The battle raged on, growing more intense by the moment.
Finally, Yamamoto released his Zanpakutō's Shikai.
Shikai—Jōkaku Enjō!
Flames erupted from Ryūjin Jakka's blade, forming a sky of burning walls that closed around Lin Xuan like a massive hand.
Lin Xuan smiled.
Facing Yamamoto's attack, he didn't dodge—he charged straight in.
"My god—is he trying to die?"
"Captain-Commander Yamamoto's Shikai flames reach temperatures comparable to the sun's surface. Is this Ryōka insane?"
"Hmph. This war will end soon."
The surrounding Shinigami couldn't help crying out at Lin Xuan's move.
In their eyes, he'd be swallowed by flames any moment—burned to ash by Ryūjin Jakka.
Yamamoto's Zanpakutō possessed the highest attack power and combat strength of any blade in the Soul Society—the strongest, oldest fire-type Zanpakutō.
Shikai temperature equaled the sun's surface. Bankai equaled the sun's core.
Charging head-on was suicide.
But before they could process it, white light radiated from Lin Xuan's blade. Bone-chilling cold erupted from the blade's edge.
Shikai—Some no Yamari!
Lin Xuan drove the blade into the ground. White frost shot upward from the earth, colliding with the sky of flame.
Boom!
The massive flaming hand was torn open where cold met fire.
The piercing cold didn't stop—it raced forward along the ground, freezing everything in its path.
Finally, frost reached Yamamoto's feet and halted.
Lin Xuan walked calmly out of the ring of fire, stepping across white ice.
"Not bad," Lin Xuan smiled.
The Shinigami's faces changed.
Arrogant!
Captain-Commander Yamamoto's Jōkaku Enjō—dismissed as merely "not bad"?
They'd never seen such audacity.
But they couldn't deny it—Lin Xuan's strength exceeded expectations. Even Yamamoto's Shikai had been blocked effortlessly.
A few people looked puzzled though.
Lin Xuan's technique to block the Captain-Commander felt familiar—like they'd seen it somewhere before.
Beside Kūkaku Shiba, Rukia Kuchiki was completely baffled.
From the start, Lin Xuan's long blade had looked exactly like her Zanpakutō—Sode no Shirayuki.
And the technique he'd just used was unmistakably her Shikai—Some no Yamari!
Rukia was lost.
How did her Zanpakutō end up with Lin Xuan?
And Lin Xuan's Shikai seemed far more powerful than hers—enough to block the Captain-Commander's attack.
Rukia knew clearly—if it were her, she couldn't have blocked that strike with Some no Yamari.
What was going on?
Lin Xuan possessed Rukia's Zanpakutō because he'd used a Universal Copy Card on her.
The Universal Copy Card copied not just abilities but items as well.
When Lin Xuan first Edo Tensei'd Madara Uchiha, he'd copied his ninjutsu and Sharingan the same way.
So Lin Xuan's blade wasn't Rukia's original—it was a replica. But in his hands, its power far exceeded Rukia's. Otherwise he couldn't have fought Yamamoto this long without losing.
Yamamoto watched Lin Xuan, equally surprised. He'd noticed something too.
But his expression quickly calmed. "You've exceeded my expectations. But if that's all you've got—it's not enough."
His figure vanished again, appearing instantly before Lin Xuan.
Shikai—Taimatsu!
Yamamoto drew his Zanpakutō. The instant the blade cleared its sheath, infinite flames erupted, forming a tornado of fire spinning toward Lin Xuan.
The scorching flames would burn the target to ash before extinguishing.
Then he drove his Zanpakutō into the ground. Ten pillars of fire erupted around Lin Xuan, encircling him completely.
Enjō Tōkyō!
Lin Xuan smiled faintly. Sode no Shirayuki blazed white again. Extreme cold filled the surrounding space.
Shikai—Minus Fifty Degrees!
Centered on Lin Xuan, moisture in the earth within a hundred li froze instantly. The ground shook violently.
Rukia hadn't fully mastered this technique yet.
Lin Xuan had developed and improved it based on Sode no Shirayuki's properties.
He swept his blade. A blade-light of condensed cold slashed out, colliding with the incoming flames.
Boom!
To Lin Xuan's surprise, this time he couldn't cut through the fire.
The tornado of flame still bore down on him with terrifying force.
In that case—
Shikai—Absolute Zero!
Lin Xuan smiled calmly. His body temperature plummeted.
Under the extreme cold, space itself seemed to freeze solid—and his figure vanished.
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T/N:
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