When Lin Yan pushed aside the last clump of bushes and saw the scene before him, he froze for a moment.
Gon, Killua, and Kurapika were sitting around a small clearing. The atmosphere was rather tense.
Gon and Killua looked fine, with only a few scrapes and some dirt on them. Kurapika, however, was in a much worse state.
He sat propped against a tree, his blond hair disheveled, his face deathly pale, and his breathing somewhat labored.
His eyes were tightly shut and his brow deeply furrowed, as though he were enduring immense pain.
What concerned Lin Yan most were his eyes.
Even with them closed, Lin Yan could sense a savage, maddened flame hidden beneath those lids, fierce enough to burn everything to ash.
Those were... the scarlet eyes!
"Lin Yan!"
Gon was the first to notice him and immediately sprang to his feet in delight.
"You're back! That's great! Are you okay?"
He hurried over to Lin Yan and looked him up and down, his clear eyes filled with undisguised concern.
"I'm fine."
Lin Yan smiled at him, then unfastened the Fishing Rod from his back and handed it over. "Here, back where it belongs. The fight got a little intense last night, though, and the line snapped. I'll find some tough material later and fix it for you."
"Ah, that's okay! That's okay!" Gon took the Fishing Rod and hugged it like a treasure, not caring in the least about the broken line. "As long as you're all right! Last night... there was so much noise where you were. I was really worried!"
"Don't worry. It's all taken care of."
Lin Yan patted his shoulder, then turned his gaze toward the other two.
Killua had also stood up. His catlike eyes stared unblinkingly at Lin Yan, scrutinizing him with curiosity.
"Hey," he began coolly, though he couldn't quite hide the disbelief in his voice. "Did you really... steal that number badge from that freak Hisoka?"
The night before, Gon had waited a long time without seeing Lin Yan return. Instead, Killua had shown up.
When Gon told him that Lin Yan had gone to challenge Hisoka, Killua's first reaction had been, "That guy's insane."
But immediately afterward, they had felt that terrifying aura erupt in the distance, followed by the tidal wave of undisguised murderous malice Hisoka unleashed as he pursued the fleeing Lin Yan.
That clash of auras had left them both rooted to the spot, unable even to muster the strength to approach.
They had thought Lin Yan was doomed.
Yet, to their surprise, Hisoka's terrifying aura had subsided not long afterward, then vanished entirely.
And now Lin Yan had returned without a scratch.
It overturned everything Killua thought he knew.
"You could say that."
Lin Yan offered no further explanation. He pulled several number badges from inside his clothes. The one on top bore a glaring red number: "44."
"Wow! You really got it!" Gon stared at the "44" badge, his eyes sparkling with admiration. "You're amazing, Lin Yan!"
Killua's pupils, however, abruptly contracted.
It wasn't the "44" badge he was looking at.
It was Lin Yan himself.
After just one night apart, this guy felt completely different.
If yesterday's Lin Yan had been an ancient sword sheathed with its keen edge concealed...
Then today's Lin Yan was a piece of warm, lustrous jade with unfathomable depths.
His aura had become more harmonious, more profound. He was even harder to read than the old butlers back home.
This guy... got stronger again while fighting Hisoka!
Lin Yan turned toward the unconscious Kurapika and frowned. "What happened to him? And that person..."
Following Lin Yan's gaze, they saw an examinee lying in the grass nearby, beaten half to death.
Several shattered Formalin Bottles lay scattered beside him. Cloudy, eyeball-like objects rested amid the broken glass, looking grotesquely distorted in the dirt.
"That guy's a sick collector of human body parts. He's also the target Kurapika drew."
Killua kicked a shard of glass at his feet in disgust. "Not only did he carry this disgusting stuff around, he bragged right in front of Kurapika about how he'd tortured the owners of those 'rare eyeballs.'
"Kurapika went berserk on the spot... Even I was scared of that aura."
Lin Yan's heart sank.
It seemed the bloody sight had ignited the hatred rooted in Kurapika's bloodline, triggering his scarlet eyes and driving him to overdraw his strength in his rage.
Although the scarlet eyes granted tremendous power, every use burned away his own life.
Judging by his current state, he had probably exhausted a considerable amount of his vitality.
"Let me take a look."
Lin Yan walked over and crouched before Kurapika.
He placed his fingers on Kurapika's wrist. A stream of pure true qi slowly flowed through his fingertips into Kurapika's body.
The moment it entered, Lin Yan's brow tightened.
Chaos.
Utter chaos.
Everything inside Kurapika's body was a tangled mess.
His life energy was like a wild horse that had broken its reins, charging recklessly through his meridians, violent and disordered.
Meanwhile, his vital essence was like a punctured balloon, steadily leaking away.
This was the price of forcibly wielding power beyond one's limits.
"You two, keep watch for me. Don't let anyone approach," Lin Yan told Gon and Killua.
Both nodded at once and took positions on either side, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.
Lin Yan drew a deep breath and carefully guided the faintly golden true qi out of his dantian, feeding it into Kurapika's body like a gentle stream.
He didn't attempt to suppress the bloodline power of the scarlet eyes. That power belonged to Kurapika himself; forcing outside interference upon it would only make things worse.
What he needed to do was "untangle" it.
Using the Taoist Guiding Technique, he made his true qi into a gentle comb and began patiently untangling the intertwined, rampaging forces, guiding them back into their proper circulation.
The process demanded even more mental effort than his own cultivation.
The Nen inside Kurapika's body was filled with hatred, anger, and other negative emotions. It was a snarled knot, and the slightest mistake could draw Lin Yan into the blaze.
But after being refined by his dantian markings, Lin Yan's true qi was exceptionally pure, carrying a Taoist resonance of tranquility, noninterference, and detachment from worldly concerns.
Like clear spring water flowing over scorched earth, it extinguished the unwanted heat little by little.
Time ticked by.
Kurapika's tightly furrowed brow gradually relaxed.
A trace of color returned to his pale face, and his labored breathing slowly steadied.
After an indeterminate stretch of time, Kurapika let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes.
His sky-blue eyes had regained their usual clarity and reason.
"Lin Yan...?" he murmured weakly.
"How do you feel?" Lin Yan withdrew his fingers, a thin sheen of sweat covering his forehead.
Kurapika didn't answer right away.
He turned to look at the half-dead collector in the distance, then lowered his gaze to his bloodstained hands. The corners of his eyes twitched.
"Much better. It's just... Lin Yan, I'm sorry."
He bowed his head bitterly, his voice so low it was almost inaudible. "I tried. When that freak took out those eyeballs, I desperately repeated the words you taught me: 'Attain utmost emptiness; hold firmly to stillness.' I tried to see myself as an observer... but it didn't work."
Kurapika clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. "All I could hear were my people's screams. Those teachings seemed to melt away in the flames. I couldn't hold on to them at all. I still... couldn't control myself. I became a beast ruled entirely by hatred."
Watching his shoulders tremble with shame, Lin Yan sighed softly and caught his wrists, stopping him from hurting himself further.
"Your cultivation is still shallow, and the external tribulation was too severe. This wasn't your fault."
Lin Yan spoke earnestly. "The Taoist teachings are a seed, while the hatred in your heart is ground frozen for a thousand years.
"It's unrealistic to expect a few days of meditation to resolve such a deep blood feud.
"The fact that you recognize you lost control, and feel pain over it, means that seed has already sprouted."
Lin Yan paused, his gaze deep. "The old you would probably still be torturing that captive right now, rather than apologizing to me here. Kurapika, don't be so quick to dismiss yourself. The struggle between reason and madness is itself your lifelong cultivation."
After hearing that, Kurapika remained silent for a long time.
He took a deep breath, and the self-reproach in his eyes gradually gave way to a firmer calm. "I understand. Next time... I'll hold tight to those 'reins.'"
Kurapika struggled to sit upright.
"Don't move." Lin Yan held him down. "Your body is severely depleted. You need rest."
Kurapika nodded weakly and, with Gon's help, settled against the tree trunk.
Lin Yan stood and gently exhaled a stale breath.
Killua also rose and stepped closer, his catlike eyes fixed on Lin Yan with unprecedented scrutiny.
Now, Killua was even more interested in the changes Lin Yan had undergone. He even felt a flicker of instinctive dread.
It was an assassin's most immediate response to someone powerful.
But before Killua could ask Lin Yan about the details of his encounter with Hisoka, the air in the forest seemed to freeze.
Without warning, an icy, sinister presence, sharp as a poisoned needle, flickered through the trees nearby!
Lin Yan's pupils abruptly contracted!
The dantian embryo within his dantian suddenly sounded a violent alarm!
This presence...
He snapped his head up and looked in that direction.
A tall, thin man with Nen needles embedded all over his face stood silently atop a tree, looking like a scarecrow.
His hollow, emotionless eyes watched them coldly.
No.
More precisely, he was watching Killua.
Gittarackur!
Illumi Zoldyck!
What was he doing here?!
Before you continue