Hantengu
Moyu's figure moved like a ghost in the deepening twilight, disappearing from the lights and voices of the Swordsmith Village center in a few leaps, disappearing into the dense forest behind the village, closer to the steep cliffs. His six-eyed panoramic perception swept the surroundings like an invisible radar, clearly capturing the source of that cold, viscous, ghostly aura intertwined with extreme cowardice and resentment—it was slowly and steadily crawling towards the village along a rarely traveled animal trail in a sneaky manner consistent with its aura.
Soon, Moyu's gaze pierced through the layers of branches and leaves, locking onto a target.
He was an old man with a hunched back, dressed in tattered clothes, and looking extremely frail. A large tumor grew in the center of his forehead, and short, pointed horns grew on both sides of his head. His face was covered with deep wrinkles, and his eyes were wide open in extreme fear, with the pupils shrinking to the size of pinpoints. He kept making weak whimpering and sobbing sounds, like a frightened mouse.
"No... don't kill me... I don't know anything... I'm just a poor old man passing by..." He scrambled along the rugged mountain path, muttering to himself in a tearful voice, as if a thousand troops were chasing him. Both his appearance and his words perfectly portrayed a harmless, terrified old man.
The Upper Rank Four its normal state, Hantengu.
However, in Moyu's six-eyed vision, this disguise was meaningless. What he "saw" was the surging evil energy hidden beneath this aged body, like a volcano about to erupt, and the twisted "cowardice" deeply rooted in the soul. This cowardice was not weakness, but a source of extreme self-centeredness, a paranoia that regarded its own existence as absolute priority and all threats as "persecution."
Hantengu continued its performance, crawling across a rocky beach, muttering, "How scary... how scary... I'm just a poor old man...", while its eyes would occasionally dart around, seemingly checking its location or searching for something.
Finally, when Hantengu climbed up a relatively open hillside surrounded by huge rocks and quite a distance from the village, Moyu made a move.
There was no warning, no murderous intent, not even a sound of air being torn apart.
Moyu's figure appeared instantly atop a giant rock three zhang directly in front of Hantengu, as if blending into the shadows. He looked down calmly at the old man who was still "trembling" below, his "Azure Star" Azure at his waist not even drawn.
"Clumsy acting." Moyu's voice was flat and emotionless, carrying clearly through the silent Mountain Forest. "Upper Rank Four, Hantengu. Your path ends here."
The Hantengu, who was "struggling" up the slope, suddenly stiffened, and his sobs stopped abruptly. He slowly, extremely slowly, raised his head and looked at the Moyu on the rock. When his gaze met those Azure eyes that seemed to pierce through illusion, his feigned fear was instantly replaced by real, instinctive horror! It was the tremor of being targeted by a natural enemy, with nowhere to hide!
"Who... who are you?! Don't come any closer! Don't kill me! I didn't do anything! I'm just a poor old man!" Hantengu's voice became shrill, filled with genuine panic, as he scrambled backward on all fours, trying to hide behind a rock.
"Pitiful?" A faint, almost mocking smile curled at the corner of Moyu's lips. "A ghost who prolongs its pathetic existence by devouring countless innocent lives, dares to talk about being 'pitiful'?"
Without another word, he vanished from the rock in an instant. The next moment, he appeared beside Hantengu, his right hand forming a knife-like shape, the Azure curse power highly compressed at his fingertips, slashing towards Hantengu's wrinkled neck without the slightest hint of malice!
This strike was swift, accurate, and ruthless! Its power was enough to easily cut through steel! Moyu's objective was clear: to force him to unleash his split form!
"Aaaaaah--! Don't kill me!!" Hantengu let out a shrill, distorted scream, his eyes filled with despair! He had no time to make any effective defense or dodge!
"Laugh--!"
A swift chop swept across, and an old head flew up with an expression of disbelief and terror! The headless body staggered a few steps before collapsing limply to the ground.
Moyu stood still, his Azure pupils calmly watching the headless corpse that had begun to convulse violently and was emitting a dense black aura. His six eyes clearly "saw" that at the severed neck of the corpse, two energies of completely different natures, yet equally filled with resentment and violence, were frantically growing, expanding, and attempting to separate!
"Pfft! Pfft!"
Like a ripe fruit bursting open, or like flesh being forcibly torn apart! In just two or three seconds, the headless old man's corpse exploded! Amidst the billowing black smoke, two brand-new figures stood proudly, stepping over the blood and bits of flesh!
On the left, a tall and robust man with indigo skin, wide-open, angry eyes, and a head of hair standing on end like flames, wore a black sleeveless garment resembling a cassock. In his hand, he held a tin staff adorned with a lotus flower at the top and crackling with blue lightning. A clear character for "anger" was etched on his tongue—a testament to his Sekido.
The one on the right has a slightly thin body, pale complexion, and a crazy and twisted smile on his face. He holds a huge banana fan and is surrounded by chaotic airflow. He has the word "" engraved on his tongue! It's Coke!
"Haha! Finally out! I've been suffocating!" He laughed Sekido, brandishing his lightning staff, sparks flying and scorching the surrounding rocks. "So you're the bastard who chopped off my head? Prepare to die!"
"Hehe! Free! I can play to my heart's content now!" Karaku let out a piercing laugh, vigorously fanning himself with a banana leaf fan, creating a gust of wind that sent sand and stones flying. "Kill you! Killing you would be so much fun!"
As soon as the two split forms appeared, they unleashed a strong killing intent and ghostly aura, their strength far exceeding that of the previous old man form!
Moyu looked at them expressionlessly, as if he had expected this. "As expected, the split entity is indeed quite troublesome. We need to find the hidden Cowardice Demon's main body directly." He thought to himself, and began to analyze the energy structure, attack patterns, and... energy connection between Sekido and Karaku and the deeper main body, as well as the Six Eyes operating at full power.
"Thunder Kill!" Sekido and hot-tempered, he launched the first attack! He roared and slammed his lightning staff into the ground! Boom! A thick blue lightning serpent, as if alive, snaked along the ground towards Moyu at incredible speed!
Almost simultaneously, Karaku laughed loudly and fanned himself vigorously with his banana leaf fan, "Blood Demon Art - Raging Sonic Wave!" It wasn't the sound of wind, but a visible, highly compressed, transparent shockwave, accompanied by a sharp sonic boom that tore at the eardrums, spreading out in a fan shape to block Moyu's dodge route!
A double attack of lightning and sound waves! If it hits, its power would be enough to instantly cripple an ordinary Pillar-level member!
However, just before the attack was about to strike, Moyu's figure blurred like a ghost! It wasn't High-Speed Movement, but rather the "Unlimited Technique - Inviolable"!
"Bang! Sizzle--!"
The lightning and sonic shockwaves, just inches from Moyu's body, seemed to have struck an infinitely extending, transparent barrier, their power rapidly dispersed and deflected! The lightning grazed past his body, blasting a boulder behind him to pieces! The sonic waves were directed to both sides, carving deep trenches into the ground! And Moyu himself, not even a hem of his clothes was lifted!
"What?!" Sekido and Karaku's maniacal laughter froze instantly, replaced by astonishment! Their combined attack hadn't even touched the opponent's edge?!
"Azure Flow Breathing - Second Form - Mirror Dissection - Diffusion." Moyu murmured, seemingly casually waving his left hand forward! An invisible and intangible force field, yet containing a subtle vibrational frequency, spread out from him! The force field swept over Sekido and Karaku, and they immediately felt their bodies sink, their movements became sluggish, and even the flow of energy around them became momentarily disordered!
"Damn it! This is weird! Attack together!" Sekido, he swung his lightning staff and summoned several more lightning spears to shoot at Moyu! Karaku also frantically fanned his banana leaf fan, creating even more chaotic wind blades and sonic attacks!
Moyu, stepping on "Flowing Cloud Steps," weaved through the dense attacks as if strolling in a garden. Six Eyes accurately predicted the trajectory and weakness of each attack. "Azure Star" remained unsheathed; he simply used his palms or fingertips, enveloped in Azure magical power, to deflect and repel the incoming lightning spears and wind blades one by one with slaps, taps, or deflections! Occasionally, any that slipped through the net were easily blocked by "Inviolable."
He was observing, gathering data. The Sekido lightning attacks were violent but mostly linear; the Karaku's sonic waves and wind blades had a wide range but their power was dispersed. More importantly, he was searching for... that extremely fine energy "thread" connecting to the deeper core of his being!
"Found an opening!" Sekido and unable to break through, and driven to extreme impatience, he seized a tiny opening in Moyu's parry of the wind blades, and suddenly lunged forward, his lightning staff crashing down with immense force towards Moyu's head! "Die!"
Just as the staff was about to fall, a flash of blue light appeared in Moyu's eyes! He stopped dodging, and his right hand, covered in Armament Haki, shot out with lightning speed, precisely catching the staff as it slammed down! The highly concentrated Azure spell power clashed violently with the lightning, producing a piercing "sizzling" sound!
"Catch my lightning staff with your bare hands? You're courting death!" He Sekido, unleashing his full power of lightning! However, to his horror, he discovered that his opponent's hand was like an iron clamp, completely unmoved! Even more terrifying, a bone-chilling coldness spread up the staff, actually suppressing his lightning power!
"Your attacks are too monotonous." Moyu commented coldly, his left hand forming a finger, the tip of which gathered a highly compressed Azure light with the powerful attraction of "Azure," and pointed it towards the Sekido brow! If this finger landed, it would be enough to pierce his skull!
"Don't even think about it!" Seeing this, Cola screamed and fanned the banana leaf fan with all her Karaku, unleashing an extremely condensed wind pressure blade that slashed towards Moyu's neck, a diversionary tactic!
Moyu seemed to have anticipated this. He kept pointing his Sekido finger in the same direction, but his body tilted slightly to the side at an incredible angle. At the same time, his right foot kicked out silently, and his toe touched an inconspicuous pebble on the ground!
"Call out!"
The pebble shot out like a bullet, striking precisely the weak point of the wind pressure blade created by Karaku's fan! With a soft "plop," the wind blade was deflected by the seemingly casually kicked pebble, flying past Moyu!
Moyu's finger, aimed at the Sekido brow, continued its relentless thrust!
Sekido, he leaped back desperately, simultaneously holding his lightning staff horizontally in front of him to block!
"Clang!"
His fingertips touched the tin staff, producing a metallic clang! Sekido felt an indescribable force surge through him, his hand split open, and the tin staff flew out of his grasp! He was thrown backward as if hit by a speeding train, crashing heavily into the mountainside, raising a cloud of dust!
"Sekido!" Karaku cried out in alarm!