Ancient Kakin King

Stands began appearing at intervals along both sides of the passage, connected by barrier ropes, like a museum protecting priceless artifacts.

The words on the barriers read: "Blanche Company," "Blanche Company," "Blanche Company"...

Clearly, the company had incorporated this place into its operations long ago; it simply had never made it public.

"There's writing on the wall," Shizuku said.

Separated by the protective barriers, Jing Yang and the others looked toward the stone walls. Their flashlight beams illuminated the crisscrossing marks carved into the mottled surface.

"It doesn't look like writing," Menchi said. "More like marks left behind by someone wildly hacking at the wall with a sword."

"Since they specifically put up barriers, it probably isn't that simple, right?" Jing Yang said. He concentrated Aura in his eyes and carefully examined the chaotic marks on the wall. "As expected..."

"There's Aura on those marks?"

"I've only seen something similar on valuable antiques..."

Dago and the other amateur Hunters clicked their tongues in amazement. They had never expected mere marks on a wall to retain Nen aura.

Some highly skilled artists, though they had not truly awakened Nen Abilities, could sometimes unknowingly leave their Aura within their creations. In the eyes of antique appraisers who were not Nen Users, such works were often priceless treasures, imbued with a unique charm.

Menchi raised her phone and photographed the marks on the walls.

"Menchi, take photos," Jing Yang said. "Don't record video."

"Why?" Menchi asked, puzzled.

"If a video captures Nen, ordinary people won't notice anything when they watch it. But someone who knows Gyo can see the Nen aura in the footage."

In the Heaven's Arena arc of the manga, Gon and Killua had used Gyo to see Hisoka's Nen Abilities in recordings of his battles.

"You can't see it in photos?" Shizuku asked curiously.

"I don't know either..." Jing Yang said. "But we have to bring something back to prove we did the job, right? Videos aren't convenient, so photos will have to do. Otherwise, that bald guy might refuse to pay."

"Haha, bald guy?" Menchi chuckled as she snapped several pictures of the wall. "You're awful."

The group walked, looked around, and took pictures as they went.

Besides the baffling marks, patterns gradually began appearing on the stone walls. They looked like paintings, yet they were far too abstract to determine what the hell they were supposed to depict.

The one thing they had in common was that all the wall carvings and abstract patterns retained Aura to varying degrees.

The tomb was not large. Several passageways interconnected, and Jing Yang's group eventually arrived at a much more spacious main burial chamber. They swept their flashlight beams across the walls, gathered Aura in their eyes, and stared intently.

Countless wildly flowing cursive characters, as if carved with blades and axes, densely covered all four walls.

Jing Yang's literacy in the Hunter World had been "stolen" in the first place. He could not be called a master of Hunter World culture, but he could barely recognize the words. He stared at the wild carvings on the walls for ages and could only just make out fragments such as "world," "why," and "hahahaha"... It made him worry about the mental state of whoever had written this mass of frantic cursive.

Yet just like the marks and patterns they had seen before, the dense, sloppy writing carved across the walls still carried lingering Aura that refused to dissipate.

"This is unbelievable. Who could have left these behind?"

"Aura that has remained for hundreds of years?"

"What does all this even say? Was it really that... that Ancient Kakin King?"

Dago and the others held up their phones to take pictures, exchanging looks and swallowing nervously.

As their flashlight beams shifted, Dago and the others suddenly cried out, "Ah!"

Jing Yang immediately looked over. In the center of the dim main burial chamber stood a small glass room. Its four walls were made of transparent glass. When the flashlight beam shone inside, he could see a scattered pile of miscellaneous items across the floor—and in the middle of it all was a white fox! Dago and the others had accidentally swept their lights across the white fox and cried out in surprise.

"What are you screaming for?" Jing Yang said irritably. "It's just a pile of toys."

"Toys?" Menchi leaned closer curiously.

Shizuku saw it clearly as well. "The white fox is a doll too."

Then, with a click, lights came on throughout the entire burial chamber, turning it bright as day.

"Why didn't you turn on the lights?" On the far side of the glass room, a blond middle-aged man in a suit was closing the glass door after opening it. It was Allantrail Blanchette, along with Babimayna, who had entered with him. The latter was studying the entire burial chamber with a grave expression, Aura clearly concentrated in his eyes as he carefully examined the wildly flowing writing on the stone walls.

Jing Yang spotted the light switch installed behind the glass room's door.

Menchi, Dago, and the others were somewhat nervous and confused as they asked about Allantrail's identity. He gave them the same introduction he had previously given Babimayna, then pointed to the barely legible mass of frantic cursive around them.

"These were all left by the Ancient Kakin King four hundred years ago."

Babimayna's expression did not change. Allantrail continued, "When we first found this place, we thought it was the mausoleum of the True Martial King. We were wrong. Though it was built in the style of a small tomb, I believe he used it as a place for secluded reflection. Whenever he encountered a difficult problem, or got angry because he could not figure something out, he would hide in a place like this alone, writing and drawing on the walls to vent. Several centuries passed in the blink of an eye. The True Martial King became history long ago, and this place was left just as it was."

So Jing Yang had been right to worry about the writer's mental state. What normal person built themselves a tomb to use as an isolation room?

What kind of problem had he run into? What had he been unable to figure out? How badly had he bottled it all up to end up like this?

"The True Martial King?" Jing Yang asked.

Dago explained on his behalf, "A legendary monarch printed in textbooks. The True Martial King of Kakin several hundred years ago, Viggo Hui Guo Rou. Records say he nearly unified the entire Aizen Continent..."

Babimayna did not say a word, seemingly focused solely on studying the authentic works left behind by the ancient True Martial King on the four walls.

Shizuku listened and looked around with great interest as well. Though Jing Yang seriously doubted she would remember much once they left.

"What's past is past," Allantrail said, loosening his tie. "I believe you have seen it as well. Though most of the writing and drawings the True Martial King left on these stone walls are difficult to decipher, some descriptions related to Nen Abilities remain. Therefore, this place cannot be opened to the public."

He looked at the silent Babimayna. "The guarantee I can give is that Shiro—the danger you are worried about—the resentment left behind by Nastie Hui Guo Rou will no longer trouble the Hui Guo Rou Royal Family. Of course, that is assuming the Hui Guo Rou do not come disturb him either."

As he spoke, a pale ghostly silhouette of a boy flashed past within the glass room beside them. The white fox doll amid the toys on the floor suddenly came to life. It paced to the edge of the glass room, fiddled with a bouncy ball toy, and watched the people outside through its doll eyes. Jing Yang guessed it was mainly watching Babimayna.

"What did you do to him?" Babimayna asked warily, staring at the Doll White Fox inside the glass room.

"Only what we could," Allantrail said. "The cycle of life and death is not so easily achieved. The consciousness known as Nastie Hui Guo Rou has long existed in name only. What remains is merely a distorted fragment of Nen fused with a Nen beast. In the end, we made this vessel for him to reside in. He will no longer travel all that way to make trouble for Hui Guo Rou."

The Doll White Fox bit down on the bouncy ball, then released it. The ball bounced across the glass room's floor.

Babimayna remained silent for so long that Dago and the others began to feel awkward. They had heard so many private secrets of the Royal Family. Was that really all right?

"How do we leave?" they hurriedly asked Allantrail. He pointed them in a direction where Divine Characters similar to those at the entrance marked the exit.

Menchi put away her phone. "We should get going too."

"I don't mind," Jing Yang said. "What about you, Shizuku?"

"Hm?" Shizuku was still looking at the sloppy writing covering the walls. "I'll go with whatever you decide."

"Then let's go." Jing Yang waved a hand.

Babimayna pressed his hand against the Divine Characters at the exit. Before long, his entire body transformed into a cloud of white mist and vanished.

Jing Yang was about to do the same when he suddenly felt someone tugging on his pant leg. Turning around, he saw that the Doll White Fox had humanishly grabbed his pants with one forepaw.

A cloud of white mist surfaced around the Doll White Fox, vaguely revealing the shape of that pale ghost.

Allantrail looked somewhat surprised. "That's rare. It seems Shiro likes you very much."

"Of course. Everybody loves me. Right, Menchi? Shizuku?" Jing Yang was no longer in a hurry to leave. He turned back and patted the Doll White Fox on the head, then suddenly asked, "Mr. Allantrail, you kept saying 'we' just now. The other person who found this ancient tomb with you was Ging Freecss, wasn't it?"

As he spoke, he pulled out his Hunter License. Menchi did the same, pinching her Hunter License between two fingers and waving it with a smile.

Allantrail smiled. "That's right. Mr. Ging is my teacher."