I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

On a side note, one advantage of squinting eyes is that no one can tell where this guy is looking... not even Aizen.

But even without "humans," some beings with superhuman sensitivity can still notice it.

Jinghua Shuiyue reached out and turned on the main light in the laboratory, instantly illuminating the dark and sinister place. Then, she complained, "I've said it before, prolonged exposure to dim lighting can affect eyesight. What are you trying to save on electricity for all this time?"

—That's right, Aizen's lab is powered. Don't ask him where he got the electricity; that's just how the Soul Society's technology tree is—a mix of ancient and futuristic elements.

Then, she cautiously walked up to Gin Ichimaru, half-squatted down, and like a strange aunt, vigorously rubbed his cheeks with both hands, sighing as she did so, "I've wanted to do this for a long time. It's true that materialization has its advantages."

"...?"

It wasn't that Gin Ichimaru didn't dodge; in fact, he was quite quick-witted and started retreating the instant Kyoka Suigetsu reached out. But for some reason, the woman's hand was able to block his retreat path, and from the outside, it looked as if he had walked right into her trap.

Aizen watched without objection from the side, and he really couldn't come up with any reason to resist, so he didn't even dare to draw his sword.

"Gin, let's get to know each other."

Aizen adjusted his glasses and smiled, "She is 'Kyoka Suigetsu' and will be working with us for a long time to come."

Gin Ichimaru: "?"

His body stiffened for a moment, but he quickly recovered.

He forced a couple of laughs, as if to say, "This is ridiculous!" Then, after a moment's thought, he asked, "You mean... that 'Mirror Flower, Water Moon' thing?"

"Is there a second one?"

Mirror Flower Water Moon smiled with narrowed eyes, then pointed and said, "My master needed a 'computing core,' so he found a way to materialize me. That's easy to understand, isn't it?"

"This……"

Since Aizen hadn't mentioned the purpose of his trip, Gin Ichimaru was caught off guard by this unexpected surprise (and shock), and after thinking for a few seconds, he managed to squeeze out a dry compliment: "...That's really impressive."

"It's nothing to mention." Kyoka Suigetsu leaned forward, making a hugging motion, and pulled Ichimaru Gin into her arms—which made her look even more like a strange aunt.

"Let him go."

Aizen, seemingly unable to bear it any longer, gave a soft instruction, and Kyoka Suigetsu stood up with a pout, turned around and walked to the experimental table.

On it lay several irregularly shaped black shadows wriggling, which were fragments of Shihouin Hyakugetsu's "corpse".

Because of the limited sample size, Aizen didn't dare to conduct any radical experiments with these materials, focusing mainly on observation. Although he obtained a lot of interesting data, he didn't get the information Aizen wanted most: information about the Soul King himself.

"How is it, Yin? Still no response?"

Aizen gazed at the black fragments and casually asked a question.

“There’s nothing we can do. This thing isn’t a human body. We can dissect a couple to see its structure.” Gin Ichimaru sighed. “It’s still the same as always, no changes at all.”

"Is that so... What a pity."

Aizen said this without any regret, then turned and instructed, "Gin, go to the Fifth Division and receive this week's work report. I'll take care of things here for now."

"Yes, then see you later, Lord Aizen."

Gin Ichimaru immediately turned and walked towards the door... his movements seemed slightly unnatural and hurried.

Watching his departing figure, Jinghua Shuiyue smiled and said, "Is it really okay to just let him move around as he pleases? His heartbeat and pulse both indicate that he's up to no good."

"It's alright, don't worry about it."

Aizen calmly said, "Gin's talent is rare. Whether he is loyal to me or not is irrelevant, as long as he can get things done. Even if he wants to kill me, I am very curious about what method he plans to use."

"Is that so? Whatever." Mirror Flower Water Moon immediately lost interest in the topic. "Just don't let your arrogance cause you to suffer a setback."

"Ah……"

Aizen didn't answer, but instead focused his attention on the experimental table. He reached out and opened the protective shield, then took out a test tube from his pocket, unsealed it, and poured the contents onto a patch of black shadow.

This is the main experimental method at present: using different types of spiritual pressure to contact fragments of the Soul King's flowing energy and obtaining data from the reactions.

He had already tested the spiritual pressure of Shinigami and Hollows, and even infiltrated the 12th Division to obtain slices of Quincy corpses to extract their spiritual pressure as material—the results showed that this substance reacted most strongly to Hollow spiritual pressure, followed by Quincy, and then Shinigami. Aizen couldn't explain the pattern yet, but he would figure it out sooner or later.

This trip was also full of unexpected joys for him. Not only did he control Kuchiki Kyouga and learn a very important piece of information, but he also collected a kind of spiritual pressure that was impossible to obtain under normal circumstances.

—Hellish miasma.

According to the information from the messenger Saki, the modern Hollows and the ancient Hollows are almost two different species—in other words, Hell is the only place in the world that has continued from the time of the Soul King to the present day.

So... can the materials obtained from hell react with the fragments of the Soul King's torrent?

Aizen stared intently at the hellish miasma that was gradually spreading across the black fragments, muttering to himself:

“Record the data in detail.”

He didn't even bother with the illusory answer, but focused intently on the violent reaction that erupted the moment they touched.

Like boiling water, the previously languid fragments of water suddenly came to life.

It twisted, deformed... and gradually stabilized into another form.

That's... a skeleton carved on the gates of hell.

"This is really..."

Aizen smiled meaningfully: "Very interesting."

..........................................

Soul Society, the border wasteland.

"Drink!"

Amidst a flash of white light, a portal to another dimension expanded like a balloon, tore apart, and then exploded directly from the inside—

In the next instant, two figures darted out from the chaotic flow of space.

It crashed to the ground like a meteorite, kicking up a huge cloud of dust.

This is an uninhabited area more than 20,000 kilometers away from Seireitei. Since the beginning of the separation of the three realms, it has been a desolate and barren place. After all, the temperature here is below minus 50 degrees Celsius for 365 days a year. In modern terms, it is like the North and South Poles. No one would be willing to settle here in this way.

—Apart from the Urahara family.

Even before the Seireitei was established, the Urahara family moved here on the orders of the Soul King to guard an "unclosable gate to hell," ensuring that the three realms would not be disturbed by hell.

This is also the main reason why they are still listed among the four noble families even though they do not participate in the power group at all—after all, the Urahara family's responsibilities are really important. If they were to go on strike, the nobles in hell would probably come out of the door and cause chaos throughout the world.

Anyway, they don't really care about anything; it's just a hollow title, so let them have it—that's generally how the nobles think.

This situation persisted for many years until Kisuke Urahara arrived and it was broken.

At first, the nobles thought that the Urahara family had finally lost patience and was planning to expand into the Seireitei. If it weren't for Yoruichi's overt and covert protection, who knows how many troubles he would have faced—after all, power is not something that can be given up so easily. Let alone the Urahara family, which hadn't shown its face for hundreds of thousands of years, even if the Soul King himself came, the nobles would not have relinquished power without hesitation.

But as time went by, Kisuke Urahara's true nature was gradually revealed—according to Yoruichi, he was an "exile" who was expelled from the Urahara family for committing a serious mistake, and had no connection with the Urahara family at all. Moreover, he was only interested in scientific research, and fighting for power was a waste of his time.

Chapter 181: The Mastermind Behind Hell

As a result, the attention focused on Kisuke Urahara gradually decreased.

"Thank you, Yoruichi-san."

Kisuke Urahara adjusted the white and green striped hat on his head.

After confirming that it was safe, he plopped down on the ground without regard for his image, panting as he said, "I don't know how much effort it would have taken for me to do it all by myself."

"Instead of thanking me... you might as well... do something practical..."

As Yoruichi's intense Kido energy gradually dissipated, the contrast between the cold and the heat caused the sweat on her face to quickly freeze into ice crystals, and the white breath she exhaled dissipated into the wind. After recovering a little, she unceremoniously grabbed Urahara Kisuke's coat, draped it over herself, and then simply climbed onto his back, transforming into her cat form. With her eyes closed, she became oblivious to everything else.

"..."

Kisuke Urahara scratched his head, helped Yoruichi adjust her posture, and then sighed as he walked away into the distance.

That's the direction of the Urahara family's territory.

How they got back here is a long story.

After the core members fled with their buckets, Soul Society installed a considerable number of monitors in the Dangai. If they discovered that these "fugitives" intended to sneak back, they would immediately generate a powerful repulsive force—whether they could defeat them or not is another matter, but they could at least notify the Technology Development Bureau.

But the problem is that this kind of "rejection" is also a kind of ghostly practice.

The way of ghosts can naturally be used to deal with things.

To put it more plainly, it is "anti-demon killing," a unique technique of the Second Division. Its effect is to neutralize and resolve external demonic energy with an equal amount of demonic energy.

And so, Yoruichi carried Kisuke Urahara all the way back to Soul Society, crossing the Dangai like lightning, without attracting any attention.

Although they knew of the existence of the technique of killing demons, Soul Society did not believe that anyone could do so without leaving a trace in the complex distribution of spiritual pressure in the Dangai—that would be like trying to catch every drop of rain from the sky with a cup, which was simply impossible.

That's underestimating someone.

Regardless of Kisuke Urahara's amazing inventions, Yoruichi Shunshin's reputation is well-deserved. As the pinnacle of the Soul Society's Hakuda (Hakta) realm, how could the insects of the 46 Chambers possibly comprehend her level?

As a result, they returned to Soul Society smoothly, without suffering any losses except for Yoruichi's excessive physical exertion.

But the real challenge lies ahead.

For some reason, Kisuke Urahara became a traitor to his family. On the day he left, in the midst of his chuunibyou phase, he boldly declared, "I will never come back in this lifetime!"—truly a display of youthful arrogance.

But the more pretentious you were back then, the more ashamed you felt when you went back...

"So many years have passed..."

Kisuke Urahara cast his gaze upon the massive complex of buildings, their dark silhouettes peeking out against the cold wind in the distance, and sighed, "I wonder... if they've forgiven me?"

It was just a grumbling monologue; I never expected to get a response.

But the moment he finished speaking, a cool female voice rang out beside Kisuke Urahara.

"Then you'll have to ask him yourself."

"?!"

Kisuke Urahara was startled and retreated while slamming his cane into the ground. The Benihime hidden inside immediately lit up with bursts of red light.

But when he saw the person's face clearly, his vigilance turned into great astonishment.

—She was a slender woman, neatly dressed, with a cold expression and long, snow-white hair.

Moreover... it was as if she wasn't made of spirit particles; I couldn't sense any spiritual pressure.

Kisuke Urahara immediately bowed and greeted the woman.

"Greetings... to our ancestor."

..........................................