I'm extremely interested in Nen abilities.

“Ma Xiu = Harrison!” the young master explained quickly. “He’s a painter, not very famous, but not great either. You might not have heard of him, but you can definitely find him online…”

Kurapika remained expressionless, glancing at the illustrations on the pages of the Book of Revelation without changing his expression.

The young master seemed relieved, but also felt there was no need to hide anything. He loosened his already disheveled tie and said, "If you're looking for him, I can offer you a free suggestion—this guy hasn't produced much in recent years, and I heard he's going crazy trying to find inspiration. He's not short of money, which is why I was able to sell him those red eyes for a high price..."

Upon noticing Kurapika's cold stare and the gun being raised again, the young master quickly said, "The Sensui Mountain Art Fair! The Sensui Mountain Art Fair next month. That show-off bastard got incredibly excited when he got those eyeballs, spouting nonsense about his inspiration flowing like crazy. He definitely won't miss this year's Sensui Mountain! If you want to find him, this is the perfect opportunity..."

Soon, realizing he couldn't get any more information out of him, Kurapika raised his gun butt and struck the young gang leader, knocking him unconscious.

……

In the internet cafe, Jingyang inserted his hunter's license and searched for information about the painter, Ma Xiu = Harrison.

Unlike Nail Chadman, this wealthy painter has assets spread across several different cities and even different continents. His recent real-name spending records and hotel stays are also in several different cities...

With this jumbled information and some ordinary photos, Kurapika couldn't use "Revelation" to divine the other person's current location. If he could have seen the other person in person, he estimated he could pinpoint their location to a specific city on the map, but since they had never met, the diviner was helpless.

Jingyang stared at the "Fairy Water Mountain Art Exhibition" on the screen, lost in thought.

Why does this sound so familiar?

He took out his phone and, sure enough, found the message that Sky Arena had sent him before.

"Invitation to the Fairy Water Mountain Conference, dates: June 16th to June 26th..."

Jingyang typed on his keyboard and searched for "Xianshui Mountain Conference" and "Xianshui Mountain Art Exhibition," and sure enough, the same terms came up.

"How come boxers and artists are all mixed up like this?"

Jingyang clicked on the entry and started browsing.

The so-called Xianshui Mountain Art Exhibition is actually a derivative product of the so-called Xianshui Mountain Conference...

The Xianshui Mountain Conference is a martial arts exchange event that has existed for over a century. It is named after the fact that it is held annually at Xianshui Mountain, bringing together outstanding martial artists from different schools of martial arts around the world.

The connection between the Immortal Water Mountain Tournament and the Sky Arena is quite simple. The original organizer of the Immortal Water Mountain Tournament was the head of the Sky Stream martial arts sect. And the head of the Sky Stream sect was the founder of the Sky Arena… However, decades have passed, and the head of the Sky Stream sect has rarely appeared in the public eye, and there are fewer and fewer disciples of the Sky Stream sect. With the decline of the sect, the Sky Stream attributes of the Sky Arena have gradually faded, making it more and more like a commercial organization, a purely combat platform…

After fifty or sixty years of development, as the influence of the Sky Stream Sect leader gradually faded, the activities of the Immortal Water Mountain Tournament became more complicated. Now, the original martial arts competition, which was supposed to last for ten days, is now reduced to just the last day, with the first nine days transformed into art exhibitions, concerts, and other exchange events. Many believe that the day when the martial arts competition is finally and completely canceled is not far off.

"Since they're sending invitations to someone like me who's above level 200, it seems the Arena and the so-called Sky Flow are connected." Jing Yang closed the webpage. "So, what do you guys think?"

Xiao Di raised her hand and said, "I didn't receive an invitation."

Kurapika said, "Then, the scope of the invitations will either be 'little tower masters' like Jing Yang and above, or contestants who have performed exceptionally well on the 200th floor..."

“The players here are all very busy, they probably don’t have time to attend this kind of tournament.” Jing Yang shook his head and said, “Kurapika, now you have two choices, one is to go back to the Heavens Arena, reach floor 200 in the shortest time, and achieve an ‘outstanding performance’…”

"What about number two?" Kurapika asked.

Jing Yang smiled and typed a few more words on the keyboard, searching the Hunter website's intelligence database.

"The Thousand Ears Gathering".

The so-called Thousand Ears Society is an organization similar to a mercenary mission intermediary. According to Jing Yang's research, it is basically a subsidiary of the Hunter Association. The Hunter Association headquarters mainly handles large official orders, while many missions assigned by civilians, as well as various anonymous missions, are handled by the Thousand Ears Society, which connects them with civilian hunters. Of course, many professional hunters also use the Thousand Ears Society to select missions and earn some extra money.

Jingyang said, "Second, you can go and find a mission that allows you to infiltrate the Immortal Water Mountain Conference or the Immortal Water Mountain Art Exhibition, posing as a civilian hunter. I think there will be people who will hire you as a bodyguard for these kinds of events, which involve all sorts of people. If all else fails, we have a third option."

"three?"

"Xiao Di and I will sneak into Xian Shui Mountain first. You will stay in touch with us through the ring, and then find a chance to slip back up..."

Kurapika thought for a moment, "Let's go with number two."

He looked at the information on the screen showing the distribution locations of the Thousand Ears that Jingyang had paid for in different cities. "I also want to gain as much experience as possible so that I can better find the eyes of my people."

"Training is training, but don't accidentally kill yourself."

Jingyang stood up, raised one hand, and a flying star bubble flew out from his fingertip. "Want to insure your life? Of course, it's up to you whether you accept it or not."

Chapter 114 Earthly Curse

If Jingyang put himself in someone else's shoes, he figured he would be unlikely to accept having someone else mark him with the ability to manipulate objects.

Surprisingly, Kurapika agreed after a moment's hesitation.

His reasoning was simple: if Jing Yang really wanted to control him and turn him into his puppet, then when Jing Yang awakened his Nen, he wouldn't have so easily removed the mark on his forehead after the awakening was complete... At that time, he knew nothing about Nen, and even if Jing Yang had kept the mark on his forehead after awakening his Nen, he would have been powerless to do anything about it.

Kurapika chooses to believe Jingyang.

After listening to Jingyang's explanation of the pentagram's power, Kurapika pondered it carefully and understood it even more clearly.

Those who carry the star will possess powerful self-healing abilities...

The three methods of controlling the star icon will neither damage the wearer's brain nor interfere with their independent consciousness...

Jingyang's ability is less about manipulation and more about cooperation.

This can be gleaned from Jingyang's fighting style.

Kurapika observed all of Jingyang's battles on the 200th floor of the Sky Arena. Jingyang never once used the Star Mark ability on his opponents. If ordinary opponents were too weak to warrant Jingyang using Star Mark to win, then when facing a powerful enemy like Cloud Valley, Jingyang's choice was to spend his efforts developing a new emission-type ability rather than using Star Mark, a control-type ability that guarantees victory by striking first.

Admittedly, Jingyang may have considered concealing his manipulation abilities in this choice, but to forgo a more useful ability and a means to defeat a stronger enemy simply because of this reveals a certain aspect of his character. Otherwise, when considering strategies for dealing with enemies, Jingyang would likely focus on "how to use the stars more discreetly" rather than "how to defeat the opponent without needing to use the stars as much as possible."

If the limitations of Nen abilities are partly due to the "shackles" that Nen users consciously add during the development process, then another part is a natural result of the unconscious behavior of Nen users.

Jing Yang's approach of "I'll only use Star Mark when I have no other choice, or I'll be killed if I don't use it; otherwise, I'll try to fight head-on with my opponent" might be the latter, a kind of implicit constraint... It is precisely because of this approach, this unconscious self-restraint, that the ability of Star Mark becomes more and more perfect and its effect becomes more and more significant.

These thoughts flashed through Kurapika's mind, and he asked, "Where should we mark it?"

He looked at the back of his hand. "Any easily noticeable spot is definitely out of the question..."

“That’s the Heavenly Curse, of course…” Jing Yang’s words trailed off as he frowned, touching the back of his neck through his collar. Wait a minute, the Heavenly Curse mark seems to be located on the back of the neck too; repeating it would be pointless. “Fine, then the Earthly Curse mark will do…”

"A curse?" Kurapika asked in confusion, assuming that Jingyang regarded the ability of this star as a kind of curse.

Jingyang laughed and said, "It's a scene from a comic book I read before, don't worry about it. Come on, take off your shirt—or you can pull your collar down a bit."

"Chest?" Kurapika immediately understood.

Jing Yang quickly left a rose-gold pentagram mark on the red-eyed boy's chest and said, "This is how you feel when you use the three control methods."

"Snap!" He snapped his fingers.

Kurapika seemed to fall off the ice, losing all feeling in his body. He heard Jingyang's voice coming from the ice, "The first type is similar to me taking over your body, controlling it from a first-person perspective..."

"Snap!" Jingyang's second snap of his fingers became clearer.

Kurapika's senses were similar; he could clearly feel the existence of his body, yet his body moved uncontrollably around the internet cafe room.

"This is the second type. I'm within your line of sight, like controlling a game character. The difference from the first type is that if I lose focus, theoretically you have a perfect opportunity to quickly avoid my gaze and escape my control..."

"Snap!" Jing Yang snapped his fingers again. "Then there's the third way—scratching the star with your fingernail."

At Jingyang's command, Kurapika saw his hand move uncontrollably, tearing off his collar and forcefully slashing at the corner of the rose-gold pentagram mark. His not-so-long fingernails, empowered by ki, became exceptionally sharp, cutting a gash in the undefended skin, and the star immediately vanished.

Jingyang laughed and said, "Well, or we could simply remove the star markings on our bodies like this."

All it takes is destroying the star mark to remove it... You could probably pierce it with a needle... Kurapika immediately understood, then recalled the action of Jingyang when he removed the star mark on his forehead after he activated his mind, and guessed that another way to remove it was probably that Jingyang touched the star mark with his palm.

“However,” Kurapika’s eyes immediately turned dead, and he said speechlessly, “You can demonstrate as you please, but if you remove the star, won’t you just have to create another one?”

Jingyang quickly got him another one...

The scratches from my fingernails healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if they had been instantly erased by an invisible eraser.

"Then, see you at Xianshui Mountain on the 16th of next month."

Finally, Jingyang and Xiaodi parted ways with Kurapika.

After they left, Kurapika raised his hand and pressed it against his collar...

Jingyang specifically demonstrated the control effect of activating the star mark, obviously so that Kurapika could clearly distinguish whether he was being controlled by Jingyang.

"It's really awkward that a manipulation-type ability user is so afraid of being misunderstood as controlling others..."

Kurapika turned and left, preparing to find the nearest Thousand Ears Guild intermediary to seek a quest that would allow him to travel to Sensui Mountain.

……

Jingyang and Xiaodi returned to the Sky Arena.

As a star player who achieved a 10-game winning streak, Jing Yang's nickname "Zhen Yuanzi" is well-known in the Sky Arena, especially above floor 200.

Jingyang ran to the front desk to inquire about the Fairy Water Mountain Conference.

The staff member answered enthusiastically, but their answer wasn't any more comprehensive than what Jingyang had found online. The useful points were only two: first, those who chose to participate in the Fairy Water Mountain Tournament through the Sky Arena channel could travel there on the 15th of next month using the Sky Arena's dedicated airship; second, the selection criteria, as expected, included a record requirement—at least 8 wins and no more than 3 losses.

"In that case, Yun Gu meets the requirements, right?" Jing Yang asked. "Will he participate?"

The staff member smiled and said, "Yun Gu declined."

Little Drop politely said, "Please give me a battle application form."

Players who reach level 200 only lose after four defeats. Xiao Di withdrew from the competition just over three months ago, and only one loss was automatically recorded because he exceeded the preparation period. Theoretically, a player who reaches level 200 could live off the competition for free for 4 x 90 days, almost a year, even without doing anything…

"Okay." The staff member took out a blank form and handed it to Xiao Di.

Xiao Di filled in "ready to play at any time" as the option for available players.

Chapter 115 The Same Era as Netero

"Today is May 22nd, and there are still more than 20 days until we depart on June 15th. Winning 8 games is enough."

In the apartment, Jingyang looked at Xiaodi and said, "As long as we don't encounter a master like Yun Gu, even without using the Bulging Eye Fish, dealing with those Nen novices on the 200th floor shouldn't be a problem."

"Ok!"

Little Di nodded.

Since they weren't using the bulging-eyed fish, they had to rely on their basic skills to fight head-on. Jing Yang got into a stance, his whole body supporting a thick layer of qi to form a "firm" aura, and began practicing against Xiao Di, who was also supporting a "firm" aura, using a "flow" technique... Both of them had stars on their bodies, and their training intensity was much more intense than that of ordinary people, since they didn't need to worry about getting injured.

bang, bang, bang...

The rock sparrow opened its beak on the windowsill, utterly bewildered as to why humans liked to fight all the time.

……

In another city, Kurapika finds the location of the Thousand Ears Society.

Inside the dilapidated building, a middle-aged man with the air of a landlord was typing away, a cigarette dangling from his lips. After learning Kurapika's purpose, the man exhaled a puff of smoke and looked Kurapika up and down suspiciously. "He's way too young!" he thought.