I'm extremely interested in Nen abilities.

Such a small amount of air is equivalent to the state of a rock finch when it is exhausted after flying 10 kilometers non-stop. It is equivalent to a large amount of air, or physical strength, being consumed, but it is not enough to be called "extinct".

Having this thin layer of aura on his body provides some defense. It also provides enough cushioning to break free from this state and release the eight-armed shadowy spirit beast residing within him…

"Eight-armed shadow beast... it's so annoying to chant." Jingyang pondered, "Why don't we give it a name?"

Walking side by side in the corridor of the Qianshan Hotel, he looked at Xiaodi.

After most of the day had passed, and with Gailu's detoxification, most of the people in the hotel should have woken up. Along the way, they saw several people gathered together, looking puzzled and whispering, as if wondering what had happened. As they chatted, they got so engrossed that they grabbed the piano in the lobby and started playing a piano duel.

Nitero should be able to handle the situation at the top of Xianshui Mountain, and Jingyang estimates that Nitero will probably act as if nothing happened and let the art exhibition continue.

The true disappearance of Master Sky had a greater impact on the martial arts tournament in the back mountain.

Xiao Di said, "Okay, what name should we give it?"

“Hmm…” Jingyang pondered, “‘When you receive the letter, I will still be wandering’?”

Little Drop asked in confusion, "Isn't this even longer?"

"Then you come up with one."

Little Drop thought for a moment, "'Octopus'?"

“Then we might as well… call it ‘Phoenix Seeking Its Mate’.” Jing Yang glanced at the rock sparrow, the little guy was curiously chasing its own tail—spinning around in mid-air, its head chasing its own tail.

After Jingyang's antics, its normal state is that the Qi on its body surface is weaker than usual, with only a thin layer. As a result, the spirit beast parasitizing its body has also become weak, with only eight small black hand shadows faintly clinging to its tail feathers. Apart from looking a bit longer and darker, it is no different from its usual appearance.

"No, no, the temperament is too different." Jing Yang shook his head.

“How about this ‘reflection’?” Little Drop said.

“That’s great!” Jingyang smiled. “Let’s call it ‘Reflection’.”

He knocked on Kurapika's door, but no one answered for a while, so he simply pushed the door open and went in.

The other bodyguards were nowhere to be seen; only Kurapika sat on the sofa, holding a square glass jar filled with some kind of solution, from which floated a pair of fiery red human eyeballs.

Kurapika had his back to the door, so no one could see his expression.

On the carpet next to the sofa lay a seemingly respectable young man, his long hair disheveled, the carpet in disarray, his mouth and eyes slanted, and his face still showing signs of pain and fear even in his unconscious state.

This person is probably the young painter, Mashu Harrison, who bought the pair of fiery-eyed men from the gang leader. I wonder what Kurapika did to him...

Jingyang looked closely and found that there was almost no aura on this person.

Drained dry?

"Jiji!"

The little gray bird fluttered around the room, then flew to the coffee table in front of Kurapika and tilted its head to look at him.

"You're back...wait, what's wrong with Taliyah's tail...?" Kurapika suddenly noticed something unusual about Taliyah.

"Is it really that easy to be discovered?" Jingyang wondered.

“Because he lives nearby, he’s very familiar with what the rock sparrow used to look like,” Xiao Di explained earnestly.

Kurapika smiled, sighed, raised his hand to materialize a dolphin bookshelf, and pulled out the sixth book, "Resurrection."

With a whoosh, the pages of the book opened in front of him.

With a complex expression on his face, Kurapika placed the pair of fiery red eyes he had found into the book and stored them there for the time being.

Jingyang guessed that this kid was probably inspired by Xiaodi's bulging-eyed fish to create this kind of spatial storage ability—however, judging from the books he chose, in order to successfully obtain the effect of storing Scarlet Eyes, he probably limited himself to being able to store only Scarlet Eyes.

"In short, that's the situation..."

Jingyang plopped down opposite him, spread his arms, and casually recounted what had happened.

After listening, Kurapika pointed out, "All of this is based on the premise that this parasitic spirit beast is indeed, as you guessed, a guardian spirit beast similar to the so-called Kakin-Grey-Korok royal family. And that your information about guardian spirit beasts is accurate... Otherwise, the danger of this thing is unpredictable."

"It should be alright. Why don't you give it a try?"

Jingyang sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, and with a thought, he turned off the control of the star mark on Yan Que.

Suddenly, the 'reflection' disappeared from the little gray bird's body and quickly rose slowly behind Jing Yang, spreading out its eight pitch-black arms.

"try?"

Under normal circumstances, Kurapika would definitely not be willing to take such a risk; as the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall.

But now, with that star on his badge, he seems to be practically immortal...

"it is good."

As Kurapika finished speaking, his aura suddenly surged, transforming into a giant skeletal hand that reached out to grab Jingyang opposite him.

"Buzz! Buzz!"

The sound of a chainsaw came from the side, and a saw struck the skeletal hand that was transformed by psychic energy, sending shards of psychic energy flying everywhere.

Kurapika sighed, "Little one?"

Xiao Di, carrying the chainsaw-wielding bulging-eyed fish, calmly said, "The activation condition for 'Reflection' is the blood of the attacker, Kurapika. Just your attack on Jing Yang isn't enough to meet the condition..."

With that, she spun the chainsaw blade and slashed at Kurapika himself.

Buzz!

Kurapika jumped back immediately. "Hey, isn't this taking things a bit too seriously?"

He glanced at Jingyang across from him. This guy was surprisingly relaxed, still casually crossing his legs. Behind him was an eight-armed shadowy figure, whose hostility towards Kurapika had grown due to the attack, its eight arms flaring nervously. Also present was Xiaodi, wielding a chainsaw vacuum cleaner and chasing after him, glaring menacingly. Kurapika suddenly felt incredibly weary. After a few feigned movements, he decisively struck himself, scratching his wound before flicking a drop of water at Jingyang…

Whoosh!

The 'reflection' was like a beast unleashed from its cage, swallowing the incoming blood in one gulp.

The next second, the 'reflection' disappeared before Kurapika's eyes... Meanwhile, Shizuku, standing on the sawn-up sofa, looked curiously at Kurapika. Jingyang saw that the black, eight-armed 'reflection,' just like a berserker's armor, had encased Kurapika's body. Its ferocious maw opened wide and instantly devoured the layer of air on Kurapika's body from the top of his head.

Chapter 140 Suffering

After consuming a layer of air on Kurapika's body, the "Reflection" detached from him and flew away.

However, it didn't fly far. Like a black, octopus-like demon, it floated and swayed around Kurapika, always eyeing him menacingly.

Their predatory target was the original location of the wound that Kurapika had inflicted on himself.

The reason it's described as being in its original location is, of course, because the wound has long since healed.

“It’s not just about consuming the aura on my body surface…” Kurapika’s forehead was covered in a layer of sweat. “The amount that was consumed just now was about one-eleventh of my total Nen capacity, which is the maximum intensity of ‘manifested aura’ that I can release at once.”

"The way 'Reflection' absorbs the target's Nen is by possessing them. The first drop of blood will forcibly absorb a portion of the target's manifest Nen." Little Drop calmly summarized, "The proportion of manifest Nen varies from person to person. The worst should be one-twelfth of the total Nen, and very powerful masters may be able to reduce this proportion to one-tenth or even higher."

"After entering Scarlet Eyes, my total Nen will increase significantly, and my manifest Nen will also increase to one-tenth of my total Nen..." Kurapika thought. "In this way, Jingyang's Nen beast will be more effective against opponents with higher total Nen and stronger cultivation. Even just taking the first bite can cause a lot of trouble for the opponent."

One bite can devour a tenth of you. Even a Nen user at their peak, how many bites can they withstand?

Moreover, in actual combat, every second is consumed, and the offensive and defensive battles, as well as the probing rounds, cannot be ignored. Ultimate skills are also major consumers of Nen, so they cannot be used lightly.

If one is accidentally bitten by this eight-armed spirit beast and loses a bite of their 'manifested spirit power,' the worst-case scenario is that their remaining 'potential spirit power' will be insufficient to support the use of any trump cards...

"Could you stop staring at me like that?" Kurapika felt uncomfortable being stared at by the 'reflection,' glaring at Jingyang with dead fish eyes. "It doesn't want to take a second bite, does it?"

Jing Yang crossed his legs and said, "It's no use telling me. I've already said it's like a guardian spirit beast. Its attack on you is out of defensive instinct. I can't directly 'use' it myself..."

According to Jingyang's analysis, it's roughly like this:

The "Lonely Shadow of Heaven and Earth, Drunken Dream of Death" clone left behind by Gro = Gray Guo Rou back then was probably developed based on his own guardian spirit beast.

Although Gro himself cannot see or control his guardian spirit beast, he still managed to win the succession battle with the help of this guardian spirit beast, so it's impossible that he really has no understanding of it at all. Gro himself cannot see it, but his subordinates can. By having his subordinates consult him, they can definitely grasp the various characteristics of his guardian spirit beast to a high degree.

Otherwise, a perfectly good Emperor Kakin wouldn't have been so carefree as to roam the world, even going so far as to wander around the Dark Continent, only to end up dying from his own recklessness.

He was unwilling before he died, and he was unwilling after he died, so much so that the mental clone he left behind, "Lone Shadow of Heaven and Earth, Drunken Dream of Death," also inherited this unwillingness. Taking inspiration from the story of the "Egg in the Pot" and the guardian spirit beast of the Gray Flesh Royal Family, "Lone Shadow of Heaven and Earth, Drunken Dream of Death" transformed itself into a brand new variant of the guardian spirit beast by self-destructing and releasing poison, so as to continue to live in a new form.

Unfortunately, the ritual of the egg in the pot requires dripping blood into that special flask. The flask will then nourish the rosary beads based on the dripped blood. The ritual participant who eats the rosary beads will receive their own unique guardian spirit beast, which they cannot see or control. Jing Yang did not participate in this blood-drip flask ritual to eat the exclusive rosary beads, so he can see the spirit beast parasitizing him.

He was able to "deceive" the spirit beast "Reflection" to some extent, and trick it into going to the target he controlled with his "Star Mark," which was already an unexpected gain.

If even this level of control wasn't available, Jingyang figured he'd rather regret it later and ask Netero to remove the thing from his mind.

He certainly didn't want to have an uncontrollable octopus-like spirit beast swaying around him while he was on a romantic date with Xiao Di...

Twenty minutes later, the eight-armed shadow beast "Reflection" seemed to have lost interest in Kurapika and leisurely flew back to Jingyang's side, like a bodyguard.

"After the first attack consumes the target's maximum amount of manifested energy, it will remain on alert for approximately 20 minutes." Little Drop memorized this rule.

"What about the second time?"

Kurapika touched the healed wound on his finger. "According to that Zodiac 'Rabbit', this Nen beast parasitizing Jingyang could potentially drain even the most fundamental life force, right? However, judging from its behavior pattern, it shouldn't directly drain life force the second time..."

“I guess the second time it will absorb all the remaining potential Nen, and then continue to be on guard. The third time it will start to drain life force until the target dies,” Kurapika said slowly. “Judging from the severity, it makes more sense that there is a part in between that drains the target’s ki, forcing them into a forced ‘Zetsu’ state.”

Jingyang asked with interest, "Shall we give it a try?"

Little Drop picked up the chainsaw-wielding bulging-eyed fish, ready to cooperate.

"I'll die!" Kurapika's forehead creased with a tic-tac-toe expression. "What if the second bite drains my life force? Don't forget you can't control this parasitic Nen beast yourself..."

Jingyang comforted him, "Don't worry, if something happens, I can activate the star mark on your body and transfer it to you. It definitely won't suck the host's blood, right?... Probably?"

Xiao Di asked curiously, "Should we try this one too?"

"Try what?" Jingyang turned to look at her.

"Will it harm the host?" Shizuku turned to look at him. "Try it again after transferring it to Kurapika."

"I thought you were going to use me as an experiment, Xiao Di!" Jing Yang exclaimed dramatically.

Xiao Di shook her head.

"I'm telling you guys!" Kurapika couldn't stay calm any longer looking at the two of them.

So Jingyang and Xiaodi both turned to look at him.

Soon, another attempt began.

Unfortunately, 20 minutes had passed, and when the "Reflection" returned to Jingyang, the Nen Beast's counterattack ability seemed to have been reset.

This time, Kurapika feigned an attack on Jingyang, while simultaneously pricking his finger and throwing out a drop of blood. After 'Reflection' absorbed the blood, his counterattack was exactly the same as before.

It vanished into thin air, donned armor on Kurapika's body, and with a powerful inhale, sucked away the largest layer of Kurapika's manifest Nen.

Having had one-eleventh of his total Nen drained twice in a row, nearly one-fifth of it, Kurapika looked exhausted and refused to help anymore.