Who are you calling a stable boy?!

"You're joking."

Hearing the old man make a rare joke, Quebu couldn't help but laugh as well.

Two souls who had been together for over a thousand years, with a touch of lightness, became the last figures to leave the conference room.

Meanwhile, in the barracks of the Twelfth Division, Yoruichi was watching Zheng Jing, who was beaming with pride.

"Hehe, we've passed the old man's test, what else is there to say?"

Zheng Jing grinned widely.

"Hehehe! The old man doesn't care about me, but I, Old Zheng, am invincible! Haha!"

"Don't get too excited yet. Have you figured out how to write the new report?"

Yoruichi asked, resting her chin on her hand.

Zheng Jing patted Xizhu on the shoulder, making the embarrassed Xizhu shrink back.

"Isn't this a helper? Why should I worry about it?"

"You've really gone all out to be the team leader..."

"What's wrong with that? It's perfectly normal to have the deputy captain do the paperwork! Aren't you always the one who shirks responsibility?"

"Bullshit! Do you think I'm some kind of ape like you? Xing Jun is busy!"

"The criminal investigation team is busy!"

Mimicking Yoruichi's expression and tone, Zheng Jing stuck out his tongue and drawled out his words.

"The criminal investigation team is busy, otherwise why would Deputy Captain Ōmaeda be chasing after you, you silly cat, every now and then?"

"what?"

"Alright, alright, you two, stop arguing. We're here to discuss what's next, aren't we?"

Kisuke raised his hand, trying to calm the cat and monkey who looked like they could easily fight.

He then looked at Aizen, clearly hoping Aizen would help him.

"In short, we got through the chief commander hurdle more smoothly than we expected."

Hearing Aizen speak, Yoruichi gave a soft hum and sat down again.

"Indeed, although we expected the Captain to protect the gorilla, we didn't expect him to protect it so strongly."

She said this with a touch of emotion.

Recruiting fictitious subordinates is a matter that can be argued from any angle.

As Kenpachi Nazaki said, cooperating with Hollows is a grave crime of betraying the party and the court.

But according to the Captain-Commander, it means letting criminals atone for their crimes, which is a common practice in Soul Society.

The fact that this criminal's identity changed from Death to Hollow is truly unprecedented.

Of course, the final interpretation rests with the chief commander; whatever he deems it is, that's how it is.

Now that the Captain-Commander's attitude was so resolute, Yoruichi breathed a sigh of relief.

This means that even if someone were to leak what happened at today's meeting and it ended up in the 46th Division, the Captain would stand up to the 46th Division to protect Zheng Jing.

At this point, unless those people in Room 46 have completely lost their minds, they won't push their luck.

At most, she might try to slip some eyeliner under Zheng Jing's hands.

Therefore, the only remaining problem seems to be...

With her arms crossed, Yoruichi tilted her head back, her gaze seemingly piercing through the ceiling of the room, heading straight up to the sky above Seireitei.

She shook her head to herself.

No one has come down yet, which probably means they really have no connection.

As Yoruichi was thinking this, Kisuke suddenly asked from beside her, "Miss Yoruichi, what's the deal with that Captain Mokujo?"

"what......"

Yoruichi scratched her head.

“His situation is rather special. I estimate it has nothing to do with those old fogies; it's most likely just a personal grudge.”

"Private grudge?"

Kisuke whispered, "It can't be because of the captain's punch, can it?"

"Stop fooling around."

Yoruichi shook her head: "He doesn't have a grudge against the Gorilla, he has a grudge against the Hollow."

Kenpachi Momoshiro.

A year ago, a mysterious man appeared in Rukongai, wielding a Zanpakuto. He suddenly challenged the former Kenpachi, Kuruyashiki, and successfully killed Kuruyashiki in the duel, thus inheriting the name Kenpachi.

Later, based on Xing Jun's investigation, they found an identity that was very likely to match it.

That happened before Zheng Jing and Aizen enrolled in the Shinigami Academy.

At that time, there was a nobleman in the court named Zhicheng.

The Mochi City family was once a noble family renowned for its outstanding talents and profound knowledge of swordsmanship and demonic arts.

However, bathed in the extravagance of the nobility, and with the passage of time, the members of the Mochijo family became increasingly lazy. In the end, not even one of the younger generation could be found who could successfully achieve Shikai.

On the contrary, their ability to acquire wealth is stronger with each generation than the last.

"Then, it was discovered that the Mole City family had plotted a rebellion."

At this point, Yoruichi scoffed, "A family that hasn't even had a single person who can use Shikai in generations, treason? That's obviously a fabricated charge."

"In fact, several families colluded to do this in order to seize the wealth of the Mochi City family. The Mochi City family was unable to defend themselves, and the entire clan was arrested and thrown into the penance ground after a so-called trial."

"You and Aizen probably don't know what the Redemption Execution Ground is. Simply put, it's a place where prisoners are given a chance to prove their innocence. As long as they can defeat the executioner in the execution ground, they can get a chance to be retried. And in the retrial, at least they won't be sentenced to death."

"However, at that time, even the most capable fighter in the Zhicheng family wasn't at the level of a court official, let alone the fact that those other families had no intention of leaving any members of the Zhicheng family alive..."

"In short, all the members of the Mole City family were killed by the Void at the execution ground."

"—Theoretically, that's correct."

"But at the end of this execution, quite a bit of trouble arose."

At this point, Yoruichi's expression became slightly more serious.

"All the nobles who were present to watch the execution were killed."

Chapter Fifteen: Even the Forty-Sixth Chamber is under my control, how can you fight me?

"To be precise, even Xu in the execution ground died."

"When the executioners arrived, they found limbs and broken bodies scattered everywhere. The investigation at the time recorded it as an accident caused by a prisoner breaking free of his restraints. Everyone present, whether nobles who watched the execution or members of the executed family, was recorded as dead."

"But after carefully reviewing the files of the deceased, I found that, putting aside the Mochi family, there were quite a few nobles among those who watched the execution who were quite powerful, comparable to the fourth or fifth seat, and who had mastered the Shikai. Logically speaking, given the number of Hollows who were transferred from the prison that day, it was impossible for them to have committed this bloodshed, whether considering their individual strength or their overall numbers."

In other words...

"There is a hidden expert in the Zhicheng family."

Kisuke spoke up: "After slaughtering all the witnesses present, this person fled the Seireitei and hid in the Rukongai until one day he found an opportunity... Do you think this is the origin of Captain Azajo?"

Yoruichi shrugged: "One guess is that perhaps an ordinary person broke through in the heat of battle, awakened a powerful Shikai, and wreaked havoc on the battlefield?"

"Why would such a conjecture arise? It can't just be because of the surname that Captain Mole City gave himself, right?"

"Of course not."

Ye Yi nodded: "His relationship with the nobles is also very bad. Although he is not as bad as the Ape Master who dares to fight the Forty-Six Chambers directly, he is still a person who does not give the nobles any face. More importantly, I can feel that he really hates the nobles from the bottom of his heart and does not want to have any interaction with them."

"As for his attitude towards Hollows, there have been no attacks caused by Hollows in Soul Society in the year since he took office, so it's hard to tell."

"Until today, he suddenly spoke up at the meeting..."

Yoruichi sighed: "I think he won't cooperate with those old fogies, but it's hard to say whether he'll cause us trouble because of his grudge against Hollows."

"who cares."

Zheng Jing picked at his ear, completely unconcerned.

Hey! Don't take this lightly!

Yoruichi's eyebrows shot up: "Although his record of defeating Kenpachi Kuruyashiki is somewhat exaggerated, it also shows that his Zanpakuto ability is strange. Since he inherited Kenpachi's name, even I don't have any information about his Zanpakuto ability."

"Leaving that aside for now, guys with deep-seated hatred for each other are mostly mentally unstable. If they really go crazy and go to inform on the 46th Chamber, or even cooperate with those old fogies, that would be disgusting!"

"When soldiers come, we'll block them; when water comes, we'll dam it, right, Lao Lan?"

Zheng Jing looked at Aizen.

He genuinely didn't think Mole City could cause any trouble.

In particular, they create trouble through the Seireitei.

Don't they even look at the current Seireitei? To put it bluntly—

Captain-General, Captain, Deputy Captain, even the 46th Division are all my men. What do you have to fight me with?

Aizen nodded with a smile.

“Old Zheng is right. Besides, even if we knew that Kenpachi Mochi had a problem, given the current situation, it would be impossible for us to take action against him, wouldn’t it?”

"Tsk, that's true."

Ye Yi's shoulders slumped.

"Instead of that, Lao Lan, now you can tell me, if I, Lao Zheng, were to step in, what would be the proper course of action?"

Zheng Jing looked towards Lan Ran.

Upon hearing this, Yoruichi raised her face: "What are you planning now?"

"It's nothing."

Zheng Jing waved his hand: "I, Old Zheng, am kind-hearted and can't bear to see people suffer. I just wanted to prevent the Grim Reaper and the Quincy from fighting each other."

"what?"

Yoruichi was stunned for a moment, then realized what she meant: "You...you want to stop the war?"

As soon as she said it, she instinctively wanted to add "impossible," but looking at Zheng Jing and Aizen, Yoruichi suddenly seemed to have thought of something.

"I understand... but this requires a two-way street. Even if the Gorilla Sutra can persuade the Captain-Commander, what about the Quincy?"

"That will be the most exciting part."

Aizen adjusted his glasses.

"Old Zheng, do you remember what I said to you when we were at the Spirit Arts Academy, talking about joining the Gotei 13?"

He looked at Zheng Jing, his eyes seeming to gleam.

"You are destined to be a peerless hero."

-

In the present world, at the Ishida family residence.

Several days have passed since the previous meeting with Death.

That unpleasant parting seemed to foreshadow an inevitable great battle between the Shinigami and the Quincy.

However, Ishida Komagaru ultimately did not want things to develop to this worst point.

As the last pure-blooded Quincy in the world, he always hoped to protect humanity together with the Shinigami, rather than letting the two forces fighting against Hollows fight each other like this.

However, not all of his people shared the same idea.

"Komagane! What are you still hesitating for?!"

With a heavy slam on the table, Ishida Seisho, unlike the kind-faced Komagami, who was still robust despite being eighty years old, roared at Komagami, "Do you have to wait until those Grim Reapers kill our people first before you're willing to do anything?"

"Qingxiang, don't put Death on the opposite side right from the start..."

Koma looked helplessly at his half-brother.

If Ishida Komagaru was the representative of the peacekeeping faction within the clan, then Ishida Seisho was the representative of the war faction.

Previously, during the meeting with the Grim Reaper, it was precisely because of the conditions that Qingxiang suddenly proposed that the meeting ultimately failed.