A wild wave surged through the garden. Pool water erupted in churning swells. The simple rockery made a muffled boom, left with a massive five-fingered palm print.
Practice ground.
Netero kept waving his hands forward. No one in front of him.
To be honest, Netero was surprised now.
Although he hadn't aimed this palm at Liam's head, he'd done it with some seriousness.
Liam actually dodged it?
Everyone watching the battle couldn't help bursting into an uproar!
Netero's palm was so fierce that everyone present felt their scalps tingle.
The speed of that palm strike was unbelievable!
With one palm shot, it was simply devastating and invincible.
Of course everyone guessed Netero's palm wouldn't actually hit Liam on the head and blow it off. That would be unreasonable...
But the question was, normally speaking, the current situation should've been this: after the old senior showed some serious attitude, he'd slap the air with a fierce and unshakable move, grazing the young junior's head. The young one wouldn't respond, just stand there motionless. Finally, the old man would chuckle, calm down and pat the young man's shoulder kindly to show encouragement... or something like that?
Why was it now...
Wing's forehead sweated slightly. He looked away. On the sidelines of the training ground, Liam was getting up from the ground.
Obviously, in order to avoid the President's palm, Liam had dodged so hard he'd lost his balance and fell down.
"He was able to escape," Pyon was genuinely surprised now.
Gel also felt extremely shocked.
The original motivation for establishing the Twelve Zodiacs of the Hunter Association was that President Netero selected twelve people to spar with him and relieve his boredom. Gel and Pyon were both Zodiac members. Of course, they were often used as sparring opponents, competing with President Netero. Because of this, they were particularly surprised that Liam had dodged that slap just now.
This wasn't the most serious or most powerful palm from President Netero. But even if all the martial artists on top of Sensui Mountain were tied together at this moment, they might not be able to escape from this palm.
But Liam had dodged it.
And judging from his appearance, he wasn't injured at all.
Proved he wasn't dodging randomly, but had spotted the trajectory of President Netero's palm and dodged in a direction where he wouldn't be hit by mistake.
Although it looked very embarrassing, anyone who knew Netero's strength would definitely be impressed by what Liam had accomplished.
Liam himself was impressed by himself right now.
He really hadn't expected the Flowing Star Strike he'd developed would be so useful.
To be honest, when Netero's palm came over, he really hadn't reacted.
But whether he reacted or not, Netero's palm came roaring toward him from the front. The palm shadow reflected in Liam's eyes. Image signals turned into nerve signals, flowed through the brain. The Star Mark on the back of his neck received the signal. Flowing Star Strike's instinct to avoid danger was immediately activated, operation started.
Everything happened in a flash of lightning.
Liam's subjective consciousness didn't react, but his self-operating Nen ability helped him make the most instinctive, correct and timely response.
"Interesting." Netero lowered his palm and looked at Liam.
Liam swallowed.
He had a feeling the old man was really getting serious.
Don't think Netero was some old gentleman with no sorrow or joy, some otherworldly saint.
That was because during the dozens or hundreds of years when he was invincible in the world, no one could make him reveal his true state of mind.
In the manga, Netero had been extremely unhappy with the Ant King's attitude of repeatedly ignoring his proposed duel.
Netero was a warrior who longed for an evenly matched opponent. But he was too strong. Since when? His opponents would cry bitterly and surrender before he even exerted his strength. He had no choice but to stretch out his arms, accept the opponent's surrender. Netero's true character and temperament had been slowly covered up in his long invincible life. Few people could inspire his true nature.
This was also why Netero formed the Twelve Zodiacs and found twelve high-level companions.
A powerful master was naturally more able to force out his true—well, part of his strength. Although it couldn't produce real fire, it could at least move his muscles and bones.
Although Liam was still far from the strength that could allow Netero to move his muscles...
But being able to proactively and timely avoid Netero's palm just now had really caught Netero's attention.
Liam said, "The more interesting things are yet to come."
He pointed at Netero.
Behind Netero, an eight-armed black shadow appeared, clinging to him like armor. The ferocious helmet-like head opened with sharp fangs and a large mouth, smashed toward Netero's head.
"I see. How much aura will it absorb?"
Netero didn't seem in a hurry. Didn't try to dodge Reflection's activation ability. Let it attach to his body and draw out his aura.
Judging from his experience, since this parasitic Nen beast's ability condition had been achieved—it had eaten a drop of his own blood—then it'd be difficult to truly prevent its ability from activating after conditions were met.
This was often the case with conditional Nen abilities.
The best way to deal with this type of ability was to avoid fulfilling the conditions.
Risks and benefits of Nen abilities complemented each other. The more difficult the conditions, the stronger the power.
Just now he'd merely had a drop of blood eaten by this Nen beast. This condition was too simple. So correspondingly, the result after achieving it must not be fatal.
Sure enough, Liam replied, "The first drop of blood will eat you once and for all."
"Oh~" Netero stroked his goatee. The eight-armed black shadow still attached to his body.
Why haven't you finished yet?
Liam was extremely surprised. Obviously the amount was only about one-tenth of total aura. Even if Netero had strong aura reserves, it'd only be... just a few hundred thousand!
Tens of thousands of manifest aura—even though it's a lot, it shouldn't last this long, right?
Looking at the Reflection Nen beast that had just slowly disappeared from Netero's body, Liam couldn't help thinking: "Damn it, when I used it on Kurapika before it was like a spark dying in the wind—gone in an instant. But if I use it on Netero now, it's like swallowing a sun—an inferno that lingers endlessly?"
"Is it because Netero's total aura is too much..."
"Or is it that Netero's manifest aura has already broken through ordinary boundaries, far more than one-tenth?"
"Okay, in that case, the first round is over."
Netero twisted his neck. Made a rattling sound. The old man smiled slightly and waved at Liam. "Now, start the second round?"
A layer of aura slowly covered Netero's body.
Netero obviously wouldn't give Liam a second chance to get his second drop of blood and let Reflection's ability enter the second stage.
Liam adjusted his mentality and rushed forward.
Not long after, he was thrown out of the ring with a bruised nose and swollen face...
Netero clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Not bad. Let's continue tomorrow."
This flesh injury—Liam had the blessing of the Star Mark, recovered quickly.
Many other martial artists limped away. Fortunately, they all had Nen abilities. Returned to their respective rooms, used Nen methods to speed recovery. They'd recover almost completely by tomorrow morning. Wouldn't affect the remaining two or three days of competition.
This was an opportunity to compete with Netero in person. Any martial artist would be willing to climb onto the stage to participate.
In the hotel room, Hart went to the restaurant, got a bunch of food, brought it back. Senior Wing, Liam and Shizuku were chatting in the room.
Wing rubbed the bruises on his face and body. He was an Enhancer—his recovery ability was better than other types. However, looking at Liam who seemed fine in front of him, he couldn't help being speechless.
Which one of us is the Enhancer?
He somewhat admired Liam's performance competing with President Netero.
Actually, Liam's fighting style had always been like this in Heavens Arena. It's not like Wing had never seen it before.
But who would've thought this guy who "bullied" the mixed fighters in Heavens Arena could be so calm and flexible? Even against President Netero—how could Liam still fight in a decent manner? What's even more outrageous was this guy dodging President Netero's serious slap...
Wing himself had stood on the sidelines. From a bystander's perspective, concentrating on observing with Gyo, he couldn't clearly see the afterimage of the President's move.
He admired Liam, and Liam admired him.
You know your own business.
Liam's fundamentals seemed smooth and fluid, switching extremely seamless. This was aided by the Manipulation-type Flowing Star Strike Nen ability.
Equivalent to carrying an AI that assisted in combat. How could people like Wing compare?
When it came to actual skills, Wing was more powerful and worth learning from.
Of course, Flowing Star Strike was originally part of his ability. Liam wasn't so pedantic to think borrowing abilities to assist wasn't his real strength. But if he fell into certain situations in the future and his Nen ability was restricted, if Flowing Star Strike couldn't be used, he'd have to rely on fundamentals. When the time came, switching Ko, using Ryu, even the connection between offense and defense would no longer be as high as now.
In the world of Nen, everything was possible. Because of this, you needed to consider various situations and come up with countermeasures.
The two exchanged their experiences fighting Netero and discussed Nen. Hart listened with great interest, while Shizuku ate quietly beside them.
Shizuku didn't participate in the daily competitions with Netero.
Netero felt too dangerous to her. She wasn't willing to fight easily with such a monster.
Liam could use that kind of Ko tactics, counting on the old man not injuring the rest of his body. But Shizuku couldn't.
Facing such a monster, on stage, life and death weren't in her control. Shizuku wasn't afraid of death, but didn't like it either.
What's more, Liam competed with Netero in the morning. Shizuku competed with Liam in the afternoon or evening. She felt the effect should be similar.
In the room, Liam and Shizuku were sparring.
Liam didn't use Flowing Star Strike. The aura on his body continued to flow, condensed into spheres on his fists and feet.
Even when the two were sparring, the speed of their strikes wasn't slow—almost like actual combat.
Once the opponent was unable to defend, the aura flow on the body surface would be a step too late. If they failed to defend against the opponent's attack with sufficient aura, they'd inevitably be injured.
Just in terms of cultivation and sparring, their intensity was too high.
However, both had Star Mark body protection. Relying on their nearly half-immortal bodies, they had no worries at all.
Not long after, both were panting and lying on the ground, heads touching. The carpet, sofa, ceiling—many places were splattered with blood.
Liam's leg was broken. Shizuku's arm was broken. The degree of injury varied, but the speed of recovery was visible to the naked eye.
Fortunately, the parasitic Nen beast was transferred to Jaku's body by Liam. Otherwise Shizuku would've beaten him like this, and their blood was all over the floor and ceiling. Reflection's ability would've activated several times. Don't talk about Shizuku getting angry—half her life would be sucked away.
The little gray bird stepped on the swaying ceiling chandelier. The Reflection Nen beast lurking on it slowly emerged and transferred back to Liam.
Liam and Shizuku's physical injuries had recovered. When his stamina reached bottom, he got Reflection back.
Although there was no way to actively control this Nen beast, it had the instinct to automatically protect its master. It had just made a fortune from Netero this morning. Sure enough, it automatically exhaled aura and injected it into Liam to accelerate his recovery.
Logically speaking, the aura of different people originated from the life essence of different people and should be different. This was the so-called aura temperament.
But the aura absorbed by Reflection seemed transformed, turned into the purest energy.
Although aura was also called life energy, judging from Liam's personal experience, this level of aura could only be said to be life energy. It was far from the energy directly related to life force of the death energy in his heart. Different gap entirely...
After thinking randomly for a while, Liam looked at the eight-armed black shadow beast. Wanted to ask, how much of Netero's aura was left?
Unfortunately, although this thing had a certain amount of intelligence, it didn't have the wisdom to communicate. As a parasitic Nen beast, it wasn't under Liam's direct control.
To squeeze out its use value, Liam turned over and jumped up, releasing a large amount of aura from his body. Skillfully maintained the Ren to Ten, forming Ken.
Liam was practicing. Shizuku rested for a while, then manifested her vacuum cleaner. Used Blinky to suck up all their blood from the floor and ceiling. In just a blink of an eye, everything was brand new. Clean.
The remaining two or three days at Sensui Mountain were spent like this.
Liam didn't have any artistic talent, so he was too lazy to go to the front mountain exhibition to join in the fun.
Went to the training ground every morning to fight with Netero. It was quite worthwhile to receive a beating from the strongest martial artist in the world and gain valuable experience and lessons.
In the blink of an eye, the Sensui Mountain Art Exhibition ended. It was time for Liam and the others to leave.
Kurapika had already sent information about the Scarlet Eyes holder he'd asked Liam and Shizuku to investigate.