The Gillian's continuous invasions only lasted a short time. The Twelfth Division then demonstrated their results, seemingly further sealing off space and strengthening the Kōtotsu and Kōryū within the Dangai. It's unclear how they achieved this, but for a period of time, Hollows ceased to appear.
This process lasted for about half a year, and then the Twelfth Division announced its end. As for Hueco Mundo, that was no longer an option; the Hollows not attacking was already a big favor to the Soul Society, and if you went there again, you probably wouldn't be able to come back.
So we'll have to go to the World of the Living. The World of the Living is still in chaos, and the missions World of the Living require a huge number of Soul Reaper death gods) because the Battle of Sekigahara is likely to begin soon. I've calculated the dates, and it's about time.
After the Battle of Sekigahara, Japan entered the Edo period, a long period of stability. Subsequent wars, including the Meiji Restoration, did not involve large-scale conflicts until World War I and World War II, when massive casualties reappeared.
But speaking of which, should we kill Emperor Zhao He? Doing it ourselves would be satisfying, but it's easy to get caught. Perhaps we should let Starrk do it? Haha, good idea!
But that's hundreds of years from now, let's talk about that later.
Now that he can go to the World of the Living, Chun should give his research of the past six months a try. By the way, Chun dug a huge, super deep pit in his own yard just for research.
As he dug, Jun became curious: where would he end up if he kept digging in this Soul Society? He wanted to try it sometime.
But not now, Chun should go to the World of the Living first.
"Shimizu God ~"
"Shimizu God is here~"
"Shimizu God ~"
"Will you sprinkle Shimizu?"
Chun arrived at the settlement of the Undead, in a mountain crevice, and received a warm welcome from the Undead.
The upper part of the mountain in this area has collapsed twice. The earliest mountain crevice and the entrance that Chun had completely covered are now sealed off. Chun entered using the Rending Space Realm.
"Did you seal off the area above?"
"Yes, we felt that even if you, Shimizu God, covered the entrance, there was still a chance someone could accidentally wander in. That would be bad for both those people and us, so we blew it up."
"Hmm, that's a very prudent choice."
Thank you for the compliment.
Miki Ichirin to see the fruits of Undead labor, which involved carving a long tunnel down the mountain. This tunnel was quite dangerous for humans, as much of it was vertical with no safety measures in place.
Then they found an underground river, which was already more than 300 meters below the surface. They then drilled through it to a height of more than 1,000 meters.
With this underground river, they could explore along it without worrying about anyone accidentally wandering in. In such a place, unless one was an immortal Undead, any human entering would likely not survive more than a few days. Moreover, the exits the Undead had found were at least tens of kilometers away from the mountainside.
Moreover, those so-called exits or entrances are basically not places where humans could enter alive. They are either cliffs or deep ravines, with rock walls covered in protruding stone spikes. How could a living person get in? By risking their life?
The underground river wasn't the end of their excavation. After finding another natural underground cavity some distance away, they began digging deeper into that cavity. As for where they would end up this time, they had no idea; they were still digging.
"How's the skills development going?"
"Yes, we are also experimenting with our abilities. According to what you said, Shimizu God, we might possess the power of Shikai, but it's very difficult. We don't have Zanpakuto, so there's been no progress so far."
"I see. Well, what I brought you this time is a Spiritual Power. After I'm done with this, I should probably head back. Do you have any particularly safe places? This thing isn't easy to make; if it gets damaged by some collapse, I'll just have to make another one."
"Oh, oh, oh, I wouldn't dare trouble you Shimizu God. Please come with me; we still have a safe place."
While walking down the street, I casually asked, "What are your team's thoughts on having children?"
"Uh," Miki Ichirin was surprised. He was excited at first, then saddened. "Shimizu God, didn't you say we couldn't reproduce?"
"This is just a guess of mine. You know, we Soul Reapers can reproduce."
"What does this have to do with us?"
Chun explained, "Of course there's a connection. Human reproduction occurs because of the union of male and female reproductive organs, followed by conception, development, and finally, after ten months of pregnancy, a newborn is born. This is due to the structure of the human body, a capability unique to living beings."
"But we Soul Reapers are souls. We don't have these things, yet we can still reproduce. Although what we give birth to are also souls, we do indeed produce offspring."
"Now it seems that the Undead actually very similar to us Soul Reapers. Although you have human bodies, your bodies are dead and have become a storage warehouse for Spiritual Power. You have essentially become soul beings, which is similar to Soul Reapers."
"So, in terms of reproduction, are the Undead similar to the Soul Reaper?"
Miki Ichirin was genuinely excited at this point; his voice trembled as he asked, "That Shimizu God, are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's true, but you'll have to try to produce the next generation yourselves. However, simple methods like those used on living people won't be able to achieve reproduction."
"Then what should we do?"
"I don't know either. The Soul Reaper's reproduction is a spiritual and soulful union. In other words, if both of them have a strong desire to reproduce, there is a certain probability that a child will be born."
"Then we..."
"If you Undead fall in love and become husband and wife, then tell me the method in a moment, and then try it yourselves. I think your desire to Undead is definitely very strong, but why don't you have children?"
"Firstly, it's because you still believe that the way of life is the way of reproduction for you. Secondly, although you now recognize that you are dead, you still believe that dead people cannot reproduce. This belief is the reason why you are unable to reproduce."
"Because it involves the propagation of the soul, the spiritual aspect is extremely important. This understanding is essentially a form of artificial sterilization; if you believe you cannot have children, then you absolutely cannot."
Miki Ichirin took a long, deep breath. He was Undead and didn't need to breathe; this one breath made him appear three times larger, showing just how astonished he was.
Then he knelt down and kowtowed three times to Chun DuangDuangDuang, saying, "We have no way to repay the great kindness and virtue of the Shimizu God!!"
"It's not like I'm doing you a favor. To be honest, I might need you in the future, partly to find you a better place to live. The World of the Living isn't really suitable for you, is it?"
"It's alright, you gave us our lives, we'll do whatever you ask."
"Haha, we'll talk about it later. I won't force you. And once you have the power, you can think about your own future. By the way, regarding reproduction, I think your chances of getting pregnant are probably even lower now that you're in the World of the Living, because the vitality of Reishi in the World of the Living is not high. Don't be too anxious."
"I see!"
The two arrived at the foot of a mountain wall, in a space carved out entirely of massive rocks. It looked remarkably sturdy. Chun asked, "Is this the place?"
"Ah, this is it."
"Okay, then I'll build it here. Do you want to learn? But Sōdō is really not something that just anyone can learn."
"No, I want to share the good news with my fellow tribesmen."
"Okay, then go ahead."
The reason Chunzhen isn't to prevent the Undead from learning the Sōdō is that the ability to Sōdō a Path might be related to the concept of procreation; for example, Isuzu wouldn't Sōdō.
What does it take to Sōdō? It takes a kind of self-deification, where you believe yourself to be a deity who can create all things; then you have Sōdō.
This kind of understanding is actually very difficult. It's not something you can just think about and then realize. For example, if you need courage, can you just imagine that you have courage and then you're no longer afraid? That's impossible, right?
This kind of thing requires complete belief; in other words, it's like being in the late stages of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome). Early stages are no good. Before completing my Sōdō, I didn't even realize I had this much chuunibyou, but now it's different. Chuunibyou can really save the world!
Having the Sōdō is not the end. Using this thing is extremely difficult, and the Spiritual Power required is far beyond what those Kidō can compare to. What are the Hadō, Bakudō, and Kaido? They are all trivial matters compared to the consumption of the Dao of Sōdō.
Let's create a wooden plank using the Sōdō, a plank one meter square and one centimeter thick. It consumes one Five Dragon Destruction. That's how tiring it is. How many times can you cast Five Dragon Destruction in Junichi? Less than ten times, meaning you can only create less than ten wooden planks.
The more high-tech the product, the less difference there is in the actual technology. The difference lies in the amount of energy consumed when you need something to have a specific effect. Even the Five Dragon Destruction is nothing compared to that.
For example, if Chun wants to make a pair of glasses that can function as a telescope, thus providing the ability to see far, the energy consumption would be segmented. You would expend your Spiritual Power to insert the glasses, and you would see them gradually take shape until they are complete. This process could be done in several or even dozens of separate steps.
So what determines this total mana consumption? I have a feeling it depends on one's understanding of the world, which is essentially the amount of knowledge one possesses.
But it's not limited to pure science; theology isn't out of the question either. Otherwise, where would Soul Society's current creations come from? Anyway, it's really hard to say; Jun doesn't yet have the ability to delve into it deeply enough.
Therefore, this Spiritual Power detector will really take a long time to complete. It's estimated that three months of missions in the World of the Living will be spent on this, and it's true, it's possible that it won't even be finished.
Two months passed, and many Undead came to Chun to learn this Sōdō, but no one could learn it. Chun explained it very clearly, but it was really, really difficult to do. Even Kariya Jin couldn't do it, and he even said to Chun, "You don't really think you're a god, do you?"
Miki Ichirin came again that day. Jun was continuing his work and didn't notice Miki Ichirin's expression. The slightly chubby Miki was overjoyed.
"What is it?" Chun asked, fiddling with the Spiritual Power detector.
"Got it!"
"What's done?" Chun didn't understand.
"Oura Daisuke and his lover Oura Naizi!"
"Huh?" Jun thought to himself, "What nonsense is this?" Then he turned around and saw how excited Miki Ichirin. A thought flashed through his mind, and Jun's jaw nearly dropped. "I've got it!?"
"Mmm~", Miki Ichirin nodded so many times his head could be used as an engine.
I did the math, "It's only been two months, right?"
"Mmm~"
How did you know you were pregnant after only two months? She wasn't showing yet.
"Come and see for yourself, you'll see."
Chun went to see it, and then Chun really understood. How obvious was it? The pregnant woman's body had become transparent; her Reishi was being frantically absorbed by the child she was carrying. In just two months, her body would be gone, and she would become a completely soul-like being, just like Soul Reaper itself.
"Is her Spiritual Power sufficient? Like this?"
"It's alright, it's alright! We're all giving her Spiritual Power!"
This question caused all the Undead present to shout, every Undead went mad, some with tears in their eyes, some were already crying, crying hysterically.
Because of the appearance of this new life, Jun saw Kariya Jin, and he was the one who cried the happiest.
"Haha, I'm happy for you too. But you need to be careful now, her Spiritual Power consumption is quite high, so make sure too many of you get pregnant at the same time."
"Then, regarding the child's growth, they might need more Spiritual Power. What will you do then?"
"Uh," Miki Ichirin and the other Undead were frustrated.
At that moment, Kariya Jin stood up and shouted, "Fear not! I will pave the way to Hueco Mundo! I will give our descendants a chance to survive! We must become stronger!! Stronger than the Hollows!"
"Oh~ I'm getting stronger!!"
This time, the Kariya Jin did not become the one scorned; countless Undead agreed with his ideas, which greatly pleased Jun. This race had been revitalized.