The Supreme Soul, Starting with Death

The old man had once helped a young man who had wandered over from the numbered neighborhood. Later, that young man successfully entered the Shinigami Academy and joined the 8th Division after graduation. Although he was just an ordinary member, he was a true Shinigami. It was thanks to the support of that Shinigami that he was able to sell bamboo ware and other items here.

Because of this experience, although the old man himself does not need to eat, he always keeps some food at home that can be stored for a long time, and it came in handy today.

"Come on, young man, here's all for you, eat up."

The old man Ishikawa's bamboo shop wasn't far away. When they arrived, he immediately took out all the food and generously placed it in front of Hayato.

Although Hollows eat people, they don't only eat people. Strictly speaking, they eat anything with spiritual energy. It's just that under natural conditions, human souls have the richest spiritual energy content, while the food in Soul Society is entirely composed of spiritual energy, so Hollows can certainly eat it.

Hayato didn't stand on ceremony with the old man, grabbing pancakes and senbei from the table and stuffing them into his mouth. The more he ate, the happier the old man smiled.

"Young man, you probably don't know this, but in our Soul Society, most people don't eat. They can survive just by drinking water. So there's very little food available in Rukongai. Basically, only restaurants and hotels that cater to Shinigami keep food on hand."

While Hayato was eating, the old man began to explain to him the basics of Soul Society in a serious tone.

Although he had heard Gu Shi mention these things before, Hayato still showed a reaction as if he were hearing them for the first time. He was stunned for a moment, as if he had finally realized the value of what he had in his hands. He hesitated, wondering whether he should put the things down directly, and a guilty expression appeared on his face.

Seeing his reaction, the old man chuckled. Of course, he was willing to befriend the future Grim Reaper, but only if the other party was not someone who only knew how to take and had no gratitude whatsoever. Hayato's feeling embarrassed showed that he was a normal person who knew how to be grateful. So, the old man patted him on the shoulder forcefully.

"Don't worry, these are for you to eat. I, Old Man Ishikawa, have been taken care of by the Grim Reaper over the years. Now that I've seen him, I can't let the future Grim Reaper go hungry!"

Just like judging a book by its cover, being a know-it-all is a common flaw. Hayato's bewildered expression when he heard about the "future Grim Reaper" pleased the old man even more, and he continued to speak with great interest.

"Being able to eat and needing to eat is proof that you are qualified to become a Shinigami. Hayato, you can become a Shinigami, and you most likely must become one. After all, only the Seireitei has enough food to ensure you have a full meal every day. Without becoming a Shinigami, you are not qualified to enter there."

Hayato blinked and quickly feigned excitement as he pressed for an answer.

"I want to eat my fill! Old Man Ishikawa, how do I become a Grim Reaper? Should I become an apprentice of the Grim Reaper?"

Hayato's question, though seemingly a ridiculous and foolish one, was perfectly timed for an "ordinary person" who should be unaware of the common knowledge of Soul Society and the existence of the Shinigami Academy.

After all, in the present world, such advanced things as schools that admit ordinary people have not yet appeared. Only the children of wealthy families and nobles are qualified to enter academies. It is normal for ordinary people to want to learn skills and think about finding a master to teach them.

It must be said that Yamamoto Genryusai's bold establishment of a school that recruited students from the entire Soul Society a thousand years ago, when there were no private schools in Japan, giving every talented Ryukun the opportunity to become a Shinigami, was truly a remarkable achievement.

Even disregarding his immense strength, this achievement alone is enough to warrant endless praise. It's no wonder that the Captain-Commander enjoys such high prestige among all the Shinigami. Even those captains with strong personalities would obediently follow his orders with just a glare.

It can be said that the Captain-Commander has done a great favor for every Shinigami who is not of noble birth, and even the captains are no exception.

As expected, upon hearing Hayato's "foolish" question, the old man Ishikawa revealed a proud "city dweller" expression, forcefully waving his thin hand with a rather bold and unrestrained air.

"We don't do that in Soul Society. How long would it take to train a new Shinigami just by having a master teach you one-on-one? To become a Shinigami, all you need to do is enroll at the Shinigami Academy. Not only will they not charge you tuition, but they'll also provide you with free food!"

Chapter 132 Class and Sense of Superiority

Seeing Hayato stunned by his introduction, looking completely dumbfounded, the old man puffed out his chest with a sense of superiority and then patted Hayato's shoulder heavily.

"Young man, you're lucky to have been assigned to our West 23rd District."

After saying just one sentence, the old man Ishikawa stopped, picked up his water glass as if he wanted to drink some water to moisten his throat. Hayato was slightly taken aback, and quickly and tactfully gave him a message.

"Old Man Ishikawa, what do you mean by that? Is there some kind of significance to it?"

While it's certainly satisfying to boast, having someone to back you up is obviously even more enjoyable. Old Man Ishikawa wiped his mouth with satisfaction, resumed his act, and continued speaking.

"Don't rush, you'll understand once I explain. Ahem, as a school that trains Shinigami, the Shinigami Academy is officially open to new students at any time of the year. As long as you can prove that you can indeed become a Shinigami, you can enroll immediately."

"After all, people with the talent of death need to eat every day. If recruitment is only conducted at a fixed time each year, some talented people might starve to death. The Captain-Commander made the rule of recruiting all year round for the sake of these people. However, there is always a 'but'!"

At this point, the old man Ishikawa seemed to shake his head with a sigh, but a proud smile still appeared on his lips. Realizing that this was not a good thing, he quickly cleared his throat and continued speaking as if nothing had happened.

"There is a prerequisite for recruiting new students throughout the year: you have to report to the main gate of the True Central Spiritual Arts Academy yourself. The address of the True Central Spiritual Arts Academy is next to the White Path Gate in the first district of our West Rukongai."

"The entire Rukongai is bigger than you can imagine. It has eighty districts in each of the four directions, and each district is equivalent to a complete city. Just in our West Twenty-Three District, it would take me most of a day to walk from the west end to the east end."

"Although travel between different areas is not prohibited, think about it, how far would it take for those people assigned to the later numbered areas to walk to West Zone 1 on their own? And how much food and water would they need to prepare for such a long journey? Not to mention, the later numbered areas have poor security, and they are bound to encounter bad people on the way!"

When he got excited, the old man Ishikawa slapped his thigh hard, as if only in this way could he express his high spirits. His thin old face flushed with a healthy red because of his pride.

"Therefore, those who are assigned to areas with later numbers actually have no ability to walk to the gate of the Shin-O Spiritual Arts Academy to register! They can only arrive at the Shin-O Spiritual Arts Academy alive by following the teachers when they go to recruit students in various areas at a specific time each year."

"The only ones who can actually sign up anytime throughout the year are those of us with the earlier numbers. This is a privilege granted to us by the Captain-General! To be more precise, it's a privilege given to those of us with the earlier numbers in West Rukongai!"

"People from the East, South, and North districts, even those from District 1, have a lot of trouble getting to District 1 in the West! Hayato, you must be wondering why. The answer is simple: it's because Rukongai was built around the Seireitei."

“The Seireitei doesn’t allow ordinary people to enter. People from the other Ward 1 areas who want to go to Ward 1 West have to go around at least half of the Seireitei’s route, which is much farther than going from Ward 20 West to Ward 1 West.”

As Hayato listened to the old man Ishikawa's story, he made an expression of pride and, without missing a word, repeated everything he heard to Lilynette on the other end of the soul link.

Gu Shi didn't actually intend to completely monitor Hayato, the undercover agent. After all, he was just a pebble thrown out to scout ahead, and there was no need to spend too much energy on him. Gu Shi only needed to know whether he was alive, whether the Grim Reaper had seen through his disguise, and if so, where the disguise was.

Therefore, after confirming that Hayato had successfully entered Soul Society, Gu Shi hadn't paid much attention to this matter.

Unfortunately, Hueco Mundo was incredibly boring. Lilynette was extremely curious about everything in Soul Society and insisted that Hayato tell her everything he saw, making it feel like watching a live text broadcast.

Lilynee could watch the live stream by herself, but she found everything Hayato said novel and exciting. After listening to just a few sentences, she couldn't wait to loudly repeat them to others and share her joy.

Gu Shi naturally heard these things as well, and gradually, although he wasn't as excited as Lilynette, he also became somewhat interested.

Gu Shi really didn't expect that in the Soul Society, in addition to the two classes of nobles and commoners, commoners also had their own class divisions.

Those with higher numbers and closer to the Grim Reaper's important facilities actually believed from the bottom of their hearts that they were superior to those in other areas, even though their areas were just randomly assigned during the Soul Burial. How could this be a source of pride?

However, upon closer examination, soul burial is essentially a form of reincarnation. It's not entirely incomprehensible that someone who is born into a good family, in a big city (with a higher birth number), might feel superior to those in war-torn regions (with a lower birth number) who live hand to mouth.

If this situation is widespread, then perhaps in schools, students will subconsciously form cliques based on their region of origin, in addition to their grades and talents?

What happens after graduation? Can the students immediately shift their mindset from distinguishing each other by their place of origin to seamlessly distinguishing each other by their unit?

If that's not possible, then we can form a "hometown association," defining several adjacent areas as "hometowns," and invite as many classmates and new students as possible. After graduation, when everyone is assigned to different squads, we might be able to use the guise of organizing hometown gatherings to thoroughly gather information about other squads.

After all, the Shinigami, including the captains, all live in their respective squads' barracks; the only difference is the level of luxury in their dormitories.

When a group of Shinigami live, eat, and carry out missions together, they quickly come to recognize each other as "comrades," and Shinigami from other divisions naturally become outsiders.

This can also be seen from the plot of the original work.

The members of the Eleventh Division generally look down on the "weak" members of the Fourth Division;

The Twelfth Division thinks everyone else is an idiot, and when carrying out a capture mission, they can knock out the members of the Eleventh Division without hesitation in order to deceive Ishida Uryu and Inoue Orihime.

The Second Division's missions are mostly related to assassination, covert operations, and surveillance. It is a standard "internal" organization. When ordinary members are on missions outside, they usually wear full-body night clothes and don't even show their faces, let alone communicate normally with others.

It can be said that the organizational structure of the "Death Squad" inherently possesses a high degree of secrecy. Once a person graduates and joins a squad, their future social circle and intelligence gathering range are basically determined. Trying to inquire about other squads' information will most likely immediately arouse suspicion.

Only someone like Iba Tetsuzaemon, who has experience switching squads midway through his career, could maintain relatively close relationships with both his current and former squad members.

Of course, Shinigami who can reach the level of vice-captain or captain are already considered to be in a privileged class. They are naturally not subject to this set of rules. When various squads cooperate or when missions overlap and cooperation is required, they will naturally receive information from the corresponding squads and do not need to inquire about it specifically.

In short, if the "Hometown Association" can be successfully established and develop into an organization that transcends the limitations of different squads, similar to the "Women's Shinigami Association," it will greatly reduce the difficulty of obtaining information.

Chapter 133 The House Cat and the Enthusiastic Classmate

Yes, I have already set off for the True Central Spiritual Arts Academy. After I enroll, I will organize and establish a hometown association as soon as possible. Please tell Lord Gu Shi that I will definitely complete the mission.

After respectfully responding to Lilynette's arrangements via the soul link, Hayato pursed his lips, tossed the package in his hand, and strode eastward.

"Just from hearing a few words, he can come up with such a bunch of stupid ideas. Gu Shi is indeed full of bad intentions. It seems that whether I can return to Hueco Mundo in the end will mostly depend on his decision. Damn it, if you push me too far, I might as well defect when I go to the human world to carry out a mission. The human world is so big, I can just find a mountain to hide in, I don't believe they can find me."

While muttering complaints under his breath, Hayato had no real intention of running away. After all, Lilynette's soul link was still connected to his brain, and such things usually had a location tracking function. Unless he could sever the soul link, running away would be pure suicide.

Feeling increasingly agitated, Hayato rudely spat out some phlegm and simply took out a roasted potato from his bag and started eating it.

According to the old man, he didn't need to bring too much food; too much stuff would just waste his energy. Two or three days' worth of food would be enough. Once he reached the area numbered 15 or below, the security situation there would improve significantly.

When the time comes, all he needs to do is find the patrolling people, tell them that he wants to go to the True Central Academy to register, and prove that he has spiritual power, and he will definitely be able to get assistance with food and lodging.

"Old geezer, he clearly doesn't want to give me any more food, so he's just trying to fool me with this nonsense. If I get hungry after I get to area 15, I'll come back and eat him to fill my stomach."

Hayato muttered another angry complaint under his breath, but he was getting more and more agitated. Although he was only a Hollow-level Arrancar, he was still a real Arrancar. When he ran at full speed, even the newly graduated Shinigami couldn't catch up with him.

However, Gu Shi, for the sake of being on the safe side, required him to maintain his athletic ability within the limits of ordinary people before enrolling, which forced him to move towards his destination at a very slow pace.

The feeling of being forced to inch forward, even though he could take a step a meter, was no different from being tied up. How could he not feel frustrated?

What's most infuriating is that if Gu Shi was just making random demands, he would definitely ignore Gu Shi's words. After all, he's already in the Soul Society. As long as he agrees verbally, who can know whether he actually does it? But Gu Shi's demands are quite reasonable. No matter how unhappy he is, he has no choice but to comply in order to save his life.

With a helpless sigh, Hayato stopped his wandering thoughts and began to focus on traveling at a normal pace, soon arriving at the border between the 23rd and 22nd wards.

Even in the relatively bustling first 25 districts, the border areas between these "cities" are still desolate, with nothing interesting on the streets and little sign of human activity.

Therefore, Lilynee, on the other end of the soul link, gradually got bored and stopped Hayato from reporting everything he saw. She told him to contact her again after arriving at the Central Academy of Sciences and then went to find Tenpung to listen to his stories.

Gu Shi has a bad habit: he doesn't want to tell a story he's already told. Even when Lilynette argues that she was still part of the Stark family when Gu Shi told those stories and had never heard them before, Gu Shi remains stubborn and unreasonable and refuses to repeat them.

Lilyne had no choice but to listen to Tianpeng, who had heard those stories before. Although Tianpeng's stories always lacked a certain charm, they were still better than Erlang, who always added his own personal touches to the stories, regardless of whether they were coherent or appropriate.

Once Lilynette calmed down, everyone's lives quickly returned to normal. Gu Shi continued to practice controlling his spiritual power, Erlang dragged the big rabbit to practice martial arts, and Tianpeng continued to research refining pills with bone sand while telling stories to Lilynette.

A few hours later, Ashido and Bai, who had gone to the mortal world to help collect the Chains of Cause and Effect, returned. Ashido paused briefly, chatted casually with Gu Shi for a few minutes, and then began patrolling the surrounding area again, hunting down every Void they encountered. Bai also consciously began running around Gu Shi and the others.

Everyone had their own things to do, but Stark lazily found a large enough rock, carved out a bench by hand, lay down on it, closed his eyes to rest, and sometimes lay there for a whole day without moving an inch.

Even when Lilynette danced on his stomach, or when Gu Shi tried to compress Cero while researching psionic control and accidentally lost control, causing Cero to explode, Stark didn't even lift an eyelid.

During this time, Gu Shi created another small fake identity, using the domestic cat Xiao Xu, which was captured in the same batch as Hayato.

Although the house cat Hollow's appearance should be that of a house cat no matter how you look at it, unfortunately, as a Hollow, she is also a standard small Hollow, a little over three meters long, almost four meters long. This size really doesn't make her look cute.

It's worth mentioning that people find cats cute largely because their round heads, which resemble the overall shape of a baby, and their relatively flat facial features, which are also quite similar to those of humans, combine to fully evoke people's instinctive fondness for "little ones."

This should be a major advantage for domestic cats in front of humans, but unfortunately, in the case of Xu, the domestic cat, it's completely the opposite.

Domestic cats' faces are naturally flatter, resembling those of children. When they are fluffy, they are noticeably different from human faces, so they only look cute, not scary.

However, when a skeleton mask with an overall human-like outline and no hair to cushion the visual impact is placed on a round, human-like head, the head looks too human-like. When viewed together with the four-legged body behind the head, the sense of strangeness is greatly amplified.

Gu Shi didn't know how others felt, but he himself felt disgusted looking at the house cat, Xiao Xu, and the uncanny valley effect was about to kick in.

To avoid further tormenting his eyes, Gu Shi decided to first turn his house cat into a Hollow Arrancar, even though he hadn't yet developed a comprehensive research plan for it.

After being shattered, the house cat, Hyo, looks much better.

Overall, she appears to be a slender woman with long legs and arms, vertical pupils, grayish-white hair, and a fragment of a mask resembling cat ears on her head. Although it gives off a strange vibe of a mature, sophisticated woman wearing cat ears to act cute, at least Gu Shi no longer feels like he could smash her head in anger when he sees her.

Just as Gu Shihe was about to have a good chat with this house cat, Broken Face, Lilynette suddenly became excited again.

"Hayato's arrived at the Shinigami Academy! Ah! A passionate new student is already showing him around the school. Hmm? Why is this passionate new student's name so hard to pronounce?"

"Ai... Aizen, Aizen Sousuke? That should be the name, right?"

Chapter 134 Interesting