Death God: Starting from Refining Essence into Qi

The days after the storm subsided passed by peacefully, like flowing water.

Gen didn't follow up on what happened to Kitashirakawa and Taguchi afterward. His intervention that day was merely to offer both sides a way out. Whether they reconciled privately was their own business.

Everything is back on track—if Saito Immortal can be considered "on track."

In just a few months, she beat up all the other students in her class.

No one dared to mess with her from the first day of school, and now no one dares to either. So she turned her attention to the previous students.

"Those guys from the second year, I heard they're pretty good at fighting, but she beat them to a pulp in the training ground yesterday."

"Even the fifth graders are in trouble. She didn't even draw her knife; she took them all down with just her leg techniques..."

"I heard that the sixth graders have started avoiding her."

Xuan hears these comments every day. And the person involved's response is—

"Tch, it's all so boring."

Then he continued to seek out Xuan, trying to persuade him to fight him.

Xuan refused.

Instead of wasting time and energy fighting, it's better to cultivate for a while longer and strive to nurture your primordial spirit to become even stronger.

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The setting sun casts its light on the white walls and black tiles of the Yuanzi Academy.

Xuan retrieved the package sent to him from the gatekeeper; it contained a letter and a stack of banknotes with a face value of 10,000 rings.

He returned to his dormitory, sat cross-legged, and opened the envelope. The handwriting on the letter was quite elegant, clearly the work of a thousand days:

"Xuan, how's life at Yuanzi Academy lately? Did you get chopped up by that headmaster?"

The old man made me learn a bunch of useless scriptures, arithmetic, feudal administration, and aristocratic etiquette—I'd rather practice Instant Step ten thousand times. I really envy you, being able to concentrate on your training at the Yuanzi Academy. Remember to practice Instant Step often, consider it as practicing for me.

This month's share of the profits is also included. What's going on in your head? How did you come up with the name 'pencil'? I heard that some nobles have actually tried writing with pencils, it makes my stomach hurt from laughing.

Alright, that's enough rambling. If you encounter any problems, write to me.

Xuan carefully put away the stack of banknotes. Each month he could earn a share of 3 million rings, with a purchasing power of approximately tens of thousands of Chinese yuan. Meanwhile, the average monthly salary of a future captain of the Gotei 13 was only 2 million rings.

This was an idea he and Qianri had proposed two years ago:

Since graphite is slippery and soft and not good for writing, and clay hardens after being fired into porcelain, what if graphite, clay, and water were mixed, kneaded, and compacted, and then fired together with porcelain in a kiln? Perhaps then it could be used for writing. If it were then embedded in a whittled wooden strip, it wouldn't get your hands dirty.

Chiri jokingly had someone try it out, and that's how the pencil came to be.

The nobles of Soul Society have now discovered the advantages of pencils and use them for most everyday writing, only using brushes to record information for long-term preservation or formal documents.

Xuan knew that this business was successful because of the Shihōin family's reputation. No one had planted spies within the Shihōin family, and those who were truly capable of doing so wouldn't expose themselves for the petty profit of making pencils.

Xuan doesn't pursue extravagance; 30% of his profits over the past few years are enough to cover all his daily expenses after leaving the Shihouin family. More importantly, this shared interest lets the Shihouin family know that he has sense of propriety—he's intelligent, but not greedy.

Xuan put away the banknotes, took out a letter, and began to write a reply.

The pen tip glides across the paper, simply describing the daily life of Yuanzi Academy.

"I made a friend," he wrote, "whose name is Saito Immortal. It's a strange name, but he's... very energetic."

Signature, then attach the letter.

Outside the window, the setting sun had sunk behind the mountains, and night quietly descended.

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Midnight.

Saito, immortal and ageless, lay on the tatami mat, staring at the ceiling with his eyes open.

Can't sleep.

She turned over, and the moonlight shone through the window, falling on her face, cool and bright.

She sat up and looked out the window. A full moon hung in the sky, its silvery light bathing the courtyard, and even the outlines of the distant mountains were clearly visible.

Such a beautiful day, it's so invigorating, it makes me want to pick a fight.

The image of Xuan's expressionless face flashed through her mind.

"If I wake that guy up from his sleep, he'll definitely fight me, right?"

Saito put on a blindfold, pushed open the window, flipped and leaped onto the roof, and in a few bounds, she was above Gen's dormitory. She lay on the edge of the roof, hanging upside down, looking into the window.

Inside, a figure sat cross-legged, with a handkerchief resting on his lap, motionless.

—Still not asleep?

Saito was somewhat surprised.

"Oh, Xuan Yi is still awake."

Xuan opened his eyes and stared blankly at the upside-down head outside the window.

"...What are you doing?"

"Moon gazing, huh?" Saito climbed in through the window, plopped down on the windowsill, and dangled his legs out of the room. "You attend classes during the day and train at night," Saito tilted his head, "Don't you ever sleep?"

"I'm used to it. I'll naturally go to sleep when I'm almost exhausted."

Saito pursed his lips, "I was originally planning to get you up for a sparring match, but since we still need to train, let's forget about it."

Xuan raised his eyes and said, "I suggest you cultivate as well."

Saito paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Gen, are you trying to persuade me to study harder? Hahaha—"

"Quiet down, everyone in the next room is asleep," Xuan immediately interrupted.

Saito jumped off the windowsill, walked to the tatami mat, and squatted down, facing Gen directly in the face: "Hey, do you think I'm not strong enough, that's why you won't fight me?"

Xuan looked directly into her eyes.

In her spiritual perception, Saito's spiritual pressure was not greater than her own—she probably felt slightly inferior herself, which is why she had always wanted to challenge Gen.

But Xuan knew he was living off his past achievements. Thanks to the spiritual food provided by the Shihōin family and the mature theoretical knowledge of Daoist foundation building and Qi refining, he cultivated day and night without interruption, spending several years to reach the spiritual pressure of a Seat Official, barely catching up with the taillights of true geniuses in Soul Society.

The difference in strength between the captain and the vice-captain is enormous, and the difference in spiritual pressure between the vice-captain and the captain is even more chasm-like. With his progress in refining his spirit being slow, Gen feels it will be difficult to reach captain-level strength by the time Yhwach invades Soul Society.

In contrast, Saito became the captain of the first Gotei 13 a century later, becoming one of the main combat forces in the first bloody war.

Saito was born to fight; her passion for battle was even more terrifying than her talent for training—unless she was like the once-in-a-millennium genius Hitsugaya Toshiro, who could reach captain level simply by eating and sleeping every day.

Living in the moment, carefree and unrestrained—that's a way of life many people yearn for but can't attain, and Xuan is no exception.

But Xuan couldn't stop; he couldn't stop striving to become stronger.

It was simply to survive the war that swept through the Soul Society.

"What's wrong, not saying anything?" Saito waved his hand in front of his eyes. "Did I shut you up?"

Gen snapped out of his daze and looked at Saito expressionlessly.

Saito felt uneasy under the stare, so he flipped over and jumped onto the windowsill. Before leaving, he turned back and made a face at Gen, "I heard there are bears roaming the back mountain. I'm going to check if there are any bear cubs."

Before she finished speaking, her figure had already disappeared outside the window.

Xuan re-entered a meditative state, controlling his spiritual energy to complete the microcosmic orbit within his body.

The moonlight shifts, and the night breeze gently blows.