Seclusion aboard the airship

The airship's dining hall buzzed with excitement.

The candidates who had passed the second exam sat together, enjoying the free feast provided by the Hunter Association.

With a drumstick in one hand and a wineglass in the other, Leorio boasted about his "heroic" exploits in the wetlands, spittle flying.

Gon and Killua were curious about everything aboard the airship. Like a pair of monkeys, they darted around the dining hall, touching one thing and inspecting another.

Kurapika sat quietly to one side with a cup of black tea. Leorio's exaggerated tales occasionally made him smile, but most of his attention remained on the view outside the window.

The drifting sea of clouds reflected in his beautiful eyes. There was no telling what he was thinking.

"Hey, Lin Yan, why aren't you getting something to eat?" Kurapika asked when he saw Lin Yan walk in. "You used up quite a bit of energy too. You need to replenish it."

"I'm not hungry yet." Lin Yan shook his head.

He walked straight over to Gon and Killua.

"You two, stop playing around."

"What?" Killua was trying to put on the helmet from a decorative suit of armor, and his reply was impatient.

"I need somewhere to rest. I might sleep for a long time." Lin Yan's expression was serious. "While I'm resting, I'd like you to do me a favor."

"What favor?" Gon leaned closer, curious.

"Don't let anyone disturb me, especially..." Lin Yan paused and lowered his voice. "That guy wearing clown makeup."

Killua stopped what he was doing. He put the helmet back, his expression turning somber.

Of course he knew who Lin Yan meant. He hadn't witnessed Hisoka targeting Lin Yan in the wetlands, but afterward, the lingering fear in Gon's and Lin Yan's reactions had let him piece together most of what had happened.

"You're going to sleep? Here?" Killua glanced around the noisy dining hall. "Can you even sleep in this place?"

"I found somewhere quiet," Lin Yan said. "The storage room at the end of the corridor.

"Anyway, if anyone asks for me, tell them I'm so exhausted I'm out cold, and no one can wake me."

"What are you going to do?" Killua's eyes were probing. "This 'rest' you're talking about is like that method you used to 'listen to sounds' back in the wetlands, isn't it?"

This kid's intuition is frighteningly sharp.

Lin Yan nodded without denying it. "More or less. It's a form of deep rest that lets my body recover faster, but I can't be interrupted during it. Otherwise, things could get messy."

He could only explain it in terms they would understand.

"Oh! I get it!" Gon clapped his hands in realization. "It's like when I sleep really deeply and feel extra refreshed after waking up! Your method must let you sleep even more deeply, Lin Yan!"

"...You could put it that way." Lin Yan felt rather helpless. Gon's reasoning was always so simple and straightforward.

"Don't worry!" Gon thumped his chest in assurance. "Killua and I will keep watch for you! We definitely won't let that weird clown anywhere near you!"

"Tch, who said I'm doing it with you?" Despite his words, Killua still nodded, agreeing.

With their assurances, Lin Yan felt a little relieved.

He knew that with Killua's vigilance and strength, even if Hisoka really came, Killua could warn him in advance and buy him some time to react.

After saying goodbye to the others, he went alone to the small storage room at the end of the airship's corridor.

Spare cleaning equipment and assorted odds and ends filled the room. It was cramped, but at least it was quiet, and hardly anyone would come here.

Lin Yan locked the door from the inside and sat cross-legged, his back against the cold metal wall.

"Whew..."

He let out a long breath, shutting out all the noise of the outside world.

Foundation Establishment.

The first step in Daoist cultivation: a hundred days of foundation establishment.

Its purpose was to refine essence into energy, transforming acquired essence into innate Qi and laying a solid foundation for further cultivation.

In his previous life, it had required specific medicinal pills, strict discipline, and months of seated meditation just to begin seeing results.

But in this world, he had a ready-made energy source in "Nen," which was also "Qi."

Rather than "refining" something out of nothing, he needed to guide the existing Qi scattered throughout his body, gather it, and condense it in his dantian to form a stable energy core.

The process was like building a reservoir. First, choose the location-the dantian. Then, dig the channels-the meridians. Finally, direct all the scattered streams-the Qi-into the reservoir.

Lin Yan closed his eyes and sank his awareness into his body.

He began practicing Heel Breathing, making his breaths long, deep, and faint. As his breathing steadied, he began to feel that familiar warm current slowly emerge within him again.

Found it.

Using his intent like an invisible hand, he carefully and gently "wrapped" it around that strand of Qi, finer than spider silk.

Then he tried to guide it.

Down... farther down...

Turning his awareness inward, he pictured a diagram of the body's meridians and guided that strand of Qi slowly downward along the conception vessel.

The process was far more difficult than he had imagined.

That strand of Qi was like a mischievous, disobedient child. When he pushed it with his intent, it moved a little. The moment his concentration slackened, it stopped immediately, even threatening to disperse and vanish.

What was more, every inch he guided it felt like threading a needle through his meridians, bringing waves of faint but distinct stabbing pain.

A sheen of cold sweat soon appeared on Lin Yan's forehead.

No, this is too slow, and too painful.

His body's foundations were too poor. His meridians were weak and clogged, utterly unable to withstand such forceful guidance.

I have to find another way.

He recalled a line from the Daoist classics: "Use the spirit to command energy; use energy to break through the barriers."

Spirit meant the mind, the will. Energy meant power.

Simply "pushing" wouldn't work. He had to make the Qi "want" to move on its own.

How can I get it to move on its own?

Resonance.

The word came to Lin Yan.

He stopped forcibly "pushing" that strand of Qi and changed his approach.

He concentrated all his awareness on his dantian, three inches below his navel.

He began to visualize.

He imagined his dantian as an infinitely deep, warm vortex radiating gentle light.

The vortex turned slowly and rhythmically, exerting a gentle pull on everything within his body.

Once, twice, ten times, a hundred times...

He forgot the time and where he was. His entire consciousness seemed to become that spinning vortex.

Gradually, something wondrous happened.

The strand of Qi that had refused to obey seemed to truly sense that "pull."

It no longer needed Lin Yan's deliberate guidance. Instead, it began to "drift" toward his dantian on its own, little by little.

Though its progress remained slow, the process no longer hurt. Instead, it brought a pleasant, tingling sensation.

It works!

Joy stirred in Lin Yan's heart, and he concentrated even harder.

He could feel that as the strand of Qi drew closer, the "vortex" he had visualized seemed to grow more real, its rotation quickening slightly.

A subtle, positive feedback loop formed between the two.

Just as he focused completely, ready to guide the strand of Qi fully into his dantian in one final push-

An icy malice, carrying a trace of cloyingly sweet perfume, abruptly intruded into his range of perception without warning.

Like a vividly colored venomous snake, that malice slipped silently beneath the door, its cold, flickering tongue aimed at the center of his back.

Hisoka!

Lin Yan's concentration shuddered violently, and the vortex he had visualized immediately began to show signs of collapse.

At the same time, at the other end of the dining hall.

Killua, who had been leaning against a wall and pretending to doze, abruptly opened his eyes.

A frightening gleam flashed through his catlike eyes.

He had sensed it.

A familiar, hair-raising presence was moving toward the storage room.

"Tch."

Killua clicked his tongue quietly and straightened away from the wall.

He glanced at Gon, who was still arm wrestling with Leorio. Without alerting him, Killua followed silently, like a ghost.

That lunatic really did come after him after all.