The being sealed in the giant amber did not answer Ling Qing's question.
Or rather, in his current state, he couldn't even speak, let alone move.
Ling Qing didn't know him, but the moment he saw him, he realized one thing: if he didn't allow it, he would never have ended up like this.
The being sealed in the giant amber quietly looked at Ling Qing. His eyes showed no trace of resentment or indignation that would have been appropriate for his situation, only calmness and transcendence.
He had no dissatisfaction with his current situation, nor did he want to change anything. He didn't just see the present; it was as if he had already seen the future.
The moment their eyes met, Ling Qing suddenly felt a connection with him.
The fragments of images that had been flashing in his mind were instantly wiped clean, as if they were useless trash. They were replaced by other images, images whose situation Ling Qing could not understand at all.
It seemed that he didn't want Ling Qing to understand those images either. It was as if all Ling Qing needed to do now was to see them and remember them. Perhaps in the distant future, or perhaps in the not-so-distant future, Ling Qing would correctly understand what those images meant.
It was as if an invisible giant hand slowly opened, and countless grains of sand leaked from the gaps between its fingers. Countless images appeared at the same time.
But Ling Qing could only see a few of them, or rather, those were the images that this being wanted him to see.
It was a man sleeping in a vast darkness, his entire body wrapped in a black overcoat. Only his long black hair and a faint stubble on his face could be seen.
Then, in the darkness, he opened his eyes and drew his sword. The sword broke through the darkness and brought forth light—
But the light did not bring peace. The brief light brought endless bloodshed. In the blood-red that dyed the entire world, everything returned to chaos.
There were Shinigami in black robes, Quincy in white clothes, countless great Hollows with massive, swaying bodies, humans struggling to survive, dragons that seemed to have come from a fairy tale, and many others… but in the end, everything returned to a world of neither life nor death, neither progressing nor retreating.
Then, the scene suddenly changed. It was an opened gate, a gate that looked like a giant open mouth, with neat teeth on the top and bottom. Black butterflies flew out of the gate in swarms, their massive numbers instantly covering the entire sky, like a lingering dark cloud.
A dark, oil-like liquid substance also quietly appeared…
"What… is this…"
The voice was squeezed out of Ling Qing's throat with great difficulty. He grabbed his hair tightly, as if to crush his own head.
Those images flooded into his mind. Ling Qing wished he could wipe them all away and forget everything to feel at ease, but these images were stuck to the bottom of his heart like glue, impossible to peel off—!
He unconsciously took a step forward, wanting to get closer to this being.
But in that instant!
BOOM—!!
There was actually no sound, but the scene that appeared before his eyes couldn't help but evoke a similar sound in his mind.
It was a pure blackness that had suddenly attacked from somewhere, completely separating Ling Qing and the being!
The connection between Ling Qing and the being was also severed at this moment. Ling Qing's shoulders slumped, and he gasped for air like a drowning man.
After composing himself a little, he found that what separated him and the being was a huge character, '断' (sever), as if written with a brush!
"Oh my, oh my, I took my eyes off you for a moment and it still ended up like this?"
A voice sounded from behind Ling Qing. It sounded quite relaxed, strangely relaxed at a time like this.
He said, as if lamenting something, and also as if complaining about something, "If you have something to convey, Your Majesty the Soul King, couldn't you just have sent me, the old Monk? To summon Ling Qing-kun here specifically, is there something you cannot tell this old Monk, Your Majesty the Soul King?"
"Soul King… Your Majesty?"
Ling Qing turned his head to look behind him. What came into his view was a tall, strong man who, as he had said himself, gave the impression of a 'monk'.
He had a bald head but very thick eyebrows and a beard that reached his chest. Around his neck hung a large string of deep red prayer beads. The high, single-pronged wooden geta he wore made a dong-dong-dong sound as he walked. He wore the white, wide-sleeved haori of the Zero Squad, but in his hand, he held a giant brush that was like a spear.
"You are… the Monk?"
Of the four members of the Zero Squad, Ling Qing had already met three. Only the last member, who was frequently mentioned by Nimaiya Ōetsu and Tenjirō Kirinji but whom Ling Qing had never seen, remained.
"That's right, this old Monk is the Monk."
Ichibē Hyōsube gave Ling Qing a friendly smile, but Ling Qing could feel that there was not a trace of kindness in that smile, only a creepy, horrifying feeling.
Just as Ling Qing had sensed, while smiling kindly at him, he raised his giant brush. As the brush was suddenly brought down like a sword, the splashed ink rushed towards Ling Qing like a giant slash.
Ling Qing raised his left hand and made a grasping motion, as if drawing a sword from the air. The two-and-a-half-meter-long tachi was now in his hand, and he met the oncoming ink head-on.
But Ling Qing's sword did not cut the ink at all. The ink was like an illusion; Ling Qing felt no solid impact at all.
And after the ink splashed on Ling Qing, it was repelled like raindrops on an umbrella, eventually all falling to the ground and disappearing.
Ichibē Hyōsube's smile did not change, but his eyes changed slightly.
"Oh? It can't be painted over like before? Your Majesty the Soul King, do you perhaps think that those are things he must remember? But in this old Monk's opinion, that is not a blessing, but a curse."
From the moment he appeared until now, although Ichibē had been looking at Ling Qing and even attacked him, apart from that one sentence admitting his identity, all the words he spoke were not directed at Ling Qing.
They were directed at the being behind Ling Qing, the one who had called him here.
Even though that being made no sound, it was as if he could understand his meaning.
"You're saying… that's the Soul King?"
"That is our most revered and noble Soul King."
With no intention of hiding anything, Ichibē Hyōsube directly revealed the being's identity.
"You—no, what did you do to the Soul King?!"
Ling Qing's sword aimed directly at Ichibē. With a sudden burst of force from his feet, he shot towards Ichibē like an arrow leaving a bow. As if teleporting, Ling Qing appeared before Ichibē the moment he moved, and with a merciless slash, cut right through Ichibē's body!
However, the moment Ichibē's body was cut, it turned into a large pool of ink and scattered.
As if they had switched places, Ichibē now stood where Ling Qing had been standing before.
"You ask what this old Monk did to the Soul King? This old Monk has done nothing at all. On the contrary, this old Monk has always been doing his job properly, which is to protect the Soul King."
"Nonsense!"
Ling Qing didn't believe a single word Ichibē said.
A cold glint of light suddenly flashed before Ichibē's eyes. Ling Qing's attack had come again.
But this time, Ichibē did not use that little trick again. Facing Ling Qing's incoming sword, he extended his hand and, with just two fingers, easily caught Ling Qing's longsword.
Then, with a flick of his hand, he struck Ling Qing's blade, knocking him back!
"Whether you believe it or not is your business. This old Monk only needs to do what this old Monk should do, to protect this world and the Soul King, and that is enough."
A strange shadow covered Ichibē's face, making his friendly smile seem exceptionally sinister and terrifying.
"Since this is the will of the Soul King, then there is nothing to be done. Ling Qing-kun, you just hold on to those things that can be called a curse. But now, you are no longer suitable to stay in the Soul King Palace. See you next time—!"
And then, endless blackness engulfed the entire world!
-------
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