Five Elements Misdirection

Lin Yan had not gone far.

After parting with Gon, he doubled back like a ghost, silently slipping back to the outskirts of the area where Hisoka waited.

Hisoka was right there.

Merely approaching the area made Lin Yan's skin prickle with countless tiny stings.

It was the instinctive pressure exerted on nearby creatures when a powerful fighter's Nen seeped out unconsciously.

He needed to prepare a few things-wild cards that could give him a sliver of hope in this hopeless game.

Lin Yan found a sheltered thicket and slowly lowered himself.

His movements were so slow that not even the dead leaves made a faint crunch.

The sniper rifle he had taken from Shibao had now become his best source of materials.

He carefully dismantled several bullets, pouring their golden gunpowder onto a broad leaf.

These products of modern industry seemed somewhat out of place in a world filled with supernatural powers, but under the right circumstances, they could produce unexpected results.

Hisoka's En covers a wide area and picks up the slightest details. I can't disrupt it with brute force.

Lin Yan weighed his options.

His Taoist principles emphasized going with the flow and turning circumstances to his advantage. In a head-on clash, he had no chance of winning.

What he needed was a gap-a blind spot in Hisoka's perception, even if it lasted only a thousandth of a second.

Lin Yan took a deep breath and picked up a small pinch of gunpowder between his fingertips.

His true qi wrapped around the powder like the finest carving blade, carrying it silently toward Hisoka's clearing on the faint breeze.

He did not scatter the gunpowder at Hisoka's feet. That would have been suicide.

His targets were a few specific old trees surrounding the clearing.

He remembered a simple Five Elements Misdirection Formation described in Taoist texts.

It was no profound magic. Rather, it used the principles of mutual generation and restraint among metal, wood, water, fire, and earth to create little "accidents" at specific positions, briefly disrupting the energy field of an area.

With precise control of his true qi, he delivered the first pinch of gunpowder to the roots of a massive tree to the east.

Damp moss covered the spot.

Wood generated fire, but water restrained fire.

Igniting it here would not spread the flames, but the sudden burst of steam would be enough to distort the light for an instant, creating a brief visual displacement.

He scattered the second pinch into the gaps between several rocks to the south.

The south corresponded to bing and ding fire, and fire generated earth. When the gunpowder burned here, it would kick up a cloud of dry dust, creating a physical barrier to block the spread of scent.

To the west, a metal vein lay exposed on the surface. Lin Yan scattered gunpowder over the ore.

The west corresponded to geng and xin metal, and fire restrained metal. Burning it would produce a dazzling flash with a blinding effect.

To the north lay a small puddle.

As for the center, the clearing shrouded in Hisoka's terrifying aura occupied the "earth" position.

This was not a true formation, merely a crude trap that combined basic physical phenomena with Taoist five-element philosophy.

Its purpose was not to hurt Hisoka. It could not even injure him.

Lin Yan had only one goal: in the second when Hisoka's guard was lowest, use light, sound, air currents, and dust to create a complete blind spot in his perception, even if it lasted only a few tenths of a second.

When masters clash, that sliver of opportunity decides everything.

Lin Yan understood that all too well.

Those few tenths of a second were his entire hope.

By the time he finished, tiny beads of sweat had formed on his forehead.

The process required extraordinarily precise control of his true qi and exhausted him mentally even more than his earlier fight with Johns.

He quietly retreated, found a concealed spot on slightly higher ground with an excellent view, and sat cross-legged.

He unfastened the rough fishing rod from his back, laid it across his knees, and rested his hands lightly on it.

Fuck it. I'm going all in.

Lin Yan swore inwardly.

He knew just how insane this was.

This was Hisoka-a monster even Chairman Netero held in high regard. With his meager cultivation, Lin Yan was no different from an ant before him.

Yet, for some reason, instead of fear, an irrepressible excitement burned inside him.

It was not bloodthirsty killing intent, but the thrill born of pursuing the Dao to its utmost limits.

He closed his eyes and began regulating his breathing.

Each inhalation and exhalation became extraordinarily long and faint, almost imperceptible.

The Taoist technique of Fetal Breathing could minimize his presence while bringing his mind into a state of intense focus.

His awareness slowly sank into the fishing rod across his knees.

It felt rough in his hands, even a little abrasive. Smeared with dirt and the sap of unknown plants, it gave off a scent of sunshine mingled with fresh grass.

That very scent gradually soothed Lin Yan's restless heart.

He could "see" a pure, vigorous current of fortune, brimming with boundless vitality, entwined around this ordinary fishing rod.

That fortune was like the sun, warm and brilliant, with a reckless fearlessness to it.

This was Gon's fortune.

As this world's "child of destiny," Gon was a walking concentration of fortune. The fishing rod that had accompanied him since childhood, steeped in his influence day and night, had long since ceased to be ordinary.

What Lin Yan needed to do was borrow the "protagonist halo" clinging to this rod and use it to pry open those nearly impossible odds.

Gon, whether this big brother of yours survives this time is all up to you. I'll owe you one. I promise I'll pay you back.

Lin Yan silently repeated the words to himself.

He slowly poured what little true qi he had into the fishing rod.

Something wondrous happened.

When his strand of true qi, tinged with coolness and solitude, touched the warm fortune on the rod, it became lively and agile, like ice and snow meeting warm sunlight.

The dantian embryo within his dantian also let out a cheerful, faint hum.

It worked!

Joy surged through Lin Yan.

Without further hesitation, he immersed his entire awareness in that wondrous resonance and waited quietly.

Time ticked past, second by second.

The night in the forest grew deeper and quieter.

Only the occasional howl of a distant beast reminded him that this was Zebirute, where danger lurked everywhere.

In the center of the clearing, Hisoka seemed to have tired of building his house of cards.

With a casual wave of his hand, the tall tower of playing cards collapsed without a sound, becoming a deck once more and returning to his hand.

He stood and stretched lazily, his dull gray eyes sweeping the surrounding darkness.

The faint, elusive smile vanished, and the light in his eyes gradually faded, leaving only bored indifference.

"There really is... no one worth fighting~"

His rich, resonant voice rang out in the still night, carrying a hint of languor and disappointment.

The killing intent called "boredom" almost took solid form, making the air around him thick and sluggish.

Just then.

The dantian embryo within Lin Yan's dantian contracted violently without warning!

An extremely faint presence, filled with terror and despair, came stumbling toward them through the woods to the west.

Here it comes!

That reckless "bait" had entered the stage.