Chapter 551

Chapter 551 I’ll Send You on Your Way!

Inamoto Junichi wanted to end things quickly, but he never expected that Su Rui had already seen completely through his intentions!

Every additional minute the two of them spent locked in combat added another minute of danger for the Eastern warriors surrounding them!

“Die!”

Inamoto Junichi unleashed his Sky-Splitting Strike once more, and yet again this all-out blow was blocked by Su Rui!

Staggering back several steps, the skin between Su Rui’s thumb and forefinger was bleeding uncontrollably, blood dripping down his bayonet and staining the mud beneath him red.

As for Inamoto Junichi, he launched another attack, only to find another notch had appeared on his Blood Fury blade!

The sight of this pushed Inamoto to the very edge of rage!

In his eyes, the Blood Fury blade was worth more than his own life, and now it had been damaged like this — how could he not be furious? How could he not go mad?

Inamoto Junichi’s heart burned with hatred. If he hadn’t sustained such serious injuries, with the muscles of his back devastated and every movement tearing his wounds open further, how could Su Rui possibly be any match for him?

He had advanced to the rank of jonin twenty years ago, and in those two decades, Inamoto Junichi had never once stopped his training. His mastery of the martial path had reached a level that could only be described as supreme.

And yet, that so-called supreme mastery had been blasted away by a single C-4 explosive planted by Su Rui, costing him at least half his combat strength!

Even going all-out right now, he was nothing more than a spent arrow. He could sustain it for twenty minutes at most!

Every time his wounds were pulled open, it accelerated the drain on his vitality!

If he couldn’t finish Su Rui within twenty minutes, there was only one fate waiting for Inamoto Junichi — death!

Su Rui glanced at the blood flowing from between his fingers, and a cold gleam flashed in his eyes: “Old bastard, let’s see how much longer you can hold out!”

With that, his footsteps paused, and he stamped hard against the ground, launching himself straight at Inamoto Junichi like a cannonball fired from its barrel!

That instant transition from stillness to high speed was filled with an extreme sense of explosive momentum!

Inamoto Junichi was stunned to discover that Su Rui’s attack speed this time was noticeably faster than before!

And furthermore — why did his footwork look somehow familiar?

Inamoto had no time to dwell on it. With a loud roar, he gathered every ounce of strength in his body and charged to meet Su Rui head-on!

The two of them fought with increasing ferocity, and the flash of blades grew more and more intense! It was clear that both were giving everything they had!

Su Rui’s speed was such that Inamoto Junichi had no way to bring the fight to a swift end, and what’s more, he was astonished to find that as the battle continued, Su Rui’s already considerable speed was still increasing!

The two men’s weapons clashed, and Su Rui took the opportunity to lash out with his foot, landing a powerful kick squarely against Inamoto Junichi’s chest!

The latter was sent flying more than ten meters, even snapping two trees as thick as a bowl in diameter!

Su Rui’s body was also sent hurtling backward, and he performed two consecutive aerial flips, after which his downward momentum suddenly and drastically slowed, allowing him to land atop a cluster of tree branches!

That movement looked almost exactly like Yamamoto Kyokusen’s technique when he had attacked the Yuanwei Gang that day!

Clutching his chest and spitting up two large mouthfuls of blood, when Inamoto Junichi raised his head and saw Su Rui standing lightly at the top of the tree, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!

“You… how did you… how is this… how is this possible?” Inamoto Junichi clutched his chest and rolled sideways onto the ground, his eyes filled with utter disbelief!

How could this Huaxia man possibly execute such a movement?

This was the secret qinggong technique of their Iga school — it was never passed on to outsiders!

Even if someone knew the method of training, without years of deep immersion and practice, it was absolutely impossible to master it to this level!

“There’s nothing impossible about it. Yamamoto Kyokusen was in my hands for two months, and if I didn’t squeeze every last bit of value out of him, wouldn’t that have been a waste of those two months?”

Su Rui’s body swayed gently with the tree branches, looking utterly graceful and unrestrained!

“I know what you’re going to say. Yes, I used certain methods to get Yamamoto Kyokusen to give up his body-lightening techniques, and I’ve already learned the basics.”

Su Rui gave a cold smile: “There’s no such thing as qinggong in this world. It’s nothing more than a method of enhancing the regulation of one’s body strength and weight to control balance and increase speed. That said, I do have great respect for the ancestor who created this technique.”

“And in fact, there were still some areas where I was rough and had questions I hadn’t figured out. However, through my battle with you just now, every one of those things I didn’t understand has been resolved!”

Su Rui smiled faintly and said, “Speaking of which, I should actually thank you!”

Hearing this, Inamoto Junichi coughed, and another large mouthful of blood sprayed out!

To think that he had unwittingly helped his opponent — it was absolutely infuriating!

But at that very moment, a soft “snap” suddenly rang out beneath the canopy!

It was the sound of a branch breaking!

Su Rui’s qinggong was after all still at the beginner stage. Even though his mastery over these two short months had reached a level that was genuinely astonishing, there was still much to be refined!

Unable to maintain his body’s balance, he plunged heavily from mid-air!

Seeing this, a cold glint flashed through Inamoto Junichi’s eyes. Without a moment’s hesitation, he slammed both palms hard against the ground, channeled all the strength in his body, and launched himself airborne, flying horizontally straight toward Su Rui!

At this moment Su Rui was mid-air, off-balance, unable to push off anything — it was the perfect opportunity to cut him down!

Inamoto Junichi poured nearly every last ounce of his strength into this strike, intent on ending it all in one blow!

Another Sky-Splitting Strike!

But the world doesn’t always go the way one hopes.

Just as his upward-sweeping blade was about to reach Su Rui, the latter suddenly wrenched his body around in mid-air, exposing a smile that was thoroughly cold and sharp!

Seeing that smile, Inamoto Junichi felt a surge of dread — but it was already too late!

Su Rui’s body twisted around, and his right hand snapped forward!

The long blade shot like a cannonball straight into Inamoto Junichi’s chest!

That gleaming, icy flash cut through the night like a bolt of white lightning!

He had walked into a trap!

Only now did Inamoto Junichi realize — the branch snapping, losing his balance and falling from mid-air, all of it had been an act put on by Su Rui!

It was a lure! Designed precisely to get Inamoto Junichi to launch an attack, thereby exposing an opening!

Inamoto Junichi came to his senses far too late. His Sky-Splitting Strike had missed its mark, leaving his move spent and with no way to recover, forcing him to let out a roar and twist his body just to avoid being struck in a vital spot!

Heaven only knew how much force Su Rui had put behind that throw — the blade sank into Inamoto Junichi’s shoulder without the slightest resistance, and the enormous momentum drove him from the air and slammed him into the ground!

“Ahhh!”

Inamoto Junichi let out a scream of agony. His last attack had nearly drained every bit of his strength, and yet he absolutely could not simply wait to die!

Even one extra second of delay could give Su Rui the opportunity to press his attack. A look of fierce resolve flashed through Inamoto Junichi’s eyes, and he reached up and tore the thin cord from around his neck!

Hanging from the end of the cord was a small pendant!

No — it wasn’t a pendant. It was something resembling a small vial!

This was the “miraculous healing medicine” that Yamamoto Taiichiro himself had ordered developed at great effort and great expense. In truth it was a powdered gene-modification compound, exactly the same as what Yamamoto Kyokusen had taken that day!

When Yamamoto Kyokusen, gravely wounded and on the verge of death, had swallowed that tiny vial of powder, he had been able to recover nearly to his peak state! Although this recovery came with a time limit, it was absolutely capable of causing them enormous trouble!

If Inamoto Junichi were allowed to drink it, Su Rui would undoubtedly have a much harder fight on his hands. In terms of raw combat strength, he might very likely be no match for Inamoto Junichi at his peak!

In truth, as one of the Eastern world’s top jonin, Inamoto Junichi had never once thought much of this so-called “miraculous healing medicine.” A short-term physical recovery at the cost of a massive drain on one’s life potential was completely counterproductive!

But right now, he had no choice!

It was either take the medicine, or face certain death!

Without a second thought, Inamoto Junichi twisted open the cap and poured the entire contents of the vial into his mouth!

However, in his desperate urgency to recover, Inamoto Junichi had failed to notice what Su Rui was doing!

After pinning Inamoto Junichi to the ground, Su Rui hadn’t landed at all. Instead he had turned sideways and pushed off a tree trunk, launching himself in a sudden explosive burst that carried him more than ten meters!

After landing, the tip of his foot touched the ground for just a moment, and he was airborne again for several more meters!

At the same time, the “miraculous healing medicine” Inamoto Junichi had taken was already taking effect — color flooded back into his face!

He rose to his feet and, rather than rushing to pull the blade from his shoulder, scanned his surroundings searching for Su Rui.

Inamoto Junichi found it strange that Su Rui hadn’t followed up with more attacks. Normally speaking, after he had hit the ground, Su Rui should have kept the pressure on with relentless high-intensity attacks — why give him the time to take medicine and recover?

Su Rui stood where he was, breathing in great heaving gasps.

He had his reasons for not continuing to press Inamoto Junichi.

The fierce battle with Inamoto Junichi had also drained a great deal of his stamina. In particular, that earlier lure — what looked like a simple movement was in truth extremely demanding in terms of bodily coordination, and the drain on his physical energy had spiked to a terrifying level in an instant!

Inamoto Junichi finally spotted Su Rui in the distance. Though he found Su Rui’s behavior slightly puzzling, since his strength had already been restored, he didn’t dwell on it too much. Choosing to make his move now was undoubtedly the best option!

If he waited any longer, the drug’s effect would start to wear off!

“Inamoto Junichi, do you know why I ran so far away?” Su Rui called out loudly, his voice carrying a note of mockery.

“A feint, nothing more.” Inamoto Junichi suddenly thought of the most famous “Empty Fort Strategy” in Huaxia history, and gave two cold laughs.

Perhaps this Su Rui had also sustained serious injuries. His two Sky-Splitting Strikes may not have caused much visible external damage, but they would absolutely have shaken his internal organs!

“A feint? What I want to tell you is this — if I can kill one jonin, I can naturally kill a second. Even if your Eastern people threw every last ninja into Huaxia, I could swallow every single one of them.”

Su Rui’s voice was filled with ice-cold intensity!

“What’s the use of all this talk? Just die!”

Inamoto Junichi stepped forward twice, reaching out to pull the blade lodged through his shoulder — but the moment his fingers touched the hilt, something immediately felt wrong!

The hilt was sticky, like it was made of putty!

In that instant, a single phrase flashed through Inamoto Junichi’s mind — C-4 explosive!