Blood rushed to Ren Qing's head.
He let the corpse drop to the ground, then planted his foot in its armpit, grabbed its arm, and twisted forcefully.
CRACK.
The sound of a dislocating bone rang out as Ren Qing forcibly wrenched the corpse's joint out of place.
"Let's go."
Xiaowu's scalp prickled with fear, but the shock of the act diluted much of his terror.
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that the corpse's empty eyes held a chilling, resentful gaze...
The two of them quickened their pace, and thankfully, nothing else strange occurred.
By the time they returned to the Firework Hall, dawn was already breaking.
Ren Qing collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. His constitution was still weak, after all, and he had been relying solely on the warmth emanating from the pig's eye to keep going.
He rested for only a moment before scrambling to his feet, dragging the corpse hurriedly toward the furnace.
"What's wrong, constable?"
Li Mian and the other two quickly followed. They watched as Ren Qing yanked open the furnace door, which hadn't been cleaned in days. A cloud of ash and dust immediately billowed out.
"Light the furnace. We can't keep this corpse."
"Alright."
Ren Qing forcibly shoved the Shopkeeper's corpse inside, packed the remaining space with firewood, and slammed the furnace door shut.
Xiaowu was so nervous that his hands trembled, and it took him a long time to light the firewood with the flint.
As the flames grew, the temperature around the furnace began to rise.
They sighed in relief, wiping the sweat from their brows.
Before long, a crackling and popping sound came from inside the furnace—the sound of the corpse's fat rendering in the intense heat.
"The four of us will have to work hard for the next few days. We'll take turns resting and clear out all the bodies from the morgue."
Ren Qing thought about the bloodstains the corpse had left behind. 'Even though the path is remote, I should cover them up, just in case.'
"You all watch the furnace, and keep an eye on the morgue."
With that thought, he forced himself up, relying on the heat from the pig's eye for strength, and headed outside.
Suddenly, a knocking sound came from inside the furnace, accompanied by a faint, muffled scream. It was enough to make one's blood run cold.
Ren Qing hesitated for a few moments, but when the noise stopped, he turned and left.
'Wait a minute...'
'A ridiculous thought suddenly struck him. Could the Shopkeeper not have been completely dead, his life sustained by the No-Eyes Technique?'
'No, that's not right. The Information Flow showed nothing. He was definitely dead.'
Ren Qing stopped dwelling on it. After all, the corpse was already being reduced to ash.
He carefully followed the blood trail, covering the stains with sand and dirt.
'At most, people just pass by the outer wall of the Government Office,' he thought. 'As long as it looks fine from a distance, that's good enough. No need to be too meticulous.'
Ren Qing took the opportunity to check his own Information Flow.
[Ren Qing]
[Age: Seventeen]
[Lifespan: Five years, eighty-five days]
[Skill: No-Eyes Technique]
Although 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 be gradual and subtle,' he reasoned. 'Otherwise, the Hundred-eyed Elder Monk would have surely noticed.'
'I just need to keep eating the pig eyes and cross-referencing the Information Flow to figure out the rate of increase. Then I'll know the most effective way to consume them.'
'Now that the Lifespan issue is temporarily resolved, I need to put mastering a second Magic Technique on the agenda.'
'The No-Eyes Technique is certainly a good fit for me, but relying on it alone to face the supernatural is pushing it.'
'Maybe I should consider the Divine Sutra?'
'But those beggars are most likely under the control of some power in the West District. With my current strength, the risk is too great.'
After nearly an hour, Ren Qing had cleaned up to the outer wall. Just as he was about to head back...
Suddenly, he felt a terrifying presence, as if he'd been spotted by a predatory Fierce Beast.
Ren Qing was already hunched over, so he immediately dropped flat on the ground and scanned his surroundings from the corner of his eye.
In the distance, a tall figure was heading toward the East District of the Government Office.
The man wore Light Armor and a Conical Hat. A Longsword over three feet long was tucked at his waist, and he appeared to be holding a bloody, leathery object in his hand.
Ren Qing's gaze first fell on the Token hanging from the end of the Sword Scabbard. On it was a single, flamboyantly carved character: "Forbidden."
'A Forbidden Guard...'
This was Ren Qing's first time seeing a Forbidden Guard. Whether he was out handling corpses or just inside the Government Office, he had never seen or even heard of anyone interacting with one.
He even suspected that the very reason the Government Office was divided into four districts, leaving the central Forbidden Soldier Hall unoccupied, was because of the Forbidden Guards.
Ren Qing's gaze shifted back to the leathery object in the Forbidden Guard's hand, his eyes starting to ache from the intense focus.
Fresh blood dripped continuously from the object as it squirmed like a living creature, trying to escape the Forbidden Guard's grasp but held fast in his grip.
Ren Qing's mouth fell open in disbelief. 'The more I look at it... it looks like human skin?'
'Living human skin?!!'
'What a bizarre world this is.'
Long after the Forbidden Guard's figure had vanished, Ren Qing finally dragged his exhausted body back to the Firework Hall.
For the next two days, the furnace burned without pause.
By the time the last three Fireworker corpses had been reduced to ash, a thick layer of bone ash and fragments had accumulated inside the furnace.
The ashes were collected by the Black Slaves, though Ren Qing had no idea what the Government Office wanted with them.
During this time, the West District remained relatively calm. Not a single person died on Tan Street.
In the other districts, however, Fireworkers could be seen carrying corpses in and out daily.
According to the information Ren Qing managed to gather, more than ten people had died in the East District. All the corpses were headless and arranged in kneeling, worshipful poses.
He suspected it was the work of the Hundred-eyed Man.
'If I were the Hundred-eyed Man,' Ren Qing mused, 'I would deliberately avoid the West District. I'd also behead the victims to throw people off and prevent them from discovering the missing eyes.'
'Whoever it is, they're acting as if they believe the Government Office has the No-Eyes Technique, completely unaware that I was the one who lucked into it.'
Between watching the furnace and exploring his path of cultivation, Ren Qing's trips to the butcher shop had become far less frequent these past few days.
Aside from trying to gather information on the No-Eyes Technique, he also noticed that things seemed unsettled within the Government Office, but he had no time to look into it.
Naturally, his period of seclusion was fruitful.
Ren Qing could now freely enter the state of Contemplation of the Eyeless Method, though he limited each session to under an hour.
If he went over an hour, the darkness behind his eyes would become inexplicably terrifying, and an urge to gouge them out would arise.
Ren Qing had also discovered a pattern for increasing his Lifespan by eating raw pig eyes: consuming one eye every three hours or so was optimal.
At this rate, he could extend his Lifespan by four to five days for every day that passed.
The progress was slow, but at least he no longer had to worry about his Lifespan drawing to a close.
Ren Qing no longer looked as sickly as before; his vitality seemed much more robust.
The only thing was, the looks he got from Xiaowu and the others grew increasingly complex.
Had he truly eaten some kind of powerful tonic?
Having finished his study of the No-Eyes Technique, Ren Qing was just thinking about heading to the Martial Arts Arena in the Government Office. Even if he couldn't find clues about Magic Techniques, learning some External Skills for self-defense would be a good idea.
But just then, trouble came knocking.