Taoist priest goes to America

Chapter 102 has two more stages.

Yuzu landed, her shoes scraping against the ground with a screeching sound.

The moment she landed lightly, her katana was already sheathed.

Yuzu will bend down, pivoting on her left foot and swinging her right foot back, her supple waist pressing her center of gravity below her dantian, her right hand pressing on the hilt of the sword, her thumb on the trigger.

Ang Lee had seen this starting stance once in a hotel room; it was the standard Iaijutsu preparation stance.

Her breathing became slow and steady in that instant, and blue-white arcs of electricity began to appear on her body. The arcs traveled from her shoulder blades all the way to her hands, making a crackling sound.

Then Yuzu pulled the trigger on the hilt of the knife.

The gun-like ejection device inside the scabbard emitted a sharp metallic bang, and the katana shot out of the scabbard like a bullet. The blade was enveloped in lightning the instant it left the scabbard.

Yuzuo drew her sword in one swift motion, transforming into a bolt of lightning that slashed horizontally. The blade, crackling with lightning, first tore through the dust and smoke that erupted when Ise Akibō landed, then slammed down hard on him.

It was faster than the slash she had made in the hotel, cleaving a straight path through the dust.

The moment the sensation of the samurai sword cutting into her palm traveled from the hilt back to Yuzu's hand, she sensed something was wrong.

It wasn't the smooth, penetrating feeling of a blade cutting through flesh and bone; it felt like striking a solid steel plate.

She frowned, looked up, and through the dissipating dust and lingering flashes of electricity, saw her blade wedged between a section of her dark forearm.

The forearm was entirely black, with a dense, smooth black substance on its surface that shimmered with an obsidian-like luster under the moonlight.

The blade slashed halfway in, then got stuck in the middle layer of the black armor, held firmly in place. Blood seeped from the blade and dripped onto the ground, forming a small puddle.

"Wow," Yuzu's voice was filled with undisguised surprise, and she blinked. "You had another trick up your sleeve? You actually didn't tell me?"

Ise Kibo stood before her, his entire body covered in a complete layer of black armor.

The armor stretched from the neck to the ankles, with each plate fitting snugly against the body, leaving no visible flaws.

The mask on the helmet was that of a two-horned demon, the entire face of which was dark purple, with thick, black horns, sharp, protruding teeth, and twisted facial muscles. It was extremely ferocious and savage, and the black mist churning in its mouth looked like a living creature breathing.

"I only just figured it out these past few days." Ise Kibo's voice came from under the Hannya mask, muffled. "Recently, I've been getting up at five in the morning to train my abilities until I can't even lift my fingers anymore."

"I'm working so hard so that I can be the first to take down that target and make you look at me in a new light."

"I never expected this—" Ise Kibo's voice suddenly turned sorrowful, and the gaze from behind the demon mask fell on her face, his tone suddenly becoming resolute.

"I will definitely rescue you from this demon's clutches! Yuzu, wait a little longer—"

Before he could finish speaking, Ise Kibo's right leg was suddenly struck hard by a force coming from behind. Li An had silently circled behind him at some point and his arm blade slashed at the back of Ise Kibo's knee.

"Since the black mist can transform into a hard solid and be used as armor," Li An said expressionlessly, "what about your joints?"

There was no hard black armor protecting the joint; the surface was a soft black substance. As soon as Li An's arm blade made contact, the surface suddenly turned into a mass of flowing black liquid, instantly enveloping Li An's arm like living water.

"You bastard—" Ise Kibo turned around, revealing the demonic face of his mask, brimming with resentment and jealousy.

His left hand clenched into a fist, his waist and hips twisted, and his left fist whistled as it smashed towards Li An's head.

But Ang Lee reacted faster. Countless sharp spikes suddenly erupted from his arm, piercing out from under his skin. The black fluid was broken off by the spikes and turned into wisps of ordinary black mist that dissipated.

Li An immediately broke free and retreated, and at the same time, a ball of lightning flew towards him.

Yuzu had already condensed a fist-sized ball of lightning at her feet. The small ball of lightning hovered beside her feet, with many arcs of electricity jumping on the blue and white ball, scorching the surrounding concrete ground.

She unleashed a clean and powerful shot with the instep, sending the ball of lightning flying out like a soccer ball being kicked, moving at incredible speed.

Ise Kibo sensed a blue-white ball of light rapidly approaching him and abruptly stopped his punch aimed at Li An.

His left arm made a sharp turn in mid-air, his left hand, which had been clenched into a fist and aimed at Li An, suddenly opened wide, his five fingers spread into a palm, pointing the palm at the direction from which the ball of lightning was coming. The armor covering his palm was also thickened by two layers, making the entire palm look like a small black shield.

The ball lightning struck his palm.

First came a blinding expanse of pure white, instantly erasing all shadows from the entire floor. Then, a shockwave emanated from his palm, spreading outwards like an invisible giant fist slamming into the building.

The entire second-floor floor was ripped off, and the concrete walls wrapped with steel bars snapped. Several old machines nearby were uprooted by the shockwave, tumbling several times in mid-air before crashing to the ground.

Even the ceiling on the third floor was pushed upwards by the shockwave, and cracks quickly spread to the entire wall.

Ang Lee was standing too close; his eardrums buzzed, and he couldn't hear anything.

Even after the shockwave subsided, the residual power of the lightning continued to wreak havoc. Dozens of arcs as thick as arms shot out from the center of the explosion, growing wildly in all directions like silver trees in bloom, striking the walls and burning charred holes, while smoke slowly rose.

At the epicenter of the explosion, a charred, shallow crater was blasted into the ground. The cement at the bottom of the crater had been melted by the high temperature into a glassy black substance, still emitting a dark red residual heat.

Ise Kibo was still standing.

The black armor on his left palm shattered completely in the explosion, and his exposed fingers were blown off by the electric arc, the broken ends charred.

A bloody hole exploded in his palm, and his entire left hand was burned raw by lightning, with only half a charred bone still attached to his wrist, emitting white smoke.

But he didn't die; he just gritted his teeth in pain and pulled back his broken left hand.

"Huh?" Yuzu tilted her head. "Is it that hard?"

She looked down at her feet, then looked up at Ise Kibo's mangled hand. "That was my most powerful attack. Shouldn't it have been an instant kill under normal circumstances?"

Just then, several fleshy tentacles emerged from the smoke of the explosion.

Ang Lee's tentacles moved silently along the ground, striking while the iron was hot, using the smoke and dust from the explosion as cover, and the tentacles went straight into the blown-up hand of Ise Akibō.

There was no black armor protecting it, only charred, rotten flesh. The tentacle found the wound, plunged in, and drilled deep into the body along the blood vessels and muscles.

Ise Kibo reacted almost immediately, black mist condensing into a blade on his arm, trying to cut off what was burrowing into his body, but it was too late.

Ang Lee's tentacles severed themselves inside his body, and the remaining part, like a parasite, burrowed upwards along his meridians.

"Ughhhhh!!!"

""

Ise Kibo knelt on both knees, curled up in a ball, and rolled around on the ground. His black armor scraped against the ground with a screeching sound, and his screams, mixed with the writhing sound of something inside his body, echoed through the ruins.

Ang Lee stood a few steps away, his face blackened by the smoke from the explosion, his hair still smoldering.

He turned to look at Yuzu without any expression on his face.

"I really want to praise you for doing a good job." His voice was calm, but paired with his charcoal-black face, it felt incongruous. "But remember to turn off 'Friendship Injury' next time."