Silence.
Deathly silence.
Inside the cave, not a sound remained except Lin Yan's steady footsteps.
The hissing that had threatened to shatter their will seemed to have been forcibly erased by some invisible hand.
Ponzu lay slumped on the ground, tears still clinging to her face, her mouth slightly open and her expression utterly blank.
What had she just seen?
That man, Lin Yan, was simply walking along.
He did not walk quickly. There was an ease to his steps, a rhythm that seemed to accord with something unseen, as though he were strolling through his own back garden rather than a foul-smelling snake pit.
Around him, the writhing, multicolored carpet of thousands upon thousands of venomous snakes retreated like an ebbing tide-or ants confronted by their natural predator-scrambling backward in abject terror.
With every step Lin Yan took, the venomous snakes at his feet curled up as though electrocuted, their bodies shaking so violently they seemed about to fall apart.
They desperately pressed their heads into the dirt, as though even looking at him would profane some exalted being.
A broad passage that no venomous snake dared enter formed naturally beneath his feet.
The sight overturned everything Ponzu had learned in her years of life.
She had dealt with all manner of insects and animals since childhood. She knew what taming meant, and what intimidation meant. She commanded her bees through specially formulated pheromones and control techniques honed over many years.
The dead Snake Handler, Babon, had clearly relied on similar biological instincts to direct her snakes.
But what had the man before her done?
He had done nothing!
He had scattered no powder, played no flute, and had not even released the slightest trace of a hunter's killing intent!
He simply walked.
Yet that simple act of walking had made an entire cave of vicious creatures, enraged by lingering hatred after death, display the most primal, most abject submission.
Like mice meeting a cat, or lambs encountering a tiger.
No, it was more like mortal creatures paying homage to a god walking among them.
This was absolute suppression, rooted in the very hierarchy of life, deep within their blood.
Outside the cave, Gon and Kurapika, peering through gaps in the vines, were equally stunned by the sight, forgetting even to breathe.
"Kurapika... did you see that?" Gon's voice was dry. He rubbed his eyes hard, convinced he must have seen wrong.
"I did." Kurapika sounded just as dazed.
His eyes remained fixed on Lin Yan's back.
With the Kurta Clan's naturally keen senses, he could detect an indescribable presence lingering around Lin Yan.
It was not killing intent, but a warmth like winter sunshine, brimming with pure vitality.
Yet that seemingly gentle presence sent the cave's dense aura of death recoiling in terror, as though it had met its nemesis.
"He isn't intimidating them with force," Kurapika said with difficulty, his voice hoarse. "It's more like he's looking down on these cold creatures from a higher plane of life."
By then, Lin Yan had reached the center of the cave.
He stopped beside the gruesomely mangled corpse of Babon, the Snake Handler.
The temperature here was a full ten degrees lower than at the entrance, the chill biting to the bone.
As though sensing an unprecedented threat, the black rancor coiled around the corpse, controlling the snakes, suddenly began to churn violently.
"Screee!"
A piercing shriek seemed to ring out from empty space.
The black mass twisted, faintly forming faces contorted in agony, their mouths open in silent screams.
Sensing the threat of Pure Yang energy, the Post-mortem Nen launched a desperate, all-out counterattack. Like poisonous smoke, the black mist formed countless tendrils that lashed madly toward Lin Yan.
White frost abruptly condensed in the surrounding air, and even the loose stones on the ground trembled beneath the force of that rancor.
Lin Yan watched the flailing black mass. A flicker of pity passed through his eyes, but beneath it lay an indifference as still and deep as an ancient well.
"Death extinguishes the lamp. Your karmic ties have ended. Why cling to delusion and remain in this world to wreak havoc?"
He murmured softly. His voice was quiet, yet it stirred a strange resonance within the cave.
Then he slowly raised his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together in a standard Taoist Sword Arts hand seal.
Within his dantian, the gently glowing dantian embryo quivered. A pale golden strand of supremely pure true qi flowed through his meridians to his fingertips.
All Ponzu saw was a faint speck of golden light appearing on Lin Yan's fingers.
But to Gon and Kurapika, it was a demon-banishing light bright enough to pierce the darkness!
"The Dao Follows Nature. Dust to dust, earth to earth. Disperse!"
Lin Yan lightly tapped his fingertips against the very core of the black mass.
Hiss-crackle!
The instant they touched, the black rancor erupted into a frantic, agonized struggle.
Like a living thing, the black energy crawled up Lin Yan's fingers, trying to corrupt his Pure Yang energy.
Lin Yan frowned slightly. The golden light at his fingertips suddenly surged three inches outward. Like boiling water poured over snow, his true qi ruthlessly shredded and burned away the negative energy, inch by inch.
The struggle lasted roughly three breaths.
At last, the golden light pierced clean through the black mist, forcibly purifying it.
Washed by Pure Yang energy, the black mist turned into wisps of smoke and vanished into the air in an instant.
As the rancor crumbled, the suffocating chill throughout the snake pit disappeared at once.
The venomous snakes, already trembling, now lost every trace of agitation. They lay limply coiled, not even daring to flick out their tongues.
The entire snake pit had been cleansed of its malevolence.
Lin Yan withdrew his fingers. His expression remained calm, but his breathing had grown slightly heavier, and fine beads of sweat had formed at his temples.
Forcibly purifying Post-mortem Nen of this magnitude with his Early Foundation Establishment cultivation had not come without a cost.
Fortunately, Babon had only been an ordinary person, not a Nen user.
He turned and walked toward Leorio and Ponzu, who were utterly stupefied in the corner.
First, he crouched down and placed two fingers on Leorio's pulse, sending a trace of true qi into him to regulate his disrupted vitality.
"Good. The poison hasn't reached his heart yet. He can still be saved," he muttered to himself, then looked up at the girl beside him, who remained frozen in shock.
"Are you all right?"
His voice was gentle, carrying a hint of concern that pulled Ponzu back from her daze.
"Huh? I... sob..."
Startled awake by his question, Ponzu stared at Lin Yan's face so close to hers, her eyes filled with awe. She wanted to answer, but her throat was so choked with tears that she could not form a complete sentence.
"That's good, then."
Lin Yan nodded and asked nothing more. He slipped one arm around Leorio's shoulders and the other beneath his knees, easily lifting the tall man into his arms.
Now that he had reached Foundation Establishment, carrying this much weight was effortless.
"Come on. We're going home."
Holding Leorio, he turned and headed toward the cave entrance.
As he passed once more through the passage the snakes had cleared, they remained prostrate on the ground, as though respectfully seeing off a king who had come to inspect his domain.
Only when Lin Yan disappeared entirely through the bright cave entrance did the terrifying sense of oppression hanging over Ponzu finally fade.
She looked around the empty cave at the venomous snakes, now as docile as livestock. An overwhelming surge of relief at surviving, mingled with lingering terror, shattered the last of her composure.
"Sob... waaah!"
Unable to hold back any longer, she dropped onto the ground and burst into loud sobs.
Carrying Leorio, Lin Yan heard the crying behind him but did not break stride. He walked out of the cave into the sunlight streaming through its entrance.
Before you continue