Song Zongwu's arm slammed down.
BAM!!!
A massive bang echoed out. The resulting shockwave sent the surrounding Fireworkers flying, knocking them all unconscious.
Only Ren Qing managed to cling to a sliver of consciousness, forced to continue enduring the agonizing torment.
'Mastering the Human Skin Book is taking longer than I thought.' He had no spare energy to pay attention to what was happening.
Song Zongwu opened his palm. The human face wasn't badly damaged; it even let out a piercing, strange laugh.
He slapped it a few more times.
The wild smile on Song Zongwu's face faded slightly. He found that the human face was like a maggot burrowing into his bone, desperately trying to drill into his body.
"Do you really think you can do anything to me?"
He tore the human face off, along with a chunk of his own flesh and blood, and threw it directly against the wall.
The wall instantly caved in, forming a deep pit. Unfortunately, this didn't have much effect on the human face. It crawled through the cracks in the bricks, intending to absorb the Fireworkers to recover from its injuries.
Just then, hundreds upon thousands of centipedes swarmed in from the hallway, surrounding everyone, including Ren Qing.
"Hah!!"
Song Zongwu seized the opportunity. He pushed off with his legs to close the distance and smashed the human face with a single punch.
Although the human face reformed, its volume was now much smaller. Its previously venomous expression had turned to one of extreme fear.
"Elder Song, all the fragments of the human skin have been obtained. Only this face is left."
Li Yaoyang walked slowly down the steps.
His Conical Hat was off. His appearance seemed no different from an ordinary person's, but when he opened his mouth, it was filled with all sorts of insects.
The human face was forced into a corner by the centipedes. Li Yaoyang prepared to press his advantage.
Miss Bai, a beat too slow, saw this scene. She instinctively drew the Longsword from her waist and threw it without hesitation.
The Longsword traced a graceful arc, pinning the human face to the wall so it couldn't move. However, it also sliced off half of Li Yaoyang's head.
Li Yaoyang subconsciously touched his head and found his hand covered in blood and brain matter.
He said, sounding rather helpless, "Miss Bai, I told you not to draw your sword..."
Miss Bai replied coolly, "I see. So my Swordsmanship is this strong."
Li Yaoyang looked like he wanted to say more but stopped, letting out a helpless sigh instead. Immediately, hundreds of maggots covered the wound, and his head began to slowly regenerate.
He turned to Song Zongwu and said, "Elder Song, you see? This restricted area isn't highly dangerous, but it's still quite troublesome."
Song Zongwu snorted coldly. Inwardly, he had to admit that if he had recklessly barged into the restricted area, he really would have been at risk of possession.
Song Zongwu grabbed the human face, tore it in half, and handed it to Li Yaoyang. "The anomaly created by the Human Skin Book is completely unnoticeable unless you see it with your own eyes."
"Mm, it's never wrong to be cautious."
Li Yaoyang raised his right hand, and the dense swarm of centipedes returned to his body.
"I'll use the Brain-Eating Insects to blur some of these Fireworkers' memories. They'll still have a vague recollection, but at least they won't go mad because of it. Also..."
As he spoke, Li Yaoyang's tone grew excited. "Those few corpses that were eaten hollow are truly interesting."
Song Zongwu waved his hand dismissively. "Do what you want with them."
Li Yaoyang's expression returned to its usual indifference. He began to clean up the corpses in the Prison, tossing them all into a pit dug by the centipedes.
By now, Ren Qing was mostly fine. He first checked his own information.
[Ren Qing]
[Age: Seventeen]
[Lifespan: Four years, ninety-three days]
[Skills: No-Eyes Technique, Human Skin Book]
'Mastering the Human Skin Book cost me a whole year of my Lifespan. What a heartache.'
Ren Qing couldn't quite figure it out. 'The No-Eyes Technique only consumed thirty days. Could the cost be related to the exemption?'
'I'll worry about my Lifespan later.'
A new sprout had grown in his mind. When his consciousness gently touched it, the branches of the Human Skin Book appeared before his eyes.
[Skin Peeler: Shed skin to cheat death]
[Skin Refiner: Refine one's own skin]
[Herder: Herd humans as livestock]
After a brief look, Ren Qing dismissed the Information Flow.
However, he didn't dare open his eyes. He had to feign unconsciousness to avoid attracting the Forbidden Guards' attention.
Song Zongwu yawned and said, sounding a bit impatient, "Release the Brain-Eating Insects. It's about time we left."
Li Yaoyang nodded. Then, a black beetle the size of a fingernail crawled out of his left ear and flew into the mouths of every Fireworker present.
Ren Qing was no exception. He clamped his teeth shut, desperately trying to prevent the black beetle from entering his mouth, lest the Brain-Eating Insect damage his brain.
A moment later, the Brain-Eating Insects crawled back into Li Yaoyang's ear.
The trio of Song Zongwu, Li Yaoyang, and Miss Bai turned to leave.
Ren Qing couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. 'If their main goal had been to cause injury, I definitely wouldn't have been able to stop it.'
Suddenly, Song Zongwu stopped in his tracks. His six eyes scanned the surroundings. When they landed on Ren Qing, a strange expression appeared on his face.
He nudged Ren Qing with the tip of his foot and muttered to himself.
"They say that every ten years, one book in the world turns into a Human Skin Book. The place in our Government Office with the most books should be the Martial Arts Arena, right?"
Song Zongwu walked straight out of the Prison, leaving the utter mess on the floor for Clerk Zhao to handle.
The Government Office urgently transferred Government Constables from various districts. The unconscious Fireworkers were carried out of the Prison, and doctors were specifically summoned to treat them.
Ren Qing continued to play dead. He had been genuinely terrified by Song Zongwu.
The moment the man touched him, the information had been revealed.
[Song Zongwu]
[Age: Eighty-six]
[Lifespan: Two hundred fifty-three years]
[Skill: Asura Skill (Four-armed Yama) ???]
[???]
'A string of question marks followed. It seems that when facing someone as overwhelmingly powerful as Song Zongwu, the information I can get is incomplete.'
'As for why the "Asura Skill" was visible, it's probably just because Song Zongwu had displayed it. His other hidden techniques remain unknown.'
[The Asura Skill was created by a Nameless Ascetic Monk. Its cultivation requires one to be born with both arms missing and to endure the five great precepts of the Buddhist Sect without fail. Upon mastery, two arms will grow.]
[The Four-armed Yama is an advancement from the Three-armed Judge.]
'Judging from the description of the Asura Skill, Song Zongwu should be a man of good character. So, could there have been some deeper meaning to his actions and words as he left?'
Ren Qing had a faint guess, but he didn't rush to verify it. Instead, after the doctor finished examining him, he returned to the Firework Hall.
Thirty-five Fireworkers survived. This was mainly because the Forbidden Guards acted in time, and also because Ren Qing had delayed the human face for a short while.
The few who died accidentally on the stairs were mostly trampled to death by the crowd.
As for Xiaowu and his two companions, they had sensibly stuck close to the wall and didn't run around recklessly.
The fact that all the Fireworkers from Tan Street survived was an anomaly. Some less fortunate groups of five didn't even leave behind complete corpses.
However, any Government Constable serving in the Government Office was already prepared to die. Their families would receive a generous sum of pension silver coins.
The survivors, due to the Brain-Eating Insects, had forgotten what happened in the Prison. They all seemed listless and would need some time to recover.
Naturally, Ren Qing didn't want to appear special, so he obediently stayed in his room for a few days.