Heroic Spirit? Sword Spirit

"Have you really thought this through?" A voice suddenly cut Yoruichi off.

At some point, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi, who had been sitting in the main seat polishing his Zanpakuto, had stopped what he was doing.

He raised his head, his sharp eyes fixed intently on Xuanxin.

He released a restrained sliver of the seventh Kenpachi's Reiatsu, but even that was enough to make the air in the entire tent grow heavy.

Faced with that oppressive presence, Xuanxin did not shrink back in the slightest. Instead, he calmly met Kuruyashiki's gaze.

"Yes, Captain. I've thought it through." Xuanxin's voice was quiet, but the resolve in it was as hard as steel.

Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's rugged face showed no expression when he heard Xuanxin's firm answer.

He stared at Xuanxin for a full half minute. A moment later, Kuruyashiki slowly withdrew his Reiatsu and casually sheathed his Zanpakuto.

"Come find me at that rock outside tonight."

After leaving him with those exceedingly brief words, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi lifted the tent flap and strode out without looking back.

Only after the captain left did the tense atmosphere in the tent ease slightly. Xuanxin let out a quiet breath, released Yoruichi's wrist, and turned to walk out of the tent as well.

"Xuanxin! Stop right there!"

When Yoruichi saw Xuanxin leave, she immediately chased after him. On a secluded dune far from the camp, Yoruichi grabbed his sleeve, intense worry and anger flashing in her golden eyes.

"Have you gone mad?! Do you even know what it means to operate alone deep in Hueco Mundo? Why do you have to go alone?!"

Xuanxin stopped and turned around. Looking at the girl who was worried about him, he felt a flicker of gratitude. But he also knew he could not afford to relent now.

"Yoruichi, listen to me. I want to break through. I want enough power to protect everything in the future, and this is the price I have to pay!"

Yoruichi bit her lower lip hard. Of course she knew how much Xuanxin desired power, and she understood the pain of reaching a bottleneck.

"Then... then I'm coming with you!"

"No." Xuanxin refused Yoruichi without hesitation.

"Why?!" Yoruichi bristled at his answer.

"There's no reason. This is my own battle. Trust me, I'll come back," Xuanxin said, still in a calm tone.

Hearing his resolute words, she stared hard at his face. After a long moment, she angrily flung his hand away.

"Fine! Just fine! You've gotten so capable, haven't you?! Then go get yourself killed! I can't be bothered with you!"

With that, Yoruichi turned away angrily and vanished into the night with a Shunpo.

Xuanxin gazed in the direction she had gone and sighed wistfully, but he did not go after her.

He knew that, harsh as Yoruichi's words had been, she surely understood his reasons for doing this better than anyone.

Late at night, moonlight spilled across the boundless white desert. As the members of the main force slowly fell asleep, the entire camp grew quiet.

Xuanxin came alone to the enormous rock where he had spoken with Kuruyashiki on the first day.

Sure enough, the tall, burly man was already sitting there at his ease, a flask of wine in his hand.

Hearing footsteps, Kuruyashiki turned around and studied Xuanxin by the moonlight, his eyes clear and perceptive.

"Are you really ready, kid?" Kuruyashiki's voice was low.

Xuanxin said nothing. He simply gave a firm nod, resting his hands naturally on the two swords at his waist.

"Good!" Kuruyashiki nodded with satisfaction, his mouth suddenly spreading into a fervent grin.

He casually tossed the wine flask onto the sand and drew his Zanpakuto with his right hand!

"But anyone can say the words! Come on, draw your swords! Let's have a little spar. I'll see for myself just how strong you are now, and whether you've got what it takes to survive in this desert!"

Boom!

Before he had finished speaking, Kuruyashiki Kenpachi became a raging hurricane, his Zanpakuto descending toward Xuanxin's head with a terrifying sonic boom!

Xuanxin's pupils contracted sharply.

Clang!

The two swords at Xuanxin's waist flashed from their sheaths! One black and one golden blade crossed precisely above his head, holding firm against Kuruyashiki's blow, as crushing as a mountain bearing down on him!

A violent shock wave of Reiatsu erupted around them, and an enormous cloud of dust exploded outward with the two at its center!

Without the slightest hesitation, the two began a sparring match in the deserted wilderness, as if by unspoken agreement. The sparks from their clashing blades even lit up the entire night.

Yet the battle lasted only five exchanges.

Clang!

After another head-on clash of Reiatsu, the two quickly drew apart.

"Stop!" Kuruyashiki Kenpachi abruptly called a halt to the fight.

He casually rested his Zanpakuto on his shoulder. Looking at Xuanxin, who was slightly out of breath but whose gaze remained sharp, he laughed heartily in approval.

"Hahaha! Good! Good! Your swordsmanship really has improved since a few days ago! I know what you're capable of now."

Kuruyashiki suddenly stopped smiling, his expression turning serious. "You want to act on your own and look for a chance to break through. I have no problem with that. I admire your courage to seek life in the face of death!"

"But judging from that test just now, you're more than strong enough to deal with those black pillars. But... if you run into any of those veteran Adjuchas..."

Kuruyashiki said no more, but the meaning of his unfinished words was clear: if you ran into an Adjuchas, you would most likely die.

Xuanxin nodded solemnly. He knew this was Kuruyashiki Kenpachi's final piece of advice to him.

"Thank you for your guidance, Captain. I understand."

Xuanxin bowed deeply with the utmost respect, then prepared to turn and leave. But just then, Kuruyashiki spoke again behind him:

"Hey, kid!" Xuanxin stopped in his tracks.

"I really admire your determination to break through. But you'd better remember this: know the limits of your strength, and make staying alive your priority! If you die in this desert, you'll have nothing left!"

Kuruyashiki raised his head and looked at the waning moon in the sky as he spoke calmly:

"The 11th Division and I will be staying in Hueco Mundo for another five days! After that, I'll lead the division out of here! So keep track of the time yourself, and don't miss your chance to get home!"

Xuanxin paused briefly. He turned back and bowed deeply to Kuruyashiki.

The next day.

While everyone in the camp was still asleep, Xuanxin quietly packed his belongings and set out alone, his two swords on his back.

On the same rock as before, Yoruichi and Kuruyashiki stood side by side in the cold wind, silently watching his retreating figure grow smaller and smaller until it became a black dot.

Yoruichi clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms.

"This is a step he has to take if he wants to become truly strong. His talent is too great, so the hurdle he has to cross to break through is evidently more difficult, even far more cruel, than anyone else's."

Kuruyashiki sighed deeply, looking in the direction Xuanxin had gone. A rare note of world-weariness entered his voice:

"If he doesn't cross this dangerous hurdle, sooner or later he'll be swallowed up by those dark schemes in Soul Society."

With that, he turned and left. Yoruichi, however, remained stubbornly where she was. Only when Xuanxin's figure had been completely swallowed by the swirling white sand, with no trace of him left in sight, did she turn and leave the great rock.

Time had long since lost its meaning in the monotonous desert of Hueco Mundo.

Xuanxin ventured alone deep into the crystalline forest known as the Forest of Menos.

Sure enough, the deeper Xuanxin went, the more densely packed the Hollows became. Over the course of the entire previous day, he had lost count of how many wandering Gillians he had slain.

Slash!

Another Gillian's head was smoothly severed, and its enormous body disintegrated into a cloud of Reishi. Breathing heavily with some fatigue, Xuanxin casually planted his sword in the sand to support his aching body.

A day had passed.

He had fought several battles that day, yet never mind breaking through, he had not even caught the slightest trace of the feeling that his bottleneck was loosening, the feeling he had experienced during Jinzen!

"Why is this happening...?"

Xuanxin sat on a piece of black quartz rubble, his brows tightly knitted as he sank into deep self-doubt.

He had thrown away his protection, and he really was risking his life in battle, so why was he still falling short?

The frustration of being trapped at the bottleneck began to crack his normally calm state of mind, letting a trace of irritation seep in.

Just as Xuanxin was sinking into self-doubt—

"Only the weak would raise their blades against those weaker than themselves in such meaningless slaughter."

A sudden, seductive female voice sounded clearly beside Xuanxin's ear, like a breeze brushing past him!

"Who?!"

Xuanxin sprang up from the ground as if struck by lightning, drawing Mumyō in an instant. His eyes warily swept the surrounding crystalline forest.

Yet in the empty desert, there was nothing but the mournful sound of wind and sand blowing past the stone pillars.

There was not the faintest fluctuation of Reiatsu, not even a footprint.

"Was I hearing things...?"

Xuanxin frowned suspiciously. His mind, having just endured intense combat, was indeed prone to hallucinations.

But just as he warily put his sword away, that ethereal female voice, tinged with mockery, echoed clearly in the depths of his mind once again!

"Do you want to tear through that ridiculous layer of darkness? Then remember: the truly strong must have the courage to swing their blades at those stronger than themselves!"

Xuanxin's pupils contracted sharply. He could not help looking around again, but still received no response and found no trace of an enemy.

Who is it?! Is it a Hollow's ability, or... a hidden revelation from my Zanpakuto?

Those seductive words were like a sharp, venomous thorn, lodged deep in Xuanxin's heart and lingering there.

As Xuanxin stood there in bewildered suspicion, a familiar white figure suddenly flashed past at the edge of his vision, between two enormous stone pillars in the distance!

It was a figure with the same long white hair as his own, that familiar figure! But in the blink of an eye, it quickly vanished around a bend in the forest.

Xuanxin did not hesitate, not even stopping to mind his physical exhaustion. He decisively used Shunpo and gave chase in the direction the white-haired figure had disappeared.

After all, any unusual clue now could be an important opportunity for him to break through his bottleneck! Besides, that figure... was truly familiar to him.

Xuanxin sped through the forest for about ten-odd minutes. He abruptly stopped in front of a fork in the road.

The white-haired figure from before had vanished into thin air, as if it had evaporated.

Suddenly, Xuanxin's nerves tensed to the utmost as he stood at the fork.

Xuanxin could clearly sense two utterly different fluctuations of Reiatsu coming from deep along the two separate paths ahead!

From one side came fluctuations identical to those of the Gillians before, though there were perhaps a few more of them; from the other came a noticeably fiercer presence.

"This..."

Just as Xuanxin hesitated, the familiar female voice rang out once more.

Chapter 33: Heroic Spirit? Sword Spirit

Deep in the crystalline forest, beside the fork in the road.