Chapter 49: Human Skin Book [Skin Refiner]
Ren Qing sat cross-legged in the dim cave, trying to find an opportunity to advance to Skin Refiner.
He had thought that once he was close to the bottleneck, the promotion would happen naturally.
But before he knew it, over half an hour had passed. Aside from the tingling numbness in his skin that refused to fade, he felt no sign of a breakthrough.
The corner of Ren Qing’s mouth twitched, and he opened his eyes.
He suddenly realized a crucial point.
Although Ren Qing had three Magic Techniques that had reached the Half-Corpse Realm, he had no actual experience with realm advancements.
’If I try to figure this out on my own, advancing anytime soon will be difficult. Something might even go wrong during my mining shift.’
Ren Qing gritted his teeth and took out an oil-paper package from his Abnormal Mouth.
The powder inside was made from poisonous herbs found in the nearby forest, dried and ground, then mixed with a bit of iron sand.
Zhou Qianshu had helped him make it. Ren Qing hadn’t paid any silver coins, just giving him some dried rations as a token of thanks.
Ren Qing took off his clothes and viciously rubbed the powder over his skin. A searing pain immediately spread through him.
HISS...
Ren Qing sucked in a sharp breath. If he didn’t absolutely have to advance to Skin Refiner tonight, he would never have used such an extreme method.
He had no intention of stopping. He continued until his skin turned a deep red and the poison began to seep into his very marrow.
This made the tingling numbness from the Human Skin Book grow even more intense.
Ren Qing did his best to calm his Mental Realm, focusing on the gradual transformation of the Magic Technique while occasionally swallowing a few Beast Eyes.
After more than half an hour, the pain from the poison started to fade, yet he still hadn’t sensed any sign of an impending breakthrough.
Ren Qing shook his head, slightly disappointed.
Just as he was about to apply more powder, he suddenly felt his blood begin to race, and a wave of inexplicable fear washed over him.
The bats in the cave flew out in swarms, as did the insects and rats.
Before Ren Qing could suppress the fear, a violent tearing sensation suddenly erupted from his skin.
He couldn’t help but look at his arm. The skin there was flowing like slime, looking utterly strange and horrifying.
Ren Qing’s pupils dilated as he suddenly realized something.
This was what happened to a Cultivator after death; he never imagined it would happen to his own body while he was still alive.
His skin seemed to be undergoing a mutation, attempting to fuse with his flesh and blood.
"What kind of hellish Magic Techniques are these?"
Ren Qing instinctively grabbed at his skin, trying to stop the mutation, but this only made it more active.
Whispers sounded in his ears.
He finally understood why Song Zongwu had been so surprised that he had advanced to the Half-Corpse Realm without a Dharma Protector. The process truly concealed an unimaginable horror.
Ren Qing steadied his Heart Spirit. ’If this gets any worse,’ he thought, ’I’ll just have to burn my Lifespan to force the advancement.’
Then, he began the Visualization for the No-Eyes Technique.
The whispers twisted into wretched screams, and the aura of the Heavy Pupil Technique immediately suppressed his mutating skin.
Only the bizarre can counter the bizarre.
Seeing this, Ren Qing swallowed a large number of Beast Eyes, and his stomach began to churn.
It was his first attempt at visualizing the Taotie Technique and the No-Eyes Technique simultaneously. To his surprise, thanks to his intense focus, he succeeded.
His skin returned to normal, showing no trace of its earlier mutation.
By the time the first rays of dawn streaked across the sky, the consciousness within the skin had been completely obliterated. This signified that his advancement to Skin Refiner was complete.
Unlike a forced advancement, Ren Qing had successfully overcome a tribulation, making his aura feel much more stable and profound.
The Information Flow surged.
[Ren Qing]
[Age: Seventeen]
[Lifespan: Six years, two hundred and eleven days]
[Skills: No-Eyes Technique (Repeater), Divine Sutra (Wolf-footed Man), Human Skin Book (Skin Refiner), Taotie Technique (Secondary Stomach User)]
’The Information Flow shows no abnormalities. This means advancing a Magic Technique on my own is feasible, but it’s impossible to avoid the risks.’
All of Ren Qing’s Magic Techniques had now reached the Half-Corpse Realm. The next step was to integrate them and achieve true mastery.
The Mutated Tree in his mind, which was related to the Human Skin Book, also showed new developments.
The three mutation paths for the Ghost Envoy Realm were as follows.
[Substitute Ghost Skin: Absorb injuries to evade death.]
[Boneless Blood Demon: Flesh and blood become formless.]
[Human-Faced Beast Demon: Fuse skin to become a beast.]
Ren Qing pondered for a moment. ’It seems the Boneless Blood Demon, the advancement for a Skin Peeler, will have even more terrifying control over flesh and blood.’
’The Herder’s path probably involves transforming into a beast. Judging by the Lifespan cost, it requires the greatest sacrifice.’
’As for my own path, Skin Refiner, while it offers no offensive abilities, it does a great job of shoring up my defensive weaknesses.’
To test the Skin Refiner’s ability, he found a relatively thick tree branch and smashed it hard against his right leg.
The branch broke on impact.
But Ren Qing couldn’t help but frown. He found a faint bruise had clearly appeared on his leg, which meant it hadn’t been completely blocked.
’My skin definitely feels tougher,’ he thought, ’but I was expecting immunity to blunt weapons.’
Ren Qing shook his head, slightly disappointed. Just as he was about to return to camp, he suddenly discovered that the injury could be controlled by his consciousness.
The mark of the bruise vanished from his leg and reappeared on his right arm.
His expression turned to one of surprise. ’It seems the potential of the Skin Refiner is in no way inferior to that of the Herder or the Skin Peeler. It might even be a cut above.’
Besides strengthening the skin’s toughness, the Skin Refiner’s main ability was actually controlling injuries.
Ren Qing picked up the Great Miao Blade and forcefully swiped it across the back of his hand.
He then noticed that wounds caused by sharp weapons could also be transferred, but the depth of the injury could not be changed.
In that case, weak points like his throat or groin were effectively gone.
And once he advanced to the Ghost Envoy Realm in the future, this ability would surely improve, granting him terrifyingly high survivability.
’No wonder it’s called "Substitute Ghost Skin."’
’If I can master a rapid-recovery Magic Technique on top of this, I’ll basically be invincible.’
Ren Qing couldn’t help but feel deeply satisfied.
Now that he had experience with advancing on his own, if he wanted to master the Sutra of Planting Demons next, he wouldn’t have to deliberately consume his Lifespan to reach the Half-Corpse Realm.
Once the matter of sealing the Disaster Mitigation Forbidden Area was over, he could accumulate Lifespan and prepare to break through to the Ghost Envoy Realm.
Ren Qing stretched his limbs and returned to the camp as the sky was just beginning to lighten.
Most of the Government Constables were already awake and diligently cutting down trees.
The prisoners had even less time to sleep.
But compared to entering the cavern, they preferred the high-intensity labor outside. At least out here, they weren’t in constant danger of losing their lives.
Song Zongwu had just exited the cavern, intending to eat something. When he saw Ren Qing, he asked, "Where were you so early in the morning?"
Ren Qing answered with an awkward smile, "I just had some free time, so I went hunting."
"Just hold on for a few more days. The excavation of the mountain is going quite smoothly."
"Alright, I’m heading in now."
Ren Qing quickly ducked into the cavern.
Song Zongwu watched his back and muttered to himself, "Why do I feel like something’s different about him? Could it be related to the Human Skin Book?"
"Or did his Taotie Technique break through to the Half-Corpse Realm? That’s really..."
Song Zongwu shook his head, thinking that after the excavation was complete, he would tell Ren Qing about the pros and cons of the Ghost Envoy Realm.