Chapter 24

The knocking at the door continued for a while.

Since he had to do the dishes, Moyu chose to ignore it.

And naturally, Kido wouldn’t take the initiative to open the door. She just sat on the stone chair, silently watching the door that was being knocked on, which was now slightly swaying.

The knocking lasted for about ten seconds, and without hearing any calls, it finally subsided.

It seemed the person knocking had given up.

Kido listened closely and could hear the faint footsteps gradually fading away. After a moment, she turned her gaze away.

A few minutes later.

Moyu, having finished the dishes, came out of the kitchen.

Kido looked at Moyu and reminded him in a timely manner, "The person who knocked on the door left something at the entrance."

"Hmm."

Hearing Kido’s reminder, Moyu was not surprised. He just nodded at Kido and then walked straight to the door.

He removed the door bolt and opened the door.

Then he saw several bags piled up on the threshold, mostly daily necessities and food.

The only person Moyu could think of who would come knocking at this time and leave so many things was Monica.

"There’s really no need."

Moyu muttered to himself and then carried the bags into the temple.

Kido sat upright on the stone chair, looking at Moyu walking into the courtyard with a teasing gaze.

When the knocking started, she didn’t go out, but she clearly had a general understanding of what was happening outside.

Moyu pretended not to notice Kido’s gaze and carried the bags into the kitchen.

After this minor incident—

Moyu found an excuse to return to his room and start practicing.

Kido was a bit disappointed. She really wanted to continue chatting with Moyu, but she didn’t want to trouble him.

For the next two days, apart from preparing three meals a day to entertain Kido, Moyu spent the rest of his free time practicing.

On the fourth day of Kido’s stay at the temple, Hoke, who had been away from home for over half a month, finally returned.

What surprised Moyu was—

Hoke didn’t return alone; he was accompanied by a man as thin as a bamboo pole.

But there was something even more surprising than the bamboo-pole man Hoke brought back.

"Hoke, you?"

He looked at Hoke with a slightly surprised expression, noticing the steady flow of "Qi" in his body.

It wasn’t the state of natural dissipation of "Qi" from over half a month ago, but rather a very experienced "wrapping" state.

Pretending...

In an instant, Moyu came to a conclusion and silently watched Hoke.

Faced with his son’s gaze, which seemed to contain a hint of reproach, Hoke’s hands didn’t know where to go. He kept touching his bald head and scratching his shoulders, looking very uncomfortable.

Moyu didn’t say anything, just quietly staring at Hoke.

Kido and the bamboo-pole man just watched quietly from the side.

"Moyu."

Hoke couldn’t take it anymore. He lowered his head slightly, rubbing his bald head with his palm, and said weakly, "This matter... it’s quite complicated, um, I’ll explain it to you, but you need to be mentally prepared."

"Okay, it’s fine, you can take your time."

When Moyu spoke, he glanced at Kido out of the corner of his eye.

Upon realizing that Hoke was also a Nen user and hearing Hoke’s words about being "mentally prepared," Moyu immediately re-evaluated Kido’s motive for coming from afar. He then inexplicably thought of—

The night he awakened Nen, the intense malevolent resentment he thought was a nightmare.

That night, he was hit hard by that resentment, but when he woke up in bed the next day, his body was fine.

Because of this, he thought the resentment was just a nightmare caused by exhaustion. Later, when he saw that Hoke was an "ordinary person," he automatically ruled out the possibility that his body was actually healed by Nen.

But it turned out that Hoke was actually a Nen user...

Moyu didn’t continue speculating and waited for Hoke’s explanation.

Hoke looked at Kido, who nodded slightly.

If Moyu could live out his life as an "ordinary person" under the seal of the "Divine Character,"

then there would be no need to worry about the cost of the "post-death entity" being transferred to Moyu, and they could hope for Moyu to live a simple and safe life.

Under this premise, from Hoke’s perspective, it was absolutely impossible to let Moyu come into contact with anything related to Nen.

But the situation had changed—

Moyu had awakened Nen on his own under the suppression of the "Divine Character," which was an unexpected situation.

Considering Moyu’s lack of knowledge about Nen, Hoke was naturally anxious, but he didn’t panic.

After all, without the support of Nen knowledge, the growth rate of a Nen user who awakens Nen on their own is extremely limited in the short term.

This judgment was not wrong.

The problem was that Moyu’s growth rate broke the norm.

In summary—

When the approach of blocking everything didn’t yield the desired results, Hoke had to agree with Kido’s idea of "guidance over suppression."

Hoke looked at Moyu and said solemnly, "Moyu, first, don’t be afraid."

"Hmm?"

Moyu sensed a heavy tone in Hoke’s voice and his expression became serious.

Hoke took a deep breath and said, "You might be dying, but..."

"Hoke, you should just shut up."

Kido’s face darkened, and she quickly walked over, gesturing to drive Hoke away, and said in a tone of undisguised disgust, "Go away, the farther the better."

Hoke wanted to maintain his authority as a father in front of Moyu, but given Kido’s dominance, he could only obediently slink away.

Moyu frowned slightly but didn’t say anything.

After driving Hoke away, Kido came to Moyu and said in a serious tone, "I may not know as much about this as Hoke, but if it’s just to make you understand the whole situation, I can explain it sufficiently."

"Okay, go ahead."

Moyu looked at Kido, waiting for her to continue.

He could tell that Hoke and Kido were very wary of the matter they were about to explain, but Moyu, who had already made some guesses, wasn’t panicked.

"The whole incident started when Yelena became pregnant with you..."

Kido began her narration, and Moyu listened quietly.

As Kido spoke, Moyu learned the entire story.

And when he understood that the reason Hoke and Kido were so wary was due to the threat of a "post-death entity," he became even calmer.

"So, the key to breaking the deadlock lies with this gentleman?"

After listening to Kido’s narration, Moyu turned to look at the bamboo-pole man not far away.

He was a rare exorcist who could attempt to remove "post-death Nen," and Kido had invited him.

Seeing Moyu’s gaze, the bamboo-pole man exorcist showed no reaction, his expression as cold as a zombie’s.

"Yes."

Kido nodded heavily, then suddenly frowned.

"Hoke? What are you doing?"

She suddenly looked at the pond, where she saw Hoke’s figure moving up and down, busy with something.

Moyu and the bamboo-pole man exorcist also looked over.

Under their gaze, Hoke was tirelessly scooping coins out of the pond.

"This isn’t about worrying about the payment, is it..."

Hearing Kido’s question, Hoke, who had scooped up a handful of coins, climbed over the fence and stood still.

"..."

Kido slowly raised her hand to press her temples; she had a headache.

The bamboo-pole man exorcist’s lips twitched slightly.

Moyu pursed his lips and remained silent, his expression blank.

What about the top tomb raider?

How did he end up like this?!