The Alchemist in Bleach

Although surprised that the "Yhwajuh" bullet could penetrate his rising spiritual pressure layer, the Captain-Commander did not hesitate this time, but instead punched Ichiro with his backhand!

"One bone!"

"boom!"

Ichiro was slammed to the ground by the Captain-Commander's punch, smashing through a large section of the forest!

Just as the captain was about to draw his sword and give chase, his face suddenly contorted into a ferocious expression. He bent over, clutching his head, and growled, "That bullet just now... there was something wrong with it!"

At this moment, the captains watching below finally reacted, and most of them exclaimed and rushed towards the captain-in-chief. Ukitake frowned and quickly rushed to the place where Ichiro had been knocked down.

If we let him escape now that things have come to this point, the Seireitei will truly lose all face!

Unfortunately, when Ukitake arrived, all that remained in the crater Ichiro had created was a pool of blood; as for the person in question... there was no trace of him whatsoever...

With a somber expression, Fukitake jumped into the deep pit and silently collected some of the blood left there.

He knew that such obvious bloodstains were most likely left intentionally by the other party to lure him in, but... this was the only one at the scene. What if it wasn't intentionally left, but rather that the other party didn't have time to clean up and accidentally left it behind?

Ukitake doesn't want to give up as long as there's even the slightest hope!

After collecting the blood on the ground, Ukitake quickly ran towards the sky, and as he arrived, his heart sank...

"Ha~~~ Uh... Hmph~~~"

Surrounded by numerous captains, the commander-in-chief was still clutching his bleeding head, groaning in pain—an unbelievable sight!

You have to understand how many battles the Commander-in-Chief has experienced.

He has encountered much more serious injuries before, so logically he shouldn't, and couldn't possibly, be groaning in pain like this because of an injury!

"Harusui, why is Yamamoto-sensei still like this? Why isn't his injury being treated?"

Chunshui shook his head with a dark face and said in a deep voice, "It's been treated! It's useless! No matter how we use the Returning Dao or how much life force we inject, the injuries haven't improved at all! It's as if there's a hungry beast devouring us inside! This should also be the reason why Old Man Shan is in so much pain."

"What about Unohana-senpai? Did you let her try?"

"Not yet. Not long after Unohana-senpai arrived here, she went to treat and disperse the spirits. We've contacted her, but perhaps because of the spiritual particles activated by that Quincy, we haven't received a reply yet!"

After saying that, Chunshui looked at the captain with worry. If this continued, things would get very bad.

"No matter what! Don't stop your treatment! I'm going to find Tenshin Ichiro! We absolutely cannot let anything happen to Yamamoto-sensei! Absolutely!"

After saying that, to everyone's astonishment, Ukitake unleashed an extremely terrifying spiritual pressure and charged towards the Fourth Division!

With the Captain-Commander's injuries so severe, he can no longer afford to conceal his strength. No matter how well he conceals his strength, if something happens to the Captain-Commander, then everything will be in vain!

"Alright, snap out of it! Everyone who can recall, come at me! No matter what, we must stabilize the old man's situation before Ichiro arrives!" Shunsui quickly recovered from his surprise. Although he was also surprised by the strength that Ukitake had shown, he roughly knew some of the reasons. He guessed it was related to the surgery that Ichiro had performed on him, the surgery that was comparable to or even surpassed the Zero Division's Transcendental Modification!

Upon hearing this, the other captains also came to their senses and gathered together again, surrounding the captain who was still roaring. At the same time, they stretched out their hands, which emitted a faint green light and surged towards the captain.

Thanks to Ichiro's development of the Reverse Path, the threshold for learning the Reverse Path has been greatly lowered. Nowadays, among the captains of the Thirteenth Division, except for Kenpachi, who is a Kido idiot, almost everyone knows a few Reverse Path techniques. They can't compare to Ichiro and the others who specialize in Reverse Path, but they are still quite good. At least, treating injuries is not a big problem.

only......

Just like before, the immense spiritual pressure transformed into life force and continuously entered the Captain-Commander's body. Logically speaking, even if he was on the verge of death, receiving treatment of this level should have brought some improvement, right?

Even if it's just a last gasp before death, you should at least try to recover, right?

But no...

Even with such a massive amount of life force poured into the Captain-Commander's body, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, causing not a ripple... It only slightly alleviated the worsening of the Captain-Commander's injuries...

The situation is extremely serious!

The reason for this situation is mainly due to the bullet that Ichiro fired with the White Dragon Emperor!

That's the real culprit behind all of this!

The Soul-Eating Bullet is a bullet that can devour spirit particles. It is the only bullet that can only be enchanted by the White Dragon Emperor. Ichiro can make all other special bullets himself, but the Soul-Eating Bullet is a bullet that even Ichiro's alchemy cannot directly refine!

Because this bullet is actually an extension of the Quincy's power; in other words, it is imbued with the power of the spirit particle!

The Soul-Devouring Bullet, attached to the spirit particle's affiliation, will instinctively and forcibly dismantle all spirit particle structures it encounters, and then absorb them!

It is precisely because of this characteristic that Ichiro cannot replicate this bullet, because the ability to which the spirit particle belongs is something that Ichiro has not yet figured out. Although he can use this power by relying on the Extinction Star, it is a shortcut, as the material used to make the Extinction Star is a fragment of the Hogyoku.

It has to be said that the existence of the Soul King has brought Ichiro so many surprises. It is no exaggeration to say that the Soul King has played a crucial role in Ichiro's journey to where he is today!

Without him, many of Ichiro's projects would still be in the research stage.

Take the Extinction Star, for example. Without the Soul King Fragment, it would be absolutely impossible to create. And without the Extinction Star, Ichiro really wouldn't dare to fight the Captain-Commander without going all out. At the very least, without the Soul Devouring Bullet, he would definitely be in a bad situation.

The Soul-Devouring Bullet not only pierced through the spiritual pressure layer raised by the Captain-Commander during its advance, but also continued to damage him after hitting him, constantly eroding his body and causing him immense pain. The pain was so intense that even the battle-hardened Captain-Commander couldn't help but groan.

Of course, this result was not what Ichiro had expected.

He had actually held back with the Soul-Devouring Bullet. After all, his goal in this battle was simply to make the Captain-Commander suffer a great loss so he could adjust his mindset; otherwise, it would have been truly dangerous.

In the original work, the Captain-Commander was targeted by the villains many times, no, almost always because of his own carelessness!

The most fatal mistake was during the Thousand-Year Blood War, when, without further confirming the attacker's identity, he activated Bankai upon seeing Yhwach!

The results of it?

He was defeated by Lloyd Lloyd of the Sternritter "Y". Yhwach arrived and stole his Bankai. Then, exhausted, he was cut off by the real Yhwach!

Subsequently, he completely burned the body!

It's fair to say that if the Commander-in-Chief had been more cautious before taking action in that battle, the outcome might have been very different.

So Ichiro actually held back subconsciously; otherwise, if the Soul-Eating Bullet had penetrated deeper, it would have truly devoured the Captain-Commander's brain. Even if he could be revived, what if his already malfunctioning brain became even more...?

But who knew that the Captain-Commander was even stronger than he had imagined? In addition, the Captain-Commander should have been somewhat wary of the abilities of the Spirit Particles, after all, he had fought Yhwach before.

Then, an unexpected thing happened...

Ichiro had originally estimated that the Soul-Devouring Bullet would pierce the skull, then exhaust its last bit of power, interfering with the Captain-Commander's brain and preventing him from pursuing him, thus giving him a chance to escape.

result......

It's stuck!

The Soul-Eating Bullet got stuck in the Captain-Commander's skull!

The last vestige of power wasn't exhausted; instead, it continued to fuel itself by absorbing the spiritual particles from the Captain-Commander's skull. That last bit of power, originally intended to disrupt the Captain-Commander's thoughts, was thus amplified, allowing it to launch a sustained, near-range mental attack on the Captain-Commander...

With the combined effects of bone-corroding and heart-devouring debuffs, even the strongest-willed Captain-Commander couldn't withstand it.

Actually, things were fine up to this point, because the Captain-Commander himself had a certain resistance to the ability of spirit particle subjugation, and the Soul Devouring Bullet would soon be exhausted on its own. However, just then, Shunsui and the others arrived with the power of the Return Path...

Having received support from "fresh blood," the Soul-Devouring Bullet suddenly became even more ferocious...

And then, we've ended up in this awkward situation...

God have mercy, Ichiro really didn't intend for this to happen...

......

Just as Shunsui and the others were stabilizing the Captain-Commander's injuries, Ichiro quietly infiltrated the Seireitei.

"Who!?" In an alley, Ichiro suddenly stopped, tightened his grip on the Crimson Dragon Emperor in his right hand, and cautiously looked at the figure standing in the alley.

"You brat, you've caused such a big commotion, can't you just shut up for a bit?" The captain slowly emerged from the darkness, a faint smile on his face, looking at Ichiro gently.

"Fourth Division Captain~ I didn't expect to see you here. Looks like you're really lucky~" Ichiro didn't intend to reveal his identity in response to her words. Who knew if this captain was real? If he could transform into Yhwach, then others could also transform into the captain to trick him.

"laugh!"

Without a word, the captain simply flashed and appeared behind Ichiro in an instant, holding his Zanpakuto in reverse grip to Ichiro's neck!

"Now, can you confirm my identity, you brat?" The captain glanced at Ichiro indifferently, and at the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief. Judging from this, it seemed that he had just used up that power and was not injured.

"Huh? It really is the captain?" Ichiro relaxed, immediately dropping his disguise and letting out a long sigh of relief. "You scared me to death! I thought I'd been exposed. How did you find out my identity, captain?"

As the captain sheathed his Zanpakuto, he said, "Didn't you ask for my opinion on the design of your badge? I remember it was called the Quincy, right? Plus, this is the route Urahara and the others took to escape. It's not hard to guess, was it really necessary to be so ruthless?"

After explaining, the captain led Ichiro down into the sewers, frowning and speaking with a hint of reproach.

She still had some reservations about Ichiro using such a ruthless method. After all, the Captain-Commander was someone she respected, and he had taught Ichiro a lot. It was really inappropriate to use such a heavy hand.

"Now it seems, isn't it necessary? Our situation is extremely dire. If the Captain-Commander remains in this state, our situation is not optimistic. Even in that state, I was able to outwit the Captain-Commander, let alone that even more mysterious Quincy progenitor. Moreover, I just had the opportunity to kill the Captain-Commander directly!"

"What?!" The captain stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at Ichiro in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"Confirmed, the last bullet was a Soul Devouring Bullet. I've already reduced its power. If it were at full strength, no matter or power in the Soul Society could withstand it! Not even the power of the Soul King!"

The captain's pupils contracted; she realized the seriousness of the situation. It seemed that after such a long period of recuperation, coupled with the development of the Thirteenth Team and the improvement of its own strength over the years, the captain had indeed become somewhat lax.

Nodding, the captain pondered for a moment as he led Ichiro toward the izakaya.

As they walked through the underground passage, the captain was silently planning the special training he would give Ichiro in the future. As the saying goes, those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly. What Ichiro didn't realize was that his current mindset was already very close to that of the Captain-Commander, and he was a little too confident.

If the chief commander had been even slightly more serious today, he would have been dead!

Although he possesses the power of resurrection, this mindset is clearly unacceptable. Besides, what if the resurrection fails? Therefore, the captain plans to resume Ichiro's special training in the future. She doesn't expect Ichiro's strength to improve as a result; she only hopes that Ichiro will not become complacent in his fighting spirit.

Ichiro, who was following behind the captain, was busy reviewing the battle and summarizing data for future research, so he didn't notice that the captain's expression was somewhat...strange...

That smirk at the corner of his mouth... resurfaced slightly...

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Chapter 264 Since we've already cut it, why not...

"Captain Ukitake? Is there something you need?"

When Ukitake hurriedly landed in front of two team members who were counting supplies, the two looked at each other in surprise. This was the first time they had ever seen Captain Ukitake in this state, although they had only seen him a few times.

"Is Ichiro here?" Ukitake nodded and asked directly.

"Tenshin Third Seat? He should be at Shimizu Izakaya right now, with Captain Yoruichi and the others."

"A diversionary tactic? I understand." Nodding, Ukitake immediately flew towards the Kiyomizu Izakaya.

The two remaining team members looked at each other in bewilderment. One of the short-haired male Shinigami looked at his companion with suspicion: "A diversionary tactic? Could tonight's chaos be related to Captain Yoruichi and the others? Besides, wasn't Captain Ukitake supposed to be in poor health? He didn't seem like that just now. Do you know why, Munakasa?"

Upon hearing this, Sonosuke habitually thought for a moment, and was about to answer when he suddenly realized what was happening. He looked at his companion Yusuke with a blank expression and asked, "What do you mean by 'luring the tiger away from the mountain'? What do you mean by 'why'?"

"Are you stupid? I mean, wasn't Captain Ukitake supposed to be in poor health? And when we last saw him, he looked sickly. How come he looks so different now?"

"Hmm? Was Captain Ukitake here just now? Are you trying to slack off again?"

Yusuke stared at Sonosuke in astonishment, reached out and touched his forehead, saying, "Are you out of your mind? Captain Ukitake just left!"

"..." Sonosuke was speechless. He took a deep breath and continued to say with a puzzled expression, "Stop joking. How could a 'big' person like Captain Ukitake come at a time like this?"