Death God: Starting from Refining Essence into Qi

Xuan felt the spiritual energy flowing through his meridians becoming increasingly sluggish, and the remaining spiritual energy in his soul was about to run out. The faint wisps of air barely supported the [Binding Path No. 81 - Severing the Void] above his head.

The transparent barrier gradually became covered with a fine, spiderweb-like crack under the relentless barrage of spiritual arrows. With each wave of arrows, the light barrier would tremble violently, and fragments of spiritual particles would peel off from the cracks and dissipate into the air.

This was Xuan's fourth release of [Severing the Void]. The previous [Severing the Void] had shattered under the bombardment of hundreds of spirit arrows per second, but the rain of arrows continued.

The Quincy around them were still slowly closing in. Soldiers holding heavy spirit shields stood shoulder to shoulder in several rows, the shields gleaming with a cold, hard metallic luster, layer upon layer, like iron hoops slowly tightening, squeezing the living space within the circle little by little.

Behind the shield wall, countless spirit bows were drawn to their full length, the pale blue spirit arrows gleaming coldly in the dim light, their tips all aimed at the people in the circle, and another volley of arrows was fired.

Xuan's gaze swept across the shield wall in front of him, then over the archers on the high ground, and he felt that the future was even bleaker.

It was unclear how far Saito had advanced with his team, but as far as the eye could see ahead, there were still countless shield-bearing soldiers, and Xuan's spiritual power was almost exhausted.

Since being surrounded, he has released several mid-to-high-level ghost techniques. First, he used [Earth Rotation] to build an earthen and stone barrier, then he used [Tianlan] to disperse the incoming rain of arrows. Later, when the earthen and stone barrier completely collapsed, he could only use [Severing the Void] to withstand the attack.

Even if the spiritual energy is refined and becomes more refined and enduring, it still cannot withstand a continuous barrage of arrows for an extended period of time.

Of the six squad officers who initially charged alongside Saito, only two remained. Gen could sense that they were also on the verge of collapse, but the Sixth Squad's principles kept them from speaking, unwilling to succumb to the enemy's firepower.

However, the difference in numbers cannot be overcome by willpower alone; the strength of the executive officers has only allowed them to hold out until now.

A flash of lightning appeared beside him, and Saito fought off another wave of shield soldiers who rushed forward, but the number of Quincy did not decrease.

Xuan couldn't see her eyes, but he could sense that her spiritual pressure, apart from its usual flamboyance, contained a hint of fatigue and weariness.

The Bankai state was maintained for too long, and it should have been close to the limit of what her body could bear. Saito's Bankai, Jinrai, is similar to her Shikai, Shiden, except that the power is applied entirely from the blade to the whole body, which inevitably leads to the spirit becoming exhausted due to maintaining the Bankai for a long time.

Saito, slightly out of breath, looked up at the seemingly endless Quincy army before him. As shield bearers fell in the front ranks, others immediately stepped forward to fill their positions; in the distance, the blue light of spirit bows rose and fell behind the ruins, like will-o'-the-wisps that would never be extinguished.

"I can't hold on much longer," Xuan said from behind her, his voice trembling slightly.

Saito didn't even need to consciously sense it; she could feel the barrier above her head trembling again. Yes, she needed to deal with the endless barrage of shield soldiers in front of her, but only in the area in front of her; Gen, on the other hand, needed to completely withstand the ranged attacks from all directions, creating an environment where the others only needed to deal with close combat.

She suddenly fell silent, and after repelling the Quincy in front of her, she turned around and ignored the approaching enemies around her.

Her once mocking and arrogant profile had lost all its sharpness. The wind tousled her loose purple hair, the blood-stained ends clinging to her pale cheeks. She stood amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, the flickering lightning around her gradually subsiding.

"Do you remember that my initial release could exceed its limit?"

Gen sensed something amiss and released [Mountain-Reversing Crystal] to replace the [Void-Severing] that had just shattered above his head, while simultaneously blocking the attack from the Quincy in front: "Saito?"

Saito remained silent. Her gaze lingered on Xuan's pale face and tightly pursed lips, sweeping over the cold sweat on his forehead and the unconcealable weariness in his eyes.

She has known this person for many years.

From Gen Shihōin, who didn't actively communicate with others and studied the Kidō (demonic arts) alone in the Genji Academy, to the Great Kidō Master Chōgen who now leads the Kidō community.

He was always calm and composed, as if he could find a solution to any problem, no matter how big. She rarely saw him so disheveled and helpless, clearly at his limit, yet still stubbornly shielding everyone from the rain of arrows overhead.

Saito's lips twitched slightly.

"My Bankai, Jinlei, is already at the limit I can withstand—the rated power you mentioned when you were teaching the Kido sect—but she can still exceed that limit. However, exceeding the limit of Bankai is no longer just about getting injured, because at this moment, the only thing limiting her is my spirit. I can die, and there will be a chance to meet again in the future."

Her voice was soft, mixed with the sound of the spirit arrows hitting the barrier, yet it clearly reached Xuan's ears.

Uncharacteristically, Saito's tone was calm: "But you can't die. You're not even at the third level of spiritual power yet; if you die, you'll truly vanish."

Xuan stood there stunned. He had heard the words clearly, but he couldn't quite process them, perhaps due to the dullness caused by prolonged strain on his spiritual energy: "What...did you say?"

Saito didn't look at him, but instead raised his head, as if seeing the sky through the [Inverted Mountain Crystal]. Countless blue spirit arrows struck the outside of the [Inverted Mountain Crystal], reflecting specks of blue light on the inner wall.

She tilted her head back, a slight smile playing on her lips, as if she weren't the captain of the Gotei 13, but an ordinary young girl.

"Release the demonic path, I'll clear the way." Her voice was as soft as a sigh. "The moonlight is so beautiful."

Xuan knew that outside the [Inverted Mountain Crystal], the sky was filled with churning, inky clouds, making it impossible to distinguish between day and night, let alone see the moon. Only the pale blue of the spirit arrows and the flickering lightning illuminated the clouds, making the entire battlefield feel even more oppressive.

Xuan didn't know how to respond, or rather, he was at a loss for what to do.

Saito suddenly chuckled softly.

The laughter grew louder and more unrestrained, a familiar, manic laugh. Like fireworks at their peak, it exploded with reckless brilliance on the oppressive battlefield.

"You want to keep me here?"

Her laughter was almost a roar, yet it didn't diminish her arrogance. The lightning around her grew stronger and stronger, blinding people. Even the blood at her feet had disappeared, leaving only black, charred powder that flew outwards along with the rubble.

"Then I'll make you all perish with me!"

Saito completely broke through the body's restrictions on Bankai, and violent lightning burst forth from every part of her body, with purple electric snakes darting around and emitting a piercing buzzing sound.

Gen could clearly see that fine cracks had appeared on Saito's arm, and purple lightning was seeping out from the cracks, as if the spirit could no longer withstand this terrifying power and was collapsing little by little from the inside.

But she seemed completely oblivious to the pain.

The next second, Saito's figure disappeared from the spot, and his whole body completely turned into a pure purple light, or rather, hundreds of purple afterimages.

The purple light surged into the Quincy's army formation. Wherever it passed, the heavy spirit shields were easily torn apart as if they were made of paper. The Quincy holding the shields didn't even have time to scream before they were burned into charred lumps by the violent lightning.

Purple lightning flashed through the enemy ranks, each flash raising a cloud of charred dust. The Quincy's shield-bearer positions were shattered, and the archers in the distance could not lock onto Saito, who was weaving through the shield-bearers. Seeing the shield-bearers being slaughtered like fish on a chopping board, the archers stopped caring about their comrades and unleashed a wide-ranging rain of arrows that enveloped everyone in the center, but not a single spirit arrow hit Saito.

The once impenetrable shield wall, faced with this extremely violent speed and power, was like water ripped open by a boulder thrown into it, creating a huge gap.

Xuan stood there, staring blankly at the purple light that was moving freely among the enemy ranks.

He could clearly sense that Saito's spiritual pressure was rising at an alarming rate, but then dissipating at an even faster rate.

With each traversal, her spirit shattered a little more, and amidst the boundless purple lightning, tiny, dust-like specks of spiritual light drifted slowly away with the wind. These were fragments of her disintegrating spirit, traces left behind by her burning life force.

The Quincy around them were stunned.

This force far exceeded their imagination and was completely beyond their comprehension.

Xuan wanted to call her name, but his throat had become hoarse and he couldn't make a sound.

All the lightning faded in an instant, as if everything on the battlefield had been an illusion, but the gaps torn in the Quincy's shield infantry positions and the charred corpses that had fallen to the ground all around proved that what had just happened was real.

In the open space in the center of the battlefield, only one Zanpakuto remained, slowly falling from mid-air.

The blade was covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and the purple lightning that had once surrounded it had completely extinguished, leaving only faint scorch marks and bloodstains on the edge. It slammed heavily onto the bluestone slab, producing a crisp yet dull sound that carried far across the deathly silent battlefield.

Xuan's breath hitched, and the world fell completely silent in an instant.

The shouts of battle, the whistling of arrows, and the clash of shields all vanished without a trace, leaving only a long, drawn-out buzzing in his ears; a few arrows grazed his cheeks, and warm drops of blood slid down his jawline, but he felt nothing.

Xuan's gaze was fixed on the cracked Zanpakuto stuck in the ground.

He was familiar with the knife, but felt somewhat unfamiliar with the one now covered in cracks.

On the training ground of Yuanzi Academy, the girl held the knife, grinned, and said she wanted to have a match with him to see who was better.

Among the Kido sect members, the two sparred and practiced, developing their respective Zanpakuto abilities...

Scenes flashed through his mind, too fast to grasp, yet as clear as if they had happened yesterday. Xuan stood there, his blood frozen, his heart feeling as if it were being squeezed tightly by a hand, the pain causing him to bend over, gasping for breath, but unable to breathe.

A surge of overwhelming grief and indignation welled up from the deepest recesses of his heart, like molten lava, threatening to overwhelm all his reason and composure. The next thought echoed repeatedly in his mind—

Kill them.

Kill all these Quincy.

It seemed that if all these people in front of him were killed, everything could go back to the way it was before. It seemed that if the mountains of corpses and seas of blood were piled high enough, he could bring back that purple figure.

Gen also wanted to follow his heart's desire, but his powerless body and remaining rationality told him that he had to break through the gap opened by Saito and leave.

Two thoughts raced through Xuan's mind, but he still chose to leave. If he could have wiped out all these Quincy, he would have done so long ago, but his strength wouldn't increase with the sacrifice of his companions, and staying here would only be a betrayal of her sacrifice.

And there was another important factor that made Xuan decide to leave this place—

The world of the Grim Reaper contains Hell. In this world, it is difficult to decompose and return the spirits of the third-level spiritual power to the spiritual particle cycle. Therefore, these irretrievable souls will be sent to Hell.

In other words, for a captain-level spirit, death is simply being transported to another world. As long as Xuan survives this time, there will be a chance to meet again in the future.

Gen didn't care whether the Sixth Division's commander behind him was alive or not. He rushed towards the gap revealed by the Quincy and grabbed the Zanpakuto stuck in the ground in his palm.

The soldiers of the Empire of Light were well-trained. Even in the face of such astonishing casualties, the Quincy did not back down. They rushed toward the breach, intending to seal the huge gap that had been breached.

Even though the Quincy reacted quickly and began to surround again, Saito's outburst ultimately gave Gen the opportunity to break through the enemy's encirclement.

Xuan had no time to care about anything else. Zhenyuan attracted the surrounding spiritual particles to gather at Xuan's feet and back. Xuan used the Flying Leg, which did not consume spiritual power, to move at high speed. As for the Sixth Division's commander behind him, he could only pray for his own good fortune.

Xuan barely broke free of the Quincy's encirclement, immediately slowing down and panting heavily, ignoring the metallic smell in his breath.

The Quincy behind him closed in on both sides again, leaving Xuan no choice but to continue forward.

Just then, several rapidly moving black shadows suddenly appeared in the distance.

The leader had short, silver-white hair, bronze skin, and wore an orange-red scarf. Behind him were dozens of executioners, rushing towards the battlefield like black arrows released from a bow.

It was Shihōin Senri.

Half an hour ago, Senri received a message from the secret service that the Sixth Division of Shinigami, which was leading Gen and Saito, had been completely wiped out, and the two of them, along with the Sixth Division's captain, were surrounded by a large number of Quincy. He immediately judged that this was a trap set for captain-level Shinigami, and immediately gathered the elite members of his Execution Army and rushed over at full speed.

During their journey, Chihiro sensed Saito's spiritual pressure suddenly surge without warning, far exceeding the level that a typical third-grade spiritual power Bankai could achieve, only to vanish abruptly within a few breaths, completely disappearing from his perception. At that moment, his heart sank.

At this moment, Qianri saw a figure standing at the edge of the battlefield in the distance. The figure was covered in blood and was about to collapse. Behind him were Quincy who were closing in.

Senri looked at Gen alone, without Saito by his side, and seemed somewhat dazed. He raised his hand and made a gesture, and the soldiers of the Execution Army behind him immediately spread out in a fan shape, stepping forward to suppress the nearest Quincy and curb the momentum of the Quincy in front.

Immediately, Qianri lightly touched the ground with his toes, and a sharp whooshing sound rang out as he stood steadily in front of Xuan.

As the distance between the two gradually closed, Chihiro saw that Gen was still tightly clutching a Zanpakuto covered in cracks in his hand.

Qianri no longer needed to ask Xuan why he was alone. Images of the three of them gathering in the past surfaced in his mind, and his emotions surged.

But he was the commander-in-chief of the criminal army, the one leading the troops, and there was never time for anyone to indulge in emotions on the battlefield.

Those who are alive should rush out first. The war is not over yet; the remaining scores will be settled later.

"Walk."

Qianri sidestepped and placed Xuan's arm on her shoulder, then turned and retreated.