The Supreme Soul, Starting with Death

Cut off contact!

Gu Shi instinctively wanted to shout that, but he stopped himself in time and just waved his hand, pretending to be uninterested.

"I know, so what if he's here? It's just a school. As a freshman, he'll only be around ordinary people who aren't even close to death. What's there to worry about?"

Gu Shi first poured cold water on Lilynette's enthusiasm, then sat down cross-legged, stretched, and changed the subject before Lilynette could complain.

"I want to rest early today, so let's start story time early. Let me think, this time I'll tell the story of Kayako. Those who want to hear it, come over quickly."

As soon as he said that, Lilynette jumped onto his shoulder in a flash, took out a few spirit crystals from her pocket, and assumed a posture of eating snacks while listening to a story.

Hayato went to the Shinigami Academy, but who cares?

Anyway, he'll be living there for another six years. If he wants to hear the stories, he can just ask him whenever he has the chance. If he misses Gu Shi's story, he'll only be able to hear it secondhand from Tian Peng.

On the other end of the soul link, after Hayato finished reporting the news, he didn't receive any new instructions from Lilynette, which didn't surprise him.

After all, as an undercover agent, his main task was to provide intelligence to the Hollows. Now that he had no intelligence, the novelty of the Hollows planting an undercover agent had worn off, and it was only natural that they were too lazy to waste time on him.

As a fellow Hollow, Hayato knows very well how self-centered Hollows are.

Hayato shrugged dismissively, not so far as to suspect that the young man beside him had scared away a Hollow with his name. He continued to play his part, giving the other man a firm pat on the shoulder.

"I didn't expect that Aizen, you've only been at school for two or three days longer than me, yet you already know the situation here so well. I'll consider you my friend. If anyone ever causes you trouble, just come to me, and I'll beat their head to a pulp!"

As he spoke, Hayato bent his arm, tensed his muscles, and struck a powerful pose.

Aizen, standing to the side, seemed to be nearsighted, his eyes narrowed into slits, his face full of gentle smiles, clearly a good-natured and honest person.

Even though Hayato slapped him a few times, Aizen wasn't angry. He just smiled and rubbed his shoulder, which seemed to have been slapped sore.

"Hayato-kun is a genius. I heard from the teacher that you have spiritual power at the level of a seat commander by nature. You will most likely receive an invitation to join a combat squad before graduation. Please take good care of me in my life at school from now on."

After saying that, Aizen pointed to a rather large building not far away and continued to introduce it to him.

"That's the dojo. It's open to all students all day long. Whether you're practicing Kido, swordsmanship, or Hakuda and Shunpo, it's fine. However, if you're practicing sword Zen and trying to communicate with your Zanpakuto, it's better to find a quiet place where no one is around."

Hayato nodded knowingly, a burning glint in his eyes. Hollows are creatures with a natural tendency toward violence. Even when they don't need to hunt, if the mood strikes, they don't mind engaging in a life-or-death battle with any of their kind they happen to encounter.

Seeing this place specifically designed for battle, Hayato felt an irresistible urge to rush into the dojo and fight someone. Fortunately, his Arrancar form seemed to weaken the influence of Hollow instincts on his rationality to some extent. Hayato shook his head vigorously and suppressed his impulse.

Before he could systematically learn the fighting methods of a Shinigami, he had to maintain the appearance of an ordinary person. Even if he rushed into the dojo, he could only fight with the force of "touching," so it was better not to fight at all.

Aizen, who was standing to the side, took in Hayato's reaction, maintaining a comfortable smile on his face. Without making a sound, he turned and led Hayato to the other side.

"Hayato-kun, look, this is the library of the Shinigami Academy. It contains a large number of books that we students can use, including Kido incantations, tricks, White Fighting techniques and skills, and extended applications of Shunpo.

"Even obscure knowledge such as setting up barriers, concealing one's whereabouts, and studying the ecology of ethereal beings can be found in books here. The library is also open to students all day. Because there are rules against making loud noise and damaging books, many students also come here to practice sword Zen."

Hayato stared at the equally sizable library in silence for a long while before slowly nodding. One of his main missions infiltrating Soul Society was to steal the unique techniques of Shinigami, such as Kido, Hakuda, and barrier techniques. He hadn't expected to obtain these things so easily.

Even if the library open to students only contains basic knowledge, it's enough for him to get by with his initial work.

It seems the task is much easier than I expected. I'll just come here after class tomorrow.

Thinking this, Hayato's lips unconsciously curled up, feeling that the solemn and lifeless building in front of him was as tempting as a huge and unguarded treasure trove.

Aizen, seeing the greed in Hayato's eyes, remained unmoved. He then led Hayato to identify the buildings, including the bathhouse and classrooms, and they ate dinner together in the cafeteria before walking back to their dormitory together.

As luck would have it, among so many freshmen, their dorm rooms happened to be right across from each other. After agreeing to go to class together the next morning, they each returned to their own dorm rooms.

As the door closed, Hayato smiled and eagerly tried to contact Lilynette, telling her that he would be going to the library the next day and would read the contents of the book to her through the soul link, hoping that Lilynette could relay it to Gu Shi and the others.

In the dormitory across the way, as the door closed, Aizen maintained his smile, his eyes, which had been narrowed to slits, now wide open, filled with a thoughtful expression.

He didn't care about the freshman named Hayato at first. The reason he took the initiative to take the task of showing the freshman around the campus was just to create a better image for himself.

After what happened today, when others ask about it in the future, he can say, "Momotani-senpai took good care of me and dispelled my anxiety about being in a new environment. I also want to pass on the kindness I received from Momotani-senpai so that more students like me can integrate into the campus more quickly. I'm sorry, am I being too selfish?" This adds another layer of insurance for his harmless image.

Furthermore, this way, even after he graduates in the future, he will have ample reason to return to the school to care about the lives of freshmen and select easily controlled fools.

However, Hayato's behavior along the way made Aizen, who hadn't paid any attention to him before, somewhat curious.

A muscular man, whose muscles seem to have grown into his brain, is clearly filled with a thirst for violence. He can even feel murderous intent just looking at the dojo from afar. His words also contain a kind of primitive stupidity, yet he is also full of greed for knowledge. His interest in the library is even greater than that in the dojo. What a strange combination this is.

Among the Grim Reapers, there are quite a few guys whose muscles have grown into their brains and who are always eager to fight, but those who are interested in knowledge and books are very rare.

Now, these two traits have appeared in the same person.

...That's interesting.

Chapter 135 Asking Questions

"...In conclusion, ordinary souls are very fragile. Once they are in an environment with a high concentration of spiritual energy for a long time, such as inside the Seireitei, their soul structure will collapse, and they will fall into a weakened state. In severe cases, it may even endanger their lives."

"That's all for this book, Lord Gu Shi. I'll go find the next book now. Please let me know when it's ready to begin."

Lilynette's eyes were vacant, like a soulless telephone, repeating the message from the other end of the soul link. Gu Shi, on the other hand, listened attentively, thinking continuously as he listened.

So, the Soul Society already knew that high concentrations of spiritual energy could kill ordinary souls?

Well, that's not surprising. The Gotei 13 has been established for over 700 years. It would be strange if they couldn't even notice something so obvious.

Then, why did Byakuya Kuchiki's ordinary wife, who lived in the Seireitei about a hundred years later, end up dying after only five years?

Did Byakuya Kuchiki not know about this? Even if he didn't have time to learn these "miscellaneous things" because he was busy inheriting the family and improving his strength, surely someone in the Kuchiki family knew? Didn't anyone tell the head of the family?

Or was it because the so-called elders or other old folks believed that the four noble families should maintain their dignity and nobility and could not tolerate the head of the family's wife living in a "place for the lowly" like Rukongai? So, even knowing that Kuchiki Hisa would die, they still let her live in the Kuchiki family?

If we think about it in a darker light, perhaps those old fogies in the Kuchiki family who were already unhappy about the head of the family marrying Ryukon, which "shamed" the name of Kuchiki, arranged it this way on purpose?

They wanted that "commoner" who was unworthy of bearing the four noble surnames to die before leaving offspring and completely defiling the blood of the rotten wood.

Considering the nature of those nobles, they might use the excuse of a "test" to deceive the head of the family, who should be loyal to them, while telling Kuchiki Hisa the ending in advance, leaving her to choose whether to break up with Kuchiki Byakuya in order to survive, or to insist on being with Kuchiki Byakuya even though she knows she will die, because of that "love" that would bring shame to the Kuchiki name.

Now, not long after her marriage, Kuchiki Hisa, disregarding her weakened state, "eagerly" began searching for her younger sister...

Did Kuchiki Hisa, on her wedding day—which should have been the happiest day of her life—already begin counting down the rest of her days in her heart?

No, no, I can’t think about it anymore!

Gu Shi shook his head vigorously, quickly pulling himself out of his thoughts.

Ever since he became ethereal, his thoughts would unconsciously drift towards the dark and cruel end from time to time. Many things that he could never have thought of before would automatically pop up without deep thought, making him look like a terminally ill conspiracy theorist.

After reorganizing his thoughts, Gu Shi began to rethink. Souls cannot live in environments with excessively high spiritual energy density. If an environment with excessively high spiritual energy density is artificially created, even for Hollows and Shinigami, would Hollows and Shinigami become weak as a result?

Probably not.

Ordinary souls cannot adapt to environments with high concentrations of spiritual energy. The biggest problem is that, since they do not need to eat, they do not have the ability to "digest" spiritual energy.

When excessively high concentrations of spiritual energy from the outside enter their bodies due to factors such as "concentration gradients," they are unable to digest this spiritual energy, causing it to accumulate in their bodies and form embolisms similar to blood clots, naturally making their bodies weaker.

Ok?

If that's the case, the person who could heal Kuchiki Hisama might be Bount, who can extract soul power?

By the way, aren't the Bounts an original race created for the anime? Do the Bounts really exist in this world?

Just as Gu Shi's thoughts began to wander again, Lilynette, who was dozing off beside him, paused for a moment, then spoke again with a strange expression, relaying the message from the other end of the soul link.

"Lord Gu Shi, I'm sorry to bother you. I know you just finished listening to a whole book and need time to sort out your thoughts, but I've been spending the last few days in the library reading books. Other students seem to think I'm a very good student because of this, and they come to me to ask me questions."

"As you know, I'm just reading the book to you. I don't understand it at all, and I can't answer their questions. I feel that if I spend every day reading in the library and still don't understand anything, it would seem suspicious and would be bad for my infiltration. So could you please help me answer them? If you don't have time, that's fine. I'll figure out a way to deal with him myself."

After repeating Hayato's words, Lilyne finally couldn't help but burst into laughter. Just imagining Hayato's embarrassed expression when his mind was completely blank, and he hadn't remembered anything after reading for several days, yet he was treated like a good student and asked questions, she simply couldn't hold back her laughter.

Gu Shi's lips twitched a few times involuntarily. Although he found it a little funny, he still nodded.

"Let him ask. I can't guarantee I can answer the questions."

Soon, Lilynet conveyed Hayato's gratitude and questions.

"Would artificially increasing the concentration of spiritual energy in the environment harm the Grim Reaper?"

[It seems the student council sought Hayato's help because he was reading a book on the subject earlier, right?]

Just as he was pondering this question, Gu Shi decided to treat it as a way of organizing his thoughts and explained his ideas in detail.

The student who approached Hayato was clearly a thoughtful child, and Gu Shi soon heard a new question.

"If external spiritual energy can actively enter the soul, wouldn't the Shinigami, who is in Hueco Mundo for a long time and passively absorbs the spiritual energy in Hueco Mundo's air, get injured or become Hollowfied?"

Gu Shi could answer this question without even thinking. In the original story, Ashido lived in the Great Forest of Hollows for more than two hundred years without showing any signs of weakness or becoming Hollow. This shows that the Shinigami's body is capable of completely absorbing the Hollow-like spiritual energy in the air.

Although Asido's future situation cannot be used as an example, the derivation process of the known answer is not difficult, and Gu Shi quickly provided the answer and a reasonable explanation.

Through Lilynette and Hayato, Gu Shi answered several questions from the student. More than once, he was inspired by the student's questions, and the experience of his thinking constantly expanding made Gu Shi feel like he was discussing problems with Urahara Kisuke again.

Feeling somewhat pleased, Gu Shi simply told Hayato that if the student wanted to ask him any more questions, he could come to him for help anytime. If he wasn't there, the student should make an excuse that he needed to think about it and would help him when he returned.

Hayato silently agreed in his mind while giving the students next to him a proud smile.

"Your questions are really tricky; they almost stumped me."

"Hayato-kun is too modest. You solved the problem for me very easily. You probably don't know, but I haven't been able to sleep well at night lately because I keep thinking about these problems. Thanks to Hayato-kun's help, I can finally have a good dream tonight."

Aizen smiled and offered a few compliments, then pretended to suddenly remember something and got up.

"Sorry, Hayato-kun, I suddenly remembered that Sakura-sensei asked me to come see him after school, so I'll have to go now."

"It's alright, it's alright. I need to read a bit more. We'll talk again when we get back tonight."

After saying a polite goodbye, Aizen smiled and turned to leave.

Chapter 136 Flowers

A person who is simple-minded, whose eyes go blank when asked a question, clearly not understanding what is being asked, but who can give a clear and reliable answer after just a little "thinking".

When answering questions about uncertain ideas or controversial issues, one's rhetoric becomes agitated, but the tone remains flat, like someone reciting a text.

Isn't someone like that really interesting?

Aizen sat at his desk, a gentle smile playing on his lips. Neatly written notes lay before him, but his attention was completely elsewhere.

The first-year curriculum is too basic, so basic that it even starts from the very basics of reading and writing. As a good student, Aizen would naturally take every note seriously, but there was absolutely no need for him to review after class.

More than how to write or pronounce "Red Fire Cannon," Aizen now has more thoughts about his classmate who lives across the hall from him:

Could it be a dual-soul entity? They are souls, so if another soul can reside within a single soul, what would their relationship be? Parasitism? Possession? Split consciousness?

Or perhaps some form of long-distance communication? Where is the other end of the communication? In the courtyard of a noble family? In a group that harbors ill will towards the Seireitei? In the mortal world? In Hueco Mundo?

What is Hayato's purpose in entering the Shinigami Academy? To plant a spy within the Shinigami ranks? To cause sabotage in the Seireitei? To rescue a prisoner? To steal classified information?