Removing the Nen

Arieser's process of removing the resentment appeared to onlookers as painfully arduous—

Perhaps it was precisely the "difficulty of the process" that served as the Vow, thereby enhancing the strength of the exorcism.

Moyu walked into the main hall and gently set down the water he had brought.

He had originally planned to use the excuse of preparing food to spend some time in the kitchen, then send a Shadow Person outside to observe the situation. But the moment he stepped out, he saw Cheadle directly enter a combat stance.

This put him on high alert. He casually grabbed two cups of water and hurried back to the hall.

To avoid interfering with Arieser's exorcism, Moyu kept his distance.

"Is it the Qinglin Squad?"

While keeping an eye on Arieser's exorcism, Moyu recalled the Qinglin Squad that Cheadle had mentioned when explaining things to him.

Thirteen years ago.

The death of his predecessor's mother—though the immediate trigger was the Post-Mortem Entity Hawk had brought back from the tomb—was also tied to the Qinglin Squad. Their intervention had hastened her death.

Back then, if his predecessor's mother hadn't made a decisive choice at the critical moment, his predecessor would have died in the womb.

"First, let the Shadow Person check the situation."

In his mind, Moyu controlled the miniature Shadow Person to head into the forest.

As he grew more familiar with his ability, he no longer needed to close his eyes to freely adjust the real-time images converging in his field of vision.

Moreover, after establishing the Vow, the basic effects of his ability had multiplied. Originally, the Shadow Person could only move freely within a hundred-meter range; now, that value had soared to over two hundred meters.

This was the benefit of decisively setting a "Vow and Restriction." For a Specialist's ability to achieve outstanding effects, it inevitably had to contend with "Vows."

While controlling the Shadow Person's movements, Moyu also observed Arieser's exorcism.

The exorcism opportunity granted by Perception had the characteristics of being "cost-free" and "instant purification."

Its value could not be measured in money; at critical moments, it could even save a life.

Since Arieser could help Hawk with exorcism, Moyu, as long as circumstances allowed, would prefer to preserve this exorcism opportunity for future emergencies.

His main concern was that he wasn't sure if he could obtain such an extremely precious exorcism opportunity from "Perception" again later.

But the sudden turn of events outside...

Moyu's expression turned somewhat serious. Using the "Vision Sharing" ability, he took in the situation in the forest.

At this moment.

The forest was thick with the smell of blood. Fully armed corpses lay scattered beside the trees.

The palm-sized Shadow Person under Moyu's control carefully threaded through the forest, paused, then climbed up along a tree trunk.

After considerable effort, it barely managed to find a suitable angle, taking in the five masses of aura that stood out like light bulbs in the forest.

"One of those auras is Cheadle's. So the other four are enemies..."

The real-time images transmitted back by the Shadow Person made Moyu's expression grow even more serious.

With his current experience, he could barely judge that Cheadle's "Manifestation Aura" was stronger than the four opponents. However, compared to two of the enemies, Cheadle's "Manifestation Aura" advantage was not particularly pronounced.

Although "Manifestation Aura" was only one factor in assessing overall combat strength, it was enough to indicate that the opponents were at least experts.

And in battles between Nen users—

Once multiple Nen users had a foundation for cooperation, the combat power they could unleash was far from a simple 1+1.

"Can Cheadle handle it?"

Without knowing the attributes and abilities of the four enemy Nen users, it was impossible not to worry about Cheadle.

If among the enemies there was a Manipulator specializing in "one-hit kill" techniques, they could, with the coordination of their companions, more easily fulfill the conditions for a "one-hit kill."

That was the advantage of multiple Nen users working together in combat.

Just as Moyu was worrying about Cheadle, the battle in the forest erupted.

Keen and Sivir stood at the front, facing Cheadle.

The former had his longsword drawn; the latter wore embedded knuckle dusters and held a strange circular weapon.

Meanwhile, Genbul and Cole stood on either side, poised to strike.

"So it's the Dog of the Zodiac. Long time no see."

Keen radiated abundant Nen, holding his blade horizontally before him, and smiled at Cheadle:

"Your ability probably has an effect that enhances your field of vision, right? I thought you'd use 'In' or 'Zetsu' to sneak over after clearing out the cannon fodder, then pick us off one by one... What's the matter? Did you judge that there's a Manipulator among us? Or perhaps..."

At this point, Keen's eyes narrowed into slits, and his voice, cold and venomous as a snake's, was infused with his aura, radiating undisguised malice.

"You have a reason to stay far away from 'that location,' don't you? Is it because the 'rat' that tried to steal something a few days ago was injured? No, that shouldn't be it. Then, is it because you need to protect the infant who stubbornly survived under the erosion of 'Post-Mortem Nen' thirteen years ago? Mm, completely understandable. After all, from your perspective, you wouldn't let that infant come into contact with Nen, right?"

"..."

Cheadle's expression was blank. She didn't respond, and her emotions showed no fluctuation whatsoever.

Using words as a weapon, attempting to disrupt Cheadle's composure.

But she was, after all, one of the Zodiacs. The effect was almost zero.

Seeing Cheadle completely unresponsive, Ken didn't mind and simply smiled.

The battle began from that instant.

"Gambler's Rhapsody."

Genbul, positioned on the left, suddenly conjured a slot machine.

The intense Nen fluctuation generated during the conjuration inevitably drew part of Cheadle's attention.

At that very moment—

Ken and Sivir, standing directly in front, seized the opportunity. They pushed off the ground with one foot and charged at Cheadle with ferocious momentum.

"A Conjurer, and... a preliminary assessment of an Enhancer."

Everyone and everything presented before her—whether static or dynamic—instantly transformed into information, gathered and processed within Cheadle's mind for analysis.

"Medical Ledger."

Inspection diagnosis—exponentially enhanced observation, powerful information-gathering ability, and finally, processing—

Instantaneous thinking burst forth!

Like threading a needle, Cheadle found the path with the highest margin for error in the blink of an eye.

Shwoosh!

Evading the attack, the transition between advance and retreat was like dancing on a tightrope.

Cheadle's movements were fluid and seamless, effortlessly shaking off the combined frontal assault from Ken and Sivir.

"Hm?"

Ken's eyes flashed with surprise.

The way Cheadle handled the situation made the word "prediction" flash through his mind.

Sivir, who had also launched a frontal attack, didn't overthink it like Ken did. She directly pursued and struck at Cheadle.

A killing intent filled the forest.

Inside the Temple's main hall.

"Auditory sense isn't shared—can't hear what that man is saying..."

"Hm? Such strong aura, such fast speed!"

Moyu frowned deeply.

Having assessed the situation, he didn't hesitate. He suddenly strode quickly toward Hawk and Arieser.

The commotion outside was unexpected, and under these circumstances, he had to decisively use the Nen Exorcism opportunity.

"Master Nen Exorcist, step aside."

Moyu spoke, stopping Arieser's painful and difficult act of devouring.

"?"

Arieser and Hawk both looked over.

The former, interrupted mid-exorcism, slowly revealed anger.

The latter was surprised and somewhat confused.

"You had better give me an explanation I find satisfactory."

Perhaps because the devouring process was agonizing, Arieser hated nothing more than being disturbed during an exorcism.

He stared at Moyu, his zombie-like face cold and expressionless, but his gaze turned sinister.

Moyu had no time to explain. He simply reached out and placed his hand on Hawk.

"Moyu?"

Hawk was bewildered.

Moyu said nothing.

Nen Exorcism—

Activate!

The Post-Mortem Nen residing within Hawk's body, as if violently stimulated, surged forth in an instant, covering Hawk's form like countless black specters writhing and howling.

"This is...!"

Hawk's face was filled with astonishment, while Arieser instinctively stepped back, staring in disbelief at the massive amount of Post-Mortem Nen on Hawk.

"So there was this much!!!"

That quantity meant he would have to devour many, many times to completely remove the Post-Mortem Nen lodged in Hawk's body.

And in the next moment—

This Post-Mortem Nen, radiating extreme malice, suddenly all retracted into Moyu's palm, then vanished without a trace.

At the same time—

Hawk's body instantly returned to its original state.

This all happened too fast, too suddenly.

Hawk's expression was dazed.

And that Nen Exorcist stared wide-eyed at Moyu, his zombie-like face regaining its expressiveness, shock written all over it.

"You, you're also a Nen Exorcist... but, but..."

"How is this possible...!!"

"Dream, I must be dreaming!!!"

The scene unfolding before him had violently overturned the Nen Exorcist's understanding.

I'll put in some effort over the next couple of days to set a fixed update time... My sincere thanks to the following readers for their tips: Dream Chaser's 3000 Qidian coins, Quietly Watching Original Intent's 500 Qidian coins, Pressed Flower Pikachu's 100 Qidian coins, His Father's 100 Qidian coins, Dancing Literary Dragon's 100 Qidian coins, Blooming Until Withered's 100 Qidian coins, Call Me Red Scarf Duckling's 100 Qidian coins, Yan Xi Qi's 100 Qidian coins, Vidos's 100 Qidian coins.