze instinctively fell upon the Pig Eyes at his bedside, and irritation suddenly began rising within him.

Ren Qing's right hand seized the Pig Eyes beyond his control, trying to stuff them into his mouth. Their bloody stench madly stimulated his taste buds.

He seemed to become a lone wolf that had starved for days in the deep mountains and ancient forests, with only the instinct to fill his belly remaining in his mind.

The Pig Eyes were only a finger's breadth away from being swallowed, yet he forcibly endured.

The little consciousness Ren Qing had left told him that once he ate the Pig Eyes, his reason would very likely be destroyed by his beastly nature, turning him into a wild beast from then on.

But because his arm was straining too hard, bloody fluid dripped from the Pig Eyes.

His tongue instinctively licked the bloodstain at the corner of his mouth. His defenses were instantly breached, and he swallowed every Pig Eye whole, wolfing them down without chewing.

Ren Qing's hunger remained unsatisfied. He walked step by step toward the door, just as he was about to rush outside.

The Double Pupils turned, and his reason returned.

The instant Ren Qing calmed his beastly nature, the muscles in his feet swelled violently, while silvery-white fur slowly emerged.

His toenails became sharper and sharper...

It seemed Werewolf Transformation truly remained confined to the legs and would not spread throughout his entire body.

The werewolf traits faded away, and the dim room returned to stillness.

Ren Qing let out a breath. Thankfully, it had been a false alarm.

If he had known in advance that advancing the Divine Feet Scripture would bring about such a situation, he could simply have chained himself up with iron chains.

The main culprit had been eating the Pig Eyes. It had left him with little instinctive resistance toward raw meat, giving his beastly nature an opening to exploit.

This showed that even reaching the Half-Corpse Realm did not mean there were no risks at all in advancing low-realm Arts.

He summoned the Information Flow and confirmed that the Aberration had been successfully completed.

Art: Eye-less Method (Double-Pupil User), Divine Feet Scripture (Wolf-Foot User), Human Skin Book

Ren Qing hurriedly examined his legs.

He discovered that aside from smoother muscle lines and the silvery-white tint to his leg hair, the changes brought by the Wolf-Foot User were almost negligible.

When he tried to activate the Divine Feet Scripture, the muscles in his legs bulged dramatically and dense wolf fur grew out, but the Werewolf Transformation still remained limited to his lower body.

Ren Qing had likely only gained an initial grasp of the Wolf-Foot User. To fully transform into a half-man, half-beast creature, he would probably need some time yet.

And the Cultivation method of the Divine Feet Scripture had already come to him without instruction.

Ren Qing left the room and went to sit cross-legged in the open space of the courtyard.

The clouds in the sky were sparse, the moon hung overhead, and stars dotted the space around it.

With every breath Ren Qing took, he felt the gentle moonlight melt into his flesh and blood, while a warm current born in his feet spread along with his blood.

If he wished to accelerate his cultivation, he could drink Wolf Blood before practicing.

But Ren Qing had no intention of obtaining Wolf Blood. The risks simply did not match the benefits.

The cultivation resources for the Divine Feet Scripture were surely controlled by the Bloodhound Gang. If he deliberately went searching for them, he might expose himself because of it.

Ren Qing closed his eyes and communicated with the newly grown Mutation Tree. The Ghost Envoy Realm advancement paths for the Divine Feet Scripture came into view.

Trojan Wolf: Harboring evil intentions

Mountainous Elephant: Supernatural strength and chaotic spirits

Five-tailed Fierce Leopard: Life as cheap as grass

The Divine Feet Scripture strengthened the body, making it the exact opposite of the Eye-less Method. It could make up for his own weaknesses.

Ren Qing could not help leaping onto the roof to survey the surroundings.

After discovering that no patrolling constables were nearby, he tested his current speed by running back and forth.

The result was that even without transforming his legs into those of a werewolf, his speed had already increased by more than fifty percent.

He nearly slammed into a wall because of it, fortunately reacting in time.

He still could not fully control it and needed a long period of adjustment.

Unfortunately, once the Fire Workers from Hexing Street finished their confinement at Sibu Hall, he would no longer be able to act without restraint in the Fire Refining Hall.

He would even need to be careful when eating Pig Eyes. Otherwise, how could he explain consuming several jin every day?

Ren Qing suddenly remembered something, and his expression darkened. Just how many survivors among the Fire Workers from Hexing Street were there?

He bent down to look beneath the stone table and found the character for "three" that he had carved not long ago.

Were there three?

Still puzzled, he returned to his room to sleep, intending to visit Sibu Hall tomorrow.

Thanks to Shu Ba for the reward.