Bleach: From the moment I was invited by Squad Zero

An invisible pressure quietly spread out. It was not murderous intent or fighting spirit, but a kind of composure belonging to an absolute controller, as if he was not facing a battle, but an experiment that required precise operation.

"Ha, that's the look in his eyes!" Renji grinned, his smile wild; he knew it all too well.

Back in the days at the Shinigami Academy, whenever Yanagawa entered this state, it meant that those seemingly insignificant Kido techniques would combine and erupt in the most cunning and unexpected ways.

"Don't let me down, Yanagawa!"

Before he finished speaking, Renji's figure suddenly vanished from the spot! It wasn't Shunpo, but a rapid dash that pushed his explosive power to the limit, blasting a shallow crater in the sand beneath his feet.

Almost simultaneously, the snake tail at his waist was already unsheathed. It was not the complete Shikai, but the blade instantly extended and split, turning into several ferocious blades connected by spirit chains. With a shrill whistling sound that tore through the air, it was like a giant python that was choosing to devour people, biting at Yanagawa from several tricky angles!

"Snake Fang Eater!"

A typical Renji-style opening is swift, direct, and wide-ranging, aiming to overwhelm the opponent with a ferocious attack and force them to reveal weaknesses.

However, faced with an attack that would have thrown an ordinary court official into a panic, Liu Chuan's figure only moved slightly.

It's not the afterimage of Instant Step, but more like a precise prediction and ultimate utilization of airflow and spiritual pressure fluctuations.

His steps seemed small, yet in the blink of an eye, he perfectly dodged the first two blades that arrived. At the same time, the five fingers of his raised right hand were already spread open, and a spiritual light flowed from his fingertips.

"Hado #31, Red Fire Cannon".

Chanting? No, not at all! There wasn't even a complete name call; just a few low, rapid syllables uttered.

A blazing, bright red fireball instantly condensed in front of his palm. It was small in size, but incredibly condensed, with an inner radiance.

Then, as if precisely thrown by an invisible hand, it struck the side joint of the middle section of the blade in the snake tail ball!

boom!

It wasn't a massive, earth-shattering explosion, but rather a highly concentrated burst of flames and spiritual energy destruction.

The blade was blown off course, affecting the subsequent attacks and causing a momentary disruption to the previously tight encirclement.

Meanwhile, Yanagawa, using the recoil and his own exquisite footwork, glided out of Zabimaru's range like a fish.

"Oh?" On the sidelines, Third Seat Madarame rubbed his bald head, his playful expression slightly fading. "A No-chantment Hakudo #31? Such precise power control? Only hitting the connection point?"

"Hmph, a mere trick." Yumichika crossed his arms, his words laced with disdain, but his eyes grew more serious.

The fact that Renji was able to so effortlessly neutralize his opening onslaught with a low-order Kido demonstrates a level of Kido control and combat intuition that should not be underestimated.

Renji, undeterred by his missed attack, became even more excited: "Good! Let's try again!"

With a flick of his wrist, Zabimaru's blade traced a strange arc in the air, turning back as if it were alive.

He entangled with Liu Chuan again, while taking a big step forward, clenching his left fist, and enveloping it with powerful spiritual pressure. He then delivered a straight punch with a fierce wind, aiming for Liu Chuan's face!

The combination of Zanpakuto and hand-to-hand combat is devoid of any fancy moves; it's pure power and speed that overwhelms the opponent!

Yanagawa's eyes narrowed slightly. Renji's strength and speed were indeed much stronger than during his time in the Mao era.

He did not choose to take the blow head-on. Instead, he changed his footwork and moved like a willow catkin in the wind, narrowly avoiding the heavy punch.

At the same time, he moved his left hand quickly to his side.

"Binding Spell Number Thirty-Nine: Round Gate Fan".

A flash of light appeared, not aimed at Renji, but rather in the path of his pursuit, and a circular protective shield instantly materialized.

Renji charged forward with such force that he almost crashed into the shield. He let out a low roar, neither dodging nor avoiding, and slammed his fist, which was wrapped in spiritual pressure, into the shield!

Bang! The protective shield shook violently, cracks spread, but it did not shatter immediately, successfully stopping Renji for a moment.

In that instant, Yanagawa raised his right hand again. This time, he spread his five fingers, aimed at Renji, and uttered a faster and more urgent fragment of incantation.

The spiritual particles gathered and compressed wildly in front of his palm, forming a complex and dazzling small multi-ring.

"Hado #58, Kyohara".

The highly compressed Storm Spear shot out, not aiming for maximum area damage, but rather condensing into a sharp spiral wind cone, moving at extremely high speed, directly targeting the slight opening revealed by Renji's attack on the Binding Spell!

"What?!" Renji's pupils shrank, not expecting the opponent's Kido to be connected so quickly, and its power far exceeded that of the Red Fire Cannon just now.

He hurriedly retreated from the snake tail, and several blades quickly returned to defend, weaving into a net of blades in front of him.

Boom!

The spiraling wind cone slammed into the blade net, unleashing intense wind pressure and a cutting sound, sending up a sandstorm.

Renji was pushed back several steps by the force, his sword net trembled, barely managing to block the attack, but his wrist holding the sword felt a tingling numbness.

As the dust settled, Yanagawa remained standing in the same spot, his breathing steady, as if his swift and fierce double attack with the Kido technique had been merely a casual gesture. He hadn't even drawn his Zanpakuto from his waist.

"Hey, are you kidding me?" An 11th Division member's eyes widened. "You forced Renji, the 8th Seat, to retreat just by using Kido?"

"Is that really Tian Lan number 58? Why does it feel like her speed and penetrating power are a bit off..." another official with some knowledge of the Ghost Path murmured.

Renji flicked his wrist, his fighting spirit burning even brighter, but also with a touch of seriousness.

He admitted that he had underestimated his old classmate; ten years of experience in the Ghost Path had not diminished his brilliance.

On the contrary, it made his demonic arts skills more refined and his control reached a terrifying level. Moreover... the power of that demonic arts seemed to be stronger than the standard version.

"As expected, Yanagawa!" Renji laughed, his spiritual pressure surging once more. Zabimaru hummed, and the spiritual light on each blade became even more dazzling.

"However, it's time to finish the warm-up! Let me see if you can handle this—Roar, Zabimaru!"

Finally, Shikai!

The enormous serpentine bone sword materialized with overwhelming ferocity, and Renji's aura surged even higher, as if he had merged with the Zanpakuto, transforming into a true monstrous python.

Despite the complete understanding of Renji, Yanagawa's expression remained largely unchanged.

He simply took a light breath, and the flow of spiritual energy around him seemed to undergo an extremely subtle change.

A vast amount of spiritual particles converged wildly, forming a violently rotating vortex in front of him, emitting a heart-palpitating energy fluctuation.

"The way these spiritual particles gather and their fluctuations..." Even Madarame, the third seat, abandoned his nonchalant attitude and became serious.

Renji sensed the dangerous aura emanating from the spiritual vortex and dared not be careless. He roared and raised his spiritual pressure to the limit. The huge snake tail mace, with the force of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, slashed fiercely towards Yanagawa!

"—Hado #63, Thunder Roar Cannon!"

Boom! ...

Unlike the ordinary massive beam of light from the Thunder Roar Cannon, what erupted from the spiritual vortex was a more condensed torrent of lightning, interwoven with blazing white lightning and deep purple arcs.

Its core temperature and destructive power seemed to be compressed to the extreme, and it shot out in a strange spiral, directly meeting the huge serpentine bone blade that was slashing down!

A deafening explosion resounded throughout the training ground, as blinding lightning and wild blade energy collided and tore at each other, unleashing a violent shockwave.

The wind whipped up all the sand and gravel on the ground, forcing the 11th Division members watching to use their spiritual pressure to resist, and their expressions changed drastically.

The light and smoke slowly dissipated.

In the center of the arena, Renji knelt on one knee, supporting his body with Zabimaru, breathing heavily. His shihaka sleeves were charred, and the web between his thumb and forefinger was cracked and bleeding. His face was filled with shock and disbelief.

Not far in front of him, Liu Chuan stood quietly. Apart from a little dust on the hem of his clothes, there were still tiny crackling sounds of lightning particles in the air in front of him.

The training ground was deathly silent. All the members of the Eleventh Division, including Madarame and Yumichika, stared at the figure in the field as if it were a monster.

Using only Kido... he directly confronted Renji, who had fully awakened his Shikai, and even gained the upper hand?!

It's important to understand that although Renji Abarai currently only holds the eighth seat, that's only because he hasn't been in the eleventh division for very long. No one present believed that they could easily defeat him.

If Yanagawa could easily defeat Renji, wouldn't he already have the strength of at least a vice-captain?

"That...that really is the No. 63 Thunder Roar Cannon?" A team member swallowed hard.

"Changed? He rewrote the 'Hado'?!" another team member exclaimed.

Yanagawa calmed his breathing, looked at Renji who was struggling to his feet, and asked calmly, "Want to continue, Renji?"

Renji stared intently at Yanagawa, then at his charred cuffs and cracked hand, and after a long while, he suddenly let out a hoarse but incredibly joyful laugh:

"Hahahaha! Good! You, Yanagawa! I never expected you to have such a hidden trick up your sleeve! The modified Hado... its power is actually this great! I lose!"

He conceded defeat decisively. The Eleventh Division respects the strong; a victory is a victory, and a defeat is a defeat.

But his eyes were practically overflowing with curiosity and inquiry: "What exactly have the Ghost Path Clan researched over the years? What was that move just now?"

Yanagawa did not answer directly, but instead dispersed the last bit of spiritual light from his fingertips, walked to Renji's side, and handed him a small roll of bandage that emitted a cool spiritual aura (a common item for the Kido sect, used to treat spiritual burns).

"It's just a minor personal modification, optimizing the spirit particle gathering structure and energy output mode."

He spoke casually, as if the blow that had just changed everyone's understanding of the Ghost Path was really just a trivial "minor change".

But at this moment, no one dared to look at this death god from the Oni-do sect with the eyes of someone who was "an office worker" or "a weak person".

The Eleventh Division's training ground fell into a strange silence, a mixture of shock and curiosity, for the first time, because of a guy who wasn't a member of the team and who displayed overwhelming strength solely through Kido.

This sparring match with a friend was more like a small test, and the result seemed to be quite good.