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

When he stepped out of the flames, it was as if he had never been injured.

"Aren't you going to take action?"

An Cang Yu Shou swept his newly grown hair back—but he probably hadn't mastered the fashionable hair gel technique, so this only revealed his eyes and had no beautifying effect.

The old man glanced at him and asked in a tone devoid of any doubt, "Yijijiba, do you know this name?"

"Who knows? Maybe they're just newcomers from Hueco Mundo."

Dark Azure Mage slowly raised the red divine sword in his hand and said to himself, "I have already felt your spiritual pressure. It is no less than that of the monsters from the Spirit King era. How interesting. It turns out that even a pure Shinigami can reach this level."

As they spoke, a scorching light gradually emanated from the blade of the red divine sword.

"Stop looking down on people!"

Like flowing liquid, flames "flowed down" from the tsuba of Ryujin Jakka, gradually covering the entire blade.

"I am the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13!"

With this shout as a signal, both sides began a sudden charge!

A deafening roar echoed through the headquarters building.

The office where the old man had lived for many years could not escape the fate of being forcibly demolished. At the moment when the two sides clashed, a shock wave like a dome spread out and almost instantly blew the entire room and the roof off!

The clash between light and flame... the latter prevailed!

With a bold, clubbing motion, the old man unleashed a slash that instantly burned away all the light emanating from the divine sword, sending the Dark Azure Hand soaring a hundred meters into the sky!

Fortunately, although the wall was shattered by the shockwave, the part engraved with the camera technique was still lying on the ground, face up. As long as the "aperture" was adjusted, the live stream could still be watched.

"It seems... if I fight you in this state, I'm bound to be killed sooner or later."

Standing in mid-air, An Cangyu used his sword to deflect the flames still burning on his body, then tapped the spine of the red divine sword with his knuckles and said to the old man who flew up from the mountain, "To be honest, I really don't like showing the true form of this thing, but it seems there's no other way."

"True form?"

Old Man Shan frowned, about to rush forward and deliver the final blow without a second thought.

Flames capable of easily destroying an entire city block poured forth from Ryujin Jakka, heading straight for Anzang Mitsu!

But the pale light shone once again.

Without the charging process of the last time, An Cang Yu Shou simply threw out a light punch, and then launched a small, round Cero that arrived first despite being behind.

"It seems you're not the type to make the enemy go all out."

The Cero and the flames collided, creating a massive, hurricane-like impact in mid-air above Seireitei!

Then, an even stronger beam of light shone from one side of the shockwave, as if it reached the heavens and the earth!

"what?"

The old man in the mountain stared in astonishment.

Without a doubt, this was the work of An Cang Yu Shou.

But this creates a contradiction!

Although the Dark Azure Mage resembles a human, his spiritual pressure is undoubtedly that of a Hollow, yet the beam of light he is currently unleashing exudes the purest aura of a Shinigami.

What exactly is going on?

A few seconds later, the air, which had been distorted by the high temperature, finally calmed down.

Then, heavy footsteps slowly approached from within the beam of light.

The drastically changed Dark Azure Guardian finally appeared.

He was no longer naked; irregular red crystals, like armor, covered his body, becoming like clothing.

The spiritual pressure of the Shinigami and the Hollow merged harmoniously within him, making him appear several times stronger than before.

...It's practically identical to the later "Sword Liberation"!

The Crimson Divine Sword can no longer be called a "sword," but rather a thick, pillar-like "crystal staff." Countless thorns extend from the staff like vines, and the end held by An Cang Yu Shou seems to have merged with his arm, exhibiting a kind of "symbiotic form."

"You should have heard of 'spirit weapons,' which are a type of equipment developed by the Eye Monk, instructed by the Soul King. They can process the spiritual pressure of a Shinigami into a specific form before releasing it—simply put, 'spirit weapons' are the 'prototypes' of Zanpakuto."

With a light, feather-like movement, An Cang Yu raised the divine sword high: "And what I hold in my hand is the prototype of all spiritual weapons—the 'divine sword' personally forged by the Spirit King."

Then, from a great distance, he made a feinting slash at the old man in the mountains!

A red light blade, as freehand as splashed ink, poured out along the trajectory of the strike—its spiritual pressure was astonishingly high!

The old man sidestepped and dodged several meters away with a quick step, letting the red light blade fly past him into the distance.

And this thing didn't seem to slow down at all—it flew several kilometers at a speed that didn't decrease, cutting through the clouds in the sky, disappearing into them, and finally vanishing without a trace.

"Look, this thing is hardly a useful weapon."

Dark Azure Guardian said calmly, "It doesn't recognize a master and its accuracy is very poor. Its only advantage is that it consumes very little power—if I could, I wouldn't want to use it to fight you."

As the old man in the mountain frowned, Mi Zhen in the shelter also showed a thoughtful expression.

The way Anzang Mitsu uses the divine sword can be described as simple, brutal, and completely without secrets.

It involves pouring an astonishing amount of spiritual pressure into it.

How many exactly? According to Mi Zhen's calculations... there are at least fifty cartloads of Kensei.

If the divine sword can be wielded in this way, then it would be incredibly simple. But where does the claim of "minimal consumption" come from?

Lets see.

"It looks like..."

The old man casually yanked the captain's haori off his body and threw it far away.

Then, a burst of flames instantly burned away the Shinigami armor on his upper body.

Like a halo of Buddha's light shining in all directions, a ring of flames blazed up behind the old man's head.

The old man stretched his body, and his joints cracked and popped.

He tensed his bulging muscles, adopting a majestic posture like that of a descended king, and slowly said, "I'll have to use some unconventional methods to defeat you!"

The flames and the red light fell silent for a few seconds.

Then they erupt simultaneously!

"torch!"

"Crescent Moon Chong!"

However, the name of the move that Anzang Yushou shouted out completely stumped Mima.

Say it again? What do you mean, "rush"?

Good heavens! The ancient Great Void is unleashing a Crescent Moon Heavenly Strike!

This thing couldn't have actually been a universal skill back then, could it?

What on earth is going on with the Shiba family?!

The two sides were evenly matched, with flames and red light clashing fiercely. The resulting inferno caused widespread fires within the Seireitei, resulting in extremely high losses in an instant.

If things continue like this, even if the old man wins, Seireitei will probably need to be repaired for two or three years.

—And so, new forces joined the battlefield.

"Binding Path Seventy-Nine: Nine Luminaries Binding".

Accompanied by a flash of green light, a gentle female voice suddenly rang out.

The nine black dots formed by the power of the demonic path acted like long nails, delaying An Cang Yu Shou's movements for a moment.

The flames completely overwhelmed the red light, engulfing the Dark Azure Mage entirely.

At the same time, an incredibly fast figure suddenly rushed into the flames like a meteor. A sword light as clear as the moon shone brightly, splitting away the aftershocks of the flames and cleaving the red crystal on An Cang Yu Shou's body, leaving another deep, bone-revealing wound on his chest.

"I'm sorry, Captain-Commander, please allow me to join this battle—we cannot allow the damage to the Seireitei to continue!"

The figure darted away and stood side by side with the old man.

It was Retsu Unohana who had previously deserted during the battle.

There was a few seconds of silence between the two former colleagues until a new voice rang out.

"Captain Unohana is right, a swift victory is the most urgent task."

Another aged voice approached hurriedly from afar: "Please let me join in too!"

The newcomer had a full head of silver hair, wore a captain's haori embroidered with the number "six", and had a light blue scarf around his neck—he was none other than the current head of the Kuchiki family, Kuchiki Ginrei.

The old man glanced at Seireitei below, said nothing, seemingly in tacit approval.

Chapter 113: Gang Fighting is the Only Way

The crimson crescent moon pierced the sky, releasing three beams in one breath, which flew towards the old man of the mountain, the flower of the rabbit, and the rotten wood silver ridge respectively.

Unohana did not confront the attack head-on, but instead dodged it by a hair's breadth with a beautiful Shunpo.

Meanwhile, the old man of the mountain released a massive amount of flames in an instant, burning away two crescent moons at the same time, thereby protecting the rotten wood silver ridge behind him.

The head of the Kuchiki family did not move, but stood calmly in mid-air, drew his sword, and said softly—

"Recite it, Heavenly City Decree!"

"Tsk..."

An Cang Yu Shou immediately focused his gaze on Kuchiki Ginryo.

He had only been awake for a short time and hadn't had time to confirm the current situation in Soul Society, but just from the fact that the old man was protecting Kuchiki Ginryo at all costs, he could tell that this guy's abilities must be extremely troublesome.

But Kuchiki Ginrei's spiritual pressure is clearly inferior to the other two... which means we have to start with him.

Ranged attacks will be intercepted, so... let's switch to close-quarters combat.

Just as An Cang Yushou was about to set off, Kuchiki Ginryo spoke up.

"Sound reverberation is prohibited here."

"Varied……"

Just as Anzang Yushou was about to use the Sound Transformation to move, he suddenly felt a strange force pressing down on him!