Death's Hidden Mobile

The courses at Shin'o Spiritual Arts Academy consist of six classes a day, four in the morning and two in the afternoon, and students can finish school around 4:30 pm.

Xia Yan looked somewhat excited, not expecting that Teacher Tsuruno Hidetoshi would also teach him Kido, which made Xia Yan feel a little embarrassed.

At this point, the Kido class had ended, and Tsuruno Hidetoshi said in a loud voice, "Everyone, train hard after class. There will be an assessment in the next class, and those who fail will be punished."

After leaving those words, Hidetoshi Tsuruno and Natsuhiko agreed that Natsuhiko would come to him for individual training after the second period that afternoon, and then he left the training room.

Xia Yan left the classroom with the other students. After the class ended, it was noon. Xia Yan found Renji, Rukia and the others, and they ate together in the cafeteria.

Natsuhiko told them about what happened today. After learning that Kido-sensei wanted to talk to Natsuhiko alone, Renji Abarai, Momo Hinamori, and the others offered their blessings, but Natsuhiko was also a little disappointed.

Xia Yan's talent began to shine, and his reputation was well-known in the Shinigami Academy. Many people referred to Renji Abarai and Rukia as Xia Yan's childhood friends, Izuru Kira and Isami Kondo as Xia Yan's roommates, and Momo Hinamori as Xia Yan's good friend.

Under the reputation of genius, the brilliance of those who are not as good as him is easily overshadowed, even if they are also extremely outstanding.

Therefore, the meal became quieter with far fewer words spoken.

Xia Yan was unaware of the problem. After resting in his dormitory for a while, he went to his afternoon class, which was a free class, and he attended two classes at the same time.

The Shinigami Academy has six classes a day, for a total of thirty classes a week.

From first to third grade, there are two training courses, eight sessions each, for a total of sixteen sessions, plus fourteen academic courses.

In the fourth grade, there are four training courses: four sessions each of Kido, Shunpo, and Hakata swordsmanship, for a total of sixteen sessions, plus fourteen academic courses.

Xia Yan's afternoon class is "bare-handed fighting," which refers to hand-to-hand combat techniques. There are two forms of combat here: boxing and wrestling.

However, after evolution, many other schools of thought emerged, continuously refining the techniques of free-fighting.

This course was also a source of distress for Xia Yan, because his body was at a disadvantage.

Although he is now thirteen years old, he still looks like he did when he was eleven, and is only 1.4 meters tall.

Moreover, as long as his spiritual pressure continues to improve, he probably won't grow any taller for decades or even centuries.

Just like Toshiro Hitsugaya, who has always maintained the appearance of a nine-year-old, even though he is already in his sixties or seventies.

Therefore, Xia Yan's opponents are always weak girls, and his win rate is not high when he doesn't use his spiritual power.

Fortunately, the graduation exam tested martial arts skills rather than winning or losing, otherwise Xia Yan would have had difficulty advancing to the next level of education.

After finishing his white-hat class, Xia Yan dragged his tired body to find Mr. Tsuruno Hidetoshi.

In the training room, Hidetoshi Tsuruno first helped him improve the power of the first blast of the Hadoku. Although he mastered it at an extremely fast speed, its power had not yet been developed to its full potential.

Just like the difference between Rukia Kuchiki's charge and Byakuya Kuchiki's charge, the former is just a shockwave that knocks people back, while the latter is three or four times more powerful and can knock a person three or four meters away.

Moreover, when Byakuya Kuchiki used the White Lightning, it became even more powerful and had an unexpected effect.

Tsuruno Hidetoshi forced Natsuhiko to practice the "Charge" technique a hundred times, pushing its power to its limit, before teaching him the second technique, Kido.

The second Flame Strike of the Destruction Path.

This move is exactly what its name means: transforming spiritual particles into a beam of flames and striking the opponent.

Although its power is considerable, it is countered by the first of the two methods of destruction. As long as the flames are dispersed by the impact, the second method of destruction will have no power at all.

After Xia Yan mastered the technique, he was asked to go back and practice diligently. When Xia Yan left the training room, it was already past 8 p.m.

The campus was deserted, with only the bright moonlight shining down.

This was the first time Xia Yan had walked alone on campus at dusk, and he felt a sense of loneliness.

From not attending the same class to not having dinner together after school in the evening, Xia Yan found that he and his best friend were spending less and less time together, and their relationship was slowly growing distant.

But the path Xia Yan chose was destined to be a lonely one.

In order to avoid hurting the people he cherishes, Xia Yan has no choice but to continue on alone.

Chapter 21: Instant Step

"The key to Instant Step lies in the contraction of spiritual energy in the body to form a whole. In an instant, spiritual energy bursts out in both legs, which, together with the leg muscles, generate a powerful force that exerts a force on the ground. By relying on the reaction force, instantaneous movement is achieved."

"The movement path of Shunpo is a straight line, during which you can attack or defend."

The instructor, Shunpo, stood on the playground, guiding each student in Shunpo training.

This lesson is about the Flash Step technique, a unique movement method used by the Grim Reaper and a skill for rapid movement.

The Shinigami's Shunpo, the Quincy's Hiren-kyu, and the Hollow's Soten are all techniques for high-speed movement. The first two rely on the gathering of spiritual particles in the legs to generate movement, while Soten involves the movement of the entire body.

Shunpo (the instant step technique) naturally varies in skill level. Skilled users like Yoruichi Shihouin can evade Byakuya's pursuit while carrying someone on their back.

Furthermore, once the Instant Step reaches a certain level, one can achieve the state of "walking on air," meaning suspending oneself in mid-air.

At the same time, there is also an advanced use of Instant Step, the Empty Cicada, which allows one to discard clothing to leave behind an afterimage, creating a momentary illusion to confuse the enemy.

The speed of the cicada is extremely fast; it needs to leave an afterimage when the clothes are suspended in the air for a moment.

Besides the applications of Shunpo (Flash Step), there is an even more advanced technique called Shunpo (Flash Bomber). Only three people in the manga have demonstrated it: Soi Fon, Yoruichi Shihouin, and Yuushirou Shihouin. Soi Fon mentions that she created a fighting technique combining Kido and Hakuda (Hakuda Style), but it doesn't yet have a name. However, Yoruichi Shihouin says it has a name: Shunpo (Flash Bomber), and even uses the combat uniform of the Execution Army to describe it. Yet, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Onmitsukido (Secret Mobile Force) and the Commander of the Execution Army, Soi Fon was unaware of it before she created it. Meanwhile, Yoruichi Shihouin's younger brother, Yuushirou Shihouin, knew about it and developed the technique, Explosive Flame Musou (Explosive Flame Unparalleled).

This instantaneous attack must be a secret technique of the Shihōin family, because before Soi Fon, the Shihōin family had always been the commanders-in-chief of the secret mobile forces, so they created the corresponding disguise.

Xia Yan felt that since Soi Fon could create Shunpo on her own, he might be able to try it out after he mastered Shunpo.

The power of Shunpo is undeniable. After using Shunpo and the armor developed by Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihouin was able to shatter the second form armor of the Blue Collapse. Its speed and impact are beyond doubt.

Not to mention that Shunbo has even more advanced forms, such as Shunbo Raishin Battle Form, Shunbo Raiju Battle Form's Shunbo Black Cat Battle Princess, and Shihouin Yuushirou's Shunbo Burst Flame Musou.

Therefore, Xia Yan coveted Shunpo and wanted to master this footwork.

However, mastering the Instant Step is extremely difficult. The first step is to unify the body's spiritual particles into a single entity, which is very difficult to achieve.

The soul constantly radiates spiritual power, which is like a ribbon called a spiritual network. The identity of the soul can be distinguished based on the different spiritual networks.

The spiritual veins of ordinary souls are white, while those of the Grim Reaper are red.

Seeing someone else's spiritual network requires the strength of a high-ranking death god, but sensing one's own spiritual network is something most souls with spiritual pressure of level four or higher can sense.

To master the Instant Step, one must first retract the spiritual energy into the body before using it, making the body a unified whole and preventing any loss of spiritual energy.

Xia Yan's control over spiritual power is not yet complete, especially since his body is still growing and has not yet reached its limits.

Therefore, spiritual pressure increases almost every moment, and spiritual power permeates the area around the body.

Xia Yan could only improve his ability to control his spiritual particles through repeated training, which was not something that could be achieved simply through talent; it required tremendous effort.

In fact, most people find it difficult to do this and can only try again and again.

Almost a month later, Xia Yan finally managed to prevent any of his spiritual power from leaking out. At this point, he wrapped his feet in spiritual energy and tried to master the Instant Step technique.

Shunpo requires a burst of speed in an instant, just like Shunbo, which is developed based on this, by concentrating spiritual energy in the back and shoulders to achieve a further increase in speed.

Xia Yan gathered spiritual energy in his legs, unleashed his spiritual power, bent his knees, and leaped forward. However, during the leap, his body rose high into the air, and his spiritual power dissipated in mid-air, slowing him down. He fell from the sky, only a little over three meters away.

Xia Yan carefully considered the problem that had just occurred. The first issue was that the release of spiritual particles was unstable, which caused them to dissipate in mid-air. This was due to insufficient control over the spiritual particles, and he needed to constantly maintain the spiritual particles enveloping his legs and feet.

The second issue is the inability to control the body, resulting in a high leap during movement. While the Instant Step technique emphasizes speed and allows for upward movement, Xia Yan's leap was due to an error in the way his muscles and bones exerted force, as well as an incorrect placement of his spiritual energy.

After analyzing the situation, Xia Yan identified his problem and began to make changes. He spent nearly half a month constantly maintaining the release of spiritual energy in his legs.

Continuously adjust the strength and direction of the released spiritual energy to achieve the optimal method.

In this way, by constantly replenishing spiritual particles while consuming them, Xia Yan's spiritual power gradually increases.

After achieving this, Xia Yan began to ask his teacher for guidance on the power generation techniques for his legs and the control of his muscles and bones.

Based on Xia Yan's questions, the teacher explained the movements involved and the muscle groups involved. Xia Yan wrote it down and recorded it in drawings, practicing it every day.

After two months of learning the Flash Step, Xia Yan finally mastered it.

Xia Yan's legs were slightly bent, and as his legs stretched out, spiritual energy burst forth.

Bang! The next moment, Xia Yan appeared ten meters away.

Then, he placed one foot in front of the other, forcefully tapped the ground with the balls of his feet, unleashing his spiritual power. His body suddenly retreated, appearing seven meters behind him.

Xia Yan continuously adjusted his control over spiritual pressure, making himself faster and covering greater distances.

Xia Yan was the first to master the Instant Step, but the students around him were already used to his genius.

Meanwhile, Xia Yan's notes on the direction of spiritual energy bursts and the leg exertion methods and muscle group coordination also became treasures that other students eagerly borrowed.

Of course, everyone's body and spiritual pressure level are different, so it is impossible to completely replicate Xia Yan's method.

However, the combination of anatomy and biomechanics, this novel analytical approach, helped his classmates accelerate their mastery of the subject.

This was unprecedented, so Xia Yan's notebook successfully disappeared in a certain month, only to be returned a few days later.

Xia Yan assumed that one of his classmates had borrowed it and didn't pay much attention to it.

But in a secluded room, a figure sat cross-legged on the floor, staring intently at a series of blueprints. "This method of dissecting the human body to generate power is not only applicable to the Instant Step, but also greatly helpful for hand-to-hand combat techniques. In the past, hand-to-hand combat was modified based on experience and actual combat, but now it seems there can be a new approach. It can help modify inappropriate moves in current hand-to-hand combat, and can also create hand-to-hand combat techniques that are more suitable for the human body."

The figure raised his head and said, "This kid is a genius. It seems we need to think of a way to get him into the covert mobile force."

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Visitor in the Dead of Night

Time flies, and the first semester has come to an end.

Xia Yan learned far more in this half-year than in his first year. He not only learned Kido from Teacher Tsuruno Hidetoshi, but also mastered Shunpo.

In particular, Natsuhiko has now mastered the first twenty of the Demonic Paths and the first fifteen of the Binding Paths.

As you master more and more demonic arts, and the higher the number, the greater the difficulty and the longer it takes.

However, this speed of mastery has far surpassed that of other students in the same grade.

It's important to know that students at the Shinigami Academy don't learn according to a sequence number; they only master unique Kido techniques and use them repeatedly.

These selected Ghost Paths are all quite useful, such as the Breaking Path One: Charge, the Breaking Path Four: White Thunder, the Breaking Path Eleven: Lightning, the Breaking Path Twelve: Hidden Fire, and so on, as well as the Binding Path One: Block, the Binding Path Four: Rope, the Binding Path Eight: Repulse, and the Binding Path Twenty-One: Crimson Flame Shield, and so on.

At the end of the school year, students only need to master five shamanic arts and five binding arts to meet the standard for the final exam.

Xia Yan mastered a total of thirty-five, and apart from the Kido sect and some powerful Shinigami, very few people could master so many Kido.

Xia Yan's goal is to master all the Hadō and Bakudō from level one to sixty. Since he has level five spiritual pressure, he can also master intermediate Kidō.

Mastering so many demonic arts means greater diversity in combat.

Hinamori Momo can combine two Destruction Techniques, Red Fire Cannon, and Curved Light, along with one Binding Technique, to create an explosion several times more powerful.

Xia Yan also hopes to be able to create even more powerful moves.

Xia Yan has improved significantly; he is now much stronger than Renji Abarai.