Bleach: From Rugum to Thousand-Year Captain

"Nobles? In the center of Rukongai?"

"Yes."

As Tenzuki Suzai prepared to get up and stroll around the mansion, Iwabuchi Ichiki quickly followed beside him, asking in confusion, "Ten...Tenzuki-sama, aren't you planning to replace your katana?"

"Change your katana? Why? Isn't the katana I have, the one belonging to the Untaxed Gang leader, the best?"

"Yes... that's right. Before the tax was levied, the leader's katana wasn't the best. My inner leader said that the Darkwater Gang dared to cause trouble for the Taxless Gang because the Darkwater Gang leader possessed an indestructible divine weapon!"

"An indestructible divine weapon?" Tengetsu Sukusai immediately grasped the key words and, without Iwabuchi Ichiki needing to say more, searched through the katana collection to find it.

"Can you tell which one is the Dark Water Gang leader's knife?"

"Um... all samurai swords have similar tsuba, and I'm not a big shot and I'm not familiar with the leader of the Dark Water Gang, so I haven't seen his divine weapon in detail."

"Just say you don't know them, why say so much?" It's hard to tell if someone is born with a natural talent for flattery, but this rhetoric of urgently distancing themselves from their former gang comes naturally to them.

Tianyue Quezhai didn't care about those irrelevant things; he understood that the indestructible divine weapon was most likely the strongest weapon.

Shallow hit!

Asabu is the most basic weapon wielded by Shinigami (Death Gods), possessing the ability to guide spirits and purify Hollows.

Its shape and abilities were modeled after Death's own soul.

Shinigami gain power by knowing the name of the Zanpakuto given to them and by engaging in a spiritual dialogue with it.

The nameless Zanpakuto that lower-ranking Shinigami who graduate from the Shinigami Academy temporarily borrow during their academy days and are formally granted upon joining the party is called "Asauchi".

All Shinigami (death gods) live and sleep with Asauchi (a type of sword), honing their skills and imbuing Asauchi with the essence of their souls, thus creating their own Zanpakuto (swords).

The liberation process is divided into two stages: Shikai and Bankai. Regardless of the Zanpakuto's attributes, Shikai and Bankai are always interconnected. Once a Shinigami reaches the threshold for Bankai, it typically takes ten to twenty years to learn, comprehend, and master it.

All the asagi were crafted by the sword god Nimaiya Oetsu of the Zero Division, without exception.

No! There are exceptions. The protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki, is able to obtain his Zanpakuto without the need for an Asauchi (a type of sword) as a medium. He is the only 'Shinigami' who can unleash his Zanpakuto without the need for an Asauchi.

Is everything said above entirely correct? Amatsuki Susuzai, who knows the true nature of Zanpakuto, understands that there are no exceptions! Kurosaki Ichigo is the same; he has an 'Asauchi'.

The essence of a Zanpakuto, or rather, an Asauchi, is that it is forged from a mixture of countless souls using a special technique by the sword god Nimaiya Ohetsu.

The essence of a Zanpakuto is the power of the soul, and the idea that one can create their own Zanpakuto is not entirely accurate.

The Shinigami infuses Asauchi with spiritual pressure and soul power, fusing his soul and Zanpakuto's spirit, thus borrowing the Zanpakuto's power to perform Shikai and Bankai. Essentially, it involves mixing souls to break through the limitations of the soul and gain greater power.

Oetsu Nimaiya himself admitted that the Asauchi he created was essentially the same as Aizen Sousuke's Hollowfication technique for breaking through soul limitations; the only difference was the form in which Shinigami and Hollows manifested. This applies to both the Hollowfication of Shinigami and the Shinigami transformation of Hollows.

The temporary soul of Valley King Hikifune Kiryu is used to create spiritual pressure delicacies for people to eat, thereby obtaining spiritual pressure that does not belong to him in order to increase the upper limit of his soul. This is also a form of manifestation.

Ultimately, the relationship between Shinigami and Zanpakuto is not entirely one. Consider the Kuchiki family's heirloom Zanpakuto Senbonzakura, Hyorinmaru who seeks power and suits its master, and Muramasa who possesses its own will and acts independently. These are all examples of sword spirits choosing their suitable masters, not beings born at the same time as Shinigami.

Ultimately, the relationship between a Shinigami and a Zanpakuto is not that of partners, but rather, as Hollow White said, that of a king and his mount!

Who is the king who rules everything, and who is the mount that becomes the power to assist its master?

The conversation with the Zanpakuto is not about becoming a partner with the Zanpakuto or borrowing its power.

Through countless soul collisions with the sword, it constantly breaks through the limitations of its own soul through friction.

It's impossible to unlock the power or even Bankai simply by knowing the name, because one won't reach the minimum strength required for Shikai and Bankai to be achieved through the fusion of spiritual pressure and soul essence. Knowing the name also won't unlock the Zanpakuto. Forcing unlocking it will only injure or even destroy the soul.

So, could Ichigo Kurosaki really become a Shinigami without Asahi?

Hollow White's essence is formed by the aggregation and etherealization of countless Shinigami souls. It has already met the conditions for breaking through the soul limitations of Asauchi and the fusion of Shinigami with Asauchi, which is etherealization.

It's fair to say that Ichigo Kurosaki calling Sosuke Aizen "father" isn't without reason. Sosuke Aizen's soul modification experiments had already helped Hollow White reach all the necessary conditions for a Shinigami to break through ahead of time. Ichigo Kurosaki was the vessel for unleashing Hollow White's Shinigami and Hollow powers.

The Quincy and Shinigami powers of Ichigo Kurosaki's mother, Masaki Kurosaki, and father, Isshin Shiba, act as a neutralizing agent. Hollow White's essence is Shinigami power that has been transformed into Hollow power.

The powers of Hollow White Hollow, Kurosaki Masaki's Quincy power, and Shiba Isshin's Shinigami power counteract each other, and the combined power of the human soul artifacts created by Urahara Kisuke forms a perfect closed loop.

It's easy to understand why the human soul can integrate the powers of Hollows, Quincy, and Shinigami, since Hollows, Quincy, and Shinigami are all essentially evolved from the human soul.

Ichigo Kurosaki's "Asauchi" soul medium is his own human soul, which confirms what Ichigo said when he obtained the true Zangetsu.

I am the knife!

Just as Aizen Sousuke said, Kurosaki Ichigo is truly an absolutely perfect creation!

Tengetsu Sukusai's thoughts wandered for only a few seconds before he came back to his senses and began selecting samurai swords.

Then he took out two samurai swords, infused them with spiritual pressure, and clashed their spines together, just like the Heaven Sword and the Dragon Saber colliding and vying for supremacy.

Under the completely unreasonable use of weapons, the samurai swords began to shatter.

One, two, three—soon twelve of the eighteen samurai swords had broken. Iwabuchi Ichiki, watching from the side, felt heartbroken and could barely swallow half of his ramen.

During the next test with a katana, Tengetsu Sussai clearly felt that the katana in his left hand was infused with spiritual pressure exceptionally smoothly, as if there were no impurities within it. It wouldn't crack, and would even tremble slightly, emitting a buzzing sound.

However, Tengetsu no Sussai did not stop. The two swords collided and broke the other sword in his right hand, and he continued to collide with the remaining swords.

When testing the penultimate katana, another katana remained unbroken, and the infusion of spiritual pressure proceeded exceptionally smoothly. After the collision, it was revealed that two of the eighteen katanas were indestructible divine weapons.

“Iwabuchi Ichiki came over, took this sword and started slashing at me.”

"Huh? Fight the boss head-on? I can't do it!!! I really can't..." Iwabuchi Ichiki quickly refused, but Tengetsu Sukusai forcibly stuffed it into his hand.

"Oh well... so be it."

Tenzuki Suzaku gripped his katana, channeling all his spiritual pressure into it. The intense pressure surged outwards, causing their clothes to flutter wildly. Iwabuchi Ichiki was rendered immobile and unsteady by the pressure emanating from Tenzuki Suzaku.

The katana in Tengetsu Sukusai's hand seemed to gleam, making the silver blade appear even colder.

......

Chapter 9 Two Shallow Strikes

Tenzuki Sukusai and Iwabuchi Ichiki gripped their katana and began conducting a destructive collision experiment. Iwabuchi Ichiki was extremely nervous, fearing that Tenzuki Sukusai might accidentally go berserk and slash at him.

Am I really that scary?

Clang! Clang! Clang! The two katanas clashed together, and Iwabuchi Ichiki lost his grip and the katana flew out of his hand and landed to the side.

After channeling all his spiritual pressure into his body, Tengetsu no Sukesai didn't feel any kind of soul-stirring movement, except for the ease with which he performed the technique. Perhaps it was because he had never done spiritual pressure channeling or sword meditation before, or perhaps his spiritual pressure was too low; in any case, nothing unusual happened.

However, Tengetsu Quezai felt that there was at least a 50% chance that the two swords were shallowly forged.

"I didn't expect to have such a rich haul. I even found two shallow-strike weapons in the 93 mirror zone."

But that makes sense. Ever since the swordsman Nimaiya Oetsu started crafting the asauchi, countless asauchi have flowed into the Soul Society. There must be more than 6000 of them.

"Alright, I don't need to cut you anymore, just give me the knife."

"Yes...yes, Lord Tengetsu, shall I go down first?"

"Go." When Iwabuchi saw that Tengetsu Sukusai was letting people go, he hurriedly ran away, afraid that he would be chopped by him.

He tossed another asaka into his system inventory and began brandishing it in the air. He slashed, cut, flicked, and hacked, finding the asaka increasingly comfortable in his hand and constantly wanting to find something to chop with.

Just like when you find a nice stick as a child, every rapeseed flower stalk nearby is doomed.

After putting away his shallow attacks, Tianyue Quezhai, when bored, could only immerse himself in the game to pass the time.

He just passed the third level, which wasn't difficult at all.

Because the opponent is a male Shinigami, fighting a male Shinigami is a million times easier than fighting a Hollow. In fact, he doesn't even need to lift a finger; the Hollow warriors in the lineup can just hammer the male Shinigami to death and win the battle.

The final reward remains the same: you receive a regular lottery ticket and draw a low-level monster.

[Crab (Virtual R Card), Skill: Claw Strike]

Claw attacks are pretty useless, since he doesn't have claws to use them. And while he can use this skill with a shallow strike, the effect of a spiritual pressure-infused slash is about the same; he can't see anything special about it.

The fourth gate is guarded by a gorilla Hollow and a venom Hollow; the fifth gate has two male Shinigami and one female Shinigami; the sixth gate has a tentacle Hollow, an octopus Hollow, and a centipede Hollow; the seventh gate has three male Shinigami and three female Shinigami; the eighth gate has three male Shinigami and three stealth mobile suits; and the ninth gate has six stealth mobile suits.

He still maintains that Shinigami are a million times easier to fight than Hollows, at least in his opinion at the lower levels.

He suffered considerable damage before winning the battle against the centipede, even with the six hidden maneuvers that appeared in the ninth level.

The Hidden Mobile Forces' combat effectiveness was entirely demonstrated by their Shunpo Hakuda. While they were skilled at Shunpo, they couldn't break through the Hollow's defenses, so all that talk was nonsense; they were practically useless.

The only thing that surprised him was that when he was fighting the female Grim Reaper, he noticed that the structure there was incredibly accurate.

"My apologies, my apologies! I'm a decent person. Satisfying my curiosity is one thing, but I can't act like a human being! Retreat!"

Tianyue Quezhai chanted "Amitabha" and passed six trials in a row, obtaining six ordinary tickets.

The tenth level is a mini-boss level, and Tianyue Quezhai is ready to start the battle.

[Level 10 begins!]

Tengetsu Quezai appeared on the battlefield of Shuangji Hill and immediately searched for the enemy. However, he did not see the enemy's figure appear in front of him for a long time, but he vaguely saw a red drifting catkin.

"Is that... the Spirit Network?"

"Hado #31, Red Fire Cannon!"

"What?!"

Tengetsu Chosai suddenly heard a deep voice chanting a shattering incantation above his head. He quickly jumped to the left, trying to avoid the demonic path.

However, he seemed to have underestimated the power of the Hado 31 Red Fire Cannon, which arrived in front of him in an instant.

A violent burst of flames erupted from his face, scorching his upper body before exploding instantly. His proxy spirit clothes and pants were charred and stuck to his body like maggots, causing him even more pain.

Tianyue Quezhai was knocked to the ground, the intense burning pain constantly assaulting his mind, making it impossible for him to open his eyes and look at the sky.

Everyone says that being burned to death is the most painful thing. Compared to being burned, the pain of being slashed seems to be nothing more than a drizzle.

Fortunately, the first wave of hate attacks was completed, and the figure engaged in battle with the three Hollows.

It took at least half a minute for Tianyue Quezhai to barely manage to sit up. He squinted at the battlefield and finally made out the enemy's figures.

"It's Rukia Kuchiki!!!"

No, to be more precise, it was Rukia Gikai who had lost her Shinigami powers and was carrying a human backpack, not Shinigami Rukia. But even so, she still beat Amatsuki Susui half to death when they met.

Unable to stand, Tengetsu Sussai was completely incapacitated and unable to move. He could only mentally command himself to quit the game. After resting for a while to regain his senses, he drew his katana and began to review the game.

"Based on the previous stages' guard spawn patterns, it's expected that I, as the main force, will be attacked first—that's the game's rule. I was prepared, but I didn't expect the enemy to attack from above. And the power of number thirty-one's breaching attack is truly immense!!!"

"No way! You can't even beat Rukia with her Gikai form, what are you bragging about? Come on, I'm not convinced!"

Tianyue Quezhai was completely unconvinced, but after calming down a bit, he steeled himself and entered the checkpoint.

"Hado #31, Red Fire Cannon!"