Heavenly Stems

Armed forces moved through the mountain forest, gradually pressing toward the Temple.

Sivir stared ahead at the armed personnel, saying coldly, "Relying only on firearms, what use could they possibly be?"

"Sivir, weapons like guns... they're indeed useless against an Enhancer, but you can't deny their practicality either."

As he walked, Ken shifted his blade to the other side of his waist, then pulled out a pistol, smiling slightly. "See, I'm an Enhancer too, but I like carrying a gun on me. Who knows, it might just become the trump card that turns things around."

"Spare me that."

Sivir shot Ken a glare, then looked at her own fists. "If I touched a gun, wouldn't that be admitting my fists are weaker than a firearm? Once that kind of 'thought' takes root, it'll only make me stumble at every step."

"Sivir, you always manage to perfectly ignore the point others are trying to make."

Ken shook his head slightly and put the pistol away.

Nearby, Genbul ignored Sivir and Ken, instead turning to look at the long-haired man lagging behind. He asked, "Cole, how's your 'preparation' coming along?"

"Finished long ago."

The long-haired man called Cole replied with a blank expression.

Seeing this, Genbul said no more.

The organization's goal was to collect as many Nen Artifacts with bizarre abilities like the "Dark Sonata" as possible.

The operation tonight was precisely to retrieve the Nen Artifact the organization had missed out on thirteen years ago—

The "King's Balance."

Genbul, who had only formally joined the organization four years ago, didn't know the ability of this artifact.

All he knew was that the operation thirteen years ago had ended in failure, with heavy losses...

Squinting slightly, Genbul's mind flashed through a row of casualty statistics from the thirteen-year-old operation report.

Among them, only a few short words would stay etched in his memory for a long time—

"Heavenly Stem Ding, deceased. Heavenly Stem Ji, deceased."

One operation had cost two pillar Heavenly Stem members—truly a devastating loss.

Thinking of this, Genbul couldn't help but glance at Sivir and Ken.

Within the Qinglin Squad, which had inherited the former chairman's will and broken away from the Hunter Association, there were ten pillars bearing the title of Heavenly Stems.

Sivir was the current "Ding," and Ken was the current "Ji," exactly corresponding to the two Heavenly Stem members who had died in the operation thirteen years ago.

If Genbul hadn't known that the organization's principle for assigning task members had always been "move based on proximity," he would have definitely thought the organization had deliberately sent the current "Ding" and current "Ji" on this mission to avenge that old shame.

"Bad omen. Once this mission is over, I'll skip the casino for now."

Genbul stared ahead, thinking to himself.

Under the night sky, the forest saw the team moving in an orderly line, front and back.

Suddenly.

A sound of something breaking through the air came from the forest.

A stone wrapped in Nen traced a thin streak of light through the darkness, precisely hitting the night-vision goggles on one of the armed members.

With a crack, the night-vision goggles shattered instantly.

And the stone, its momentum undiminished, pierced straight through that armed member's forehead.

Pfft!

Blood splattered from the armed member's brow. His body tilted backward and fell, losing all signs of life in an instant.

"Enemy attack! Find cover nearby!"

The sudden assault sent a jolt through the remaining nineteen armed members.

They all instantly judged the trajectory's direction and took cover behind the nearest trees.

At the rear of the formation.

Ken and his group stopped in their tracks.

"Emitter?"

The long-haired man Cole said hesitantly.

Emitters usually only had two paths of training.

One was to manifest Nen Beasts by separating "aura" from the body, and the other was to release or throw "aura" to form various types of abilities.

Wrapping externally released "aura" around a stone and then throwing it was a fairly standard attack method for an Emitter.

Genbul squinted. "It just looks like it."

"It's not an Emitter."

Ken shook his head, then gave his reasoning: "If it were an Emitter, an attack so concentrated on a single point wouldn't have shattered the night-vision goggles like that. The control is far too crude."

"It could also be that the other side did it on purpose, to mislead our judgment. Ken, isn't that the kind of thing you do all the time?"

As an Enhancer, Sivir stated her opinion with an air of certainty.

Kane silently glanced at Sivir and very rationally chose to end that topic.

He didn't want to waste meaningless saliva on explanations.

The attacks shooting through the night continued, stone after stone wrapped in Nen breaking through the air, precisely striking armed members one after another who were hiding behind cover.

In less than half a minute, eight armed members had fallen.

The remaining armed members couldn't even find a trace of their enemy, forced to passively take the hits.

The four Nen users led by Kane gradually widened the distance between each other.

"Can you see it?"

Kane asked.

"No."

"Can't see."

"Same."

The other three each gave their answers.

Kane smiled slightly. "Looks like the opponent's vision ability far surpasses ours. An Enhancer or a Conjurer... What we can confirm so far is that there's only one person on the other side—no, at least two. For now, let's push forward."

"..."

The others had no objections. As armed members fell one after another, they advanced, trying to pinpoint the location of the "stone thrower."

At the edge of the forest below the steep steps of the Temple.

Cheadle held the "Medical Ledger" in one hand, casually picked up a small stone from the ground with the other, and stared intently into the depths of the forest.

"Four, huh... Impressive aura. Looks like they're all experts."

No sooner had she spoken.

Cheadle took seven diagonal steps to the left, then hurled the stone with force.

Whoosh—

The stone wrapped in Nen cut through the night, vanishing into the forest in an instant.

The next second.

Another armed member deep in the forest was struck by the stone and died.

At the same time.

Cheadle picked up another stone from the ground.

She wasn't an Emitter, so she could only use stones to let her emitted Nen fly farther, though its power was very weak.

But it was enough to deal with ordinary people who didn't understand Nen, even if those ordinary people were well-equipped armed personnel...

"Certain that I'm not an Emitter, so they're pressing forward without hesitation."

Cheadle took in the situation in the forest and muttered to herself, "Sending an armed squad as the vanguard just to gather intel? There should be a deeper purpose..."

She tossed the stone in her hand.

With that motion, it meant another member of the opposing armed force had fallen.

"No matter what, I won't allow you to get close to here."

Cheadle stepped forward into the forest.

The battlefield could only be chosen within the woods.

Temple kitchen.

Moyu slowly opened his eyes, his expression slightly grim.

He had gradually adapted to the usage of the "Vision Sharing" ability, and the shadow he had just sent out showed him Cheadle's actions.

"Is that... attacking enemies?"

Moyu frowned, then casually picked up two cups of water and headed toward the main hall.

Before he even reached the main hall, Moyu heard a familiar retching sound.

Inside the main hall, Arieser was biting into the resentment on Hawk's body.

It seemed—

Arieser's "Appetite of the Anorexic" could digest the "Post-Mortem Nen" imposed by the "Balance."

Which also meant that as long as Arieser was given enough time, he could completely remove the resentment that had aged Hawk.