Butcher Zhang wrapped half a jin of pig eyes in oiled paper, wiped his hands on his apron, and handed the package to Ren Qing.
"Ah Qing, no need for the silver coins."
"I can't do that. You're being too formal, Brother Zhang."
Ren Qing smiled and refused, pulling out some loose change and forcing it into Butcher Zhang's hand. As he did, he deliberately brushed against him.
The information revealed that Butcher Zhang had fifteen years of Lifespan remaining and had not mastered any Magic Techniques. He was indeed unrelated to the No-Eyes Technique.
Ren Qing breathed a sigh of relief, but a sense of dread lingered.
He could tell from the *No-Eyes Technique* that the Hundred-eyed Elder Monk held human eyes in high reverence.
He feared that in the normal course of cultivation, once a Cultivator of the No-Eyes Technique tasted a human eye, they would likely fall into a deep obsession, unable to break free.
Verifying this would be simple. He just needed to find out if anyone in Sanxiang City had recently had their eyes gouged out.
The only problem was that his connections within the Government Office were extremely limited.
Ren Qing found a noodle shop to fill his stomach. As the sky began to darken, he got up and returned to the Government Office.
Wisps of white smoke drifted from within the courtyard of the Firework Hall. It seemed Li Mian and the other two had already begun burning the new batch of corpses.
Ren Qing called out a greeting, then carried a bucket of well water into his room.
He first soaked the pig eyes in the well water to rinse off the blood, otherwise he wouldn't be able to bring himself to eat them.
Then, he sat on his bed, closed his eyes, and entered a state of Meditation.
Half an incense stick later.
Ren Qing sighed and opened his eyes. He pinched his temples in silence. After a long moment, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.
'It seems taking a shortcut has its downsides. I just can't seem to enter a state of cultivation.'
Normally, for forty-nine days after swallowing an eyeball, one would experience perpetual darkness, making Visualization incredibly easy afterward.
But Ren Qing's experience was the complete opposite. The process of mastering the No-Eyes Technique had been so brief that he now couldn't find his way.
Moreover, the more anxious he became, the more it affected his state of mind.
Ren Qing decided to just try the Life Extension effect of the pig eyes first. Perhaps that would provide the breakthrough he needed.
By the moonlight filtering through the window, he studied the translucent pig eye. After a moment's hesitation, he tossed it into his mouth, his face flushing beet red.
It took several seconds for Ren Qing to force it down. A foul, fishy taste lingered in his mouth, and he almost gagged.
Thankfully, the pig eye Butcher Zhang had given him was fresh and didn't cause any adverse physical reaction.
The pig eye dissolved into a warm current in his stomach, which quickly spread throughout his body. A pleasant, soothing sensation washed over him.
Ren Qing sat down right where he was.
He spontaneously began to cultivate the No-Eyes Technique. Darkness enveloped his surroundings once more, and a faint rustling sound arose from the corners.
Ren Qing felt the warm energy travel along his Eight Extraordinary Meridians and get absorbed by his eyes, which began to ache slightly.
But as his cultivation deepened, the stirring in the darkness grew more distinct, like someone whispering...
Ren Qing's brow furrowed unconsciously. The familiar footsteps returned, slowly drawing closer.
Ren Qing hesitated, debating whether to stop cultivating. In that instant of hesitation, the footsteps came within ten meters of him.
"Constable!!!"
A frantic knock sounded at his door, followed by Li Mian's anxious voice.
Ren Qing was startled awake. The darkness around him receded like a tide, and he realized his back was drenched in cold sweat from his cultivation.
'Looks like I have to be careful with my timing when practicing this bizarre Cultivation Technique,' he thought. 'If I get too immersed, something uncontrollable will definitely happen...'
He composed himself and shouted to the door, "What's wrong?"
"Constable, the corpse... it's come alive!!!"
Ren Qing's heart leaped. Ignoring the sweat drenching his body and without even checking the change in his Lifespan from the pig eye, he threw open the door and rushed out.
"What corpse? Which one?!!"
"The one that was brought in this afternoon! And... and the other corpses are acting strange, too..."
Li Mian was so frightened he could barely speak.
For the first half of the night, the three of them had taken turns watching the furnace without issue. But when they prepared to move the next corpse, something went wrong.
The corpse of the bookstore Shopkeeper had gotten up without any warning, walked out of the morgue, and vanished into the darkness in just a few steps.
Ren Qing snatched the lantern from Li Mian's hand and hurried toward the morgue, listening to Li Mian's explanation as they went.
They reached the door in a few strides. Li Heng and Xiaowu quickly moved aside when they saw Ren Qing.
The moment he stepped inside, Ren Qing viciously pinched his own side to force himself to stay calm.
The remaining Fireworker corpses still wore their eerie smiles, but now their eyes were open, staring at the doorway with an inscrutable gaze.
The rack inside that had held the Shopkeeper's corpse was now empty. The burlap cloth that had wrapped the body lay discarded on the floor.
Using the enhanced vision granted by the No-Eyes Technique, Ren Qing examined the room carefully. He discovered a trail of bloody footprints leading out of the morgue.
'If I notify the Government Office now, I'll be held responsible. I'll probably be fired from my post as a Government Constable, and with my current strength, I can't possibly protect myself in Sanxiang City.'
Steeling himself, Ren Qing said, "Xiaowu, you're with me. We'll find that corpse. Li Mian, Li Heng, you two stay here and keep watch. Remember, don't make any rash moves."
The Li Brothers nodded, their eyes fixed on the morgue in terror, not daring to let their guard down for a second.
Ren Qing turned to Xiaowu. "You holding up?"
Xiaowu gritted his teeth and replied, "I'm fine, Brother Qing."
"Then let's go."
Ren Qing hurriedly followed the trail of blood, but just as he was leaving the courtyard, he ducked back into his room and grabbed a handful of pig eyes.
The two followed the twisting and turning blood trail. The Firework Hall was already in a remote part of the complex, but the path the corpse took led them somewhere even more secluded.
Damp dew dripped onto them from the leaves above, and a chill began to seep into their bones.
A tall, six- or seven-meter-high courtyard wall came into view.
"This is the outer wall of the Government Office's West District."
"Brother Qing, over there..."
Xiaowu pointed to a corner by the wall. A figure stood there motionless, facing the wall. The sight sent a chill down their spines.
Ren Qing stared intently at the figure, barely managing to make it out.
The corpse was in a wretched state, with torn scraps of burlap still clinging to its body. Its eyes were vacant and hollow, and tears of blood trickled down its cheeks.
"Brother Qing, what do we do?"
Ren Qing gathered his courage and approached it.
He circled the corpse a few times but found nothing out of the ordinary. When he gave it a light push, it collapsed limply to the ground.
Ren Qing glanced in the direction the corpse had been facing. 'Could it be that a Hundred-eyed Man, hunting in the shadows, caused the corpse to stir?'
"Let's get it back first," he said.
Ren Qing forced all the pig eyes down. The taste was so foul it made his eyes roll back in his head.
It was too dark for Xiaowu to see what Ren Qing was eating; he only saw that his mouth was a bloody mess.
The pig eyes digested quickly.
Steam rose from the top of Ren Qing's head. With him at one end and Xiaowu at the other, they carried the corpse back toward the Firework Hall along the path they had come.
They were only halfway back when the corpse began to stir again.
Xiaowu's teeth chattered as he stammered, "Brother Qing, the corpse... its hand is on your shoulder."
Ren Qing's back was to the corpse, so he hadn't noticed its hands swinging up to rest on his neck—whether by accident or by design.
His eyes were faintly bloodshot. The terror he'd faced during his cultivation had, for the moment, given him nerves of steel.
"Damn it."
The sky was already beginning to lighten. If they didn't get back to the Firework Hall soon, they would likely be discovered.