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

Chapter 509 Mayuri Kurotsuchi: Aizen-kun is a genius that is rare even in all ages. He is perfect as material for the Hogyoku!

Inside the deepest underground laboratory.

The prisoner, Grim Reaper, has been locked in a completely transparent, suspended compartment.

Meanwhile, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, Nemu Kurotsuchi, and Hiyori Sarugaki were watching the prisoners inside from outside the cubicle.

"Is it about to begin?" Hiyori Sarugaki swallowed nervously.

"Don't be so nervous, the success rate is as high as 97%," Mayuri Kurotsuchi casually reassured him.

As soon as he finished speaking, he pressed a mechanical button in front of him.

Then, a black square floated down above the transparent compartment. The black square then unfolded, revealing a round bead inside that emitted a dazzling and brilliant light.

"The Hogyoku," Hiyori Sarugaki murmured softly.

"No matter how many times I look at it, I still think it's so beautiful. Although it's still not perfect and not complete, in my opinion, it's just right. Overly pursuing perfection is also an insult to the future of scientists. If everything can be perfect, then there will be less room for progress. It's just a pity that Orochimaru, Kisuke Urahara, or Aizen all wanted the Hogyoku to go a step further," Mayuri Kurotsuchi sighed.

The Hogyoku before us is a wondrous artifact created over the years by Aizen, Orochimaru, Kisuke Urahara, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi, using all their combined power and the souls of tens of thousands of artificial Shinigami, thousands of Hollows, and over six hundred genuine Shinigami.

"Is this the key that's specifically designed to break through the limits of death? Is it really that amazing?" Hiyori Sarugaki couldn't help but ask.

"It's far more amazing than that." Mayuri Kurotsuchi listened to the question, a complex look flashing in his eyes, and said, "Breaking boundaries is just one of its abilities. At first, we were indeed moving towards that goal. When it first allowed a Hollow to successfully break through its mask, and when it first allowed a Shinigami to successfully possess a Visor, we were all incredibly excited. But then, everyone discovered a problem that wasn't really a problem."

"What do you mean?" Hiyori Sarugaki asked, puzzled.

"The true power of the Hogyoku is not breaking limits, but rather the ability to materialize the power of the mind. In other words, it's about fulfilling wishes. The reason it was able to break limits before was because we expected it to break limits. We were expecting it, so it displayed this power. At that time, Aizen was the first to discover the anomaly of the Hogyoku. After dozens of attempts, we finally confirmed that the Hogyoku is essentially an indescribable, mysterious power that guides the materialization of inner power, allowing things to develop and move as far as possible in the direction one desires. Of course," Mayuri Kurotsuchi said, looking at Hiyori Sarugaki, "to manifest this power, one must possess the corresponding strength. It cannot be achieved through mere imagination."

"I don't quite understand," Hiyori Sarugaki said, not quite comprehending the meaning.

"Then I'll demonstrate it for you." Mayuri Kurotsuchi smiled and looked at the Hogyoku and the prisoner Shinigami.

He reached for a button on the device in front of him and explained, "Pressing this button will initiate the Shinigami's Hollowfication experiment. This is what I'm thinking right now. Watch closely."

As soon as he finished speaking, the button was pressed, and the Hogyoku emitted a faint light that shone on the Grim Reaper.

A moment later, a large number of milky white spiritual particles began to emerge from the body of this Grim Reaper, emerging from the holes in his body, such as his eye sockets, nostrils, ear holes, and even his mouth and pores.

The Grim Reaper began to convulse and wail, his chains snapping and breaking instantly. His originally ordinary spiritual pressure began to rise rapidly on the spiritual pressure monitoring gauge.

In no time, it reached the spiritual pressure of a captain, and then it calmed down.

The Grim Reaper's Hollowfied mask appeared on his face, and he seemed to have exhausted too much energy as a result, falling into a coma.

"With just one Hollowfication, his spiritual pressure rose from the level of an ordinary squad member to the threshold of a captain. That's truly terrifying," Hiyori Sarugaki couldn't help but remark.

"If it didn't possess this limitless power, why would we even bother researching it?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi casually replied, then continued, "Next, I'm going to turn him into a true Hollow."

As he spoke, Mayuri Kurotsuchi pressed another button.

The Grim Reaper began to twist again, its mask crumbling and a black hole appearing in its throat—the Hollow's 'Missing'.

In just a few breaths, Death transformed from the soul level into a Hollow!

"This is really something." Hiyori Sarugaki couldn't help but exclaim.

"Our creation of the Hogyoku was originally not intended to have this function, but it is able to achieve it. This is because I have the idea and the power to do so. It is easy to turn a Shinigami into a Hollow; I can simply force him to lose it. However, turning a Hollow into a Shinigami is something I cannot do. Therefore, the Hogyoku is difficult to achieve. Watch closely," Mayuri Kurotsuchi said as he activated the Hogyoku again.

Although the Hogyoku reacted this time, emitting a faint light, the ethereal body twisted for a long time and failed to 'complete' itself. With the flickering of the Hogyoku, the failure of this transformation was announced.

"This is because my power is insufficient to guide the Hogyoku to make such a real-world change. Next, I'll show you what happens when the power of the materials is insufficient." Mayuri Kurotsuchi pressed another guidance button.

The next second, the experimental subject, "Virtual," exploded into a pile of minced meat, turning the entire transparent compartment a scarlet red.

Hiyori Sarugaki was startled and quickly looked at Mayuri Kurotsuchi, asking, "What were you trying to do just now?"

"I prayed that he would become the Soul King," Mayuri Kurotsuchi said calmly, "but he clearly did not have the qualifications, nor did I have the power, so the Hogyoku failed."

"You guys are crazy!!!" Hiyori Sarugaki couldn't help but mutter.

Although that guy was shattered into a pulp, Mayuri Kurotsuchi did not waste it. Soon, the Hōgyoku greedily absorbed the pure soul power into the bead. Then, the black box closed again, taking the Hōgyoku back inside.

"Nemuru, clean this place up." Mayuri Kurotsuchi casually instructed Nemu Kurotsuchi, and then left the laboratory with Hiyori Sarugaki.

After leaving the laboratory, Hiyori Sarugaki suddenly realized something and looked at Mayuri Kurotsuchi, saying, "Now that you've already broken through the limits, what are you trying to do by making the Hogyoku continue to evolve?"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi paused for a moment before continuing forward, smiling as he said, "Let's see his limits, and let's see the limits of the Hogyoku."

"Who? What do you mean?" Hiyori Sarugaki asked again.

Before Mayuri Kurotsuchi could speak, Hiyori Sarugaki, as if struck by a sudden realization, said, "You wouldn't be planning to attack the Spirit Lord, would you? Damn it, I absolutely won't allow it!"

Mayuri Kurotsuchi was startled by this and quickly said, "Don't talk nonsense! How can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air?"

Within the Isshin-kai, there are many die-hard loyalists of the Spirit Lord. Mayuri Kurotsuchi doesn't consider himself one of these die-hard loyalists, but he would never dare to offend them. The man in front of him, Hiyori Sarugaki, is a member of the die-hard faction. If he dares to say today that he is researching the Hogyoku in order to make it affect the Spirit Lord, then he might very well 'die of illness' tomorrow.

They don't even need to be sent for an autopsy; they can be cremated on the spot and sent to hell.

The latest novel is first published here!

"The Spirit Lord's status is there for all to see. How could something like the Hogyoku possibly affect the Spirit Lord? If you don't believe me, don't you believe the Spirit Lord?" Mayuri Kurotsuchi quickly explained.

Upon hearing this, Hiyori Sarugaki thought about it and realized it made sense.

After being released from prison, Souya Azashiro quickly became the vice-captain of the Third Division and joined the Isshin-kai.

Because of his extremely unique Zanpakuto abilities, even Aizen Sousuke was somewhat wary of him. Aizen discovered that his Kyoka Suigetsu was completely ineffective against Sōya Azajo, who had already integrated his spiritual pressure and spiritual particles into the entire Seireitei.

In other words, he is everywhere!

In other words, he can touch Aizen's blade at any time. Moreover, because he can also sense things through these omnipresent spiritual particles, the complete manipulation of the five senses, such as Kyoka Suigetsu, doesn't seem to be particularly effective, even if Souichi Masashiro were to fall for it.

However, Souya Mochishiro said that within the entire Seireitei, only the Spirit Lord's spiritual pressure and spiritual particles were something he could not merge with. Not to mention merging with them, he couldn't even get close to them. It seemed that the Spirit Lord's spiritual pressure and spiritual particles had extremely strong exclusivity.

After that, Aizen and the others realized that the reason why illusions, infection and other abilities could not work on the Spirit Lord was not because he had any eyes that could "see through the three realms", but because their own status and power were not enough to affect the Spirit Lord!

Just like the power of the Hollow, it is extremely infectious. It can infect humans and even the Grim Reaper, causing other species to become Hollowish, gain the power of the Hollow, and even become distorted.

However, the infection of the void cannot have any effect on the Spirit Lord, because the essence of the Spirit Lord transcends the void!

"Then who are you talking about?" Hiyori Sarugaki asked again.

"It's Aizen-kun." Mayuri Kurotsuchi finally breathed a sigh of relief and, no longer daring to keep them in suspense, quickly explained, "Aizen-kun is a very pure Shinigami, but at the same time, he is also a true genius that is rarely seen in the entire Soul Society. In my opinion, among all the pure Shinigami in the entire Soul Society today, there is no one who can compare to him. He is a Shinigami who was born to stand at the top. Even a genius like the Captain-Commander cannot be compared to him."

Seeing the surprised look in Hiyori Sarugaki's eyes, Mayuri Kurotsuchi smiled and said, "This isn't just my opinion. Orochimaru, Kisuke Urahara, and the others think so too. Even the Spirit Lord probably thinks so as well. Otherwise, in all these years, have you ever seen the Spirit Lord take on any other personal disciples?"

"Hiss, I never noticed this genius about Aizen before. Just the other day, he was fighting me for skewers!" Hiyori Sarugaki said belatedly.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi didn't respond to that, but continued, "A genius rarely seen throughout the ages, he is more than enough as material for the Hogyoku. If the Hogyoku can be brought to its so-called perfection, and Aizen can be combined with the Hogyoku, perhaps the boundary that will be broken will not be the basic and simple power of Shinigami and Hollow."

"What do you mean?" Hiyori Sarugaki asked again.

"To realize Aizen-kun's ideal, he has always hoped to catch up with the Spirit Lord, walk alongside him, and even surpass him. Although we still cannot make a judgment on whether he can reach that level, we are all willing to work hard for it. Everyone wants to see if he can do it." Mayuri Kurotsuchi laughed and said.

In the original story, Aizen had no goal to pursue, so he only wanted to stand in the sky. Therefore, he was always alone and lonely.

But now, things are completely different. He seems to have become the embodiment of the vision of many members of the Isshinkai. Everyone is looking forward to it, hoping that Aizen can carry everyone's vision to the side of the Spirit Lord, and even surpass the Spirit Lord!

If he can really do it, the members of the Isshin-kai will be very pleased.

That means, at least, they weren't completely helpless in helping the Spirit Lord.

(End of this chapter)