Magic Circuit

Outside the entrance to the Path of No Entry, time had always been a vague concept deep within the Soul King Palace.

But at this moment, for the five Zero Division members waiting here, every passing second seemed to stretch endlessly.

After Liu Chuan entered, the entrance ahead had completely returned to dead silence, without the slightest sound or flicker of light.

Yet no one left.

The five beings standing at the pinnacle of Soul Society remained quietly on guard here.

Tenjiro Kirinji stood with his arms folded, leaning against a protruding rock nearby.

A closer look revealed several exquisite jade boxes neatly arranged not far from his feet. They had already been opened, containing medicinal herbs, spiritual fluids, and bandages that emitted varying glows and auras.

There were even several oddly shaped instruments, clearly meant to set bones or stimulate Spirit Channels.

He had prepared a complete set of the highest-grade emergency supplies in advance.

"Do you really think he'll succeed?"

A cool voice broke the stagnant atmosphere of waiting.

It was Senjumaru Shutara. Her clear voice was directed at Tenjiro Kirinji, who had prepared for every contingency.

Her tone was not one of doubt, but more like an inquiry born of pure rationality.

Tenjiro Kirinji shifted his gaze from the entrance and tugged at the corner of his mouth, his expression carrying a trace of self-mockery and uncertainty.

"Succeed?" he sneered, though there was no humor in his voice.

"Honestly, I don't know. That damned Path of No Entry—even we had to shed a layer of skin before crawling out of it back then."

He paused, his voice dropping slightly. "But, Senjumaru, you know it too. That brat... after all, he's someone Lord Soul King personally chose.

"What Lord Soul King sees with those eyes of his isn't the same as what we see."

Tenjiro Kirinji's words revealed part of the truth.

The Soul King's will was the highest principle behind Zero Division's existence, and it was also the most important factor in their evaluation of Liu Chuan's actions.

"From a rational standpoint," Senjumaru Shutara continued, the glow around her wavering faintly while her voice remained calm and even.

"The Path of No Entry's trial is dangerous in every respect."

"First, there is the extreme oppression imposed on the body. An ordinary Soul Reaper, even one at captain level, possesses a spiritual body that has not been altered by the Soul King's Power. Its strength and resilience simply cannot withstand the terrifying pressure deeper within the trial."

"The bones will shatter, the Spirit Channels will rupture, and a body composed of Spirit Particles will begin collapsing from its most fundamental structure. This is an absolute physical threshold."

"Second, there is the cruel interrogation of one's heart and will." Her voice seemed to grow colder.

"The moment the slightest doubt arises regarding one's choices, or confusion appears toward the path ahead, the environment will immediately seize upon it and magnify it. One will then become lost within illusions and despair created by oneself, and the soul will sink. That is more complete than the destruction of the body."

She turned slightly toward Tenjiro Kirinji and Kirio Hikifune.

"The two of you exhausted every means before he entered, using the Soul King Palace's finest resources to stimulate his potential and condition his state.

"That did indeed greatly improve his 'starting point' and 'margin for error.'

"But it did not change the essential nature of his 'mortal body.'

"Judging from pure probability and logic, I believe the likelihood of him completing the entire journey and breaking through his limits... is below ten percent.

"The greater possibility is that he will be unable to endure the pressure midway and his spiritual body will collapse, or that he will lose himself and his soul will disperse. It would already be a blessing if even a trace of his remnant soul could be rescued in time."

Ten percent. That was Senjumaru Shutara's cruel assessment, based on known information and cold logic.

"Hey, hey, Senjumaru, you're still as unpleasant as ever."

Ōetsu Nimaiya had also been staring at the entrance. At those words, he turned his head and rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses.

"What's the point of saying all that now? He's already gone in. There's no use standing here and analyzing it over and over!"

He waved a hand, his tone returning to its usual flippancy, though a trace of barely noticeable tension was hidden deep in his eyes.

"We wait! If he can't come out..." He paused, his voice lowering.

"Then it can only mean Lord Soul King might have misjudged this one."

Tenjiro Kirinji neither agreed nor disagreed with Senjumaru Shutara's analysis. He merely bent down and inspected the emergency supplies at his feet once more.

Only after confirming that nothing was amiss did he straighten up, brush nonexistent dust from his hands, and speak with unquestionable resolve.

"Relax. I can't be bothered calculating probabilities. But I can guarantee one thing—"

He looked toward the entrance. "As long as that brat has one breath left in him, I can save him!"

That was the promise of the Hot Spring Demon, as well as the pride and responsibility he carried as a healer.

Everyone's gazes instinctively turned toward Ichibē Hyōsube, who had remained silent from beginning to end, sitting cross-legged in the center of the clearing as though he had merged with the space itself.

He seemed to be in meditation, massive prayer beads hanging quietly over his chest.

The conversations, anxiety, analysis, and promises around him seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Inside the Path of No Entry, everything was muddy, cold, and slippery.

Liu Chuan's bare feet rose and fell mechanically. With every step, they sank deeper, and pulling them free demanded even more strength.

At some point, the drizzle had turned into a ceaseless cold rain, icy to the bone as it mercilessly lashed his bare upper body.

His breathing had long since become uneven. Every inhalation seemed to require all the strength in his chest just to resist the invisible pressure pressing in from all directions.

That oppressive force had long surpassed mere physical weight. It had begun to penetrate his soul, seeping into every strand of Spirit Particle and every inch of his spiritual body's structure.

The Spiritual Pressure within him, which had been growing abnormally and surging ever more violently beneath the pressure, now seemed to have become part of the burden. It rampaged through his narrow meridians.

Together with the external pressure, it assaulted him from within and without, seeking to burst his existence apart from the inside and grind it to dust from the outside.

His body was nearing its limit.

His Soul Reaper body, unreforged by the Soul King's Power, seemed at last to have reached the limit of this Path of No Entry trial, despite the utmost conditioning from Kirio Hikifune and Tenjiro Kirinji.

And yet, at that moment—

A pitch-black force spread from Liu Chuan's body. It was Magic Power, something that did not exist in this world!

It was Liu Chuan's foundational power from his previous life, a unique power system he had forcibly carved out in this world through ten years of painstaking study, using Soul Reaper Power as fuel.

Screech—!

It was as though countless invisible carving knives swept rapidly across the surface of his bare upper body!

Along with the surging Magic Power, strange circuits emerged from his chest, shoulders, arms, and other vital areas—complex, profound, and slowly extending and intertwining like living creatures.

They rapidly spread throughout his body!

In the end, they formed Magic Circuits across his upper body, brimming with ominous and powerful energy!

The black circuits glimmered faintly, forming an extremely glaring contrast against the pale gold, pale green, and pale purple radiance of the Spirit Particles around him.

Wherever the circuits passed, the terrifying external pressure that had nearly crushed him seemed to meet an invisible barrier, with part of it cleverly being "deflected" and "absorbed"!

Within the depths of his pupils, a deep, black magical glow faintly flowed.

He lowered his head and looked at the black Magic Circuits on his chest and arms, slowly pulsing like living creatures and radiating a powerful aura.

This was his trump card, and the greatest foundation behind his refusal of the Soul King's Power and his belief in his own strength.

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