Both start in hell: but their talents are multiplied a hundredfold.

"Finally rolled down to see me?"

The man in the black robe stood on the water, a faint ripple spreading around his feet.

His face was almost identical to Shen Jue's, but their temperaments were worlds apart.

The tone of his voice, the way he squinted his eyes, and the slight upturn of his lips all gave Ichigo a strong sense of déjà vu.

In the training ground just now.

On Shen Jue's face, who was smiling as he slashed him twice, Ichigo had seen this expression before, but it was completely different.

"Shen Jue?" Ichigo asked tentatively.

"Correct answer, ten points added." The phantom of the black-robed man, Shen Jue, clapped lightly.

"But not Shen Jue who's outside making tea."

"I am a wisp of his consciousness left in this spiritual world."

Ichigo frowned, his vigilance remaining sharp: "But why are you in my mental world?"

"Who am I?" Shen Jue tilted her head, her smile deepening.

"There are many answers to this question. The captain of the 10th Division, the successor of the Sage Master's Three-Stroke Teaching Method."

"However, the most fitting identity for you would be..."

He paused for a moment, then took a step forward.

A ripple spread across the water beneath Ichigo's feet, the ripples brushing past his feet and bringing a strange warmth.

"Your father's good friend."

Ichigo was stunned.

"Kurosaki Isshin." When Shen Jue said this name, his tone was unusually warm.

"Your old man, who always pretends to be stupid, used to be a big shot in Soul Society. I've known him for who knows how many years."

"That stinky old man?!" Ichigo's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Former captain of the 10th Division of the Gotei 13, Shiba Isshin," Shen Jue said, pointing to himself with a smile.

"In a sense, I took over his job. Back then, he gave up his identity as a Shinigami to save your mother, Masaki, and used all his spiritual pressure to suppress the Hollow within her. The price was that he could never return to Soul Society."

Shen Jue watched Ichigo's gradually crumbling expression, his smile undiminished: "I've watched you grow up, Ichigo."

He raised his right hand and held up one finger.

"When you were four years old, you had a high fever, and I was so anxious that I was running around in circles in Urahara Store, holding you in my arms."

"I happened to be passing by and secretly used the Reincarnation Technique once."

The second finger.

"When you were seven years old, you played soccer for the first time, and your shot sent the ball flying over the riverbank."

"You were leaning over the edge of the embankment, reaching out to grab something, and you almost fell in. I caught you from below and pushed you back."

"But all you saw was a gust of wind."

The third finger.

"When you were nine years old, Masaki Kurosaki took you to the market to buy groceries."

"You insisted on helping Mom carry things, and ended up with a bag of radishes in your left hand and a cabbage in your right, walking like a penguin." Shen Jue's voice softened.

"I was right across the street, and I noticed you through the crowd."

Ichigo felt as if he had been punched hard in the chest.

These details, these impossible-to-fabricate details, flashed through his mind like a replay.

"And another thing." Shen Jue's smile faded, and his gaze became very quiet.

"Your mother was corrupted by the power of the void, and I used special methods to remove the void power from her body."

"Otherwise, your mother will lose all her strength because of some event."

"As a human with high spiritual power, you should be well aware that losing your power would make you a target for Hollows in the mortal world, right?"

"Your father's spiritual pressure should have been recovering for a while."

Ichigo's breathing suddenly stopped.

Shen Jue raised her head and looked directly into Ichigo's eyes.

"If your mother were in that situation, wouldn't she protect you children with her life?"

"You are the child that Masaki Kurosaki will protect with her life."

"There is no identity cleaner or more worthy of pride than this."

Ichigo stood there, his lips pressed tightly together.

Thinking of this situation, Ichigo's eyes reddened, but he didn't let the tears fall.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes hard.

"Is everything you're saying true?"

"What benefit would it bring to my educational achievements if I lied to you?"

Ichigo remained silent for a while.

Then he looked up, and his eyes changed.

There was no doubt left, only a firm resolve after the burden had been lifted.

"You didn't come here just to tell me a bedtime story, did you?"

Shen Jue laughed, a laugh that held a profound meaning.

"Of course not." He raised his hands, palms up.

On the surface of Ichigo's spiritual world, two figures slowly emerged from the ripples.

The figure on the left was all too familiar to Ichigo. The man in the black robe with long hair reaching his waist was none other than Zangetsu, his Zanpakuto, the opponent he sparred with every time in the spiritual world.

The figure on the right caused Ichigo's pupils to shrink sharply.

His entire body was deathly pale, and he had a hollow hole in his chest. He was also the void that had roared deep within his heart.

"There are actually three forces within you." Shen Jue's voice echoed in this space, carrying an unquestionable authority.

"The power of the Quincy, the power of the Shinigami, the power of the Hollow."

"The Quincy bloodline your mother left you has been suppressing other powers within you."

"And the Zangetsu you've been using, in its Shikai form, is essentially just Quincy power wrapped in a shell of Shinigami power."

Shen Jue clenched his fist lightly, and Zhan Yue and Bai Xu simultaneously looked up, their eyes locking onto Ichigo.

"You think you're fighting with a Zanpakuto, but in reality, you're using the power of a Quincy."

Seeing Ichigo's increasingly serious expression, Shen Jue nodded in satisfaction and continued, "A true Zanpakuto, true Shinigami power and Hollow power, must be awakened through Bankai."

"You must find your place between the Grim Reaper's blade and the power of the Hollows, both conquering and accepting them."

"That concludes the theoretical explanation." Shen Jue took two steps back to create some distance, then gestured for him to leave.

"What follows can't be explained in words. You only have one path: beat them until they all submit to you."

Haku Kyo let out a low roar, drew a pure white Zanpakuto, and a ferocious smile spread across his pale face.

Zangetsu silently drew his sword, the blade pointing directly at Ichigo.

Kurosaki Ichigo clenched his fists and looked down at his empty hands.

His Zanpakuto had been cut in half, and now he was without any weapon.

Shen Jue seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled gently, saying, "The knife is in your own heart."

"You think Zangetsu is the weapon in your hand, but the real Zangetsu is never outside."

Ichigo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes again, he was holding a knife.

This time, the sword is no longer that enormous Zanpakuto.

It is long and sharp, with a smooth curve on the blade like a solidified moonlight.

On the opposite side, Zhan Yue and Bai Xu launched their attacks simultaneously.