Human Skin Book

Song Zongwu slammed his arm down with force.

Bang!!!

A tremendous boom rang out, and the shockwave sent the surrounding Fire Workers sprawling, knocking them unconscious one after another.

Ren Qing alone barely retained a trace of consciousness, so he had no choice but to continue enduring the torment.

Mastering the Human Skin Book took even longer than he had imagined. He had no spare energy to pay attention to what was happening.

Song Zongwu spread open his palm. The Human Face had not suffered much damage, and it even let out a piercing, eerie cackle.

He struck out with several more palms.

The wild grin on Song Zongwu's face faded somewhat. He discovered that the Human Face was like a maggot clinging to the bone, desperately drilling into his body.

"Do you really think you can do anything to me?"

He tore the Human Face off along with flesh and blood, then hurled it straight at the wall.

The wall instantly caved in into a deep pit, but unfortunately, it had little effect on the Human Face. It crawled through the cracks between the bricks, intending to absorb the Fire Workers and recover its injuries.

Just then, hundreds upon thousands of centipedes surged in from outside the corridor, surrounding everyone, Ren Qing included.

"Hah!!"

Seizing the opportunity, Song Zongwu drove off with both legs and closed the distance, smashing the Human Face apart with a single punch.

Though the Human Face gathered itself back together, it had shrunk considerably. Its formerly venomous expression had turned utterly terrified.

"Old Song, all the Human Skin Fragments have been recovered. Only this Human Face remains."

Li Yaoyang slowly walked down the stairs.

He had removed his conical hat. His appearance seemed no different from an ordinary person's, yet all manner of insects filled his open mouth.

The centipedes forced the Human Face into a corner, and Li Yaoyang prepared to press the advantage.

Miss Bai, who had been half a beat too slow, instinctively drew the longsword at her waist and threw it without hesitation.

The longsword traced a graceful arc, pinning the Human Face to the wall and leaving it unable to move. Yet in doing so, it also sliced away half of Li Yaoyang's head.

Li Yaoyang subconsciously touched his head, only to find his hand covered in blood and brain matter.

Somewhat helplessly, he said, "Miss Bai, I told you not to draw your sword..."

Miss Bai replied blandly, "I know. So my swordsmanship is this strong."

Li Yaoyang seemed to want to say something, but in the end, it became a helpless sigh. Then hundreds of maggots covered his wound, slowly restoring his head.

He turned to Song Zongwu and said, "Old Song, you see, although this forbidden zone is not particularly dangerous, it is still quite troublesome."

Song Zongwu snorted coldly. In his heart, he had to admit that if one rashly entered a forbidden zone, there truly was a risk of being possessed.

Song Zongwu grabbed the Human Face and tore it in half before handing it to Li Yaoyang. "If one does not see the strange thing created by the Human Skin Book with their own eyes, there is simply no way to detect it."

"Mm, there is nothing wrong with being cautious."

Li Yaoyang raised his right hand, and the densely packed centipedes crawled back into his body.

"I will use Brain-eating Worms to blur portions of these Fire Workers' memories. They will still vaguely remember, but at least they will not go mad because of it. Also..."

At that point, Li Yaoyang's tone grew excited. "Those corpses that were eaten hollow are truly interesting."

Song Zongwu waved a hand indifferently. "Handle them however you like."

Li Yaoyang returned to his calm expression and began clearing up the corpses in the prison, tossing them all into the holes dug by the centipedes.

By then, Ren Qing was no longer in any danger. He first checked his own information.

Ren Qing

Age: Seventeen

Lifespan: Four years and ninety-three days

Arts: Eye-less Method, Human Skin Book

Mastering the Human Skin Book had directly cost him a year of lifespan. It truly pained his heart.

Ren Qing could not quite understand it either. The Eye-less Method had only consumed thirty days. Could it be related to the cost of exemption?

For the time being, he put aside the matter of lifespan.

Another tender sprout grew in his mind. When his consciousness lightly touched it, the branches of the Human Skin Book appeared before his eyes.

Skin Peeler: Peel Skin to Replace Death

Skin Refiner: Refine Skin with Oneself

Herdsman: Herd Humans

After briefly examining them, Ren Qing dismissed the Information Flow.

However, he did not dare open his eyes. He could only pretend to be unconscious, lest he draw the Forbidden Guards' attention.

Song Zongwu yawned and said impatiently, "Release the Brain-eating Worms. It is about time to leave."

Li Yaoyang nodded. Then a black beetle the size of a fingernail crawled out of his left ear and flew into the mouths of every Fire Worker present.

Ren Qing was no exception. He clenched his teeth tightly to stop the black beetle from entering his mouth, lest the Brain-eating Worm injure his brain.

A moment later, the Brain-eating Worm crawled back into Li Yaoyang's ear.

Song Zongwu and the other two turned and left.

Ren Qing could not help but let out a breath of relief. If they had truly intended to harm people, he certainly would not have been able to stop them in time.

Suddenly, Song Zongwu halted. His Six Eyes swept across the surroundings, and when he saw Ren Qing, a trace of strange emotion appeared on his face.

He prodded Ren Qing with the tip of his foot, then muttered to himself.

"It is said that every ten years, one book in this world turns into a Human Skin Book. The place in our Yamen with the most books should be the Martial Arts Field, right?"

Song Zongwu walked straight out of the prison, leaving the mess all over the ground to Clerk Zhao.

The Yamen urgently summoned Yamen Runners from every district. The unconscious Fire Workers were carried out of the prison, and physicians were specially called in to treat them.

Ren Qing continued playing dead. Song Zongwu had truly frightened him.

When Song Zongwu had touched him, the Information Flow had appeared as well.

Song Zongwu

Age: Eighty-six

Lifespan: Two hundred and fifty-three years

Art: Asura Method (Four-Armed Yama)???

???

There was a string of question marks afterward. It seemed that when facing Song Zongwu, whose strength far surpassed Ren Qing's, the information he received could not be complete.

As for why it could display "Asura Method," perhaps it was only because Song Zongwu had displayed the Asura Method. His other hidden methods were impossible to learn.

The Asura Method had been created by the Nameless Ascetic Monk. To cultivate it, one had to be born with both arms disabled and undergo the Buddhist five great precepts without falling into corruption. Upon completion, two arms would grow anew.

Four-Armed Yama was advanced from Three-Armed Judge.

Judging from the description of the Asura Method, Song Zongwu should have been a person of decent character. Then could his conduct before leaving have carried some deeper meaning?

Ren Qing vaguely formed a guess, but he did not rush to verify it. Instead, after a physician finished examining him, he returned to the Fire Refining Hall.

Thirty-five Fire Workers had survived. Mainly, the Forbidden Guards had acted in time, and Ren Qing had delayed the Human Face for a short while.

Most of those who had died unexpectedly on the stairs had been trampled by the crowd.

As for Xiao Wu and the other two, they had obediently pressed themselves against the wall and not run around.

The fact that every Fire Worker from Tan Street had survived was truly an exception. Among those with worse luck, even the five who had gone there did not leave behind intact corpses.

However, all Yamen Runners serving in the Yamen had already prepared themselves for death. Their family members would receive a generous sum of compensation silver.

Because of the Brain-eating Worms, the survivors had forgotten what happened in the prison. They all seemed listless and would need time to gradually recover.

Naturally, Ren Qing did not wish to appear unusual either, so he honestly stayed in his room for several days.