I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

Little Red Riding Hood muttered to herself.

But it was probably this "bite or die" tactic that shocked Little Red Riding Hood quite a bit. Instead of immediately rallying its strength, it hesitated for a moment. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kensei rushed up and landed several punches, finally inflicting its first effective damage in this battle.

It sent Little Red Riding Hood flying more than twenty meters away.

Kensei used all his strength in this attack.

The contraction and explosion of spiritual pressure directly dented Little Red Riding Hood's side, shattering her scales and leaving her in a bloody mess.

He responded with a burst of fiery breath compressed to its limit!

The moment it flew out, Little Red Riding Hood's throat began to gather unprecedented heat. After less than half a second of charging, it fiercely spewed the flames, which had almost condensed into white rays, toward Kensei's head!

The speed of the breath was so fast that even if Kensei noticed it, his body, which had just exhausted its strength, could not recover in that instant.

No... there's no way to avoid it now!

"The Eighty One of the Binding Dao: Duan Kong!"

But as Little Red Riding Hood gathered her strength to exhale, Urahara also shouted out his Kido to counter it. He suddenly raised his hand, and a tall, semi-transparent wall stood between Little Red Riding Hood and Kensei, blocking the flames that condensed into light!

The hastily used "Air Break" technique was much less effective and was shattered by the breath attack in less than two seconds. However, the time difference it created was enough for Kensei to catch his breath and retreat far away.

"Ah..."

Little Red Riding Hood spread her wings in mid-air, adjusted her center of gravity, circled half a circle, and landed steadily, but there was already a hint of pain in her voice.

"You guys played really well..."

It gritted its teeth and widened its dragon eyes, which shone even brighter. "But now it's time to get serious."

It wasn't just empty threats. After issuing the declaration, the crimson of Little Red Riding Hood's body began to shine even brighter. A profound and immense spiritual pressure, incomparable to what it had been before, violently emanated, increasing its oppressive power five or ten times over.

Lisa, the weakest of the trio, suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood. Overwhelmed by the spiritual pressure that was almost tangible, she was sent flying backward and crashed into the wall, barely able to lift the iron dragonfly in her hand.

Kensei also felt immense pressure, but he stood straight like a nail, gritting his teeth and forcibly boosting his spiritual pressure, clearly intending to fight to the death.

Damn, how can this thing be so powerful...?

Is this... the end?

"You're right, it's time to get serious now."

In the hollow central area... a flat voice rang out.

"what?"

Little Red Riding Hood suddenly turned around and saw an unbelievable scene.

Are there... two Kisuke Urahara?

One of them stood at the edge of the void, and the other stood next to the crystal—the latter wore a black cloak, unlike the former.

what happened?

Its spiritual pressure perception has always been keen, and it has been keeping a firm grasp on everyone's movements since the beginning of the battle, especially that mysterious blond guy. He is extremely fast and has superb swordsmanship. He is obviously the strongest among the four. It would never let such a guy slip by!

But now this is... wait, something's not right. That blond guy standing at the edge of the void is just a puppet in a fighting stance! The real one is the one next to the crystal!

But why can't I sense any spiritual pressure at all?

"Are you wondering?" Urahara placed his hand on the crystal. "It's nothing, just a small invention."

Small invention... What is he talking about?

"You must be using some kind of 'liberated state' right now, like the Bankai of our Shinigami."

Urahara calmly looked at it: "The spiritual pressure intensity is about 3.62 times higher, and there should be improvements in other aspects as well. If we only compare the numbers, once you complete your release, you should be able to compare with the Captain-Commander on a regular basis."

Little Red Riding Hood's heart skipped a beat.

It didn't know who the captain the blond guy was talking about was, but the number 3.62 was frighteningly accurate. Could such a thing be understood just by looking at it? It hadn't even finished its liberation yet!

This is bad, this guy is in really bad shape!

“But you’re too naive.” Urahara lightly waved the Red Princess in his hand and continued, “Apart from that risky attack on Fifth Seat Watanabe, you’ve never been more than fifty meters away from this crystal, so I tried to find out why—”

Just like using a dragon's body to perform Instant Step, Little Red Riding Hood instantly disappeared from her original spot and appeared next to Urahara, swinging out a powerful claw.

However, Urahara, a former member of the Stealth Mobile Force, easily saw through this simple attack path and dodged it effortlessly.

"Shut up!"

"The conclusion is simple: you have a spiritual pressure connection with this crystal." Urahara calmly stated the final conclusion. "Or rather, your spiritual pressure originates from this crystal—which is why you dare not cause it any damage, just like now, you could have used a more reasonable ranged attack, but you insisted on coming here for close combat."

Hey, what's going on?

Little Red Riding Hood has clearly become stronger, but why does this scene look like Captain Urahara is bullying her?

Is this reasonable?

Quanxi, who was standing to the side, was completely dumbfounded.

"So I was wondering, what would happen if we did something to this spiritual pressure channel... like cutting it off?"

"How could you possibly do that...!"

"Unfortunately, that is precisely my specialty."

Chapter Twenty-Seven: New Power

Let's rewind to a few minutes earlier, to the outside world.

Mizhen, who was traveling at full speed, soon arrived at the cave.

Only two of his subordinates, whom Shi Tan had ordered to cover the rear, remained there; as for Shi Tan himself, he had vanished without a trace.

Very well, Aizen also left this place.

Since that's the case, there's no need for Mizhen to sneak in anymore.

According to his spiritual pressure perception, the subordinates who remained in place were at most at the level of a seated official, but he still maintained some basic vigilance. He used Shunpo to rush to their side, raised his hand and fired two Six Staff Light Prisons, then rushed forward and hit each of them with the back of his sword, knocking them unconscious. He then quickly carried them away to the cave he had dug earlier to monitor the situation.

"It seems like I've been using torture to extract confessions ever since I debuted... This is the third time in the last few days." The lazy guy from the Eighth Division reflected on his recent actions and couldn't help but complain, "If I ever lose my job, maybe I can still find work in the Criminal Investigation Department..."

Because she was in a hurry, Mizhen was too lazy to prepare any more props to enhance the atmosphere.

He slapped one of them twice to wake him up. Before the guy could even react, he activated his mind beacon and glared at him.

A few minutes later, he withdrew from the man's mental world, leaving behind a corpse, and then did the same to another man.

The spiritual energy stored in the tank dropped rapidly, leaving only two-thirds remaining.

The Mind Beacon is indeed a very useful ability, but it consumes too much spiritual energy. Using it once or twice is fine, but if he used it on all six people before, he would probably be lying in that valley pretending to be a corpse.

"But it's still worth it..."

With the information from the two people's minds corroborating each other, he finally understood the whole story.

His previous speculation was correct.

This matter was indeed instigated by Tokina. He found records about the divine sword in the family's old books, and then reached a cooperation agreement with Koya. First, he altered the documents, making Tsunayo and the other members of the 46 Chambers believe that there were only some worthless things in the ruins, thus dumping the risky work to the Gotei 13, while he secretly plotted to obtain the divine sword.

Now Yama also knows the specific function of the divine sword. According to the records of the ancestors of the Tsuna-Yayo family, this thing is a container filled with a huge power that the Soul King poured in, enough to destroy the Soul Society.

Of course, that was just what Tsunayoshi's ancestor said, and even Tokida himself doubted whether "destroying the Soul Society" was just a metaphor.

According to Tokinada and Koya's plan, the men sent by the Gotei 13 were bound to be defeated by the Guardians.

By then, everyone will be dead, and they will have obtained the divine sword. Even the old man of the mountain will find it difficult to hold them accountable. But what's interesting is that Jia Gu actually thinks that Shi Tan will naturally "offer" the divine sword to him. I'm afraid even a dung beetle would only leave disappointed after taking a stroll through his brain.

What a pity.

If Shi Tan had been less vigilant and had escaped later, Mi Zhen could have easily taken a heavy toll on him, even if he couldn't kill him.

Now we have to think of another way.

As for the trouble that killing might bring?

It doesn't matter. Even if Shi Tan is still using some means to monitor this place, he is not afraid at all.

If he were to appear in his true form, we might need to devise a proper method, but Ryugetsu's appearance only appeared in Soul Society a few days ago, making him an absolute outsider. Even if he were exposed, Toki would only think, "Who is this intruding expert?" and would never associate this woman, whose appearance, gender, and even spiritual pressure are different from Watanabe Yama's.

This severed the last clue connecting the Flowing Moon skin to Mi Zhen himself, so Mi Zhen is now fearless.

After clearing the area, Mijin returned to the vicinity of the cave and fell into deep thought.

Looking back now, the whole thing seems quite wrong.

He originally thought that this kind of event, which did not appear in the plot, should not be too serious, even if it was related to the Spirit King.

What appeared before them was the "Sword of the Spirit King," something whose name alone suggested it was no less powerful than the heart or one's left or right hands.

Why, why now?

The timeline is almost at the crucial point where the Visoreds and Kisuke Urahara are leaving, so how could something so outrageous suddenly appear?

This shouldn't be, it's even unlikely...

What's going on... Could it be a change caused by me, the butterfly, flapping my wings?

If that's the case, then there's a lot of trouble ahead.

Forget it, let's calm down first and think about what to do now.

Lisa and the others shouldn't have any problems in the short term, but just to be on the safe side, this matter must be resolved as soon as possible, at least to get them out of the cave first.

Do you want to go straight in?

No, that's not appropriate... If he's going to expose this image to the Gotei 13, he needs to come up with a plausible story first, otherwise it won't be easy to fool old foxes like Shunsui or Urahara.

In other words, he needs some other means to further separate the images of "Ryugetsu" and "Watanabe Yama".

Fortunately, he had just obtained something that could do this.

Mizhen raised her wrist and untied the silver watch that was attached to it.

Then he took out a black card with a gold foil pattern, placed it on the watch face, and broke it off forcefully.

Then, the specks of light quickly merged into his body.

[Item: Fullbring Awakening Card]

[Made from fragments of the Soul King mixed with Hollow spiritual pressure, it allows the user to awaken a special ability called "Fullbring".]

[How to use: Choose an item you use frequently, and break the card in half near that item.]