In Soul Society, love and bond begin

He imagined that the Spirit King might be an unrivaled powerful being, or just a title passed down from generation to generation by many people, or just an artifact, etc.

However, Yamamoto had never imagined such a scenario.

"Is he dead?"

Yamamoto lowered his voice subconsciously.

He could feel that the inside of this body was actually empty.

But he still raised the question.

"Lord Spirit King, live forever." Hyoshubu Ichibei's voice was calm, as if he was just stating some very simple fact.

Yes.

Indeed alive.

Even if Hyoshubu didn't answer, Yamamoto could clearly feel the powerful spiritual pressure that continuously emanated from the crystal, like a burning fire, and people could easily feel the heat from it.

but...

"How can I live?"

"If this is considered living, then what exactly are you, a strong person like you, protecting?"

Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni roared at the military commander.

Like a lion that is extremely angry.

Blind loyalty?

Inheritance?

A vow?

Or some other incredibly stupid reason?

Why would such a strong man who has survived for a million years guard such a useless...corpse?

"Lord Spirit King and what I protect,"

"It's these fragile three realms."

Hyoshubu Ichibei seemed to sense the burning will in Yamamoto's chest, but he remained calm and said:

"For this reason, the Spirit King willingly allowed himself to be sealed here."

"...voluntary?"

Hearing this, Yamamoto suddenly calmed down and looked at the hollowed-out body in front of him.

Who would voluntarily become like this?

"Yamamoto."

The commander of the army sat down on the ground, waved at him, and asked casually:

"How do you think our three realms exist?"

"The Three Realms are a constant cycle of death and rebirth." Yamamoto didn't understand Hyoshubu's question. "Isn't this as it should be?"

"Wrong!"

The Bingzhubu slapped his thigh and sighed, "Nothing in this world is taken for granted."

Yamamoto frowned suddenly.

"Countless years ago, the world was a chaotic place where neither life nor death existed, where there was neither progress nor regression. In that era, only the cycle of spirit particles existed forever."

"Birth, existence, disappearance, and rebirth."

"Even 'Hollow' was once part of the spirit particle cycle."

Hyoshubu Ichibei recounted the past: "But, I don't know when, the Hollows began to change."

"It began to devour spirit particles, strengthening itself. Like a gaping mouth that could never be filled, it opened a gap in the spirit particle cycle of this world."

"The cycle is broken, and all the spirit particles are converging towards the void."

"In this way, it will only take a short period of time for the entire world to be swallowed up by an infinite void."

"In addition, the souls are also facing the expansion of hell, the crisis of the world falling into complete stillness, and other problems..."

"Spirit King, you were born in that era."

"He is the original entity, the most ancestral life, the source of all powers, including Annihilation, Death, and Fullbring. His mere existence can crush all obstacles. He is the closest thing to an omniscient and omnipotent God."

It was rare for Yamamoto to remain rational when hearing these ancient secrets for the first time, but he still didn't understand some details.

"If that's the case... then who could have created the Soul King into his current form?"

The commander of the army still had a calm expression:

"That brings us back to the original question."

"How do you think these three realms exist?"

This time, Yamamoto no longer dared to speak rashly.

Faced with this old antique who has lived from a million years ago to the present, the information gap between Yamamoto and the Hyoshu unit is simply incalculable.

The great monk nodded calmly and narrated:

"If I had to make an analogy..."

He stretched out his hand.

Then, a seesaw with three long poles connected together appeared on the fingertips.

At the end of each long pole, there is a water cup.

Hyoshubu supported the intersection with his fingertips and raised it in front of Yamamoto.

"It's about this."

Yamamoto's pupils shrank, as if he had grasped something, but he continued to ask, "What does this mean?"

"That is to say, each of the three realms—the living world, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo—represents one of these cups, and the water in the cup represents the total amount of Reishi in that world."

"Because the rods are of different lengths, the cups are also of different sizes. This is how these three unstable worlds can barely maintain a fixed connection."

"But if one of these worlds has too many or too few spirit particles, that end will 'tilt up.'"

Hyoshubu Ichibei said this while demonstrating in front of Yamamoto.

The water volume in the "cup" representing Soul Society suddenly dwindled to half. Then, the entire three-body structure began to collapse as its weight decreased.

The water from the other two realms also poured out of the cup.

As the weight decreased, the stability of the Three Realms became less and less, and finally it shook and fell from the fingertips of the Chief of Arms.

"Wow."

The great monk added a voice to it: "Just like that, the three realms are destroyed."

Yamamoto was completely stunned.

Just...that easy?

"and many more?"

"If destruction were so easy, then how did the Three Realms maintain stability for millions of years?"

"This is the role of the Spirit King."

As Bingzhubu spoke, three crossed poles appeared on his fingertips again.

But this time, there was an extra nail at the center point of the three long poles.

It pierced his fingers fiercely.

Therefore, no matter whether the water in the three realms increases or decreases, shakes or stabilizes, it is ultimately still fixed on his fingers.

Although it still shakes, it finally doesn't collapse so easily.

"..."

Yamamoto looked at the small nail and for a moment didn't know what to say.

The Bingzhubu continued, "If you also want to join the Spirit King Palace, what we have to do is probably to guard this nail."

"Also, this is also why you are not allowed to kill too many nobles."

"If possible, it's better not to spill too much 'water'."

"Even if the nail has penetrated deep into the flesh, its time of taking root is ultimately limited. Every time these three realms 'shake', the nail will be pulled out a little bit."

"Until the end, completely pulled out."

The big monk couldn't help but sigh, as if he thought of something regrettable.

Hearing this, Yamamoto unconsciously clenched his fists.

"Since the safety of the Three Realms is so important, why would a powerful person like you allow those nobles to brutally abuse Liuhun?"

"If you want to control it, who among them can resist you?"

"Why aren't you doing anything?!"

His roar was loud and clear, and came from the heart.

However, Bingzhubu did not refute anything, but just asked calmly:

"How do you know if we've done it?"

"Ok?"

Yamamoto was stunned when he heard this.

Bingzhubu continued, "In a million years, anyone willing to use their brains would come up with countless methods and countermeasures, but there are also countless problems that you cannot imagine."

"Governance, laissez-faire, strict discipline, lax laws, and even support for people like you to rebel..."

As if thinking of something interesting, Bingzhubu suddenly said: "Come to think of it, the last guy who said something like you was dead for almost 20,000 years..."

"Do you know what that guy did when he was still here?"

Yamamoto frowned: "What is it?"

"Because the five major families of that era were quite excessive, they even wrote the rules of sacrifice and food into the law, which also provoked a resistance on a larger scale than this time."

The Chief of the Army seemed to have recalled something interesting and chuckled, "Twenty thousand years ago, the entire five major families suffered a rather brutal 'purge', even wiping out their entire generation."

"How is this possible?" Yamamoto said subconsciously.

"Why not?" Hyojubu asked him, "Do you think you're the only hero in this world? Or do you think that Soul Society, over the past million years, has been filled with cowards and wimps who wouldn't risk their lives?"

"not to mention."

"Do you know which generation the current patriarchs of the five major families are from?"

"I..." Yamamoto subconsciously wanted to speak, but suddenly thought of something and was stunned.

The Chief of Staff continued, "Let's take someone you are familiar with."

"Your subordinate, Chihiro Shifengyuan, is the twentieth generation head of the family."

"The 21st generation will be called Xiujiu."

"The twenty-second generation will be named Shihouin Yoruichi."

"The Kuchiki family changes even faster."

"Now that kid called Kuchiki Ginling is already the 26th generation."

"Even if a generation of family heads lasts for a thousand years, it's only a few tens of thousands of years in total. Not to mention, it's not that long in total."

"—Have you never been curious?"

"Soul Society has such a long history, and their ancestors lived through the Soul King era—so why have these families only existed for a few years?"

Hyoshubu Ichibei clapped his hands and smiled, "The answer is, they were killed by those rebels who were more radical and violent than you."

"At that time, we didn't stop them because we wanted to see what the world these rebels would look like."

"We even added fuel to the fire."