Li Mian sighed. "Something feels off about the plague outside the city."
Li Heng nodded worriedly. "Bo Feng has been asking around among the constables. Let's wait until he returns before jumping to conclusions."
Ren Qing, however, wasn't too concerned. If soldiers come, we'll block them; if water comes, we'll dam it. After all, Forbidden Zones couldn't move, so there was no way they'd affect Sanxiang City.
Still, he planned to advance the Divine Leg Sutra as soon as possible. Once the Corpse Burners from Hexing Street returned, the hall would be crowded, making breakthroughs inconvenient.
As for the choice of mutation path..
The Leopard-Footed path might offer greater burst power, but like the Elephant-Footed, it was somewhat extreme.
For Ren Qing, the Wolf-Footed's "Walk a Thousand Miles" likely enhanced endurance. If he were ever trapped in a Forbidden Zone, survivability alone would be an advantage.
As night approached, he began preparing dinner. With the iron pot now in the courtyard, there was no need to go to the kitchen.
The aroma of food soon filled the air, and the others gathered with bowls and chopsticks.
Since there were no bodies burning in the furnace, they simply set the meal on the stone table. The cool spring breeze made the atmosphere rather pleasant.
It wasn't until then that Bo Feng finally rushed back.
Li Mian immediately asked, "Brother Bo, what's the situation with the Corpse Burners from Hexing Street?"
"I probed the constables for information. It probably has nothing to do with the plague, but since they're being kept in the Reflection Chamber for observation, they should be fine."
Xiao Wu asked vaguely, "Were they injured?"
"Three of them are unharmed and just mentally shaken."
Xiao Wu and the others froze for a moment, but soon returned to normal.
Unconsciously, the number of Corpse Burners they discussed had shrunk to three, as if two had never existed.
"Wait…"
Ren Qing suddenly felt something was off. He vaguely remembered there being more than three, but upon careful recollection, the number seemed correct.
"We talked about this earlier, didn't we? Li Mian, how many did you say there were?"
Li Mian answered firmly, "Three. But I only heard it from others."
Ren Qing closed his eyes and thought for a long time, a dull ache forming in his head.
He used his finger to carve the character "叁" (three) into the underside of the stone table, then forcibly suppressed the unease in his heart.
After dinner, the others cleaned up.
Ren Qing practiced his sword techniques for a while before an inexplicable sense of urgency drove him back to his room to advance the Divine Leg Sutra.
He shut the doors and windows, meditated on the Blindless Method for two hours, and only when midnight approached did he summon the information stream.
[Will you choose the Wolf-footed branch? It will cost 1 year of lifespan.]
He had already steeled himself. With his previous breakthrough experience, the year of lifespan vanished instantly.
Time passed second by second.
But the expected agony never came. Instead, it felt like the calm before a storm.
Ren Qing waited for over another hour. Aside from digesting his dinner, nothing unusual happened.
Then, his gaze fell on the pig eyes by his bedside.
Suddenly, irritation welled up inside him.
His right hand moved on its own, grabbing the pig eyes and shoving them toward his mouth. The metallic tang of blood violently assaulted his taste buds.
He felt like a starving lone wolf deep in the mountains, his mind consumed by the instinct to feed.
The pig eyes were a finger's breadth from his lips when he forced himself to stop.
The last shreds of his consciousness warned him that if he ate them now, his rationality might collapse, turning him into a beast.
But his grip was too tight. Drops of blood dripped from the pig eyes.
His tongue instinctively licked the blood at the corner of his lips.
That was all it took.
His defenses crumbled. He devoured all the pig eyes in one gulp.
Yet the hunger still wasn't satisfied.
Step by step, he walked toward the door.
Just as he was about to charge outside;
His double pupils rotated.
Reason returned.
The moment Ren Qing suppressed his bestial urges, the muscles in his legs suddenly bulged, and silver-white fur sprouted.
His toenails grew sharper, harder…
But unfortunately, the werewolf transformation stopped at his legs, refusing to spread further.
The lupine features faded away, and the dim room returned to silence.
Ren Qing exhaled. It had been a close call.
If he'd known the Divine Leg Sutra breakthrough would cause this, he would've chained himself up beforehand.
The real problem was the pig eyes. Because he was used to eating raw flesh, his resistance to bestial instincts was low, giving them an opening.
This proved that even at the Half-Corpse Realm, advancing in lower-realm techniques wasn't risk-free.
He summoned the information stream, confirming the mutation was complete.
[Techniques: Blindless Method (Double Pupils), Divine Leg Sutra (Wolf-footed), Human Skin Scripture]
Ren Qing immediately checked his legs.
Aside from more defined muscles and silver-tinged leg hair, the changes from Wolf-footed were barely noticeable.
He attempted to activate the Divine Leg Sutra. His leg muscles swelled, and thick wolf fur sprouted, but the transformation still didn't spread beyond his lower body.
Perhaps because he'd just mastered Wolf-footed, fully becoming a half-human, half-beast would take more time.
The cultivation method for Divine Leg Sutra, however, had been instinctively imprinted in his mind.
Ren Qing stepped outside and sat cross-legged in the courtyard.
The clouds were thin, the moon hung high, and stars dotted the sky.
With each breath, he felt the gentle moonlight seep into his flesh, a warm current spreading through his blood from his feet.
If he wanted to speed up cultivation, he could drink wolf blood beforehand.
But Ren Qing had no intention of seeking wolf blood. The risks far outweighed the benefits.
The resources for Divine Leg Sutra cultivation were surely controlled by the Blood Dog Gang. If he went looking, he might expose himself.
Ren Qing closed his eyes, connecting with the newly grown mutation tree. The Ghost Envoy Realm advancement paths for Divine Leg Sutra appeared before him.
[Calamity-Striding Wolf: Hidden Malice]
[Mountain-Sized Elephant: Monstrous Strength]
[Five-Tailed Fierce Leopard: Life as Cheap as Grass]
The Divine Leg Sutra focused on physical enhancement, the polar opposite of the Blindless Method, allowing him to compensate for his weaknesses.
Unable to resist, Ren Qing leapt onto the roof, scanning his surroundings.
Once he confirmed no patrolling constables were nearby, he tested his new speed with sprint drills.
Even without activating his wolf legs, his speed had increased by over 50%.
He nearly crashed into a wall but reacted in time.
He still couldn't fully control it, there was definitely more practice was needed.
Unfortunately, once the Hexing Street Corpse Burners were released from the Reflection Chamber, he wouldn't be able to train so freely in the hall.
Even eating pig eyes would require caution, how could he explain devouring several pounds daily?
Suddenly, Ren Qing remembered something, his expression darkening.
How many survivors were there from Hexing Street's Corpse Burners, really?
He bent down, checking the underside of the stone table for the "three" character he'd carved earlier.
Three?
With this doubt lingering, he returned to his room to sleep, planning to visit the Reflection Chamber tomorrow.