Ashido

Grimmjow arrogantly shouted, "Come on Ye Yang Shihoin, let's fight again! This time I will definitely defeat you! I'll show you the results of my years of hard work to become stronger!" He then instantly appeared behind Ye Yang and attacked, saying, "You're dead this time!" His words were filled with undisguised confidence.

"Watch out!" warned the Grim Reaper who had been placed on the ground by Ye Yang.

Ye Yang did not choose to fight him, but instead dodged a step away and then used Shunpo to create distance, saying, "I don't want to fight. My goal is just to rescue him." Ye Yang pointed to the Grim Reaper beside him.

"Don't want to fight me? Hahaha... You're afraid of losing, aren't you? If you don't fight, then I'll kill him!" Grimmjow said, pointing at the Grim Reaper.

Ye Yang shook his head. "Because you're not worth my time right now."

"What? You dare to underestimate me? You'll regret this!" He immediately attacked, trying to force Ye Yang to make a move.

Seeing Grimmjow's resolute attitude, Ye Yang had no choice but to draw his sword and fight back. However, he didn't want to waste time and simply used a Spatial Jump to disappear from Grimmjow's sight. He had seen the Shinigami's Shunpo before. Although it was fast, it was never so fast that it could make him completely invisible. However, he didn't know the principle behind Ye Yang's Spatial Jump, so he mistakenly thought it was Shunpo. At such a speed, he couldn't even see a shadow of Ye Yang, and he didn't even know where Ye Yang went.

"What terrifying speed!" That was Grimmjow's first thought. His pride and joy in speed were nothing compared to him. But Grimmjow was not discouraged. Speed was not everything. He was sure he still had a chance to defeat him!

But the next moment, his heart, which had just begun to soar, plummeted to the bottom. He was shocked to find a sharp Zanpakuto held against his neck, and Ye Yang was smiling above him.

Now Grimmjow understood. His statement that it wasn't worth the effort wasn't meant to be disrespectful; it was the truth! One round! Just one round, and his blade was already at his throat. Even if Grimmjow could break through Vasto Lorde's defenses, he might not be able to defeat him. Had he really become that strong?

Grimmjow closed his eyes in despair, thinking of his men who had followed him, and couldn't help but sigh: I can no longer lead you to the top. Goodbye.

However, the death he had anticipated did not occur. He slowly opened his eyes and saw that Ye Yang had left sometime earlier, and in the distance, he was supporting another Grim Reaper, completely ignoring him.

He was furious. "Ye Yang Shihoin! What do you mean? Are you looking down on me?"

Ye Yang shook his head. "I have no deep-seated hatred for you, why would I kill you? I just want to rescue him."

"You..."

Ye Yang helped the Grim Reaper to his feet and left, leaving behind a sentence that drifted into Grimmjow's ear, "If you want to defeat me, first strive to become Vasto Lorde!"

Grimmjow gazed blankly at the boundless sea of trees, looking in the direction Ye Yang had left, muttering to himself, "Vasto Lorde? I will reach it, I will!"

"Why not kill him?" the Grim Reaper asked.

Although Ye Yang simply didn't want to kill him, it seemed that the Grim Reaper in front of him had an extremely firm belief in death. In his belief, Hollows must be killed. Ye Yang didn't want to destroy his beliefs, so he sighed and said, "At the moment, I don't have the ability to kill him."

He was clearly surprised. "Why? Didn't you completely overpower him? He shouldn't be a match for you at all!"

"Do you think it's possible?" Ye Yang retorted. "He's one of the top Adjuchas. It seems like I suppressed him with absolute power, but that one strike wasn't enough to kill him. And that move was my limit. You know, powerful moves always hurt yourself. Given my situation at the time, if I hadn't killed him, you would have been dead for sure. I didn't want to take the risk."

Ye Yang meant that he was taking him away mainly for his safety, but he still said, "Don't worry about me for now, eliminating the Void is the top priority."

"I'm sorry I can't understand your point of view, but I think saving a person is far more important than killing a Hollow. A Hollow can be killed later, but a person cannot be saved later," Ye Yang said slowly.

He fell silent, which could be considered an admission of Ye Yang's statement.

"How did you end up here? Which team were you originally on? Are there any other team members here?" Ye Yang asked three questions in one breath, waiting for his answers.

His expression turned pale, and his voice was filled with unspeakable sorrow. "You can just call me Ashido. As for where I am here, it was entirely by accident. My companions and I all came here. We were originally members of the Expeditionary Force First Legion."

"So there are other team members here?" Ye Yang asked.

Ashido shook his head. "No, now I'm all alone. All my other companions were killed by the Menos Grande, without even a word." As he said this, a tear appeared in Ashido's eye, and when he mentioned the Menos Grande, the ferocity in his eyes was undisguised. It seemed that there was a reason why he hated the Menos Grande so much.

Ye Yang couldn't help but ask, "How many years have you been here?"

Ashido held up four fingers, Ye Yang guessed, "Forty years? That's a long time."

But Ashido shook his head. "Four hundred years! I've been stuck in this dark and sunless Forest of Menos for four hundred years. I don't know how I survived these four hundred years; Isshin knew was to kill Void beings."

"What!" Ye Yang was shocked. Four hundred years! What kind of perseverance could have allowed him to persist for four hundred years? Ye Yang could not imagine the hardships he had endured, nor could he imagine what he had experienced during those four hundred years.

He's been in this place for four hundred years, and if you add the time he spent in Soul Society, Ashido is probably five hundred years old! In Soul Society, the only person of his generation who is his age is Shunsui Ukitake. No wonder his strength is enough to rival the top Adjuchas. Even if his talent isn't high, five hundred years of accumulation is no joke.

When Ye Yang snapped out of his shock, Ashido was looking at him. "Sorry, I lost my composure. This is truly astonishing."

"It's alright, anyone would be surprised to hear this. How did you get in?" Ashido was equally interested in how Ye Yang had entered the Forest of Menos.

"Oh, it's like this," Ye Yang said, of course, he couldn't say that a Vasto Lorde had brought him here. He explained, "Our Expeditionary Force was besieged by the Menos Grande. During the retreat, in order to distract them, I ran in the opposite direction by myself, and who knew I would fall into this place for no reason."

I haven't yet had the pleasure of asking your name.

Ye Yang smiled and said, "Ye Yang Shihoin, you can call me Ye Yang."

Ashido asked, "Shihoin? Are you from the Shihoin Clan?"

"Yes"

"Shihoin Tōno well?"

Ye Yang said with a forlorn expression, "Grandpa has passed away."

"Feel sorry"

"It's alright, let's not talk about that. You've been in the Forest of Menos for so many years, haven't you found an exit yet?" Ye Yang asked. This shouldn't be the case; four hundred years is a long time, what couldn't you find?

Ashido shook his head. "No, it's easy to get into the Forest of Menos but difficult to get out. Apart from a few Menos Grande, no one knows where the exit is."

Ye Yang understood. Indeed, that place was too hidden. If Ulquiorra hadn't told him before leaving, he probably would have wasted time trying to get out.

"If one day we find the exit, will you go out, or will you stay here?" Ye Yang suddenly asked.

Ashido remained silent for a long time, as if this was a difficult question to answer. Finally, he raised his head and said, "I don't know. When I first came in, I was thinking about how to get out every day. Now I've gotten used to it. For every Hollow I kill here, there will be one less Hollow appearing in the World of the Living or Soul Society. In any case, this is the root of everything, and what I want to do is to uproot this root!"

This made Ye Yang feel admiration for him. Nowadays, there aren't many Shinigami who fight purely for their faith in the Grim Reaper. "But Ashido, you must know that there are countless Hollows in the Forest of Menos. No matter what, you can't kill them all."

"I know, I only ask to have a clear conscience, I am still fighting for Soul Society here!" Ashido said with a firm tone.

Seeing Ashido Yang couldn't bear to say anything that would hurt him. What Ashido didn't know was that the Soul Society he believed in was already decaying everywhere, the Central 46 were persecuting loyal people, and so on... Ye Yang couldn't say any of this.

Ye Yang simply asked, "So what are your plans for the future?"

"I have no plans. I will continue to fulfill my mission as the Grim Reaper. I will fight alongside my teammates here." A resolute look appeared in Ashido's eyes; nothing could change his mind!

Ye Yang smiled and invited, "Why don't you come to my place? That way we can look after each other. I'll be going into seclusion soon, and you'll have a quiet environment there. Plus, you can protect me. What do you say?"

Ye Yang had his own reasons for bringing this up. After all, no matter how strong his barrier was, it would eventually break down. It would be best if someone could protect him. Secondly, Ye Yang saw that Ashido was also homeless, so this would be good for both of them.

Ashido would certainly not object to such a thing. Firstly, it would provide a fixed place to live, and with his and Ye Yang's strength, they would be able to prevent the Menos Grande from infiltrating.

Furthermore, the two could exchange experiences from time to time, which helped improve their strength. Another point was that he had someone to talk to. After his companions were sacrificed, there was no one to talk to him anymore, and over time he developed a taciturn personality.

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