The Trial Begins

Deep within the Soul King Palace lay an absolute domain shrouded in ancient majesty.

This no longer belonged to any specific palace, nor did it resemble a "space" in the conventional sense of the Soul King Palace.

The air was filled with an indescribable heaviness and sanctity. Spirit Particles were no longer lively, but stagnant like pilgrims.

This was the entrance to the trial grounds of the "Path of No Entry."

On the open ground, the five members of Zero Division were already standing solemnly in wait.

Ichibē Hyōsube stood at the very front, his enormous prayer beads perfectly still. His expression was calm, his gaze abyssal, quietly fixed upon the entrance to the Path of No Entry.

Kirio Hikifune stood to his left. The warm smile she usually wore had vanished, replaced by undisguised worry and gravity.

All five wore solemn expressions, and an invisible, oppressive weight hung in the air.

They knew exactly what the "Path of No Entry" meant. It was the final threshold for Zero Division members to gain formal recognition and break through the Soul Reaper Limit. Only those who had experienced its dangers and hardships firsthand could truly understand them.

And Liu Chuan, this anomaly who had rejected the Soul King's Power and chosen to challenge this path with nothing but his pure "self," was filled with unpredictable variables and extreme danger.

Footsteps sounded, neither hurried nor slow, striking the solidified Spirit Particle ground with steady, soft thuds.

Tenjiro Kirinji led Liu Chuan to the edge of the clearing and stopped before the members of Zero Division.

Liu Chuan was visibly at his peak. His complexion was healthy, his breathing calm and deep. The vast power within him was perfectly contained, though it could not be fully hidden—like a peerless blade sheathed and ready to strike.

"This is it." Tenjiro Kirinji stepped aside and nodded toward the chaos ahead, his voice low.

"The entrance to the Path of No Entry. The rules are simple. Inside is sacred ground. If you wish to enter, you must walk barefoot and remove your clothes. The only things you may bring are your will and your Zanpakuto."

Liu Chuan nodded, his calm gaze sweeping over the solemnly standing members of Zero Division before finally settling on the entrance radiating crushing pressure.

Ichibē Hyōsube slowly stepped forward. His wise eyes looked directly at Liu Chuan, and his voice was grand yet calm, like a final judgment and confirmation.

"Boy Liu Chuan, ahead lies the Path of No Entry, where danger is extraordinary. Since the founding of the Soul King Palace, only members of Zero Division, with their bodies remade into Royal Keys by the Soul King's Power, have had a greater chance of setting foot within, completing the trial, and breaking through the limits of a Soul Reaper."

He paused, his piercing gaze seeming to penetrate Liu Chuan's soul.

"You have one final chance to choose. If, at this moment, you are willing to accept the Soul King's Power to remake your body, becoming a Royal Key and sharing the Soul King Palace's origin, then this Path of No Entry will be a safe road of advancement for you."

"If you insist on your decision and enter with a mortal body... once you fail, your very existence—including your power, memories, and soul—will be completely crushed and assimilated by the rules within. You will become a speck of dust in the river of the Soul King Palace's history, remembered by no one and known by no one. Have you thought this through?"

It was the final ultimatum, and also the final mercy. Before Liu Chuan stepped onto the road of no return, Ichibē Hyōsube gave him one final chance to choose "safety."

Liu Chuan listened quietly, without the slightest wavering on his face.

"There's no need, Lord Hyōsube." His voice was steady, echoing through the solemn space.

He shook his head. The movement was slight, yet carried the resolve to sever all hesitation.

That absolute confidence was like a solitary flame burning in the darkness. It did not scorch others, yet it shone brightly and unwaveringly, beyond doubt.

Ichibē Hyōsube looked at him deeply and remained silent for several breaths.

In the end, he said no more and merely nodded slowly and solemnly.

"Since it is your choice, then... as you wish."

Ichibē Hyōsube sat cross-legged on the ground, slowly unrolling a scroll in his hand as he began to recite in a deep voice.

There is beginning, but no end.

Names wither into silence.

From the abyss of clustered clouds rises the reverse current.

Pouring down in abundance, it becomes an empty vessel.

Pitiful wielders of useless vessels,

Bow beneath heavy pressure and turn to stone.

Stone crumbles into rocks and sand.

Struck by rain, it becomes drifting dust.

Those who are not vessels have no path of escape.

Yet without entry, there is no path to worship.

Speak the name of that which shall eventually die.

Path of No Entry.

As his voice fell, the silent region ahead suddenly began to slowly stir, as though churned by an invisible hand.

Deep within it, a faint white light appeared. Then, like ink dropped into water, the light rapidly spread outward.

Within the chaos, it outlined a narrow entrance, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

The entrance to the Path of No Entry had officially opened.

Liu Chuan hesitated no longer. He drew a deep breath, stepped forward, and began removing his shirt, revealing his lean, powerful upper body.

His bare feet stepped onto the slightly cool yet exceptionally firm Spirit Particle ground.

Finally, he removed his Zanpakuto, Heavenquake, from his waist and hung it back against his bare hip.

Bare-chested, barefoot, with a Zanpakuto hanging at his waist.

That was all he carried to challenge the Path of No Entry.

He turned back one last time and looked at the members of Zero Division behind him.

Kirio Hikifune could not help taking half a step forward. Her eyes were full of concern and blessing as she softly said, "Liu Chuan... you have to be careful!"

Tenjiro Kirinji curled his lip, but in the end, he still forced out a sentence through clenched teeth. "Don't die, brat. I don't want my effort to go to waste."

Ōetsu Nimaiya let out a whistle. His eyes gleamed behind his sunglasses as he grinned.

"Just as expected of the man I've got my eye on! Every time, you make a decision no one could've expected!"

Ichibē Hyōsube merely watched him in silence, his gaze deep and unreadable.

Liu Chuan gave everyone, especially Kirio Hikifune and Tenjiro Kirinji, a slight nod. It was both his final farewell and his thanks.

Then he turned around and stepped into that narrow entrance, which gave off no sacred aura, without hesitation.

The entrance slowly contracted, closed, and finally returned to a patch of silent chaos, as if it had never opened.

Only the five members of Zero Division remained on the clearing.

"It has begun," Ichibē Hyōsube said slowly, his voice spreading through the silence. "From here on, we wait. Wait for him... to walk out his own 'path,' or to return to nothingness."

The Path of No Entry—the trial had begun.

The instant Liu Chuan stepped through the entrance to the Path of No Entry, absolute silence surrounded him. Even the flow of time became vague and indistinct.

A solid sensation came from beneath his feet. At the same time, damp air carrying the scent of earth entered his nostrils.

Before him was a narrow, muddy path, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, stretching straight ahead.

The soil beneath his feet was wet, slick, and sticky. Walking on it barefoot, he could clearly feel its coldness and softness, as though it could drain away his body heat and strength, along with the tiny stones and grass roots hidden within.

On both sides of the path grew strange plants that emitted faint light.

Some resembled enlarged ferns, with pale green light flowing along the edges of their leaves.

Others looked like twisted shrubs, their branches gnarled and tangled, blooming with clusters of tiny flowers that seemed carved from pale purple crystal. Their glow was gentle.

Farther away, he could vaguely make out the outlines of towering trees covered in what seemed to be luminous moss.

The light emitted by these plants was not strong, but it was enough to illuminate the muddy trail.

In the air between the path and the glowing plants floated countless specks of blue fluorescence.

They were not still. Like tiny sprites with lives of their own, they drifted slowly with an extremely faint current of air coming from nowhere.

Their cold light reflected off the wet mud and the glowing surfaces of the plants, refracting into hazy, dreamlike halos. Yet it also carried an indescribable sense of unreality.

Liu Chuan tried to sense them with his spiritual perception, only to discover that these fluorescent specks seemed to exist somewhere between illusion and reality.

He could see them and sense the faint Spirit Particle fluctuations they emitted, but he could not lock onto their true forms or essence. They were like vivid yet untouchable phantoms.

So this was the Path of No Entry? A long, narrow trail of mud, silence, glowing plants, and phantom blue lights?

Liu Chuan did not dare lower his guard in the slightest. The more ordinary something appeared, the more dangerous it often was.

He steadied his mind, raised his spiritual perception to its limits, carefully sensed everything around him, and then began walking barefoot down the only muddy path.

His first step sank deeply into the cold, wet mud. Nothing unusual happened.

The second step, then the third... He maintained a steady, cautious pace. His bare feet remained in constant contact with the wet earth, receiving its unceasing chill and stickiness.

The path was narrow. Liu Chuan walked forward step by step. At some point, a light rain began to fall from the sky.

The rain was so fine that its shape was nearly impossible to see. He could only feel tiny cold touches against his cheeks, arms, and bare upper body, along with the slight dampness brought by the obvious increase in humidity.

The drizzle fell soundlessly. On the leaves of the glowing plants, it gathered into crystal-clear droplets that left faint trails of light as they rolled down.

When it landed on the floating blue fluorescence, the glowing specks trembled lightly as though startled, fluttering more urgently as their light seemed to grow wetter.

At the same time, Liu Chuan began to sense something different beneath his feet.

At first, it was merely the normal feedback of walking. But gradually, with every contact between his bare feet and the mud, he seemed to feel an extremely faint pulse.

It was as though he was not walking down an ordinary trail, but treading upon the skin or veins of some sleeping giant god.

As he continued forward, an invisible pressure seemed to rise from every direction.

At first, the air merely felt slightly sluggish, and breathing required a bit more effort.

But soon, that pressure began to take form. Like invisible tides, it seeped from the mist lining both sides of the path, from the mud beneath his feet, even from the floating fluorescence and glowing plants.

Slowly, it pressed against his body, crushed his spirit, and tried to slow him down and twist his will.

Liu Chuan's breathing gradually grew heavier.

The muscles of his bare upper body tightened slightly as he resisted the pressure.

His footsteps did not stop, but every step he lifted and planted required more willpower than before.

Yet just as he felt it becoming increasingly difficult to continue, just as the pressure upon his body grew ever stronger, something strange happened.

He felt the Spiritual Pressure within him growing stronger at a slow, steady pace.

It was not an explosive increase like the kind experienced in battle. Rather, it was as though this special environment and the omnipresent pressure were continuously tempering him.

Pressure and growth, pain and ascension—on this bizarre trail, they descended upon him at the same time in a cruel and direct manner.

If one's constitution was insufficient, the body would be unable to endure this process and would be destroyed. That was why Zero Division members came here only after their bodies had been remade with the Soul King's Power.

What made Liu Chuan's heart sink even further was that he sharply noticed something else. Though he had been walking forward without pause, the "end" of the muddy path, hidden in the mist at the edge of his vision—

Did not seem to be getting any closer with his advance. Instead... it carried a subtle, indescribable sense of moving away.

It was not that the path was physically growing longer, but rather a distortion of space and perception.

Every step he took seemed to carry him solidly forward, yet overall, the distance between him and what lay ahead was not shrinking. Instead, it was as though some force was quietly pulling it farther away.

Like someone running on a treadmill—seemingly charging forward with all their strength, yet actually staying in place, or even being pushed backward by the machine.

The more he advanced, the farther away the end became.

That realization, together with the increasingly powerful pressure around him and the Spiritual Pressure within him that was growing under pressure against all reason, formed a suffocating paradox and sense of despair.

You struggled. You endured. You grew stronger. Yet the goal you sought moved farther away as though mocking you.

Sweat and rainwater mixed together, dripping from Liu Chuan's chin and falling silently into the mud.

His heavy breathing sounded especially clear along the silent, rain-soaked path.

His bare feet were already covered in mud, cold and slick. Yet his eyes, hidden beneath black hair soaked by the rain, remained calm and sharp.

The Path of No Entry... truly lived up to its name.

This was not merely a trial of strength. It was an incomparably cruel interrogation of will, conviction, and one's understanding of the "path" itself.

Add bookmark

Return to directory

Report chapter error

Share with friends: