Sakigake!! Otoko Juku 123

Though confused by his seeming unstoppable nature, Eikei was finally able to put away the first of the Gandhara monks. But does this mean that the enemy really isn't as feared as implied...or is it all just an illusion for their true threat?

Chp. 123: Shock! Taigen Houshi

167.
Gandhara High Priest: He was unprepared, that Tenshou Houshi, one of the Gandhara 16-Monks………………But that Otokojuku………we can’t make light of their power……!!
Gandhara High Priest: Hold your hearts.
“Priest”: Please calm yourself, High Priest. I will certainly take revenge for Tenshou Houshi…………!!

168.
(Yeah…Eikei’s still raring to go)

169.
Toramaru: You…did it, Eikei---!! As expected of the man admired as the strongest of the Otokojuku Shitennou---! He—y, what are you doing, come back already----!! Your turn is over already, now it’s my turn---!
Togashi: Wh…what are you saying, Toramaru!! Now it’s my turn---!!
Toramaru: Hey, Eikei, can’t you hear us---!!
Eikei: It seems like a dream that no one has seen these people who have mastered the path of this fist said to be the highest peak in the two-thousand years history of kenpou. However, this person whose substance I’ve seen is a nobody. This legendary Gandhara fist…their power shouldn’t be of this level.
Eikei: I’m fighting through until I make sure of them.
Toramaru: Wh…what----!! He…he’s doing that---!
Togashi: Th…that Eikei, he’s going to fight the next opponent---!!
Manjimaru: Fu, its best we leave it to him: his poison fist has no match. He isn’t a man who would withdraw once he’s in there.

170.
Voice: What great self-confidence.
Eikei: !!
Taigen Houshi: My name is Taigen Houshi, one of the Gandhara 16-Monks!! As you wish, I will show you the true power of the Gandhara Choujinken.

171.
Togashi: Wh…what is that weird guy……!! He…unawaringly………!?
Toramaru: Ev…even so, he set up a terribly bombastic alter-like object before our eyes……!!
Taigen Houshi: This is called the Hyakukeitei, which has been fond of among us since ancient times. It is an object that uses pebbles and vegetations within this small box to present in three-dimensions the natural truth of the occasions of the beauty of nature and the four seasons.
(TN: “Hyakukeitei” = “Hundred Sceneries Garden”)
Taigen Houshi: Well, it’s best you watch closely.
Taigen Houshi: The scenery in the Hyakukeitei is showing Mt. Wanfu, a training location near our Gandhara Temple.
(TN: “Mt. Wanfu” is probably just another bizarre Otokojuku location, but there is actually a “Wangfu Rock” which possibly could be an inspiration for this location: that is a rock of a woman with a child on her back, located in the Chinese city of Guilin; but as I mentioned, based on the terrain, it’s probably another “Otokojuku-only place that doesn’t exist”)
Taigen Houshi: From here, I shall be fighting you within the box.
Eikei: …………………!! What’s that………!?

172.
Eikei: Mu!!
Taigen Houshi: How is it: the refined scent of Tanyuu Incense…………!? It’s guiding you to a world you have yet to experience.
(TN: “Tanyuu Incense” or “Tanyuukou” = “Absorbing Seclusion Insence”)

173.
Toramaru: Wh…what is that smoke~~!! It’s enveloping around the whole surface that I can’t even see Eikei~~~!!
Eikei: It’s intended as a smokescreen………However, this thing won’t let you run from my poison fist.
Taigen Houshi: It’s best that you look at your feet. If your legs lose even a step of it’s footing, you’ll go headlong into the depths of hell…
Eikei: Huh…!!

174.-175.
Taigen Houshi: THIS IS GANDHARA HIOUGI: SENJIN MOUSHOUHOU!!
(TN: “Senjin Moushouhou” = “Thousand-Embers Darkness-Rising Peaks”)
Eikei: WH…WHAT---!!
Eikei: ……………!!
Eikei: Th…this…………what is it…!! Th…this scenery is………!?
Taigen Houshi: Right: this is the scenery of the Hyakukeitei that you saw earlier.
Eikei: !!

176.
Taigen Houshi: Let me show you: the taijutsu of the Hishou Teisou!!
(TN: “Hishou Teisou” = “Soaring Mowing Spear”)
Eikei: !!

177.
Eikei: Gu!!
Taigen Houshi: Ha---!!
Togashi & Toramaru: E…Eikei~~!!

178.
Toramaru: Wh…what’s going on---!! Now---!
Togashi: Though the priest is flying and just attacking him from just right in front of him, Eikei took a blow to the shoulder without moving a step!!
Taigen Houshi: Fu, are you worried about your foothold? It’s not unreasonable from this height.
Taigen Houshi: What’s the matter: even your poison fist isn’t using hands or feet on these bottomless peaks!! However, for me, even this garden where I’ve strived in my training for many years is a proper location!!
Eikei: This…is stupid: it…shouldn’t be like this. Th…this is all an illusion………!!

179.
Taigen Houshi: Ta!!
Taigen Houshi: Right: if you think this is an illusion as it’s naturally thought, then how about if you fight without worrying of your foothold? But even if your heart thinks as such, your body has atrophied and you can’t make your usual movements!! That’s what’s called human instinct!
Eikei: Gaha!!

180.
Togashi: E…Eikei---!! He barely was saved by his protector, but now he’s taken it again to his chest---!
Toramaru: There really is something wrong with Eikei’s state!! He’s strangely preoccupied with his footing---!
Momotarou: Even with the priest using his spear for leaping, it isn’t an ordinary object, but for a possessor of a taijutsu like Eikei, he isn’t even making a single step though he should be avoiding them…
Raiden: Suppose it’s that item called the Tanyuu Incense that the priest is burning…!?
Baron Dino: Huh, you know of it, Raiden?
Commentary:
The Tanyuu Incense…a secret incense created using a special ingredient that samples from the musky Tanshun Grass, which only exists in the vicinities at the top of Mt. Tanguru in the region of Kashmir, one of the last unexplored areas of India. And thus, since this incense causes hallucinogenic déjà vu, it was effective in influencing the incarnation of scenery viewed in the past.

By the way, this Tanyuu Incense is famous for being used as the key to open the door to enlightenment to those in the endless circle of transmigration on the occasion of rituals of meditative Zen among Esoteric monks. However, due to the presentation of paralysis of motor functions and the damage to the body by over-absorbing it, there are strict regulations in using and possessing it.
From “World Hallucinations Encyclopedia”, Taikoubou Books
(TN: “Tanshun Grass” or “Tanshunsou” = “Absorbing Spring Grass”)

181.
Taigen Houshi: I’m already seeing this match. As long as we’re fighting here, you can’t win.
Eikei: It’s…as he said: I’ll be killed at this rate. I can’t escape from this illusionary world……
Eikei: Now there’s only one method I can escape from here……………!!
Eikei: It’s the only way!!

182.
Eikei: Uuh, what’s going on……this sensation that’s like I’m thoroughly falling…………!! I’m…gradually losing my consciousness…………

183.
Taigen Houshi: Senjin Moushouhou!! You’re no match against this secret art!
Toramaru: Wh…what: what’s wrong with him? Eikei suddenly collapsed himself to the ground in the middle of the fight----!!
Eikei: Guwa!!

184.
Taigen Houshi: Have you awakened?
Eikei: Uuh!!
Taigen Houshi: Even if you used that poison kick that defeated Tenshou Houshi, it’s useless. Already your body is trying it’s hardest to move even a finger due to the effect of the Tanyuu Incense!!
Eikei: ……………………
Eikei: E…even if I can move only a finger, it’ll be enough……I…I won’t get killed like this.
Taigen Houshi: What are you joking about?

185.
Taigen Houshi: Die---!!
Taigen Houshi: !!
Taigen Houshi: Wha!! Y…you bit off the little finger of your poison fist……!!
Eikei: KIRITSU-RYUU SAISHUU HIGI: RETSUSHISHOU!! Y…You’re coming with me to Hell.
(TN: “Saishuu Higi” = “Final Secret Technique”; “Retsushishou” = “Furious Flying Finger”)
(End of Vol. 13)

TN: I know it really wasn't that implied, but one lesson I've learned reading manga all these years is this: never say that an opponent is "too easy" or "not giving you a challenge"...cause it's going to bite you in the butt. While it is shocking that Eikei did go down via Taigen Houshi, it really should have felt cliche...but aside from my concerns regarding the Poison Fist that I had last time, Miyashita still built an incredible and believable (well in Otokojuku standards which means nothing makes sense anyway) means by which it all ended up going down. In a way, Eikei didn't lose because he was annihlated or crushed...he more lost because Taigen Houshi's maneuvers (from using the paralyzing hallucinogenic drug to forcing him out of his illusion by the only means making him open to deadly attack) outsmarted him until the end (when he threw his poisoned finger at him...but of course that result was left as a cliffhanger but at least Eikei get a last laugh out of the whole thing). Of course, there is a greater moral to all this in this chapter: don't do hallucinogens...just get your drugs from manga, cliche or not cliche.