The Path of the Martial Arts BOSS
Chapter 437 - 249: Pressure and Fear

Chapter 437: Chapter 249: Pressure and Fear

"Glug—"

Hattori Heiji swallowed hard, his sweat drenching him as he stared closely at the figure of Gong Ziyu opposite him.

On the other side, Yun Wuyue was already engaged in combat with Lin Huaigou, the battle raging fiercely, but Hattori Heiji was still hesitant and found it difficult to draw his sword.

Before meeting face to face, Hattori Heiji assumed that Gong Ziyu, ranked tenth on the list of warriors, was an easy opponent. After all, he had even defeated the warrior ranked ninth, so what was there to fear from the tenth?

But upon actually encountering Gong Ziyu, even without exchanging blows, Hattori Heiji felt he was on the verge of collapse.

The sense of oppression on his mind was far more intense than that of real swords and spears clashing. Hattori Heiji’s hands trembled, and his typically decisive swordsmanship was now challenged, even when it came to simply drawing his sword.

It was terrifying, that kind of invisible oppressive force that made his whole body tense and shiver.

Lin Huaigou, who wasn’t the target, might not have felt it, but Hattori Heiji knew that if he continued like this, he was going to be utterly defeated.

"After all, draw the sword," Hattori Heiji roared inside his heart.

His right hand suddenly gripped the hilt tightly; the secret Liusheng New Yin Flow Iaido Slash was about to be unleashed...

"Your sword, you want to cut here?" Qing Yu lifted his hand and made a slanting motion across his chest.

"This..."

Unable to stop the cold sweat, Hattori Heiji, who was about to draw his sword from the scabbard, came to a halt.

"He guessed it... no, he saw right through it," Hattori Heiji thought in disbelief.

This was simply inconceivable.

The Iaido Slash was a Japanese style of sword-drawing skill, similar to other sword-drawing martial arts, clear and straightforward. Aside from the necessity of being fast, accurate, and ruthless, the most crucial aspect was that the sword within the scabbard was charged but unreleased—when released, it struck like thunder.

If the intended target of the Sword Drawing Slash was predicted, then even if one couldn’t keep up with the speed of the slash, one could defend against it in time.

"No good, let’s try again." Hattori Heiji took a deep breath and silently shifted his aim.

He couldn’t believe that he, supposedly at the pinnacle of the Divine Origin Realm, would fail so easily.

"Oh? You changed your target again? This time, you want to cut here," Qing Yu outlined another position.

Once more, the hand that had gripped tightly began to tremble. Because Hattori Heiji was seen through again.

"This time, it’s here." Before Hattori Heiji could contemplate further, Qing Yu motioned to another location.

And this time, just as he finished outlining, Hattori Heiji was preparing to direct his sword there.

"To predict the future is to know the enemy’s strategy in advance." Hattori Heiji, whose culture originated from the Central Plains and had spent a considerable time in the Central Plains, uttered these idioms with a dry throat.

The opponent’s insight was astoundingly high.

Born into the family of the ninja god, although Hattori Heiji practiced swordsmanship and became a warrior, the beliefs inherited from his family lineage made him favor decisive, lethal moves.

The Iaido Slash might seem simple, but Hattori Heiji had dedicated many years to its mastery, approximating the pinnacle of skill.

The family’s secret Concealing Breath Secret Technique also made Hattori Heiji’s Iaido Slash conceal its Qi Mechanism. Although the sword strike was sharp and intimidating when drawn, when it was sheathed, the Blade Energy was hidden, making it impossible for others to detect the Iaido Slash’s landing point through sensing its Qi Mechanism.

He was able to defeat the ninth-ranked Kuang Yuan from Sword Palace with the Iaido Slash—which was indeed a great feat.

But today, in that very moment that had just passed, before the Iaido Slash could be executed, it was already declared a failure. To Qing Yu, everything Hattori Heiji tried was visible and had nowhere to hide.

Qing Yu was fully capable of predicting the landing point before the Iaido Slash was unleashed—she could either defend or dodge; Hattori Heiji’s Iaido Slash was unlikely to succeed.

Even though Qing Yu could withstand it with the ninth level’s Golden Bell Shield, doing so would not have been as devastating to Hattori Heiji as the current course of action.

"What kind of Abnormal Skill is this, or is your mastery over the Iaido Slash far superior to mine?" Hattori Heiji inquired.

"Heh!" Qing Yu shook her head and remained silent.

She was no fool to explain her techniques to an opponent. Even though she was confident that both Hattori Heiji and Lin Huaigou could not escape destiny today, Qing Yu had no intention of developing such a bad habit.

After all, in this world, techniques, Martial Arts, and Abnormal Skills might not be unbreakable.

Martial Arts by nature was an endeavor to transcend the ordinary; even Qing Yu did not dare to claim that there would never be a Martial Arts developed that could counter her Void Eye and Heavenly Son’s Qi Observation Skill.

In the world, all things nourished and restrained each other—Qing Yu, who cultivated the Taoist Mysterious Techniques, firmly believed this.

"Have you given up your struggle? Then, submit obediently." Qing Yu strolled forward, taking steps toward Hattori Heiji, who still held the Iaido Slash pose.

Qing Yu was very eager for information about Hattori Heiji.

During the last great battle in Divine Capital, although the Japan side was defeated and several warriors from the Esoteric Realm were killed, Amaterasu—worshipped as the supreme deity by the Japanese—unaccountably did not show up. Qing Yu knew that the power of the Japan side still had a foothold in the Central Plains.

How could a Japan that had devised plans for so many years crumble utterly due to a single defeat?

It was uncertain if even all the Japanese let go by Xie Lang during that time had been cleaned up. Not to mention Yagyu Munenori, who disappeared at the end of the battle in Divine Capital, and the dark shadow that saved him—whether or not they returned to Japan was unknown.

Therefore, Hattori Heiji was indeed very important.

Once Qing Yu learned from Feng Chaonan about Hattori Heiji’s appearance, she made a firm decision to capture him.

Step by step, Qing Yu walked on, each step felt as if it was pressing down on Hattori Heiji’s heart, making his already restless heart even heavier and bringing greater fear.

The intangible Power of Thought had already begun to permeate Hattori Heiji’s mind, silently corroding the Sword Heart of this Swordsmanship Genius.

"No..." Hattori Heiji’s sweat had already soaked his clothes, but his heart suddenly firmed, and his trembling hands steadied, "You can’t break me. Even if my Iaido Slash is seen through, I still have Liusheng New Yin Style’s Tengu Copy and the ultimate Katana technique. Without the Iaido Slash, I, Hattori Heiji, can still fight."

Although influenced by his family’s creed to kill with a single blow, leading Hattori Heiji to favor the Iaido Slash as his decisive move, he had not neglected the Swordsmanship of Liusheng New Yin Style.

Otherwise, how would he have been called a "Swordsmanship Genius"?

"Roar!"

With a furious roar, as if all fear had been banished, Hattori Heiji suddenly drew his sword...

A crisp sound of the blade rang out from the scabbard, followed by a flash of blade light.

However, the blade’s ringing was very brief; it had just begun to sound when it abruptly ceased, and the bright blade light also disappeared in an instant.

"..."

The fear that had just been driven away in his heart surged back up, even more intense than before, even more despairing.

The sword that Hattori Heiji had just drawn was pushed back into its scabbard by a fair and slender palm.