Crackling, crackling!
The sound of ice freezing echoed incessantly, and everything around was covered in frost.
In the world between heaven and earth, everything was plunged into cold silence.
Soon, the wind and snow transformed into a colossal pillar, encasing Bai Ye in its center.
One by one, ice flowers bloomed from the base, densely packed and continuously rising, until a pillar formed by a multitude of ice flowers froze into existence.
The hundred ice flowers had bloomed.
So...
Would Bai Ye die?
RUMBLE!
Suddenly, a tremendous roar erupted. The ice flower pillar cracked open with enormous fissures, and then, the pillar suddenly collapsed, scattering into countless shards of frost.
And then...
Bai Ye reappeared before everyone's eyes.
Like a demon god descending from the heavens.
RUMBLE!
Bai Ye descended from the sky, and the moment his feet touched the ground, a deafening boom echoed. The earth shattered inch by inch, countless fragments of rock churned upwards, and purplish-black smoke billowed outwards.
Bai Ye raised his Fang Tian Hua Ji, sweeping it forcefully outwards in all directions.
A wave of purplish-black radiance surged outwards, and all the nearby Shinigami were blasted away by a single戟 stroke.
In an instant, around Bai Ye...
No one was left standing!
One strike, annihilation!
Bai Ye lowered his Fang Tian Hua Ji again, dragging it as he walked past the fallen Shinigami.
Suddenly, the young captain lying on the ground opened his eyes. As Bai Ye passed him, their gazes met once more.
"If we meet again..." the young captain said, "I will become stronger."
Bai Ye smiled and replied, "Then, I look forward to our next encounter."
Bai Ye raised his head, dragging his Fang Tian Hua Ji, and continued walking forward until his figure disappeared at the end of the long street.
...
"Autumn is approaching, making one sentimental?"
Having left the Seireitei, Bai Ye did not linger but continued forward, shaking off the somber, melancholic mood.
The loneliness of a master, Bai Ye felt, was somewhat superfluous for him at the moment. If he hadn't drawn from the golden gacha and obtained the embodiment of the God of War, Lu Bu, that young captain would have been able to easily defeat him!
Therefore, after recovering from his emotions, the first thing Bai Ye thought of was...
Run quickly!
With the commotion he had caused, he certainly couldn't stay in this Rukongai.
Bai Ye was certain that it wouldn't be long before he appeared on the wanted list, with all the Shinigami hunting him down.
However, since he had already caused trouble...
Bai Ye was also straightforward. He directly broke into the homes of the profiteers controlling water and food in Rukongai, snatched a large amount of water and food, and then casually left.
Too many debts don't weigh one down. It's all hanging, can they hang him twice?
After stealing supplies, Bai Ye directly fled, leaving Rukongai under the cover of darkness. The Shinigami would not be able to reach him then.
However, despite causing trouble, Bai Ye was quite satisfied with his gains in Rukongai. He had obtained a uniform from the Black Organization, participated in the Twelve Great Battles and acquired the Phoenix ability, and the Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura, was also quite a good item. Aside from the absence of God Stone fragments, the haul was simply perfect!
Then...
Bai Ye suddenly had an epiphany. He was still in a state of Lu Bu's embodiment. Gacha items were said to last for twenty-four hours...
Since that was the case, he should naturally make full use of it!
Bai Ye quickly found his target!
Heading southwest from Rukongai was an area called the Graveyard of Spirits. This area, among the three major regions of the World Battlefield, was a dangerous zone filled with many evil spirits and zombies.
It was certainly dangerous, but it also came with many opportunities. According to Bai Ye's memory, one could acquire the art of corpse driving and even zombies as tamed beasts from here. Furthermore, there were many exorcists in the Graveyard of Spirits from whom one could obtain Taoist magic and various exorcising artifacts.
However, Bai Ye had no interest in any of these. The only thing Bai Ye was interested in now was...
Kill, kill, kill...
While the embodiment of the God of War, Lu Bu, was still active, how could the evil spirits and zombies in the Graveyard of Spirits possibly be Bai Ye's match?
Therefore, Bai Ye's strength manifested in his ability to kill from night to day, and from day to night.
However, the zombies and evil spirits in the Graveyard of Spirits had gone mad, and even the chosen ones who frequented the Graveyard of Spirits had gone mad. Just as they were diligently subduing demons and exterminating monsters, a figure suddenly appeared, and the evil spirit was instantly scattered.
Several chosen ones exchanged confused glances. What the hell?
On the other side, a group of people was surrounding a zombie. Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed from the sky, and Bai Ye descended like a demon god, splitting the besieged zombie in half with a single戟 stroke. He then quickly leaped away, vanishing without a trace.
Several chosen ones looked at each other. After a while, one of them finally spoke, "Is this the legendary flying zombie?"
When hungry, he stuffed anything into his mouth; when thirsty, he guzzled down water. Bai Ye was truly in a killing frenzy.
And the benefits brought by this frenzied killing were...
In less than a day, the spirit gathering on the Five Spirits Plate was full again.
Five Spirits Plate, Spirit Gathering (500/500)
"You have completed Spirit Gathering cultivation. Your Strength, Speed, Stamina, and Spirit stats have increased by 5 points."
"You have completed Spirit Gathering cultivation. Your Five Spirits Sorcery has been enhanced."
"Due to the enhancement of your Five Spirits Sorcery, Wind Spell has evolved into Warm Mist."
Bai Ye completed Spirit Gathering, and his physical attributes increased again. This time, it was a comprehensive increase of 5 points to all physical attributes. Simultaneously, the Wind Spell evolved into Warm Mist. However...
Warm Mist: Can restore a certain amount of stamina, heal injuries to a certain extent, and use mist to obscure an area.
Bai Ye was a bit dumbfounded. Good heavens, after the Wind Spell evolved, it lost its offensive effect?
Restoring stamina and healing injuries...
While it looked quite good, much stronger than a pure wind-based attack, the Water Spell could also do this. Even if the effect of Warm Mist was stronger, the effects still overlapped, rendering it quite meaningless. The only useful effect was obscuring an area with mist.
This should be considered a negative effect, used to strip the enemy of their vision.
"Better than nothing!"
Bai Ye wasn't sure if the enhancement of the Wind Spell was good or not. It seemed he had lost an offensive means but gained a means of negative effect.
However, Bai Ye felt he didn't really need the negative effect of obscuring vision, and he didn't care about losing the wind-based offensive capability of the Wind Spell. He had so many offensive methods, he didn't lack this one.
However, one thing was certain: continuous enhancement of the Five Elements Sorcery would definitely require overcoming each stage. Even if the effect of Warm Mist was somewhat disappointing to Bai Ye, it at least represented a step closer to the Taoist magic of the third stage.
Correspondingly, the spirit gathering on the Five Spirits Plate had increased again, becoming 0/1000.
...