Living Human Skin

Ren Qing felt his blood rush to his head.

He let go and slammed the corpse to the ground, then braced its armpit with his foot, seized its arm, and twisted hard.

Crack.

Bones shifted out of place as Ren Qing forcibly dislocated the corpse's joints.

"Move."

Xiao Wu's scalp tingled, but the fear in his heart faded somewhat because of it.

Still, the corpse's hollow eyes seemed to carry a chilling resentment...

The two quickened their pace. Fortunately, nothing strange happened after that.

By the time they returned to the Fire Refining Hall, dawn was almost breaking.

Ren Qing could not help collapsing onto the ground, gasping for breath. His constitution was still weak; he was relying entirely on the warmth emitted by the pig eyes to keep himself going.

He rested only briefly before climbing to his feet, then dragged the corpse to the furnace in three quick strides.

"What is it, runner?"

Li Mian and the other two hurried after him. They watched Ren Qing yank open the furnace door. It had not been cleaned for several days, and ash-filled dust immediately billowed out.

"Light the furnace. This corpse cannot be kept."

"Alright."

Ren Qing forcibly stuffed the bookstore owner's corpse inside. After packing it with firewood, he shut the furnace door.

Xiao Wu was so nervous that his hands shook, and it took him quite some time to light the firewood with the tinderbox.

As the flames rose, the temperature around the furnace gradually climbed.

They all heaved a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from their foreheads.

Before long, crackling sounds came from within the furnace. They were caused by the corpse's fat melting beneath the flames' intense heat.

"For the next few days, the four of us will have to work harder. We'll take turns resting and deal with all the corpses in the Corpse Room."

Ren Qing remembered the blood trail left by the corpse. Though the route was fairly secluded, it would be best to cover it up, just in case.

"You keep watch by the furnace. Remember to keep an eye on the Corpse Room."

With that in mind, he relied on the heat generated by the pig eyes to force himself toward the outside.

Suddenly, knocking came from the furnace, accompanied by faint, tiny screams. It was enough to make one's hair stand on end.

Ren Qing hesitated for several breaths. When the sounds ceased, he turned and left.

Wait...

He suddenly realized something absurd. Could the bookstore owner have not been completely dead, with the Eye-less Method keeping him alive?

No, the Information Flow had not reacted. He was definitely dead.

Ren Qing stopped dwelling on it. The corpse had already turned to ash in the flames, after all.

He carefully followed the blood trail, covering the marks with sand and dirt.

At most, people would pass by the Yamen's outer wall. As long as nothing looked amiss from a distance, there was no need to be overly meticulous.

Ren Qing also checked his own Information Flow.

Ren Qing

Age: Seventeen

Lifespan: Five years, eighty-five days

Art: Eye-less Method

Though it had only increased by two or three days, Ren Qing was still quite satisfied.

The life-extending effect of eating raw pig eyes must have worked subtly and imperceptibly. Otherwise, the Hundred-Eyed Old Monk would not have failed to notice it.

He only needed to eat pig eyes while comparing the results against the Information Flow. Once he understood the rate at which his lifespan increased, he would know how to consume them most effectively.

For the time being, he had solved the problem of his lifespan. Mastering a second Art also needed to be put on the agenda.

The Eye-less Method truly suited Ren Qing, but using it to face bizarre things was still far too much of a stretch.

Could he consider the Divine Feet Scripture?

But those beggars were most likely controlled by some force in West of the City. With Ren Qing's current strength, the risk was still too great.

After spending nearly half an hour, Ren Qing had cleaned up to the outer wall. Just as he was preparing to return the way he had come—

He suddenly sensed a terrifying aura, as though a predatory beast had fixed its gaze upon him.

Ren Qing had already been hunched over. He immediately went with the motion and dropped flat to the ground, sweeping his surroundings with the corner of his eye.

In the distance, a tall figure was walking toward the Yamen's eastern district.

The man wore light armor and a conical hat. A sword more than three feet long hung at his waist, and he seemed to be holding a blood-dripping object made of skin.

Ren Qing's gaze first fell upon the token hanging from the tip of the man's scabbard. Upon it was carved a wildly dancing character: "Forbidden."

A Forbidden Guard...

This was Ren Qing's first time encountering a Forbidden Guard. Whether he had gone out to handle corpses or remained within the Yamen, he had never heard anyone mention them.

He even suspected that the Yamen had been divided into four districts, with the central Jailer Hall deliberately left vacant, because of the Forbidden Guards.

Ren Qing looked again at the skin object in the Forbidden Guard's hand. His eyes grew sore from concentrating so hard.

Blood constantly dripped from the skin object. It wriggled like a living thing, trying to break free from the Forbidden Guard's grasp, but it was held tightly in place.

Ren Qing opened his mouth in disbelief. The more he looked, the more it resembled human skin.

Living human skin?!!

It truly was a world with a bizarre style.

After the Forbidden Guard vanished from sight, Ren Qing remained lying there for a long while before dragging his exhausted body back to the Fire Refining Hall.

For the next two days, the furnace never stopped burning, not for a single moment.

When the last three Fire Workers' corpses turned to ash, a thick layer of bone ash had accumulated inside the furnace, mixed with fragments of bone.

The bone ash was taken away by the Lictors. No one knew what the Yamen wanted it for.

During that time, West of the City remained fairly peaceful. Not a single person had died on Tan Street.

But in the Yamen's other districts, Fire Workers carrying corpses could be seen coming and going every day.

According to the information Ren Qing had gathered, more than a dozen people had died in the east of the city. Every corpse was missing its head and posed in a kneeling, worshipful posture.

He felt it was the work of a Hundred-Eyed.

If Ren Qing had been that Hundred-Eyed, he would certainly have deliberately avoided West of the City, then cut off the heads to muddy the waters and prevent anyone from noticing the missing human eyes.

That person likely believed the Eye-less Method had fallen into the Yamen's hands, never imagining that Ren Qing had reaped the benefit instead.

These past few days, Ren Qing had to watch over the furnace while also exploring the path of cultivation, so he visited the butcher shop far less often.

Aside from gathering information on the Eye-less Method, he noticed that the Yamen seemed somewhat unsettled, but he had no time to pay attention to it.

His gains from secluded cultivation were naturally considerable.

Ren Qing could now freely enter the visualization state of the Eye-less Method, though he kept the duration within one hour.

If he exceeded one hour, the darkness in his eyes would become indescribably terrifying, and the urge to gouge out his eyes would arise.

Ren Qing had also discovered the pattern behind gaining lifespan by eating raw pig eyes. Swallowing one pig eye about every three hours was the most suitable method.

This way, he could gain four or five days of lifespan each day.

The progress was somewhat slow, but at least he no longer had to worry about his lifespan running out.

Ren Qing no longer looked as sickly as before. His blood and vitality appeared much fuller.

It was just that the looks Xiao Wu and the other two gave him were becoming increasingly complicated.

Had he really eaten some great tonic?

Having finished studying the Eye-less Method, Ren Qing had just planned to visit the Martial Arts Field in the Yamen. Even if he could not find clues about an Art, learning some external martial arts for self-defense would be good.

But trouble suddenly came knocking.