First Clash

This incident caused a huge uproar within the Seireien. The Soul Society was too peaceful at the moment, and their comfortable lives had made them lose their sense of danger. The sudden occurrence of such a major event made many people feel insecure.

The Central 46 also took this matter very seriously. Of the nearly one hundred people who went, less than forty returned, resulting in the loss of most of their men. These were the future fighting force of Soul Society, so Yamamoto was furious and immediately convened a meeting of the captains.

Besides the captains of each squad, Ye Yang and Shūhei were also present. Regardless of their identities, Ye Yang was the first to arrive at the scene and it was essential for him to understand the situation. Shūhei, on the other hand, had experienced the entire incident and knew everything that had happened. He had a few questions that needed to be answered.

The captains arrived one after another. Finally, Yamamoto, as the Captain-Commander, stood between the two rows of captains. Ye Yang naturally stood next to Soi Fon, while Shūhei stood behind Ye Yang. In fact, all the captains present already regarded Ye Yang as Captain-level figure, after all, his strength was there. If there were no vacancy for captain, he would have been the captain long ago.

Yamamoto slammed his cane on the ground. "The Captains' Meeting is now officially beginning. I'm sure you've all heard about the incident. The third-generation trainees' combat exercise was attacked by a giant Hollow, and our Seireien was completely unaware of it, failing to provide timely support. This resulted in heavy losses for the third-generation trainees participating in the exercise, as well as the sixth-generation trainees responsible for their supervision! This is the most devastating incident in Soul Society in the last fifty years. Does anyone have anything to say?"

Captain Kaname Tōsen of the Ninth Division stepped forward first and said, "Captain-Commander, with the massive Hollows launching a rampage against the mortal World of the Living, I believe we should assemble an Expeditionary Force to enter Hueco Mundo and slay them with our swords of justice!"

Captain of the Seventh Division Sajin Komamura said, "I second that. This incident is a provocation against Soul Society; we cannot let them get away with this!"

However, Retsu Unohana stepped forward and said, "The injured students are still recuperating in my Fourth Division. I believe it is not advisable to launch a distant expedition now. We must first secure our internal stability before dealing with external threats. Our primary task now is to appease these students."

Ukitake also stepped forward. "That's right, now is indeed not the right time for an expedition. I agree with Captain Unohana's opinion."

Aizen echoed this sentiment, saying, "I agree with that view; an expedition now would be pointless."

Gin said, "Let's not think about these things now. Doesn't Captain Kurotsuchi have anything to say? After all, the Twelfth Division has been responsible for surveillance, yet they were completely unaware of the incident until a distress call came from the World of the Living. Captain Kurotsuchi should bear the main responsibility, shouldn't he?"

Nie was already furious because the surveillance system he created had malfunctioned, and now that Yin was saying this, Nie was naturally enraged. "What did you say! You mean there's a problem with my research? There wasn't a single Spiritual Pressure fluctuation before they called for help, I can guarantee that!"

"Could it be that those giant Hollows just appeared out of thin air?" Silver still had that smiling face, as if he was deliberately targeting Nie.

"How should I know!"

"Enough!" Yamamoto interrupted their argument. "Now is not the time to assign blame; let's think about how to handle this!"

At this moment, Ye Yang suddenly stood up and said, "Captain-Commander, I don't think this incident is as simple as it seems on the surface. Shūhei, tell me about the situation at the time."

"Yes," Shūhei forward and said, "There was nothing unusual before the exercise ended. Just as the exercise ended, a giant Hollow suddenly appeared behind me and took the life of one of my comrades." As he said this, a trace of sadness flashed in Shūhei's eyes. After all, they were classmates for six years, and he died just like that, without even leaving a last word.

He continued, "But what's strange is that I hadn't sensed a single trace of Spiritual Pressure before this. Normally, the Spiritual Pressure of a giant Hollow should be quite noticeable, but that time I didn't feel anything at all, as if it had been hiding all along."

"They've been hiding all along?" Ukitake said, "Impossible. You mean they're hiding their Spiritual Pressure? But those Hollows don't have self-awareness, so hiding their Spiritual Pressure is absolutely impossible. Unless they reach the Adjuchas- level Menos Grande realm, where they have a sliver of their own Spiritual Pressure, they can't hide it. Those giant Hollows aren't even Menos Grande, how could they possibly hide their Spiritual Pressure?"

Ye Yang interjected, "That's why I said there's more to this than meets the eye, but there's no other explanation, right? That's also why the Twelfth Division didn't detect it. This explains everything. But here's the question: how did they, who haven't even reached the Menos Grande, manage to hide their Spiritual Pressure?"

Everyone present fell silent. Menos Grande below the Adjuchas level have no self-awareness; they act solely on instinct, and the idea that they can conceal their Spiritual Pressure is utterly absurd.

After a moment of silence, Nemuru spoke up, "A giant Hollow could never hide its Spiritual Pressure on its own, unless it was done passively!"

No one questioned Nemure's conclusion, because no one was more professional in these areas than him. Soi Fon couldn't help but ask, "Captain Kurotsuchi, do you mean they're being hidden? In other words, someone is manipulating all of this?"

The moment this statement was uttered, the atmosphere grew much colder. The implications of this statement were far from simple; could it be that a traitor had emerged within Soul Society? But was there any basis for this claim? After all, the previous statements were merely speculation, devoid of any evidence.

Ye Yang glanced at Aizen and Gin intentionally or unintentionally, but he couldn't detect anything unusual on their faces, as if they had nothing to do with each other.

Yamamoto spoke up, "Enough with the speculation. The most important thing now is to make arrangements for the surviving children. Lieutenant Shihoin, I heard that the class you teach was also involved in this incident? How is the situation?"

"Thank you for your concern, Captain-Commander. All my students survived and are now recuperating in the Fourth Division. However, I am willing to accept punishment for going to the World of the Living to rescue people without your permission this time," Ye Yang said.

Yamamoto: "It's alright. I understand that the situation was urgent and that the Lieutenant Shihoin was concerned about his students. If it weren't for your rescue, my Seireien would probably have lost even more talented people. On the other hand, it's fortunate that Lieutenant Ye Yang's students were unharmed, which is enough to show that you are a good teacher."

"Not at all, it's all thanks to the students' excellent performance, which is inseparable from their usual hard work in cultivation." Ye Yang remained humble despite being praised by the old man.

"And what about the students in Class Two? What are their losses?" Yamamoto continued to ask.

Unohana came out and said, "Captain-Commander, out of more than fifty students from Class Two, only eleven returned. Fortunately, their injuries are not serious, and they can continue their studies at the Shin'ō after they recover."

"That's good. But they only have eleven people left, which isn't enough to form a class. Lieutenant Ye Yang, how about this: your class doesn't have many people either, so how about we add them to your class?" Yamamoto suggested.

Ye Yang lowered his head and thought for a while before nodding in agreement, "Alright, but if they can't keep up with my training, they will still be eliminated." There was a reason for doing so, after all, it was not easy to save one's own life in that situation, and the fact that they survived meant that they still had a certain level of strength and luck.

Since that's the case, it's not a bad idea to include them in the class. As long as they can keep up with Ye Yang's training in the future, a wicked smile crept across his lips. It's foreseeable that there will be a lot of fun in the class in the future.

Yamamoto slammed his hand on the ground, making a "thud!" sound. "Alright, students, that's settled then. As for the Twelfth Division, they bear undeniable responsibility for this matter. Therefore, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, as the captain of the Twelfth Division, will be stripped of his salary for three years and is forbidden from leaving the palace for the rest of his term. The other divisions will also increase their patrols to prevent the invasion of Menos Grande. As for other matters, I will report them to the Central 46 for further discussion. Meeting adjourned!"

The captains then began to disperse. When Ye Yang walked up to Aizen, he said softly, "Captain Aizen, you're truly flawless. Even I couldn't find anything."

Aizen simply smiled and said, "Forgive me for not understanding. Goodbye, Lieutenant Ye Yang."

This can be considered the first real confrontation between Ye Yang and Aizen. Ye Yang shattered Aizen's wishful thinking. He originally wanted to gain Renji allegiance of Renji and the other three, but only Hinamori's heart was sown with the seed.

However, Aizen's actions were so flawless that Ye Yang found no evidence to prove that anyone was manipulating the matter. The points raised at the meeting were merely hypothetical, but this hypothesis did raise many people's vigilance. At least, they would have to be more careful about Aizen's next move.

Therefore, Aizen could be said to have an Aizen advantage this time, after all, Hinamori, that simple-minded girl, had already fallen for him, and her naivety was easily exploited.

This incident was mainly because Ye Yang was unaware of the situation and was attacked first by Aizen. However, it's hard to say what will happen next time; at least Aizen wouldn't dare to be so audacious.

As Ye Yang walked out of the First Division's gate, he said to Shūhei, "Shūhei Hisagi, you should go back to the Fourth Division to rest and check on Renji."

Shūhei bowed and said, "Yes!" Then he got up and left.

Soi Fon comforted him, "Brother Ye Yang, you don't need to blame yourself. At least your students are all safe and sound, which is a blessing in disguise. They've survived this incident, and I'm sure they've all grown a lot from it."

Ye Yang patted Soi Fon's head. "I'm fine, you don't need to worry, let's go."

"Um!"