Outside the prison, Clerk Zhao's face was etched with anxiety. He paced toward the iron gates, only to turn back at the last moment.
By his calculations, the Corpse Burners should have returned with the first batch of bodies by now.
But there was little he could do but wait.
Moments later, dozens of Yamen Runners came scrambling out of the iron gates in a panicked rush.
Clerk Zhao exhaled in relief, until he noticed these were all Cleaners, there was not a single Corpse Burner among them.
He grabbed one by the collar and demanded, "What the hell happened in there?"
The Cleaner collapsed to his knees, legs weak, voice hoarse: "Screams... from underground... Qian Han went to check... all the Corpse Burners are dead!!!"
"Where's Qian Han?!"
The Cleaners pushed forward a scrawny figure. "Here, he's here..."
Clerk Zhao yanked him up. "Talk. Now."
Qian Han muttered, dazed: "The human skins came alive... they're eating people. None of the Corpse Burners who tried to escape made it."
"I see."
Clerk Zhao turned and marched toward the Restraint Officers, fury simmering in his gut. Weren't they told the prison's supernatural filth had been purged? How could this slaughter happen?
But when he faced the three Restraint Officers, the icy glare beneath their bamboo hats made him swallow his words.
The middle Restraint Officer, his voice aged but firm, spoke first: "It's not yet time for us to intervene. As for the dead runners; compensation silver will be doubled."
"...Fine."
Clerk Zhao left with a flick of his sleeve, face stormy.
Once he was out of earshot, the elder Restraint Officer; Song Zongwu, turned a murderous gaze toward the man beside him.
"Li Yaoyang. How much supernatural filth is still hiding in that prison?"
Li Yaoyang chuckled, spreading his hands. "Elder Song, how would I-"
Song Zongwu's fist slammed into his face before he could finish, the force behind it throwing him onto the dirt ground, the aura emenating from the older man seemed as though it would turn physical at any moment.
Unfazed and not angry at all, Li Yaoyang continued, "Elder Song, this restricted zone was formed by the 'Human Skin Book'. The filth inside has possession capabilities."
The third Restraint Officer, a woman by her voice, gripped her sword. "If we act recklessly and the zone expands, Sanxiang City will drown in corpses."
Song Zongwu didn't strike again. Steadying his breath, he asked, "Then what's the situation inside now?"
"One moment."
Li Yaoyang sat cross-legged. A skittering sound rose from the earth as a centipede emerged; palm-sized, armored in venomous purple.
With unsettling tenderness, he lifted it to his mouth...
And swallowed it whole without hesitation.
"We can confirm there are still three fragments of human skin remaining."
Song Zongwu's bones cracked as his body tensed like a starved wolf baring its fangs. "When do we move?"
"Don't be in a hurry. The 'face' hasn't appeared yet. It could be hiding in every crack between the tiles. If we don't find the source of this supernatural filth, this restricted zone will never be broken."
Li Yaoyang finished speaking and turned to the woman: "Miss Bai, whatever you do, don't draw your sword. We can't risk collateral damage."
"Oh? I wasn't aware my swordsmanship was that formidable."
...
Inside the prison, despair hung thick in the air.
The survivors sat numb, their expressions vacant. Though no one blamed Bo Feng, no one had the energy to comfort him either.
At any moment, they might all die;their skins emptied into parchment-dry husks.
Ren Qing refused to wait for death. He closed his eyes, replaying every detail he'd observed.
Bones. Human skins. Dried straw. And... those centipedes crawling on the walls...
Centipedes?!
The prison didn't even have rats; no living creatures could survive in a restricted zone. So where did those centipedes come from?
He recalled the Restraint Officers outside. Were they some kind of surveillance formed by mystic arts?
"Human skins... human skins..."
Ren Qing muttered the words, then froze. A realization struck him: Those scattered skins could probably be pieced together into one complete hide.
"One piece is hiding. That's why the Restraint Officers haven't acted?"
The human skins weren't afraid. They'd herded the survivors into a dead end to pick them off one by one.
The moment this truth crystallized, he summoned his information flow, ready to spend his lifespan to advance the Blindless Method-
A panicked shout cut him off.
Xiao Wu clutched Ren Qing's arm, trembling. "Brother Qing! I saw them; the human skins! They're still close!"
"Don't panic."
Ren Qing narrowed his eyes. No time for advancement now. The skins had apparently identified him as the only threat...
Evolving his pupils would plunge him into temporary blindness; a fatal vulnerability that could be seized.
"Stay on the stairs. No matter what."
He drew a gleaming dagger from his waist and scanned every shadow, bracing for an ambush.
The others remained oblivious, most still dazed with shock.
Time crawled. Ren Qing replenished his stamina with pig's eyes, but the human skins showed inhuman patience.
He had to seize the initiative.
Feigning exhaustion, Ren Qing closed his eyes and listened.
A human face oozed from the cracks between wall tiles. Seemingly drawn by the scent of blood, it extended part of its form.
At that moment, Ren Qing's eyes snapped open.
He lunged, dagger flashing, and pinned the face to the wall.
The face contorted with malice and resentment as the blade tore its surface, dark blood welling u from the gash.
Hiss, hiss.. hiss
The face instantly launched itself, pouncing at the crowd. Ren Qing's eyes tracked its speed, but his body lagged behind.
A Corpse Burner died before he could blink. As the face absorbed its victim, its wounds sealed.
Now it fixed on Ren Qing.
The remaining skins slithered into the stairwell.
Chaos erupted as Corpse Burners trampled each other in their frenzy.
Dozens of bodies surged as the scene plunged into chaos.
And suddenly, a cold sensation crawled up Ren Qing's arm.
The face had already merged with his flesh but instead of devouring him, it quickly streaked toward his head from beneath his skin .
"Fuck!"
Ren Qing stabbed his own arm repeatedly, but the face had already reached his neck.
At the brink of death, his information flow flashed lines of text before his eyes:
[Human Skin Book]
[Created by the eunuch Huang Ling. To cultivate this art, one must completely flay their skin, regrow it using specific catalysts, and repeat seven times to master.]
[May expend one year of lifespan to bypass cultivation requirements.]
Without hesitation or even thinking of his lifespan, Ren Qing confirmed.
Electric pain spiderwebbed through his entire body, intensifying by the second as it raged.
The face suddenly paused, sensing a kindred aura from Ren Qing, it hesitated.
In that split second, a white-haired elder shattered the wall and burst right in.
He wrenched the face from Ren Qing's neck with his bare hands.
"Brat. You've probably never heard of me,my name is Song Zongwu, the Four-Armed Yama. "
The man stood like a demonic god: six eyes glaring from his face, four muscular arms sprouting from his torso and the space beneath his armpits and his entire frame radiating primal strength.