Chapter Summaries

Ye Yang led the Shinigami who trusted him to rescue Shusuke Amagai’s squad, killing an Adjuchas-class Menos Grande and helping defeat the Hollows. After learning that the teammates who stayed behind were under attack, Ye Yang and Amagai returned to save them, then drove off the remaining Hollows and began tending to the wounded.

• Several members of Ye Yang’s team refused to follow him, so he left them behind while leading the rest toward the Spiritual Pressure.
• Ye Yang found Shusuke Amagai’s squad surrounded by Hollows and killed the Adjuchas-class Menos Grande, Amos Hebrew, with Silver Rend.
• Ye Yang and the others helped Amagai’s squad defeat the Hollows, and Amagai offered to guide the newcomers to the expeditionary force’s main base.
• When violent Spiritual Pressure came from the team members left behind, Ye Yang and Amagai hurried back and found them nearly wiped out by Hollows.
• Ye Yang cast Raikōhō to destroy many Hollows, then ordered the team to pursue the fleeing survivors no farther than ten li while he, Amagai, and medical personnel treated the wounded.

Ye Yang arrived at the Expeditionary Force camp in Hueco Mundo after helping Shusuke Amagai’s unit survive a Menos Grande attack. Commander-in-chief Ikeda Kawai appointed Ye Yang commander of the Second Corps, and Ye Yang introduced himself to its members.

• In Soul Society, Gin told Sōsuke Aizen that there was no trace of the missing people and that Kaname was training to become Ninth Division Captain.
• Ye Yang and Shusuke Amagai reached the Expeditionary Force camp, where Amagai showed Ye Yang how its concealed barrier worked.
• Ye Yang presented Yamamoto’s letter to Ikeda Kawai, who appointed him commander of the Second Corps and named Shusuke Amagai his deputy.
• Shusuke Amagai explained the Expeditionary Force’s five teams and small, battle-hardened ranks to Ye Yang.
• Shusuke Amagai gathered the Second Corps, and Ye Yang introduced himself as its new commander.

Ye Yang tried to earn the Second Corps’ respect as its new commander and learned from Shusuke Amagai that he needed to demonstrate his strength in Hueco Mundo. He secured an Adjuchas-hunting mission and led the corps toward its target, despite Amagai’s concern that the plan was rash.

• Ye Yang addressed the Second Corps’ mixed reactions to his appointment, and Shusuke Amagai urged the members to cooperate by revealing that Ye Yang could kill an Adjuchas instantly.
• After several days of facing the corps’ indifference, Ye Yang asked Shusuke Amagai for advice and learned that the members valued strength above all else in Hueco Mundo.
• Ye Yang invited Shusuke Amagai to drink cherry blossom wine, but Amagai passed out after one bowl.
• Ye Yang asked Ikeda Kawai for a Hollow-hunting mission, and Ikeda assigned the Second Corps to kill an Adjuchas-class Menos Grande.
• Ye Yang gathered the Second Corps and set out for the hunt, telling Shusuke Amagai that he would handle the Adjuchas while Amagai dealt with the other Hollows.

Ye Yang discovered that the supposed Adjuchas target was actually a Vasto Lorde, then found himself and the Expeditionary Force surrounded by more than twenty Adjuchas. He covered the force’s retreat with Silver Rend, killing one attacker and stopping their Ceros as he warned the remaining Hollows not to cross his line.

• Ye Yang scouted the nest and reported that he had found only one Hollow, then led the Expeditionary Force toward it cautiously.
• Inside the nest, Ye Yang recognized the humanoid Menos Grande as a Vasto Lorde, and dozens of Adjuchas Spiritual Pressures suddenly surrounded the force.
• Ye Yang ordered Shusuke Amagai to lead the members in retreat while he stayed behind to cover them.
• Ye Yang released Silver Rend and killed an Adjuchas with a strike to its shoulder and a Senka attack to its neck.
• The Adjuchas fired Ceros, but Ye Yang opened a Spatial Rift that swallowed them, then cut a trench into the ground and warned the Hollows that anyone crossing it would die.

Ye Yang followed the Menos Grandes to Ulquiorra’s lair and discovered they were trying to force the Vasto Lorde to serve Emperor Baraggan Louisenbairn. After Ulquiorra was wounded and nearly killed, Ye Yang intervened, intending to make him a future undercover agent, and stopped the Menos Grandes from leaving.

• Ye Yang intimidated the Menos Grandes, learned that Baraggan Louisenbairn ruled Hueco Mundo, then secretly followed them to Ulquiorra’s lair.
• The Menos Grandes demanded that Ulquiorra join Baraggan or become his enemy, and they attacked when he refused.
• Ulquiorra fought the group with skill and used a Black Cero, but his old injury flared up and left him unable to defend himself.
• Ye Yang stepped in to save Ulquiorra and refused the Menos Grandes’ threat that Baraggan would come for him.
• As the Menos Grandes tried to retreat, Ye Yang blocked their path with a Spatial Rift.

Ye Yang trapped and killed the Menos Grandes in his Spatial Domain, then offered to treat Ulquiorra’s injury in exchange for watching Sōsuke Aizen. After identifying the wound as Baraggan’s power of decay, Ye Yang sealed it temporarily, leaving Ulquiorra needing a new seal within a year.

• Ye Yang pulled Ulquiorra and the fleeing Menos Grandes into his Spatial Domain, where he killed their leader and slaughtered the rest.
• Ye Yang asked Ulquiorra to watch Sōsuke Aizen in exchange for help with his injury, and Ulquiorra agreed.
• Ulquiorra told Ye Yang that Baraggan had wounded him with decay, the erosion of time, and that High-Speed Regeneration had kept him alive.
• Ye Yang used spatial techniques to halt and seal the decay inside Ulquiorra, warning that the seal would last only a year.

Ye Yang suppressed the decay power afflicting Ulquiorra and arranged for him to watch Aizen, then returned to the Expeditionary Force camp. A false report of his death had made him a celebrated hero, and he left his troops acknowledging him as their commander before meeting Commander-in-Chief Ikeda Kawai.

• Ye Yang sealed Ulquiorra's decay power, recovered his Spiritual Power, and gave him a device to contact him after Aizen appeared or the seal needed reinforcing.
• Ye Yang returned to the camp, where guards initially mistook him for an impostor because they believed he had died; Shusuke Amagai confirmed his identity.
• Ye Yang learned that exaggerated rumors about him holding off more than twenty Menos Grande had spread, and he escaped the crowd of admirers and a bold admirer using Shunpo.
• Ye Yang reassured the Second Corps, whose members declared their loyalty after believing he had sacrificed himself to protect them.
• Ye Yang and Shusuke Amagai met Commander-in-Chief Ikeda Kawai, who thanked Ye Yang and invited him to sit and talk.

Ye Yang recounted how he escaped a group of Adjuchas and a wounded Vasto Lorde, then returned to the Second Corps’ camp for a celebration. The chapter ended with the veterans apologizing for doubting him and Ye Yang accepting their renewed trust.

• Ye Yang told Ikeda Kawai and the others that the Hollows had targeted a Vasto Lorde in a cave, and he escaped during their fight by using the Shihoin Clan’s secret Shunpo.
• Ye Yang explained that his Zanpakuto’s Shikai made it exceptionally sharp and said he had killed a weaker Adjuchas in an instant.
• Ikeda Kawai apologized for the danger the Expeditionary Force had faced, while Ye Yang accepted responsibility for his own actions.
• Ye Yang declined to rest and went with Shusuke Amagai to the Second Corps’ celebration, where the members welcomed him as their trusted commander.
• Shusuke Amagai drank despite his inability to handle alcohol and collapsed, so Ye Yang ordered someone to carry him to his tent.
• Endō Toyoshige apologized on behalf of the veteran members for having doubted Ye Yang, and Ye Yang forgave them as everyone raised a toast.

After Baraggan Louisenbairn tracked down Ye Yang, he launched a surprise assault on the Expeditionary Force’s camp. Ye Yang returned to find the force overwhelmed and its intended retreat route guarded by Baraggan.

• Ye Yang and Shusuke Amagai discussed the unnatural calm around the camp and confirmed that a retreat route had been prepared.
• Unable to sleep, Ye Yang investigated a faint Spiritual Pressure beyond the barrier and uncovered Baraggan Louisenbairn, the Skeleton Emperor of Hueco Mundo.
• Baraggan explained that a special Hollow had marked Ye Yang with Spiritual Pressure, allowing Baraggan to locate the Expeditionary Force, and revealed that his subordinates were already attacking the camp.
• Ye Yang rushed back and found at least fifty Adjuchas and a thousand Gillian assaulting the Expeditionary Force while its members fought to hold them off.
• Amagai told Ye Yang that the force planned to retreat through the weakest part of the attack, and Ye Yang warned him that Baraggan was guarding that route.

Ye Yang and the battered Expeditionary Force fought their way toward their only escape route, where Baraggan, the Skeleton Emperor, awaited them. As Ikeda Kawai prepared to hold Baraggan off with his Bankai, Ye Yang refused to let the old commander sacrifice himself and revealed that he could use Bankai too.

• Shusuke Amagai despaired after Ye Yang identified Baraggan as a Vasto Lorde, but Ye Yang urged him to keep fighting.
• Ye Yang and Shusuke Amagai rescued survivors while the Expeditionary Force gathered at Ikeda Kawai's signal flare.
• Ye Yang rallied the force to break out, and the survivors fought through the Hollows with Ye Yang and Ikeda Kawai protecting them.
• The force reached the barrier entrance with only about a hundred members remaining, and Ikeda Kawai announced he would stay behind to hold Baraggan off.
• Ikeda Kawai named Ye Yang his intended successor, but Ye Yang refused and said he could use Bankai.

Ye Yang left the others behind and confronted Baraggan, using Bankai and Kidō to test why his attacks kept slowing near the king. He concluded that Baraggan’s power of decay manipulated time, while the battle remained unresolved.

• Ye Yang knocked Ikeda Kawai unconscious and ordered the others, including Shusuke Amagai, to escape while he distracted Baraggan.
• Ye Yang opened the barrier and challenged Baraggan, then activated Bankai—Spatial Domain to draw him into his space.
• Ye Yang and Baraggan fought at close range, but Baraggan repeatedly dodged attacks that should have landed.
• Ye Yang tested his theory with Senka and several Kidō spells, then trapped Baraggan with Bakudō and attacked him with Hadō #90—Kurohitsugi.
• Baraggan escaped Kurohitsugi with his body largely unharmed, and Ye Yang identified his ability as the power of decay, which slowed and aged anything approaching him.

Ye Yang battled Baraggan Louisenbairn’s aging power, enduring his attacks before striking back with Spatial Domain—Sky-Rending Sword. When Baraggan survived and trapped him in black aura, Ye Yang attempted his newly devised Spatial Jump to escape through turbulent spatial currents.

• Baraggan attacked Ye Yang with aging aura that could erode even a Spatial Rift, but Ye Yang dodged it and guessed the power took a toll on Baraggan.
• Baraggan unleashed multiple streams of decay aura, and Ye Yang used Utsusemi to escape after the aura aged away his outer garment.
• Ye Yang formed a Spatial Seal and created a colossal sword of light with Spatial Domain—Sky-Rending Sword, striking and badly injuring Baraggan.
• Baraggan survived the attack and surrounded Ye Yang with decay aura, leaving him nowhere to dodge.
• Ye Yang opened a Spatial Rift and stepped into it, attempting Spatial Jump through turbulent spatial currents.

Ye Yang survived Baraggan’s decay by escaping into spatial turbulence, then awakened his Zanpakuto’s true power over time and space. He reversed the decay and restored himself, leaving the battle poised to continue with his newly named Galaxy Rift.

• Ye Yang repeatedly used Spatial Jump to evade Baraggan’s decay, but Baraggan trapped him inside a ten-meter-wide field and revealed he had anticipated the jump’s range.
• As the decay reduced Ye Yang’s limbs to bone, he remembered Soi Fon and used Spatial Seal—Freeze to shield himself temporarily.
• Ye Yang opened a Spatial Rift and entered spatial turbulence, where time stood still and the decay stopped spreading.
• After leaving the turbulence, Ye Yang realized he could form an inner core from his Spiritual Pressure and heard a voice urge him to call out his Zanpakuto’s name.
• Ye Yang awakened Galaxy Rift, used Time Reversal to erase Baraggan’s black mist, and restored his body and clothes.

Ye Yang fully awakened Galaxy Rift’s power over time and space, defeated Baraggan’s attempt to stop him, and chose to enter seclusion. After purifying Ulquiorra’s black mist, he asked him to find a quiet place and was led to the underground entrance of the Forest of Menos.

• Ye Yang fully awakened Galaxy Rift, dispersed Baraggan’s decay power, and revealed that using his new time ability cost him lifespan.
• Ye Yang ended the fight with Baraggan and left after giving his name, Ye Yang Shihoin.
• Ye Yang summoned Ulquiorra, removed the seal on his chest, and used silver light to destroy the black mist afflicting him.
• Ye Yang told Ulquiorra he planned to cultivate in seclusion for at least twenty years and asked him to watch for Aizen.
• Ulquiorra proposed the Forest of Menos as a secluded refuge and led Ye Yang to its underground entrance.

Ye Yang settled in the Forest of Menos to prepare for secluded cultivation while Ulquiorra explained Hueco Mundo’s rival powers and agreed to seek out other Vasto Lordes. On the surface, the surviving Expeditionary Force escaped the Hollows, but its commanders mourned Ye Yang, who had stayed behind to save them.

• Ulquiorra led Ye Yang through the Forest of Menos to a quiet cave and set up a barrier that warned other Hollows away.
• Ulquiorra told Ye Yang that Baraggan ruled only one of many factions and that at least five Vasto Lordes existed in Hueco Mundo; Ye Yang asked him to find them and recruit them if possible.
• Ulquiorra explained that Baraggan had ambushed him after his advancement to Vasto Lorde and that he still could not defeat him, though he could escape.
• Ye Yang revealed that he had forced Baraggan to retreat and said Baraggan would need years to recover, then told Ulquiorra to prepare for Aizen while he entered secluded cultivation.
• A group of Adjuchas discussed Ulquiorra’s return and decided to avoid his cave while he cultivated.
• The surviving Expeditionary Force reached safety in the desert, and its members mourned Ye Yang, who had stayed behind to protect them.

After the Expeditionary Force escaped the Hollows, Ikeda Kawai mourned Ye Yang, while Shusuke Amagai insisted Ye Yang would return. In the Forest of Menos, Ye Yang encountered a Soul Reaper fighting Grimmjow and intervened, only to discover Grimmjow was an old opponent seeking revenge.

• Ikeda Kawai learned Ye Yang had stayed behind and broke down in grief, while Shusuke Amagai remained confident Ye Yang would come back.
• Ye Yang suppressed his Spiritual Pressure in the Forest of Menos and sensed several Adjuchas fighting a Soul Reaper.
• Grimmjow joined the battle and gained the upper hand after the Soul Reaper had worn himself down fighting the others.
• Ye Yang blocked Grimmjow's fatal strike, rescued the Soul Reaper, and faced the Menos Grande.
• Grimmjow recognized Ye Yang from their fight decades earlier and vowed to defeat him to overcome his old humiliation.

Ye Yang Shihoin rescued Ashido after effortlessly defeating Grimmjow, then learned Ashido had survived alone in the Forest of Menos for four hundred years. Ye Yang invited Ashido to live with him and guard his secluded cultivation, and Ashido accepted.

• Grimmjow challenged Ye Yang, but Ye Yang used Spatial Jump to disarm him in one exchange and spared his life.
• Ye Yang explained to the injured Soul Reaper that he had prioritized rescuing him and could not risk trying to kill Grimmjow.
• The Soul Reaper introduced himself as Ashido and revealed that his Expeditionary Force First Legion comrades had all been killed by Menos Grande.
• Ashido told Ye Yang he had spent four hundred years in the Forest of Menos, where he continued fighting Hollows despite having no way to find the exit.
• Ye Yang and Ashido discussed Ashido's resolve to fight for Soul Society, and Ye Yang invited him to live at his home and stand guard while he cultivated.
• Ashido accepted Ye Yang's offer, gaining a place to stay and a companion in the Forest of Menos.

Soul Society received a report that Ye Yang had vanished after staying behind to cover the Expeditionary Force's retreat, and his friends and family reacted to the news. Though many mourned him, several believed he was still alive and wondered where he had gone.

• Soul Society learned that the Expeditionary Force had suffered heavy losses and that Ye Yang's Spiritual Pressure could no longer be detected after he stayed behind; Yamamoto and Chōjirō Sasakibe suspected he was alive.
• Soi Fon sent the Second Division members away and privately held to Ye Yang's promise that he would return.
• Gin Ichimaru suggested that Aizen had lost a formidable enemy, but Aizen questioned whether Ye Yang was truly dead.
• Byakuya mourned Ye Yang in silence, while Shunsui told Ukitake that Ye Yang was strong enough to survive and had approached the limits of Soul Reapers.
• Rangiku worried about Ye Yang, and Isshin reassured her that the missing body and undetectable Spiritual Pressure did not prove he was dead.
• Shihoin Seigen nearly collapsed at the news, but his wife reminded him that Ye Yang had never let them down, and Seigen prayed for his safe return.

In the World of the Living, Yoruichi learned that Ye Yang was missing after fighting powerful Menos Grande, but trusted that he had survived. In Hueco Mundo, Ye Yang completed thirty years of cultivation, formed a Golden Core, and emerged with his power concealed; he left his next plans uncertain.

• Urahara told Yoruichi that Ye Yang’s Spiritual Pressure had vanished after he stayed behind to fight a Vasto Lorde and more than a hundred Adjuchas, and that his body had not been found.
• Yoruichi saw through Urahara’s attempt to make her believe Ye Yang was dead and calmly reasoned that he might be hiding his Spiritual Pressure.
• Yoruichi attacked Urahara for teasing her, while Ye Yang continued cultivating in the Forest of Menos with Ashido.
• After thirty years, Ye Yang formed a Golden Core and felt that the boundary restricting him had disappeared, though his strength had barely increased.
• Ye Yang’s bearing changed so that his power no longer showed, and he told Ashido that his cultivation was nearly complete before wondering what he would do next.

Ashido chose to remain in the Forest of Menos and continue hunting Hollows, while Ye Yang left to return to the surface. After defeating the Menos Grande guarding the exit, Ye Yang emerged into Hueco Mundo's desert.

• Ashido told Ye Yang he would stay in the Forest of Menos to hunt Hollows and fulfill his duty as a Soul Reaper.
• Ye Yang bid farewell to Ashido and headed for the exit, where over a hundred Menos Grande had gathered.
• The Menos Grande ambushed Ye Yang with hundreds of Ceros, but he escaped the blast using Spatial Jump and emerged unharmed.
• Ye Yang counterattacked with Silver Rend, killed the leaders, and pursued the fleeing Menos Grande, leaving fewer than a hundred survivors.
• Ye Yang opened a rift to the surface and emerged into Hueco Mundo's vast desert, thinking, “I'm back!”