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

A dark red mist hung in the air, and a strange smell, somewhere between rust and blood, lingered in the nostrils—it wasn't poisonous, it seemed to be just simple water vapor.

The grass and trees on the ground were all withered and dead, with no sign of any living thing. Even the soil had a rotten, dark black color, as if something had sucked away all the life force within the barrier.

The spiritual pressure sensed several weak beings maintaining the barrier, and a monster that was motionless at the center of the barrier?

The spiritual pressure emanating from that thing was truly bizarre, unlike either a Shinigami or a Hollow... If one had to describe it, it was a strange thing similar to "Kutsu" in the Dangai. Mima couldn't even be sure whether what was emanating from it was spiritual pressure.

He and Aizen exchanged a glance, then walked side by side slowly toward the center of the barrier.

The distance of over a hundred meters was covered in an instant. After the red mist could no longer obstruct their vision, they finally saw the scenery in the center of the barrier.

It was an old wooden house.

Wisps of black mist seeped from every crack in the wooden house, then fell to the ground like liquid, gathering into a pattern that nearly caused Mima's heart and lungs to stop.

— Countless “eyes”.

"I don't know if it's lucky or unlucky..."

Mima sighed to Aizen and said, "This is what is called the 'Spirit King's Torrent Power.' In the past thousand years, this may be the first time a Shinigami has seen this thing."

Aizen pushed up his gleaming glasses, revealing the fanatical smile typical of a researcher.

Of course, he didn't try to go up and take samples directly, but kept his distance from the cabin and continued to listen to Mima talk.

"But it is meaningless to only know that it is 'flowing', as almost every fragment of Lord Spirit King has different abilities."

Mima shrugged: "I'm not a member of the Shihōin main family, so of course I don't know what kind of power is contained in the Suzumiya—I'll probably have to try it out to find out."

The implication is that you should quickly use your invincible "illusionary illusion" to think of a solution.

Anyway, Lan, who saw the fragment of the Spirit King, was definitely more anxious than him.

At this distance, the things inside the cabin seemed unaware of them, and the patterns on the ground only expanded little by little while maintaining a subtle, breathing-like rise and fall.

It was as if it were asleep.

As expected, Aizen didn't say anything. After standing there and pondering for a while, he asked Yama to leave the center of the barrier with him and find the guys who were maintaining it.

Including the one who went out earlier, there were eight people in this group. They were all wearing the same white robes and sat cross-legged at the edge of the barrier in a Bagua (Eight Trigrams) formation, using their own spiritual power to maintain the stability of the barrier.

They were all unfamiliar faces.

That was certainly true for Mizhen.

However, Aizen's Kyoka Suigetsu is applicable to all of them, which means they must have seen the Shikai of Kyoka Suigetsu.

"It is interesting."

Aizen and Yama found the oldest white-robed man with the strongest spiritual pressure. Aizen chuckled and said, "This is a retired lecturer from the Shinigami Academy of Spiritual Arts. He comes from the lower-ranking noble family of Tsunayoshiro, 'Bunkura'. Besides him, the other seven people are also more or less related to the Tsunayoshiro family."

Upon hearing this, Mi Zhen remembered that he had indeed seen this old man before, but only as a negative example in the True Spiritual Arts Academy.

This scoundrel, relying on his noble birth, treated commoner students with utter disrespect, resorting to beatings and verbal abuse at the slightest provocation. To make matters worse, his teaching skills were also subpar, and he would become enraged if his mistakes were exposed.

About forty years ago, he finally lost a student's life due to a "mistake," and was thus kicked out by the old man.

If it weren't for the protection of the Tsunayo family, this old man would have been sentenced to be imprisoned in the Shin-O underground prison long ago.

—The above content is from Chunshui.

Mi Zhen raised an eyebrow and said, "You're quite good at remembering faces."

"It's nothing, just a trivial skill." Aizen casually replied politely. "It seems that the Shihouin family really wants to minimize their involvement in this matter, so that they won't be held responsible even if things are exposed."

"Ha, what a boring trick."

Thinking about the situation in Seireitei, Mima couldn't help but roll her eyes.

What's the point of setting up so many things? Can you withstand being betrayed by incompetent teammates?

The subordinates of the Tsuna-Yayo family commit suicide on the spot when things go wrong. Even if they can't commit suicide, they have double insurance, which almost guarantees that the enemy won't get anything. But the subordinates of the Shihōin family betray their teammates as soon as they come out. Shameful, really shameful!

In this respect, the Shihōin family was utterly outmatched by Tsunayoshi.

Just as Aizen was about to do something, the young man who had gone out to deal with the accident returned and immediately came over to them, starting to talk to the old man sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Lord Wencang, the matter outside has been dealt with, leaving no trace."

"Very good." The old man nodded with his eyes closed. "Continue to maintain the barrier."

A troubled look appeared on the young man's face: "Lord Wencang... I've used up all my talismans. If this continues, I'm afraid I'll be 'seen' soon. Could you... please give me another one?"

"Hmph, can't hold your temper."

The old man opened his eyes, glanced at the young man with a cold look, then took out an old piece of black paper with strange red patterns drawn on it from his pocket and handed it to the young man.

The latter accepted it with both hands as if it were a priceless treasure, carefully put it away close to his body, and then bowed as he stepped back.

Aizen and Yama exchanged a glance and followed behind the young man.

He hurriedly returned to his seat, sat cross-legged, took out a pocket watch, glanced at it, and muttered to himself.

"Three minutes left... I'm in time."

Then, he closed his eyes and began to channel spiritual energy into the barrier.

Aizen stroked his chin, reached out, and took the "talisman" from his pocket.

“Interesting.” After glancing at it a few times, Aizen put the thing back in and then turned to Mima and said, “By inputting spiritual power, it can form a ‘small barrier’ that isolates one’s own spiritual pressure aura, similar to the ‘barrier’ on Saki-san’s body.”

"That is to say..."

Mima turned to look at the wooden house in the center of the barrier: "If he doesn't conceal his presence in three minutes, something terrifying will happen?"

Aizen remained noncommittal, saying, "Both your 'barrier' and my cloak have the function of concealing spiritual pressure, so let's see how it goes first."

"It seems that's the only way," Mima nodded.

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

Three minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

At the last second, the young man sitting cross-legged on the ground hurriedly took out a talisman from his pocket and poured spiritual power into it. A spherical barrier, just big enough to accommodate one person, formed around him. Judging from his appearance, he seemed afraid of wasting even a second.

This talisman seems to be quite a valuable item...

The next second, a strange sound rang out.

The sound was like the drooling chewing of some giant monster, or like a thousand knives piercing a piece of flesh at the same time. The eerie, shrill sound gradually amplified, initially seeming far away, but soon becoming very close.

The young man inside the spherical barrier trembled violently, and cold sweat began to seep from his forehead.

The red mist that was floating in the air then gradually faded and disappeared completely after about half a minute.

"crunch-"

The sound of the wooden door opening suddenly rang out.

Aizen and Yama both turned their gazes toward the center of the barrier.

After the red mist dissipates, they can stand here and see the situation over there.

—Someone came out of the wooden house.

She has the standard Shihouin look, with black skin and purple hair. She looks a lot like Yoruichi, but is a bit younger. Her long hair, which trails to the ground, is casually draped over her shoulders. She is completely naked except for a few pieces of moving, flame-like pure black "flowing" fabric that serve as her cover.

A pale "sun" hung above her head, surrounded by red, black, ochre, and silver "stars." In addition, eighteen smaller luminous objects moved freely around her, like a cluster of stars in the night sky.

Her spiritual pressure was obscured by the black "flow" and could not be sensed, but the many "stars" around her each emitted completely different spiritual pressure auras, which was extremely contradictory.

This is the Shihōin Hyakugetsu that Mima once saw in his historical travels.

But compared to her arrogant appearance in the video, she now looks like a seriously ill patient, unable to walk properly and with unfocused eyes.

Is it like sleepwalking?

Shihōin Hyakugetsu wandered aimlessly, and the black patterns on the ground wrapped around her back like a cloak, gradually forming a... fluffy, pure black cloak.

She walked very slowly, taking more than two minutes to reach the edge of the barrier. After being blocked, she changed direction and walked around the edge of the barrier, and soon encountered a barrier maintainer sitting cross-legged.

The man sat inside a spherical barrier that blocked out spiritual pressure, his face covered in cold sweat, but he dared not move an inch.

Shihouin Hyakugetsu completely ignored him, walked past him, and continued walking forward.

Judging from their appearance, they're definitely doomed if they get caught.

However, the barrier did not have the effect of invisibility, which can only mean that Shihouin Hyakugetsu did not identify the target by sight.

Mima bent down, picked up a stone from the ground, and threw it far away at Shihouin Hyakugetsu's feet, but she didn't react at all.

"They probably use spiritual pressure to find people?" Mima speculated.

"Very likely, but further testing is needed."

Aizen drew Kyoka Suigetsu from his waist, beckoned Yama to come forward, and calmly stood in front of Shihouin Hyakugetsu.

Just then, she was almost next to the old man from the Wencang family.

“Miss Saki, you should be more skilled in Kido than I am. Could you interfere with his barrier?” Aizen pointed to the old man huddled inside the spherical barrier and said, “This should be a very useful attempt.”

Mizhen nodded: "I'll think of a way."

If this barrier were released by Tetsuzai Wakami or Hachigen Shoda, he would probably only have one option: to go up and smash it with two punches. But clearly, this secondhand barrier released using a talisman carrier is not as good as the Ghost Daoist's.

It might be a bit difficult to remove, but if you just want to interfere for a moment and expose a flaw, then it's really that simple.

Then, he stretched out his toes and gently kicked the spherical barrier next to the old man.

A very subtle spiritual force seeped into the barrier's mechanism and slightly interfered at several key points.

The barrier trembled slightly in the next instant, its function malfunctioning momentarily, causing a negligible amount of the old man's spiritual pressure to leak out.

Then, Yama and Aizen simultaneously used Shunpo to retreat.

"Ok?"

Shihouin Hyakugetsu slowly turned his head, and the silver star that circled his head suddenly lit up.

"There is... prey."

She stared ahead with unfocused eyes, her voice as awkward as a baby who had just learned to speak.

Then, she raised her hand and gently pointed in the direction where the spiritual pressure fluctuations were appearing.

"Go, Bone-Devouring Armor."