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

Shen Jue floated in mid-air, her white feather robe hanging down.

His gaze passed over Kyoraku Shunsui, over Soi Fon, over Komamura Sajin, and finally landed on the aged face of Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.

"Captain-General."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to every corner of the hall.

"This story begins a thousand years ago."

A slight twitch appeared on Yamamoto's face, and Shen Jue continued to speak.

"About a thousand years ago, Yhwach, the founder of the Quincy, led the Quincy army to fight against the Gotei 13 under your command."

"You severely injured him in that battle."

"He lost his heartbeat, consciousness, and strength."

"But you failed to kill him completely."

Yamamoto's cane paused slightly.

Shen Jue's voice remained steady.

"The surviving Quincy called him 'The Sealed King'."

"They took him into the shadow of Seireitei."

"For the next thousand years, these Quincy manipulated spirit particles in the shadows to construct independent spirit particle spaces."

They claimed to be...

"The Invisible Empire".

Komamura Sajin's dog head suddenly rose, and a low whimper came from his throat.

For the first time, a noticeable tremor appeared on Kuchiki Byakuya's usually cool and aloof face.

Unohana Retsu's fingers tightened completely, and in her gentle eyes, Shen Jue's figure was reflected, as if she were looking at someone who had already foreseen everything.

Shen Jue did not stop explaining.

"Nine hundred years after the war."

"Yohabach's heartbeat has been restored."

Ninety years have passed.

"When Ichigo Kurosaki was nine years old."

"Yhwabach's consciousness has awakened."

"The first thing he did."

Shen Jue's gaze swept over Kurosaki Ichigo.

Kurosaki Ichigo's hand rested on the hilt of Zangetsu, his knuckles turning white.

"Sainthood".

"He activated the Sanctification, drawing upon the power of Quincy hybrids from around the world."

"Restart the revitalization plan."

The hall was deathly silent.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni looked at Shen Jue.

In those aged eyes, beneath the millennia-old majesty, a faint, almost imperceptible tremor finally surfaced.

Shen Jue and Aizen floated side by side in mid-air, then slowly descended, their toes just three inches off the ground, stopping in front of Yamamoto.

"These years."

"Captain Aizen and I travel between the three realms and hell."

"The present world".

Soul Society.

"Virtual Sphere".

"hell."

"We have investigated every place where there were abnormal fluctuations in spiritual energy."

"We have traced every single trace left by the Quincy."

"And recently."

Shen Jue paused, his voice turning somber.

"We've finally found it."

"Yohabach, who took nine hundred years to restore his heartbeat, ninety years to restore his consciousness, and nine years to restore his strength."

"His location."

Aizen tilted his head slightly to the side, his brown eyes reflecting Yamamoto's image.

"Captain-General."

"Yhwabach is awake."

"He's here."

"In the shadow of Seireitei."

Shen Jue raised his hand.

A flick of the fingertip.

A circular device flew out from his sleeve, drew an arc in the air, and hovered in mid-air.

The object was small, about the size of a palm, and entirely silver-white. Its surface was covered with extremely fine spiritual energy pathways, with dark blue light patterns slowly flowing through them.

Then, it rang.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle."

The sound was crisp, yet carried an extremely discordant quality, like the cry of a startled penguin.

"Gurgle, gurgle!"

The expressions on everyone's faces in the hall froze for a moment.

Kyoraku Shunsui's mouth was agape, and his eyebrows under his straw hat were raised so high they almost flew off.

Soi Fon's lips twitched very slightly.

Toshiro Hitsugaya's originally pale face now had an inexplicable layer of confusion.

Kenpachi Zaraki tilted his head, stared at the "gurgling" device for two seconds, and then let out a sneer.

"What is this thing?"

Neliel peeked out from behind Harribel, her big eyes lighting up.

"So cute."

Heribel remained silent, but her grip on the hilt of the knife loosened for a moment.

Shen Jue remained expressionless.

Aizen stood beside him, his brown eyes calmly watching the device, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"Gurgle, gurgle!"

The device suddenly emitted a series of rapid beeps, and the spiritual circuits on its surface suddenly lit up, turning the dark blue light patterns into a blinding white.

An invisible ripple burst out from the center of the device.

The ripples were silent, yet so heavy that they made the entire Soul Society tremble.

Shen Jue raised his right hand, his five fingers spread open.

Aizen raised his left hand almost at the same instant.

The spiritual pressure of the two people was injected into the device at the same time, one on the left and one on the right, and the two completely different forces converged and merged at the center of the device.

Then, the device emitted a low hum.

"Spatial stripping".

Shen Jue and Aizen spoke at the same time.

The overlapping sounds foreshadowed a major event that was about to take place.

In an instant, the entire Soul Society was shaken.

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni suddenly looked up.

For the first time, his eyes truly opened wide.

Above everyone, where the sky above Seireitei should have been, a huge, semi-transparent projection appeared.

The projection stretched across the entire sky, covering the entire Seireitei.

The outline gradually became clear.

It was a city, a city built in the shadows.

White walls, blue domes, spires piercing the clouds, crisscrossing streets, and ribbons of light formed from spiritual particles weaving and flowing between the buildings.

It stands silently in the shadow of the sky, quiet, cold, and magnificent, as if it has existed there for a thousand years, or as if it has been waiting there for a thousand years.

In the hall, everyone looked up at the projection.

Komamura Sajin raised his head completely, his straw hat slipped to the ground, revealing his furry face and a pair of eyes that were wide open.

"What is that?!"

His voice was so hoarse that it was almost inaudible.

"There really is a world in the shadows!"

Kuchiki Byakuya tilted his head back, and a crack finally appeared on his usually cold face.

Those grey eyes reflected the city in the sky, their pupils slightly contracting.

"The Invisible Empire".

He murmured the name, his voice carrying a tremor he rarely displayed.

As Retsu Unohana gazed at the projection in the sky, the smile on her lips vanished completely.

For the first time, her fingers touched the hilt of her knife.

Ōmaeda was completely paralyzed on the ground, his head tilted back, his mouth open, unable to utter a single word.

Stark tilted his head back, his eyes narrowing beneath the brim of his hat.

"what?"

"Your Majesty, this should be our opponent, right?"

"Has this kind of thing been hiding in the shadows of Seireitei all this time?"

Barragán's breathing was heavy, like a bellows.

He had lived for thousands of years and thought he was used to the dangers of Hueco Mundo, but at this moment, the silent city in the sky made him feel for the first time a kind of absurd sense of being manipulated.

The Quincy, one of the Grim Reapers' greatest enemies, brazenly hid at the Grim Reapers' feet, mocking their foolishness.

Ulquiorra quietly tilted his head back.

The outline of that city is reflected in the green eyes.

He stared at it for a long time.

Then he lowered his head and looked at Shen Jue.

"king."

"I see."

"You need my wings of wind to clear away all obstacles for you."

Heribel did not speak.

Looking at the city in the sky, she suddenly understood why Shen Jue had brought them all with him.

Nellyel's camera had long been broken, so she could only look up at the projection with her naked eyes, her big eyes reflecting the white light.

Kyoraku Shunsui tilted his head back, his straw hat slipping off completely, revealing his perpetually lazy face.

At that moment, the smile completely disappeared from that face.

Then he looked at Shen Jue.

"Shen Jue".

"This thing..."

"When did you find it?"

"Truly worthy of being called the great detective among the captains!"

"They can even find something like this."

"Thank goodness, thank goodness."

Kurosaki Ichigo, like his father Kurosaki Isshin, wore a completely bewildered expression.

Shen Jue didn't expect Kurosaki Ichigo to understand what was happening. He just needed Ichigo to unleash his spiritual pressure and cut down those Quincy.

Shen Jue turned his head to look at Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni.

Yamamoto stood there, looking up at the city that had been silent for a thousand years in the sky.

His face was expressionless.

But those hands, those hands that had held the Zanpakuto for a thousand years, were trembling slightly at that moment.

If the Wandenreich were to launch an unpredictable attack on the Seireitei, he couldn't imagine the extent of the losses his Gotei 13, which he had built from scratch, would suffer.

But at that time, even a heartless killer like him would feel heartache, right?