Chapter 63: line with translation of title

"Report to His Majesty Bailègang, we have found the source of that sound in the Great Hollow Forest; the speaker is a pure-white Hollow. According to our deduction, it should be a mid-level Hollow! I just don't know why he can grow so huge!"

Several Hollows with insect-like chirping features, mid-level (Adjuchas) rank, spoke respectfully to His Majesty Bailègang seated on the throne.

"Damn wretch! Even after being educated by that weak group of Shinigami for thousands of years, you still have no manners at all, just as before!"

Bailègang sat on the throne, venting loudly; his heart was filled with endless anger toward Ji Ba.

"Er..."

Following a roar from Bailègang seated on the throne, the many Hollows on the Xu ye gong square who had bowed to Bailègang all retreated several steps, fearing Bailègang's wrath if he went mad, and then inexplicably they were corrupted by the powerful force symbolizing 'aging', turning into this sky-full of dust.

According to legend, the floor of Xu ye gong originally had no sand; the thick sand is entirely the remains of Hollows slain by Bailègang. Among these remains are warriors who challenged Bailègang's title of Hollow King and were slain by him, as well as subjects who died mysteriously after incurring Bailègang's wrath.

"Your Majesty Bailègang, please calm down! Your most loyal subject, Su Yishi·Dian, has already taken his troops to attack that reckless mid-level Hollow; surely he will soon bring that Hollow's head to see you!"

Just as Bailègang flew into a rage, a mid-level Hollow approached beneath him and spoke respectfully to Bailègang.

"Foolish! Utterly foolish!!"

Upon hearing his subordinate's words, Bailègang angrily stood up from the throne.

"Just as you said, that Hollow daring to challenge your radiance is utterly foolish!"

Bailègang's subordinate immediately echoed those words.

"Idiot! My 'foolish' does not refer to 'it'! It's you lot, these reckless things! Even if you can't feel the difference in power (spiritual pressure), won't you use your eyes to judge the size difference? From the size difference between you and that guy, you should also be able to sense just how strong 'it' is!"

Bailègang pointed at his subordinate's nose and unleashed a string of insults.

"Er..."

All the Hollows, upon hearing Bailègang's words, were stunned in place, looking at each other, not knowing how to answer Bailègang.

"I'm so angry I could die! In the entire Xu ye gong, besides me, there's not a single one with a brain!"

"Forget it! Let me go myself; after a thousand years, let me see what progress he's made..."

Bailègang said as he rose from the throne.

Great Hollow Forest

"Crack, crack..."

Even Ji Ba himself had long forgotten how long it had been since he last ate so heartily; back then he was one of the strongest Hollows in the Hollow realm, the entire Hollow realm was his all-you-can-eat restaurant, he could eat whatever he wanted! After his Hollow power became saturated, making further growth impossible, he single-handedly stormed into Soul Society and surged onto the Soul King Palace! Back then he was quite glorious...

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last; before he could even open his mouth wide, he was defeated by the Sword God and the Monk, and finally Wang Yue forged him into a Soul-Cutting Sword. Moreover, because he is a Peerless Ferocious Spirit, any Shinigami who contracts with him will eventually be completely devoured by him, so Wang Yue never found a suitable master for Ji Ba, and could only throw him into the seawater used for forging swords; this soak has lasted until now, until he met Huangmu and saw the light of day again. Honestly, Ji Ba feels he now reeks of seawater, and Wang Yue that damn fellow is practically pickling him!

"Glug~"

Ji Ba kept gulping down like that, not knowing how many Gillians he had swallowed, only feeling that his lost power was gradually returning, whereupon he stopped.

"Low-level Hollows can no longer satisfy me! I need more, more power..."

Ji Ba threw the Gillian he was about to devour to one side; the pitch-black Gillian wailed, like a toy, as Ji Ba flung it into a heap of mud...

Ji Ba then slowly rose from the ground, his lantern-like orange-yellow eyes continually scanning; he knew he had to move forward, heading into the interior of the Hollow realm where there are Hollows stronger than Gillians.

"Damn wretch! Was it you just now who insulted my king?"

Just as Ji Ba dragged his massive, Mount Everest-like body, intending to continue forward, a hoarse sound reached his ears.

"Huh?!"

Upon hearing that, Ji Ba lowered his gaze and saw that a group of mid-level Hollows had somehow appeared before him, making him slightly drool...

Among them, the leader was even more remarkable—a mid-level Hollow who had progressed far within its rank, even nearing the edge of becoming a high-level Hollow (Vasto Lorde)!

Behold, this mid-level Hollow on the verge of becoming a Vasto Lorde had its upper body already transformed into a humanoid shape, while its lower body remained like a centipede with countless legs; and it was precisely this one who had just roared at Ji Ba.

"Do we know each other well?!"

Ji Ba looked at the Hollow before him and inquired politely.

"Idiot! Do you finally know fear at this point? And yet you still want to cozy up to me? Too late! When you insulted His Majesty Bailègang, your fate was already sealed! Let me tell you, I am Bailègang's first war chief, Su Yishi·Dian, here to punish you, this wretch who speaks recklessly and acts rashly, daring to insult His Majesty Bailègang in the Hollow realm..."

Su Yishi·Dian gripped a long fork and shouted at Ji Ba.

"Kill! Kill! Kill..."

Behind Su Yishi·Dian were his Adjuchas followers, these mid-level Hollows being his subordinates.

"Boom!"

Just as Su Yishi·Dian and his Adjuchas followers roared at Ji Ba, Ji Ba suddenly moved! Unlike what the Hollows imagined, his speed did not slow due to his size; on the contrary, his attack speed appeared to the Hollows like a fleeting afterimage.

Accompanied by a gust of wind, before the Adjuchas could even react, their leader—the mid-level Hollow on the verge of Waxu, also a capable war chief under Hollow Realm Emperor Bailègang—had already been seized by Ji Ba in his hand.

"With trash like you, you're actually Bailègang's first war chief?"

Ji Ba clenched Su Yishi·Dian in his hand and asked coldly.

"How the hell are you this strong?!"

At this moment, Su Yishi·Dian had lost his earlier arrogance; the instant Ji Ba struck, he felt the immense gap between their powers.

When facing Ji Ba's power, massive enough to easily lift a mountain, he felt as if he were confronting Hollow Realm Emperor Bailègang himself, his heart filled with helplessness.

"Since you're Bailègang's lackeys, has he never told you who I am?!"

Ji Ba asked the Hollow in his hand.

""

Su Yishi·Dian and his followers all fell silent upon hearing Ji Ba's words; they truly didn't know Ji Ba's identity, and had never heard his story from their master Bailègang.

"Forget it..."

Ji Ba looked at the silent Su Yishi·Dian, as if he already knew everything; he gave up trying to extract information from Su Yishi·Dian's mouth and instead bit off his head in one gulp.

Bright red juice instantly gushed from Su Yishi·Dian's headless body...

"Slurp~"

With a series of sucking sounds, Su Yishi·Dian's body quickly turned into a thin membrane, which was then stuffed into Ji Ba's mouth, still unsatisfied. Indeed, Ji Ba loves eating these mid-level Hollows on the verge of evolution; the taste is simply exquisite~

"Ah..."

After Su Yishi·Dian thus disappeared into Ji Ba's mouth, the mid-level Hollows he had brought were dumbfounded, staring blankly at the enormous beast before them, to the point of forgetting to flee.

"Run..."

When the group of mid‑rank Great Voids realized they needed to flee, it was already too late...

Only a rustling sound came from the sky, and the cold white light shining over their heads suddenly dimmed; the moon, which always emitted a chilling, bone‑piercing glow, had somehow vanished from the sky, no longer illuminating these mid‑rank Great Voids.

"What's happening?!"

The Great Void sensed the change around it, instinctively lifted its head to look up, and was instantly stunned by the sight in the sky.

A snow‑white face covered the entire sky above them; the incessant rustling was not the sound of wind whipping up dust, but the grinding of the Great Void's mountain‑like teeth...

"Ah!!"

The group of Great Voids roared at the sky, their mouths gathering crimson flashes, intending to strike with a Void Flash.

"Roar!!"

Unfortunately, amid a cloud of dust, the massive face that had hidden the sky finally opened its huge, blood‑filled maw; the mouth was so vast it blocked the sun, and its throat was as deep as an endless abyss, impossible to see the bottom of!

"Long live His Majesty Bailegang!!"

At this moment, the Great Voids, seeing the giant mouth that was about to devour them cease struggling, shouted loudly for their king, and then vanished into the maw amid endless rumbling.

After Jiba had stuffed all the Great Voids into its mouth, it slowly lifted its head, revealing that the once‑flat sand had been gnawed into a bottomless abyssal pit.

"Crunch, crunch~"

"Gung~"

Then, amid a series of chewing sounds, those mid‑rank Great Voids turned into spirit essences and were swallowed into Jiba's belly.

"Still not enough..."

Jiba gently patted its abdomen; even the spirit essences of several mid‑rank Great Voids were still insufficient to fill Jiba's bottomless stomach.

"Indeed, we must keep moving forward!"

After a moment, once Jiba had completely digested everything in its stomach, converting them into its own spiritual pressure, its gaze turned toward the deepest part of the Void Circle.

"You scoundrel! What have you done to my subordinate?"

Just as Jiba prepared to move forward, a cold shout accompanied a humanoid skeleton clad in a jet‑black robe and crowned, blocking Jiba's path...

Compared with the size of a Great Void, this humanoid Void was indeed tiny, yet the overwhelming spiritual pressure it released proved that concentration is the essence! The newcomer was naturally the top‑rank Great Void at the pinnacle of the Void Circle (Washi Tuode).

Behind the 'Wa‑level Great Void' radiating a sovereign aura stood a group of Aschukas‑rank Great Voids, their heads slightly bowed, clearly followers of this 'Wa Void'.

"Long time no see, Bailegang. While I was gone, you became the king of the Void Circle, didn't you?!"

Jiba looked at the newcomer's snarling face and gave a faint smile.

"What do you mean 'while you were gone I became the king of the Void Circle'?! 'Beast', watch your words! This is disrespect to me, the king!"

"Even when you were present, I was still the king of the Void Circle! That alone has never changed, regardless of whether you exist or not..."

Bailegang coldly stared at Jiba, correcting the errors in Jiba's words.

"Ridiculous, ridiculous..."

"I didn't expect, Bailegang, that not only have you donned black clothes like a 'Grim Reaper', but you even started mimicking their flowery speech! It's absolutely hilarious! Hahaha..."

Jiba threw his head back and laughed loudly after hearing Bailegang's words, mocking Bailegang for calling himself 'Void King' while imitating the Grim Reapers' speech.

"That's pure nonsense!"

It seemed Jiba's words struck Bailegang's sore spot; he let out a roar, and a black aura burst from his body, lunging toward Jiba to devour.

"You know, your abilities have never affected me!"

Jiba sneered at Bailegang's attack, and his body instantly transformed into one tentacle after another, blocking the black death aura.

The moment Jiba's tentacles touched Bailegang's death aura, his countless tentacles showed signs of decay, then turned into countless fragments and vanished into the air.

"You've grown weaker, 'Beast'!"

Bailegang, seeing the scene before him, had his black eyes flash with a glimmer of light.

"Hum..."

Jiba let out a cold snort after hearing Bailegang's words and increased the frequency of his tentacle releases.

When the number of tentacles exceeded the amount of death aura Bailegang released, even the Void King Bailegang had to temporarily evade Jiba's edge.

"Boom!"

After Bailegang stepped back a few paces, Jiba's tentacles slammed onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"You too, Bailegang!"

To this, Jiba said coldly, looking at Bailegang.

"Hum!"

Now it was Bailegang's turn to let out a cold snort.

Jiba and Bailegang...

One of them is the primal 'Devouring Void' imprisoned in the Spirit King Palace for countless years, its power having deteriorated severely!

The other is the 'Void King' who wields a 'BUG'-level aging ability, but since Jiba left the Void Circle, he hasn't faced an opponent for years, letting his training fall into neglect.

For a moment, a 'White' and a 'Black'—two beings perched at the pinnacle of the Great Void—clashed in a life‑or‑death battle at the edge of this Great Void Forest!

Four thousand words chapter, more to come!

(End of chapter)