Aizen stared intently at the Hogyoku in Lin Xuan's hand, his eyes filled with disbelief. "How is this possible? Why do you have a Hogyoku as well?"
At this moment, the composure he had maintained all along vanished without a trace.
Seeing Aizen's stunned expression, Lin Xuan nodded in supreme satisfaction.
Ah, yes! There was nothing quite like watching someone act all high and mighty, only to turn around and slap them right in the face!
Noticing Aizen's unblinking glare, Lin Xuan gave a light chuckle. "If I told you I just picked it up by the side of the road, would you believe me?"
Aizen narrowed his eyes, a faint, cold sneer escaping his lips. "What do you think?"
"Heh, I knew you wouldn't buy it. Fine, to tell you the truth, I actually used a Universal Copy Card to copy it directly from Rukia Kuchiki!"
Aizen's face instantly darkened. "Are you taking me for a fool?" he said, his tone dripping with malice.
Lin Xuan shrugged helplessly. I'm telling you the absolute truth, man. Why won't you believe me? This thing really was duplicated right alongside the Zanpakuto, Sode no Shirayuki, when I copied Rukia's abilities!
Lin Xuan thought for a moment before offering another explanation. "Alright, alright. To be completely honest, Kisuke Urahara gave it to me not too long ago!"
This time, Aizen fell silent.
Looking at Aizen's expression, Lin Xuan could tell that the man had actually bought this total nonsense.
Lin Xuan was completely at a loss for words.
He wouldn't believe the truth, yet he readily swallowed a lie that was blatantly impossible. Given Urahara's personality, creating even a single Hogyoku was an anomaly. Back then, Urahara had desperately wanted to destroy it; failing that, his only option had been to seal it away inside Rukia Kuchiki. So how could Urahara possibly have created a second one?
Aizen, however, viewed the matter through a completely different lens.
Although he had no idea why Urahara would entrust another Hogyoku to Lin Xuan, he firmly believed Lin Xuan's words. It was the only explanation that made logical sense—because in this entire world, only that man possessed the intellect and capability to create a Hogyoku!
"Kisuke... I truly underestimated you," Aizen sneered, his eyes gleaming with greedy fervor as he stared at the crystal in Lin Xuan's palm. "To think you created more than one Hogyoku back then and almost fooled me completely!"
"Unfortunately, the very secrets you went to such lengths to hide have now presented themselves before me. I doubt you ever anticipated that both Hogyokus would ultimately fall into my hands!"
Lin Xuan was genuinely flabbergasted by what he heard.
"Holy shit, the thing is literally in my hands right now. Just how absurdly arrogant do you have to be to say something like that?"
Yet Aizen saw nothing wrong with his declaration.
He fixed his gaze on Lin Xuan, brimming with absolute confidence. "I must admit, your ability to stand toe-to-toe with Head Captain Yamamoto proves you possess remarkable strength. I find myself quite interested in you."
"However... whatever Aizen Sosuke desires, no one in this world can stop me from taking it!"
Lin Xuan suddenly turned to Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto and pointed a finger at Aizen. "Hey, old man! He's openly looking down on you! Are you really just going to sit there and take that?"
Yamamoto: "???"
The man was clearly talking to you—why are you dragging me into this?
Still, Yamamoto did not remain silent. He cast a stern look at Aizen and growled, "Aizen, do you truly believe you can walk out of Soul Society alive?"
As his voice echoed across the battlefield, intense, scorching flames once again erupted from his Zanpakuto.
"Head Captain Yamamoto, do you really still have the stamina and strength left to fight me?" Aizen remarked with a faint, mocking smile.
Before his words could fully settle, Lin Xuan suddenly delivered a swift, brutal kick directly ahead!
BOOM!
A deafening impact shattered the air as a figure was sent flying backward, hurtling hundreds of meters through the air before crashing into the ground. It was none other than Aizen Sosuke!
"What?! When did he get over there?!"
Everyone present gasped in utter shock. When they turned their gaze back to where Aizen had been standing a split second prior, they saw his remaining figure slowly fading away like a lingering afterimage.
Lin Xuan casually tossed the Hogyoku up and down in his palm, grinning. "Like I said, aren't you being a bit too full of yourself?"
Aizen dusted himself off and looked back at Lin Xuan, his interest visibly piqued. "Fascinating. So you can actually see through my Kyoka Suigetsu. You really are a guy full of surprises."
As he spoke, he slowly drew the Zanpakuto from his waist.
BOOM!
A terrifying torrent of Spiritual Pressure violently erupted from his body, casting a crushing weight over the entire battlefield. Under this overwhelming Reiatsu, numerous Soul Reapers found themselves trembling, barely able to breathe.
An invisible, suffocating murderous intent filled the atmosphere, sending shivers down everyone's spines.
"Damn it! What is with this terrifying Spiritual Pressure?!"
"How can he be this strong?!"
"This has completely surpassed standard Captain-level strength... Is this Aizen's true power?"
A calm, gentle smile remained fixed on Aizen's face as he murmured softly, "I have decided. Before I depart, I had better eliminate you right here and now. It would be troublesome if any unexpected variables arose in the future."
In the fraction of a second, he vanished—reappearing directly at Lin Xuan's side!
So fast!
The pupils of every onlooker shrank in horror. None of them could track Aizen's movements; all they saw was his blade slicing cleanly through Lin Xuan's neck!
Yet in the very next instant, Aizen's eyebrows knitted together into a deep frown.
The strike had hit nothing but air. Before his blade could connect, Lin Xuan had already stepped entirely out of his attack range.
"How interesting," Aizen sneered coldly. "I watched your battle with Head Captain Yamamoto and thought I had grasped the full extent of your abilities. It seems I underestimated you once again!"
Without missing a beat, Aizen gave chase, closing the distance instantly and delivering another ferocious downward slash!
BOOM!
With a single strike, the earth beneath them shattered violently!
A bottomless chasm ripped through the ground, bisecting the terrain, while the sheer force of the blow obliterated the majority of the surrounding structures within Seireitei!
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T/N:
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