The Nen ball flew into the sky, sailed forward about a hundred meters, drew a parabola in midair, and dissipated before hitting the ground.
The ball's impact point was less than half a meter from Kurapika's head. He was "reading"—practicing while channeling his aura, repeatedly polishing his six-book Dolphin Bookshelf ability.
Kurapika glanced up.
Shizuku was sitting on the grass. Her training seemed to be going very smoothly—she could transform the outer layer of aura in her hands into a chainsaw without hurting herself.
Therefore, the Nen ball was definitely thrown by Liam.
He turned around and saw Liam sitting by the stream not far from Shizuku. He was subconsciously condensing a new Nen ball in his hand, but the expression on his face seemed distant... spaced out.
In fact, Liam's attention was mainly focused on Bratt, in another city far away. He controlled "Liam-Bratt" to select the perfect spot, smeared some blood, and left half a message on the roadside ground: "Do you want the treasure? Then go find it! I put the treasure map—" Cut off mid-sentence! Perfect.
He unconsciously rolled a Nen ball in his hand and was about to throw it away when it was batted back by an invisible skeletal hand.
POOF! The Nen ball hit Liam's body and shattered into pieces.
Liam's eyes returned to focus. He raised his head to look at Kurapika behind the skeleton's large hand, confused.
Kurapika said, "It's not like you to be distracted while practicing. What's going on?"
"Something came up." Liam asked him to wait.
Liam gave instructions to the Star Mark-controlled Bratt on the other end, ordering him to cut his carotid artery, then—while still alive—scratch the Star Mark on his palm to remove it.
Without the Star Mark's self-healing function, Bratt with a severed carotid artery would bleed out quickly on the side of a suburban road like that.
As for whether his body and message would be discovered by "Machi" and Bambie, Liam didn't know.
As a result, the only Star Mark Liam had left with the gang was Claudius, who was about to send him the treasure map. Instructions had been left for him. Liam just had to wait to receive the express delivery.
"Okay, something came up."
Liam then went on to say, "Nen beast—are you planning on doing this?"
"You're a Manipulator. In theory, you can definitely develop Nen beast abilities suited for Emitters." Kurapika said. "You told me these things."
To put it bluntly, a Nen beast was a ball of aura released outside the body, usually in human or animal form.
Since it was aura, it couldn't be seen by ordinary people.
Some Nen beasts had independent consciousness. Others didn't.
Nen beasts like the Shadow Beast Purple Ape were obviously the kind that didn't have—or didn't have strong—independent awareness. That guy was a Transmuter, and he actually had a Nen beast. Liam didn't know if he'd developed it independently or awakened it naturally... He remembered there were such examples in the manga.
Speaking of Purple Ape—when possessing him, it would've been the most suitable opportunity to experience "Flying Thunder God." It was a shame Liam himself didn't understand Purple Ape's Nen ability, so he couldn't even try it if he couldn't use it. And if Purple Ape used commands to activate his ability, Liam's projected consciousness would leave due to the change in operating method...
"Why?" Liam fell into thought.
Kurapika said, "Don't get too tangled up. Maybe the right time just hasn't come yet. Didn't you say it yourself? To develop a Nen ability, intuition is very important..."
Liam thought deeply. "Why do I feel nothing at all when I kill those people?"
Whether it was the deaths of those old gangsters and Shadow Beasts in the conference room, or the guys controlled by his own Star Marks—he could abandon them without hesitation and order them killed. He'd thought he'd struggle for a moment or two over the life and death of each life, but now his thoughts had returned to his main body. When he thought about what happened to the gang just now, he still didn't feel anything at all.
It was as easy as tossing a few moldy slices of bread in the trash.
Wait, weren't we talking about Nen beasts? Kurapika's so oblivious. Can you give me a hint when changing topics?
He frowned and asked, "You killed a lot of people? When—" He suddenly understood. "You were distracted just now because you were manipulating someone somewhere else?"
Liam said, "Yeah. It was the guy who lost to me at Heavens Arena. He was a Shadow Beast. I happened to possess him today..."
"Why don't you ask Shizuku to come listen?" Kurapika asked, pointing not far away.
Shizuku opened her eyes and looked over with a question mark on her face.
Liam said strangely, "Shizuku already knows. I gave her live commentary the whole time!"
He raised his hand and tapped the ring on his index finger.
Kurapika was even more speechless. He sighed and sat down opposite Liam.
Liam then briefly recounted what happened with the gang today. Ten Dons held a meeting. True Martial King's treasure map. Ksitigarbha Buddha statue. Two Phantom Troupe members suddenly appeared...
"Look, I don't know them at all. Although they're gangsters and gang bosses, I just controlled people to death—and of course, to suicide." Liam pondered. "It seems... maybe... probably... like... somewhat unjustifiable?"
After Kurapika heard what he said, he crossed his fingers, lowered his head and thought for a while. "Anyone who can climb to that position in the gang will most likely deserve to die."
"Do you really think so?"
Shizuku was already standing beside him at some point. She sat down next to Liam and looked at Kurapika.
She didn't care much about how many people Liam killed or what kind of people he killed. If Liam needed it, she could always help him kill.
But if the gap between Kurapika's thinking and their style was too big, it wouldn't be easy to handle.
Kurapika said, "I really think so."
"However, there's still a distance between 'deserves to die' and 'kill.'" He raised his eyes and looked at the two of them. "I don't like killing people, and I don't want to kill people. But if there are some circumstances where someone must be killed for me to continue moving toward my goal, I think I can only do that... With this kind of thinking, who am I qualified to make irresponsible remarks on my companions' actions?"
Liam smiled. "Actually, I don't like killing people either. But who told them to be gangsters?"
"Shizuku may be the one with the most potential as a killer. She was very curious about the Phantom Troupe before." He turned around and tugged Shizuku's cheek. "I'll watch her carefully. Don't kill people casually!"
Shizuku said, "The first rule of the organization is to listen to the boss in everything."
Liam added, "Of course, if your own life isn't secure, killing anyone isn't considered casual killing. Remember—your own life comes first."
Kurapika smiled but said nothing. Liam knew this boy was the type who could sacrifice himself for others at any time. He'd heard that in the succession war arc of the manga, because of the princess's mission, he'd burned away several years of his life in vain from excessive use of "Absolute Time." Can you believe it?? Although he was a Professional Hunter, he was also very dedicated!
"Didn't Liam know those Phantom Troupe members before?" Shizuku asked curiously.
"Strictly speaking, I don't know all the Troupe members." Liam corrected. "I know them, but we don't know each other."
After thinking for a while, he added, "Okay, we knew Kortopi, but he's probably dead now, so that doesn't count."
Although he'd met Chrollo and Machi on the airship, they hadn't talked much. Impossible to say they knew each other.
Kurapika concluded, "Two Phantom Troupe members. One can transform into another member Machi and Uvogin. The other is a woman who can trigger explosions with her fingers from a long distance. Her name and code number are unknown."
"If the former's ability can indeed transform into all Phantom Troupe members," he said to Liam and Shizuku, "then the Troupe leader only needs to let him try transforming into what you call Kortopi—the one you threw on Greed Island. Once it fails, they'll know Kortopi is dead."
Liam nodded. "The guy pretending to be Machi also mentioned the Scarlet Eyes when talking about the treasure map. I think she knows about Claudius's young master's wedding."
Kurapika remained silent. His hands clenched unconsciously. A crimson color appeared in his eyes. In other words, this would be his most likely chance to face Phantom Troupe members.
Shizuku was very confused. "Since the Phantom Troupe discarded all the Scarlet Eyes, why are they concerned about them now?"
"The one who threw away those Scarlet Eyes was probably their leader Chrollo." Liam guessed. "Not everyone is willing to throw away all the Scarlet Eyes, right? Or maybe they suddenly feel nostalgic?—Kurapika, your eyes are red."
The redness in Kurapika's eyes gradually faded. He said, "Treasure map. It shouldn't be difficult for the Phantom Troupe to find out Claudius's identity. Even if it's not for the Scarlet Eyes, they'll go for the treasure map."
"Then their trip might be in vain."
Liam smiled. The wedding was starting in the next two days, about the time when Claudius—under Star Mark command—would send the treasure map to the address he'd left.
"About the so-called True Martial King's treasure map—"
Kurapika concluded. "The information we know now is that these two items were found together, and these two items are related to Alpha Edward, who committed suicide at Heavens Arena more than two years ago."
"Since there's already a treasure map, why do we need a Buddha statue?" Shizuku asked. "When looking for treasure, wouldn't just having a map be enough?"
Liam said, "Maybe the two things are just placed together."
"But it's also possible..."
Liam and Kurapika looked at each other, thinking of the Buddha statue in their hands and the special divine script space the Buddha statue had once contained and connected to.
"Could it be the True Martial Ksitigarbha Buddha statue is also connected to a special alternate space?"
"And that different space is where True Martial King's treasure exists?"
Shizuku raised her hand and asked again, "But doesn't that make the treasure map useless again?"
Liam and Kurapika glanced at each other, then touched their chins in deep thought.
After thinking about it, Liam thought of another thing related to the Buddha statue—naturally, the divine script contained in the Buddha statue.
"Aren't those two divine characters used to create illusions?" Kurapika wondered.
"That illusion seems to be one-time, and each person can only see it once. Maybe Old King thought seeing it too much was harmful to physical and mental health..." Liam said. "When I tried it later, I found the most obvious function of this thing so far seems to be related to the eyes."
"Eyes?" Kurapika naturally thought of the time when the cult leader had embedded two pairs of Scarlet Eyes on the Buddha statue, planning for the third pair from his own eyes.
"You'll know after you try it. Stretch out your hand." Liam pulled Kurapika's hand, rolled up his sleeve, and spent a few minutes drawing two divine characters on his arm.
Kurapika was speechless. Why paint it on his arm? Obviously it could be painted on the ground!
"Try?" Liam said.
"How do I try?" Kurapika asked, looking around. Grass, streams, wildflowers, blue sky and white clouds—all kinds of scenery came into view one by one. "If what you want to say is I can see clearly, then I'm sorry. My eyesight is already very good. Even if it's improved, it doesn't seem too obvious."
"Look here." Liam's voice came from the side.
Kurapika turned his head and saw a ball of aura coming toward his face. Because he didn't feel much threat, he raised his hand to grab it—it was indeed not much of a threat. Liam had only used a very small amount of aura.
Liam asked, "Did you use 'Gyo' just now?"
"No..." Kurapika suddenly looked at the weak Nen ball in his hand. "Did you add 'In' to it?"
"In" was an advanced technique of "Zetsu." As the name suggested, it could make aura invisible. Even Nen users who'd opened their eyes couldn't directly see the existence of aura using In.
In the manga, Kurapika had used this trick to fool Uvogin. When Uvogin was paralyzed and careless, he'd attached "In" to the chain, circled his head, and bound Uvogin with his middle finger's chain, resulting in a direct KO.
Only by using the advanced technique of "Ren" called "Gyo" could you see through "In."
Using advanced techniques like "Gyo" and "In" consumed a lot of aura. Many Nen users might not turn on "Gyo" all the time in battle. First, it distracted their concentration. Second, saving aura was important—maybe the savings could save lives at a critical moment.
"You can already use 'In'?" Kurapika was surprised.
"Isn't this just a matter of having hands?" Liam said. "The proficiency is still very low. I found there's a proficiency level to 'In' and 'Gyo.' Powerful 'In' may not be seen through even if you use 'Gyo'..."
The evidence was there were some Nen ability products with the characteristic: "No one else can see it except the person/people affected by this ability."
For example, Knuckle's "Hakoware"—he hung the small Nen beast on the enemy. Also like the small autonomous dolphin plane formed by Kurapika's Steal Chain in the manga—it had similar characteristics...
These things that couldn't be seen by anyone except certain groups were, in a sense, equivalent to the most advanced form of "In."
However, was it possible for the highest level of "Gyo" to exist? Could it see through this level of "In"?
Liam had doubts.
Kurapika turned on "Gyo" in his eyes and looked at the small Nen ball in his hand that was "hidden" by Liam with In. As expected, he could see it more clearly.
Then he looked around at the surrounding scenery. Every detail of the flowers and grasslands as far as the eye could see was reflected with incomparable clarity. The ripples of the gurgling stream, even the faint layer of aura on tiny flying insects passing by—all very clear... Kurapika sighed. "It's as if a certain 'En' has been added to the line of sight."
"Perhaps it can be called a 'Cone.'" Liam said.
The range of sight seemed to be a cone. Kurapika nodded thoughtfully, looked down at the two lines of divine characters on his arm. "So you're trying to say it may be some kind of divine script contained in the True Martial Ksitigarbha statue, plus looking at the treasure map—only then can we get clues to True Martial King's real treasure."
"Well, we'll have to wait until we receive the package to find out." Liam said with a smile. "We should also make preparations and go to the wedding. Maybe we can meet those two Spiders."