I'm really not the number one slacker in Soul Society.

The middle-aged man slowly walked to Schubert's side and revealed a meaningful smile.

"Greetings... to Your Majesty..."

Despite the cold sweat pouring down his forehead, Schubert spoke with immense fear.

To put it bluntly, the plan of "illusion and illusion" is actually very simple, even plain.

Let Yama and Aizen play good cop/bad cop first, giving Schubert an illusion buff.

Then, they just found a way to "invite someone" to make Yhwach's illusory visions appear in a grand manner.

The result is what we see now... and the effect is remarkable.

In fact, the plan itself has several aspects that rely on gambling to succeed. For example, whether Schubert, after spending so many years in Hell, still has any reverence for Yhwach, and whether Kyoka Suigetsu will work on wabi-sabi—after all, none of the three present could say for sure about Hell, so they could only take it one step at a time.

As a theoretically knowledgeable guy... oh no, a knowledgeable sister, Messenger Saki could only put on an act of having everything under control, appearing calm as a rock on the surface, but actually panicking like crazy—but the plan to disguise himself as Yhwach to scare the Quincy was just too much... cough, what he meant was that he really couldn't think of any other way, and now that every second counted, a plan that sounded like it had a pretty good chance of success was worth the gamble.

Even if Schubert's performance fails, they still have Angato Tensei as a backup plan. At worst, they can spend more time conducting a thorough search throughout Japan to find Michiha Ne Aura. They are not afraid that he will disobey them.

In short... as long as the result is good, everything is fine.

However, this incident also made Mi Zhen realize the nasty side of his personality—he unusually felt happy about doing bad things that messed with other people's minds, which is why he acted so hard.

Wait, could I really be born with villainous tendencies?

Impossible, absolutely impossible... It must be Aizen who corrupted me.

Don't be fooled by his current trembling and fearful appearance as he follows Kyoka Suigetsu. Who knows what he's really thinking? From many signs, it's clear that Aizen is extremely experienced and enjoys doing bad things, including but not limited to repeatedly messing with Toshiro's mindset, bombarding Ichigo with witty remarks, and repeatedly manipulating his subordinates. So, he's probably having a blast right now, a true master of slyness.

Wait... something's not right.

If he continues to work with Aizen on everything, he will only accumulate more and more favors.

So when he masters the art of hairspray, if I don't follow behind him and boost his morale... wouldn't I seem heartless?

That kind of thing...

It seems quite interesting.

Why not? Being a villain is really fun.

After finalizing the arrangements for the next hundred years in an instant, Mima withdrew his attention.

That kind of thing doesn't matter, right now we need to focus on dealing with Schubert in front of us.

"Then, let's talk."

With an air of regal grandeur, Kyoka Suigetsu sat down in the chair that Aizen had hastily brought over, clasped his hands together, and stared at Schubert's terrified face, coldly saying, "More than eight hundred years after leaving the Wandenreich, what are your thoughts on Hell?"

"Back...back to Your Majesty."

Schubert stammered, "It's really... not a place where I can live in peace."

Aizen's eyes flickered slightly.

It seems to be going even more smoothly than expected; this guy has completely fallen into the trap of illusion.

For those masters with extremely keen senses, the details in the illusion must be manipulated by hand to ensure that no flaws are revealed. However, this does not mean that Kyoka Suigetsu is only used in this way. As the most flamboyant character in Soul Society, how could Aizen's sword be so simple?

In fact, this "detailed modeling" method was developed by Aizen. Kyoka Suigetsu's earliest abilities were not known for their precision, but rather for their rough style, which was similar to "creating a roughly correct illusion and then letting the person affected fill in the details in their mind."

Both methods have their advantages. The former is more accurate but requires more mental effort, while the latter is easier to detect but requires less effort. In actual use, you need to switch between them depending on the situation.

Chapter 206: Yhwach's Reputation Damaged

For example, Aizen has now chosen the latter option.

After all, no matter how capable he is, he is only a few hundred years old and has never experienced the Quincy War. Naturally, he cannot fabricate Yhwach's spiritual pressure out of thin air. The only way to deceive Schubert in this regard is to let him fill in the blanks in his own mind.

Schubert's abilities were suppressed to the level of a disabled person by Mima's seal, including his spiritual pressure perception. As long as one's appearance was convincing enough, it wouldn't be difficult to fool him.

Of course, there is a risk of being exposed doing this. If it were a truly perceptive expert, even if all five senses were blocked, they could still judge the truth of the matter by their intuition, which belongs to the realm of metaphysics—but obviously Schubert does not have this ability.

"Huh? So that's why you're trying to escape back to the real world?"

Mirror Flower Water Moon closed the distance slightly, her tone becoming more intrigued: "That makes me quite curious. How did you and your accomplices—you're called the Asura Clan, right?—leave Hell without attracting any attention?"

—That's the crux of the problem.

It's not an isolated case for Hell Sinners to escape to the mortal realm. There are many similar incidents recorded in the history of Soul Society. However, without exception, those who escaped were registered by the Hell Guardians. Not to mention reviving on the spot, even being seriously injured would easily attract the Hell Guardians. But Shubert and Angato Tensei are different. Mima killed them several times last night, but there was no reaction from Hell.

This is not normal.

Mima racked her brains but still couldn't figure out what kind of magical operation this was.

Schubert was sweating profusely, but he kept his mouth tightly shut.

Mima wasn't worried that there was something wrong with Kyoka Shuiyue's acting skills. After all, Schubert hadn't seen his beloved emperor for over eight hundred years. In such a long time, even the old man of the mountain had transformed from a sword demon into a kind old grandfather, so it was not surprising that Yhwach would also change.

In any case, according to Saito's immortal testimony, no Quincy with a third-class spiritual power who was directly under the Guinean Empire has died in recent years, so they can make up stories without worry.

—Yhwach strongly suspects that this is because Yhwach exploited his subordinates' spiritual pressure by taking out high-interest loans, leaving them without even the right to go to hell.

In conclusion, based on records from many years ago, Yhwach was clearly not the kind of person who would play tricks on his subordinates; being straightforward was more in line with his style. As long as the story of "Mirror Flower, Water Moon" proceeds in this direction and he adds his own interpretation, there shouldn't be any major problems.

Meanwhile, Schubert was completely stunned.

He was just being stubborn; how could these two actually manage to invite His Majesty?

For Quincy, the awe of Yhwach is ingrained in their very bones. While loyalty certainly plays a part, the fear of having their "life in someone else's hands" is the main factor. As the Quincy King, Yhwach has the right to perform a sanctification ceremony on any Quincy at any time, and they have no right to resist.

Indeed, he had spent over eight hundred years in Hell, where the torment from the Hell Guardians was far more severe than that of Yhwach. Furthermore, the leader had emphasized that "there is no need to fear Saint Böhler anymore." With all these factors combined, it seemed that he no longer needed to harbor this fear.

but it is not the truth.

It's still that same simple, unadorned worry.

He is afraid of death.

No matter how unbearable the torment of the Hell Guardians may be, you'll be back to normal in a few minutes. But the Holy Blessing is different. The Holy Blessing can truly make a Quincy disappear completely from this day forward. Whether in the cycle of reincarnation or Hell, those who have been Holy Blessed can go nowhere and will only suffer the desolate fate of dying like a lamp going out.

And coincidentally, what sustained him through more than eight hundred years in hell was his will to survive.

So he was still afraid.

Don't say that after rolling around in hell, you won't have to fear Saint Beth anymore. That's just the leader's opinion; no one has actually tried it.

What if?

Even if the odds are only one in ten thousand, he doesn't want to gamble.

Because if you lose the bet, you really will die.

Admittedly, a large portion of the Shura Clan participated in the plan with the mindset that "even if it doesn't succeed, at least we can try to see if we can die," but Shubert and that group of real lunatics couldn't possibly agree on that.

So after a brief moment of hesitation, he decisively backed down.

To hell with the leader's threats! Even if he has a way to kill me, that's a matter for the future!

"Your Majesty, the Asura Clan's plan is..."

As Schubert began to recount information like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, Kyoka Suigetsu discreetly monitored the minute readings of every physiological characteristic of his body in order to determine the veracity of what he said.

—There were no lies, but what they said was no different from what Saito the Immortal had told them that day.

If that's all there is to it, then his status as a prisoner seems meaningless.

“Schubert, say something of value.” Mirror Flower Water Moon coldly interrupted her. “Don’t try to fob me off with these big-budget things—as a preliminary experiment before the main force arrives, I don’t believe you have no mission.”

Schubert stiffened, his hands trembling unconsciously. After a moment of silence, he sighed dejectedly, “Your Majesty… the leader of the Asura clan taught me a special kind of demonic art, instructing me to unleash it as much as possible during my period of incubation.”

"Huh?"

Mirror Flower Water Moon nodded and said, "It's the way of the ghosts, not holy chants, magic, or some kind of special ability?"

"That's right, it's the Ghost Path."

"Then let me have a good look at it too."

"As ordered..."

Schubert nodded resignedly, and then began to dictate his "special demonic path".

"Hmph, that sounds like a really strange thing."

"Your Majesty... the leader of the Asura Clan only instructed me to release it as much as possible, but as for its specific purpose... I really don't know."

The interrogation continued for some time, and after confirming that nothing more could be extracted from the guy, Mima activated the pre-made seal buried in his body again, shutting him down on the spot.

The three returned to the laboratory, wrote down the detailed Ghost Dao formulas they had obtained from Schubert, and began to analyze their mechanisms of action.

"It's weird."

Mizhen shook the manuscript in her hand, frowned, and said, "This thing... how should I put it? It seems to have a rather unclear meaning."

"Its only function is to construct a 'conduit' for the transmission of spiritual energy," said Kyoka Suigetsu, who had reverted to her female form. "It's a conduit that can be maintained for several years after being released, and it's very difficult for outsiders to detect. The construction of the technique is very special, and it seems that it can be used by Shinigami, Hollows, and Quincy... but it has no other function."

“It looks like… this should be some kind of combined large-scale Kido.” Aizen tried using it, then quickly destroyed all the “pipes” he had created, before saying with a thoughtful expression, “This part should play a role similar to ‘road construction,’ which is why it was released in advance, like laying the foundation.”

"It seems that the enemy we are about to face is planning to create a big surprise."

Mi Zhen summarized, "Once the road is built, it should be open to vehicles and pedestrians. Who knows what might be running along this channel then?"

“This Ghost Path is not difficult to use. A captain-level character can create enough to cover a town in a day.”

Aizen said, "According to Schubert's testimony, it wasn't just the two of them who came to the Three Realms. There were several other groups of shinigami who escaped from Hell before. Assuming they all succeeded, there are still nine shinigami who have already hidden themselves. If they all have similar missions, then when the army of shinigami arrives, we can directly do something to the spells that these advance troops have laid out."

"The enemy's preparations are also quite thorough..."

Mi Zhen sighed: "Perhaps we haven't paid enough attention to this before. We need to increase our efforts to prevent it."

"indeed so."

Jinghua Shuiyue interjected, then said to Mizhen, "The matter of sending the message cannot be delayed for too long; it needs to be carried out as soon as possible."

“I will.” Mima nodded. “We’ll probably act in two or three days. If a mysterious person claiming to know the situation appears right after the attack, even if I’m a messenger, it would be too suspicious. We need to give Seireitei some time to prepare.”

"Speaking of which, I have a favor to ask."

Aizen gathered the scattered manuscript papers on the table and said, "Miss Saki seems to have a lot of experience in finding the Hellish Sinners. Could you please set out to find the nine who have already gone into hiding?"

"The incident involving Schubert and Anhedo Tensei is just a coincidence and cannot be replicated."

Mi Zhen shook her head: "Besides, I have other more important things to deal with."

“Is that so? Then I’ll take care of this.” Aizen tapped his palm with a rolled-up piece of manuscript paper. “I will try to analyze this Kido further. If I can find traces of its release, I might be able to find other Hell Sins. Even if that doesn’t work, I can try other methods.”