The Hōgyoku Appears

Night fell, and in an unknown corner, a gentle voice rang out, "Not bad, even more impressive than the rumors say. Let me ask your name one more time."

The boy, his knife still dripping with blood and his face splattered with it, answered with a forced smile, "Gin! Gin Ichimaru!"

"So, how is the skill of our team's Third Seat?" A gentle voice came again. If anyone else were here, they would definitely recognize him as Sōsuke Aizen -captain of the Fifth Division!

Yin shook his head. "Absolutely not, it's outrageous. Compared to the teacher, they're nowhere near that level. Is the vice-captain really that much worse than the Third Seat?"

"I see. So, what do you think of his strength?" Aizen asked again.

Yin said thoughtfully, "Master, he's a truly terrifying person. But it's hard to say about his strength, considering he didn't even unleash his Zanpakuto yesterday."

"Is that so?" Aizen didn't ask any further questions.

Time flies, like a pendulum that never stops. Five years have passed since Urahara became the captain, and Ye Yang's class graduated with excellent grades. Because of this, the Captain-Commander decided to give Ye Yang a year-long vacation.

Over the past five years, Urahara's Research and Development Institute has been officially recognized. Some of the things they have developed are highly usable and welcomed by most of the Shinigami. Many captains have also expressed their appreciation. As a result, the Research and Development Institute is no longer just a small organization with only three people. Many people who love research have come here, making the Research and Development Institute better and better.

Gin Ichimaru secured the Third Seat in the squad as soon as he joined, a testament to his genius.

Just yesterday, Urahara informed Ye Yang and Yoruichi that they must come to the Twelfth Division tomorrow, saying that he had something very important to discuss with them. So this morning, Ye Yang and Yoruichi arrived at the gate of the Twelfth Division together.

After being informed, the two went inside. As soon as they entered, they saw Mayuri Kurotsuchi and Hiyori fighting. Ye Yang was already used to it; these two always seemed to get along, and it would be strange if they didn't argue every time.

"Yo! Hiyori, good morning! Where's Kisuke?" Yoruichi asked.

"Good morning, Yoruichi, and that bald guy Ye Yang. Urahara is probably still sleeping in," Hiyori replied dismissively.

Suddenly a voice rang out, "Hiyori, it's wrong to talk badly about people behind their backs."

Hiyori scoffed and said, "What's wrong, bald guy? Got a problem with that, you bastard!"

Yoruichi saw Urahara emerge and wave, "Kisuke, long time no see, still the same as always!"

"Kuro, Hiyori, you two go back first." He then winked at the two of them, and the three of them went into Urahara's laboratory.

Once inside, Ye Yang asked, "Kisuke, what's wrong? You called us all here, it must be something serious. I haven't seen you this nervous in a long time."

Urahara nodded silently, walked to a wall, and poked at it. A section of the wall immediately caved in, revealing a keypad. He pressed a few keys, and a closet in the room opened, revealing a passageway. "There are too many people here, let's talk inside."

Ye Yang nodded, surprised that Urahara so cautious, which meant the matter was important. Ye Yang Yoruichi followed Urahara downstairs, where they found a basement of moderate size, but with several layers of devices to isolate Spiritual Pressure.

Urahara's face was unusually serious as he slowly began to speak, "I've called you all here today to show you something of utmost importance, and you absolutely must not utter a word about it!"

"Tch, Kisuke, you think you can distrust us?" Yoruichi said.

At this moment, Urahara relaxed slightly. "If I didn't believe you, I wouldn't have called you here." As he spoke, he walked to a seemingly ordinary wall, knocked on it as if he were outside, entered a password, and a hole appeared in the wall. Urahara reached into the hole and took out a plate with something on it, but it was covered by a white cloth.

However, Ye Yang vaguely felt that the air was much more oppressive. Urahara slowly removed the white cloth, and the pressure in the room immediately increased! However, it was not the kind of pressure that comes from Spiritual Pressure.

In Urahara's hand was a multifaceted lens containing a round bead that shone with a faint blue-white light.

It took them a while to react before Yoruichi spoke up, "What is this oppressive feeling? It's not Spiritual Pressure, it's more like... existence! The very existence of this bead is oppressing my existence! Kisuke, what exactly did you create?"

Urahara: "In my research on the enhancement of Shinigami souls, I came to a conclusion: no matter how much a Shinigami is enhanced, there is a limit to it. I wondered if it was possible to break this limit. I conducted many experiments, but they all failed. After most of my ideas failed, only one method remained."

"What method?" they both asked at the same time.

Urahara lowered his head and slowly uttered two words: "Hollowfication!"

The two were utterly shocked. Hollowfication! What a daring idea! Research in this area had been explicitly prohibited centuries ago, yet Urahara had actually...

Ignoring their surprised expressions, Urahara continued, "In this experiment, I created a substance that can instantly destroy and create the boundary between Hollows and Shinigami. This is it; I call it— the Hōgyoku!"

"The Hōgyoku... Kisuke, do you understand what it means?" Ye Yang walked up to him and carefully examined the Hōgyoku in his hand.

"Of course I know, otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to come and discuss this," Urahara said with a hint of helplessness. "Actually, I didn't notice it at the time either. The appearance of this thing was an accident. I tried to destroy it many times, but I failed. I tried everything I could, from burning to freezing, but nothing worked!"

"So you called us here today because..."

Urahara nodded. "That's right, I wanted to discuss with you guys today how to eliminate it! Ye Yang, isn't your Zanpakuto a space-type? Theoretically, a space-type blade is the sharpest, right?"

"Yes, that's how it is. I'll give it a try."

Ye Yang placed the Hōgyoku on a table, Zanpakuto, and shouted, "Break free from your restraints— Silver Rend!" A flash of white light appeared, and Ye Yang slashed down at the Hōgyoku.

After a loud bang, Ye Yang frowned as he looked at the pile of debris on the ground. The ground was shattered, but the Hōgyoku lay there intact. Keep in mind, this was Ye Yang's full-force attack! Even the table made of Seki Seki Stone was cut in half, but the crystal-clear bead remained completely undamaged.

Ye Yang's expression was one of knowing intent; something even Kisuke Urahara couldn't destroy with all his might couldn't be destroyed so easily. Urahara also looked disappointed, but this wasn't unexpected. "As expected, this thing really isn't so easy to destroy; even I'm helpless."

Yoruichi's golden eyes gazed at this tiny thing, which Kisuke Urahara, and even her own prodigy younger brother couldn't handle it. What kind of substance was this?

Ye Yang said helplessly, "Kisuke, should I praise you as a genius? You even dared to venture into such a dangerous field. And this Hōgyoku, it shouldn't exist in this world."

"Don't even mention it, I'm at my wit's end too," Urahara, scratching his head in frustration, even hating himself for ever researching this stuff in the first place.

"What do you plan to do? We have to come up with a solution now," Yoruichi asked.

"How about this," Ye Yang suddenly said, "It's inconvenient here. Let's go to the underground base. I have another way."

Urahara's eyes lit up immediately as he asked, "What method?"

Let's see what happens when we get there.

The three of them rushed to the underground base. Once there, Ye Yang slowly said, "My solution is my Bankai! I'll Hōgyoku into my space and see if there's any way to release it into Spatial Rift."

"That's not a bad idea. Since we can't destroy it, let's just keep it out of the public eye," Urahara said.

Ye Yang smiled wryly, "The success rate of this method is no more than 20%. You'd better not have too high hopes, after all, the Hōgyoku you created has already exceeded people's expectations."

"I understand, go ahead and give it a try."

"Hmm, Bankai! Spatial Domain!"

With a flash of silver light, Ye Yang had already entered his own domain. The silvery-white space contained only Ye Yang. Ye Yang shouted, "Come out! Silver Rend!"

The space beside Ye Yang suddenly distorted, and the materialized form of Silver Rend emerged from the distorted space, looking at Ye Yang and saying, "Didn't I tell you, don't bother me unless it's important?"

"Don't say that yet, take a look at this first." Ye Yang said, taking out the Hōgyoku from his pocket. Silver Rend's eyes were immediately drawn to it. He carefully examined the blue bead, his expression constantly changing, as if he was thinking about something.

Finally, he asked, "Where did you get this?"

"It was Kisuke Urahara made it."

Do you know what his function is?

"Kisuke said it was used to break down the boundary between Shinigami and Hollows," Ye Yang said.

Silver Rend scoffed, "Tch, a frog in a well! This bead is far more terrifying than he imagines!"

Ye Yang was shocked. "Does it have some other function?"

However, Silver Rend simply shook his head. "Now I know it won't do you any good, but you'd better keep it with you or find a place to hide it."

Ye Yang tentatively asked, "Isn't there any way to destroy it?"

"Destroy? You're overthinking it. This isn't something you can destroy right now," Silver Rend said calmly.

"Can't we even banish it to Spatial Rift?" Ye Yang was still unwilling to give up.

Silver Rend gave a vague answer, "Who knows?"

After saying that, he disappeared without giving Ye Yang a chance to ask any questions...

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