I'm extremely interested in Nen abilities.

If you don't know whether you should ask me or not, then don't ask. Jingyang thought to himself.

"Furthermore, according to my investigation, in the 17 days since the beginning of this month, you have appeared 19 times in 13 hospitals across three cities. During these 19 appearances, you treated a total of 720 people, most of whom were severely injured, had amputations, or were hemiplegic, for whom current medical methods are ineffective. The sheer number of people you have helped and the magnitude of your assistance over the past two weeks have earned the utmost respect from every medical staff member in the 13 hospitals, the deepest gratitude from hundreds of families, and the frustration of the government departments in the three cities who have been unable to find a way to recognize your contributions..."

"We're not your boss, so don't bother reporting here." The masked man tapped his fingers on the table.

At this moment, the waiter brought over their hot drinks and desserts, placed them on the table in front of Jingyang Xiaodi, and then looked at the female reporter sitting opposite them after clearing away the plates.

"I personally admire your actions very much, so I had to say it." The female reporter smiled and shamelessly said to the waiter, "One espresso, please."

The waiter nodded and left.

The female reporter, determined to linger a little longer, turned around and saw that the two people opposite her had actually lifted the lower half of their masks, revealing their mouths, and were calmly drinking their hot drinks—both had well-defined jawlines, without any excess fat; the man had a more rugged look, while the woman appeared delicate yet graceful; another thing they had in common was that, judging from their skin full of collagen, they were definitely not very old, perhaps even surprisingly under 20—but, their masks were actually in two sections? Could they have been specially made for this situation? They were so thoughtful!

Jingyang and Xiaodi calmly drank and ate, their masks extended forward at the tips of their noses, as if two huge noses were pointing at the female reporter opposite them, making the latter feel inexplicably pressured...

The female reporter composed herself and asked, "19 appearances and 720 rescues, on average, you rescued 37 or 38 people each time you appeared."

"It sounds impressive, but it's actually not that strenuous. Since I've already helped, sometimes I just happen to encounter a lot of people and end up getting a few extra." Jing Yang said, thinking to himself that some hospitals also receive quite a bit of "death energy" as "offerings."

So, can I say that I've repaid what I borrowed?

All things considered, one life was exchanged for a dozen, twenty, or thirty lives. Could this barely be considered a kind act?

"Throughout these 19 incidents, there's one thing in common, and I don't know if I'm overthinking it or what," the female reporter said. "No matter which city, no matter which hospital, no matter how many people you helped that time, there will always be the same type of person among those you helped—those who are called vegetative state patients. Is this a coincidence, or...?"

While eating her little cake, Xiao Di glanced up at the female reporter.

Jing Yang thought for a moment, then said in a calm and clear tone, with a steady and powerful voice, "I can only say that we have some experience in treating vegetative patients."

The female reporter quickly jotted down notes in her notebook, then asked many more questions.

After that, Jingyang spoke less and less.

The female reporter sensed the perfunctory attitude and quickly got up to leave.

Oh right, I completely forgot to ask their names...

The female reporter stepped out of the coffee shop and was suddenly jolted awake by the cold wind outside.

Let's use "chaotic goodness" and "practicing medicine on behalf of heaven" to refer to them...

She put away her shorthand notebook, hurriedly crossed the street, and a person wearing a knitted hat and a high-necked top brushed past her on the zebra crossing.

……

"Are there more guys sneaking around and following us today?"

Jingyang, with a small spoon in his mouth, glanced at the figure wearing a knitted hat outside the coffee shop.

Even without using investigative techniques like "Circle," his and Xiao Shi's increasingly keen senses and intuition, honed through years of training, were enough to easily detect this amateurish stalker.

Shizuku put down her fork and said fairly, "Our masks are too easily recognizable. We stayed at the hospital for quite a while, but apart from that woman, the only other person who could follow us all the way here must also be a Nen user. Even now, there are quite a few people in this coffee shop observing us."

Jingyang tossed the spoon back into the empty cup and slammed the lower half of the mask back onto it. "Let's go."

……

Outside the coffee shop, the person in the knitted hat tugged at the high collar, trying to hide themselves in the flow of people.

Suddenly, a wisp of energy separated from the air flowing around him and transformed into a monkey that ordinary people could not see.

As soon as the monkey landed, it acted like a real animal, quickly climbing up the edge of the cafe's huge window and peering inside. But its monkey eyes widened in surprise—where were those two people?!

The seats where the two miracle doctors were just sitting have become empty.

The knitted hat and the monkey clone looked around anxiously, and suddenly spotted two familiar figures disappearing into the crowd at a street corner on the left—there they were! The monkey clone dispersed into a cloud of energy, and the knitted hat hurriedly chased after them.

Even with the help of his superpower of being able to clone himself like a monkey, the knitted hat almost lost track of the two strange doctors several times. He had been chasing them unnoticed for more than a dozen blocks before finally catching up with them to their residence, an unremarkable hotel near a second-rate university.

Watching the two enter the hotel, the man in the knit hat waited a moment, then tugged at his collar and hurriedly followed them in, pondering his next move, making sure he didn't injure them unnecessarily...

-

"Why did they even move in? What exactly is this person trying to do?"

Jingyang returned to his room and waited for a while, but nothing happened, which made him wonder.

Whatever's wrong, whether you're looking for death or a beating, let's get this over with quickly, I still have to focus on my cultivation!

After reading for a while, Xiao Di entered a meditative state. There's not much to say; she just started by practicing for two or three hours as a warm-up.

After these days of practice, Xiao Di's total recitation volume has increased to about 24,000 breaths.

In terms of the total duration of "firmness", she has crossed the threshold of 6 hours and reached the level of 6 hours and 40 minutes!

Seeing that the boy who was following him hadn't made a move, Jing Yang whistled to signal the free-roaming rock sparrow to keep watch. He then tidied himself up, shook out his loose trousers, spun on one leg, and sat down calmly on the floor. His posture and demeanor were exactly the same as the simulated humanoid figure in the hexagon of the Death Aura panel.

The six corners of the hexagon represent: 100% for Manipulation, 99.1% for Emission, 98.9% for Enhancement, 81.3% for Alteration, 95% for Conjuration, and 100% for Specialization...

The little figure sits upright in a hexagon with the Yin Nian Sword lying horizontally on its lap. There are two lines of numbers on its chest. The upper line shows Jing Yang's current total Nian amount: 29988. The lower line shows the number 5, which corresponds to the amount of gray aura flowing around the little figure. It represents the amount of death energy stored in Jing Yang's death energy panel.

There are still 5 strands of death energy remaining.

With a thought, Jing Yang channeled four of the five hazy streams of energy into the hexagonal Emission, Enhancement, and Transformation systems respectively. The percentage numbers at the three corners jumped rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, the Emission and Enhancement systems both reached 100%!

In addition to the direct 1-point increase, the Transmutation type also benefits from the boosts in the Boost and Emitte types, rising from 81.3% to 83.3%, and the Conjuration type also increases from 95% to 96.4%...

"So that's four 100%s already?" Jing Yang wondered to himself, "Isn't this going a little too smoothly?"

As for the remaining wisp of death energy, Jingyang devoted it to the cultivation of total mental energy, gradually grinding it into his own energy and transforming it for his own use.

29988, 29991…

30000, 30003…

Time passed little by little, and Jingyang's total number of Qi increased little by little. Naturally, he broke through the 3 Qi barrier and finally leaped to the 9-hour mark!

It feels so good to watch the total number of words increase little by little...

Suddenly, Jingyang sensed a soft cry from the rock sparrow.

He thought for a while before he remembered, oh, it was that boy in the knitted hat who was following him.

His aura fluctuated slightly and was quickly released.

If "firmness" refers to using "entanglement" to restrain the released energy at its peak intensity during "training," maintaining peak offensive and defensive capabilities, then if one completely abandons the requirements for offensive and defensive abilities, using "training" techniques to release the energy to the greatest extent possible in all directions, and then stopping it at the last moment when it's almost "dissipating," then using "entanglement" to maintain it...

This is what is called a 'circle'.

In a sense, "hardness" is the hard, steel-like circle compressed and controlled on the Nen user's body surface, while "circle" is the hardness that spreads out, diluted to the point of being like a thin mist, completely lacking offensive and defensive power.

Jingyang's "circle" spreads out all around him, with a radius of more than 20 meters, enveloping the entire hotel room.

As his 'circle' swept over her, Xiao Di, who was cultivating nearby, also opened her eyes. Following Jing Yang's gaze, she saw a... monkey passing through the wall outside the room, half of its body through the wall?

Huh? The monkey was caught before it had even fully passed through the wall, its eyes meeting those of the two people inside. It was a little surprised, but quickly composed itself, raising a hand to stop their impending gasps, and spoke in human language: "Don't be afraid, I mean you no harm..."

"What if I have malicious intent?" Jingyang's voice came from behind the knitted hat in the corridor outside the house.

He was startled and turned around abruptly, only to see Jing Yang standing barefoot behind him. A small gray bird flew down onto his shoulder and was being poked by Jing Yang's finger—Jing Yang looked up at the knitted hat.

The knitted hat was so shocked its mouth dropped open. I was still desperately trying not to hurt them; was it too late to beg them not to hurt me?

The monkey clone stuck in the wall turned around in unison and saw that the man who had been sitting next to Xiao Di was indeed gone.

Before the monkey's eyes flashed, the black-haired girl with glasses appeared nearby, her large, curious eyes wide open, reaching out her seemingly delicate hand towards it...

"You, don't come here!"

The screams from inside and outside the house were perfectly synchronized. Jing Yang grabbed the boy in the knitted hat by the back of his collar and dragged him back to the room. By the wall of the room, the monkey clone under Xiao Di's palm also turned into a ball of spiritual energy and disappeared.

But within Jingyang's "circle," he clearly sensed that the monkey had not dissipated; most of its energy had flown back into the boy he was holding.

"A Nian Beast, huh?" Jing Yang chuckled. "How did you do that? Let's discuss it."

Perfect timing! My Emission-type talent is already maxed out, and all I need is a suitable Nen Beast ability to play with.

"A Nen Beast?" The knitted hat was thrown onto the floor of the room, looking completely bewildered. "What's that...?"

Jing Yang was speechless. After pressing him for details, he learned that this kid in the knitted hat had never even heard of the term "Nen ability." He was a complete amateur, far more so than himself, or even Shizuku from Meteor City...

They don't even know what department they're in!

Or rather, this guy named Chiro = Babuki had no idea that superpowers were actually categorized into different types...

"How can someone develop a Nen beast without knowing the basics of Nen?" Shizuku asked curiously. "Is it an automatically generated ability?"

Jing Yang said, "His beast aura looks very unstable, like it's fake. It collapses as soon as it's startled, and when it's released, its main body hides outside the wall, which shows that the release distance can't be too far—you're not a release type at all, are you?"

The boy named Chilu looked completely bewildered, not quite understanding what they were saying.

He had never even heard of the ability to read words, let alone the ability to identify the type of water element.

"Anyway, you've been secretly following us for half a day, what are you trying to do?" Jing Yang rubbed his fist. "Are you looking for death or a beating? Give me an explanation."

That being said, Jingyang would never kill him.

Killing a complete stranger you don't care about would only break your vow and obligation to "seek the highest heavens and the deepest hells." — Sometimes, Jingyang finds that this concern for the vow itself is a hint.

If you hesitate to kill someone because you are concerned about the oath of death, then it is equivalent to your subconscious giving you a warning. However, if you have the intention to kill someone to the point of ignoring the oath of death, it proves that you will not violate the oath and constraints of death, and that even without the existence of death, you would still have to kill them.

"I understand, I understand." Jingyang touched his chest and muttered to himself.

Coming to his senses, he nodded at Chilu, who had been pouring out his heart for so long. The matter wasn't anything special; it was simply that Chilu had a bedridden, paralyzed father and had heard about two eccentric doctors who could cure any ailment, so he'd come to them…

"Alright, it's fate that we met. I'll come to your house tonight." Jingyang went to get a glass of water and asked Yanque to fetch a leaf from outside the window. "Since you're here, let's do a test."

Following his instructions, Chiro placed his hands, which were gathering energy, on either side of the water cup. After a while, nothing changed.

"Uh..." He looked left and right, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Take a sip and see," Jingyang said.

With some skepticism, Chi Lü grabbed the water glass, took a sip, and immediately spat it out with a "pfft".

"It's so bitter!" His whole face scrunched up.

Upon seeing this, Jingyang and Xiaodi immediately understood, "It's a transformation type."

This kid is a transformation type, but he somehow managed to create a monkey-type spirit beast that leans towards emission, no wonder it's useless.

The success rate of Transmutation-type Nen users in Emission-type Nen is only 60%. This means that even if they put in twice the effort, the final result may not be half that of an Emission-type Nen user.

This is the Hunter world, not Pokémon. Developing the ability to reverse type is just plain stupid.

However, this guy with a big head was incredibly stubborn, and he managed to cobble together a basic Nen beast. Jingyang felt it was worthwhile to learn from his experience, so he consulted with Chilu as a reward for his work.

After asking around for a while, Jingyang and Xiaodi led the young man away from the inn.