Chapter 96: with translation of chapter title

"Heavenly Flower Mad Bones·Black Pine Heart!!"

As Jingle released his Complete Release, a graceful figure flashed past from behind him, followed closely by a beautiful pattern resembling a black pine tree that blossomed forth on the ground where his Soul-Cutting Sword touched...

As the pattern appeared together, there emerged an endless, extremely cold spiritual pressure; that immense spiritual pressure, merely falling on the bodies of Weihua Dan'er Lang and Zhixing Nai Wugang, caused their hearts to shudder.

"I see, so this is the reason you can't unleash your Complete Release in front of your comrades?!"

After feeling this immense and yin-cold spiritual pressure, Weihua Dan'er Lang suddenly understood why Jinglet had always been unable to unleash his Complete Release.

Indeed, if Jinglet unleashed his Complete Release in front of his companions, he would surely drag them forcibly into that powerful Complete Release...

"Sorry! My Complete Release is actually not suitable for use in training; once unleashed, it's basically either the enemy dies or I die! Theoretically, my Complete Release should only be used when I receive a fatal blow from the enemy, to achieve its best effect; but if I did that, someone between me and Senior Erwei would likely perish, so I chose to unleash my Complete Release in advance..."

Jinglet, sitting on the ground, first apologized to Weihua Dan'er Lang and Zhixing Nai Wugang, then began to explain his Complete Release's ability.

"Since we've never harmed each other before, we'll start directly from the third act!"

"Third Section·Fish-Cutting Abyss! Those who are prepared, plunge together into the gushing water, until each other's spiritual pressure is completely exhausted."

As Jinglet's words fell, Jinglet, Weihua Dan'er Lang, and Zhixing Nai Wugang immediately fell into a vast expanse of ocean; endless seawater soaked the three of them, continuously absorbing their spiritual pressure.

As for this, Weihua Dan'er Lang and Zhixing Nai Wugang were completely unfazed...

"Jinglet, do you still remember the harsh indicator that Huangmu set in your graduation requirements?!"

Weihua Dan'er Lang crossed his arms in front of him and spoke to Jinglet facing him.

Then, a miraculous scene occurred: although everyone had fallen into the seawater, Jinglet could still hear Weihua Dan'er Lang's words clearly...

"Heavenly Net?!"

Jinglet blinked, then immediately understood.

"In my Fish-Cutting Abyss, do you still have the strength to use a Binding Way of number seventy or higher?!"

Jinglet thought this, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"Are you thinking, even though my and Zhixing Nai Wugang's spiritual pressure is being drained by this seawater just like yours, why do we still dare to use a Binding Way of seventy or higher to communicate with you? I'll now tell you the reason..." Weihua Dan'er Lang instantly saw Jinglet's doubt, his expression calm, and he answered Jinglet: "Because our spiritual pressure is not on the same level as yours! Do you know why Huangmu strictly ordered you to train your spiritual pressure to at least second class? Because the gap between second class and third class is far greater than you imagine!"

"You done speaking?!"

Zhixing Nai Wugang was already getting a bit impatient waiting.

"Of course~"

Weihua Dan'er Lang shrugged his shoulders at Zhixing Nai Wugang.

"Complete Release! Wugang Dojo!!"

Zhixing Nai Wugang directly proceeded to unleash the Complete Release of his Soul-Cutting Sword.

"Complete Release?!"

Jinglet watched Zhixing Nai Wugang, who was undergoing a Complete Release within a Complete Release, and his pupils trembled.

"What are you surprised about? It's not like only you guys can use Complete Release! We've been playing with Complete Release for hundreds of years..."

Weihua Dan'er Lang looked at Jinglet's surprised expression and spoke lightly.

However, these sounds, heard in Jinglet's ears, became utterly illusory...

When Jinglet came to his senses, everything around him seemed to have changed; he saw that he was no longer in the seawater, but had arrived at a swordsmanship dojo...

Around the swordsmanship dojo were crowds of enthusiastic spectators, now constantly shouting something.

"Jinglet, what are you looking at?!"

Just as Jinglet was at a loss, a cold voice suddenly rang out ahead of him, surprising him that someone here could call his name, and he turned his head to look.

He saw the inaugural captain of the Seventh Division, Zhixing Nai Wugang, likewise dressed in martial arts attire, coldly staring at him.

"Are you Senior Zhixing Nai Wugang?! If so...... then this place must be......?"

Jinglet blinked upon seeing Zhixing Nai Wugang, then a flicker of realization appeared in his expression.

"Exactly! This is my Complete Release...... the Wugang Dojo!"

"Grief can grant people strength, but cowardice cannot. Rest can grant people strength, but laziness cannot. Anger can grant people strength, but misplaced anger cannot. Fear can grant people strength, but avoidance cannot."

"As martial artists, our weapons are only our tempered bodies; anything in this world could betray you, but only the killing technique forged into muscle memory through relentless training will never betray you......"

"Alright! Let's discard all the flashy nonsense and decide the victor with genuine skill!"

Zhixing Nai Wugang held a sharp katana and spoke to Jinglet.

"Huh?!"

Jinglet blinked, then tried to use Spirit Way against Zhixing Nai Wugang, but suddenly realized he could not feel any spiritual power within himself.

"I told you! Let's discard all the flashy nonsense; whether it's the Shinigami's "Soul-Cutting Sword", "Spirit Way", or the Quincy's "Spirit Particle Bundle" and "Divine Sacred Arrow", none of them work here! Of course I can't use them either, so let's decide the victor with the most primitive skill!"

Zhixing Nai Wugang watched Jinglet explain the situation.

Indeed, Zhixing Nai Wugang's Complete Release simply constructs a domain where only he and his opponents reside; within it, victory can be decided only by bare-handed strikes and sword techniques, and before a decision is reached, no one can leave this domain...

In short, Zhixing Nai Wugang drags his opponents to his own level, then defeats him with his rich experience...

"Isn't this bullying?"

Jinglet held it in for a while, and that's the sentence he managed to blurt out.

"Swish!"

Before Jinglet could say more, a cold light blossomed before him.

A streak of red blossomed across his chest...

"Tsk! Forgot I can't use the 'Metal Lump' here!"

As Jinglet fell, he inwardly cursed the damned 'Metal Lump' for causing great harm.

Meanwhile...

Fuzhu, Shitan, and Yei undoubtedly all suffered defeat!

Even though they had unleashed their Complete Release, they had given their all, but facing opponents whose spiritual pressure was one level higher, their Spirit Way, Slashing Strike, Bare-handed Strike, and Instant Step—each honed for hundreds of years more—completely overwhelmed the captains of the inaugural Guard Thirteen Squads in every way; they had no chance of victory! The battle was practically a rout, the gap too great...

"In short, let's wait until they recover before continuing~"

Half an hour later, the captains of the First Generation Thirteen Squad tossed the four unconscious 'bodies' into the hot‑spring pool at the center of Huangmu Liuli Hall, waiting for the four injured to recover on their own.

"Yo! All defeated~"

Only after Jing Yue and the others were defeated did Huangmu arrive fashionably late; he descended from the sky, first tossing a sack of novels to Lu Qu Ba Yun Zai, and then throwing a faint, delicate girl into that hot‑spring pool.

"What's up with that girl?!"

The others, seeing that another person had been added to their trainees, asked in displeasure.

"Night One's little sidekick~ I saw her wandering alone on Omotesando, and she was far too lonely! So, unable to bear it, I gave her a slap that knocked her out and delivered her into your hands~"

Huangmu looked at the crowd and explained.

"Ah…"

The members of the First Generation Thirteen Squad fell silent at his words.

One can only say that Huangmu truly lives up to his name, redefining what it means to be unable to bear it.

Because he saw that 'Heaven' had only a single girl, all alone and terribly lonely, he generously sent her to 'Hell' to suffer together with everyone. Surely, when she awakens, she'll say to Huangmu, "I thank you!"

"In short, they're yours now~"

Huangmu said, seeming to be about to leave again.

"Huangmu, do you have something else to do again?!"

The others looked at Huangmu's back and asked.

"There's no choice. I'm not only a member of Zero Squad, but also the captain of the Guardian Court's Eleventh Squad. Right now I'm in this Spirit King Palace, guarding Lord Spirit King for over a month, so I have to go down there and take a look~"

Huangmu addressed the members of the First Generation Thirteen Squad as such.

"Go ahead!"

The others, after hearing Huangmu, twitched their eyelids slightly; they believed Huangmu's words. Who doesn't know that more than half of Noda's Soul Realm's major events were caused by Huangmu, and he actively participated in the rest as well.

Huangmu's figure appears throughout the major historical events of the Soul Realm, playing a leading role…

"Let's go~"

After bidding farewell to the others, Huangmu headed straight to Omotesando, boarded the Heaven Pillar carriage, and rushed toward the Soul Realm.

Meanwhile, shortly after Huangmu left the Spirit King Palace, the monk used the Transcendental Gate to return.

"Hoo—"

The monk who returned from the mortal world carried a huge bundle filled with worldly items.

"Monk, you got a lot out of this trip, huh?!"

Wang Yue looked at the monk returning with the bundle and quipped.

"That's wrong! These were all voluntarily given to me by people in the mortal world who saw my image!"

The monk, who had been training in the mortal world for about a month before returning, immediately spoke in various Buddhist sayings.

"Tsk—"

Wang Yue's eyelids twitched slightly after hearing the monk, confirming that, just as Huangmu said, Bing Zhu Bu Yi Bing Wei was indeed a fake monk posing under the monk's name.

"In short, that little brat went back, right?!"

The monk opened his wide eyes, surveyed the entire Spirit King Palace, and confirmed that Huangmu had left the palace.

"He left! But before departing, he gave me a letter to give to you."

Wang Yue said, handing the letter to the monk.

"Hm?!"

The monk stared at the letter in surprise, then tore it open and began reading.

"Stop hiding, it won't help! My forces happen to lack a bell‑ringer 'old monk', so I've decided to make you one!"

The letter contained only that short sentence and nothing else, completely blank beyond it.

"Um…"

Yet that brief line made the monk's body tremble slightly.

The paper transformed into a golden 'manji' symbol, which then merged with the monk's wrist.

"I never thought I'd have a day like this!"

The monk glanced at his sparkling wrist and let out a faint wry smile. For a moment he remembered that a thousand years ago, under the guise of negotiating with Youhabah, he had used the Spirit King's left hand to betray Yin Youha; now the tables had turned, as Huangmu had betrayed him with the Spirit King's right hand.

"One can only say, you can't walk by a river without getting your shoes wet!"

"Now there's no escaping!"

After pondering for a while, the monk let it go.

"Who doesn't worship someone?! He has worshiped so many monks, and Huangmu is no exception…"

In the Jade Hall, within Huangmu's retreat.

"Gururururu—"

When Little Sui Feng awoke, a sheet of emerald‑green water filled her view.

"Hm?!"

Sui Feng instinctively began to thrash; her subconscious told her she couldn't breathe underwater, yet after struggling she astonishingly discovered that the green liquid, though appearing and feeling like water, actually felt more like air, allowing her to breathe freely.

Realizing this, Sui Feng calmed down and tried to piece together her memory. She recalled training in body techniques on the Spirit King's Omotesando, when she happened to see Huangmu descending from that Liuli‑colored retreat. After a half‑second eye contact, Huangmu gave her a strange, faint smile…

And then there was nothing else; her memory ended there…

"Bastard! Huangmu…"

She swam upward, and when she broke the surface, what met her eyes…

"Yo! Little girl, you're awake?!"

Jiu Mian Jing Yan Tie, Yan Yuan Jin Le, Shan Ding Si You Pin, Ni Gu Cai Cang and the others smiled kindly.

"Is this Hell?!"

"Or am I still in a dream?"

For an instant, the broken bees were in disarray.

……

"Boom!"

On the other side, accompanied by a roar, Araki successfully descended from the sky into the Soul Society.

"Inhale~exhale…"

Araki stepped out of the celestial pillar carriage, looked at the bird songs and fragrant flowers that filled his view, took a sudden breath, then exhaled slowly.

"Without that 'fake monk' and without His Majesty the Spirit King's air, everything has become exceedingly fresh."

Araki said this and headed straight toward his own squad.

When Araki returned to the Eleventh Squad, the squad members gave him a warm greeting, which Araki gladly accepted, and from their words he learned what changes the Quiet Spirit Court had undergone during the month of his absence…

First, as per Araki's plan, after leaving the Gotei 13 at Kirin Temple to report to the Zero Squad, Mao no Hana Retsu succeeded Tenjiro of Kirin Temple, becoming the brand‑new Fourth Squad captain, and no one in the Gotei 13 objected to this…

The lingering power of Mao no Hana Retsu's original Sword Eight still, even now, resembles an indelible shadow that haunts some people's hearts, such as Si Feng Yuan Qiri, who was also a member of the original Gotei 13.

By the way, after Si Feng Yuan Qiri and Mao no Hana Retsu were again both squad leaders of the Gotei 13, Si Feng Yuan Qiri voluntarily gave up the position of Second Squad captain and went to Yamamoto Motoyasu to process his resignation…

The person who succeeded Si Feng Yuan Qiri was a branch head of the Four Maple Court, named Si Feng Yuan Wushan, and Araki was not familiar with this person and was too lazy to greet them, so he dispatched members of the Eleventh Squad to deliver a copy of his compiled "Fundamental Body Technique Notes" as a congratulatory gift.

In response, the Si Feng Yuan family not only gladly accepted it, but also gave Araki two gold debts! Araki exchanged the gold for the Soul Society's currency "rings", and handed them out to the Eleventh Squad members.

As for Si Feng Yuan Qiri, he ran off to the "Hidden Mobile" to mingle…

He claimed it was to preemptively organize this unit, which had been infiltrated by countless noble factions and was chaotic, for Xiao Ye Yi.

According to Si Feng Yuan Qiri, from today onward, the Hidden Mobile can only have one voice, and that is the voice of their Si Feng Yuan family!

Araki was too lazy to deal with Si Feng Yuan Qiri's "little girl" obsession.

After returning to the Eleventh Squad and sending those brats all to the Spirit King's Palace, time seemed to suddenly slow down…

In the blink of an eye, fifty years had passed…

During these ten years, Araki lived very leisurely and comfortably.

Araki spent his days idly in the Eleventh Squad "drumming" among flowers and plants, occasionally patrolling with the squad members; according to Araki, he had been exhausted for hundreds of years and still couldn't rest?!

Of course, every week he steadfastly goes to spar with Mao no Hana Retsu for three days, and to this day Araki has maintained an undefeated record against Mao no Hana Retsu! After all, the loser would be "ridden"!

Besides that, Araki occasionally stays a few days at the Spirit King's Palace, not only delivering novels to Lu Qu, but also checking his disciples' cultivation results…

The good news is his disciples are quite diligent; the bad news is Jing Le was corrupted by Lu Qu, falling in love with some kind of "unspeakable" novel! Jing Le even resolved that once he leaves the Spirit King's Palace, he'll start serializing his ultra‑long "Liu Bei" story…

Just when Araki thought his leisurely days would continue forever, and when Jing Le and the others finally completed their training at the Spirit King's Palace, a report shattered Araki's plan.

"Captain Araki, members of the patrol squad encountered heavy enemy casualties on Soul Street!"

While Araki was taking a nap in the captain's office, a piece of news made him frown.

"Which district did it happen in?"

Araki asked.

"The report says it's… Gengmu District!"

The squad member replied.

"Oh?!"

Araki narrowed his eyes slightly at the words, beginning to find the situation interesting.

Sorry everyone, my eyes have been hurting from staring at the computer for too long lately, so I can't write long pieces; currently I'm still stable at ten‑thousand words daily, please let me adjust a few days, then I'll raise the update frequency, and then Gengmu is about to appear!

Finally, please give me some votes~

(End of chapter)