Above ground, an uninvited guest arrived, yet those deep in the underground ruins remained completely unaware.
In the former safe zone room, both Netero and Beyond unleashed their strongest Nen without reservation.
The golden Guanyin manifested… Netero's 100-Type Guanyin.
Having realized the room's hardness, he had no psychological burden left and could go all out without restraint.
Beyond's entire body was shrouded in a surge of aggressive Nen.
He tilted his head slightly, looking at the golden Guanyin behind Netero. Deep in his eyes, a trace of disdain flickered.
Regarding Netero's 100-Type Guanyin, as his son, he knew it inside out, understanding it was the result of thousands of repetitions.
However, he believed that such results should reside in the physical body, not in a conjured object.
Of course, he understood why Netero would entrust the results of countless repetitions to a conjured entity.
It was simply because he was old.
But understanding didn't affect Beyond's disdain for that approach.
Suddenly, Beyond's eyes, gazing at the golden Guanyin, were filled with countless palm silhouettes reflecting brilliance.
"Tch, going all out from the start. Right, you're old, so naturally, you favor quick battles."
Beyond suddenly raised his hands high, meeting the overwhelming palm shadows with his physical body.
The golden Guanyin used palms, Beyond used fists.
The two collided at an extremely fast frequency, producing a dense, deafening sound. Sharp air waves swept in all directions.
Cracks appeared in an instant.
The Guanyin's palms, never the primary target for enemies, shattered into Nen light particles upon colliding with Beyond's fists.
One arm, two arms, three arms...
In continuous collisions, before long, the Guanyin lost all its arms.
Netero stopped his hand gestures, looking gravely at Beyond's smiling face, and couldn't help but praise, "You've improved."
As soon as the words fell, he withdrew the golden Guanyin. However, the Nen returning to his body was quite limited.
Because most of the Nen used to conjure the Guanyin was invested in the arms. With the arms utterly destroyed, the Nen that could return was certainly minimal.
"I haven't improved… you're just declining." Beyond raised his arm guard horizontally, saying coldly, "We're both are Enhancers, but now you're neglecting the essentials."
"You say... neglecting the essentials?"
The corner of Netero's mouth suddenly lifted as he chuckled.
He never gave up hope of progressing further… on the path of pursuit, he never slackened in the slightest.
Yet despite that, he couldn't refute Beyond's statement, nor did he need to.
The golden Guanyin manifested once again in complete form.
Shaping with Aura took only a thought.
Destroyed or not, it could be restored anytime, anywhere.
"Futile effort."
Beyond pushed off with his foot, charging toward Netero.
Seeing this, Netero leaped into the air, dodging Beyond's closing charge, and immediately struck out with his palm.
The tilted golden Guanyin suddenly unleashed a storm-like barrage of palm strikes, like countless pillars of golden light falling toward the ground.
"Anything remembered by my body can no longer harm me."
Beyond's hands before him created a series of afterimages, forming an impenetrable transparent wall, blocking all the palm strikes from the 100-Type Guanyin.
This wasn't merely defense… while defending, it carried a reflective property, causing the Guanyin arms striking back to revert to their original Nen light particles upon impact.
Soon, the 100-Type Guanyin, whose attacks proved ineffective, lost all its arms again. Netero, still in mid-air, could only perform another cycle of conjuration and retraction.
However, though the room's height wasn't low, it was quite limited, so Netero wasn't very high up.
Even though he could retract and release almost instantly, this height gave the enemy an opportunity.
Beyond shot upward, carrying an invincible momentum, closing in on Netero, who was in mid-air with no leverage.
If struck head-on by Beyond's attack, capable of shattering Guanyin arms with one punch, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Even though Netero had a rough understanding of Beyond's strength, he dared not risk testing whether he could withstand a direct hit.
'Lacking frontal strength, clearly weaker than Beyond.'
Watching Beyond attack from below, Netero sighed inwardly, though outwardly, he remained calm and composed.
The golden Guanyin manifested once more, but Beyond's approach was extremely fast. There was no time to strike Beyond with a palm, nor even to hastily construct a defense.
In other words, summoning the 100-Type Guanyin under such pressing timing not only failed to help but also wasted precious effective time.
"Not only have your teeth fallen out, but you've even forgotten how to chew?"
Beyond's eyes suddenly turned extremely cold. The 'teeth' he referred to internally contrasted with Netero's aging body, while 'chewing' corresponded to Netero's combat experience accumulated over years.
In that brief moment, he believed Netero's misjudgment this time was enough to plunge him into an abyss. He never intended to hold back… if he could finish Netero the next moment, he wouldn't hesitate.
This was the same for both sides.
But was Netero's choice to summon the Guanyin truly a blunder?
The targets the Guanyin's palms could encompass weren't limited to enemies… they could include himself.
A golden arm, with just a slight movement, pushed Netero's airborne body aside.
It was this gentle push that moved Netero away from Beyond's attack trajectory.
Thus, Beyond brushed past Netero… his punch pierced through the golden Guanyin's body, then reached the ceiling.
Originally thinking summoning the 100-Type Guanyin then would be a blunder...
Beyond was slightly surprised, but it didn't affect his subsequent movements.
He quickly adjusted his posture, kicked off against the ceiling, and shot straight toward Netero's back.
The golden Guanyin, pierced by a punch, dispersed but soon manifested again.
But at the moment of manifestation, it vanished instantly again.
Netero used In, hiding the 100-Type Guanyin's body, though at the cost of reducing its precision and hardness to rock bottom.
However, Netero's summoning this time still wasn't for counterattack but for...
The Guanyin arm, whose form was erased by In, grabbed Netero's body again, flinging him diagonally to one side, avoiding Beyond's counter-charge punch.
Then, another cycle of retraction and release; the Guanyin manifested again, grabbed Netero, and flung him toward Beyond's left side as he charged toward the ground, performing a 'V'-shaped shift in mid-air without leverage.
Both were in motion.
Netero reached Beyond's left side, which had no defensive posture. Seizing the opportunity, he stabbed his palm, fingers together, toward Beyond's left armpit.
He chose a stab rather than a slap to avoid repeating the previous outcome where the 100-Type Guanyin's palm attacks failed.
His palm, wrapped in dense Nen, successfully stabbed Beyond.
Suddenly, the sound of bone shattering echoed in the room.
Followed by Beyond's loud laughter.
Netero was sent flying backward.
He had indeed stabbed Beyond's side near the armpit. Even if he couldn't pierce through to injure internal organs, at the very least, he could shatter Beyond's ribs.
But the bones broken weren't Beyond's ribs… they were Netero's right-hand fingers.