Ren Qing remained in the Corpse Burners' Hall for seven full days before venturing out again.
The occasional gruesome corpses were left to the Li brothers and Xiao Wu; the trio could now handle them with practiced ease.
Ren Qing spent most of his time deciphering the Human Skin Book's cultivation methods.
Unlike the Blindless Method, which relied on visualization, the Human Skin Book required external stimuli. The simplest approach was physical beating.
A specially concocted medicinal bath might also yield some good results.
Of course, the Human Skin Book undoubtedly had more grotesque cultivation techniques; methods Ren Qing had no intention of testing, like flaying himself alive.
He also quietly contemplated advancing to Double Pupils. Though he was prepared to spend another year of lifespan, the sheer eeriness of this power system gave him pause.
Then he recalled Song Zongwu's seemingly offhand remarks in the prison. It was time to test a theory.
Preparations were made: a dagger concealed at his waist, a few pig's eyes tucked into his sleeve. Then he headed to the Training Grounds.
He'd considered bringing Xiao Wu, but many areas of the Yamen were off-limits to Unofficial Runners; the Training Grounds among them.
The Training Grounds served all four districts (east, south, west, north), sprawling across a vast area.
From a distance, Ren Qing spotted dozens of constables practicing with blades and spears, an audience of Yamen Runners cheering them on.
His arrival drew sidelong glances; Corpse Burners and Cleaners rarely came here.
But soon, they lost interest.
All attention fixed on two men dueling at the center.
Their wooden swords, edged with blunted metal, clashed in intricate patterns. Every pivot, every feint spoke of refined swordsmanship; offense and defense in perfect balance.
Ren Qing grew bored after just a few moments.
These two clearly lacked killing intent. In a real fight, life or death would be decided in moves, not performances.
He turned toward the Martial Library flanking the Training Grounds. It housed manuals for body tempering, though only official Yamen Runners could actually study them.
Pushing open the door, Ren Qing was hit by the stench of mildew, the reek of rotting paper.
A cough escaped him. Others inside shot him annoyed looks.
Scanning the room, his hopes for "secret martial arts manuals" deflated. This place looked no different from a common bookstore.
Three sparse bookshelves stood in disarray, their contents ancient, some volumes already crumbling.
Ren Qing picked up a book at random. Its cover read: "Gentle Breeze Blade Technique."
After flipping through a few pages, he could only describe it as... thoroughly mediocre. While it detailed stances and strikes meticulously, this was far from the internal-external unified martial arts he'd imagined.
Still, he summoned his information flow without much hope; only to be startled by the result.
[Gentle Breeze Sword Art (Incomplete)]
[Created by Daoist Gentle Breeze. Contains 36 forms, renowned for speed and stability. Paired with internal energy cultivation, the sword gains ethereal fluidity.]
[Missing internal energy chapter. Cannot master by expending lifespan.]
Ren Qing's muscles tensed. He grabbed manual after manual in disbelief, but the results were nearly identical.
Every technique in the Martial Library was labeled as incomplete.
Had the Yamen deliberately redacted these martial arts?
He narrowed his eyes, pondering the implications.
The gap between martial arts and supernatural cultivation techniques was staggering. By normal logic, shouldn't the widely taught skills be the body-tempering martial arts?
And calling these grotesque cultivation techniques a path to immortality didn't exactly fit either.
Even Song Zongwu only had a lifespan cap of 300-plus years. The gains were pitiful compared to the risks.
How many practitioners even lived long enough to die of old age?
A headache brewing, Ren Qing massaged his temples. He felt he'd accidentally brushed against this world's horrifying truth.
Yet actual answers remained elusive.
Steadying himself, he reconsidered Song Zongwu's hint. The elder couldn't have known about his divine ability, so the clue must lie elsewhere, he wouldn't have just kicked him for no reason.
Methodically, Ren Qing worked through the shelves, checking each manual with his information flow before reshelving it.
His odd behavior drew increasingly hostile glares from the constables.
Just as one moved to confront him, Ren Qing grabbed a thick tome titled "Thatched Cottage Travelogue" and retreated to a corner.
Unlike the others, this wasn't a martial manual. Its contents were dry, absurd tales of ghosts and deities.
But as he began to read, hours slipped by unnoticed.
When sunset painted the windows gold, Ren Qing finally looked up; his usually impassive face flickering with revelation.
Around page 100, the Travelogue shifted. Mythical allegories began encoding truths about the supernatural and its practitioners.
From it, he surprisingly learned cultivation realms:
Martial Practitioner, Half-Corpse, Ghost Envoy, Yin Runner, Yang God, and finally Heavenly Abomination.
Someone like him; wielding supernatural arts while his body mutated but hadn't transcended mortality was a Martial Practitioner.
The first full transformation would elevate him to the Half-Corpse realm.
Different techniques led to wildly divergent mutations. The Blindless Method alone had three paths: Hundred-Eyed, One-Eyed, and Double-Pupiled; let alone other arts.
The Travelogue also answered his long-standing question:
"Mastering supernatural techniques usually demands extreme sacrifices. With such high barriers, are there no shortcuts?"
There were. And the shortcut lay in Martial Practitioners.
When cultivators died, they birthed supernatural remnants. Mortals could use these to bypass cultivation's early stages.
But only remnants from Martial Practitioners were relatively safe. Those from Half-Corpse or above carried grave risks.
For example: A Blindless Method Martial Practitioner's eyes would become remnants after death. Eating them could skip the 49-days cultivation period.
But such practitioners could only advance by consuming higher-tier remnants; capping their potential entirely.
Those who mastered techniques independently faced no such limits.
Most shocking: Restricted zones were intrinsically tied to these remnants.
When Half-Corpse cultivators died, their remnants gained sentience, moving within set boundaries; forming restricted zones.
Ren Qing's hand flew to his eyes. A chill crawled down his spine.
So the prison's restricted zone formed because a Human Skin Book practitioner died there.
Wait-
If a zone's danger scaled with the dead cultivator's realm, how horrific would a zone be if its creator had mastered multiple techniques…?
It was unthinkable.
Now he finally understood Song Zongwu's roundabout guidance.
His prison transformation had clearly linked him to the Human Skin Book. Song Zongwu likely assumed Ren Qing had ingested skin fragments to become a Martial Practitioner and thus ended up on a dead-end path.
From the elder's perspective: Why recruit a lifespan-drained, remnant-dependent Martial Practitioner with zero potential?
Song Zongwu's actions were already merciful; warning Ren Qing to hide his cultivation and avoid becoming prey for others.
For Ren Qing? The lower his profile, the better. Advancing to the Half-Corpse realm unnoticed was now the most important goal.