Bleach: Getting Stronger Starting from Teaching at the Spiritual Arts Academy

After reaching a spiritual pressure level of 90, it takes 100000 experience points to level up. In July, I had already reached the critical point of leveling up to 91.

Kiryuu's use of "temporary soul" to accumulate spiritual pressure allowed Nanatsu to level up to 93, saving him over 200000 experience points.

“This ‘Wenshi Tofu’ is delicious. Thank you for your delicious food, Kiryu-san. My spiritual pressure has increased quite a bit.” July said with a smile.

"Your conversion rate is indeed very high; you didn't waste much spiritual pressure." Kiryu carefully sensed the changes in Qiyue's spiritual pressure.

July brought a huge boost, and enjoying the delicious food at Hikifune Kiryuu was a delightful experience. I chatted with Hikifune Kiryuu about a few challenging hometown dishes, and even tried cooking them myself.

...

The following day, after leaving the 12th Division barracks, July returned to her laboratory.

I was too busy before, and only now have I had time to organize my findings.

"Teacher, you're back." Aizen Sousuke was still engrossed in the laboratory.

“Sousuke, it’s not good to stay in the lab all the time. Don’t neglect your daily training,” July said with a smile.

"I'll be careful." Aizen Sousuke nodded gently. He noticed the bandage on his teacher's hand and was slightly taken aback. "Teacher, you're injured?"

This was the first time he had ever seen a teacher injured!

"No need to worry, I just used a sword technique that exceeded my spiritual body's capacity and suffered a minor injury," July said with a light laugh.

"A technique that can injure a teacher must be extraordinary..." Aizen Sousuke thought with a hint of longing.

Chapter 214 Aizen Sousuke's Guilt

In July, he took out the things he had looted from Tetsuya Miyamoto's laboratory.

Fortunately, his laboratory was built underground in a mine, with enough space to accommodate so many life support cells.

"Where did you bring back so many spirit remains and equipment, Master?" Aizen Sousuke was quite surprised to see his master bring out so many spirit remains and life support capsules.

Aizen Sousuke couldn't help but wonder if his teacher had emptied out Hikifune Kiryu's laboratory.

There are quite a few of these spirit remains and instruments, which would require a lot of resources to create. There aren't many laboratories in Soul Society with such conditions.

“Yesterday I went to the human world with Yoruichi to carry out a mission and took down Tetsuya Miyamoto, the mastermind behind the frequent spirit corpse incidents in recent years.” July explained while carrying the life support pods. “These spirit corpses and equipment were all brought back from Tetsuya Miyamoto’s laboratory.”

"That Miyamoto Toru was able to build a laboratory of this scale in the human world, so he must have had the support of the Soul Society, right?" Aizen Sosuke was quite perceptive and immediately deduced that Miyamoto Toru was definitely not fighting alone.

“You guessed right, very perceptive, Sousuke.” July said gently, “Miyamoto Tetsuya is manipulating the Mizutani family behind the scenes, using the Mizutani family to obtain souls and resources with Shinigami aptitude in Soul Society. The phenomenon of rampant faith that I discovered in Rukongai earlier was also a result of Miyamoto Tetsuya’s selection of souls with Shinigami aptitude.”

“I see. So, reaching out to the residents of Rukongai by spreading faith... That is indeed a way to quickly expand one's influence.” Aizen Sousuke said thoughtfully.

Then, in July, the largest life support cell was moved out.

With the support of the medication, the human-faced phantom spirit remained active.

"Is this the Arrancar Vasto Lorde?" Aizen Sousuke's question was the same as Shikari Nanatsuki's when he first saw this Hollow-faced creature.

"This human-faced creature is arguably my greatest find on this trip," July chuckled.

In July, they brought back a couple hundred spirit remains in the developmental stage and intact life support chambers, but all of these things combined were not as valuable as the human-faced phantom.

Spiritual remains can be replicated, but human-faced voids are products of extremely low probability.

Even if Miyamoto Tetsuya spent the same amount of time and resources, he might not be able to create another Hollow with a human face.

“Is it more valuable than these remains and tools? If it were a living Vastod, it would indeed be very valuable, but she looks like just a corpse, or…” Aizen Sousuke carefully sensed the Hollow’s state, “She’s not an ordinary Vastod?”

Judging from the spiritual pressure fluctuations he sensed, the Hollow's spiritual pressure response was dormant, like a pile of highly concentrated spiritual particles, completely different from the spiritual pressure fluctuations of living beings, undoubtedly a corpse.

"It's not that simple. She's not Vastod; she's half-human, half-phantom. This appearance is natural." July adjusted the life support pod, intending to extract some blood from the human-faced phantom's body.

"Half-human, half-hollow! Miyamoto Tetsuya actually managed to do this?" Aizen Sosuke's eyes flickered slightly. He and his teacher had been conducting experiments on Hollowfied Shinigami spirits for several years, which resulted in uncontrollable distortions. However, the human-faced Hollow in front of him looked very stable.

In July, blood was drawn from an empty tube inserted into the back of the human-faced phantom.

“Miyamoto Tetsuya’s approach is different from ours. He chose to start with the embryo, making the human soul pregnant with a child born from the union of a human and a spirit.” July took a test tube and connected it to the tube outside the life support chamber. A moment later, the test tube collected some blood.

"He consumed a lot of materials to cultivate such a relatively stable half-human, half-phantom body, but in the end, he still couldn't keep her alive. He could only use drugs to maintain the activity of her spirit." After taking out the blood, July took it to analyze its composition.

July's laboratory now possesses the ability to distinguish between Hollows, Shinigami, and human soul types by analyzing blood components.

“It truly possesses both a human soul and a Hollow spirit…” Aizen Sousuke leaned closer and saw the changing colors on the test strip.

"This half-human, half-phantom creature will be our key research topic from now on," July said.

"The combination of human souls and Hollows is so stable, so why can't the Shinigami spirits, which have a higher capacity to withstand power, bear the power of Hollows..." Aizen Sousuke fell into deep thought.

“I have a theory…this half-human, half-ethereal mother body might be different from other souls.” July remembered something.

After the Spirit King was divided into many pieces, the fragments of the Spirit King fell to various places in the Three Realms. Some of the fragments of the Spirit King also merged with the souls of the Three Realms and flowed in the Three Realms along with the souls.

Some became part of humanity, some became part of death, and some even became part of the Hollow.

In July, he obtained a fragment of the Spirit King from the remains of an ancient Void.

July speculated that this half-human, half-ethereal mother body was very likely the soul containing fragments of the Spirit King.

The fragments of the Spirit King possess magical power.

This half-human, half-void being was born thanks to the effect of the Spirit King fragments.

All the other souls that did not have fragments of the Spirit King failed.

Tetsuya Miyamoto's success was both accidental and, to some extent, inevitable.

Unfortunately, the half-human, half-phantom mother was not found in Miyamoto Tetsuya's laboratory in July, so the hypothesis could not be verified.

"Sōyōsuke, you must have heard of Lord Rei-ō, right?" July didn't stop, taking out some medicine to prepare.

Not wanting to waste the extracted blood, July tried to prepare a spirit growth agent based on a formula she found in Tetsuya Miyamoto's laboratory.

In July, two fingers on his left hand were still unable to move, but the two master and apprentice had worked together in the laboratory for many years and had developed a good understanding of each other. Aizen Sousuke immediately stepped forward to help grind the medicinal herbs.

“Of course I know. Lord Soul King is the true ruler of Soul Society, residing in the Soul King Palace high in the heavens.” Aizen Sousuke nodded. In the past few years, he often used the ability of Kyoka Suigetsu to go to the noble district and browse through the books of those nobles, so he had gained a considerable understanding of this world.

"These records must be from the libraries of those nobles," July said with a slight smile.

Aizen Sousuke's heart tightened, and his hand, which was grinding the medicinal herbs, paused slightly.

The teacher has found out!

At that time, Aizen Sousuke had only recently joined the dojo and didn't trust the people there much. He would sneak out every night to read books.

He thought he had hidden it well, but the teacher still found out.

So, did the teacher discover the ability to see things in a mirage?

If he finds out, will he think I'm deceiving him?

Aizen Sousuke's mind raced.

Chapter 215 Experiment

“Master, I have concealed the abilities of my Zanpakuto,” Aizen Sousuke said after careful consideration.

Since the teacher had already discovered that he was secretly going out to read, he must have also seen the scene where he was ignored by the guards when he went to Seireitei and the noble district.

This ability is clearly beyond the capabilities of any water-based Zanpakuto that can create mirror-like reflections using mist and water flow.

Therefore, Aizen Sousuke lost all hope and chose to confess directly.

Concealing his abilities is not an unforgivable act, after all, he had only been learning the basics for a short time at that time.

“I know,” July chuckled. “Your Zanpakuto, Kyoka Suigetsu, isn’t really about controlling mist and water.”

Aizen Sousuke was relieved that he hadn't been stubborn; his teacher had indeed analyzed his abilities.

“Yes, the true power of Kyoka Suigetsu is not the control of mist and water, but the hypnotic power that can control the senses,” Aizen Sousuke revealed his ability.

"It's pretty much what I guessed." July nodded, without any surprise. "It's an excellent Zanpakuto ability, very useful both in battle and in daily life."

"As expected of a teacher, even a mirage cannot escape your eyes," Aizen Sousuke remarked.

“Sousuke, the information you know about Lord Rei-ou comes from the libraries of those nobles,” July continued the previous topic. “But what’s recorded in the books they’ve preserved may not be the whole truth.”

"If you want to know more about Lord Soul King, perhaps you could visit Isshin's family. The five great families have a collection of historical materials from much earlier times," July urged Aizen Sousuke to go to Shiba Isshin's place to look up the materials.

In July, I plan to study the Hollow with Human Face and the Soul King fragments I obtained earlier. Aizen Sousuke will definitely discover the Soul King's secret, so I might as well let him know about these things a little earlier.

"The Shiba family... I've heard they're one of the five great noble families of Soul Society." Aizen Sousuke nodded. "I understand. I'll find a chance to go and check them out in the next few days."

As they spoke, Aizen Sousuke finished grinding the medicine, and in July, following Miyamoto Tetsuya's formula, he prepared the spirit growth agent.

The formulation of the spirit growth agent is not complicated. The main ingredient is the blood of the human-faced ghost, and the other excipients are drugs used to promote and stimulate growth and neutralize rejection reactions.

A moment later, July produced a spirit growth agent.

"This is the spirit growth agent that Miyamoto Tetsuya used to cultivate spirit embryos. Take out this spirit body and conduct the injection experiment." July selected a growing ethereal spirit body as a test subject and gave the order.

The effects of the spirit growth agent on regular spirit remains were recorded in detail in Tetsuya Miyamoto's experimental data. In July, there was no need to repeat the experiment; he wanted to test whether this spirit growth agent would have any effect on the ethereal spirit remains they were cultivating.

Aizen Sousuke removed the Hollow Corpse experimental subject and then injected the prepared spirit growth agent into the Hollow Corpse's body.

The Void Remains selected in July have grown to the level of ordinary Void beings.

After the injection of the drug, the illusory spirit did not react much.

July picked up a scalpel and made a light cut on the arm of the Void Spirit Corpse. The sharp scalpel instantly sliced ​​through the Void Spirit Corpse's skin.

But soon, the skin of the ethereal skeleton began to heal rapidly.

This ethereal skeleton is only at the level of a normal ethereal being and does not have the ability to regenerate at super speed. Therefore, its healing ability obviously comes from the spirit growth agent that was just injected into it.

Aizen Sousuke, who was taking experimental notes, said, "The spiritual pressure fluctuations of the Hollow Corpse haven't changed much, but it has produced a powerful regeneration phenomenon."

The two continued to repeat the test until half an hour later, when the Void Remains' super-fast regeneration ability completely disappeared.

"Teacher, this kind of spirit growth agent doesn't seem to help the growth of the ethereal body much," Aizen Sousuke said.

The growth agent is less helpful to the growth of Hollows than the growth catalyst that Aizen Sousuke made using fungal Hollows.

"It has a greater effect on the Death God's remains. It's probably because the ethereal particles within them don't enhance the ethereal much, but they can cause a significant stimulus to the Death God," July analyzed.

According to Tetsuya Miyamoto's experimental data, the growth catalyst has a significant effect on promoting the growth of the Death Spirit Remains, and is even comparable to the effect of the fungal growth catalyst on the Death Spirit Remains.

It is important to know that the principle of the fungal Void growth catalyst is to utilize the characteristic of Void energy to devour its own kind. The high-concentration Void Spirit particle growth catalyst made from fungal Void is even more effective than the Void Spirit skeleton absorbing it directly than the Void Spirit skeleton devouring a complete Void.

"So the powers of Shinigami and Hollows can indeed influence each other... The secrets behind this are quite fascinating." Aizen Sousuke recorded the experimental results, paused, and said, "Sensei, do you think this spirit growth agent could work on ordinary Shinigami?"

Aizen Sousuke inevitably thought that since this spirit growth agent could work on the spirit remains of Shinigami, it meant that it was very likely to work on Shinigami as well.

“Miyamoto Tetsuya has already experimented on his own body.” July took out a pile of documents from her spiritual space pocket. “When Miyamoto Tetsuya was still in Soul Society, he was just a vice-captain. Although he has been missing for quite some time, it is not impossible for him to break through to the captain level. But I found his records of using the spirit growth agent on himself in the laboratory.”

“There’s too much data. In a couple of days, Yoruichi will send over a backup of the data that the Covert Force took away. In the meantime, let’s organize the data on Tetsuya Miyamoto.” July searched through the pile of data for a long time before finally finding the data she wanted.

"Miyamoto Tetsu also relied on the Spirit Growth Agent to bring his spiritual pressure to the captain level!" Aizen Sousuke was very surprised; the effect of the Spirit Growth Agent was even better than he had expected.

"Yes, Miyamoto Tetsuya had already reached a bottleneck before this, and his spiritual pressure was unable to break through to the captain level. That's why he risked using this method to increase his spiritual pressure."

Miyamoto Toru was both highly skilled and daring; the combination of a Shinigami and a Hollow was an extremely dangerous thing, carrying considerable unknown risks.

July continued, "However, this method is risky. It will cause one's own spirit body to accumulate ethereal particles. Although the ethereal power in the blood of this human-faced ethereal being appears very gentle, these ethereal particles accumulated in the spirit body may suddenly erupt at some point."

"Tetsuya Miyamoto's experimental records also show that after experiencing this kind of reinforcement, other voices would always appear in his mind, and he often needed to rely on drugs to suppress his inner impulses and maintain his consciousness."

July felt that Miyamoto Tetsuya could become Hollow at any time.

Chapter 216 Treatment Plan

"Sousuke, now that you know how to make the spirit growth agent, these spirit remains will need to be injected with the spirit growth agent every three days. You can teach Rii how to prepare this medicine; she can help manage it if she has time."

In July, they plan to continue cultivating the spirit remains brought back from Tetsuya Miyamoto's laboratory using a spirit growth agent.

These spirit remains have been using spirit growth agents to promote their growth for a long time, and have accumulated trace amounts of ethereal particles in their bodies, which can be used to conduct etherealization experiments.

However, July and Aizen Sousuke have already verified that the conventional method of Hollowfication of Shinigami spirits is simply not feasible. July plans to introduce a new variable—fragments of the Soul King—to conduct Hollowfication experiments.

“Okay.” Aizen Sousuke nodded. For him, the method of preparing the spirit growth agent was very simple; he had learned it after watching it once.

At that moment, the laboratory door opened, and Hoshino Rie entered.

She was amazed to see so many spirit remains and instruments in the laboratory.

"Teacher, I brought the list." Hoshino Rie waved a piece of paper in her hand.

"Thank you for your hard work, Rii." July took the list and began to read it.