The Supreme Soul, Starting with Death

However, Tomie is not a heartwarming love story. The love that surges so intensely that it overwhelms reason will soon ferment and degenerate under Tomie's bewitching charm, turning into an incomparably strong possessiveness and murderous desire, ultimately leading to a madman who kills and dismembers Tomie.

Besides her irrational charm, Tomie's greatest trait is her near-unsolvable immortality. Even if she is killed, dismembered, buried, corroded by acid, or encased in a concrete block, as long as one cell remains, she will always be able to revive and return.

Even when engaging in more than friendly contact with a man, Tomie's cells can actively enter the man's body, assimilate the man's own cells, and turn him into another Tomie.

In general, Tomie's story is a standard unsolvable horror story, except that unlike the hideous and terrifying monsters in traditional horror stories, Tomie is a super beautiful woman.

In terms of storytelling, Tomie is not particularly outstanding. Its main appeal lies in its quirky and exotic elements. It relies on the premise of an "immortal beauty" to evoke a unique mix of fear and longing in the reader, thus capturing their attention.

However, neither Shinigami nor Hollows are so easily frightened.

For a Shinigami, not being able to kill someone isn't a big deal; just seal them away, right? If that doesn't work, opening a portal and throwing them into the Dangai is another solution. The Dangai is a terrifying place where multiple layers of space fracture and time vortexes recombine; could an ordinary human like Tomie possibly climb out of there?

As for the Great Hollow, he was completely immune to fear. Even the most timid rabbit, because "thankfully I'm not human, just a rabbit, she can't bewitch me," didn't find Tomie scary at all.

Therefore, everyone heard Tomie's story and forgot about it immediately, not taking it to heart at all. Only Kisuke Urahara was extremely interested in "Tomie," not because he was captivated by Tomie's charm, but because—

In Tomie's story, Gu Shi mentions a concept called "cell," claiming that it is the most basic building block of living life. Cells of different forms and functions can combine to form a living body. Tomie's immortality is because each of her cells can reassemble its own body through division and differentiation.

This viewpoint was something Kisuke Urahara had never heard of before, and it immediately piqued his curiosity.

Where did Gu Shi learn about the concept of cells? Do cells really exist? What exactly is the process of cell differentiation? What are the functions of different types of cells?

How do the functional areas in cells that record human morphology function? If these functional areas were modified, could we create a body that matches the image of Death?

The biggest drawback of sending Death to guard the mortal world now is that he is alone.

Ordinary people cannot see the soul, so they cannot see the Grim Reaper either. The Grim Reaper who guards the mortal world has to be away alone for five, ten, or even longer.

For such a long time, they could only watch helplessly as ordinary people laughed and made noise, while they themselves had no one to talk to. Even when they were injured in battles to protect ordinary people, they could only bear it silently by themselves.

Being surrounded by people yet feeling utterly alone can drive anyone crazy.

This leads to the fact that most of the Grim Reapers stationed in the mortal world are initially full of enthusiasm, but soon become jealous or even hateful of the living under the torment of loneliness, and thus gradually begin to slack off in their work, or even turn around and harm the living.

If a body could be created that the Grim Reaper could use, then when the Grim Reapers are stationed in the mortal world, they could integrate into the lives of the living and no longer have to suffer the torment of loneliness.

If loneliness can be relieved, then perhaps staying in the present world won't be so daunting.

Even the Grim Reapers stationed in the mortal world, if they made friends with living people, would surely be more diligent in fulfilling their duties and fighting against the cannibalistic Hollows that have invaded their territory, right?

No matter how you look at it, creating a body for the Grim Reaper is a great thing with no harm whatsoever, so it's not hard to understand why Kisuke Urahara is so enthusiastic.

Gu Shi understood all of this, and that's exactly the effect he wanted by telling Tomie's story and introducing cells in a "casual" way.

To become friends with Kisuke Urahara, but also to avoid being attacked by him for the sake of "the duty of a Shinigami" before becoming friends, enthusiasm and sincerity alone are not enough. It is necessary to come up with something attractive enough that would make him reluctant to kill you before he gets it. Gu Shi has thought a lot about this.

Fortunately, Gu Shi's judgment was indeed correct, and the effect was even a bit too good. Urahara Kisuke became a plaster stuck to him, impossible to peel off.

After all, the knowledge in Gu Shi's mind and what Urahara Kisuke learned in Soul Society were completely different systems, and many things he knew were very tempting to Urahara Kisuke.

For example, it would be something like this:

When discussing cells, the microscope is inevitably mentioned.

What is a microscope?

Okay, let's talk about microscopes first. When talking about microscopes, we can't avoid mentioning convex lenses.

Wait, what is a convex lens?

When discussing convex lenses, one inevitably has to mention light.

What is light? Is light linear?

Urahara Kisuke originally only intended to ask about cells, but the more Gu Shi explained, the more questions he wanted to ask. Every time he managed to understand a point of knowledge, he would find that he didn't know more than a dozen things, which made him more and more engrossed.

Finally, after Yoruichi Shihōin finished listening to "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" and called Kisuke Urahara to return to Soul Society together, Kisuke Urahara said the words that Gu Shi had been waiting for.

"Yoruichi, you go back first. I'll stay in Hueco Mundo for a few more days. You don't need to wait for me. Just tell Grandpa that I've sneaked off to the human world for fun."

Chapter Ninety-Four: Fire Control

According to the rules, after completing a mission, a Shinigami must return to Soul Society as soon as possible to report to their superiors. Without special reasons, they must not linger in the human world, Hueco Mundo, or other places, so as not to have a negative impact on the local ecology.

However, Yoruichi Shihouin is clearly not someone who cares about rules.

Faced with Kisuke Urahara's declaration of "not going home," she simply raised an eyebrow indifferently, making no attempt to persuade him.

Anyway, Kisuke Urahara hasn't graduated yet and can't really be considered a true Shinigami. He hasn't even left a record with the 13th Division, so no one will care if he disappears for a while. Besides, he used the Shihouin family's private gate to escape this time, so there's even less to worry about. He just needs to find a plausible reason to fool the old man.

"Alright, I knew it would be like this. I'll head back now and come see you again in a few days. By the way, Kisuke, you'd better find some time to get a good night's sleep. You look like you could die at any moment."

Nodding, Yoruichi Shihōin hoisted the black mummy that had been sitting aside for several days, waved goodbye to Gu Shi and the others with a smile, and strode into the dark chamber that Tianpeng had helped open.

"Everyone, I'm leaving now. Don't miss me too much. I'll be back in a few days after I finish handing over my mission."

Gu Shi smiled and waved his hand without saying anything more, while Erlang snorted in disgust and waved his hand as if to shoo him away.

"Alright, alright, stop rambling on and let's go."

Instead of being angry, Yoruichi Shihōin smiled and winked at Jirō. Jirō had already promised to write down all the stories Gu Shi had told her while she was away, and tell them to her when she returned. She wasn't going to go against Jirō now.

Logically, with Kisuke Urahara around, Yoruichi could have just asked him for help; there was no need to say nice things to Jiro or swallow her pride and admit that the Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms were stronger than the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth.

The problem is that recently, Kisuke Urahara's mind is full of things like cells, division, genes, and DNA. He listens attentively when Gu Shi is lecturing, but when Gu Shi is not lecturing, he writes and draws on the side and mutters things that no one can understand.

After a few days, Kisuke Urahara was getting less than two hours of sleep a day on average. His dark circles were frighteningly thick, and he looked like he might suddenly die at any moment. Apart from the new knowledge in his mind, he had almost forgotten his own name. There was really no way to count on him to help me remember the stories.

Yoruichi Shihōin left gracefully and quickly disappeared into the black cavity. Tianpeng closed the black cavity and turned to walk towards his alchemy furnace.

The meals for the several Hollows were changed from directly eating Killian to Tianpeng's pills. In order to ensure a sufficient supply of pills, and also because of his own interest, Tianpeng spent almost all of his free time refining pills.

With the increase in the number of times the pills were refined, the newly dug earthen pit pill furnace, under the action of spiritual flames and high pressure, also completed the complete crystallization of its inner wall, which could seal the spiritual energy in the furnace to the maximum extent. The quality of the pills refined yesterday has returned to its original peak state.

Tianpeng planned to take advantage of the fact that the alchemy furnace was up to standard and quickly refine more pills.

"Wait a minute, Tianpeng, hold your breath over there and see what this is."

Gu Shi stopped Tianpeng and showed her what he was holding.

In Gu Shi's hand, a thing with three curved, thick legs, a spherical shape, and a lid on top stood quietly. Tian Peng was stunned and couldn't recognize it at first, but he quickly realized that although he was not familiar with its appearance, he recognized the material.

Isn't this the extremely hard rock that they made a special trip to dig out?

"This! This is a pill furnace!"

Tianpeng's joyful voice resounded through the sky as she rushed to Gu Shi's side. Although she had heard descriptions of the appearance of the alchemy furnace more than once in the story, this was the first time she had seen a real, genuine alchemy furnace. She wanted to reach out and hold it in front of her to examine it carefully, but she was also worried that she would be too rough and damage this little thing that was only a little over four meters tall.

"Don't worry, it's carved from that kind of stone, so it's not that easy to break."

Smiling, Gu Shi stuffed the small alchemy furnace into Tianpeng's hand, then shook his head with some regret.

"In my memory, a pill furnace should have some vents. However, such a furnace can only be used if you know how to control the flame and slowly refine pills over a low flame. Tianpeng, you have always been refining pills over a high flame, forcing spiritual energy to solidify under high pressure, so you can only make it into this fully enclosed form."

Tianpeng had long known that he had only just begun his journey in alchemy and was still far from those immortals who could truly refine elixirs. Although he was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, his excitement remained undiminished, and he nodded vigorously with excitement while holding the alchemy furnace.

"I know, I know I still have a lot of room for improvement! I will definitely continue to study hard and learn the true methods of alchemy!"

As Tianpeng excitedly expressed his determination, Urahara Kisuke, who was drawing cell structure diagrams on the ground nearby, suddenly looked up.

"If we're talking about fire control, there are many kinds of fire in the Kido realm."

Of the destructive techniques specifically used for attack, fire and lightning account for more than half. Among them, Kisuke Urahara can easily name a whole bunch of fire-related and commonly used destructive techniques:

Number 31, Crimson Fire Cannon; Number 32, Yellow Fire Flash; Number 33, Azure Fire Drop; Number 54, Waste Flame; Number 73, Twin Lotus Azure Fire Drop...

Although these ghost paths all manifest as spiritual flames, they differ significantly in nature.

The Red Fire Cannon's flame characteristics are primarily focused on explosion, relying on the impact of the explosion after hitting the enemy to injure them.

The Yellow Flame Flash's flame properties are primarily focused on instantaneous high temperatures, relying on extremely high temperatures to injure enemies. Enemies hit by it are more likely to be scalded than burned.

The main characteristic of Azure Flame Fall is its continuous burning. If an enemy is hit and cannot extinguish the flames on their body quickly with spiritual pressure, the flames will quickly spread throughout their body.

Waste Flame's flame properties are similar to Yellow Flame Flash, forming a thin, disc-shaped flame that instantly burns a "line" on the enemy's body, causing damage similar to a slash.

The Twin Lotus Azure Flame Drop is an advanced use of the Azure Flame Drop. In addition to its rapid burning characteristic, it also gives the flames a "heavy" property. When it hits, it will "sink" into the enemy's body and burn from the outside in at an extremely fast speed. It is often used to replace heavy weapons to achieve the effect of armor penetration.

Using different demonic paths to create different flames, that should be considered "fire control," right?

Urahara Kisuke's gaze held a hint of uncertainty, but Gu Shi and Tianpeng's eyes lit up instantly. Tianpeng was about to ask Urahara Kisuke for help without thinking, but when he met Urahara Kisuke's dark circles and eyes that looked like he might die at any moment, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue and turned to look for the other Grim Reaper's trail.

"Ashido! Please do me a favor!"

Chapter 95 Urahara Kisuke’s Ambition

New attempts are always bound to fail, especially when guidance is lacking in theoretical direction. When Tianpeng followed Gu Shi's advice and put several pills into the small alchemy furnace to try to fuse them and further compress and purify them, he unsurprisingly failed, and failed one after another.

To balance portability and sturdiness, the small alchemy furnace has an internal space of only about three cubic meters. Imagine how much internal pressure would be to stuff all the spiritual power of a 30-meter-class Gillian into such a small space. Even with all his strength, Tian Jiupeng could not hold down the furnace lid. After several attempts, the lid and Tian Peng were blown off together, and the spiritual power inside the furnace exploded and dissipated instantly.

After more than ten consecutive failures, Gu Shi, who was watching from the sidelines, began to lose confidence and began to doubt whether his suggestion of a portable alchemy furnace was too far-fetched.

On the contrary, Tianpeng showed no signs of discouragement. She had no doubt about Gu Shi's words and continued to explore in various ways.

She tried digging a very deep pit in the ground, putting the small alchemy furnace at the bottom of the pit, lighting it, and then immediately backfilling it to fill the pit. Then she lifted a huge rock and stepped on the top of the filled pit, hoping that the soil, the rock, and her own weight would be able to press down the furnace lid.

As a result, under the pressure inside the alchemy furnace, the furnace lid was forced open by the soil, and all the spiritual energy escaped into the earth, resulting in a failed attempt.

Tianpeng had also invited Urahara Kisuke to use the Binding Spell to seal the furnace and its lid together after the fire was lit. The result was self-evident: even with Tianpeng pressing down with all his might, the pressure was enough to flip the lid and Tianpeng over together. In less than two minutes, the seal was broken through and the furnace exploded again.

After trying various methods, Tianpeng even came up with the outlandish idea of ​​infiltrating Soul Society and capturing the Shinigami named Ibuki.

According to Asido, after Ibuki's Zanpakuto is released, its weight will continue to increase as long as it is swung continuously. Tianpeng wanted to capture him and make him wield the stick for a whole day, and then use his Zanpakuto to press down the alchemy furnace.

However, this plan was ultimately not implemented, as the idea of ​​a Hollow infiltrating the Shinigami's headquarters and capturing a specific Shinigami was simply not feasible.

"Damn it, why do Shinigami have such a natural advantage? Everyone's Zanpakuto has different abilities, while we Hollows only have Cero and hand-to-hand combat skills to use."

After failing for the seventeenth time, Tianpeng angrily smashed the boulder used to weigh down the furnace lid, and for once, he envied the Grim Reaper.

Asido, who was helping out, scratched his head awkwardly. As a Grim Reaper, he really didn't know how to respond to that. Urahara Kisuke, on the other hand, didn't have so many concerns. While helping Tenpō clean up the mess, he gave a straightforward answer.

"Because we have a legacy. The original Shinigami had nothing. The things you admire, whether it's Kido, Shunpo, or Zanpakuto, were all researched and created by our ancestors after countless failures and sacrifices, and then passed down to us."

The original Kisuke Urahara would never have been so straightforward. Whatever he wanted to express, he would always have to go around in circles and make it seem mysterious.

After all, the Urahara family was just a fallen minor noble family. When interacting with other "high and mighty" nobles, he had to be careful not to give them anything to say in order to ensure the safety of himself and his family and not bring disaster upon the family by saying the wrong thing.

However, after spending a lot of time with Gu Shi and the others, Kisuke Urahara gradually got used to the way the Great Men communicated. He started to say whatever he thought, too lazy to beat around the bush, and even less inclined to spend his precious time thinking about how to express himself tactfully.

Why not use that time to deduce the process of composition from microscopic cells to macroscopic individuals? Anyway, Gu Shi and the others won't get angry just because he tells the truth, so why bother?

As expected, although Urahara Kisuke's words sounded somewhat sarcastic, neither Tianpeng nor Gu Shi seemed angry, and Jiro even nodded in agreement.