Lin Ye woke to a faint medicinal smell. He opened his eyes, and the first things he saw were dim lights and walls built of stone. He lay on a crude wooden bed. His wounds had been carefully treated-stitched, medicated, and wrapped in clean bandages-and the searing pain in his lower back and arm had eased considerably. This was not his Air-Raid Shelter. The room was small and sparsely furnished, but spotlessly clean. A bookshelf stood in one corner, packed with battered books. Beside it was a table holding medical instruments and several bottles of medicine. Beneath the medicinal smell, a faint scent of tobacco lingered in the air. Lin Ye slowly turned his head and saw the man sitting by the window. It was the middle-aged man who had saved him yesterday. He sat in a chair with a worn book in his hand and a cigarette between his lips, smoke curling around him. Daylight streamed through the window glass and fell across his body, outlining his steady silhouette. Hearing Lin Ye stir, the man lowered his book and turned to look at him. "Awake?" His voice was as level as it had been yesterday. "You're harder to kill than a cockroach. Three broken ribs, internal injuries, more than half your blood gone, and you woke up after sleeping for just one day." Lin Ye opened his mouth. His throat was painfully dry, and his voice came out hoarse. "You... saved me?" "Who else?" The man tapped the ash off his cigarette, stood, and walked to the bedside, handing him a cup of water. "This is my place, on the edge of District 13. No one will find you here." Lin Ye took the cup in both hands and sipped the warm water, finally soothing his parched throat. He looked at the man with gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you. If it weren't for you, I would have died yesterday." "No need to thank me." The man returned to his chair and looked at him. "I just couldn't stand watching a bunch of adults bully a ten-year-old kid." He paused, studying Lin Ye with a trace of scrutiny. "But you surprised me. Training your body to this level at ten, killing Red Ogre, and lasting that long against Wild Lion-even in Meteor City, that's rare." Lin Ye fell silent for a moment and said nothing. The man continued, "You've already awakened Nen, haven't you? It's rough, and your aura control is a complete mess, but your aura nodes are definitely open. You can freely draw on the aura inside your body." Lin Ye's heart jolted, and he raised his head to look at the man. He could tell? Seeing his surprise, the man smiled and tapped away another bit of ash. "Don't look so surprised. I made my living doing this for over a decade. Even if you deliberately suppress your aura, you can't hide it from my eyes." "Who... exactly are you?" Lin Ye couldn't help asking. "My name is Fei Lan," the man said evenly. "I used to be a bounty hunter. Now I'm just a washed-up cripple hiding in Meteor City for my retirement." A bounty hunter! Lin Ye's pupils contracted sharply. He finally understood why Fei Lan was so terrifyingly strong. Bounty hunting was one of the most dangerous professions in the Hunter world. Bounty hunters dealt with vicious criminals year-round; without top-tier strength, they simply couldn't survive. No wonder Wild Lion hadn't even dared to fight back against him. "If you were a bounty hunter, why are you hiding in Meteor City?" Lin Ye asked. At those words, Fei Lan's smile faded. A barely perceptible trace of loneliness and coldness flashed through his eyes. He took a drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaled, his voice dropping. "I was betrayed." "Brothers who'd faced life and death beside me for over a decade sold me to the target I was hunting for money. I barely fought my way out of their encirclement alive, lost half an arm, and had nowhere to go. All I could do was hide in Meteor City, this place the world abandoned." He spoke calmly, as though telling someone else's story, but Lin Ye could hear the towering hatred beneath that calm and the despair of being betrayed by the people he trusted most. Lin Ye fell silent. He remembered his life before transmigrating. He, too, had seen far too many people betray others for personal gain. All the more so in the Hunter world, where self-interest ruled supreme. "I'm sorry," Lin Ye said quietly. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about." Fei Lan smiled and stubbed out his cigarette. "It all happened over a decade ago. What about you, kid? What's your name?" "Lin Ye." "Lin Ye." Fei Lan repeated the name and nodded. "Good name. Tell me, how did you learn Nen? Your Four Major Principles are a complete mess. Your Ten is unstable, your Zetsu is incomplete, your Ren is too scattered, and you haven't even grasped the basics of Hatsu. You're just relying on brute force and throwing your aura around at random." A hint of embarrassment crossed Lin Ye's face. He had indeed learned Nen by feeling his way through Red Ogre's notebook and his memories of the original story. He had gotten many details wrong and taken plenty of wrong turns. "I figured it out on my own," Lin Ye admitted. "I killed a Nen user called Red Ogre and found a notebook on Nen training on him. I practiced by following what it said." "That explains it." Fei Lan nodded in understanding. "With Red Ogre's half-baked skills, what could his notes possibly teach you? You're lucky they opened your aura nodes without making you drain your aura and die." He looked at Lin Ye, a serious note entering his gaze. "Do you know how dangerous it is to use aura as recklessly as you're doing now? Nen is life energy, not something you can squander however you please. Every time you force out a burst of aura, you damage your meridians and internal organs. Keep training like this, and within a year, your body will be completely ruined. Even if you survive, you'll never be able to use Nen again." Lin Ye's heart sank. He had noticed discomfort in his body whenever he forced out Armament Haki or used Shave repeatedly, but he had always assumed it was due to excessive physical exertion. He hadn't realized that faulty aura control was damaging his body. "Then... what should I do?" Lin Ye raised his head and looked at Fei Lan, his eyes earnest. He knew this was his chance. Fei Lan was a genuine retired bounty hunter with systematic knowledge of Nen training. With his guidance, Lin Ye could avoid countless wrong turns and truly enter the world of Nen. Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, Fei Lan fell silent and did not answer immediately. He stood, walked to the window, and gazed at the gray sky outside, his back to Lin Ye. He remained silent for a long time. Lying in bed, Lin Ye waited nervously for his answer, his heart pounding. He knew that in Meteor City, no one taught others Nen for nothing. Nen was the foundation of survival, a trump card no one passed on lightly. After a long while, Fei Lan slowly turned back to face him. "I can teach you Nen." His voice was calm, but his words struck Lin Ye's heart like thunder. Lin Ye's eyes lit up. He tried to sit up, only for his wounds to pull painfully and force him back down. "But I have two conditions." Fei Lan's gaze was utterly serious. "If you can fulfill them, I'll teach you everything I know. If you can't, you can leave right now, and I won't interfere in your life again." "Tell me! Forget two conditions-I'd agree to ten or a hundred!" Lin Ye said immediately, his voice resolute. "First." Fei Lan raised one finger. "I'm teaching you Nen and how to fight so you can survive, not so you can kill people, seize territory, or make yourself a petty king in Meteor City. Remember this: the power of the strong is meant to protect, not to plunder. You can fight to survive, and you can kill to defend yourself, but you must never slaughter innocents or let hatred and power consume you." Lin Ye's heart trembled. The power of the strong was meant to protect, not to plunder. Those words shone into his heart like a ray of light. During the more than six months since he had transmigrated to Meteor City, he had fought every day, risking his life to survive. His hands were stained with so much blood that sometimes he felt he had become a cold-blooded killing machine. But Fei Lan's words brought him back to his senses in an instant. He clenched his fists, looked at Fei Lan, and nodded with complete sincerity. "I'll remember. I promise I won't slaughter innocents or let power consume me." "Second." Fei Lan raised another finger. "In the future, if you have the ability, investigate something for me. Find out where the brothers who betrayed me and that bounty target are now, and how they're doing. I don't need you to avenge me. I just want to know what became of them." His tone was calm, but Lin Ye could hear the obsession buried beneath it. "I promise!" Lin Ye answered without hesitation. "Someday, I'll find out for you. Wherever they are, I'll track them down!" Looking at the resolve in Lin Ye's eyes, Fei Lan finally smiled. "Good. From today onward, you're my disciple." Lin Ye trembled all over with excitement. He struggled to get out of bed and kowtow to Fei Lan, but Fei Lan reached out and held him down. "Enough. You're still injured. Don't move around." Holding him down, Fei Lan's smile faded, and his expression turned serious. "Starting today, I'll teach you Nen systematically. Remember, there are no shortcuts in Nen. There's only hard training, taking one step at a time, and building a solid foundation. I'll be strict with you. If you can't take it, say so now." "I can take it!" Lin Ye answered immediately, determination filling his eyes. "No matter how hard or exhausting it is, I'll endure it!" "Good." Fei Lan nodded. "Then we'll start with the very basics. First, I'll explain the nature of Nen and the true meaning of the Four Major Principles." He pulled up a chair beside the bed and began explaining. "Put simply, Nen is the art of controlling life energy. Every one of us has life energy inside our body, also called aura. An ordinary person's aura slowly leaks out through their aura nodes without them even noticing. A Nen user is someone who can sense aura, open their aura nodes, and freely control the aura within their body." "The Four Major Principles-Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu-are the basics of Nen, the foundation of every Nen ability. What you practiced before was all wrong. You only scratched the surface without understanding their true meaning." Little by little, Fei Lan explained the core principles of the Four Major Principles, the details of each technique, the key points of training, and the mistakes people often made. His explanations were thorough and precise, clearing up everything Lin Ye had struggled to understand. For Ten, Fei Lan told him that its essence was not forcibly locking aura inside the body, but uniting aura with one's will, allowing it to naturally envelop the whole body and circulate steadily, as effortlessly as breathing, rather than deliberately suppressing it. Only then could a person maintain Ten even while asleep, both training and guarding against danger. For Zetsu, Fei Lan explained that its essence was not forcibly closing the aura nodes, but allowing aura to return fully into the body and merge with one's own life presence, achieving harmony with the world. Only then could a person completely conceal their presence, making themselves difficult to detect even for a top-tier Nen user. For Ren, Fei Lan explained that its essence was not simply releasing ever greater quantities of aura, but improving its quality and the precision of one's control. A person had to release exactly as much aura as they intended, controlling it precisely and drawing it in or letting it out at will, rather than unleashing it like a flood that could not be recalled and wasting it for nothing. For Hatsu, Fei Lan explained that its essence was infusing aura with one's will, personality, and obsessions to develop a Nen ability uniquely one's own. None of the six Nen types was inherently stronger or weaker; there was only suitability. Only by finding the type that suited oneself best and developing an ability most closely aligned with one's will could a person bring Nen's power to its fullest potential. Lin Ye lay in bed and listened with intense focus, committing every word Fei Lan said to memory. He finally understood just how far off his previous training had been. He had been like a fool holding a peerless martial arts manual who could read the words but understood none of their meaning, learning only the moves without grasping their essence. Fei Lan's explanations were like a key that flung open the door to the world of Nen, revealing an entirely new and vast world before him. At the same time, he realized more clearly that Haki and Nen truly shared the same origin. The essence of Nen, as Fei Lan explained it, was controlling life energy through will. The essence of Haki was likewise driving life energy through will. Their fundamental nature was exactly the same; only the direction of their application differed. Nen made the use of aura systematic and rule-based, developing abilities with endless variations. Haki made the use of aura instinctive and will-driven, taking offense, defense, and perception to their utmost limits. The two could form a perfect, complementary cycle. Everything suddenly became clear to Lin Ye. He had finally found a way to fully fuse Haki and Nen. The daylight beyond the window gradually faded. After speaking for an entire afternoon, Fei Lan finally stopped and looked at Lin Ye. "What I explained today is the very foundation of Nen. Take your time absorbing it. Once your wounds have healed, I'll formally begin teaching you how to train, building your foundation bit by bit." "Thank you, Master!" Lin Ye said with heartfelt sincerity. He called him Master willingly and without reservation. In this cold, cruel Meteor City, Fei Lan had not only saved his life, but also given him the means to establish himself and survive in this world, offering him true guidance. Hearing that word, Fei Lan froze for a moment. Then a gentle smile appeared on his face, and he patted Lin Ye's shoulder. "Focus on healing." "You still have a long road ahead."
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