Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 453 Saito's Immortal Divine Skill Mastery: Hollowfication!

Within Hueco Mundo, Kuchiki Sojun looked at Kurusashiki Kenpachi standing beside him and said, "The Heart Trembles. The Spirit Lord has clearly noticed the situation here. What that guy said earlier also confirms this. We just need to hold on for a while, and the Seireitei's reinforcements will arrive!"

"Understood." Kenpachi Kuruyashiki laughed and said, "It's fortunate that you brought Shindo with you, otherwise if we were wiped out here, the Soul Society probably wouldn't even know it."

"I'm truly ashamed," Kuchiki Sojun said with a helpless expression.

Despite his boasting about being wiped out, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki was quite confident in himself. Pointing his Gourakuro sword at the immortal Saito in the sky, he said, "Senior, I have some confidence in my strength. You're probably aware of the current situation. The Seireitei's reinforcements will arrive soon, so if you don't run now, it won't be so easy later!"

"That might sound a bit beneath my dignity, but let me put it this way: if I want to leave, there shouldn't be anything in the Three Realms that can stop me!" Saito Immortal said arrogantly.

"So how were you captured back then?" Kenpachi Kuruyashiki launched a fatal attack directly at Saito's immortal 'vital point'.

Saito, the immortal being, frowned and said angrily, "That's because I wanted to die in battle and had no intention of running away. Who knew that bastard Yamamoto Genryusai would be so despicable in the end!"

Without dwelling on the topic with Kenpachi Kuruyashiki, Saito Immortal quickly composed himself, his eyes darkening as he said, "You're right, those bastards from Seireitei will be here soon, but it doesn't matter. As long as we kill you all before then!"

"It seems there's no point in negotiating." Kenpachi Kuruyashiki's expression darkened. Before he could finish speaking, he unleashed a burst of Shunpo, his figure vanishing from the spot.

The next instant, he appeared in front of Saito Immortal and raised his hand to slash down with his sword!

"You have the bearing of a fierce general, and your speed is also quite impressive. You're really good!" Saito, who is neither old nor dead, did not dodge, but instead raised his Sky Flash and accurately blocked the entrance to the Hungry Pleasure Corridor!

With a clang, the two Zanpakuto emitted a crisp metallic sound as they clashed, followed by two powerful bursts of spiritual pressure exploding in the air.

"Your small frame belies your incredible strength; it's truly an eye-opener!" Kenpachi Kurosashi exclaimed, as his spiritual pressure began to rise steadily.

"You're speaking too soon. What's coming next is when you'll truly be amazed," Saito Immortal said with a wicked and arrogant smile.

He didn't continue fighting Kuruyashiki Kenpachi here, nor did he use his Bankai; instead, he directly killed all the Shinigami present.

It's like he's been lonely for over 160 years. No, with that nearly 500-year prison sentence added, it should be said that he's been lonely for almost 700 years!

As if deliberately showing off his skills, Saito, who was neither old nor dead, used a flash to create some distance between himself and Kenpachi Kuruyashiki in mid-air, and then raised his hand and placed his five fingers on his forehead.

Without any pause, the five fingers swept down from her delicate face, and then a mask that she had only recently acquired quickly solidified and appeared on her face.

It was a skull mask, and Saito's immortal left eye, which originally wore an eyepatch, now showed a hollow hole!

Seeing this, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki looked on with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty, and said in a deep voice, "Hollow!? You're a Hollow now!?"

A terrifying spiritual pressure swept across the entire area. For a moment, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki thought it was the Spirit Lord himself!

At this moment, Saito's immortality has surpassed the limits of a regular Shinigami, and his spiritual pressure has been amplified to an extremely terrifying degree!

"I love how panicked and clueless you young people are," Saito, the immortal being, said with a smile, wearing a holographic mask.

The moment she finished speaking, she had already disappeared from Kenpachi Kuruyashiki's sight.

Although she was fast before, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki was still able to keep up to some extent, but now, his vision and spiritual pressure perception could no longer keep up with Saito's immortal speed.

His body reacted instinctively, and Kenpachi Kuruyashiki raised his hand to block the Guraku Corridor in front of him.

The next second, a phantom flashed past him, and blood bloomed in the air. His tall body was pressed down by a slash and fell to the ground!

In the instant a cloud of dust rose, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki, disregarding his injuries, rolled away to dodge. Sure enough, the area where he fell was instantly sliced ​​open with a cross-shaped crack!

At the same time, Kuchiki Sōjun seemed to have just come to his senses, his face extremely ugly, and he shouted loudly, "Saito, immortal! You have completely tarnished the honor of the Kuchiki family!!! How dare you disregard the honor of the Shinigami and the prohibitions of the Central 46 to practice the forbidden Hollowfication technique!?"

"Hahaha, it seems the decaying Kuchiki family still has some substance. At least their knowledge far surpasses that of ordinary captains. Should I praise you, 'As expected of a great noble family that has endured to this day'?" Saito, seemingly immortal, laughed loudly in the air, then his tone turned cold as he said, "Finally, let me warn you again: don't spout any nonsense about the Kuchiki family's glory onto me, or I'll make you regret ever being born!"

In most people's understanding, the Hollowfication of Shinigami was caused by Aizen Sousuke.

It seems that a new definition of something, a completely new and transcendent existence, only appeared after Aizen broke the boundary between Shinigami and Hollows with the Hogyoku.

But in fact, it is not.

What Aizen did was merely to explore a completely new method based on Hollowfication. In fact, long before Aizen researched Hollowfication, there had been many Hollowfied Shinigami in the millions of years of Soul Society's history.

Throughout such a long history, there have been many figures like Aizen who sought to combine the powers of Shinigami and Hollows.

(This isn't something I made up; it's true. The forbidden technique of Hollowfication really exists in Soul Society.)

Hollowfication can greatly enhance a Shinigami's combat power, and even allow spiritual pressure to break through conventional limits.

This so-called conventional boundary is not a boundary shared by all of death, but rather a boundary that is viewed from an individual perspective.

Spiritual pressure has been thoroughly studied and understood over the past million years. In the Soul Society, it is generally accepted that everyone's spiritual pressure has an inherent upper limit, and this upper limit varies depending on their talent and ability.

There is a significant difference between the souls of high-ranking nobles and those born in Rukongai. This is a fundamental factor that has allowed the noble class to survive from ancient times to the present without being broken!

Aside from a small number of people who are exceptionally gifted, from a broader perspective, nobles often have a much higher spiritual pressure level than commoners!

The longer a bloodline has been passed down, the more compatible it is with the Soul Society, and the higher the innate talents and potential of the souls born from it.

Kuchiki Sojun is a prime example. He was born sickly and had poor physical health, but even so, his spiritual pressure was stronger than that of most healthy commoners!

He can still control the power of Bankai!

Hollowfication breaks the limits of one's own spiritual pressure, rather than the limits of a general concept of a Shinigami (death god).

Take Tosen Kaname for example. He can be said to have developed Hollowfication to the extreme, being able to completely Hollowfication and utterly lose his Shinigami form.

However, the spiritual pressure limit he broke was only his own. Even if he completely became Hollowfied, combining the advantages of Shinigami and Hollow, his spiritual pressure intensity still could not compare with that of a pure Shinigami like Genryusai Yamamoto.

Aizen, however, was a complete exception. He was a genius unparalleled in the Soul Society, whose spiritual pressure limit was almost at the ceiling of the Shinigami concept. Therefore, his Hollowfication truly broke the spiritual pressure intensity between Shinigami and Hollows, reaching a new dimension.

Among all those Hollowfied Shinigami, only he stood in a completely new dimension; the others were still far from it.

As for Bane, he is currently the only "abnormal" in Soul Society. Because he is not a traditional Shinigami, he is an extremely special existence. Over the years, his spiritual pressure has been growing. Moreover, unlike most Shinigami, he is able to continuously increase his spiritual pressure by absorbing pure spiritual particles from his surroundings.

To this day, his spiritual pressure is unparalleled in Soul Society, and he has never reached the so-called upper limit, as if the upper limit does not exist for him.

This is something even Aizen couldn't do.

Because Hollowfication can greatly enhance the fighting power of Shinigami, the Soul Society conducted related research a long time ago, leaving traces in its millions of years of history.

While powerful, the danger of Hollowfication is extremely high. Of a hundred Shinigami who attempt Hollowfication, perhaps only one or two will be able to find themselves and become even stronger. The rest will lose their way in the process and become monsters even more terrifying than ordinary Hollows.

This brings us to the fundamental difference between Shinigami and Hollows.

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

Death is a whole soul, while Hollow is a broken soul.

To gain the power of etherealization, one must undergo the process of transforming into etherealness, thereby losing oneself. After experiencing this process, one must defeat the etherealness within and find oneself again.

The vast majority of people are unable to find themselves, and ultimately, because of this, the Central 46 Chambers stopped all research on etherealization long ago, and sealed this knowledge as a forbidden art, no longer allowing anyone to learn it.

Nowadays, almost no one in Seireitei knows about this matter anymore; even Yamamoto Genryusai is not very clear about it.

Only the most ancient and noble families had this concept and knew some of the secrets.

This is also why Kuchiki Sōjun was able to recognize the situation.

Saito's immortal spiritual pressure is very strong, second only to Bane and Yamamoto Genryusai. In his previous normal state, he was even stronger than ruthless people like Kushiyashiki Kenpachi.

Now, having entered the ethereal masked state, the intensity of his spiritual pressure has surpassed that of Yamamoto Genryusai!

Speed, strength, spiritual pressure, reaction speed—all aspects have been comprehensively enhanced.

After several exchanges, Kenpachi Kuruyashiki was covered in wounds, but his aura remained strong, as if he was getting stronger with each battle. His already powerful spiritual pressure continued to rise, clearly showing that he was a battle maniac who could constantly surpass himself in such a fight!

However, it was still difficult to salvage the situation. The initial release of the Hungry Paradise Corridor was not very useful. It was meant to deal with groups of enemies. Against Saito's immortality, whose speed was almost like spatial teleportation, it was clear that even if he transformed into thirty monsters, it would be of little use.

Bankai is even more difficult. The reason why Kenpachi Kuchiki had Kuchiki Sōjun run away with the others in the first place was to prevent them from holding him back. Only when they were far away could he unleash his full power without any worries.

But now, they are all trapped in a limited space by Saito's immortality.

If Kenpachi Kuruyashiki were to use his Bankai at this moment, he could indeed break the current disadvantage, but the other Shinigami would have no chance of escaping unscathed!

This left Kenpachi Kuruyashiki feeling helpless, unable to defeat the Hollowfied Saito, who was immortal. He could only rely on his thick skin and toughness to hold out and buy time.

We hope that the Seireitei's support will arrive as soon as possible!

Kenpachi Kuruyashiki and the immortal Saito are engaged in a fierce battle.

Kuchiki Sojun gathered all the Shinigami who had followed him around him, then, braving the chaotic surge of spiritual pressure, planted Shinto firmly in the ground and whispered, "I'm counting on you, Lord Shinto!"

Although Bane is unable to cross the boundary and reach Shindo due to Saito's immortality, they still share the same spiritual pressure.

After Kuchiki Sojun planted the Heart Crossing in the ground, the Heart Crossing roared and transformed into a huge azure dragon, coiling up and protecting all the death gods with its majestic and domineering dragon body. Then it released extremely strong spiritual pressure, forming a thick spiritual pressure barrier to guard this place!

Having achieved this, Kuchiki Sojun finally breathed a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Kuchiki Byakuya, feeling the powerful spiritual pressure barrier, couldn't help but ask, "Father, with the Spirit Lord's spiritual pressure protecting you, why didn't you let Captain Kuruyashiki, who was fighting so hard, come in as well?"

"Captain Kuchiyashiki's ability to hold off Saito's immortality has created the current situation. Prolonged defense inevitably leads to defeat. If no one is restraining her, she will definitely break through Lord Kaishin's barrier," Kuchiki Soujun replied softly, then added, "Besides, haven't you noticed?"

"What did you find?" Byakuya Kuchiki asked, puzzled.

"Although he was always at a disadvantage, and although each exchange aggravated his injuries, Kenpachi Kushiyashiki's expression was one of joy. He was enjoying the battle and constantly surpassing himself. There are few beings in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo who can give him such an exhilarating battle. Even if I asked him to step down, he would definitely not want to," Kuchiki Soujun remarked.

(End of this chapter)