The morning sun rose.
Thin smoke drifted steadily from the furnace. Ever since the incident with the reanimated corpse, Xiao Wu and the other two would rather take overnight shifts than let the furnace fire go out.
Besides, these were just the corpses of drowned fishermen; seven or eight hours was enough to finish processing all of them.
Bo Feng got up early specifically to teach Xiao Wu and the other two some Corpse Burner experience, including how to temporarily handle all kinds of strange situations they might encounter on the job.
Several peaceful days passed like this.
During this time, Ren Qing mostly stayed in his room while cultivating, only occasionally going out.
Even though he was prepared to expend his lifespan for his breakthrough, that didn't mean cultivation itself was useless, at the very least, it tempered his mental state.
Ren Qing's cultivation routine could be summarized as follows: First, he would visualize the Blindless Method for two hours.
Then he would use a wooden stick to beat his entire body until bruises formed, letting the Human Skin Book gradually heal them afterward.
He didn't know the specific cultivation method for the Human Skin Book, but after several days of this type of self-abuse, his skin had indeed become slightly tougher.
Ren Qing had also figured out how to conceal his eye mutations.
The method was to adjust how much he closed his eyes, by squinting slightly, he could cover part of the whites.
Changes in speech and behavior could easily draw attention from acquaintances, but gradual changes in appearance were much harder to notice.
After trying this for several days, he found it actually worked; at least Xiao Wu hadn't noticed anything.
Now that there were no more concerns, Ren Qing planned to proceed with advancing to Double Pupils.
But first, he needed to prepare some fresh pig's eyes to restore his energy in case of any accidents happening.
Ren Qing went to Butcher Zhang's meat stall again.
He noticed that Butcher Zhang looked terrible, his face pale and his body noticeably thinner than before.
"What's wrong, Brother Zhang?"
Butcher Zhang rubbed his slightly swollen eyes and shook his head. "I don't know why, but these past few days, if I keep my eyes open too long, they start stinging badly."
"A-Qing, I've been to several clinics, but nothing helps."
Ren Qing's heart skipped a beat. He noticed Butcher Zhang was blinking excessively, and his eyeballs seemed slightly bulging.
"Brother Zhang, let me take a look?"
"...Alright."
Butcher Zhang sat on a stool. Ren Qing leaned in close to examine him.
When he pressed gently on the eyelids, Butcher Zhang's forehead immediately broke out in fine sweat. The burly man couldn't help but let out a pained groan.
"It hurts..."
Ren Qing frowned. His information flow showed nothing unusual about Butcher Zhang...
Wait-
Wrong!!!
Very Wrong!!!!
Butcher Zhang originally had fifteen years of lifespan, but now it had decreased by three full years.
This couldn't just be some sudden illness. Even complete blindness wouldn't reduce lifespan so drastically.
Butcher Zhang asked nervously: "What's wrong, A-Qing? Is it serious?"
"It's nothing. Probably just some blood splatter from butchering that got in your eyes. Rest well and it'll clear up."
Though he said this, Ren Qing privately suspected this to be related to the Hundred-Eyed One.
After lying low for days, the Hundred-Eyed One had likely returned to the western district and was now tying up loose ends by eliminating Butcher Zhang, who might recognize him.
"That's a relief. I've been so worried I couldn't even enjoy drinking lately."
Butcher Zhang exhaled. He was desperate enough to trust Ren Qing's completely unqualified "diagnosis."
Realizing the Hundred-Eyed One might be watching the butcher stall, Ren Qing asked no further questions to avoid unnecessarily provoking him.
To maintain appearances, he bought several pig heads. He'd extract the eyes later at the Corpse Burners' Hall, while the meat could go to Xiao Wu and the others.
Walking back with the sack of pig heads, a chilling realization struck Ren Qing. Bo Feng's earlier words echoed in his mind:
"The neck cuts were too clean. Not like blade marks. More like the heads... seperated and walked away on their own."
His steps slowed. Had he misunderstood everything?
The victims weren't beheaded because the Hundred-Eyed One was cautious:
He could make heads detach on their own.
As another Blindless Method practitioner, Ren Qing knew: The Hundred-Eyed One had to die. Or eventually, he'd come for Ren Qing too.
After calming himself down, Ren Qing returned to the Corpse Burners' Hall.
After he dug out the pig's eyes, he gave the remaining pig head meat to Bofeng to deal with, and then headed over to Clerk Zhao to inquire about the news.
Despite his cold demeanor, Clerk Zhao was cooperative. He remembered Ren Qing saving lives in the prison and shared the files with him.
Ren Qing spent some time looking through the files of the unsolved case, but they only recorded information about the preliminary investigation.
According to the detectives' investigation; the deceased had suffered from a severe eye disease in the last few days of his life, which then worsened into severe headaches.
"Why your interest in these cases?" Clerk Zhao asked, seeing just how absorbed with the matter Ren Qing was.
"Sir, haven't you noticed? Every district except ours has had decapitations. It's only a matter of time."
"Restraint Officers are handling it," Clerk Zhao said dismissively.
"I'm just being cautious."
Ren Qing didn't trust the Restraint Officers. They'd likely use Butcher Zhang as bait to lure the killer out of hiding.
After returning, Ren Qing prepared for closed-door cultivation. He needed to reach the Half-Corpse realm immediately; only Double Pupils could help him identify the Hundred-Eyed One in the city's crowds.
Bo Feng sighed as Ren Qing delegated all duties to him. So much for escaping supervisory work...
He clearly came to the market to avoid doing chores, but why did he feel even busier than before?
In his darkened room, Ren Qing sat cross-legged.
He first reviewed the problems he had encountered in his practice to ensure that nothing was missed.
It was not until late at night that Ren Qing actually began the final Blindless Method visualization of the Martial Practitioner realm.
This time, he'd confront the darkness entity directly, to eliminate any mental vulnerabilities before his breakthrough.
The familiar void enveloped him. Strange whispers circled around him.
Footsteps approached. Ren Qing stared ahead unblinking, even smiling.
The darkness parted. A shadowy humanoid figure emerged and gradually morphed into Ren Qing's exact likeness.
"To face fear without flinching... So this is the Double Pupil's essence."
He'd discovered the true breakthrough method. Given time, he could reach Half-Corpse through pure cultivation.
"But time is the one thing I lack."
Ren Qing ended the meditation.
His information flow surged and activated, with this; the mutation began.