The Four Major Principles X Ten X Exorcism Ritual

Two daggers, a small bag of rock-hard biscuits, three Jenny banknotes of different denominations, and a piece of dirty clothing stripped from a corpse.

It wasn't much, but it at least proved that the shadow space worked and had a considerable capacity.

Jiang Ye tore the piece of clothing into strips, then used a dagger to cut open the sleeve on his arm that had been rotted by acid rain, exposing the pale wound underneath.

He wound the strips tightly around the wound several times, trying to keep the dirty air outside from getting in.

Infection was the deadliest killer in Meteor City. Even a cold could nearly cost someone their life.

After bandaging the wound, Jiang Ye didn't rush to open the bag of biscuits.

He sat cross-legged on a piece of dry cardboard and rested his hands on his knees.

He could feel the aura that had surged through his Aura Nodes continuing to leak out of his body.

It was like a waterskin with a hole in it, water still flowing out.

If he didn't plug that hole, the day his aura ran out would be the day his life force was exhausted.

So Jiang Ye now had to begin the basic training of Nen.

The first of the Four Major Principles: Ten!

Cover the entire body in aura, wrapping it around the surface, sealing the Aura Nodes and locking the aura inside.

Anyone who didn't learn Ten was constantly burning away their own life.

"The first step of the Four Major Principles... starts here."

"I hope I remembered the steps correctly."

Jiang Ye closed his eyes, his breathing growing calm.

In his previous life, he had studied the principles of the Four Major Principles in depth, and he knew the steps by heart.

But theory and practice were ultimately separated by an insurmountable chasm.

Without hesitation, Jiang Ye immediately began trying to sense the aura inside him.

Aura was life energy, born from the activity of the blood, breathing, muscles, and every cell.

Its essence was warm and flowing, as though an invisible circulatory system had been added to his body.

"Slowly, slowly."

Jiang Ye adjusted his breathing and gradually calmed his mind, guiding the aura from the dantian in his abdomen to spread outward.

At first, the flow was scattered, spraying out like a faucet that hadn't been fully turned off.

He tried to use his will to bring it into order, not by forcing it down, but by guiding it to spread evenly along the contours of his body.

His abdomen, chest, back, arms, thighs, ankles, and neck.

Every inch of skin on his body needed to be covered.

The shorter the distance the aura traveled from his body, the less he would lose.

Before long, fine beads of sweat appeared on Jiang Ye's forehead. His mind was intensely focused, and his hands trembled slightly on his knees.

He could feel the warm current inside him being tamed bit by bit, changing from a wild surge into a slow spread, becoming controllable.

Strand by strand, the aura was drawn over the surface of his skin.

The stinging in his arm eased, and the tightness in his chest faded.

His Aura Nodes were gradually closing.

He continued guiding the aura, forming a thin film of light over his body. It was nearly invisible to the naked eye, but felt warm and soft, as though an unseen quilt were wrapped around him.

"Phew..."

Jiang Ye let out a long breath.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands.

A barely perceptible, faint glow covered the backs of his hands, the film of aura resting steadily against his skin.

His Aura Nodes were sealed, and aura was no longer leaking out without his awareness.

The first step of the Four Major Principles, Ten.

Complete!

The aura stored in his body began to stabilize. Although the total amount was still small, at least it would no longer be wasted.

As long as it didn't leak out, it would slowly recover with time.

Jiang Ye raised a hand and touched his face. The skin corroded by the acid rain still stung all over, but it was much better than before.

"Ten... cleared the first hurdle."

He leaned back against the wall and tilted his head, listening to the sounds outside.

The rain was still falling, pattering against the plastic sheeting in a barrage as dense as firecrackers.

Outside the shack, the distant clang of metal striking metal could faintly be heard. It was a waste-processing machine still running in some corner of Meteor City.

Night was falling over Meteor City.

Jiang Ye didn't stop because of that. Instead, he ate all the remaining biscuits, replenishing as much of his strength as he could.

Recalling their earlier conversation, the bald brute he had just killed clearly had backing.

As far as he knew, many factions existed in Meteor City.

Junkyard scavengers, slave traders, gangs, the mafia, wanted criminals...

As for the Council of Elders and the famous top-tier criminal group, the Phantom Troupe, with his current status, he wasn't even qualified to know about them.

The power behind the bald brute, on the other hand, was a gang.

The gangs Jiang Ye knew of alone included the Rust Bone Gang, the Shattered Iron Group, and the Gray Rat Squad.

He just didn't know which gang the man belonged to yet.

But whichever one it was, it would be extremely difficult for him to deal with in his current state.

The deaths of more than a dozen people would certainly cause an uproar, and he would have to make a decision when the time came.

Given his physical condition, he couldn't keep a Shikigami summoned for long at all. His opponents, meanwhile, had been established in Meteor City for a long time, and had presumably long since moved beyond melee weapons to firearms.

By comparison, his chances of winning were slim.

He could either fight or flee.

Or...

"Muddy the waters."

Jiang Ye murmured to himself, a glint flashing in his eyes.

In Meteor City, there was a hard currency more precious than supplies.

It was also what the drifters lacked most, and what they most easily overlooked.

Information!

As long as he had information, he had the means to survive in Meteor City.

"For a drifter to obtain information might be a pipe dream."

"But I'm not just a drifter."

"I'm also a..."

A smile curved Jiang Ye's lips as invisible black aura gradually emerged from his skin.

"Nen user!"

This was when the Exorcism Ritual of the Ten Shadows Technique would come in handy.

The Exorcism Ritual was a core rule unique to the Ten Shadows Technique.

To gain permanent control over the other nine Shikigami besides the black and white Divine Dogs, the practitioner had to actively summon an untamed wild Shikigami and defeat it alone, making it submit in a one-on-one combat ritual.

The conditions for starting the ritual were very simple.

No venue or offerings were needed. As long as the practitioner summoned an untamed Shikigami with the corresponding hand shadow, the ritual would begin automatically.

The moment the Shikigami was summoned, a separate combat domain would form, and the Shikigami would attack all living things within it indiscriminately.

So Jiang Ye had to make ample preparations before summoning it.

Although the ritual was simple, it contained ironclad rules that could never be violated.

The practitioner had to defeat the Shikigami personally!

If a third party dealt fatal damage to the Shikigami and killed it during the battle, the ritual would immediately be invalidated. The Shikigami would not submit and would remain hostile the next time it was summoned.

Even if a teammate only helped restrain it without landing the finishing blow, the taming would be invalidated as long as an outsider joined the fight during the ritual.

It had to be completed alone from beginning to end!

And the Shikigami had to be thoroughly defeated for it to count as a success.

It was a situation where risk and opportunity coexisted.

Jiang Ye already knew which Shikigami he was going to tame.

With his current strength, powerful Shikigami were out of the question. He couldn't beat them even if he risked his life.

This was the time to pick on a soft persimmon.

A Shikigami's name surfaced in Jiang Ye's mind.

"Rabbit Escape."