Bankai Training

After leaving the Inheritance Palace, they went back to Su Yan's place where they decided to spend the next few days with each other as a couple.

None of them knew about each other's personal life so discussed a lot about it in these few days where Liu Zheng got to know one shocking fact about Su Yan's parents.

They were actually killed around 11 years ago when the younger disciple of the Sect Master went on a rampage in the sect. Su Yan was actually moved to a safer location because his grand father was an elder of the sect and only later came back to the sect where she heard about her parents demise which left a deep scar on her heart and lead her to give all her time to cultivation and used an ice type art so that she doesn't have to feel such emotions again.

Liu Zheng who had decided to handle the matters regarding Yang Bai lightly since it didn't have much to do with him now found a deep sense of hatred towards him and promised himself to give him a death that he deserved though he didn't say anything about it to Su Yan who had with time moved on from this incident knowing that the perpetrator who killed her parents is no longer alive so there is no one to inflict revenge upon.

She also got to know more about Liu Zheng from only this life because he decided it wasn't time to talk about it yet. There wasn't much to Liu Zheng's story from this life as he has been an orphan for as long as he remembered and even old man told him that his parents had died early on and his relatives who were too poor to raise him had to abandon him to an orphanage under the High Heaven Pavilion where he was later selected for being able to cultivate and then the rest is history.

He also introduced her to Zangetsu and Old Man which welcomed her to the family but she was very embarrassed when she got to know that they practically live inside his soul but he soon cleared the understanding by explaining to her that their outside perception is totally under his control which finally calmed her down.

(Zangetsu and Old man Zangetsu are family.)

Su Yan also got to know about his special powers which did surprise her a lot but was happy to know that her husband has more measures to protect himself when he is out there on any adventures.

They also told her grandfather and her brother Su Mu about their new relationship which they both accepted happily and with an open heart. Their relationship was later announced to the sect where everyone had a positive reaction except for some who had a crush on her and Great Elder who recently lost his direct disciple only a few months ago but everyone skillfully ignored him while letting him know very clearly that he is being ignored.

Time wasn't a luxury they could currently afford because Liu Zheng knew about Yang Bai so after over a week of spending time together they had decided to continue on with their cultivation and he also gifted the Ice Jade Slab that he had found in the mountains to Su Yan which was enough for her to cultivate until peak of Immortal Ascension. She accepted it without any problem since they are now a couple.

Inside the Destitute Dragon Ravine

It has been a month and a half since Liu Zheng entered the dragon ravine and started cultivating using the thick demonic yin qi which was permeating from the demon corpse as well as the Flaming Yang Stone he got from the treasure island.

His cultivation realm has broken through thrice in this time period and he has reached the peak of True Foundation realm but hasn't sensed the opportunity to break through yet. The cultivation speed has been exponentially faster than he has ever experienced before but this is still not enough to defeat Yang Bai at all so he decided to go back to the treasure island to solve something which has been pending for some time.

Treasure Island

Liu Zheng was in a battle stance with his zanpakuto in his hand, ready to attack at anytime and on the other side was zangetsu with his mask on giving a truly terrifying feeling off of him.

They had decided that it was now time for Liu Zheng to start training for bankai which doesn't have a time limit but has requirement of the formation of Knowledge Sea but for most it is after Transcendent level but Liu Zheng has always been different and he needs the power.

He decided not to use any spatial technique as that would be blatant cheating and he wanted to defeat him in his own style. The pure killer instinctual way.

As they fight started both of them vanished from their position using cero and only sounds of swords clashing was heard from different parts of the island on land, air and sometimes even the river and sea exploded creating tsunamis in the processes and waves which travelled for hundreds of kilometers.

Each showed the other their superior speed, precision and awareness of their surrounding to attack and deflect the other one's attack as well as their killer instinct where their bodies moved before thinking with the only intention of killing the other.

Between such clashes, they land on the ground fighting each other's sword with pure strength where with each swing of their sword mountains where decimated and the lands were reshaped.

After one such powerful clash of swords with their strength they fly towards the two opposite sides of the island and turn back coming towards each other with full speed where they meet exactly at the center and as their swords met each other, two huge shock waves cut the underlying ground like a cross creating two miniature dragon ravine below them.

During the whole fight, Liu Zheng's understanding and synchronization with his own killer instinct reached a whole new level where the thought of everything in this world and all his worries all slowly left his mind and only the fight with zangetsu remained.

The fight went on for three whole days where it started with Liu Zheng having some disadvantages due to Zangetsu having more strength and better killer instinct where he continued to grow and was able to bridge the gap by the middle of the fight and after that both of them actually showed improvement but at the end of three days it was clear that after days of fighting without any kind of rest had totally exhausted both of them and they collectively without any words decided to end it with one final attack.

Both of them filled their swords full with the last of their Qi and fired a getsuga tensho towards each other which created a large explosion and a lot of smoke where each attacked the other with the last of their energy but Liu Zheng refused to give up as he desperately needed to win for his own survival and for the survival of everyone he cares about so ignored his human limits and depriving his body of energy it needed to even stay alive and finally managed to cut zangetsu from his right shoulder to almost the left waist, winning the battle at last.

The last thing he remembered was zangetsu smiling at him, dissipating in the form of energy as he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

After one day,

Liu Zheng opened his eyes as the sun began to rise and got up still feeling sore in multiple parts of his body. He took the recovery pills he had and began to circulate their energy to heal his wounds.

He sat in a meditative position and entered his knowledge sea as he had an important question to ask from his zanpakutos.

Zangetsu and old man were on their usual place which was the island under the soul warming lotus.

"Are you feeling better now, Liu Zheng?" asked old man zangetsu and he replied "I am fine, just need a bit of rest but i have a doubt regarding bankai which i was hoping you guys could answer."

"By doubt, do you mean to ask that why you haven't yet grasped the feeling of your bankai when you have already defeated zangetsu?" he asked Liu Zheng.

"Yes, I was under the impression that I only have to defeat zangetsu since you said i don't have to fight you separately but i still haven't grasped it at all."

"That is because you didn't properly understand my words properly Liu Zheng when I said you don't have to fight me separately I meant fight me in this form."

"This form? You have forms too old man? like an evolved state?"

"He meant we have a form you haven't seen yet." Zangetsu replied and suddenly both of their started dissipating in the forms of particles which converged in the middle of them.

"Since you aren't normal your challenges won't be normal either Liu Zheng, after completing your first challenge you have to defeat us now, with all your powers combined" said the new being was now standing in front of me

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I will update power levels after immortal ascension.