"He's been dead for a long time, actually," Netero said in the cave, looking at the decaying old man covered in gray cracks. The figure made wet rasping sounds, eyes cloudy and pupils unfocused. "This strange poison in his body is the only thing keeping him in this half-dead state."
Netero spoke slowly. "At the beginning, I made a pact with him to help his special Nen clone, 'The Solitary Shadow in Heaven and Earth, Drunk Dreaming of Death and Life,' survive for one hundred years. He thought he could abandon his true body and be reborn through this clone, but..."
The Hunter Association President shook his head. "Within a few years, I began to realize it wasn't rebirth. The clone was gradually becoming him."
"Chirp?" The little gray bird on Liam's shoulder tilted its head and yawned.
"For the first thirty years, the behavior of 'The Solitary Shadow' became more and more like the former Sky Master. But for the next thirty years, it was like watching the first thirty years in reverse. The clone's consciousness gradually became stiff and alien. It didn't look like a human being anymore. Not like a living person. And certainly not like Goya."
Netero stroked his goatee. "So I found some tricks to work with. For the past forty years, we've been managing it like this. Finally, the hundred years expired. The oath was fulfilled. I can stop worrying about it. My old friend's physical body can also be released."
Liam listened with growing incredulity. So you just dismantled this "Solitary Shadow" into five separate things? Like some kind of twisted Five Ekements formation? Venom in the south, emperor in the north, beggar wandering around, skeleton doing the dirty work, and the peach tree as the anchor? And what was the point of setting up an art exhibition to gather a bunch of artists with wild imaginations? Using their dream inspiration as an anchor to maintain the Nen clone? The martial artists participating in the Sensui Mountain conference were just there to provide a trickle of aura as a power source...
Sure, no one had died in the past forty years. Based on Wing's experience, there were no lasting side effects. People didn't even remember what specifically happened. But what Netero had done was still pretty unkind to everyone involved.
Not that it was any of Liam's business. He was more interested in the matter of Goya Hui Guo Rou himself. He gave Shizuku a look.
Seeing that Shizuku was about to act, Pyon and Gel politely exited the cave.
Gel had already obtained a small sample of the exotic poison from Goya's body, enough for her to take back for further research and analysis.
Shizuku manifested Blinky with its large vacuum mouth.
Netero didn't leave. He'd seen this girl use the ability to detoxify the boy earlier.
When Shizuku was holding the vacuum cleaner and preparing to extract the poison, Liam reached out to stop her. He turned to Netero.
"This Goya Hui Guo Rou should have a Nen beast around him that he received while alive, right?"
"Oh?" Netero looked genuinely surprised. He thought back briefly, then shook his head. "I've never seen one."
"Huh?" Liam blinked. "Then this Goya guy claiming to be the Kakin Emperor, was he just bullshitting?"
Was he an illegitimate child?
Or was it similar to Liam's own situation?
What if there'd been a swap in the Kakin palace over a hundred years ago, and this Goya was the fake?
Wait, no. Kakin didn't have princes at all back then.
The winner of the succession battle got crowned directly. More than that, before the succession war ceremony, the parasitic Nen beast was exchanged through the Seed Urn ritual with a drop of blood. No matter how you looked at it, that had a bloodline verification function built in. Trying to swap a fake in wouldn't work. Didn't make sense...
Unless Goya really was Hui Guo Rou, but from a branch family or an illegitimate bloodline? And when he traveled the world, he just claimed to be the Kakin Emperor?
That didn't make sense either.
Kakin was a world power. Even though the internet age hadn't arrived a hundred years ago, you couldn't just disguise yourself as the emperor of such a major country. Especially not in front of Netero...
Then the remaining possibility was...
Liam looked at the decrepit old man chained to the stone wall in his confused mental state.
"Is this the parasitic Nen beast of Emperor Hui Guo Rou himself... the kind that only appears and manifests when the main body leaves the country? To govern in his place?" Netero said, remembering his old frind.
A Nen beast supervising the country.
If that was the case, then when he was still a prince, Goya Hui Guo Rou had gotten a Seed Urn beast that was useless in the succession battle itself. But he'd managed to survive and win anyway. That made him a truly ruthless person.
So he was Sky Master?
Liam couldn't help but think about this man's martial arts abilities. When Goya participated in the succession war, he'd probably already been a powerful Nen user and martial arts master. This was basically a super high-end version of the current First Prince Benjamin. Although the realization came a bit late, Liam really wanted to light candles for the princes who'd competed against him.
"I never met it, but I heard him talk about it during his lifetime," Netero said. "Not long after we first met, I saw him in the newspaper and asked how he managed to be emperor while simultaneously practicing martial arts to this level..."
"He didn't say it clearly at the time, but I could probably guess that someone was being emperor for him back in the Kakin Kingdom. There was never any relevant news in the papers. Now based on what you just said, the one who ruled for him was what you called an invisible Nen beast?"
The old man twisted his goatee, looked at Liam, and asked with amusement, "So, Liam, Who are you? You seem to know quite a bit about the Hui Guo Rou?"
I'm very familiar with twice-cooked pork...
Liam smiled. "I'm a Nen user after all. It's not surprising to learn some obscure information."
Netero said, "That's true. Why wouldn't a young talent like you consider becoming a Professional Hunter? it would be a waste if you don't pursue it."
"If Mr. President wants to issue me a license right now, I'm not opposed."
"That's not necessary. Rules still need to be followed. Only those who pass the Hunter Exam can receive a Hunter License. Even someone with your strength has to follow the same process. If you want a license, take the test."
"You don't look like an old gentleman who enjoys following rules, Old man Netero."
"Hehehe..." Netero smiled and stroked his goatee. "These rules are troublesome for you, not for me."
Liam's expression went blank. If he could actually win in a fight, he'd have punched this infuriating old man twice already.
"President! Are you alright?" Pyon's voice came from outside the cave.
"Shizuku, go ahead," Liam said, turning his head.
Shizuku, who'd been silently holding Blinky on standby the whole time, was finally ready to start working.
She turned on the vacuum cleaner and aimed it at the decrepit old man huddled against the stone wall. Soon, suction emerged from the large mouth at the vacuum's tip, extracting all the poison from the former emperor's body.
In the blink of an eye, the decaying old man was still decaying, but the gray cracks covering his body had disappeared. At the same time, his previously dull and cloudy eyes went completely dark. The strange wet rasping sounds from his mouth stopped.
Liam watched intently.
No death energy flowed into him.
It seemed that as Netero said, this Sky Master had been dead for who knows how many years, relying on the strange poison in his body to keep his corpse preserved.
What kind of poison could do that, though?
Liam had some guesses forming, but suddenly he felt an unusual aura emerging from outside the cave behind him.
Netero moved first, followed by Liam and Shizuku.
A shadow resembling eight black arms spread out, similar to the black skeleton Liam had seen before. Like a living shadow, it appeared silently behind Gel. Eight evil claws suddenly struck, rushing toward her...