Death God: Starting from Refining Essence into Qi

Two years ago.

Seireitei, the territory of the Shihōin clan.

Xuan had been nurturing the Asada for a long time and was certain that the Asada was completely his own, but he had never heard the voice of the sword spirit, nor had he ever entered the spiritual world where the sword spirit resided.

As usual, Xuan practiced the Yi Jin Jing and the wooden dummy, then placed the Asada on his lap and calmly cultivated while nurturing his Zanpakuto.

Unexpectedly, I entered the spiritual world directly.

Opening his eyes, he saw a Taoist temple nestled in the mountains—the very temple where he had cultivated in his previous life.

Before even stepping inside, one could see a perfectly round golden elixir floating in the very center.

Its color is not dazzling, but rather a deep gold like the mellow glow of dawn, carrying the weighty texture of the earth that bears all things. It feels warm and smooth like jade, yet possesses the solidity of metal. It hangs there quietly, as if it has existed there since time immemorial.

Xuan approached.

This golden core showed no signs of consciousness or spiritual energy flow; it was as if it were just a pretty stone.

He tentatively reached out his hand, his fingertips touching its surface.

The warm touch felt like stone steps warmed by the sun on a winter afternoon.

At the same time, Gen seemed to have been born with knowledge, and he understood the name and release phrase of his Zanpakuto.

Despite being somewhat taken aback, Xuan quickly accepted the fact that the spirit of his Zanpakuto was a golden core.

He had always believed he was nurturing his Zanpakuto and cultivating its spirit. Only now did he realize that it wasn't just about cultivating the spirit, but also about forming his golden core.

The pure energy refined using orthodox Taoist methods, combined with concentration techniques, is used to temper the Zanpakuto as a primordial spirit. No wonder the spirit of the Zanpakuto after its Shikai form is in the shape of a golden core.

The warmth of the fingertips touching the golden core suddenly overlapped with the scorching heat in the palm when spiritual energy surged into Qian Da.

Two years ago, on that night, he learned the name of the Zanpakuto.

And now, for the first time, he will call it forth before the world.

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Outside the Yuanzi private school, there are carps on the mountain.

The intense fluctuations in spiritual energy drew the attention of everyone, including the Void. Xuan snapped out of his brief daze, looking at the spider-like Void about to pounce on the students, and at the students whose faces were filled with terror.

Xuan took a deep breath, channeling his spiritual energy into the shallow sword at his waist. The tearing sensation deep within his soul intensified suddenly, surging like a tidal wave, almost ripping his consciousness apart. But he did not stop.

"Suppress and refine the universe, Zhenyuan!"

The moment the words of liberation were spoken, the situation suddenly changed.

The blade did not extend; instead, it flowed and decomposed like liquid metal, transforming into countless tiny spiritual particles that converged upwards along Xuan's arm. These particles condensed and compressed in his palm, forming a sphere about ten centimeters in diameter—this was his initial release, Zhenyuan.

Zhenyuan's color is a deep, earthy gold, heavy and understated. There is a symmetrical concave pattern on each side of the sphere, with dark purple energy lines flickering between the concave patterns.

With a thought, Xuanxin silently released Zhenyuan, spreading it like a living thing from his palm, along his fingers, the back of his hand, and his wrist, finally covering his entire palm and forearm. It was as if liquid metal solidified into an arm guard on his forearm, while a metallic half-finger glove formed on his palm.

At this moment, he could sense that the spiritual particles in the air were being passively absorbed by this glove-shaped form.

His own spiritual power surged out from the Soul Sleep, passed through the Locking Knot, and flowed into his right arm—then, when it passed through Zhenyuan, the already pure black energy seemed to be injected with some kind of catalyst, and suddenly boiled!

The dark purple patterns on the arm guard suddenly lit up, indicating that Zhen Yuan was compressing spiritual energy. Xuan felt that the spiritual pressure on his arm was far greater than usual.

Xuan raised his right arm and used his spiritual power to draw a huge triangle in front of him. Then, spiritual particles extended forward from the three vertices, forming the shape of fangs.

【Binding Spell #30: Mouth Thrust Triple Flash】

Three enormous yellow fangs shot out!

Due to Zhenyuan's powerful amplification effect, the form and speed of this binding spell are more solid than the full chanted version.

Sensing danger, the spider-like creature used all eight of its long legs to leap up and dodge—

But it was too late.

Three spiritual fangs pierced its left wrist, right wrist, and waist, pinning it firmly to the giant tree behind it!

"squeak--!"

The spider emitted a sharp hiss, its massive body struggling violently under the restraint of the beam of light.

Xuan's right hand remained outstretched, and the dark purple patterns on Zhenyuan flickered even more intensely. He could clearly sense that Zhenyuan was frantically absorbing spiritual particles from the surroundings—from the air, from the trees, and even from the spiritual pressure dissipating from the spider-like creature—and then amplifying the spiritual power Xuan was accumulating.

[Hado #32: Yellow Flame Flash]

There was still no chanting, only a frenzied surge of spiritual energy, which then burst forth as a huge arc of light!

The light wave sliced ​​through the air, leaving a scorching trail, and accurately struck the white bone mask of the Spider Hollow!

"Click—"

The sound of the mask shattering was crisp and jarring.

The light wave pierced through the void's head, and with its remaining force, it penetrated the tree trunk behind it and disappeared into the earth.

A defiant roar erupted from beneath its shattered mask, then abruptly ceased.

The three yellow fangs that bound it shattered, and the spider's massive body crashed to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Starting from the crack in the mask, countless points of spiritual light scattered out, gradually dissipating into the air like weathered sand.

One blow kills.

Xuan slowly lowered his arm, releasing the initial release, and Zhenyuan reformed into the shape of a shallow sword and sheathed it.

He stood there, breathing slightly rapidly, as the spider webs on his body slowly dissipated.

The full-force spiritual pressure output, coupled with Zhen Yuan's amplification, resulted in a tremendous drain on his energy, and the stinging pain in his soul intensified.

The surrounding students stared blankly, only then realizing that the seemingly invincible giant Hollow had been slain. Still reeling from the shock, as if they had just woken from a nightmare, they finally came to their senses.

Xuan turned to look at another battlefield, where the spiritual pressure fluctuations of the void had also disappeared.

Saito, immortal and ageless, stood in the center of the three Hollow corpses, his Zanpakuto still sheathed, with Hollow spirit particles still remaining on the blade.

She was covered in blood—but it was an illusion, gradually dissipating.

A few drops of faint black blood stained the black eyepatch over her left eye, adding a touch of ferocity to her already wild aura. One strand of her purple twin ponytail had come loose during the battle, falling behind her, but she didn't care.

"Tch." She flicked the shavings off her knife and kicked away the fuzzy head at her feet. "It's frustrating to chop up these small fry like this."

The corpses of the three Hollows lay scattered around her. One had its spine severed, another had its head cut off, and the last one—judging from its injuries—had been cleaved from head to toe into a Hollow hole.

Saito looked up and just in time to see the golden beam of light from Gen pierce through the Spider Hollow.

Her eyes lit up.

"Oh?" Saito licked his lips, his tongue habitually darting out from the corner of his mouth. "That guy... is indeed powerful."

She walked quickly toward Xuan, about to say something, when suddenly her expression hardened.

A suffocatingly oppressive spiritual pressure suddenly descended, causing even spiritual pressure perception to emit a stinging buzzing sound.

A figure stepped out from the woods.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.

"Well done," he said, his tone neither praising nor criticizing.

Xuan nodded and said, "Chief Instructor."

Saito, still with his usual nonchalant attitude, grinned and said, "Chief Instructor, you're really slow. We've already finished fighting."

Yamamoto ignored her teasing and turned his attention back to the battlefield.

There was silence for a moment.

"The exercise is over. Everyone return to the Yuanzi Academy." Yamamoto said calmly, as if the exercise had ended normally.

A sense of unease swept through Xuan's heart.