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

Grimmjow abandoned maintaining Cero and disappeared from the spot.

The next instant, Grimmjow appeared behind Nel and bit down hard on the back of her neck.

"The little leopard is much slower now."

Nilu slightly turned her body to the side, dodging the leopard's attack. Then, she gripped the hilt of her knife and swung it to the right, striking the leopard's left shoulder squarely.

Grimmjow flew away.

bang——

Grimmjow crashed onto the hill, sending up a cloud of sand and gravel.

"It seems I used too much force. Controlling spiritual pressure is still very difficult."

Nel was somewhat frustrated. She was currently in a period of spiritual pressure growth, and her spiritual pressure was easily out of her control. That attack just now had released spiritual pressure that Grimmjow could not withstand.

Nel arrived at the sand dune that Grimmjow had smashed.

This white leopard king has lost its former glory.

The part where the left arm connects to the body has caved in, revealing the bare white bone, and blood is flowing all over the ground.

"Damn it..." Grimmjow endured the pain and tried several times to get up, but failed each time.

Finally, he lay down on the ground and closed his eyes.

“You corrupt Vastod, you have won. Kill me now.”

Grimmjow said coldly.

"The Fallen Vastod???"

Nilu didn't understand why she had this title.

"Maybe it's because you're with me, the Grim Reaper," July chuckled.

Neither Nel nor Grimmjow noticed that Shichiru had arrived at their location sometime earlier.

"Ha, colluding with the Grim Reaper to eliminate us Hollows who have embarked on the path of evolution, am I wrong?"

Grimmjow grinned.

"...Little Leopard might have misunderstood something. I didn't come to kill you..."

Nilu quickly stopped.

"The victor is king, no explanation needed! Just kill me!"

Grimmjow said in a deep voice.

"I reject."

Nilu shook her head.

"Are you insulting me?!" Grimmjow roared. "I don't need your pity!"

“We transformed from humans into monstrous beings, into mindless beasts, and went through countless hardships to regain our reason, not for this kind of senseless killing.”

Nilu frowned.

She refused to kill Grimmjow.

"Teacher, can we let him go?"

Nilu turned her head and asked.

"If you don't want to kill, then don't. There's no need to force it."

July glanced at Grimmjow, who was no longer capable of fighting, and slowly said, "But remember, even after defeating the enemy, you cannot let your guard down. Be careful that the enemy doesn't take advantage of your momentary lapse in vigilance and launch a surprise attack to turn the tide of battle."

"Beware of sneak attacks?" Nilu nodded. "I understand, teacher!"

“Teacher?” Grimmjow then noticed Nel’s address to Shichiru Shikatri.

Vastod the Great Hollow called a Grim Reaper his teacher?

Unheard of!

"Little leopard, we're leaving." July squatted down and rubbed the leopard's head. "I hope to see you again in Hueco Mundo in the future."

The leopard instinctively tried to dodge July's hand, but felt a terrifying spiritual pressure pressing down on it.

"Damn Death... Waaah—" the leopard whimpered softly.

“Let’s go, Nil, you need to find a stronger opponent.”

July got up and left with Nil.

Grimmjow has great talent and a straightforward personality, making him one of the few Hollows in Hueco Mundo worth taking on as a disciple.

In July, he intended to take Grimmjow as his disciple, but not now.

He and Aizen haven't yet deciphered the secret of the 'Soul King's power,' and even if he took on a disciple, he couldn't teach Grimmjow in his current form.

While he was rubbing the leopard's head, he took the opportunity to leave a shadow in the gap on the leopard's head as a reference point.

With the shadow location, it will be easier to find it later in July.

Given Grimmjow's strength, July has no reason to worry that he can detect the hidden shadow.

"Damn Death! Damn Vasto Lorde!"

After the two left, the leopard became even angrier; he had actually survived!

He considered himself a warrior, the king of leopards, and should not live out of the enemy's pity!

Despite the pain, the leopard shakily got up and slowly crawled toward the corpses left behind by the Hollows he had killed earlier.

"I want to become stronger..." The leopard was badly injured, and each step it took took it one or two minutes to climb.

After a long time, the leopard finally crawled to the side of the Great Void's corpse and began to gnaw on it.

"I will become stronger... until I find you... and defeat you..."

However, some lingering doubts remained in the leopard's mind—

Why would that Vasto Lorde Hollow call a Shinigami "teacher"?

Could they actually have a master-disciple relationship?

What can Death teach Hollows?

"By the way... that Vastod, did he use a knife?" The leopard paused in its chewing motion.

He hadn’t had time to think much during the battle, but now he suddenly remembered that the Arrancar Vasto Lorde used a sword!

"Could that be a characteristic of Hollowfied beings? After Hollowfied, they transform into human form and gain a sharp blade?" Leopard felt his mind was starting to overwhelm him.

He had never even seen Barragán before; this was his first time meeting Vastod, and he had no reference point to follow.

"That blade-like thing could even slice through my Cero... Was it a slashing technique taught to her by the Grim Reaper?"

The leopard's mind was filled with more and more doubts, but no one could answer them.

"Forget it... there's no point in thinking about this. I should just eat more Void Essence and get stronger faster." Unable to come up with a solution, the leopard decided to give up.

...

Chapter 289 A Place Far From Hueco Mundo

July and Nel left Silent Dunes to continue searching for suitable opponents for Nel to practice against in Hueco Mundo.

"Teacher, where are we going next?" Nilu had just had a small test of her skills and had already experienced some of the changes in herself, so she was looking forward to the battle to come.

Before meeting her teacher, her strength was not much different from that leopard. Both were Adjuchas Menos Grande, and there was no insurmountable gap between them.

But now, she is completely different from that leopard.

"Let me look at the map and start from the nearest one."

In July, he took out a map of Hueco Mundo, which marked the territories of some powerful Hollows.

They weren't searching aimlessly.

The covert task force has conducted surveys of areas outside the territory ruled by Hueco Mundo in the past year or two.

This map is the result of their exploration.

The Hueco Mundo desert is boundless, while the area ruled by Las Noches is quite limited.

However, Hueco Mundo is located in the area with the highest concentration of spiritual particles. The further you go, the more low-spirit areas like Silent Dunes become.

This map radiates outwards from Hueco Mundo as the center.

The covert task force has discovered some powerful Hollow territories outside of Las Noches.

Even when Hueco Mundo was still ruled by Barragan, these Great Hollows did not submit to Hueco Mundo.

However, they only operate within a small area and do not conflict with Las Noches. In addition, their territory is far from Las Noches, so Barragan has not bothered with them.

"There is a large Hueco Mundo here, not far from Silent Dunes. Let's go there first."

The Silent Dunes, a low-spirited area with high visibility, is marked on the map. In July, she used the markings on the map to determine its location.

"It's another Adjuchas Hollow. I must control my spiritual pressure this time!" Nel looked at the markings on the map and asked, "Why do these Hollows stay in these barren places? If we go any further out, the spiritual particle concentration will be much lower!"

"Although a Void can become stronger by devouring its own kind and spirits with spiritual particle aptitude, there are limits to this."

July slowly said:

"Many of these large, indistinct markings on the maps have one thing in common—"

Their evolutionary path has come to an end.

“The evolutionary limits of Hollows vary. Some only reach the Gillian level and cannot evolve further. Some Hollows with damaged masks have also lost the possibility of evolution.” Nel was still puzzled. “However, most of the Hollows marked on the map are at the Adjuchas level, which is not considered weak in Hueco Mundo. So why do they stay in such a barren place?”

“I think…it’s probably because they want to stay away from conflict,” July said after thinking for a moment. “Lex Night Palace occupies the area with the highest concentration of spiritual particles in Hueco Mundo’s desert, and the Great Hollow Forest is also an area with a high concentration. Staying in these places, they can’t avoid conflict.”

Some Hollows who were unable to break through their bottlenecks felt hopeless about evolving and thus distanced themselves from the Hollow Forest, the core area of ​​the Hueco Mundo desert, and the conflicts.

“These Hollows, having reached the end of their evolutionary journey, have distanced themselves from conflict and come to the low-spirit lands to spend the rest of their lives. After they die, they will transform into spirit particles, becoming part of this sand.” July grabbed a handful of sand, letting it slip from her palm. “Perhaps this is a kind of spirit particle cycle within Hueco Mundo. These spirit particles have fertilized this land, and eventually these low-spirit lands will also transform into high-spirit lands.”

These Hollows are the transporters of spirit particles, and the spirit particles of the Great Hollow Forest are expanding into the Hueco Mundo Desert.

According to the Shinigami's investigation, the area of ​​the Spirit Land in Hueco Mundo Desert is gradually expanding.

The Shinigami's top-level power is far greater than that of Hueco Mundo.

At the level of vice-captains, Gillian, and Adjuchas, Hueco Mundo has an absolute advantage in numbers.

The number of Hollows in the Great Hollow Forest is impossible to count.

The spiritual particles required to support the evolution of these Great Hollows are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

July felt that there might be some secret in the Great Void Forest.

"Could it be that the Spirit King maintains the balance of souls in the Three Realms to allow the flow of spiritual particles? Perhaps the Great Void Forest is the place in the Three Realms closest to the primordial world..." July wondered.

July and Nilu walked quickly, and soon they arrived at their destination.

"Let me sense the location of the Great Void."

Nilu volunteered to use her spiritual senses to locate the Great Hollow.

However, Nel did not sense any Hollows in this area.

"Huh?" Nel looked puzzled. "Where are the Hollows? Aren't the Hollows here at home?"

"There are some Hollows ahead. Ask them if they know where the Great Hollow is."

In July, she sensed a group of ethereal beings gathered in a place ahead, possibly the native inhabitants of this area.

The two continued forward and arrived at a desert landscape resembling the Gobi Desert.

The spiritual pressure fluctuations that July sensed came from a group of Hollows that looked like fish-men.

These Hollows are all ordinary Hollows with damaged masks, having lost even the chance to evolve into Gillian.

"I'll go ask them!"

Nilu disappeared from the spot.

Where is your leader?

The fish-man was startled by the sudden appearance of Nel.