Infinite Chimera Creation

"When I was learning magic in the previous world, I wondered, 'Since life has its limits, and once those limits are reached, there's no way to go any further. Is there any way to push my limits forward, so that I never reach them?'"

Through the box, Yuan Yuan stared at the little monster inside, his eyes filled with a mixture of infatuation and pride.

"The answer is yes. There is a way to push my limits, and that way is the [Magic Furnace]. I don't know if this is the right name, but it is undoubtedly the closest to its essence."

Yuan Yuan smiled and stretched out his right hand, lightly tapping the box wall with his fingers, as if teasing the sleeping little creatures.

"Using itself as the core, it draws upon the power of the world, transforming it into a large amount of the seventh superior element, forcibly pushing back the inevitable limit."

Reaching out, he took out the small snake with six bladed arms, letting it instinctively coil around his arm. Yuan Yuan raised the arm with the snake attached, rubbed his temples, seemingly troubled by something.

"So, here's the problem. One of the key characteristics of the seventh superior element is its [extremely high operational load]. Although it was generated directly in my body through the [Magic Furnace], bypassing the difficult process of drawing it from outside to inside, the operational load generated just by making it work inside my body was enough to cause my authority-level body to collapse."

Yuan Yuan pressed harder on his temples, leaving bloody marks on the incredibly resilient skin, and his voice became slightly somber.

"How to solve the problem of manipulating the seventh superior element has been troubling me. Because whether it is the body or the soul, their essence depends on the world. Since there is a connection with the world, it will inevitably generate an excessive load when manipulating the seventh superior element, which exists as a [world element]. In this way, whether using the body or the soul, it will inevitably lead to collapse. The matter has reached a stalemate."

Stroking the young snake coiled around his arm, Yuan Yuan smiled, his voice carrying a sense of relief.

"Fortunately, before I gave up on using the seventh superordinate element and tried other methods, things took a turn for the better."

The first turning point came when the culprit broke free from hell, bringing with him a wisp of [madness and rage]. This was also my first encounter with madness. At that time, I didn't know what madness meant to me; I was simply following my usual habit of collecting things I didn't understand for future research.

The second turning point came when I encountered the monk Ikkyu, who was forcibly prolonging his life. For the first time, I witnessed the madness born from a single person's intense emotions—[madness. unwavering belief]. Although I didn't have a clear understanding then, I vaguely sensed that madness might be of great help to me. So, using rhetoric, psychological suggestion, and even spiritual influence, I rekindled Ikkyu's desires, bringing him into my camp.

Walking up to Unohana Retsu once more, Yuan Yuan carefully observed her unusually alluring posture and spoke softly.

"With Ikkyu's help, I have made great progress in my research on madness and have come to understand part of its nature."

Madness is an existence born from intense emotions, capable of affecting both the physical and spiritual realms simultaneously, yet it belongs neither to the physical nor the spiritual.

A hint of fanaticism flickered in Yuan Yuan's eyes, and he spoke a little faster.

"This gives me hope."

Madness, its foundation lies solely in emotion, in essence, in the spirit. It has no relation to the body, soul, or the world; it can arise as long as the will exists. This substance is undoubtedly extremely suitable for manipulating the seventh superelement. Therefore, to master this power, I did not hesitate to step into hell, willingly allowing myself to be consumed by madness.”

Like a madman, suddenly becoming fanatical and then suddenly calming down, Yuan Yuan's voice became flat again.

"I am still alive, and without a doubt, I have succeeded."

After acquiring madness and spending a considerable amount of time mastering it, I began preparing to craft the [Magic Furnace]. Of course, not directly on my own body; after all, I wasn't sure my [Magic Furnace] would be perfect enough and without problems.

Gently stroking Unohana Retsu's face, a strange light flashed in Yuan Yuan's eyes.

"Therefore, I needed a batch of test subjects, and so these seven little guys were born."

Logically, the experiment I'd been anticipating for so long should have started immediately now that it was finally possible. However, based on the safe principle of "making the experimental subject as similar as possible to Yuan Yuan," I used my own blood, and the result…

Seemingly somewhat helpless, Yuan Yuan sighed.

"Several little guys with the bloodline of the Mortal Python, equivalent to a subspecies of the Authority Life, and whose level is the same as the Spirit King, are naturally not so easy to awaken."

The subjects were created to observe the effects of emotions on the [Magic Reactor], and naturally, they cannot be used while in a dormant state.

Yuan Yuan's hand gently slid down to Unohana Retsu's neck, softly stroking her wound that had stopped bleeding. His tone, unusually gentle, softened.

"Therefore, the baby snakes need a good mother who can provide them with enough nutrition, that is, spiritual energy, so that they can grow and develop healthily."

Of course, this 'mother' doesn't necessarily have to be a woman.

However, beneath the gentleness lies absolute danger.

"Alright, that's all for the explanation. The little guys are pretty much ready to parasitize. Beautiful Captain Unohana Retsu, please, you who are pretending to be unconscious, really pass out."

The pale spiritual energy in her right hand was suddenly released, and like a snake, it burrowed into Unohana Retsu's wound, causing her to completely lose consciousness before she could launch a sudden attack.

"Don't worry, when you wake up again, you won't remember this memory, nor will you find any discomfort in your body."

"Then, let the experiment begin."

Chapter Ninety: Escape from Happiness (Fake)

In a daze, Retsu Unohana regained consciousness.

She didn't excitedly open her eyes, because she clearly remembered that the reason she fainted was because of the terrifying giant scorpion under Yuan Yuan's command. Since she had already been defeated by the enemy, she was very likely already in enemy territory.

Being in enemy territory and acting rashly without understanding the situation is undoubtedly playing with one's life and is irresponsible.

With her eyes still closed, Retsu Unohana calmed herself down and carefully sensed her surroundings.

There was no sound, no spiritual energy fluctuations, and no other smell except for the stench of blood.

In other words, there are no enemies at the moment?

Slightly relieved, Unohana Retsu opened her eyes with difficulty. This usually easy action was, for her at this moment, as difficult as moving a boulder with only physical strength without using spiritual power.

The slow process of opening her eyes gave Unohana Retsu time to adjust to the light, preventing her from being hurt by the overly bright light in the laboratory.

Once she could see her surroundings clearly, Retsu Unohana realized that she was suspended in mid-air in an extremely humiliating, livestock-like position. She hadn't noticed she was off the ground because her hands and legs had lost all feeling.

Despite the pain in her neck, she slowly turned her head and confirmed that there were only six colleagues in the same situation as her.

Since my hands have lost sensation and cannot be manipulated by consciousness, I will use spiritual power instead.

He mobilized the little spiritual power he had left, moved his hands, and formed the hand seals he had specially practiced before entering hell.

For millennia, the Grim Reaper has been responsible for monitoring Hell, and naturally possesses a certain understanding of it, having mastered some methods for dealing with it. The hand seals that Unohana Retsu form at this moment exploit a loophole in the rules of Hell, allowing someone to forcibly escape Hell under special circumstances.

Hell is now in Yuan Yuan's hands, and Unohana Retsu doesn't know if Yuan Yuan has patched that loophole. If the loophole has been fixed, then this seal technique will undoubtedly fail, and the spiritual energy fluctuations generated when the seal technique fails will most likely attract the attention of the guards, or even Yuan Yuan himself.

However, given her current situation of being at the mercy of others and with unexpected events always on the horizon, Retsu Unohana can no longer afford to worry about anything else and has no choice but to take a gamble.

The hand seal process, which should have been quick to complete, became slow because there was too little spiritual power to guide the arms. Fortunately, the success of this hand seal was unrelated to speed.

When the hand seal was halfway complete, several golden runes appeared on Unohana Retsu's arm. Seeing the appearance of those runes, a glimmer of hope flashed in Unohana Retsu's eyes.

The vulnerability has not been patched yet, so this unblocking method is still usable.

Having confirmed that there was still hope, Unohana Retsu steadied herself, preventing her excited emotions from affecting her control of her spiritual power, and steadily completed the remaining hand seals.

[Hopefully, no one will come in before the seal is complete. Once the seal is finished, I can escape with them. That way, there will still be hope for Soul Society.]

Although she only saw six of her colleagues, and a few others were not there, Retsu Unohana no longer had the energy to think about whether they had already sacrificed themselves or were imprisoned elsewhere.

Now, she has only one belief in her heart: to live on, and to live on with the people in front of her.

Fortunately, the story didn't unfold as is common in many stories, where the villain suddenly appears just as the protagonist is about to escape, extinguishing their last hope before laughing maniacally and uttering malicious words like, "I just want to see that look in your eyes when you gain hope only to be instantly plunged into despair."

A golden light flashed, and Retsu Unohana and the other six captains disappeared from the laboratory.

In the room next to the laboratory, Yuan Yuan, who had been watching through the one-way glass, sighed, rubbed his temples vigorously, and spoke with a hint of helplessness.

"It's bad enough that you can't see that alluring expression of despair on that dignified and beautiful face, but to have to deliberately help her break the rules and escape is really unpleasant."

Even before he had fully mastered Hell, and had only gained partial control over it, Yuan Yuan had already fixed most of Hell's loopholes, including the escape loophole that the Grim Reapers had exploited.

However, in order for the captains to escape successfully, Yuan Yuan had to keep an eye on Unohana Retsu, confirm which loophole her hand seal technique was exploiting, and then help her reopen the loophole.

Patching vulnerabilities is not easy, but creating a vulnerability that is exactly the same as before on an already patched rule is even more difficult. Even Yuan Yuan, after experiencing the process of "opening a vulnerability in a short time and then closing it again", couldn't help but feel quite tired.

"Speaking of which, after we abandoned Aizen and the others in Hueco Mundo, we didn't care about them anymore. I wonder if Maurice ever picked them up."

With this matter settled, Yuan Yuan suddenly remembered the two people he had left behind in Hueco Mundo, and his headache only intensified.

"It's been several days already. If we go to pick up the people now, won't they have already dried out?"

The seven small snakes were not parasitic life forms to begin with. Transplanting them into the body of a Shinigami, especially a captain-level Shinigami with a strong grasp of their own situation, would very likely result in their discovery and elimination.

In order to prevent his hard-won experimental subjects from being killed before they could even play a role, Yuan Yuan had to perform specific transplants based on the physical characteristics of each of these team leaders.

The transplant took a full nine days.

If the two seriously injured men were left in Hueco Mundo, even if they had Yuan Yuan's spiritual power and wouldn't be helplessly killed by a passing Hollow, the desert weather in Hueco Mundo would be enough to turn them into dried corpses.

Yuan Yuan knew very well that loyalty was the primary factor in creating this batch of chimeras, and it was specially enhanced. Therefore, both the calm Karim and the cunning Morris would execute his orders meticulously.

Given that he left Hueco Mundo with the words "I'll come to pick you up myself," Maurice certainly wouldn't take Aizen and the others back to Hell on his own initiative.

"Does that mean they're doomed?"

Rubbing his temples in frustration, Yuan Yuan looked helpless. If these two hard-won seeds were gone, he didn't know how long he would have to wait for the next suitable candidate to appear.

Upon hearing Yuan Yuan's words, Paibi, dressed as a maid and standing behind him, considered for a moment, then stepped forward and spoke softly.

“Master, Maurice hasn’t returned yet. He said he hasn’t been back to Hueco Mundo for a long time. Since you haven’t ordered him to come back, he can take the opportunity to play there for a few days. He can also take care of those two newbies who were ruined by Ikkyu.”

Yuan Yuan was taken aback, then couldn't help but chuckle. This was truly a "cunning" wolf.

Chapter Ninety-One: Time Flies By

This once again proves the importance of talent.

During Ikkyu's conquest of Hueco Mundo, he killed countless Hollows. Many of these Hollows died from "madness and unwavering belief," but none of them were able to awaken madness.

After Aizen had his arms torn off, all the bones in his legs crushed, and a hole the size of a head opened in his abdomen, he successfully awakened the initial form of "Madness. Freedom".

Urahara Kisuke, a man who is frustrating in every sense, was even more frustrating when he awakened his madness. When he was brutally beaten by Ikkyu and severely injured, there was no sign of his madness awakening. However, when he was dried up in Hueco Mundo due to Yuan Yuan's mistake, he seemed to have figured something out and directly awakened [Madness. Manipulation].

However, Yuan Yuan didn't care about the circumstances under which they awakened; all he needed was for one of them to successfully awaken their madness.

After confirming that the two had indeed awakened their madness, Yuan Yuan ignored Urahara Kisuke's direct complaints and Aizen's hidden declaration of revenge, and directly threw the two, who had already finished their treatment, back into Soul Society.

In any case, given their abilities, there's nothing in Soul Society that can threaten them.

Having confirmed that there were beings with madness in both Soul Society and Hueco Mundo, Yuan Yuan shifted his focus to the human world, which was destined to be the most difficult place to deal with.

Time flies when you're focused on something. This applies not only to short-lived humans but also to some long-lived beings.

While having his subordinates fully monitor the mortal world, Yuan Yuan focused on his experiments. In the blink of an eye, seventy years passed. During these years, the few things that Yuan Yuan noticed were that the current captain of the 11th Division had become a beast-like Zaraki Kenpachi with immense spiritual pressure; the captain of the 10th Division had become the short, fat genius Hitsugaya Toshiro; and the captain of the 3rd Division had become the even more talented boy, Ichimaru Gin.

And... the host of the wrathful serpent, Shiba Isshin, disappeared in the mortal world.

Of course, the word "missing" is the Soul Society's terminology. Yuan Yuan, who has never relaxed his monitoring of the seven hosts, naturally knows that Shiba's desire to leave the Soul Society and stay in the human world is to repay a female Quincy, Kurosaki Masaki, who saved him when he was seriously injured.

Masaki Kurosaki, a pureblood Quincy, was infected by Aizen's experimental subjects while treating Isshin Shiba, causing her soul to dissipate. Isshin, partly to repay a debt of gratitude and partly out of affection for Masaki, secretly left Soul Society and went to the Human World to establish a "connection" with her, helping to suppress her soul's dissipation, but in doing so, he lost his Shinigami powers.

Because he helped the Quincy, who were enemies of the Shinigami, he lost his Shinigami powers. Unable to and unwilling to return to Soul Society, Shiba Isshin married Kurosaki Masaki and changed his name to Kurosaki Isshin, staying in the human world to live the life of an ordinary person.

Originally, after seeing Shiba Isshin lose his Shinigami powers, Yuan Yuan planned to kill Kurosaki Masaki, erase Shiba Isshin's memories of him, and throw him back into Soul Society. However, Yuan Yuan later discovered that although Shiba Isshin had "lost" his Shinigami powers, it was only because his [Connection] couldn't access his spiritual energy; his spiritual energy hadn't disappeared. Since the spiritual energy used to feed the Serpent of Wrath still existed, Yuan Yuan didn't bother to care whether he married a female Quincy or a Hollow Mother.

Moreover, Yuan Yuan was also very curious about what kind of child would be born from the union of a pure-blooded Quincy and a Captain-level Shinigami whose body harbors the Serpent of Wrath.

Since it did not affect the plan, Yuan Yuan simply said to Aizen, "Those seven captains who escaped back are heroes. Remember to treat heroes well," and then he did not hold Aizen accountable for injuring his experimental subject.