The Taotie Method and the Five Viscera God

After the fire worker on Hexing Street died, three new constables arrived at the Fire Refining Hall.

They weren't expanding Tan Street's numbers, but were specifically assigned to labor on Hexing Street, promoted from White Servants on other streets.

Xiao Wu warmly received the three men and began explaining the Fire Refining Hall's affairs.

Among them, Zhu Ding was about Xiao Wu's age and had gotten his constable promotion mostly by luck, so his attitude was cautious and deferential.

The other two were far colder. They didn't even acknowledge Xiao Wu, just nodded and headed straight back to their own rooms.

Zhu Ding thanked Xiao Wu repeatedly, his gaze drifting to a side room not far away.

"This is..."

Thin white smoke seeped through the gaps in the side room's window, carrying a thick medicinal smell.

Xiao Wu said with concern in his eyes, "Officer Ren lives in that room. He's unwell, so he's using medicine to recover."

Zhu Ding nodded as if he understood, then was called away by Xiao Wu to meet Bo Feng and the others.

Ren Qing sat cross-legged in a wooden tub, his skin absorbing the medicinal bath. He could feel a strange, maddening itch spreading through him.

He had no choice but to endure it. After all, cultivation was about tempering one's will.

And the medicinal bath wasn't cheap. Even with the extra silver he'd gotten, he still had to be frugal.

As for why the herbs were so expensive...

It was probably related to the danger outside the city. Herb gatherers didn't dare go too deep, so prices naturally skyrocketed.

Only after Ren Qing had fully absorbed the medicine's effects did he climb out of the tub.

His whole body was as red as a boiled crab, steaming with heat.

He changed clothes, grabbed a pig eye from the table, and tossed it into his mouth. Just as he was about to swallow, he found Song Zongwu standing in front of him.

"Senior Song..."

"Your pupil technique requires eating animal eyeballs?"

"That's right."

Ren Qing quickly explained himself. He didn't want to be linked to the Head-Chopping Case.

Song Zongwu didn't press further. The world was full of bizarre techniques—some even required eating filth to cultivate.

Ren Qing was about to say something when he noticed the other man pull two books from his chest. His face lit up with anticipation.

"I was short on time, so I only found two techniques with relatively clear paths of aberration. Pick one."

Ren Qing took the books with a delighted expression, then his face turned a bit strange.

Song Zongwu warned him, "If you want to cultivate the 'Five Viscera God,' you'd better aim for aberration toward the Headless One. As for the content beyond the Yin Messenger Realm, it's too twisted—I removed it for you."

[Five Viscera God (Incomplete)]

[Realized by Du Cun, abbot of the Five Viscera Temple, from observing a divine statue. Must have all five viscera intact to cultivate.]

This was the first technique he'd seen with such low requirements. It felt oddly out of place in this bizarre world.

Too bad the technique was incomplete. As for what made it "twisted," he couldn't tell yet.

"Techniques related to the internal organs are rare, and I don't know much about them. This 'Five Viscera God' is barely cultivable, but you must be cautious."

Ren Qing felt a twinge of regret. But when the follow-up information on the Five Viscera God appeared, he silently put the book down.

[As cultivation of the Five Viscera God deepens, the five viscera and six bowels will gradually develop their own intelligence. At the Yin Messenger Realm, they may even become independent from the body.]

[Ghost Mother: Five Ghosts Moving]

[Five Spirits: Soul Splits into Five Spirits]

[Headless One: Breasts as Eyes]

[Five Viscera God lacks subsequent content. Cannot be mastered by consuming lifespan.]

Ren Qing knew that the technique's effects probably couldn't be bypassed by the Information Flow, since the Five Viscera God was all about the organs gaining sentience.

He didn't want his own organs to have minds of their own, bickering inside him.

As for the Headless One, it was probably like Xing Tian—the five viscera merging with the body, breasts as eyes, navel as mouth. Truly bizarre.

Luckily, the technique was incomplete, so he didn't have to agonize over it. Ren Qing decisively gave up and picked up the other book.

Song Zongwu continued, "This one has no serious side effects. I'd recommend you cultivate it."

[Taotie Method]

[The Taotie Method was inscribed on the stomach of the exotic beast Taotie and obtained by the Wine and Meat Daoist. Cultivation requires massive food intake until the stomach expands to over six times its original size—then the technique is mastered.]

That condition was anything but simple. Expanding the stomach to twice its size would already compress the internal organs. Six times would be fatal for most.

Song Zongwu explained, "The Taotie Method demands an unusually large stomach space. You'd need an extraordinary physique, but with your Half-Corpse Realm cultivation, you can give it a try."

"Thank you, Senior Song. I'll take the Taotie Method."

Ren Qing's brow relaxed slightly. He quickly flipped through the book, and as time passed, new information surfaced.

[Can accelerate cultivation by keeping the stomach in a constant state of fullness, but the practitioner will gradually lose control over their appetite.]

[Food Eater: Eats All Things]

[Vice-Stomach User: Attached Strange Stomach]

[Giant Stomach: Stomach as Large as an Ox]

[Consumable: thirty years of lifespan, waive cost to master]

Song Zongwu nodded, then put away the "Five Viscera God."

Ren Qing had already felt the benefit of having a teacher; Song Zongwu had a thorough understanding of both techniques before handing them over, so he naturally knew the directions of their aberrations.

After the Taotie Method aberrated into "Food Eater," things that were originally inedible could be digested, even metals like gold, silver, copper, and iron.

However, the drawback was that once a Food Eater reached the Ghost Envoy Realm, they would become a "Spirit of the Hill," and the degree of bodily aberration would be very pronounced.

At that point, consuming flesh and blood would cause the body to gradually grow and expand, with ten meters far from the limit.

Consuming metal would inevitably lead to mineralization of the muscles.

Consuming plants would cause the entire body to sprout a large amount of vegetation.

The Spirit of the Hill, from its appearance, looked like a walking earth-and-wood giant.

At the Yin Messenger Realm, it was even more exaggerated; the Spirit of the Hill would aberrate into a "Mountain Spirit," completely transforming into a mountain peak.

The Giant Stomach was relatively better, but it still had to carry a stomach several meters in size.

Its ability was somewhat like the Purple Gold Gourd of the Silver Horn King in Journey to the West; anything swallowed into the stomach would instantly turn into pus and blood.

The Vice-Stomach User was the most special, and also the direction of aberration that Song Zongwu suggested Ren Qing take.

Cultivating to become a Vice-Stomach User would cause a second strange stomach to grow inside the body, forming a Mustard Seed Space for storing items.

Flesh and blood placed in the strange stomach would have their rate of decay greatly reduced.

Moreover, the degree of aberration for a Vice-Stomach User was not obvious; it only added a Strange Mouth connecting to the strange stomach, which was beneficial for Ren Qing's intention to hide his strength.

Ren Qing was a bit resistant at first, but after asking Song Zongwu, he learned that as long as the Strange Mouth was closed, it was imperceptible to the naked eye.

He had no other choice; the Giant Stomach's obese physique was detrimental to combat, and the Food Eater was even more absurd, directly turning into rock and stone.

Seeing Ren Qing put away the "Taotie Method," Song Zongwu said gravely, "Ren Qing, with your pupil technique, you should be able to perceive the subtle details. Help me look at a corpse."

"What corpse?"

"You saw him in the Martial Arts Building. He was my son, named Song Rong..."

Song Zongwu let out a long sigh, a complex expression surfacing on his usually calm face.