After Kingpin finished speaking, his face ashen, he slowly stood up and walked out of the Martial Arts Hall.
He and Chen Lihua stood together at the entrance, seemingly waiting for something.
Ren Qing's expression was strange. Having seen veteran actors in his past life, he felt that Kingpin's every move was unnatural.
He glanced around with his peripheral vision. Everyone else was sitting motionless on their puduans, but the sweat beading on their faces revealed their inner turmoil.
Negative emotions gradually began to brew.
After a long while, a dark-skinned man broke down.
He muttered to himself, "I can't die. I have family waiting for me..."
The dark-skinned man stumbled back several steps, but when he was behind the crowd, he suddenly pulled a wooden stake from his robes.
He viciously plunged the wooden stake into another man's back, soaking his clothes with blood.
The dark-skinned man snapped out of it as if waking from a dream. He stared in horror at his bloody hands, his legs giving out as he collapsed to the ground.
The Martial Arts Hall disciples in the corner couldn't help but laugh mockingly.
The injured man touched his back in shock. Seeing that the wound hadn't reached his internal organs, he lunged at the dark-skinned man without hesitation. The brawl escalated.
Ren Qing, on the other hand, was ignored.
However, as time went on, someone was bound to take a desperate risk.
Hong Biao had been running with a gang called the Cyan Shrimp Society for some time. Although he had no title, he had plenty of Jianghu experience.
He felt that the newcomer, Ren Qing, was completely inscrutable.
'If I just ambush and kill this guy, I'll surely be the last one standing, and my chances of holding out until the Government Office finds us will be the highest.'
Hong Biao threw a merciless punch toward the back of Ren Qing's neck.
"Don't blame me for being ruthless. Just accept your death quietly."
Ren Qing didn't understand what was happening at the Martial Arts Hall, so he had planned to stay out of it for now. But it seemed he couldn't avoid being dragged in after all.
The Wooden Blade was drawn.
A simple slash of the blade, yet it created the illusion of being completely unavoidable.
To the onlookers, it was as if Hong Biao had deliberately moved toward Ren Qing's Wooden Blade.
'How is that possible?!'
Hong Biao protected his head with his arms.
Ren Qing twisted his wrist, and the Wooden Blade's trajectory instantly changed, piercing straight into the top of Hong Biao's foot.
Blood splattered everywhere.
Hong Biao screamed in pain and instinctively tried to pull the Wooden Blade from his foot.
Ren Qing snorted coldly. He chopped Hong Biao's neck with the edge of his right hand, and as the man passed out, he was tossed toward the doorway.
Chen Lihua's voice was filled with excitement as she said, "That's enough."
At once, the room fell silent.
Everyone stopped their life-or-death struggles and returned to their puduans without another word, forcing themselves to endure even as their wounds bled and festered.
Hong Biao was dragged away from outside the door, and the two Martial Arts Hall disciples in the corner also left the room.
The main door was locked with an iron chain.
Everyone remained wary of one another, especially those who were severely injured. Ren Qing found himself subtly isolated.
Just as Ren Qing was about to ask a question, a small, thin figure sidled up to him and whispered, "Big Brother, I'm a Black Slave from Chenyang Street. My name is Jiang Jie."
Jiang Jie swallowed and asked, "I've seen you at the Government Office. Big Brother, did the Government Office know you were coming to the Martial Arts Hall?"
Ren Qing shook his head. "No, they didn't. But if I'm missing for more than five days, someone should come looking."
Jiang Jie's eyes filled with terror as he stammered, "Everyone here will be dead in less than two days! We'll never last long enough for the Government Office to come..."
Ren Qing grabbed Jiang Jie's arm. "Tell me what's going on."
Jiang Jie, perhaps desperate to confide in someone, began to explain in a halting voice.
After listening to the explanation, Ren Qing's confusion didn't lessen; it only grew stronger.
The named disciples in the Martial Arts Hall had all arrived within the last two days. Upon entering, they were locked in this room without any explanation.
Every day at mealtimes, Chen Lihua would drag three or four people away. The outcome was self-evident.
Occasionally, they could hear the Martial Arts Hall disciples outside discussing how sweet and delicious human flesh was, their tones filled with undisguised greed.
Of course, some had tried to escape. But there was only one corridor in the Martial Arts Hall, and without water or food for so long, how could they possibly fight more than a dozen practitioners?
Since death was certain either way, holing up in the room offered a slim chance of being rescued.
'To me,' Ren Qing thought impassively, 'these Martial Arts Hall disciples aren't even Cultivators. They pose no threat at all.'
'The most important thing is to obtain the Divine Sutra safely and then extricate myself from this situation afterward.'
'Of course, even if I have to reveal my Magic Technique, the worst that could happen is being forced to join the Forbidden Guard. Song Zongwu can vouch for the origin of my technique.'
About two or three hours later, Kingpin and the others returned to the Martial Arts Hall.
An unpleasant smell emanated from them, and the muscles in their legs were swollen to varying degrees.
This was especially true for Kingpin. No matter how much pain he feigned, he couldn't hide the fact that the mutation of his legs was the most pronounced.
Sighing dramatically, Kingpin took out bandages to dress the wounded and stop their bleeding. He then deliberately handed them some dry rations to sate their hunger.
This made everyone feel a sense of gratitude toward Kingpin.
Ren Qing accepted the rations without showing any reaction, but he had no intention of eating them. 'Who knows what trickery is involved.'
The more he looked at Kingpin, the more unsettling he found him. He simply closed his eyes to rest, waiting for the situation to develop further.
But then, Kingpin actually began to teach the Eight Extremes Leg technique.
Aside from Ren Qing, who listened with great interest, no one else cared. The most important thing for them was to use the free time to recover their strength.
As night fell, the sound of numerous footsteps came from outside the door, as if another group was gathering.
Ren Qing noticed that everyone around him had passed out from exhaustion.
He stood up and asked, "Senior Brother Jin, I want to die with a clear understanding. Before I go, I'd like to see the manual that records the Eight Extremes Leg."
"..."
Kingpin's expression was a little strange. After hesitating for a few breaths, he took out a thin book and handed it over.
Ren Qing casually flipped through a few pages before setting the book aside and closing his eyes to rest once more.
'I didn't expect the manual to contain so much information.'
[Eight Extremes Leg]
[Created by Chen Yongxing, it is divided into a main and a secondary part. The secondary part has thirty-six stances, while the main part requires a medicinal catalyst for initiation.]
[Catalyst: Chen Yongxing uses his own leg meat as the catalyst. After consumption, one can use the resulting mutation to exert strength far beyond that of a normal person.]
'A manual like this can't be considered a Magic Technique at all. At best, it's an unorthodox form of Martial Arts created to help the body adapt to a Mysterious Object.'
Ren Qing began to piece together the cause and effect.
'When the Martial Arts Hall disciples first began practicing the Eight Extremes Leg, their need for human flesh wasn't great. They could get by for a long time by raising and eating livestock. But as time went on, their appetites grew larger and larger.'
'No wonder the Martial Arts Hall is in such a foul state, even though the Divine Sutra has absolutely nothing to do with cannibalism.'
Kingpin's eyes turned red. In his view, Ren Qing's actions were an undeniable provocation.
Although he tried his best to maintain a gentle and refined facade, his features still twisted, and he could barely contain his killing intent.
His humanity faded, and his bestial nature began to awaken.