Ren Qing sat cross-legged in the dimly lit cave, attempting to find the breakthrough moment for advancing to Leather Refiner.
Originally he was thinking that being near the bottleneck would naturally lead to a breakthrough.
But unknowingly, over half an hour had already passed, with only the tingling sensation on his skin remaining and no feeling of breakthrough whatsoever.
Ren Qing's mouth twitched, then he opened his eyes.
He suddenly realized the most crucial point.
Although Ren Qing had three techniques at Half-Corpse realm, he actually had no experience with advancing any technique.
If he had to figure it out alone, achieving a breakthrough in a short time would be tough, and unexpected changes might even occur during mining.
Gritting his teeth, Ren Qing took out an oil-paper package from his Abnormal Mouth.
The powder inside came from poisonous herbs found near the mountains, dried and ground, mixed with some iron sand.
All prepared by Zhou Qianwu without much payment, just some symbolic dry rations given in return.
Ren Qing removed his clothes and vigorously rubbed the powder on his skin, a burning pain spreading immediately.
Sss...
Ren Qing sucked in a cold breath. If not for the necessity of advancing to Leather Refiner tonight, he would never use such extreme methods.
He didn't stop until his entire skin turned deep red, the toxicity gradually seeping into his bones, making the tingling from Human Skin Book intensify.
Ren Qing tried to calm his mind, feeling the gradual transformation of the technique, occasionally swallowing some beast eyes.
After over half a shichen, the pain from the toxins began to fade, but still no breakthrough moment was sensed.
Ren Qing shook his head slightly in disappointment.
Just as he was about to apply more powder, he suddenly felt his blood flow rapidly, an inexplicable fear surging up.
Bats in the cave flew out in groups, insects and rodents doing the same.
Before Ren Qing could suppress the fear, a tearing sensation erupted on his skin.
He couldn't help but look at his arm, the skin there was flowing like mucus in an extremely bizarre manner.
Ren Qing's pupils dilated as he suddenly realized something.
This was similar to the scene when the deceased cultivator underwent grotesque transformation, never expecting it to happen to himself now.
His skin seemed to be undergoing grotesque transformation, attempting to merge with the flesh and blood.
"What kind of grotesque style are these techniques?"
Instinctively, Ren Qing grabbed his skin, trying to stop the disgusting transformation, but the human skin became even more active instead.
Strange, incomprehensible whispers sounded in his ears..
He finally understood why Song Zongwu was surprised at his advancing to Half-Corpse realm without protection, there truly was hidden, unknown terror in it.
Ren Qing steadied his mind. If all else failed, he could consume lifespan to force advancement.
Then he visualized Blindless Method.
The whispers suddenly turned into miserable screams as the aura of the Dual Pupil technique directly suppressed the grotesquely transforming skin.
Only the grotesque can oppose the grotesque.
Seeing this, Ren Qing swallowed a large number of eyeballs, his stomach beginning to squirm.
For the first time, he attempted simultaneous visualization of the Taotie Method and the Blindless Method, unexpectedly succeeding under intense his mental focus.
The human skin returned to normal, showing no signs of the earlier grotesque transformation.
Only when the morning sun cast its first light did the human skin's consciousness completely dissipate, marking the successful advancement to Leather Refiner.
Compared to the forced advancement, having overcome the tribulation, Ren Qing's aura became far more steady.
The Information Stream surged.
[Ren Qing]
[Age: Seventeen]
[Lifespan: Six years, two hundred eleven days]
[Techniques: Blindless Method (Double Pupil), Divine Leg Sutra (Wolf-footed), Human Skin Book (Leather Refiner), Taotie Method (Secondary Stomach)]
The Information Stream showed no abnormalities, indicating that autonomous technique advancement was actually feasible, though not without risks.
Now all of Ren Qing's techniques had reached Half-Corpse realm. Next was to thoroughly integrate them.
In his mind, the mutation tree for the Human Skin Book gained new developments.
The three mutation paths for Ghost Envoy realm were:
[Scapegoat Skin: Absorb wounds without dying]
[Boneless Bloodfiend: Flesh and blood are formless]
[Human-Faced Beast Demon: Merge skin to become a beast]
After some thought, Ren Qing realized that the Boneless Bloodfiend advancement would likely have a terrifying control over flesh and blood.
The Human-Faced Beast Demon path probably involved transforming into beast form through some means, requiring the most lifespan consumption for exemption.
As for Ren Qing's Leather Refiner, while lacking offensive means, it perfectly compensated for defensive shortcomings.
To test the Leather Refiner's abilities, he found a thick branch and heavily struck his right leg.
The branch snapped.
But Ren Qing frowned, a faint bruise clearly appeared on his leg, obviously the defense was incomplete.
The skin did feel tougher, but his expectation had been complete immunity to blunt force.
Shaking his head slightly in disappointment, Ren Qing was about to return to camp when he suddenly discovered the injury could be controlled by his consciousness!
The bruise disappeared from his leg, reappearing on his right arm instead.
His expression turned surprised, the Leather Refiner's potential was no less than any of its sibling paths, perhaps even superior.
Besides toughening the skin, Leather Refiner mainly controlled injuries.
Ren Qing took his great Miao blade and made a forceful cut on his hand.
He noticed sharp-instrument wounds could also be transferred, though the wound depth couldn't be changed.
This meant...
Weak points like throat or groin would essentially cease to exist, and after advancing to Ghost Envoy realm, the abilities would surely improve further, representing a clear terrifying survivability.
No wonder it was called "Scapegoat Skin."
With another rapid-recovery technique, he'd be practically invincible.
Ren Qing couldn't help but feel deeply satisfied.
With this autonomous advancement experience, when mastering the Demon Seed Sutra later, he wouldn't need to deliberately consume his lifespan to reach Half-Corpse realm.
Once the Disaster-Dispelling Forbidden Zone sealing was completed, he could accumulate lifespan in preparation for breaking through to Ghost Envoy realm.
Stretching his limbs, Ren Qing returned to camp at dawn.
Most constables were already awake, diligently cutting wood.
The prisoners got even less sleep.
But compared to entering the limestone cave, they preferred high-intensity labor outside, at least death wasn't an imminent threat.
Song Zongwu, just out of the cave for food, noticed Ren Qing and asked: "Where did you go so early?"
Ren Qing smiled awkwardly: "Just went hunting with some free time."
"Hold on a few more days. The mountain excavation is progressing smoothly."
"Right, going now."
Ren Qing hurried into the cave.
Song Zongwu watched his retreating figure and murmured: "Something feels different... could it be related to the Human Skin Book?"
"Or did the Taotie Method break through to Half-Corpse realm? That would be..."
Shaking his head, Song Zongwu decided to explain the pros and cons of Ghost Envoy realm to Ren Qing after the digging was complete.