Chapter 187: The Yin Energy
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 187: The Yin Energy
For 36 long years, ever since he first held a kunai at the age of five, Hanzo had crossed the threshold between life and death countless times. He knew instinctively.
'This is dangerous.'
He didn't know exactly what the danger was.
But he was certain that if he didn't back away now, something would go terribly wrong.
Fwip!
The moment he released Kim Yoo-Sung's wrist and leaped back, sharp pillars of ice shot up from the fallen man's back.
'What in the world!'
It was an immense amount of Yin energy.
A phenomenon that, by all common sense, he could not comprehend.
'A man so full of Yang energy was also harboring a comparable amount of Yin energy in his body?'
Fundamentally, Yang and Yin were powers that could not be cultivated simultaneously.
Yang for men, Yin for women.
When one specialized in one, the other would naturally diminish.
But the boy before him shattered that common sense.
'What kind of monster have you created, Fuma clan?'
He knew from the rumors that the Vajra Yaksha was extraordinary, but he never imagined it would be to this extent.
Feeling his mouth go dry, he tightened his grip on the kunai.
'But it's not over yet. He still can't match my 'experience'.'
He was proud.
Proud of the combat experience he had accumulated over three decades.
No matter how sharp a legendary sword, it was meaningless if the one wielding it was incompetent.
For a high school student, the boy fought well, but he was still a hundred years too early to defeat him.
"Ninjutsu! Spider Prison (Jijook)!"
He set up a trap across the entire hallway using high-tension threads specially made for ninjutsu.
The silk threads that formed the Spider Prison were strong enough to stop a charging elephant, making them perfect for dealing with a brutish opponent like Kim Yoo-Sung.
Meanwhile, Kim Yoo-Sung slowly rose to his feet. As he let out a light breath, a white frost spread across the hallway walls.
He had felt it before, but this was truly an astonishing amount of Yin energy.
It was only early autumn, yet it was enough to physically form frost.
As if influenced by the powerful Yin energy, Kim Yoo-Sung's black hair had turned pure white. He lifted his head.
'He's coming!'
The next moment, Kim Yoo-Sung stomped one foot down, lowered his body, and charged forward at an incredible speed.
Rip! Rip! Rip!
'Impossible! He broke through the Spider Prison?!'
That shouldn't be possible for a human being.
Hanzo hastily retreated, shielding his face with his arms as he watched Kim Yoo-Sung's reckless charge.
A strange current of air enveloped his entire body.
Hanzo soon realized the nature of the technique Kim Yoo-Sung was using.
'Whirlwind Armor (Seonpunggap)!'
It was one of the secret arts of Hayate, the Fuma clan's hidden martial art.
A protective aura that was an application of the 6th form, Tsuchikaze (Whirlwind).
It was also a technique his old rival, the 17th Fuma Kotaro, had favored.
'It hasn't even been three months since he learned Hayate, yet he's already at this level.'
Though genuinely impressed, he scoffed at Kim Yoo-Sung.
'But I already know how to break that technique.'
At first glance, it seemed like a flawless technique, but the weakness of the Whirlwind Armor was that the layer of wind surrounding the body was not uniform.
Having created enough distance, Hanzo instantly formed hand seals and filled his cheeks with air.
"Ninjutsu! Black Rope Butterfly (Heukseunghocheop)!"
A massive, butterfly-shaped flame erupted from his mouth, flying down the corridor and setting it ablaze.
'Now—how are you going to block this?'
The flaming butterfly closed the distance in an instant.
But the method Kim Yoo-Sung used was far beyond his expectations.
Clap!
With a single clap, a powerful gust of wind extinguished his prized Black Rope Butterfly ninjutsu like a candle.
'Impossible!'
He didn't counter with a similar ninjutsu, but simply nullified it with pure physical force.
But there was no time to be shocked.
Having already broken through all the threads, Kim Yoo-Sung was right in front of him, striking with an open palm.
He had seen this technique before as well.
Hayate's 3rd Form: Arashi (Storm)
A technique that, true to its name, unleashed a storm-like barrage of attacks.
It began with palm strikes to both sides of the ribcage, followed by a relentless assault of fists targeting every vital point on the human body.
The speed of the strikes was reminiscent of Chinese Wing Chun, but the power of each blow was incomparable.
'But it's not without its weaknesses.'
Because it focused on vital points for maximum efficiency, it wasn't a threat if you simply blocked all of them.
'And since he's never killed anyone, there's a subtle hesitation in his movements.'
After lightly parrying the final elbow strike aimed at his temple, Hanzo drove both fists into his opponent's exposed abdomen.
"Gaaah!"
With a sharp scream, Kim Yoo-Sung's body was thrown backward.
He felt a little sorry for the boy, but the matchup was simply bad for him.
After Fuma Kotaro disappeared ten years ago, Hanzo had run countless combat simulations while tracking his rival's whereabouts.
'You can't beat me with the outdated Hayate.'
It may be the secret martial art of the Fuma clan, passed down for nearly 500 years, but in the end, it was a relic of a bygone era.
The moment its techniques were captured on video, countless experts began to pick it apart, thoroughly analyzing its weaknesses.
That was why he, the self-proclaimed sole rival of Fuma Kotaro, had deliberately avoided participating in the God of Fist tournament.
'A ninja revealing his trump card for all to see... there's nothing more foolish.'
He was thinking just that as he looked down at Kim Yoo-Sung's large frame sprawled on the floor.
"Got you."
Struggling to his feet, he suddenly said something strange.
"Got me with what?"
"Instead of asking me, why don't you check your own body?"
Wondering what he meant, Hanzo looked down.
"......!"
The two fists that had just struck Kim Yoo-Sung's abdomen were frozen solid white.
"A flash freeze. The moment our bodies made contact, I infused you with Yin energy."
His body temperature was dropping rapidly.
The ice encasing his wrists like shackles was turning his calloused hands pale.
'This is bad.'
He couldn't even form hand seals properly like this.
He had let his guard down, thinking the fight was won, and had taken a heavy blow.
But—
"So? What of it? If I can't use my arms, I'll just fight with my feet."
As he spoke, Hanzo stomped his foot hard.
Click!
A thin blade shot out from the sole of his oxford shoe.
"This blade is coated with the venom of all sorts of poisonous insects. It's not a lethal dose, but a single scratch will probably leave you paralyzed for half a day."
In other words, by the time he woke up, it would all be over.
"So it's a one-hit kill, then."
"You could say that."
He's sharper than he looks, Hanzo thought. In place of his frozen, unresponsive arms, he lifted his left foot.
"Come."
Once again, Kim Yoo-Sung did not retreat but faced him head-on.
'If only we hadn't met as enemies.'
When was the last time he had met a man with such spirit?
It was so long ago he couldn't even remember.
As a warrior first and a ninja second, Hanzo paid his enemy the highest respect. He flicked the kunai up with his instep and caught it in his mouth.
"......"
The suffocating tension that could only be felt in a standoff.
And then,
It was Kim Yoo-Sung who moved first again.
Hayate's 1st Form: Kamaitachi.
A technique that used a wind-clad hand-blade to slice the enemy.
Like a swordsman's draw, the hand-blade shot out in an instant. Dodging it by a paper-thin margin, Hanzo slipped inside his guard and kicked up at his groin with his knee.
Kim Yoo-Sung reacted quickly, blocking the attack before creating distance with Oikaze, Hayate's only footwork technique.
But no spider lets its captured prey go.
"Hmph!"
He spat out the kunai he had been holding in his mouth for this very moment.
Seeing the kunai flying toward him like a bullet, Kim Yoo-Sung hastily raised his right arm.
But the attack wasn't over.
Sliding across the hotel corridor floor, Hanzo swung the blade on his shoe's heel in a wide arc, aiming for Kim Yoo-Sung's shin.
'This is checkmate!'
Just as the poisoned blade was about to graze Kim Yoo-Sung's defenseless shin—
Hanzo suddenly heard a voice in his head.
「Is this all you've got?」
Freeze.
It was as if time had stopped.
No—it sounded like a lie, but it had actually 'stopped.'
If there was anything moving in this frozen world, it was only the pale, whitish spirit that had suddenly emerged from Kim Yoo-Sung's body.
「I've temporarily frozen the time around us.」
Standing beside Kim Yoo-Sung like a guardian spirit, the 'ghost' spoke in a clear voice, loud enough for him to hear.
「Hey, hey, so how does it feel? To have victory snatched away when it was right in front of you?」
'Impossible!'
This was an absurd power.
Hanzo trembled before this scientifically inexplicable absurdity.
But it was also undeniably real.
The one thing he had failed to predict was the existence of this ghost attached to Kim Yoo-Sung.
Three seconds pass—
Time, which had stopped, began to move again. Having blocked the decisive, delayed attack, Kim Yoo-Sung looked down at Hanzo with cold eyes and said,
"From now on, I won't waste a single second taking you down."
"Impossibllllle!!"
A fist like an iron mace descended upon his screaming head.