Chapter 190: Jao Fuu vs The Masked Woman

Zen trembled in fear as he gazed at the woman. He had begun to think that she was right, he could not escape her. From the corner of his eye, he coud see Jao Fuu raising her two fingers before her face and concentrating but he knew there was no point.

“How did you find us?” Xue Shaonu said. “We had covered our tracks perfectly.”

“Not perfect enough,” The Masked Woman smiled before producing Zen’s clothes from behind her back. The Needle Sphere began to spin above her palm and she threw the garment into the air and ran her sphere through it, shredding it into pieces. “Once we caught on that you were setting decoys, we simply stopped tracking your scent and started tracking the scent of that overgrown rat on your shoulder.”

Zen and Shibi exchanged looks.

“That’s right, I knew wherever that ape was, you would not be too far behind.” She said, with mirth in her voice. “Now,” she raised the Needle Sphere, “DIE!”

Jao Fuu leapt between Zen and the oncoming stream of ki needles. Mist, made of white ki clung to her hand as she thrust it forward. “Ki Mist: Mist Sphere!”

The ki mist coalesced into a ball around Fuu’s palm. The ball and the needles met. The ki needles were diverted and sent scattering to the floor where they blinked out of existence. Fuu continued pressing forward in the stream of needles, her mist ball getting smaller with each needle it blocked.

She reached the Masked Woman and grabbed her wide sleeves.

“Guys, leave, I’ll hold her off!” Jao Fuu said.

“No,” Zen protested, “I…!”

Xue Shaonu grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the fight. They ran into the woods surrounding the dirt road.

“Follow them!” The Masked Woman commanded her hound which bounded after them. She then kicked Fuu’s hand away. “You think you can hold me off, Little girl!”

They had a short bout. Fuu kept up with her strikes, blocking them and throwing a few of her own. Suddenly her knee was swept, causing it to buckle and her to lose balance. She remembered what Zen had said about her low attacks before she was punched in the ribs. The Masked Woman followed through with a punch to her face that sent her twirling before she was kicked away into the ground.

She got up, prepared for more but only saw the Masked Woman run into the woods after Zen. Fuu swore to herself before she followed. She chased after the Masked but she quickly realised how futile it was. With each passing second, the Masked Woman extended the gap between them. She was much faster and if she did not do something, she would lose her.

She raised her fingernd closed her eyes, not slowing down one but as she focused her ki. Her ki emanated from her hand as white mist, the mist growing foggier and whiter the more ki she focused.

“Ki Mist!” She opend her eyes once the technique qas done. She raised her arm and threw it to the direction of the asked Woman. “Ki Mist: Ki Whip!” The mist stretched asted, forming a corporeal rope that reached out for the Masked Woman. It wrapped around her torso and slowed her down.

Fuu planted her feet, they were scraped along the ground as she tried to stop the Masked Woman. The Masked Woman suddenly stopped and turned around, in her arm, a spinning Needle Sphere that severed the ki rope.

Fuu stopped her forward momentum and ducked behind a tree as a stream of ki needles were sent her way. She duscked behind tree, then another, then another. The ki needles shredded the bark and wood and would sometimes punch therough the plants.

Once the needles were depleted, she chased after the Masked Woman, who stood still before snapping into action, throwing a ki needle at her at blinding speed. Fuu instinctively raised her arm to her face, blocking the needle but being impaled by it.

She grimaced in pain before the Masked Woman was before her like a flash. They fought, Fuu trying to fend the Masked Woman’s attack but she was failing, as a few shots were getting through, a fist to the abdomen, and elbow to the side of her face a knee to her thigh.

Fuu desperately her ki in her meridians. “Blitz Palm!” She shouted before her hands moved so fast, that they seemed to have multiplied.

The Masked Woman leapt out of the range of the fast moving palms, even as Fuu chased after her. She extended the duration of the technique to ensure she would have a chance to regroup. Once the technique was done, she leapt back and the two women stared at each other.

“That technique is similar to the boys’.” The Masked Woman said. She tilted her head to the side. “Are you and the other girl his lovers?”

“Eww!” Fuu said. “Don’t ever think that… ever! He’s my cousin.”

“Mhm, I guess that explains why you’re willing to give your life for him.” She raised her arm.

“I’m not giving my life for anyone,” Fuu said defiantly. “I’m stopping you here.”

They charged at each other. The fight was fast, their limbs moved like a lur when they were together. They would separate, trying to find a more advantageous position before meeting again to resume the battle. With each bout, Fuu was placed into an unadvantagious position that she would have to fight out of.

Fuu was kicked into a tree and moaned in pain. Her eyes widended as the Masked Woman gathered ki in her handand straightened it like a blade as the white ki formed a sharp edge. Fuu dodged the swipe, which cut through a section of the tree before disapating.

The Masked Woman created another blade as she chased after Fuu. She chopped down and Fuu blocked her forearm with both hands, leaving her open for a knee to her gut. Fuu stumbled back and ducked down before the blade could tae off her head, it took a few strands of hair instead.

She made a low sweep but the assassin flipped over her. Recovering she charged for where The Masked Woman would land.

“Blitz Palm!” She shouted as she threw 200 Pamls in the space of two seconds.

The Masked Woman once again avoided it by staying out of its reach as soon as she landed. Once Fuu had thrust her last palm, she grabbed her outstretched hand and twisted cruelly, before delivering a kick to Fuu’s face, sending her stumbling back as blood flowed from her nose.

Fuu leapt back, gathering the ki in her body. Her body flashed for a moment before she leapt forward into a barrel roll. “Barrel Boom!”

The Masked Woman side stepped her body but when Fuu landed, ki pulsed out of her body like a dome. It caught the Masked Woman and sent her hurtling back.

Fuu raised two fingers to her face and closed her eyes. Sending her ki roiling once again. A few seconds later she opened her eyes and her hand was covered in Ki Mist. She chased after the Masked Woman.

The Masked Woman flipped to her feet. She kept backing up, staying away from Fuu’s Ki Mist hand but Fuu was catching up.

“Ki Mist Fist!” Fuu shouted as the ki mist wrapped around her fist like a second thick skin. Her fist barrelled for the Masked Woman but she dodged at the last second and Fuu’s fist met a tree, obliterating it and sending it toppling to the side.

As soon as the technique disspated, she focused her ki through her whole body and made another barrel roll towards the Masked Woman. The Woman leapt into the air to dodge the landing but the resultant pulse hit her and sent her flying.

When she recovered, Fuu closed her eyes and gathered her Ki Mist. Once the technique was done, she looked around and saw, nothing.

“Impressive ccombination.” The disembodied voice of the Masked Woman said.

Fuu looked around but could not track her.

“You perform that Barrel Boom technique and on the off chance it misses, you charge up that Ki Mist technique of yours while your opponent recovers. You can’t perform it normally because it requires you to close yours eyes for a few seconds, which would be dangerous against an opponent close enough to take advantage of you in that state.”

Fuu took careful steps, twisting her body around, so that her back was not exposed to one side for too long.

“Too bad for you that I am your opponent.” The Masked Woman said. “See, I have a technique that greatly increases my speed. So I can move out of the range of your Barrel Boom technique where it would be most deadly and I can recover faster, nuetralising your strategdy. And now… this fight is over.”

Fuu heard a step and tuned to face it. She heard another to her side and hopped around then, she hit in the back by the grinding needle sphere on her back when the Masked Woman appeared there. She screamed as blood sprayed from her wound. She twisted around and dodged the sphere before it could do more damager. The Masked Woman chased after her with the Needle Sphere while she covered her fist with the ki mist.

“Ki Mist Fist!” Fuu shouted.

“Needle Sphere Shredder!”

The two techniques met and fought for a moment before the Ki Mist Fist dissipated and Fuu’s skin was shredded off her fist and arm before she was sent hurtling into a tree that snapped and fell forward onto Fuu.

“Here, a gift for you.” The Masked Woman threw the Ki sphere and dashed away before it could explode.

As the Masked Woman sprinted away and after Zen and Shaonu, she heard her needle sphere exploding!