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He had actually broken free!
"How is this possible?!"
Shock filled his eyes, yet the Zanpakutō still swung down.
"Boom!"
Akashi was blasted backward, but after taking that strike, although blood poured from his mouth, a smile spread across his lips.
"King Yuanli, this is as far as you go!"
Li Yuanli's face darkened. His sharp gaze locked onto the opponent as he tightened his grip on the Zanpakutō.
Naturally, he understood what Akashi meant. Every slash he unleashed and every burst of Reiatsu multiplied his consumption. After fighting up to this point, coupled with the earlier temporal-spatial turbulence, the power within his body had already begun collapsing and was weakening at a terrifying speed.
"Then before that happens, I'll finish you first!"
Li Yuanli spoke viciously, crimson killing intent bursting from his pupils.
His figure suddenly moved, shooting forward instantly. The Reiatsu throughout his body swelled even further at this moment. That terrifying aura surged outward, suffocating the air itself, while the ground beneath rumbled and collapsed under the pressure.
"A beast's final frenzy?"
"I have to block this!!"
Akashi's pupils contracted, his entire body trembling with tension.
He knew the other party had already realized he could not maintain his combat strength much longer. Therefore, he had gathered all his remaining energy into this single strike.
This would be the opponent's most terrifying attack,
A final blow like a fleeting meteor, brilliant for only an instant before vanishing.
"The rings of time, the hands of time, the minutes of time…
Dreamlike illusions wandering through the world, silently threading through the mortal realm, yet truly existing as the sound of time itself."
"Resound!"
"A song for those departing - A requiem for burial!"
"Longsong!!"
Li Yuanli stomped upon the ground, shattering layer after layer of earth as he chanted.
At that instant, the Time's Cry in his hand suddenly twisted into an afterimage. Then, at both the hilt and the tip of the blade, it was as though two blooming flowers appeared, blossoming into radiant white phantom flowers that formed a strange ring.
"Buzz buzz buzz!"
The void began trembling. Invisible ripples spread outward, seemingly enveloping the two of them within. Vast and bizarre temporal-spatial power began radiating forth.
Li Yuanli's Reiatsu and stamina started draining violently at that very moment.
In the blink of an eye, he had already arrived before Akashi. One slash swept out; the twin blooming flowers rippled and spread, while intangible flower petals drifted through the air with a faint fragrance.
"This is?!"
Akashi, who had lowered his head to dodge the slash and was about to retreat, suddenly underwent a drastic change in expression.
His skin, hair, organs, limbs, and bones were all aging at that very moment, and at an astonishing speed.
"This is the requiem song that buries the departed. It cannot be evaded, cannot be escaped, a forced strike!"
"It is also the ultimate clash of life and death, the gamble of existence itself!"
"If it succeeds, you die, buried within space-time. If it fails, all the power in this king's body disperses, my strength exhausted, leaving me at the mercy of others!"
Li Yuanli swung his blade once more. His tone was calm, but his eyes were incomparably sharp.
Around him, specks of Reiatsu scattered away as the immense power within him rapidly declined.
"This… is the Song of Time!"
Just as he said, this was the ultimate technique of Time's Cry, the supreme art. Only when every part of himself had been pushed to its absolute limit could he unleash this desperate, life-risking strike.
If successful, the enemy would fall into the terminal point of space-time and perish there.
If he failed, all his power would be exhausted. He would not even have the strength to move, doomed to die without hope of survival. The two rapidly clashed again and again, their long blades colliding, evading, shifting positions.
At this moment, both their expressions were incomparably grave. Beads of sweat rolled down their cheeks, dispersing into the void before even reaching the ground.
Li Yuanli's Reiatsu and stamina grew weaker and weaker. Meanwhile, Akashi's body across from him became increasingly aged. His red hair gradually turned white, his skin wrinkled and dulled, the fat on his body shriveling away until he became gaunt as a corpse.
The high-speed collision between the two left everyone around them utterly horrified.
In merely five or six breaths, Li Yuanli had exhausted everything. The last traces of his Reiatsu and stamina were spent; he could no longer swing his blade.
Amid a flash of light, Time's Cry reverted to its original form. At the same time, Li Yuanli's entire body shook violently as pale white bones cracked apart and shattered onto the ground.
"Thud!"
Li Yuanli crashed heavily to the ground, no longer possessing even a shred of strength.
He lifted his head and looked at Akashi standing before him, trembling unsteadily, already resembling a decrepit old man, and let out a long sigh.
"Did I fail?"
Just a little more, only the slightest bit more, but he could no longer hold on. In the end, Akashi had survived.
All his efforts had fallen short at the final moment.
The Song of Time was the ultimate attack. Had he been at his peak, this move would have instantly annihilated anyone it faced. No one could resist the power of space and time.
Whether it was aging or regression, the beginning and end of life were both death!
Just like the starting point and endpoint of a ring, Time's Cry fused them together, leading everything toward the ultimate end.
At that very moment, as though experiencing a final flash of vitality before death, Akashi's aged body suddenly began reversing through time once more, changing from old to young. After several breaths, he had returned to his original appearance. If the technique succeeded, the effect was irreversible, but if it failed, everything would return to normal.
"What a terrifying Skill…" Akashi muttered with lingering fear.
It activated by force, ignoring all defensive methods. He might have been able to evade or disperse temporal-spatial turbulence, but against this move, he had absolutely no countermeasure.
"I was only one step away from reaching the end of my life."
This was the first time he had ever come so close to death, so clearly witnessing what the end of one's life looked like.
It was horrifying.
That great terror between life and death was enough to make anyone tremble.
"However, since I'm unharmed…"
After calming himself down, Akashi's eyes suddenly turned icy cold, cruelty blooming within them.
"Then the one who dies is you!"
He raised the Zanpakutō high into the air and slashed down viciously toward Li Yuanli's neck.
Across the battlefield, everyone's expressions changed as they shouted loudly.
"Yuanli!!"
"Xiao Lili!!"
"Stop!!"
Li Yuanli closed his eyes.
At this moment, he was extremely tired, so tired that he could barely remain conscious. The exhaustion of his stamina had hollowed out his body completely, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell.
But his thoughts still remained, and his emotions at this moment were complicated.
"This world really is my tragic world…"
"I got killed the moment I arrived, and now I'm about to die again here."
"It really…"
"Is so damn unwilling…"
Li Yuanli muttered inwardly, but he knew very clearly that at this moment, no one could save him anymore.
"Whoosh!"
The blade wind swept over him. Even through the air, the sharp sword tip felt as though it had already pierced his face and neck.
"So this time… it's really over."
"Then…"
"Farewell to this world."
He sighed inwardly, quietly waiting for death to descend.
However, in that instant, at this critical moment where disaster hung by a thread,
"Shhk!"
A black-and-red crack suddenly split open across the sky, radiating an ominous aura.
At the same time, a streak of light shot forth, arriving before Li Yuanli with lightning-like speed.
"Clang!"
A crisp metallic collision rang out as Akashi's Zanpakutō was blocked.
"You are?!"
Akashi's pupils contracted. He rapidly retreated, immediately widening the distance between himself and this unexpected intruder.
Pale white robes.
Dark emerald eyes.
Coldness.
Not the slightest fluctuation of emotion upon his face.
The entire person appeared icy and lifeless, enough to send chills down one's spine.
"The First Attendant under my king."
"Ulquiorra."
The newcomer spoke indifferently, with no trace of emotion detectable in either expression or voice.
(End of Chapter)