The Supreme Soul, Starting with Death

"By the same token, do you think Death would use 'You're sick' to insult someone? If so, wouldn't that mean Death can get sick? Do bacteria and viruses also have souls? Could there be bacteria with 'spirits' and viruses with 'spirits'? Wow, just thinking about it is terrifying."

Therefore, I must find a time when that madman isn't around, and it's just me and the Bat Hollow alone. Normally, she wouldn't let her guard down around me, but now that the bearded man is dead, the Soul Society's search team might come to the Human World to investigate at any moment.

[If we can find a way to lure the search team into her jurisdiction, she, as the garrison officer, will definitely have to show up. Even if she doesn't receive them for a long time, she'll at least have to appear and answer a few questions. That would be the best opportunity.]

"By the way, although plants don't have souls, is it possible for a soul to become a plant ghost when it becomes a ghost? If so, will it flower and bear fruit? If it does flower, are they unisexual or bisexual? Can it self-pollinate? If so, seeds can be considered as plant embryos, and as long as they are planted, new plants can grow. Can the seeds produced by a plant ghost grow into new ghosts?"

[Speaking of which, is it simply because this bat-shaped Hollow can only open such a small black cavity that its spiritual power is suppressed by the Binding Spell? Could it also be due to its lack of proficiency?]

[Given his current state, he has no chance to practice his sung lines. Therefore, we need to find a way to give him more time, so that even if he fails once or twice while practicing, he still has ample time to try again.]

"Oh no, talking about this makes me crave fruit again. I'm feeling a bit hungry. Are you hungry? If not, can I eat one of your legs to tide me over? Don't worry, once we get there, I'll go kill some other monsters, and I'll give you back two or three legs, no problem."

[However, what exactly happened to Aizen? Why isn't he doing anything? Was the bearded man's death really unrelated to him? Is he really not Aizen? Then how do you explain his appearance and talent? Is he Aizen's future father? Grandfather? Or...? Did Aizen have a son in the human world before his physical death, and is the real Aizen already in Soul Society?]

"Haha, you're finally showing some reaction! Don't worry, I was just kidding. You're so skinny, like firewood. All the flesh on your body isn't even as much as one of my legs. Even if I were really hungry, I wouldn't eat you to fill my stomach!"

[Sigh, I'm a bit conflicted. If he weren't Aizen, the danger of being with him would undoubtedly be greatly reduced, which would be a huge benefit for me. But if that happens, once I successfully escape Hueco Mundo, will he be targeted by that madman and become a Hollowfication experiment?]

[If we weren't escaping to Hueco Mundo, we might have been able to take him with us. Unfortunately, in a place like Hueco Mundo, no living person, no matter how talented, could survive. Taking him along would only be a disservice to him.]

"By the way, have you ever studied snails? Snails are amazing. Each snail has both male and female reproductive organs, so when snails reproduce, if two snails meet, they don't need to identify each other's sex. They can help each other and successfully conceive."

Thinking about it this way, it seems better if he were Aizen himself. With Aizen's talent and wisdom, even if that madman wanted to take his anger out on him, he could definitely handle it calmly, and might even be able to turn the tables and kill that madman, helping me eliminate a major future threat.

"So, I've always wondered, if someone were to become a snail Hollow after Hollowfication, what would their gender be? Male? Female? Intersex? Tsk tsk, just thinking about it is exciting."

So, is he actually Aizen?

While talking, Gu Shi was also thinking, and he didn't miss a thing. Because of his doubts, he subconsciously looked up at the young man who looked like Aizen. He found that the young man was being carried away by the Grim Reaper girl, but he still looked calm and composed. At this moment, he met Gu Shi's eyes and there seemed to be a faint curiosity in his eyes.

Forget it, there's no point in thinking about this now. I'll just leave him a note when I leave, reminding him to run away as well. I'm already in trouble myself, and I'm thinking about how to save someone much better than me. It's really laughable.

Shaking his head inwardly, Gu Shi continued to ramble on to the bat, whose eyes were even more bewildered.

Before long, his rambling began to be accompanied by heavy breathing, and his footsteps became heavier. The bat-shaped pendant in his hand would occasionally be forced to touch the ground, making intimate contact with stones and withered branches. He looked like he was about to run out of energy.

Gu Shi has barely rested these past two days. After ambushing Big Beard, he rushed to the shrine. After saying only a few words at the shrine, he went to hunt Hollows again. He had just killed a few Hollows when Big Beard ran into trouble again.

While the Death Girl was checking on the bearded man, he didn't stop killing a few more Hollows. As a result, once the Death Girl confirmed that the bearded man was dead, she had no choice but to run all the way back to the shrine. When she arrived at the foot of the shrine mountain, she only rested for a short while before starting to carry the bat Hollow on her way again.

After running and fighting all the way, it was only natural that her stamina was a little low. The Death Girl noticed this but was not surprised. She decisively grabbed the bat Hollow as well, carrying the living person in one hand and the Hollow in the other, her steps still light.

"Big guy, it seems you still need to practice more. You're already getting weak so quickly. In the future, when you encounter long battles, you'll easily be worn down by the enemy."

Hearing the Death Girl's teasing, Gu Shi, now free of his burdens, snorted as if unconvinced. He tried to adjust his breathing, and soon his steps regained their lightness, and his breathing gradually became steady. He continued running forward with the Death Girl.

As for the small, deep trail of footprints he left on the ground due to exhaustion and the marks left when he accidentally bumped into the ground while carrying something, they remained there quietly, waiting to be discovered by those who came after him.

Chapter Thirty-Four: Sneak Attack!

"I never expected this! This is truly an incredible project. You're amazing!"

Gu Shi was wondering where the Death Girl would place him and the Bat Hollow before the search team arrived. Would she just throw them into some random ravine? Or would she find a sufficiently secluded cave?

Now he finally understood why the Death Girl seemed completely unconcerned about this issue on the way back.

Who would have thought that she would dig out an underground space nearly the size of four football fields from dozens of meters underground?

"Thank you for the compliment, but unfortunately you've praised the wrong person. This was dug up by my guards."

The Death Girl clearly didn't think there was anything to be proud of in such an underground base, and calmly waved her hand.

"When I built this place, I wanted to artificially simulate the environment of the Great Void Forest to test whether the 'underground' element would affect the evolution of the Void. However, after many attempts, I failed to get the desired result, so this place was abandoned."

"For now, you big guys can stay here for a while. I'll let you out after the search team leaves."

"By the way, you can do whatever you want here, you're completely free. To ensure the safety of the experiment, the walls, the ground, and the ceiling here were specially treated, with a large number of killing energy stones buried inside. They are not only strong enough, but they can also effectively isolate spiritual energy pressure. You don't have to worry about being discovered by the outside world no matter what you do here."

So we can't escape by digging tunnels or using Cero attacks, right?

After mentally translating for the Death Girl, Gu Shi waved his paw indifferently and continued to examine the structure of the underground space with great interest, giving a somewhat perfunctory answer.

"Okay, okay, I got it. Just remember to bring me food and don't let me starve to death here. I'd be happy to stay here for ten years."

The Death Girl nodded in satisfaction, then used her Instant Step to fly through the air and out of the vertical shaft above her head. After she left, Gu Shi continued humming a tuneless little tune, looking quite interested, touching and looking around, seemingly with no intention of taking the opportunity to escape.

Just kidding. The Death Girl just said that this place was used to simulate the Forest of Menreiki. She probably thought that Gu Shi had never been to Hueco Mundo and didn't know what the Forest of Menreiki was, so she just blurted that out.

But in reality, Gu Shi, who has read the manga, knows that the so-called Forest of Hollows is not a forest at all, but a huge void beneath Hueco Mundo, where the number of Hollows is as numerous as the trees in a forest, too many to count.

Although it's impossible for the Shinigami girl to capture a real Hollow from Hueco Mundo with her strength, this underground space was mostly used to imprison ordinary Hollows. But even if it were just ordinary Hollows, judging from the size of this place, if it were really full, it could probably fit over a thousand Hollows.

Given the strength of the Death Girl, if she were to break into a group of thousands of Hollows, her chances of survival would be extremely slim.

Therefore, when the Great Forest of Hue was being simulated here, the Grim Reaper Girl would definitely not have personally entered the area to collect data or observe the experimental results. Instead, she would have conducted the observations in an absolutely safe and secluded location.

In other words, even though the madman may have left on the surface, he might be watching from somewhere "next door" right now. Gu Shi certainly wouldn't easily reveal any flaws.

On the other hand, because they were locked underground and there was no need to worry about escape, the bindings on Bat Void were also removed, restoring a certain degree of freedom.

However, he seemed to adapt to the environment more than Gu Shi. After regaining his freedom, he showed no awareness of being caught by death. His emotions remained calm and indifferent. He grabbed a protruding stone on the ceiling and dozed off while hanging upside down.

Gu Shi glanced at the seemingly asleep bat-like creature, then pretended not to care and continued his "exploration" of the underground space, trying to confuse the death goddess girl who might be spying in the dark.

Being locked up with Bat-Void is a good thing; it means he can use his black magic to take me away at any time.

The bad thing is, being locked up in this place means I've completely lost all contact with the outside world. I have no idea whether or when the Soul Society's search team has arrived. If I'm still patiently waiting while the search team has already finished their search and left, that would be a real problem.

We need to think of another way.

The area, about the size of four football fields, is certainly large, but in reality, it didn't take much time to explore. Gu Shi walked around and stopped frequently, and before he could come up with a completely safe plan, he had already completed a lap and returned to the starting point.

Gu Shi didn't plan to walk a second lap. Instead, he stood still for a while, then pretended to have lost interest and was quite bored. He lay down on the spot, hugged Erlang, and started to doze off.

However, Gu Shi lost interest, but the energetic Erlang couldn't stay still. After only a short while, he squeezed out of Gu Shi's arms and began to run around wildly in the vast underground space.

If it were just running, that would be fine. This big black dog would run for a while, then rush back to lick Gu Shi's paws and face. If Gu Shi didn't react, it would turn its head and continue running around. When it got tired, it would come back to lick Gu Shi and rest. After resting, it would continue running around.

After repeating this several times, Gu Shi, who couldn't sleep because of being licked, opened his eyes in annoyance, pushed away Erlang who was still licking his face, looked around for a while, and then locked his gaze on the sleeping Bat Xu.

"Hey! You nameless guy! Aren't you bored?! Let's fight!"

Bat Xu didn't even open his eyes, as if he hadn't heard Gu Shi's loud voice, and continued to sleep soundly.

Frustrated at not getting a response, Gu Shi scratched his head and decided to run around the underground space with Erlang to vent their excess energy.

However, Gu Shi was not a simple dog after all. Running around aimlessly was not enough to express his emotions. When he ran near the bat again, he suddenly jumped up and slapped the bat on the back.

Bat Xu never expected that someone would be so despicable as to ambush a sleeping person. He was slapped away by Gu Shi and sent flying, crashing heavily to the ground before he finally realized what had happened.

It took flight again, and the bat glanced at Gu Shi indifferently. Its calm expression seemed to mock Gu Shi's naivety, showing no intention of getting angry or fighting with him.

However, Gu Shi, who was "bored out of his mind," didn't care what the bat was thinking. Anyway, the dome of this underground space was only a few meters high, and even if the bat flew to the top, it would not be able to escape his jumping range.

With a sudden burst of strength from his limbs, Gu Shi leaped up again and slapped Bat Xu on the head. Bat Xu simply turned around nimbly and easily dodged Gu Shi's rampaging attack.

Just as the two brushed past each other, Gu Shi's barely audible voice drifted into Bat Xu's ears.

"Please, fight me."

Chapter Thirty-Five: A Polite Farewell

"Lord Gu Shi is always so energetic, it's truly enviable."

Yusuke still had that same smiling face, gazing at the light screen in front of him that was projecting the scene of the underground cavern in real time using some unknown means, his words filled with envy.

Beside Yusuke, the Death Girl was also watching the battle, which could barely be described as intense, on the light screen, and yawned somewhat boredly.

"What's there to envy? That bat is probably driving him crazy by now. He dragged him into seven or eight fights in just two days. He has more energy than a dog."

"The relationship between Lord Saito and Lord Gu Shi is quite enviable. If you weren't close enough to know that the other person wouldn't be angry, you wouldn't casually make such a sarcastic remark in front of a stranger like me."

Yusuke is a very magical person. It seems that no matter what the situation is, he can always find a positive explanation and feel envious of it. No matter who or what he is facing, he can always show a very sincere admiration.

Even a strange girl like Death Girl, who has an eccentric personality and grew up surrounded by servants, feels exceptionally happy when she's with Yusuke and doesn't mind chatting with him a bit more.

"You little rascal, don't be envious of everything. I'm not an easy person to get along with. If you were to switch places with that big guy, you'd probably be secretly cursing me every day."

After speaking the truth with a smile, the Death Girl wanted to say something more, but suddenly a jet-black butterfly flew out from nowhere and landed on her fingertip. An old male voice came out, which sounded dignified, but also had a strong sense of doting affection.

"Yoru, the investigation team from Soul Society has already set off. You naughty child, I wonder what mischief you've gotten yourself into this time that made you ask me to find out about this kind of thing. When you come back, be sure to tell me about the interesting things you encountered in the human world."

After listening to the message in the Hell Butterfly, the Death Girl sighed, stood up, and gently patted Yusuke's shoulder.

"Alright, now it's time for work that you can't possibly envy. Little one, I won't be able to come over often these next few days, so you can stay here by yourself. I've prepared food and water for you."

As she spoke, the Death Girl turned to leave, but stopped abruptly at the door, as if she had remembered something, and said without turning her head.

"By the way, although the big guy was once a Shinigami, he's become a Hollowfied after all. As his superior, even if I'm willing to trust him, I can't be too careless. If you see him doing anything strange, remember to smash that crystal on your left!"

After saying that, the Death Girl waved her hand, yawned, and strode away from Yusuke's sight. Behind her, Yusuke still had a charming smile on his face and respectfully bowed to her back.

Once the figure of the Death Girl had completely disappeared at the other end of the corridor, Yusuke sat down again, no longer looking at Gu Shi and Bat Xu who were still fighting in the video. He closed his eyes and began his daily training as a priest, and the whole room became completely quiet.

Several hours passed before Yusuke opened his eyes again. He seemed a little tired and moved his body a bit, then shook his head helplessly.

"She's been staring at me for so long. Being too suspicious can make you age faster. Next time I have the chance to see Lady Saito, I must advise her to take good care of her health."

As he spoke, Yusuke slowly walked to a corner of the wall and tapped his finger lightly in the air. Instantly, something seemed to shatter in the previously empty space, and a person completely wrapped in black clothes and with a black mask appeared in the corner.

Even though Yusuke was already standing in front of the masked man, the masked man still stared intently at the spot where Yusuke had been sitting, his expression focused and serious. Even after staring for several hours, he showed no signs of impatience or slackness, clearly a professional who had undergone systematic training.

Yusuke moved closer, deftly took the Zanpakuto hanging at the other's waist, swung it a few times, and shook his head with amusement.

"Death possesses power far exceeding that of mortals, yet it is far more easily deceived than mortals. Because its body is entirely composed of spiritual particles, even the slightest manipulation of the spiritual energy in the atmosphere will have a severe impact, causing it to see illusions it shouldn't see and hear sounds it shouldn't hear."

With that, Yusuke twirled the blade in his hand, pointing the edge at his heart. With a gentle push, his heavy body sprayed blood and fell backward. But the soul that looked exactly like Yusuke remained standing in the same spot, as if it had shed its old clothes, still firmly holding the blade that had killed him.

"Hmm, so this is what it feels like to break free from the shackles of the body? It's so relaxing it makes me want to laugh. It's a pity that if Oniki-kun had been less wary of me, perhaps I could have gotten rid of these burdens sooner."

"Fortunately, Lady Saito appeared in time. She is a good child who has been well protected by her elders. She is simple and innocent and believes that no matter how talented a mortal is, he is not a threat. With her help, it was much easier for me to take action. If we meet again in the future, I must thank her properly."

With a sincere expression of gratitude on his face, Yusuke turned and walked to the light screen beside him. He gently placed his palm on it, carefully sensing it for a moment, and then a relaxed smile appeared on his face.

"Lord Gu Shi, I'm about to leave. I hope my abrupt departure won't anger Lord Saito. By the way, if you also feel that Lord Saito is too enthusiastic and want to part ways with her for a while, now is a good opportunity."

After saying that, Yusuke walked back to the corner, turned his Zanpakuto around, aimed the blade at the masked man's throat, gently pressed the end of the hilt against his forehead, and then, as if paying a respectful salute, slightly strained his neck and pushed the Zanpakuto forward with his forehead.

"Well then, thank you for your help, unknown Grim Reaper."

Instantly, the sharp blade pierced the masked man's throat with perfect accuracy, while a faint glow representing "Soul Burial" lit up on Yusuke's forehead where the blade touched the hilt. In the light, his figure quickly became transparent, guided towards the world where the Grim Reaper resided.

The masked man, whose throat had been pierced, finally awoke. He clutched the blood-stained blade in terror, his eyes filled with the fear of his impending death. He made hoarse noises as he tried to save his life, but he could not stop death from approaching. Soon, the light in his eyes completely disappeared.