Chapter 62: Bai Legang, Your Grandfather Is Back!!

"Huh?!" Araki heard that, his eyelid twitched slightly, "What kind of 'Pirate King' statement is that?! Fine, Shan Laotou, this time you're ruthless! Let me cultivate for a few hundred two‑and‑a‑half‑year cycles, and I'll definitely drive you out of the Chief Squad Leader position."

"Fine then!"

It wasn't Araki's sincere feeling; he merely thought Shan Laotou was getting old and wanted to give him a little face. Araki planned to settle this account later, when Shan Laotou is a bit older and stronger than now, but for now the layout of the Void Circle is most important.

Thus Araki released the Sparrow Division, strode toward the massive podium before the "Gate of Crossing Worlds", looked at the gathered Eleventh Squad soldiers below, and asked: "Everyone! Do you actually know why you were summoned here?!"

"Eradicate the Great Void! Eradicate the Great Void! Eradicate the Great Void!!"

The Eleventh Squad soldiers heard this and responded in unison toward Araki.

"Exactly! Our mission is singular: go to the Void Circle and eradicate the Great Void! Under the vast heavens, is there any land not belonging to the king! The Spirit King's radiance shines over the three realms! Yet that Great Void 'audacious beyond measure' not only once repelled Shan Ben Chief Squad Leader! It also once single‑handedly stormed the Spirit King's Palace…"

"Although he was eventually subdued by our Zero Squad soldiers, he did not give up; his millennia of cultivation in the Spirit King's Palace did not quell his malice, and when our Zero Squad let their guard down he escaped the Spirit King's Palace and annihilated the Central Forty‑Six Chambers!"

"He is disregarding the laws of our Jingling Court, trampling the dignity of the Central Forty‑Six Chambers, and treating our Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad as nothing! Our proactive strike now is to tell that Great Void that anyone who violates the Jingling Court's 'law' and tramples the Spirit King's radiance, even if they flee to the Void Circle, will still face punishment!"

Araki stood on the podium, speaking loudly; to his right stood Mao Zhi Hua Lie, to his left stood Zhai Teng Bu Lao Bu Si, these two Eleventh Squad vice‑leaders and Third Seats; in front of them were Zhi Dao Zhi Wu, Zhi Xing Nai Wu Gang, Jiu Mian Yan Jing Tie, Shan Ding Si You Pin, and Ni Gu Cai Cang, five former squad leaders, followed by the rest of the Eleventh Squad soldiers.

Araki seemed to be repaying his good master, so he deliberately broadcast the dark history of his master being repelled by "Ji Ba" over and over! He made the entire Eleventh Squad hear it crystal clear, and at the very end he activated "Heavenly Tingle Sky Net" and whispered it again into each Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad soldier's ear…

"Araki, you truly are my good disciple~"

In the First Squad barracks, no one dared to ask why Shan Ben Chief Squad Leader didn't smile today.

"Oh!!"

As Araki's words fell, the Eleventh Squad soldiers immediately let out a thunderous roar; among them, Zhi Xing Nai Wu Gang, Shan Ding Si You Pin, and Jiu Mian Yan Jing Tie had the loudest voices, Zhi Dao Zhi Wu covered his ears with a look of utter despair, and Ni Gu Cai Cang displayed a bizarre smile.

"All expedition army soldiers, follow me out of the Jingling Court and into the Void Circle to encircle the Great Void!"

At the moment the expedition army's momentum peaked, Araki drew his Soul‑Cutting Blade, and under the glimmer of crystal‑colored light, he was the first to step into the "Gate of Crossing Worlds".

"Oh!!"

Immediately after, the expedition army soldiers rushed in one after another, following Araki's figure.

In fact, with today's Soul Society technology, creating a portal that allows a Captain‑rank Shinigami to pass through, and stable enough for a Shinigami to successfully travel from the Soul Society to the Void Circle, requires at least three to five years of preparation; such technology is held by the great nobles, and neither Araki nor the Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad possesses it…

As for how Araki made this massive "Gate of Crossing Worlds", it's actually simple: the "Gate" is merely a huge wooden door, and behind the wooden door is the black cavity that Ji Ba left for Araki when he went to the Void Circle… He had no other choice; lacking technological knowledge, Araki could only resort to brute force!

With Araki and the Thirteenth Squad captains having departed, the Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad and the entire Jingling Court are now engaged in a power struggle because of the vacancies left by the captains.

Because Araki this time took away the captains of the Fourth, Seventh, Ninth, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Squads, plus the entire Eleventh Squad that was transferred and the Sixth Squad used as a scapegoat, the massive Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad now lacks seven captains!

Currently the Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad's combat power is halved, yet it cannot leave the captain positions perpetually vacant while waiting for the Void Circle expedition force to return!

Thus, as the Void Circle expedition force left the Jingling Court, the captains newly appointed by Yuan Liu Zhai each stepped onto the stage…

First, filling the vacant Fourth Squad captain spot, Yuan Liu Zhai appointed Kirin Temple Tenshirou, the owner of "Restoring Hot Springs", as the new Fourth Squad captain!

He also ordered Kirin Temple Tenshirou to, within the shortest time, create a squad capable of confronting any enemy invasion and promptly rescuing squad members.

It should be noted that the original Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad did have a "Medical Squad", but that so‑called "Medical Squad" merely tried to get wounded soldiers off the battlefield and then left them on a sickbed, their survival depending on the Spirit King's mood at the time…

The captaincy of the Guard Court's Sixth Squad, after discussions between Yuan Liu Zhai and the current acting heads of the Five Great Nobles, was handed to the Xiu Mu family, one of the top nobles of the Soul Society, with the current acting head assuming the role, using the Xiu Mu family's centuries‑long prestige as a model for the nobles, and also providing "manpower" for the academy Yuan Liu Zhai intends to establish…

As for the Seventh Squad, Yuan Liu Zhai gave it to the head of the Gang Mi Dai family, a top Soul Society noble on par with the Xiu Mu family and even bearing the aura of a noble chief, helping him solidify his position and become the current head of the Gang Mi Dai family; in return, the current head of Gang Mi Dai will provide all the "knowledge" Yuan Liu Zhai needs for his academy.

The Ninth Squad was left by Yuan Liu Zhai to the Zhi Bo family, also a top Soul Society noble. Originally Yuan Liu Zhai intended to give the Tenth Squad to the Zhi Bo family, but considering that Wang Tu Chuan Yu Xu Ji had earned Araki's approval (Araki chose Wang Tu Chuan Yu Xu Ji as a member of the expedition army), indicating Wang Tu Chuan Yu Xu Ji is more stable than the original Guard Court captains, Yuan Liu Zhai retained Wang's position, gave the Ninth Squad to the Zhi Bo family, and the Zhi Bo family will become the first great noble to enroll in the academy Yuan Liu Zhai is establishing among the Five Great Nobles…

Adding the Second Squad located at Si Feng Yuan's Qian Ri, currently among the Five Great Nobles there are four that have already joined the Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad; as for the last, also the most mysterious family among the Five Great Nobles, in their eyes everything must prioritize "Hell" affairs, they are uninterested in Soul Society matters and will not intervene unless the Soul Society faces annihilation, thus they have not sent any family members to become Guard Court captains.

In a short span, Yuan Liu Zhai obtained "material resources" from the Si Feng Yuan family, which bears the name "Heaven‑Bestowed Armament", "manpower" from the Xiu Mu family who compiled the Soul Society's legal code, "knowledge" from the Gang Mi Dai family who controls almost all books of the Soul Society, and the full support of the Zhi Bo family, which is on par with the previous three; it seems Yuan Liu Zhai has gathered all the elements needed for his academy!

Thus, the predecessor of the Mao Spirit Technique Institute, the Shinigami Unified Academy, was officially established…

As for the other vacant Twelfth and Thirteenth Squads, the new captains for these squads have already been decided in Shan Ben Yuan Liu Zhai's mind…

"General Squad", "Special Ops", "Support", "Medical", "Rescue", "Nobility"…

It seems that the Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad is now evolving toward the fully formed "Thirteenth Squad" of later ages; for a moment, both the "Thirteenth Squad" and the Jingling Court give the impression of being in a state of total ruin awaiting reconstruction.

Void Circle…

Thus line: Xu ye gong (LasNoches).

Rather than a palace, it's an open terrace; on the terrace stands a throne, and on the throne sits a withered skeleton clad in a jet‑black robe, wearing a golden crown.

Yet this is not a dead skeleton; this black‑robed skeleton is the ruler of the Void Circle, wielding the power symbolizing "aging", a supreme Great Void (Wa Shituode) that has existed since ancient times, Bai Legang·Lui Senbang.

Bai Legang dreamed; he dreamed of a time long, long ago, so distant he couldn't tell whether it was a thousand or two thousand years past, and in the dream he had not yet become the ruler of the Void Circle…

At that time, in this endless white‑sand world, there existed a being that could vie with him—a giant beast capable of infinite evolution, which, though merely a middle‑rank Great Void (Ya Qiu Ka Si), had attained power surpassing the supreme Great Void!

Perhaps due to a clash of abilities, he and that damned white beast fought to a stalemate, and eventually concluded a non‑interference treaty with that Great Void… (Excerpt from official novel CFYOW)

Yet one day that white beast never appeared again; he recalled that before leaving the beast said it would go to the Soul Society to devour all the Shinigami…

But now, thinking back, he must have failed, since the Soul Society did not disappear; as for the price of failure, Bai Legang knows without pondering.

"Foolish beast."

Bai Legang sat on the throne with a hint of arrogance; because he possesses power as well as a wisdom distinct from that beast, the one now on the throne is not that fool but the "Void King" Bai Legang!

"Bai Legang! Your grandfather has returned!"

As Bai Legang sat on the throne reminiscing, and in his heart dismissed that beast as worthless, a massive spiritual pressure surged, and a roar from the distant Great Void Forest traveled through the Void Circle's air, carried by spirit particles toward the entire Thus line: Xu ye gong.

"Hm?!"

Bai Legang heard the familiar sound, shivered on the throne so much that his crown fell to the ground.

"Are those Shinigami worthless? Even that scrawny calf ran to the Soul Society and you still couldn't slay it?!"

After shivering, Bai Legang's heart was filled with anger at the Shinigami's incompetence.

Great Void Forest.

"Crunch, crunch, crunch…"

"Ji Ba" is gulping down, grabbing one lower‑rank Great Void (Ki Lian) after another, stuffing them whole into its stomach.

"Mmm, so tasty!"

Today I went to the hospital for an endoscopy; the esophagus has some inflammation, the stomach is a bit ulcerated, the duodenum seems slightly infected, looks not serious! The exact results will be in a week; sorry for the late update after returning late from the hospital.

Then, these two chapters set the stage: the Guard Court's Thirteenth Squad begins to develop in the familiar direction, the Void Circle layout arc officially starts, followed by the Mao Spirit Technique Institute teaching arc; familiar characters "Jing Le" and "Floating Bamboo" and official novel character "Gang Mi Dai Shi Tan" will appear in the next arc, and finally a daily request for votes…

(End of chapter)