Giving Up

As Ye Yang felt his power, the turbidity in his eyes gradually faded, and his true nature, which had been clouded by the power, gradually awakened. He stared directly at the Hōgyoku in his chest and roared, "Who gave you permission to do this? Did I say I would be your master? Ah!"

He shouted angrily, "When have I Ye Yang, ever needed external forces to increase my strength? Hmph! Get out of here!"

Rather than saying Ye Yang was blinded by the power just now, it would be more accurate to say that Ye Yang hesitated. He simply wanted to see what kind of effect the Hōgyoku had. Although the power just now did fascinate Ye Yang, he clearly Ye Yang that it was not his own power. He did not need power obtained through external objects!

Whether it was his past life or this one, Ye Yang in his past life was a martial arts grandmaster who had almost reached the pinnacle! When he first started learning, his master told him, "Don't be blinded by power. Only those who can control their own power are truly strong! But those who are manipulated by power are just pitiful people, and in the end, they will be killed by power."

Ye Yang remembered these words firmly. In this life, Ye Yang inherited the experience of his previous life. Although it was a different world, Ye Yang was even more outstanding in this life! In just a few decades, Ye Yang was already close to that limit. Ye Yang's confidence told him, "I can definitely break through it! I don't need any external aids; I can break through on my own." This was Ye Yang's confidence! And also his persistence!

When the Hōgyoku acknowledged him as its master, he hesitated for a moment. It was this hesitation that gave the Hōgyoku an opportunity. By the time Ye Yang tried to stop it, it was too late. Although the power was indeed very strong, Ye Yang's pride told him that he could break through his own limits even without the help of the Hōgyoku!

Ye Yang sat cross-legged and began to increase his Spiritual Power to fight against the Hōgyoku. However, no matter how he refined his Spiritual Power, it was completely devoured by the Hōgyoku. Realizing this, Ye Yang began to ponder how to force the Hōgyoku out of his body. He wondered what Aizen would think if he knew. Ye Yang wanted to throw away the Hōgyoku that Aizen had gone to such lengths to obtain? This world is truly strange.

After thinking for a moment, Ye Yang shouted, "Silver Rend! Come out and help!"

After a while, when Silver Rend still hadn't appeared, Ye Yang couldn't help but curse, "Silver Rend, if you don't come out soon, I'll call you every day and keep you from sleeping!"

As expected, the space around Ye Yang distorted upon hearing this, revealing Silver Rend's figure. He maintained his unchanging expression, making Ye Yang wonder if he was expressionless...

"Didn't I say, if nothing's wrong..." He stopped mid-sentence, staring Silver Rend at his chest, a rare seriousness creeping onto his face. After a moment, he slowly spoke, "I never expected it to recognize you as its master. I just don't know if it's a blessing or a curse for you."

"Whether it's a blessing or a curse, I won't be its master. I asked you to come out because I wanted to know how to get it out, understand?" Ye Yang asked.

"Oh? Take it out? Do you know how many people would give up their lives for it, how many people would scheme and plot for it, and you're just giving up like this?" Silver Rend stared directly into Ye Yang's eyes as if to see what he was thinking.

"Tch!" Ye Yang shook his head dismissively. "What use is power that isn't mine? If I can't obtain power through my own efforts, I'd rather not have it!"

"Are you sure you want to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? To give up the Hōgyoku?" Silver Rend asked rhetorically.

Ye Yang nodded. "I'm sure!" His eyes were resolute.

Even if you regret it in the future?

"The word 'regret' has never appeared in my dictionary! I will never regret it!" Ye Yang replied firmly.

Silver Rend chuckled lightly, "Tch, since you put it that way, there's nothing I can do. I'll seal it temporarily for one hour. You must retrieve it within that time."

"No problem, let's begin!"

The Silver Rend transformed into a stream of light, swirling in the air a few times before disappearing into Ye Yang's chest. Instantly, a cool sensation coursed through his body, finally stopping at the location of the Hōgyoku, trapping it inside and rendering it immobile.

At this moment, Ye Yang felt the Spiritual Power brought by the Hōgyoku instantly vanish without a trace. Ye Yang almost sat down on the spot, as all the Spiritual Power in his dantian had been absorbed by the Hōgyoku. However, Ye Yang spread his limbs and floated in the air. He saw the surrounding Reishi rapidly gathering towards Ye Yang at a speed visible to the naked eye. The Reishi gradually formed Reishi lines, and Ye Yang, at the center, absorbed the surrounding Reishi like a funnel. After circulating through Ye Yang's body for several major cycles, these Reishi slowly settled in Ye Yang's dantian.

Ye Yang then began to direct the Spiritual Power to repel the Hōgyoku. Although the Hōgyoku was temporarily sealed by the Silver Rend and could not absorb Ye Yang's Spiritual Power, it should not be forgotten that the Hōgyoku had just absorbed all of Ye Yang's Spiritual Pressure. Sensing the danger, the Hōgyoku immediately launched a counterattack, first dispersing the Spiritual Power that was driving it away, and then pressing down, trying to occupy Ye Yang's dantian. Once the dantian was occupied by the Hōgyoku, Ye Yang would be beyond saving.

But how could Ye Yang let him succeed? He frantically increased his Spiritual Power and began to fight against the Hōgyoku. At first, the Hōgyoku pressed forward and had the upper hand. After all, how could the Spiritual Power that Ye Yang had temporarily absorbed possibly defeat Ye Yang's Spiritual Power at its peak? The Hōgyoku almost took over his dantian at one point, but Ye Yang stubbornly resisted it.

However, Ye Yang's advantage became apparent at this moment. The Hōgyoku was sealed within Ye Yang's body by the Silver Rend and could not absorb Ye Yang Spiritual Power. Its Spiritual Power diminished with each use, but Ye Yang was different. As time passed, he extracted more and more Spiritual Power from his surroundings, and gradually he was able to rival the Hōgyoku.

Half the time had passed, and Ye Yang's Spiritual Power was now no weaker than that of the Hōgyoku. The Hōgyoku, which had previously held a significant advantage, could no longer advance. After a while, Ye Yang began to counterattack, gradually pushing the Hōgyoku upwards. He used external Spiritual Power, not just confining it to his dantian, but spreading it throughout his body to force the Hōgyoku out of his body.

Faced with the ever-increasing pressure, the Hōgyoku began to retreat step by step, forced back to its original position—the chest cavity. But no matter what they did, they could not force it to retreat any further, and the two sides became deadlocked. With time running out, if the Hōgyoku absorbed Ye Yang's Spiritual Power again, all their previous efforts would have been in vain.

Ye Yang made his final desperate attempt. He gathered all his Spiritual Power at the bottom of the Hōgyoku and suddenly charged upwards, colliding violently with the Hōgyoku. "Ah!" A mouthful of blood spurted from Ye Yang's mouth, but the Hōgyoku remained lying firmly in his chest, unshaken.

A look of madness appeared in Ye Yang's eyes. As if he had made a decision, he exhaled a breath of turbid air, waved his right hand forward, and a huge Spatial Rift appeared. He slowly walked towards the dark rift.

Regardless of whether Hōgyoku could understand him or not, Ye Yang said, "Since you refuse to come out, there's nothing I can do. I remember you seem to be afraid of being banished by the Spatial Rift, right? Now I'll go in. If you don't come out, you can wait to Spatial Banishment along with me! Although I have a sliver of control over space, I can't even return from Spatial Banishment myself. Let's go."

Without looking back, he walked towards the rift. Just as Ye Yang stepped into the rift, the Hōgyoku on his chest suddenly shone brightly, transforming into a stream of light and rushing out. Seeing that the Hōgyoku had left his body, Ye Yang also wanted to leave, but how could Spatial Rift be something that could be created and destroyed at will? A huge suction force came, trying to pull Ye Yang into the void.

In the blink of an eye, a silvery-white streak swept Ye Yang away from the terrifying Spatial Rift, throwing him out. Ye Yang Silver Rend couldn't help but exclaim, "What reckless behavior! Even I wouldn't dare try something like that! You're asking for trouble!"

Ye Yang was completely exhausted, but he still smiled and said, "Who cares? Let's give it a try."

Silver Rend frowned and said unhappily, "I can't save you every time, so think about the consequences before you do something next time. Hey! Are you even listening?"

Seeing Ye Yang's absent-minded expression, Silver Rend felt an urge to slap him. Why did he have to end up with such a master? What bad luck!

Ye Yang replied, "Tch, who would know about that?"

Silver Rend wanted to say something, but he held back, afraid that he would burst into a tirade.

Finally, Silver Rend sighed and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Ye Yang ran to the Hōgyoku. After a series of events, the Hōgyoku had exhausted all its Spiritual Power in its battle with Ye Yang, and it was now completely powerless. Ye Yang picked up the Hōgyoku, carefully observed it for a while, and after confirming that there was no problem, put it into a box.

He then deactivated his Bankai and returned to the real world.

Yoruichi and Urahara rushed up to Ye Yang when he returned, asking, "How did it go?"

Ye Yang shook his head. "There's nothing I can do. I don't have a way to destroy the Hōgyoku yet."

"I see." Even though he had guessed the result, Urahara couldn't help but look disappointed.

Yoruichi asked, "What happened to you? Your body isn't injured, but your Spiritual Pressure seems to be almost gone."

Ye Yang shook his head. "It's alright, it's just that the Spiritual Pressure was excessively depleted, it will be fine in a while. However, this Hōgyoku has just taken my strongest attack, so it should be temporarily ineffective. Let's put a seal on it now."

"Leave this to me," Urahara said.

"Hmm, that's fine too."

After several hours of cultivation, Ye Yang's Spiritual Power finally recovered to half. However, Ye Yang was surprised to find that his Spiritual Pressure was now about 60% of what it used to be. It seemed that he had turned misfortune into blessing and his Spiritual Pressure had increased considerably.

"Let's go back!"

The three then left the underground base and returned to Seireien...

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