Divine Feet Scripture

Ren Qing opened the first page, and an urge to dig out his own eyeballs rose in his heart.

He forced down his discomfort and carefully read page after page.

The writing recorded in the "Eye-less Method" was neat and orderly, yet it felt to him like writhing maggots, trying to crawl off the paper.

Moreover, half the book described how to eat human eyes raw.

Had he not already mastered the Eye-less Method, he might have been influenced by the words themselves. This showed just how bizarre Hundred-Eyed Old Monk, who had written the book, was.

By the time Ren Qing finished reading the "Eye-less Method," his clothes were soaked through with cold sweat. His eyes were bloodshot and sunken, as though he had gone days without sleep.

He tucked the book close to his body, then thought it was still unsafe. He simply pried out a brick from the corner beneath his bed and hid it in the concealed compartment.

Ren Qing then closed his eyes to rest, sorting through the book's contents as he did.

First, he could confirm that although he had mastered the Eye-less Method by consuming lifespan, he had merely entered through its gate.

The cultivation method of the Eye-less Method was to visualize the boundless darkness of blindness, gradually aberrating one's eyes to gain inhuman power.

Ren Qing had thought he had already accepted this underworld-like style, but the contents of the final page of the "Eye-less Method" were far too bizarre.

To speed up the aberration, one could hold fresh human eyes in one's mouth while cultivating. The price, however, was growing eyes all over one's body.

Fortunately, Ren Qing learned of the Eye-less Method's other two branches.

This showed that the Information Flow could obtain hidden information about cultivation techniques.

For example, the Single-Eyed and the Double-Pupil User.

For another example, although the book recorded that swallowing eyeballs raw could heal injuries, it did not mention extending lifespan in the slightest. Perhaps even Hundred-Eyed Old Monk himself had never realized it.

Ren Qing had long since made his choice.

Between growing eyes all over his body and becoming one-eyed, Double Pupils were certainly easier to accept. At least they barely counted as normal...

Without realizing it, Ren Qing had begun growing accustomed to such bizarre settings.

A rooster crowed.

He pinched his temples and walked out of the room. The gentle spring sunlight dispersed the chill clinging to his body.

A scorched stench from burning corpses drifted over from the courtyard.

For the next several days, unless more people died wrongful deaths on Tan Street, the furnace would not stop. After all, they had to clear out the Corpse Room as quickly as possible.

Xiao Wu sat idly on a stone stool in the courtyard, reading. The three of them took turns on shifts; two people were enough to watch the furnace.

"Qing Ge'er, I saw you didn't eat at noon, so I saved this for you."

Xiao Wu set down the Thousand Character Classic he used for learning to read and handed Ren Qing a steamed bun.

When he had been at other Fire Refining Halls, he had not only needed to do backbreaking work every day, but often could not even eat his fill. Thus, he was sincerely grateful to Ren Qing.

"I have something to take care of. I should be back before long."

Ren Qing went to inspect the furnace again. After seeing that there was nothing wrong, he headed out of the Yamen.

He encountered all sorts of Yamen Runners along the way, but most were constables changing shifts for patrols. Fire Workers and Lictors were few.

After leaving the Yamen, Ren Qing headed straight for the butcher shop. Since swallowing eyeballs raw could increase lifespan, he naturally had to try it.

As he passed through the dense crowds on the street, he gained a clear understanding of his own eyesight. He could easily notice details he normally would not have seen.

The grime on the old man selling candied hawthorns, the money pouch stolen from the scholar who had just returned from drinking.

He could even clearly see the bee resting on the tip of a woman's hair, despite her face being caked in rouge and powder.

His use of the Eye-less Method was gradually becoming more practiced.

His peripheral vision fell upon a beggar by the roadside, and he could not help frowning.

The beggar appeared to be over thirty. Limping as he went, he held out a hand to beg passersby for silver, his face carrying a faintly pained expression.

Ren Qing noticed the beggar's diseased leg. It was twice as thick as an ordinary person's leg, and its skin was covered in pustules.

With inflammation this severe, could he still move so freely?

Ren Qing's steps slowed for a moment before he walked over. He took out some loose silver and placed it in the beggar's broken bowl.

"Many thanks, sir. May you live to a hundred..."

The beggar was overflowing with gratitude. Ren Qing's hand, which held the silver, seemingly brushed against the man by accident, and a flood of information gathered before his eyes.

Chen Ergou

Age: twenty-eight

Lifespan: thirteen years

Technique: Divine Feet Scripture (Incomplete)

Some information regarding the Divine Feet Scripture immediately surfaced.

Created by Heavenly Cripple Daoist, cultivating this method required one to have both legs severed at the roots during childhood, while the bones were still growing. One would then be trapped inside a vegetable vat and fed specific medicinal catalysts. Those who survived three years could grow Divine Feet.

Ren Qing's breathing grew slightly hurried. He temporarily gave up on going to the butcher shop and instead wandered around West of the City District several times.

He soon made a startling discovery.

Most of the beggars by the roadside had crippled legs. They had clearly cultivated the Divine Feet Scripture, though they were concentrated solely in West of the City.

Ren Qing realized that he had fallen into a misconception.

If all cultivation techniques in this world were this unfathomably bizarre, then the requirements for aptitude were not high at all. And how much was a human life worth?

For many factions, passing down cultivation techniques brought nothing but benefits. They could even use them to control a great deal of armed force.

Sanxiang Town looked calm and peaceful on the surface, but who knew how many cultivators were hidden beneath it.

Furthermore, the town's population was abnormally large. Otherwise, how could there be enough people to ruin?

Ren Qing drew a sharp breath, and the restless impatience born from gaining supernatural power vanished without a trace.

He returned to Tan Street and entered the butcher shop nearest the Yamen.

The butcher was a burly man in a greasy apron. He was sharpening the butcher knife in his hand, its reflected gleam chilling to the bone.

Just as Ren Qing was about to speak, the butcher took the initiative. "So it's A Qing. Haven't seen you for several days. I thought something had happened to you..."

"Ah, listen to this rotten mouth of mine. I'll cut you two extra taels of meat today."

Ren Qing gave an awkward laugh. With the former owner's reclusive personality, he barely knew anyone even in the Yamen. How could he have dealings with a butcher?

He cautiously probed the butcher for the full story.

The butcher's surname was Zhang. It was mainly because the former owner's elder brother had been acquainted with him, and before his death, he had specifically asked Butcher Zhang to look after Ren Qing. He was one of the few people Ren Qing could exchange a few words with.

"Brother Zhang, I haven't been able to see clearly when walking at night lately. Could I ask you for some pig eyes to brighten my sight?"

"No problem. If you want them, I'll save them for you from now on."

Butcher Zhang agreed without hesitation. Some poor folk still bought offal to eat, but pig eyes were usually tossed to the Wild Dogs on the street.

He first chopped several jin of pork belly for Ren Qing, wrapped it in oiled paper, then began using a small knife to dig the eyeballs from the pig's face.

"A Qing, if you'd come asking some time ago, I'm afraid I really wouldn't have had any pig eyes here."

Butcher Zhang said with a smile, "Someone specifically spent silver to buy pig eyes. Isn't that strange?"

Ren Qing's pupils widened. He reached out and stopped Butcher Zhang. "Brother Zhang, just give me whatever loose pig eyes you have. No need to dig them out specially and spoil the pig head's appearance."

"And don't tell anyone else that I come here to get pig eyes..."

Butcher Zhang merely thought Ren Qing was afraid of being discovered and losing face, and agreed repeatedly.

Yet Ren Qing realized that the person who had given the "Eye-less Method" to the Bookstore proprietor was still in Sanxiang Town—and had already begun eating human eyes raw.