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Crackle! Crackle! Crackle!
Flames burned fiercely upon the blade, roaring and surging as though alive.
Qin Yi's eyes were sharp, the blood-red color within them deepening further as he stared directly at King Chengdui in the sky.
The latter immediately felt a stinging pain in his back, as if pierced by countless needles. He abruptly turned around and saw Qin Yi striding rapidly toward him.
In an instant, King Chengdui's pupils contracted, and his expression became grave.
There was no doubt that Li Yuanli had become stronger.
Within a short period of time, King Chengdui simply could not defeat him. In fact, the abilities he used to restrain others were difficult to apply effectively against Li Yuanli. The man was slippery and elusive, and in terms of raw power, he was not much weaker than King Chengdui himself.
After fighting for so long, because of the bizarre distortions of time and space surrounding his opponent, he had not managed to land a single slash.
The battle had reached a stalemate.
But if Qin Yi joined the fight at this moment, the outcome would become impossible to predict.
No one knew whether this other king had grown even stronger during this period of time.
Judging from what had just happened, however, the possibility was more than ninety percent.
"Chengdui!"
After several more clashes with Li Yuanli, King Chengdui heard Qin Yi's loud shout.
Pulling back, he narrowed his eyes and looked down.
At this moment, his gaze seemed unfathomably deep.
With a swing of his sword, Qin Yi shot upward.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived directly before King Chengdui.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
A white bone mask spread across Qin Yi's face.
Black-red light blossomed around him, releasing an ominous aura.
His eyes were filled with icy killing intent.
"Today… can you still survive?"
The question sounded indifferent, yet the certainty hidden within it made King Chengdui tighten his grip on Hiramikurufū.
This was going to be a difficult battle.
One king against two kings.
Even for King Chengdui, it was an extremely dangerous situation.
Therefore, he had no choice but to push his power to its absolute limit and enter the peak state of his existence if he wished to survive.
ROAR!
A deep beast-like growl emerged from his mouth.
King Chengdui's eyes became filled with madness.
Boundless violent energy erupted outward.
A colossal black-red pillar of light shot into the heavens, causing the clouds above to swirl together and form an enormous vortex.
"What a terrifying monster!"
"His power has already reached the pinnacle of this world!"
"Unbelievable! Is this Kenpachi Chengdui's true strength?"
On the ground, the Soul Society Shinigami stared in shock and horror.
At the same time, further changes began occurring throughout King Chengdui's body.
Sharp barbs emerged from every vulnerable joint—his ribs, neck, armpits, temples, hips, and countless other places.
These spikes were not merely defensive structures; they were deadly weapons capable of attacking opponents as well.
Behind him, his tail split apart and extended outward, growing to nearly ten meters in length.
At its tip, a hooked claw formed, gleaming with a chilling light sharper than any blade.
Within only three breaths, King Chengdui had transformed into an entirely different form.
His whole body resembled a terrifying war machine.
Every part of him was a weapon.
The aura radiating from him became vast, savage, and ferocious.
"He has completely surrendered himself to Hollowfication. His consciousness has fully merged with the dark side of his soul."
Qin Yi's expression grew solemn.
Unlike them, even after fusing completely with all the negative emotions of his soul, King Chengdui would not lose his sanity.
Instead, it would only make him stronger.
Now transformed into a living weapon of war, King Chengdui's aura was incomparably fierce.
Within the gigantic vortex above his head, black-red lightning flashed continuously, accompanied by deafening thunder.
At this moment, the entire Soul Society was shaken by his terrifying presence.
He had surpassed the limits of strength imagined by ordinary Shinigami and reached the very peak.
Qin Yi estimated that King Chengdui's current power had already touched the threshold of Eighth-Level Starlight.
Only a thin membrane remained before he could break through completely.
Within the shadows, inside the Ice Palace…
"What a terrifying individual. No wonder that fellow wanted to form an alliance with me." Yhwach said gravely as he sensed the overwhelming aura.
"Make your move, Your Majesty. Such an opportunity comes only once in a thousand years." Li Yuanli spoke.
His overlapping, layered voice sounded exceptionally eerie.
Qin Yi nodded, flicked his long blade, and in that instant, under the distortion and entanglement of black-red rays of light, his body transformed into that of the King of Hell.
His appearance was noticeably different from King Chengdui's.
He was lean and tall, clad in a Dragon Robe. Compared to the savage form of his opponent, he instead radiated a strangely elegant and scholarly aura, one that was both mysterious and eerie.
"ROAR!"
With a thunderous growl, he opened his mouth, and a crimson Cero shot straight toward his opponent.
"Hmph!"
King Chengdui suddenly turned his head, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. The bony claw of his right hand swung forward and reached for the incoming Cero.
Buzz!
His four fingers merely closed slightly.
The crimson spherical Cero was effortlessly caught between his fingers.
"Your weakness shall be the original sin that leads you to destruction."
A sinister voice emerged through his parted teeth, enough to make one's scalp go numb.
Then King Chengdui suddenly clenched his fingers.
BOOM!
A terrifying crimson radiance erupted, flooding heaven and earth. Ripples spread through the sky in all directions.
Before the flames could even rise fully, King Chengdui's figure had already twisted and vanished from sight.
"Do you still think you can kill this king?"
A figure flashed forth at astonishing speed.
King Chengdui's voice entered Qin Yi's ears with perfect clarity, causing his pupils to contract.
At the same time, a long blade that sliced through the air appeared before him.
Clang!
Qin Yi raised his sword and blocked the attack head-on.
He received the strike steadily and without retreating.
At that moment, two long horns sprouted from his head, giving him the appearance of a demon.
The aura around him also became violent and ominous.
"You are nowhere near as powerful as you imagine yourself to be."
A deep metallic voice, layered and resonant, echoed out.
Scarlet light bloomed within Qin Yi's eyes.
The two swords paused in midair as they locked together.
King Chengdui's pupils shrank.
His strike had been delivered with his maximum strength, maximum speed, and complete surprise.
Yet it had still been blocked.
His gaze deepened as he spoke in a low voice.
"You truly do know things that I don't."
The two blades ground violently against one another.
Dense black-red lightning crackled between them.
The clash of their powers had already caused ripples to appear in space itself.
In the next moment, both figures flickered and vanished at extreme speed.
Only then did the previously compressed Cero explode.
Flames spread across the sky and earth in an instant.
At the same time, the temperature in the northwestern sky rose sharply.
"Zanka no Tachi (Blade of Ember)!"
With a single slash, Qin Yi cut across the heavens.
Half of the sky seemed to ignite instantly. The water molecules within Soul Society's atmosphere boiled rapidly, turning into vast clouds of white vapor.
The terrifying heat descended like a fallen sun.
At this moment, King Chengdui's figure flickered continuously across the sky.
In the blink of an eye, thousands upon thousands of afterimages appeared. He was desperately evading the enormous area-of-effect attack.
After countless flashes of movement, he appeared above Qin Yi's head in the final instant.
Spinning in midair, he suddenly brought his sword down.
"Great Spiritual Imprisonment!"
An invisible force surged outward.
In the blink of an eye, that power enveloped a hundred-meter radius of space.
For that single moment, it seemed as though everything within it had been completely frozen and restrained.
(End of Chapter)