Kurapika walked up to Lin Yan and stopped.
He did not speak right away, simply standing there in silence.
The stone chamber was quiet. Leorio seemed worn out from all his fussing and had dozed off against the wall, while Killua and Gon were both absorbed in their own worlds.
That made Kurapika's question feel somewhat abrupt.
Just as he hesitated over whether to speak, Lin Yan's eyelids stirred, and he slowly opened his eyes.
His gaze was as clear as a mountain stream, without a trace of sleepy confusion or irritation at being disturbed.
He simply looked at Kurapika calmly, as though he had known all along that he would come over.
"Is something wrong?" Lin Yan's voice was soft, yet it reached Kurapika's ears with perfect clarity.
Kurapika's lips moved. In the end, he asked the question that had troubled him for so long.
"Lin Yan, I'd like to ask your advice about something." There was a barely perceptible rasp in his voice.
"My power... comes from anger. When I see my people's eyes, when I think of the Phantom Troupe, I lose control of my emotions. My eyes turn scarlet, and my power increases dramatically."
He paused, seemingly searching for the right words.
"But that state doesn't just burn through my life. It also devours my reason."
"I can feel it. Every time I use that power, I take another step away from who I am, and another step closer to becoming a beast that knows nothing but revenge."
He raised his head, his scarlet eyes meeting Lin Yan's. They were filled with pain and inner conflict.
"I want to know if there's any way to keep that power without being consumed by this anger."
After asking the question, even Kurapika found it a little ridiculous.
Power and its price were two sides of the same coin. He had chosen this path. How could he expect to pay nothing for it?
He had already braced himself for Lin Yan to look at him like a fool.
Yet Lin Yan's reaction took him by surprise.
Lin Yan neither mocked nor pitied him. He simply listened attentively, then fell briefly silent.
He was thinking.
From the perspective of Taoism, Kurapika's condition was a classic case of "Feeding the Demon with One's Body."
He was using his own "essence" and "spirit"-his life and mind-to feed the inner demon of anger in exchange for tremendous power.
It was unquestionably a road to destruction, like drinking poison to quench one's thirst, and the most perilous of shortcuts.
Root out his anger?
Impossible.
Because Kurapika's entire future Nen Ability system would be built around the powerful "Judgment Chain," with his bone-deep hatred of the Phantom Troupe serving as its core fuel.
Remove the "fuel" called hatred, and the engine would stall.
Lin Yan looked at him and slowly said, "The answer to your question is no."
Kurapika trembled slightly, and the light in his eyes dimmed.
As expected. I was too naive.
"Your current power is built on a foundation of hatred. Take that away, and the power unleashed by your eyes will immediately run dry."
Lin Yan's words were blunt, even cruel. "You've chosen a path where you use your own life and reason as firewood to kindle the flames of revenge."
"It's a path of no return."
Kurapika closed his eyes, a bleak smile appearing on his face.
Yes, a path of no return. From the moment he had decided to pursue revenge, there had been no turning back.
"But..."
Lin Yan's change of tone made Kurapika's eyes snap open.
"Although you can't root it out, perhaps you can try to control it," Lin Yan said.
"Control it?" A hint of urgency entered Kurapika's voice.
"I can't teach you how to increase your power. That's a gift in your blood, as well as an obsession deep within your heart.
"But I can teach you a method-a way to find a small shelter for yourself amid the storm."
Lin Yan's expression grew serious.
"This method won't make you stronger or help you defeat your enemies. When your anger reaches its peak, it might not do anything at all.
"Its only purpose is to give you a chance to see yourself clearly when the flames are about to consume you, and preserve that last part of you that still belongs to Kurapika."
"I want to learn!" Kurapika said without hesitation.
To him, this was more precious than any secret to increasing his power. It offered the possibility of "salvation."
Lin Yan nodded and had him sit cross-legged.
"Close your eyes and listen to me."
Kurapika did as instructed, taking a deep breath to temporarily settle his turbulent emotions.
"Now, don't think about anything. Don't think about your people or the Phantom Troupe. All you need to do is silently repeat these words in your mind."
Lin Yan's voice grew soft and slow, carrying a strange, guiding quality.
"Reach utmost emptiness; hold fast to stillness."
Reach utmost emptiness; hold fast to stillness... Kurapika silently repeated after him.
The phrase was strange. He did not understand what it meant at all.
"Don't try to understand it. Just repeat it," Lin Yan said, as though he had seen through his thoughts. "Focus all your attention on those words."
Kurapika did as he was told.
At first, he could not concentrate at all.
Bloody, sorrowful scenes kept flashing through his mind. Again and again, the flames of anger surged up, threatening to swallow him.
"Keep repeating it." Lin Yan's voice was like an anchor amid the raging sea. "Don't fight that anger, and don't follow it.
"Treat it as a mad dog snarling beside you, while you are merely a passerby, an indifferent observer."
"You are not your anger. You are the self observing that anger."
"Separate your self from your anger."
Those words split the chaos in Kurapika's mind like a bolt of lightning.
I am... the self observing my anger?
He continued silently repeating, Reach utmost emptiness; hold fast to stillness, while trying to look at the fire within him from the "observer's" perspective Lin Yan had described.
Yet the flames of hatred were far too fierce. Whenever he tried to pull away, the Phantom Troupe's atrocities and his people's anguished cries surged over him like a tide, almost sweeping away the fragile defenses of reason he had struggled to build.
He struggled in the darkness, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
At that moment, Lin Yan extended a hand, holding the tip of his index finger just before the space between Kurapika's brows.
It did not touch his skin, yet Kurapika felt a cool sensation there.
A cool, tranquil current seeped in between his brows, like a handful of icy spring water on a scorching summer day, forcibly suppressing the clamor of imagined voices and chaotic images in his mind.
It was a remarkable feeling.
Guided by that cool current, Kurapika finally grasped a sliver of clarity.
He could clearly sense the anger. It was still burning, still roaring, filled with the desire to destroy.
But this time, he felt as though he had managed to pull himself just a little way out of those flames.
He stood beside the fire, watching it and feeling its scorching heat, without immediately being swept into it and reduced to ashes as he had been before.
A tiny but undeniable gap had appeared between him and his anger.
Within that gap, he found a brief, immeasurably precious moment of peace and reason.
"A mind like still water, undisturbed by waves..." Lin Yan's voice sounded again, as though giving words to that moment of tranquility.
Kurapika slowly opened his eyes. The scarlet had faded, leaving them their original color.
Although the sorrow and hatred deep within them remained as dense as ever, the madness and violence that had nearly spilled over were now held in check.
He felt as though he had just woken from a nightmare. His whole body was covered in cold sweat, but his mind had never been clearer.
He looked at Lin Yan, his lips trembling a few times. Finally, he solemnly bowed his head and spoke with all the sincerity he could express:
"Thank you, Lin Yan."
His thanks came from the heart.
What Lin Yan had given him was not power, but the reins with which to control it.
As he charged toward a cliff, Lin Yan had given him a chance to catch his breath and think.
This was salvation.
Before you continue