The human body is a truly marvelous thing; especially after systematically studying the Hyūga clan's "Gentle Fist," Hyūga Yūki's understanding of the human body has become much more unique.
For instance, his attack on Diavolo just now seemed very light, but it was actually quite deliberate.
If you often watch boxing matches, you may have seen such scenes many times: although many sturdy boxers can withstand heavy punches, they can't resist a quick jab or flick to the chin and end up falling directly to the ground.
The reason for this is simple: the bones of the skull are interconnected, and a high-speed blow to the chin transmits force to the brain, causing it to shake.
The brain itself is very fragile, but the skull is very strong. The consequence of the brain shaking is that the fragile brain repeatedly impacts the inner wall of the skull, causing trauma and leading to impaired consciousness. This result is medically termed a "concussion."
The structure of the human body is so magical that directly attacking the head isn't as effective as attacking the chin. So, this isn't magic but a scientifically grounded strike based on familiarity with human anatomy.
As a result, after Yūki's attack landed, Diavolo fell into a brief period of unconsciousness—what's commonly known as "stun" in games.
It's true that with Diavolo's physical abilities, he could quickly readjust himself, but these few seconds were enough!
Imagine your palm is a faucet—release chakra from the faucet upon impact, and envision attacking behind the target, meaning let the force penetrate his body in ripples.
Just as Diavolo was briefly stunned by the concussion, Yūki acted without hesitation after landing.
"Gentle Fist, Eight Trigrams Four Palms!"
In an instant, Yūki's slender arms fluttered through the air like butterflies, and four consecutive finger strikes targeted four of Diavolo's "vital points" in the blink of an eye!
It's said that "Gentle Fist" is a fighting style that attacks the enemy's chakra pathway system, causing damage to their chakra or internal organs. But in Yūki's view, this is just a misunderstanding arising from the Hyūga clan's lack of knowledge about "acupoints."
You see, the human body has nearly a thousand acupoints. Among them, there are non-critical acupoints—usually not fatal if injured—and the remaining are fatal acupoints, commonly known as "death points." A heavy blow to these can easily cause death.
Breaking it down, fatal points are divided into four categories: "soft and numb" and "light and heavy," each with nine points, as evidenced by rhymes:
"Baihui"[1] falls to the ground, "Weilu" does not return home.
"Hades[2]" struck; ten of ten died.
"Shenting[3]" must see the King of Hell.
Compared to attacking the enemy's chakra pathways and disrupting their chakra flow, Yūki found it more convenient and practical to directly strike death points to kill.
This time, since Yūki had no intention of holding back, the four positions he attacked with "Eight Trigrams Four Palms" were precisely human "death points":
The "Baihui Point" is at the intersection of the midline of the top of the head and the line connecting the tips of the two ears.
The "Shenting Point" is at the front of the head, five fen back from the hairline.
The "temple" is the depression about one cun back between the tip of the eyebrow and the outer corner of the eye.
The "Yamen Point" is on the posterior midline of the head, in the depression between the spinous processes of the first and second cervical vertebrae.
As the index fingers of Yūki's hands lightly traced across Diavolo's body, his still-meager chakra power, like ripples, penetrated these four "death points" through his fingertips!
Immediately, Diavolo, who had regained consciousness, felt a sharp pain in his head and neck! What followed was a roaring sensation, as if an explosive tag had been stuffed into his head!
Since acupoints themselves are very small areas, the effect isn't obvious when struck with fists or feet. But when poked with fingers combined with penetrating chakra, it's entirely different.
Did it work?
A second later, Diavolo, who had taken the full force of the lethal version of "Four Eight Trigrams Palms," fell to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Yūki immediately took several steps back, standing there panting slightly.
As mentioned before, Yūki's "Gentle Fist" wasn't yet very mature. Although it could barely produce effects, it was still far from being practical in real combat, so he wasn't sure if he had actually taken Diavolo down.
"Kaguya, go check."
At this point, Yūki first took a certain stance, maintaining a relatively safe distance from Diavolo, then ordered his Stand, "Princess Kaguya," who had been floating beside him, to go over and check on the guy's condition.
That's right—in fact, "Princess Kaguya" had been by his side since the battle began, but no one except Yūki could see her.
Of course, the reason Yūki could perform that incomprehensible horizontal movement mid-air without leverage wasn't because he could fly, but because "Princess Kaguya" beside him had lent a hand.
After two years of training, Yūki had become quite proficient in using "Princess Kaguya," and her attributes had also grown somewhat.
Although "Tidal Moon" couldn't be used during the day, in her normal state, "Kaguya's" Stand attributes had become: Destructive Power E, Speed D, Range D, Persistence E, Precision D, and Developmental "?".
Although this panel was still quite pitiful, it had at least changed from 4E1D to 3D2E, which was a decent improvement. At least she could be somewhat helpful in battle.
""
Upon her master's order, "Princess Kaguya," who had grown a bit compared to two years ago—now seeming about a millimeter taller—immediately floated conscientiously to Diavolo's side and extended her floor-length hair toward the man.
"Princess Kaguya's" hair was very long, which provided great convenience in battle. By properly timing "intangibility" and "tangibility," it could also produce unexpected effects, like now.
"Hyah!"
The moment "Princess Kaguya's" long hair touched Diavolo's body, that cheetah-like figure suddenly sprang up! Then, he swung his palm in a knife-hand strike toward "Princess Kaguya"!
But just as he launched the attack, "Princess Kaguya" instantly returned to an intangible state at extreme speed, causing Diavolo's hand knife to slice through empty air.
Huh? What happened? Did I sense something approaching just now?
When Diavolo stood up, there was still a clear trace of blood at the corner of his mouth, and his face looked somewhat pale. But since he could stand up easily, it meant the "Four Eight Trigrams Palms" earlier hadn't caused serious damage.
What's going on? Did I miss the acupoints I aimed for just now? Or...
Frankly, although Yūki had already considered that Diavolo might not be killed by his four-hit combo, seeing that his injuries seemed lighter than expected still left him somewhat puzzled.
Unlike the purely destructive Hard Fist style, the "Gentle Fist" had almost no requirements for the user's hard attributes like strength. As long as chakra could be injected into the acupoints, it would definitely cause damage.
The only ways to resist the "Gentle Fist" were to use various ninjutsu for defense before being hit or to employ chakra armor like the Lightning Release Armor. But Diavolo had used neither earlier.
"Hey, kid, was that the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist just now? Seems like an attack targeting acupoints. Too bad it's not very useful against me."
As if seeing the disbelief on Yūki's face, Diavolo spoke while stretching out his hand.
However, in Yūki's eyes, the part of his outstretched palm was constantly changing! The size of the palm, the fairness of the skin, and the calluses on the palm—all were in flux!
What! This is... I get it!
After seeing the changes in Diavolo's palm, Yūki immediately understood why his precise acupoint strikes hadn't been very effective just now.
[1] refers to a point on the top of the head (GV20). A severe blow to this point is said to cause immediate collapse and likely death.
[2] refers to a point near the tailbone/coccyx region (GV1/GV2). Striking this point is considered instantly fatal, meaning the person will never make it back home.
[3] refers to a point on the forehead (GV24). Striking this point is believed to be a deadly blow, sending the victim to face the King of Hell