Ren Qing agreed on the surface, but in truth had already prepared to find time to advance the Taotie Method, as the degree of mutation wasn't obvious anyway.
He asked about some doubts encountered during cultivation. Song Zongwu answered exhaustively, even using himself as examples.
Unknowingly, their conversation turned to forbidden zones.
According to Song Zongwu, there were four forbidden zones near Sanxiang City. Two had core Supernatural Remnants at Ghost Envoy realm, and one at Yin Runner realm.
The situation of the remaining Disaster Dispelling Forbidden Zone was unclear and required investigation first.
Because forbidden zones were scattered outside the city, trade between towns was limited, with only water routes being slightly safer.
Ren Qing's heart sank. Since cultivators could advance through self-cultivation, the number of forbidden zones must be uncontrollable.
Then why would Restraint Officers allow gangs to expose ordinary people to techniques?
He couldn't help but ask Song Zongwu, who remained silent for a long time without giving a clear explanation, only vaguely telling Ren Qing:
"For cultivators, forbidden zones are just one of the threats across the vast land..."
Ren Qing understood his perspective was limited by his strength and didn't press further, but became more eager to reach Ghost Envoy realm.
Song Zongwu still needed to prepare for sealing the forbidden zone. After giving some instructions, he left the Corpse Burners' Hall.
Ren Qing didn't continue cultivation, but rested properly for the night.
Upon waking, he noticed bodily changes, the pork that had filled his stomach was already completely digested.
This speed was absolutely impossible before, indicating improved digestion and enhanced life-extending effects from pig eyes.
Thinking of this, Ren Qing felt slightly excited. If he could solve the lifespan shortage problem, reaching Ghost Envoy realm would be within sight.
At the current rate, continuously consuming pig eyes for twelve hours daily would still require at least half a year to accumulate enough.
Even if this was already unattainable for others, he felt deeply insecure in this world.
And to be safe, it was best to reach fifteen years of lifespan before advancing to Ghost Envoy realm.
Otherwise, if something unexpected happened after advancement, like being trapped in a forbidden zone without access to life extension, it would be very troublesome.
Controlling all pig eyes in the western city, Ren Qing found through experiments that the life-extending effect had reached fourteen to fifteen days daily.
But before Ren Qing could rejoice for long, he then noticed that as total lifespan increased, the life-extending effect of pig eyes had actually weakened slightly.
Ren Qing immediately realized there must be a specific upper limit to eye-swallowing life extension.
He wasn't discouraged, after all, achieving immortality just by eating raw pig eyes was indeed unrealistic, and he still needed to find new life-extending methods.
Even a bold idea formed in Ren Qing's mind:
Searching technique by technique was too inefficient. Why not go to technique-rich forbidden zones to look? Of course, the prerequisite was having sufficient strength.
Ren Qing suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart.
He resumed his daily cultivation routine, practicing blade skills and meditation day after day.
Unknowingly, the yamen had completed preparations for sealing the forbidden zone.
Sanxiang City's residents could clearly sense the impending storm. The number of patrolling constables on each street had multiplied, and those wanting to enter the city needed to have their belongings inspected.
The gangs behaved obediently without causing trouble, allowing the braised meat business to develop steadily, gradually expanding to all streets and alleys in the western city.
All pork offal was stewed and braised by Butcher Zhang, with the finished products distributed to stalls connected to the Blood Dog Gang.
According to Song Zongwu, because the involved forbidden zone was rather bizarre, only five Restraint Officers participated, along with over ten yamen runners.
The largest contingent was several thousand soldiers, tasked with clearing bandits near the forbidden zone to avoid disturbing the Restraint Officers.
The bandit suppression lasted about three days. The bandits' corpses weren't brought back to Sanxiang City, but were burned on site.
Only after the soldiers returned would the Restraint Officers set out for the Disaster Dispelling Forbidden Zone.
They needed to determine the forbidden zone's approximate location in advance, so they departed first.
The yamen runners would follow another day later, divided into groups of five Corpse Burners and two constables, each taking different routes.
The routes were all predetermined to be safe, with means to contact Restraint Officers even if danger was encountered.
The group leaders were Corpse Burner managers, accompanied by Unofficial Runners.
Ren Qing chose to bring Xiao Wu simply because he was small in stature, in wolf form, he could be grabbed and quickly carried away.
As Restraint Officers departed one after another, the time for yamen runners to leave the city approached.
Naturally, Ren Qing had plans. Once Song Zongwu left Sanxiang City, he immediately began preparing to advance the Taotie Method.
Several days earlier, he had instructed Butcher Zhang to collect large quantities of pig eyes.
For him, the alternate stomach's pocket dimension was extremely important, ensuring he could carry pig eyes with him.
As long as pig eyes were available, it meant even if injured, he could recover in a short time, greatly increasing safety.
Learning they would depart for the forbidden zone tomorrow,
Ren Qing chose to advance the Taotie Method late at night. The process was thrilling but without real danger.
A fist-sized alternate stomach appeared beside his original one. Superficially it seemed useless, but inside was a one cubic meter space.
For storing pig eyes, it could easily hold several dozen to a hundred jin.
As for the alternate mouth's location, Ren Qing chose the palm of his right hand, making retrieving items extremely convenient.
When the alternate mouth opened, one could see densely packed tiny teeth, enough to make one's hair stand on end.
But Ren Qing had already unconsciously grown accustomed to this underworld aesthetic, even finding this mouth somewhat uniquely cute.
Besides storing pig eyes, Ren Qing also bought some hidden weapons from Zhao Hu.
Though his throwing accuracy was poor, the advantage was being able to retrieve them silently through the alternate mouth, which might prove useful.
Apart from the pocket dimension, the Secondary Stomach provided almost no combat enhancement, but the next advancement would be completely different.
[Prison Within the Abdomen: Stomach as Shackles]
As the name suggested, the alternate stomach's space would undergo significant changes and could even restrain others.
As for the Taotie Method's other two mutation paths, they were:
[Mountain Spirit: Body Contains All Things]
[Mouth Spits Dark Spring: Melts Souls and Erodes Bones]
Among these, Mountain Spirit required greater cost exemption and consumed the most lifespan, reaching one and a half years.
Ren Qing carried medicine and dry rations with him, with the large miaodao blade openly strapped to his back.
As for Xiao Wu, no weapon was truly satisfactory, so he simply took a large iron pot that could double as defense.
Besides them, Zhu Ding from Hexing Street also joined the team.
Zhu Ding originally didn't need to go outside the city, having just taken up his post, but his lack of seniority left him no choice sometimes.
Seeing this, Ren Qing requested him from Clerk Zhao, allowing Zhu Ding and Xiao Wu to look out for each other.
The other two Corpse Burners in the group were unfamiliar faces from the Eastern Street Corpse Burners' Hall, already in their early thirties.
The constables were similar; they had never even been dispatched outside the city by the yamen before, they seemed even less brave than Xiao Wu.