Invaders

When the choice emerged from the depths of consciousness—

Able to remove!

With that confirmed, Moyu felt a slight relief in his heart.

This so-called Price—he had only heard Cheadle gloss over it before, without any direct sense of what it truly meant.

Now that he had seen it with his own eyes, it was nothing short of eerie and terrifying.

If someone told him this kind of "phenomenon power" came from the Dark Continent, Moyu would choose to believe it.

Even that so-called "Perception" entity, which had unknowingly attached itself to the depths of his consciousness, was highly likely to have originated from the Dark Continent.

After all, in the original work, even a "universal wish-granting device" existed...

In short, Moyu now had a foundation of confidence, and he was grateful that "Perception" had given him a chance to perform Nen Exorcism.

But before removing the Price from Hawk, he wanted to see if Arieser had a way.

If it was that "Balance" sealed underground, Moyu felt that even the exorcism opportunity granted by "Perception" would be powerless—but if it was the Price imposed on Hawk...

Since his exorcism opportunity was viable, perhaps Arieser could manage it too.

"You'll be fine, Hawk."

Moyu supported Hawk's arm and spoke softly to reassure him.

Hearing this, Hawk's wrinkled face broke into a smile.

He should have been the one to reassure Moyu, yet he had ended up being the one reassured.

He said nothing, only gently patted Moyu's hand.

To protect Moyu at any cost.

That was the meaning of his existence.

"Let's begin now, Mr. Arieser."

A glimmer of hope shone in Hawk's aged eyes.

Arieser nodded silently.

Before long.

Everyone moved to the main hall.

Arieser began the Nen Exorcism on Hawk.

Opening his mouth to the size of a ping-pong ball, he bit off a small mouthful of Post-Mortem Nen from Hawk's body.

"Ugh, ugh..."

The moment that small bite of resentment entered his mouth, Arieser's face twisted in pain, and he collapsed to his knees, retching uncontrollably.

The Anorexic—

Resisted every single "meal" with all its might.

After barely managing to swallow the first mouthful of resentment, Arieser's face turned pale.

Seeing him struggle so painfully made Hawk and Cheadle's hearts pound with alarm.

Arieser's exorcism ability was their only hope at this moment. If...

Hawk and Cheadle didn't dare dwell on that thought.

After a long pause to recover, Arieser bit off a second mouthful of resentment from Hawk.

The process of swallowing was still excruciatingly difficult, his retching so violent it seemed he might vomit out his internal organs at any moment.

"Is removing Post-Mortem Nen... always this grueling and painful?"

Moyu watched from the side as Arieser knelt on the ground, retching without pause, his eyes filled with astonishment.

If even the Price imposed by "Balance" was this hard to remove, he dared not imagine how one would remove the Post-Mortem Nen on "Balance" itself.

"Ugh, ugh..."

The hall echoed with Arieser's agonized retching.

Credit had to be given to this Nen Exorcist's professional integrity—despite suffering so intensely, he still managed to persevere.

Time slowly passed.

As the sun set in the west, Arieser had lost count of how many mouthfuls of resentment he had swallowed.

Though he could still push on, he knew it was time to stop.

After all, he still had to digest the resentment he had consumed. If he couldn't digest it, the Price formed by that resentment would transfer onto him.

"I need time to digest... Only after I've digested it can I continue the exorcism."

Arieser slumped to the floor, his expression weary.

His efforts were not in vain—the signs of aging on Hawk had changed noticeably.

"Good."

Hawk's face lit up with joy.

Cheadle also saw the exorcism taking effect, and her tense body gradually relaxed.

"Don't... get too happy too soon."

Arieser's face was wooden, his voice hoarse. "If my 'Anorexic Appetite' can't digest these Post-Mortem Nen... then it means I'm not up to the job."

Hawk and Cheadle's eyes sharpened at his words.

Arieser struggled to his feet, walked over to the vermilion pillar, then sat down with his back against it, closing his eyes to rest.

Seeing this, Hawk suggested Arieser go rest in a guest room, but was met with a cold refusal.

Until the "digestion results" came out, Hawk and the others could only wait idly by.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

Night fell.

The hall was filled with soft lamplight.

Hawk, Cheadle, and Moyu each sat cross-legged on the floor, watching Arieser, who had his eyes closed in meditation.

No one spoke. The hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Cheadle let out a surprised sound.

"What's wrong?"

Hawk and Moyu immediately looked at Cheadle, while Arieser remained as still as an old monk in deep meditation, showing no reaction at all.

Cheadle looked out the door into the night, frowning. "The Nen Threads I set up in the forest have been disturbed."

"What exactly happened?"

After being verbally dismantled by Cheadle last time, Hawk wasn't so optimistic now. He simply asked for the details. If it had been the old him, he would have first suggested the possibility of an animal triggering them.

"Not sure, but... at least eleven Nen Threads vanished at the same time."

As she spoke, Cheadle rose from the ground.

Nen Threads with such faint presence could only serve as a warning; they couldn't relay much more information.

"I'll go check it out."

Cheadle prepared to head to the scene.

Hawk instinctively stood up to follow her.

Cheadle glanced at him and said bluntly, "What can you do right now?"

"..."

Hawk was momentarily speechless, then gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Cheadle, I'll go with you."

Moyu also stood, wanting to join her outside.

"No."

Cheadle refused Moyu without a second thought, saying calmly, "You stay here and look after Hawk and Mr. Arieser."

With that, she didn't wait for Moyu's reply and strode out of the hall.

Watching Cheadle's figure melt into the night, Moyu and Hawk exchanged a glance, then fell silent.

A moment later.

Moyu suddenly said, "I'll go to the kitchen and get something to eat."

"Alright."

Hawk nodded.

On the other side.

Cheadle walked out of the Temple and headed into the forest.

She stared into the pitch-black woods, her expression grave.

"The thing I least wanted to see... has happened."

The information from the Nen Threads was limited, but piecing it together led to a conclusion.

There were at least ten creatures that had disturbed the threads, and judging by the pattern of subsequent disturbances, they were likely heading for the Temple.

It was almost certain they were intruders...

And more than likely, they were the ones who had inherited the will of the Old Qinglin Squad, coming for the Post-Mortem Entity.

When things had already happened.

Cheadle would not waste time on meaningless complaints against Hawk; her mind was focused solely on how to actively solve the problem.

"Medical Ledger."

Nen surged in Cheadle's hands as a thin register and a fountain pen materialized out of thin air.

The moment she activated her ability, her eyesight underwent a breakthrough enhancement.

The mountain forest.

An armed squad of about twenty men marched in orderly formation through the woods.

And behind the armed squad—

were four Nen users led by Ken.

My keyboard broke. Luckily, I had a spare keyboard from a previous monitor purchase, but it's terrible to type on... this is painful. Hope the delivery is fast and gets my new keyboard here soon!!