Yexing Hu

Fon Shaoling was deeply puzzled. Remaining on her knees in a bow, she pondered:

The ritual went smoothly. The name on the petition lit up as it should, the spirit array activated normally, and the engraving of the true name went very smoothly too. But hasn't it taken a little too long? This is a technique from the Soul King Palace, drawing on the natural Reishi from three districts of Rukongai. That's almost as much spiritual power as a captain has. Why hasn't it ended after two hours? There isn't even a sign that it's about to end...

At that moment,

Soul King Palace, White Sand Hall

Ichibē Hyōsube was walking toward a small shrine. It had been glowing for two hours, and he opened it to see whether something had gone wrong with the technique. The shrine's interior was simple: a crystal ball hung in the air, channeling spiritual power into a huge, open bronze book below. Ichibē looked at the characters being engraved in the book. There was only one: "Ye."

"The name's being engraved far too slowly. Did they request too little Reishi when they submitted the prayer? Let me see which noble family was so careless in conducting the ritual."

With that, he beckoned to the crystal floating in the air. It descended and displayed the prayer. Ichibē read through it. "They're drawing on Reishi from District Three of West Rukongai. The Fon Clan is conducting the ritual, the spirit array is constructed with considerable precision, the anchors are all Soul Reapers, and even the officiating priest is Captain-level. By all rights, this shouldn't be happening..." Ichibē rubbed his head, touched the crystal ball, and infused it with his own Reiatsu. Following the connections between the Reishi, he began to sense the subject of the ritual.

His Reiatsu passed through the spirit array and entered the young man's body along the path of the ritual, drawing out a wisp of deep-blue spiritual power. Ichibē pulled the wisp from the crystal and was about to examine it closely when the spiritual power seemed to react, turning into several tiny slashes that scattered across his palm. They struck all five of his fingers. Looking at the white marks on them, Ichibē said,

"This spiritual power is truly sharp! Hahaha, such fine power—I can hardly wait to see what it becomes once it matures. Soul Society has gained another promising talent." He then began pouring Reiatsu into the crystal, and the name began to be engraved more quickly in the bronze book.

Meanwhile, at the Fon residence,

Everyone was still waiting for the ritual to end on its own. The young man floating in the air stared blankly ahead. His Zanpakuto had told him that the ritual was working, and that he should relax his body and not resist. He had done his best to cooperate, but the ritual still showed no sign of ending. Although he was floating in the air, it felt as though someone had him suspended by the waist. After so long, his waist and back ached. Everyone around him was so serious that it didn't seem like an atmosphere where he could speak, leaving him all the more bored.

Just then, the amount of Reishi around him suddenly surged, and it began pouring into his body much faster. The young man felt the force holding him up suddenly grow much stronger. It lifted him considerably higher, then all the Reishi poured into him, and the force holding him up abruptly vanished. The light of the Reishi faded completely as well.

"Ah!"

The young man crashed straight onto the floor. He slowly sat up. "Do all babies born in Soul Society have to go through that when they're little? That's really miserable."

The attendants around him and Fon Shaoling all raised their heads.

Good, the ritual succeeded. So the man before me really didn't deceive me. Although the ritual took longer than expected, that's proof of this young man's talent too.

A little while later...

The attendants cleared away the ritual implements. Fon Shaoling also changed out of her priestess's robes and into a kimono embroidered with the Fon Clan Crest, dark blue with gold accents, before taking the seat of honor again.

"May I ask your name?"

Fon Shaoling asked the young man again.

The black-haired young man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then looked again at the woman sitting upright in the seat of honor.

"Hu. My name is Yexing Hu. That's my name from now on!"