Liam quickly explained the situation through his Moon Mark ring, then asked, "How's it looking on your end at the front mountain?"
"Much more complicated..."
Kurapika's voice came through tense and focused. "If what you said is true, and Sky Master himself died a long time ago, and everything we're seeing are the various Nen beasts he left behind... then I think this whole art exhibition exists to provide enough 'inspiration' for those beasts to survive."
"Or the emotional experiences he had when he was still alive..."
The room where Kurapika stood had transformed into a nightmare where countless materialized art worlds intersected. The corridors twisted into impossible angles. The floor swirled like water. The ceiling had become grass. A clock appeared to be melting like wax. Other people walking through the halls suddenly flattened into oil painting versions of themselves. Someone's shouting turned into physical musical notes that floated through the air.
This art exhibition had been held at Sensui Mountain for forty years, ever since the conference Bisky attended under Netero's leadership.
"Looks like Netero's been running this whole operation from the start," Liam said. "He's known everything that happened, is happening, and will happen on Sensui Mountain for the past forty years..."
But Bisky had said the Sky Master she met forty years ago was an old man who looked even more decrepit than Netero. That description obviously didn't match what Liam was seeing right now.
The gray snakes, the old beggar, the peach tree, the black skeleton, and the white-haired Sky Master had all merged together into a single figure calling itself the "Kakin Emperor." This so-called emperor appeared as a middle-aged man in his prime, looking far more vigorous than Netero.
He'd even withstood a strike from Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin.
Liam and Shizuku watched from a distance as Netero pressed his palms together and thrust one hand forward through the air. Behind him, a massive multi-armed statue of Guanyin appeared faintly, like a shadow cast by the old man's presence.
The Guanyin pushed out with a single palm.
The imposing Kakin Emperor went flying, nearly launched clean off the summit of Sensui Mountain.
That alone was incredible.
A normal person would've been reduced to paste under that strike.
Liam thought to himself that with his current abilities, he definitely couldn't withstand any of the Hundred-Type Guanyin's attacks. One touch would probably leave him critically injured.
The pinnacle of human martial arts, truly deserving of its reputation.
The most terrifying part was that Netero's aura could only be felt at the exact moment he used the Hundred-Type Guanyin technique and clapped his hands together.
"Shizuku, did you see that clearly?" Liam asked.
Shizuku activated Gyo and stared intently, but eventually shook her head.
Netero stood there looking like an ordinary old gentleman, except for the brief instant when he moved his hands. His aura was like an ancient fossil, completely still with no sign of flow. But that was impossible. Using Nen required mobilizing aura, which had to flow.
Netero's control over aura and understanding of power had reached an incomprehensible level.
Even when he struck, the moment his aura leaked out was incredibly brief.
If Liam hadn't read the manga in his previous life and known the details of Netero's abilities, he'd probably be like Shizuku, unable to see any changes at all. He'd just think Netero waved his hand in the air while the Kakin Emperor flew away on his own like some kind of stage trick.
"I give this kind of art two hundred points!"
Art critic Damat emerged from his bedroom, laughing loudly and showing two thumbs up. "Am I still high, or is this really happening?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire bizarre room filled with applause, whistles, and waves of appreciation.
As for the other bodyguards?
Unlike Kurapika, who had Liam's Star Mark protecting him, they'd all been marked by peach petals in last night's dream. Now they were lost in their own materialized fantasies, unable to break free. All kinds of intense emotional experiences transformed into reality and poured out. Kurapika even saw the square-faced bodyguard dressed in Netero's clothing as the Hunter Association President, complete with a beard like Netero's distinctive goatee sprouting from his chin...
Liam's voice came through again. "The best way to calm them down is to force them into Zetsu. These materialized dreams have to be sustained by their own aura. As long as these people enter Zetsu, you should be able to control the situation a little."
"Right," Kurapika agreed. "Though it would be more thorough to just drain all their aura completely."
As he spoke, he raised his hand and released a sphere of aura that condensed into his dolphin bookshelf.
Book Two, "Hellfire"!
At that moment, the doorbell rang.
"Who could that be at a time like this?"
Kurapika grabbed the second book flying toward him, but was surprised to hear the sound of the front door opening.
He looked back. Everyone was present and immersed in their own materialized dreams. Could it be a waiter?
But according to what Liam said, all the waiters on Sensui Mountain were created by some kind of gray-scaled snake Nen ability, and by now they should've merged with other humanoid or non-human entities.
"I give this kind of art two hundred points!"
The same hearty laughter came from the doorway. Kurapika went to look. He felt a mix of surprise and instinctive anger. After thinking about it, though, it made sense.
"While everything's in chaos, why don't you hurry up and grab that bastard Masuo Harrison?" Liam's voice sounded in his mind through the ring.
"No need for me to go looking. He found me himself."
Aura surged through Kurapika's body, transforming into the massive form of a skeleton knight.
Looking toward the front door, he saw another materialized copy of Damat chatting and laughing with the real one. But standing in the ruins among scattered limbs, proudly holding a pile of severed Scarlet Eyes, was Masuo Harrison himself.
A flash of fiery red ignited in Kurapika's eyes. At the same time, the skeleton knight formed from his aura seemed to catch fire, burning with scarlet flames at its edges.
"I'll handle this quickly."
Liam had no idea how quickly Kurapika could deal with Harrison, but Netero's speed at handling the Kakin Emperor was quite fast.
After the so-called Kakin Emperor got slapped away by the first palm strike, endless gray snakes soon surged up from the ground in the direction he'd been launched. They condensed back into the middle-aged man's form. He'd obviously just been swatted like a fly by Netero, but he seemed to have lost his memory and stood there looking high-spirited again.
Then Netero knocked him away a second time. The figure exploded mid-air. The black skeleton, the old beggar, all of it scattered across the sky.
The black skeleton, old beggar, gray snakes, peach tree shadow, and white-haired Sky Master merged into one again after landing and rushed at Netero once more.
Liam happened to be in the path. He grabbed Shizuku's hand and quickly moved out of the way.
Netero struck out with another palm, calm and relaxed.
This time he didn't even use the Hundred-Type Guanyin. Just a casual Enhancement-type palm strike. The force hit the Kakin Emperor hard enough that his head flew clean off his body.
Is this guy getting weaker?
Liam couldn't help but wonder as he watched the headless body freeze in place, still defiant.
At first, the figure calling itself the Kakin Emperor had withstood Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin. Now he couldn't even handle a casual palm strike and got decapitated. Whether Netero used the Hundred-Type Guanyin or not could be determined by watching if he made the gesture of pressing his palms together. Though at the speed Netero moved, it was difficult to catch.
Boom, boom, boom...
The head rolled close to Liam and Shizuku, still shouting at Netero through gritted teeth.
"I am the Emperor of Kakin, equal to the True Martial King! The martial arts master who transcends the sky! The conqueror of the Dark Continent! I am Goya Hui Guo Rou! Netero, who do you think..."
"Wake up," Netero said calmly. "Goya Hui Guo Rou died a long time ago. He was never equal to the True Martial King. The sky is where it is. Nobody needs to transcend it. The Dark Continent has never been conquered by anyone. Rather, the Dark Continent defeated Goya Hui Guo Rou... You're just a Nen beast."
Both Shizuku and Liam clearly saw the expression on the severed head's face shift to complete shock.
The head murmured, "No! No, I am Goya Hui Guo Rou! I am the Emperor of Kakin! I am Sky Master! I am Goya Hui Guo Rou..."
Sadness tinged Netero's tone. "My old friend died one hundred years ago and was buried forty years ago."
He looked at the sky and counted on his fingers. "In about ten minutes, it will be the appointed time. I arrived as promised. You should leave as promised."
"This is the oath we made together." Netero twisted his distinctive goatee, his expression seeming to sink into deep shadow as he smiled. "Have you forgotten?"
The head gradually let out a cry of resentment. It flew away crookedly and reconnected with the body, asking viciously, "Netero! Why didn't you save me?!"
Wisps of black aura surged from the body, rushing toward Netero with killing intent.
Netero lowered his eyes and sighed. He pressed his palms together, the motion both quick and slow.
"My old friend, Goya Hui Guo Rou, died a long time ago."
The Hundred-Type Guanyin appeared faintly behind him. Two traces of blood and tears streamed down her expressionless cheeks. Multiple arms rose and separated, and several palms struck out simultaneously with unimaginable fierce power. The Kakin Emperor, stubbornly resisting, was beaten to ash in an instant.
"NAMU AMIDA BUTSU!"
The cry came from the vanishing figure. Liam immediately remembered the same sound he'd heard when the Bodhisattva made of petals clapped its hands in the dream on Sensui Mountain.
Exactly the same.
"Ah," Shizuku said, pointing forward. "Not dead."
Liam looked and saw countless gray snakes emerging from the space where Netero's palm strike had obliterated everything.
Liam was full of questions, but Netero showed no surprise at this development.
Oaths and restrictions. Since they'd agreed the beast must dissipate after one hundred years, then it would continue to exist until the appointed time arrived.
This special Nen beast with Specialist characteristics left behind by an old friend couldn't be beaten or killed before that moment.
Unless they hired a powerful Exorcist to remove the oath and restriction between the Nen beast and Netero, it would remain in place until the condition activated.
Ten minutes. No, now closer to eight minutes. This special Nen beast, the last remaining thought of an old friend in this world, would grow so weak it would finally disappear, leaving no trace...
"Netero! I won't die!"
The middle-aged man's face emerged from the tide of gray snakes, speaking harshly. "I am the Emperor of Kakin! You can't erase me!"
The gray snake vortex gradually spread and began to fade.
"No matter how my will changes, I will always exist! Just like my resentment, just like this poison..."
After hearing this, Netero finally frowned slightly.
Gray snakes began appearing rapidly across the ground at the summit of Sensui Mountain, in both the front and back mountain areas.
Near the muscular version of Wing subduing Masuo Harrison, near Kurapika, near Liam and Shizuku, on the ground and floors everywhere, endless gray snakes flew upward like rain falling backward into the sky, rising rapidly. Soon they'd nearly covered the entire summit of Sensui Mountain.
Naturally, Pyon the Rabbit and Gel the Snake, who were also on Sensui Mountain, saw the movement and looked up to watch.
In the retreating rain curtain of gray snakes, voices echoed one after another:
"I am... 'The Solitary Shadow in Heaven and Earth, Drunk Dreaming of Death and Life'!"
All the gray snakes exploded, spraying out endless gray poisonous mist that shrouded and filled the entire summit of Sensui Mountain.
One hundred years ago. Sensui Mountain.
Netero, still a young middle-aged man at the time, sighed. "I thought you were in Kakin."
Before him stood a decrepit old man with gray cracks covering his entire body. He waved his hand, signaling Netero not to come closer.
"I'm a walking source of exotic poison now. A poison-person! I won't stay at home and cause harm to the people of Kakin."
This old man was naturally Goya Hui Guo Rou, the former Emperor of Kakin, a martial arts master who could compete with Netero, also known as Sky Master.
"The Dark Continent must have medicine that can save you," Netero said.
Goya, covered in gray cracks, looked at the distant sky. After a moment of silence, he spoke. "Do you want to save me, Netero?"
"I'll save you if I can," Netero said. "I'll do my best."
"Good!" Goya made up his mind. "Call your son here..."
As he spoke, a sphere of aura separated from his body and gradually materialized into another identical Goya Hui Guo Rou. The only difference was that this old man had no gray cracks on his body.
Goya, covered in gray cracks, remained motionless, but there was lively light in the eyes of the crack-free Goya.
"This Nen clone is called 'The Solitary Shadow in Heaven and Earth, Drunk Dreaming of Death and Life'! For the next one hundred years, let him live for me!"
"I see." Netero immediately understood his old friend's plan. "With Beyond's ability, I can help you achieve your wish..."
Forty years ago. Sensui Mountain.
Beyond Netero looked at the confused "Solitary Shadow in Heaven and Earth" and smiled nonchalantly.
"Hey, old man, this guy has no consciousness at all. Is there really any need to continue the oath? Better to let him go as soon as possible!"
Beyond cracked his knuckles, making a rattling sound. "If you can't do it, how about letting me, your son, handle it for you?"
Isaac Netero looked at the dull, puppet-like eyes of "The Solitary Shadow in Heaven and Earth, Drunk Dreaming of Death and Life" and pondered for a moment.
"If he said one hundred years, then it will be one hundred years."
"What's the point of letting him linger for forty more years?" Beyond disagreed.
"I have a method." Netero slowly explained his plan.
Not far away, a little blonde girl in a martial arts uniform came bounding over. She glanced curiously at the bearded Beyond, then put her hands on her hips and said proudly:
"Netero! I won! Pretty amazing, right?"