Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 449 Come forth, Invisible Empire!

The massive crater was merely the result of a probing exchange between Aizen and Shazam.

Given such terrifying power, it's not hard to imagine the destruction that would occur if the two continued fighting.

At the very least, the entire Karakura Town will be wiped off the map.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The flashes of light from the blades stretched out in a continuous stream, forming a complete, gleaming hemisphere.

Because Xia Zuo had made it clear beforehand that Aizen should use all his strength, he stood still without dodging or flinching, taking all of Aizen's attacks head-on, and using his Zanpakuto as a flying sword to retaliate.

Therefore, Aizen simply stopped dodging and stood face to face with Natsume, fighting with his Zanpakuto and Kido.

The measuring ruler blocked the attack, colliding with the reflection in the mirror and sparking dazzling flames.

Before the flames had died down, the Measuring Ruler slashed out a perfect square, then leaped through space to Aizen's back, unleashing a sharp whooshing sound as it slashed down.

Aizen could only raise Kyoka Suigetsu to block, while simultaneously raising his hand to unleash his Kido on Natsuzo in front of him: "Hado #99: Ryuten Annihilation!!"

The instantaneous Kido, without any incantation, released an incredibly terrifying amount of spiritual pressure, even causing the ground around Aizen to crack open, shake violently, and sink.

After causing immense damage to the surrounding environment, Aizen's spiritual pressure coalesced into five giant dragons, which lunged at Xia Zuo, who was standing nearby.

The five dragons are merely constructs of spiritual pressure, devoid of any intelligence. They not only attack Xia Zuo but also destroy everything within their sphere of influence as they circle and swirl.

Xia Zuo smiled slightly. He had been studying the "Scripture of Reincarnation and Salvation" for over 30 years, and after receiving the sharing of the God of Wealth Xia Zuo, he had completely mastered it.

No matter what kind of Kido Aizen used, he used the same Kido to perform "Counter-Kill," annihilating the Kido into nothingness.

Moreover, Xia Zuo has not only understood the essence of the Ghost Path, but has also deduced the chaotic nature of the Ghost Path system.

The problem is that the world itself has bugs.

Hueco Mundo, the Human World, and Soul Society are not a complete world, because Menos Grande fall into Hell after death.

That's hell!

Since Arrancars can fall into depravity after death, it proves that Hueco Mundo and Soul Society are neither the end point for souls nor the channel for their return.

This is an obvious mistake.

Now that Xia Zuo has enough power, he wants to open up this world's platform first and see what lies beneath the Spirit King, who is nailed to the bottom of the world.

As the highest being in the Three Realms, yet used as a wedge, what exactly is the Spirit King stuck on?

With such thoughts in mind, Xia Zuo naturally increased the pace and intensity of the battle without limit, as if it would never stop.

As Xia Zuo continued to increase his spiritual pressure, he finally surpassed Aizen's limit after more than ten minutes.

Therefore, Xia Zuo maintained this level of spiritual pressure, and circulated the Measuring Ruler faster and faster, unleashing even more surging sword energy.

Countless blades flashed and sword energies connected one after another, but more than 70% of the attacks hit Karakura Town. All the buildings on the ground were destroyed, making the scene even cleaner and more efficient than the scorching Familiar Day.

Even if 30% of the spiritual pressure fell on Aizen, he was still overwhelmed and his spiritual pressure range shrank again and again, forcing him to retreat steadily.

Aizen's power level was accelerated by Xia Zuo. Under such immense pressure, the stability of his power increased rapidly, but his soul began to falter.

Suddenly, Aizen roared to the sky, and the head on the wing joint shook and opened its mouth, which was half the width of its head.

A purplish-black spiritual pressure aggregate appeared at the corner of his mouth. It was an energy ball similar to a phantom bullet, but the pressure it brought was incomparable.

As the head tilted backward, the energy ball transformed into a beam of light and shot out.

With three pairs of wings and a total of six skeletal heads, six beams of light shot out in six directions, striking Xia Zuo's sword energy fiercely.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The six consecutive explosions caused the shockwaves to overlap, resulting in a tenfold increase in destructive power and stirring up countless ruins and debris within a radius of nearly a kilometer.

The debris left behind after these buildings were destroyed was further broken up by the terrifying shockwave until it became a physically indestructible structure.

The explosion was so powerful that the enormous energy could not be released, eventually evolving into extreme high temperatures that ignited the ubiquitous flammable materials in Karakura Town.

The raging fire combined with the explosive storm to form a terrifying fire tornado. The spinning pillar of flames reached straight into the sky, sucking in all the green juice items nearby, which became the fire tornado's fuel.

Dozens of fire torn apart, creating further destruction over a wider area. Countless sparks rained down from the sky, formed from melted sand and gravel.

The scorching glass rained down, naturally igniting everything flammable it came into contact with.

The fire just loved the whole of Karakura Town.

Boom boom boom—

The scorching heat waves from the sea of ​​fire surged in all directions, but could not approach Aizen and Xia Zuo in the center of the battlefield, because that was where the pressure was greatest.

The Shinigami and Arrancar on the periphery had no choice but to retreat. The flames contained the spiritual pressure of Aizen and Natsume, and their power was only slightly less than that of the flames in Yamamoto's Corps of Command and Commander-in-Chief. They simply could not withstand them.

Once everyone had left, Xia Zuo smiled slightly and asked, "Are you awake now?"

Aizen nodded. The spiritual pressure he released this time was too intense, and his body was in complete chaos. He couldn't even speak.

Xia Zuo even noticed that Aizen's black mask had developed obvious wrinkles, indicating that he was on the verge of collapse.

After nodding in agreement, Xia Zuo said, "Be careful to protect yourself from now on."

After saying that, he started fighting with his left and right hands.

The spiritual pressure that Xia Zuo simulated with Aizen's left hand was so strong that even Aizen himself couldn't tell the difference, while the power that erupted from his right hand was not weakened in the slightest.

Only then did Aizen truly believe that Xia Zuo hadn't hit him with full force.

Because Xia Zuo was not very skilled at multitasking, yet he was able to imitate the two different powers so perfectly, it proved that he did not use more than 10% of his power, which is why he could maintain such precision and stability.

By using his ambidextrous attack, Xia Zuo was able to unleash 99% of his power onto Karakura Town. The continuous and violent bombardment caused devastating damage, eventually destroying the ley lines.

Suddenly, an enormous seal appeared on the ground, centered on Karakura Town and covering an area of ​​more than 200 kilometers.

Having retreated to a distance, Kisuke Urahara saw the patterns on the seal. After several seconds of stunned silence, he jumped up frantically, pointing at the seal and shouting, "A spirit seat! This is a spirit seat!"

When Aizen saw the seal, he was completely dumbfounded: "The spirit seat—how did it get here?"

"Karakura-cho, so that's what the name means!"

The Spirit Throne is the throne that bears the Spirit King, the wedge of heaven and earth.

The Soul King's power is beyond doubt. His body was made into a wedge, which is indeed qualified to fix the separated Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the Human World.

But no matter how high the quality of the wedge, it can't nail tofu to the wall. It needs a pad that can support the world to hold the tofu in place.

The Spirit Throne serves as a buffer and safety net between the Spirit King as a wedge and the three worlds.

The question is, why would a spirit tablet exist in the mortal world?

In the common knowledge of Shinigami, Soul Society is the core of the three worlds. Only by establishing a Soul King in Soul Society can the three worlds be stabilized. Therefore, the Soul Throne should also be in Soul Society.

Suddenly, Aizen threw his head back and burst into wild laughter: "Hahahaha, I know now, I've been fooled! That damned King's Key! It wasn't made using the soul of Karakura Town at all!"

"This is a fucking scam!"

"They deceived the Grim Reapers into believing they were protecting Karakura Town without telling them the truth."

Xia Zuo nodded in satisfaction: "That's the idea. Let me break it and see what the consequences will be."

Aizen, who also loved to stir up trouble, was overjoyed upon hearing this and exclaimed, "As expected of Lord Natsume, you are truly brave!"

Xia Zuo ignored the guy's veiled and misleading words, and he stopped pretending to fight.

Now that his true goal has been revealed, it's time for him to show his true violence; there's no need to keep acting.

Xia Zuo raised his hand and pointed to the sky. His Zanpakuto, Megumi-no-Kage, transformed into a dazzling light and shot straight into the sky. In an instant, it cut six sword marks, forming an inverted tetrahedron that completely enveloped Karakura Town.

Xia Zuo spoke, "Within the four directions of the body, all things are stabilized!"

In an instant, a majestic and boundless spiritual pressure erupted from his body for the first time, soaring straight into the sky like a magnificent pillar, radiating awe-inspiring divine might.

In an instant, the sky darkened, the sunlight dimmed considerably, but the starlight shone brilliantly, and the crescent moon was clearly visible.

The atmospheric scattering effect disappeared, and the giant, shimmering barrier solidified, as if it had turned from light into glass.

With a sinister grin, Xia Zuo pulled his hand down, and the Measuring Ruler, magnified a hundred times, descended from the sky, "slowly" crashing down on Karakura Town.

Meanwhile, Kisuke Urahara is explaining to the Shinigami what Karakura is, what its function is, and what's illogical about Karakura appearing in the human world.

When the strange phenomenon appeared, he, like all the Grim Reapers, involuntarily opened his mouth wide.

This is a power that only the Spirit King possesses, so why would it appear here?

That Zanpakuto just now belonged to Xia Zuo. So he was the one who created this strange phenomenon. Could it be that he has already reached the level of a Spirit King?

Shocking questions swirled in the minds of the Shinigami until the enormous Zanpakuto descended from the sky, its majestic divine pressure shattering their doubts.

That's right, Xia Zuo has reached the level of Soul King. After countless millennia, Soul Society has finally seen another Shinigami at the level of Soul King.

Only Kisuke Urahara reacted quickly and figured out the purpose of the greatsword falling.

He cried out in terror, "No! Stop Xia Zuo from destroying the Spirit Throne! Without the Spirit Throne, the Spirit King's throne will collapse!"

However, no one listened to him.

Unohana Retsu coldly replied, "So what?"

"Since Xia Zuo possesses such strength, isn't it only natural that he challenges the Spirit King?"

Kenpachi Zaraki chuckled and said, "Captain Unohana is right. I was wondering why that kid Natsusa didn't challenge me, defeat me, and become Natsusa Kenpachi himself."

"So he didn't take me seriously at all; he wanted to challenge the Spirit King."

"Great, I have a new goal! Hahahaha!"

"If one day I can defeat Xia Zuo, I can become the Spirit King too!"

Captain-Commander Yamamoto scoffed dismissively, "Kenpachi Zaraki, if you can't even unleash your Shikai Zanpakuto, you can't even defeat Kaguya, let alone the new Soul King?"

Kenpachi Zaraki gripped Zanpakuto tightly: "I understand. I will name her after her. I can do it!"

Kyoraku Shunsui pulled up his straw hat: "Hehe, Natsuzo is really amazing. If he succeeds, the upper limit of our Shinigami will jump from Captain-Commander to Soul King."

Soi Fon spat, "Pah, I don't think he'll succeed this time—"

Including Captain-Commander Yamamoto, the Shinigami were unaware of the Soul King's terrifying fate, let alone that the Soul King was a pitiful and tragic figurehead.

In the eyes of the Shinigami, now that a second powerful Shinigami of the same level as the Soul King has appeared, why should he fight with the Soul King for the position? Isn't that a perfectly reasonable thing to do?

What's even more frightening is that Xia Zuo comes from the 11th Division, where members compete for captaincy by violently killing the previous captain.

Therefore, it is only natural and reasonable for Xia Zuo to challenge the Spirit King.

The Shinigami of the Gotei 13 are not the Soul King's servants of the Zero Division; they uphold the Seireitei and the order of Soul Society.

Who exactly is the king sitting on the throne of the Spirit King, and what is his relationship with these Grim Reapers?

In any case, the Spirit King never contacted them, and even the Central Forty-Six Chambers had never met the Spirit King.

Moreover, it's a good thing for them to have a Shinigami from the 11th Division become the Soul King.

Among the Shinigami, only Kisuke Urahara was extremely anxious.

After all, the members of the Zero Division throughout the ages are not ordinary Shinigami. They all created something of great significance to the Soul Society and were recognized by the Soul King as "creating the history of the Soul Society," which is why they were chosen to become the Zero Division.

Therefore, the 12th Division Scientific Research Unit is naturally a breeding ground for members of the Zero Division, and there is a corresponding tradition in research.

As the former captain of the 12th Division, Kisuke Urahara also knew about the Zero Division and the Soul King.

Therefore, he was extremely anxious, and Xia Zuo's sword strike shattered the Spirit King's wedge that maintained the balance of the three realms.

However, Kisuke Urahara was politically astute. He was well aware that the Soul King's secret must not be exposed, otherwise it would inevitably lead to the collapse of the Soul Society's order.

The Zero Division's strength is unparalleled; each of them can be seen as an extension of the Soul King's own power, and no Shinigami can defeat them.

However, the Zero Division had too few members to maintain order in Soul Society, which is why the Seireitei was established, relying on the Gotei 13 to maintain order.

Once the secret of the Soul King hidden by the Zero Division is exposed, the Shinigami of the Gotei 13 will inevitably be thrown into chaos, and Soul Society will be plunged into complete disorder.

Prolonged disorder would cause the Soul King to bear too much pressure, which would eventually lead to a total collapse.

Kisuke Urahara was caught in a dilemma, speechless and unable to say anything.

Xia Zuo ignored all of that. He raised his right hand and pulled it down sharply: "Ren, come out! Yanxing Empire!"