True Several Thousand Hands × Maha's Mental Projection
100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva?!
As hundreds of arms slowly rotated, some clenched fists, some raised palms, some pinched fingers, some chopped downwards, some sliced horizontally... Hundreds of arms, hundreds of hands, each with a different posture, were placed behind the enormous statue of Guanyin, and as Guanyin smiled and looked down...
Roy's expression tightened, instantly feeling an intense pressure. As Netero gazed at him, his breathing quickened... "Biscuit told me, 'You're quite insightful, kid. Last time at the Heavens Arena, your casual remark, 'Thus have I heard, and I rejoice in it,' left her pondering for a long time. Now it seems she wasn't wrong...' Netero, with a solemn countenance, bowed like a fallen sky, obscuring the boundless light of his soul. He stared intently at Roy, pointing to the Guanyin behind him and asking, 'Do you know Chi?'"
There is no place for lies in the space of the heart.
Even if Roy intended to lie, the mental projection cast in this world would instantly expose him...
The Sun-Earring Boy raised his right hand to cover his eyes and looked up at Guanyin with admiration, saying, "The pond is really high, and the statue is very lifelike, but some parts are different from what I imagined."
"Where?"
"There."
Roy also pointed a finger at Guanyin.
However,
The fingertip extended slightly higher than Netero's, passing directly over Guanyin's shoulder and stopping at the hundred arms that were slowly rotating behind the pool! The Sun-Earring Boy truthfully told Netero, "The one I know isn't the Hundred-Armed One... but..."
"A thousand arms!"
The Thousand-Armed Guanyin is revered as Three Saints of the West, presiding over the virtues of the Guanyin lineage, and serving as the left attendant of Amitabha Buddha.
The "thousand" in its fruition signifies immeasurable and perfect. It is usually shown with "Senju Clan" and "thousand eyes." "Senju Clan" represents the immeasurable and vast compassion, and "thousand eyes" represents the perfect and unobstructed wisdom. The Dharani Sutra says: Avalokiteshvara with the Senju Clan eyes can benefit and bring happiness to all sentient beings. According to the needs of sentient beings, he responds to the five classes and five kinds of Dharma, and fulfills all wishes.
It can be said that, in terms of "power," "status," "Buddhist principles," "wisdom," and "divine power," the Guanyin statue before us, though large, is still far from the true "Senju Clan Guanyin." To describe it as one being "in heaven" and the other "on earth" would not be an exaggeration at all!
A deafening roar shook the Buddha Hall... and rubble rained down.
As Roy finished speaking, Netero were projected directly onto the Buddha Hall, causing even his nearly eighty-year-old Buddhist heart to tremble and waver.
This time, Netero was genuinely surprised.
This "Strongest Human" sized Roy up and down, as if seeing him for the first time. He stared at him intently for a long while before finally speaking, "Biscuit is wrong. Your understanding of Buddhism is far greater than hers, far greater than I imagined..."
"Huo Tuotuo... Strange, truly strange... Your whole family are cold-blooded killers, yet you managed to produce a Buddhist disciple with such innate potential. Old man, to be honest, I truly envy you..."
A cold snort Youyou over, seemingly arrogant, yet also haughty...
Maha let out a cold snort, a smug smile almost imperceptibly appearing on his lips, and increased the speed of rocking the chair.
Within the vast world formed by [Heart Drops; Fist Listening] X [Heart Drops; Sword Listening]...
Roy sat quietly on the horse stable, facing away from the Buddha Hall. He neither admitted nor refuted anything, nor did he show any pride or smugness. His words were plain and straightforward, calm and collected, and all of them were... facts.
It should be noted that the Hunter world is not without religions and Faith. For example, Netero's 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva represents [Buddha], Chrollo's cross symbolizes [Christ], Hanzo's ninjutsu represents [the Way of the Ninja]. Therefore, this world is not an illusion, but rather a projection of the real world after its Anti-Conjuration.
As for Roy, his advantage lies in his transmigration, his rebirth, and his possession of two lifetimes of experience that even the natives of this world would never have. It's not a big deal that he has some understanding of Buddhism, Christianity, and the Way of the Ninja.
The rumbling sound gradually faded... the Buddha Hall stopped trembling... After initially being surprised and flustered, Netero quickly calmed himself and said truthfully, "Actually, I know that Guanyin has a thousand arms, but only a hundred arms are shown now. It's not Guanyin's fault, but my mistake."
"It is because I am too weak to support the Senju Clan Guanyin..."
Netero flicked his wrist, catching another fish, which he quickly tossed back into the lake. At that moment, the old man seemed truly as Roy had said, his vitality waning, unable to return to his peak. An aura of decline, helplessness, and dejection enveloped him, leaving one speechless, as if a fishbone was stuck in one's throat...
A Youyou breeze stirred, sweeping across the lake's surface, causing Netero's white eyebrows, beard, and hair to sway, their reflection mirrored in the heart of the lake. A green leaf fell, creating ripples that dispersed the reflection...
As Roy's emotions surged, a few words flashed across the surface of his mind's lake, disappearing into the ears of Netero and Maha, who stood by watching, unwilling to approach...
Song of the Worldly Delusions...
"Only fame and fortune can't be forgotten!"
Where are the generals and ministers of ancient and modern times? Only a mound of overgrown grass covers their desolate graves.
Song of the Worldly Delusions, but they can't forget gold and silver!
"All day long I lament that we don't have enough to gather, but when we finally have plenty, it's too late."
Song of the Worldly Delusions, but only a beloved wife can't be forgotten!
"While you were alive, you spoke of love and kindness every day; now that you're dead, you've gone with someone else."
Song of the Worldly Delusions, but only children and grandchildren can't forget them!
"Many parents throughout history have been devoted to their children, but how many have ever seen dutiful children and grandchildren?"
"This..." Netero's brows furrowed, and he suddenly looked at Roy, saying, "Where did you read this haiku?" {Note: Haiku, as a form of short poetry, is not uncommon in the Hunter world. A well-known example is "Basho," who teamed up with Kurapika and Melody to protect Neon in the Yorknew City arc. His Nen Ability is [The Great Haiku Wanderer]: by writing a haiku on a card, he can bring the content to life. However, because the [mechanism] is so overpowered, this ability has extremely strict limitations: First, it is constrained by one's own Nen capacity; the strength of the effect is linked to the literary quality of the haiku. If the sentence is not beautiful enough, the effect will be greatly reduced;}
Second: Each haiku can only perform one function, and the card will be destroyed after use. For example, he once wrote a haiku that said "things that are knocked away will burn," but it only caused a chair to catch fire, demonstrating the limitations of his abilities.
"Fame and fortune," "gold and silver," "beautiful wife," "children and grandchildren"—this short haiku encompasses all of life's pursuits, revealing them nakedly and bluntly to the world. Netero stared intently at Roy, almost certain... This wasn't something someone his age could write...
However, if he's not Sun-Earring Boy... could he be an "old man"?
Netero spared a glance, piercing through the hazy light of his mind, at the dimly lit room in the Zoldyck Family Ancient Castle. There stood Maha, a [Enhancement] type like him, "simple-minded" and "all brawn and no brains," clearly not a bookworm... "Maha, this haiku is so sad..." At ten o'clock in the morning, the clock in the corner struck sharply... In the dimly lit room on the first floor of the Zoldyck Family Ancient Castle, the curtains were drawn, and then... a wisp of Nen Qi emerged from Maha's body, forming the image of Betty Zoldyck, who sat slumped in Maha's lap, gazing sadly and melancholically at the Butler Villa halfway up the mountain through the walls and lush forest... Unbeknownst to her, her small hands were firmly grasped by Maha beneath her...
The old man was withered and frail, looking much older than Netero.
He opened his dim, half-white old eyes and chuckled, "Of course, the person who wrote this haiku has seen through life and human nature, which is why he finds it meaningless, why he feels life is utterly dull, and why he feels pain..."
Betty Zoldyck leaned down, nestled against Maha's small chest, and nodded in deep agreement, saying, "Tell me, where did Roy learn that from?"
"In a dream." Across half of the Kukuroo Mountain, the grandfather and grandson seemed to be of one mind, speaking at the same time.
A glint of light flashed in Netero's weathered, aged eyes. He chuckled at Roy, "Looks like your Nen Ability is related to 'dreams'."
Then, recalling Jager's Nen Ability [Game of the Dead]... the old man sighed, "So alike, so very alike. Both are Conjuration, both have boundless imaginations. If your grandfather Jager were still alive, he would be overjoyed to see you."
For a fleeting moment, Netero seemed to see a resemblance to Jager in Roy.
Not only does he resemble the Zoldyck in appearance, but even his hair color is almost identical, except for the golden sheen at the ends of Roy's hair.
But Jager is Jager, and Roy is Roy... Regardless of what Netero thought, Roy stuck to his own principles, raised his hand, and for the first time fished a fish from the lake of his heart. Without even looking at Netero, he said, "Who said Grandpa Jager is dead? I saw him a while ago."
Um?!
Netero was startled and suddenly looked up... With a loud "boom," the [Buddha Hall] behind him collapsed due to the overwhelming emotions, along with the Guanyin statue—a statue with a hundred arms on its back, a smiling face, and a plump countenance—which shattered instantly and was buried under the rubble!
"You brat, do you know what you're saying?!" Before Netero could finish, he abruptly kicked off his horse and stood up!
A figure, faster, more agile, and more domineering than him, carrying thousands of purple-black Thunder, flew in with a roar. In a flash, it arrived beside Roy, and Netero flanked Roy on both sides!
At this moment, to the left lay Thunder storm, to the right, the ruins of which buried Guanyin... Roy felt as if he were a small boat, recklessly venturing into the vast ocean, where a sudden wave could capsize his silence at any moment... With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the fish he had just caught into the lake of his heart...
Seemingly sensing the awkward atmosphere on the shore, the fish glared with its dead eyes, flicked its tail, and darted away... Roy, left alone, gripped a wooden stick as a fishing rod, and quietly swallowed, saying, "Don't look at me like that. I only vaguely saw his figure through the Demon Eye he modified on the day I paid respects to Grandpa Jager. As for..."
Whether it is him or not remains to be verified; confirmation...
"Verify my ass!" Maha snapped, blurting out a curse, "It has to be him! No one else can be connected to that big-eyed guy!"
Amidst the ebb and flow of emotions, a glimpse of Maha's mental projection suddenly appeared... In the state of [Heart Drop; Fist Listening] X [Heart Drop; Sword Listening], one can see the [essence of the mind] of everyone. Based on this, by Conjuration it through "Nen Qi," one can develop a unique "Nen Ability."
Maha stood next to Roy, and in his emotional state, a glimpse of the sky slowly appeared behind him!
High in the sky, Thunder roared, and dozens of purplish-black lightning dragons swam within the terrifying, dark clouds. Some revealed their formidable horns, others their sharp claws, and still others trailed long whiskers, letting out a deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth... Just as Roy felt a sharp pain in his eardrums, he glanced again, peering deep into the Thunder...
Beneath the Dark Continent where lightning dragons and serpents coiled and twisted... stood a magnificent, shattered royal Royal Court... The ruins of the Royal Court far surpassed any Buddha Hall conjured by Netero's mind; even a single toppled stone pillar was as tall as the towering trees Roy had seen on the Dark Continent. The Sun-Earring Boy took a deep breath and peered deeper... In the Royal Court's plaza, where the endless green grass nearly swallowed him, mottled stone walls, blood-stained armor, and discarded weapons lay scattered haphazardly... stretching outwards, all the way to the main hall of the Royal Court, before the massive stone staircase that traversed it...
Roy stared intently, his mind in sync with the divine. Under the blessing of [Heart Drop; Sword Listening], he maintained a state of detachment, lightly brushing over the collapsed stone walls, scattered weapons, and blood-stained armor. Then, he stepped onto a stone step and slowly ascended, until his head appeared, the graveyard emerging from the last step.
Roy's two pupils, burning with "sunlight," widened in shock... In that instant of clearing vision, he saw the throne, and the men and women lined up on either side of it...
"Are these my great-grandfather's former subordinates?"
Her silver hair, with its ends shimmering with a golden light, swayed slightly as the Sun-Earring Boy walked up the stone steps.
Roy glanced around and quickly recognized figures he had seen in his great-grandfather's Unconscious Realm through dreams... such as Brook, Sael, Cibulus, and... his great-grandmother...
A vague sense of understanding dawned on the Sun-Earring Boy, and the first thing that came to mind was a phrase...
A person will die three times in their lifetime.
The first death is physiological death, which is the gradual loss of function of various organs, the cessation of heartbeat, breathing, and brain activity, representing the end of life;
The second death is the loss of social identity. When a person is no longer mentioned in society, and his name, story, and influence are no longer remembered, his social identity disappears, representing the end of social relations.
The third death is the forgetting of the spirit or memory. When a person's spirit is forgotten by the world, and no one remembers that he ever came into this world, this is death in the true sense, representing the complete disappearance of the individual's existence.
And now, it's clear that some people have died, but they still stubbornly live on in Great-Grandpa's heart...
Just like Roy could see them,
They could also see Roy.
Suddenly, countless gazes fell upon him, like a vast ocean, engulfing Roy...