["Oh. So you have finally arrived here."
Scorching flames burned fiercely all around - this seemed to be some kind of ruins.
Heat waves struck his face, burning his skin, and his throat was clearly aware that it had begun to dry up.
But the surrounding scenery paled in comparison to the figure at the very center of the flaming ruins - a presence that radiated absolute authority. A silhouette that seemed to overwhelm everything else stood there.
Wearing an all-black double-breasted coat. The binding straps across his chest formed a cross pattern.
The heat waves blew through his waist-length silver-white hair, and his blue-green, slightly pointed eyes gazed in this direction.
The corners of his mouth curved upward slightly, revealing a hint of a smile.
"Or rather... do you remember my name now?"]
Ling Qing opened his eyes. The sun had moved position, and sunlight penetrated through the gaps in the canopy, landing precisely on his face.
But that wasn't what had woken him up.
He blinked gently. His eyes, which had seemed drowsy when he first opened them, immediately became alert.
Ling Qing sat up straight, reached out to rub his stiff neck from sleeping, and smiled at the figures around him who were cautiously approaching.
"Sorry, I always have the habit of taking a nap after lunch. I almost forgot to entertain you all."
As he spoke, he stretched out his left hand and grasped the katana that was within easy reach beside him. As if casually getting up, he had already drawn the blade from its sheath.
The sunlight filtering through the canopy fell on the blade of Ling Qing's drawn katana, reflecting not the slightest warmth - only coldness and the killing intent that was about to claim lives!
Ling Qing's position was under a tree that wasn't particularly lush - in fact, it seemed half-dead, with a canopy that wasn't very dense.
Around Ling Qing were men holding various weapons: wooden sticks, forks, hoes, and some even had katanas identical to the one in Ling Qing's hand.
Unlike Ling Qing's calm, composed, and even somewhat lazy appearance, these men radiated fierceness, cunning, and undisguised greed and brutality.
These people had originally intended to sneak up on Ling Qing while he was sleeping and kill him in his sleep.
But now, when they had only approached less than half the distance, Ling Qing had awakened as if he had already sensed them. Their plan had failed.
However, they had no intention of simply fleeing. Instead, they looked at each other and saw the same greed and fierceness in each other's eyes as in their own.
In this place, those who couldn't be ruthless had no way to survive. Weak, hesitant people couldn't even survive a single day! They had heard that this newcomer to Rukongai had been lucky enough to obtain food and water from a dead Soul Reaper.
Those things weren't what they needed, but they were items they could sell for big money. They absolutely wouldn't allow such valuable items to remain in the hands of someone who had just arrived in Rukongai!
Even though this person had also obtained the dead Soul Reaper's sword when he acquired the food and water, several of them had similar weapons.
No one wanted to respond to Ling Qing - all that could be heard were simultaneous roars coming from all directions!
Whether it was to intimidate Ling Qing or simply to boost their own morale by shouting, when these men with different weapons abandoned their "stealth" and charged forward with loud cries, they actually created quite an impressive sense of pressure.
Although there was no coordination between them and no sense of cooperation whatsoever, their primitive and savage, unrestrained greedy instincts actually formed a beast-like feeling.
"Random punches can kill a master" - this seemed to be their displayed tactic.
And they seemed to have grown accustomed to this tactic of using numerical superiority to seize by force.
However...
"Wouldn't you ask how many waves of people came before you? Oh, sorry, I forgot - they can't go back to tell you anymore!"
Before his words had even finished, Ling Qing, despite being the one surrounded, actually launched the first attack.
Though there was still considerable distance between them, he had already raised his katana. With a twist of his wrist, the katana mercilessly slashed through the air!
What followed defied common sense - something that should have been absolutely impossible in reality actually happened!
The cold gleam of the katana reflecting sunlight flashed almost simultaneously across the eyes of three men charging at Ling Qing from the front. The katana that Ling Qing had swung from a distance actually produced a lightning-fast, blinding flash!
Like cutting through tofu, the men charging at Ling Qing with identical katanas in their hands suddenly felt their bodies become lighter. When they belatedly looked down at their own bodies, they finally realized...
Their upper bodies had already separated from their lower bodies...
Their lower halves had been left behind.
"This... impossible..."
These were their final words in this world.
Before they could even get close to Ling Qing, three people had already fallen in an instant! Seeing this scene, the remaining attackers were filled with rage and began to retreat.
But several more brilliant silver lines bloomed before their eyes! Ling Qing, who had been under the tree just a moment ago, seemed to teleport through the gaps between them, appearing like a phantom in front of a man whose feet felt heavy as lead and who held a hoe.
The corners of Ling Qing's mouth curved upward slightly, seeming to show a somewhat pleased smile.
This was the last scene that remained in this man's eyes.
Then, the katana pierced through his body. Without even a second's delay, Ling Qing flung the man like an object toward another man who was charging from the side with desperate cries.
The man Ling Qing had thrown flew backward as if struck by an irresistible boulder.
The air seemed to be cut, producing a whistling sound. The katana danced, layers of silver flashes continuously appeared, and a ghost-like figure moved between every man who tried to attack or escape, mercilessly eliminating all attackers!
The small group of over ten people couldn't even last two minutes.
Ling Qing raised his katana and forcefully swung it toward the ground. The blood on the blade was flung off, forming a bloody arc on the ground.
Behind him, as he methodically sheathed his katana, the last two men fell like fountains of blood...
After sheathing his katana, Ling Qing looked up at the sky. Even without looking directly at the sun, he couldn't help but squint slightly.
There were hardly any clouds visible in the sky. Strong sunlight shone directly down, but the cracked ground couldn't even produce steam.
The air was filled with the smell of dust and poverty, and the sound of cicadas seemed to linger endlessly in his ears.
Everything around him was poor and backward, without the slightest trace of modern society.
And this was...
The third day after Ling Qing's death