Sobering Up and Casual Chat

# Honesty under the morning light

Liu Hao rubbed his still throbbing temples, his gaze falling helplessly on Kisuke Urahara: "What else could it be? That was something that happened when Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto were still children."

The morning sunlight streamed through the window, casting dappled shadows on the floor. Liu Hao sat on the tatami mat, leaning against the wall, trying to clear his head after a hangover.

"They were childhood friends, living in Rukongai," Liu Hao continued, his voice low and calm. "In order to create the Hōgyoku, Aizen sent his subordinates to Rukongai to steal the power from the bodies of souls with the potential to become Soul Reaper. His subordinates attacked Rangiku Matsumoto when she was still a child and then stole something from her body."

He paused, seemingly recalling specific details. "Hmm, it seems to be something like a fragment of the Soul King. After seeing the injured Rangiku Matsumoto, Gin Ichimaru began investigating and discovered it was Aizen and his subordinates. He then resolved to become Soul Reaper and take back what they had stolen from Rangiku Matsumoto. That's how Gin Ichimaru stayed by Aizen's side from the moment he entered the Seireitei, looking for an opportunity to ambush Aizen and steal the Hōgyoku."

Kisuke Urahara listened quietly, his fan already closed at some point. This information filled in the gaps in his long-standing doubts about Gin Ichimaru's behavior—why would someone who seemed so cold-hearted show such rare tenderness towards Rangiku Matsumoto; why would he choose to follow Aizen, yet reveal complex emotions at certain moments?

"I see," Kisuke Urahara slowly, "Then what's the method to break the illusion of Kyōka Suigetsu?"

Liu Hao sighed, "This method was only discovered by Gin Ichimaru after following Aizen for over a hundred years. Touching the blade of Aizen's Zanpakuto before he releases it can prevent him from being hypnotized by Kyōka Suigetsu."

He looked at Kisuke Urahara, his expression turning serious. "Forget about that method. With his strength, it's unlikely you can even get close, let alone touch the blade. Let Gin Ichimaru handle this, even though his fate will be grim. But I believe he can still save him."

Kisuke Urahara pressed on, "Then how can one avoid being hypnotized by Kyōka Suigetsu?"

"Didn't I say that before?" Liu Hao said somewhat uncertainly, then added, "It's just about not watching his Shikai process. Right now, besides me, only Kaname Tōsen not under the control of Kyōka Suigetsu, and that's the reason."

"Kaname Tōsen also be affected?" Kisuke Urahara keenly grasped this information.

Liu Hao nodded. "He's blind, so he can't see clearly to begin with. Visual hypnosis like 'Kyōka Suigetsu' won't work on him."

Kisuke Urahara thoughtfully, "Alright, is there any other information?"

"That's all, I've said everything." Liu Hao's tone was tinged with annoyance. "You came to bombard me with news so early in the morning, it must have been really hard on you. What, just because I said I'd seen the River of Time, you've been on guard against me all this time?"

Kisuke Urahara looked somewhat awkward, covering half his face with his fan. "How could that be!"

"Come on," Liu Hao gave him a disdainful look, "You've always had something in the Gigai you gave me that measures my soul data, do you think I didn't know? You even set up a device in there to try and modify my soul, but I couldn't be bothered to argue with you."

These words left Kisuke Urahara completely silent. He had indeed installed monitoring and adjustment devices in the Gigai, out of caution and research needs. But he hadn't expected that Liu Hao had already noticed it and had kept it hidden until now.

Liu Hao stood up and paced around the room. "Actually, I've done some research before. I found that my soul isn't that different from yours. The only difference is that the key to the souls here is the Saketsu and the Hakusui, while mine isn't."

He stopped and turned to look at Kisuke Urahara: "Well, how should I put it? If I were attacked in these two places before, I would at most suffer serious injuries, but now I can recover on my own. The reason you noticed that the Reishi entering my body no longer dissipate is because of my own training. Just like Quincy's Quincy Power forcibly binds external Reishi to themselves and utilizes them, I have completely made the Reishi a part of my spirit body to enhance its quality and thus increase my strength. You can also achieve this, but you need to train yourself. This is also my own training method."

Kisuke Urahara listened with increasing focus. This was a training philosophy he had never heard of before, completely different from the traditional path of Soul Reaper relying on Zanpakuto and Reiatsu.

"That piece of junk you made kept trying to make me release the Reishi I absorbed from the outside world, which did annoy me at first," Liu Hao said sarcastically. "But it also made my cultivation more difficult. Once I'm free from this Gigai, I can completely expel what you put into my soul, which will allow me to increase the speed at which I absorb Reishi from the outside world for cultivation. How should I put it? What you put in the Gigai is to me what Quincy's Sanrei Gloves are to Quincy."

Kisuke Urahara stared at Liu Hao, his expression turning serious. "If you keep imprisoning Reishi from the outside world into your body to strengthen yourself, one day you'll devour all the Reishi from the outside world, and the world will be destroyed."

"What a joke, how could it possibly be completely absorbed?" Liu Hao said, both amused and exasperated. "The Reishi enter my body and continuously refine my spiritual form. Eventually, impurities will be produced and then expelled from the body, okay? When forging steel, how can it become steel if the excess carbon isn't removed? At first, what my body might release is pure Reishi waste, but as my strength increases and my spiritual form strengthens, what I release might be beneficial to this world, but it's a relatively low-level Reishi substance for me."

Kisuke Urahara frowned. "But in all the time I've been testing you, I've never found Reishi escaping from your body, not even Reishi waste."

"Hey, use your brain," Liu Hao sighed helplessly. "Do you think my strength is easy to improve right now? Back in the Soul Society, when you last met me, what was my strength like? I've reached a bottleneck now, so naturally I need to accumulate more Reishi energy to continue refining my spiritual body. And Reishi is so scarce in the World of the Living, if you ask me to release it outwards, what's the point of my cultivation?"

"Uh..." Kisuke Urahara chuckled awkwardly. The explanation was indeed reasonable; the concentration of Reishi in the World of the Living was far lower than in Soul Society and Hueco Mundo, so training here definitely required making more efficient use of every bit of Reishi.

He changed the subject, his mischievous smile returning to his face, "You really don't remember what you said yesterday?"

"What are you talking about? So mysteriously," Liu Hao said impatiently, pouring himself another glass of water.

Kisuke Urahara laughed and said, "You said you were going to drug me."

"Pfft—" Liu Hao spat out the mouthful of water he had just drunk, looking at Kisuke Urahara with a shocked expression, "I drugged you, why?"

Kisuke Urahara smiled without saying a word, his expression conveying a "you figure it out" attitude.

"I couldn't possibly have drugged you," Liu Hao frowned, trying to recall the events of last night. "At most, I would have had Yoruichi drug you. I just feel it's a shame that you two, as a couple, haven't had a happy ending."

He suddenly realized he had let something slip again and turned to look at Kisuke Urahara: "You tricked me into saying something again."

Kisuke Urahara, realizing that Liu Hao had seen through his ruse, could only laugh awkwardly, "Fine, I'll try to get information out of you then. Who told you to give Yoruichi such a terrible idea?"

Just then, Yoruichi Shihōin emerged from behind the door. She had clearly been listening for a long time, a mischievous smile on her face, "Hehe, but there are two other things, which you said yourself."

"What's wrong?" Liu Hao looked at Yoruichi Shihōin, puzzled.

Yoruichi Shihōin mischievous smile, "Then do you remember the Three Palaces, Six Courts, and Seventy-Two Consorts?"

"Of course I know," Liu Hao replied matter-of-factly. "It's used in our world to describe the scale of Emperor's harem. What's wrong with that?"

Yoruichi Shihōin continued with a smile, "Do you even know that if you say you want to build a harem, it has to be done according to this standard?"

"So what?" Liu Hao said matter-of-factly. "Does the law of Soul Society forbid it? Or can the laws of the World of the Living govern me?"

Yoruichi Shihōin was taken aback by Liu Hao's words. She hadn't expected him to admit it so directly, and with such a frank attitude. She could only resort to her trump card. "Do you remember when you said the words 'Little Hana' and 'Little Oto' yesterday?"

Liu Hao's expression froze instantly. These two nicknames were like two keys, unlocking the floodgates of memories he had been trying so hard to suppress. Little Hana is Retsu Unohana, the Fourth Division Captain, the First Kenpachi, and one of the oldest and most dangerous Soul Reaper in Soul Society. Little Oto is Isane Kotetsu, the Vice-Captain of the Fourth Division, a gentle yet resilient woman.

In a sober state, he would never dare to use such a nickname to address those two—especially in front of Retsu Unohana; that would be pure suicide.

Seeing the change in Liu Hao's expression, Yoruichi Shihōin smiled smugly, "Remember now? Yesterday you were calling them so affectionately. You even said Captain Unohana was your Empress and Vice-Captain Kotetsu was your Imperial Consort."

Liu Hao took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "That was all drunken talk, don't take it seriously."

"Really?" Yoruichi Shihōin moved closer to him, her eyes gleaming with mischief. "But I think you're quite serious. You even said you wanted to ambush Captain Unohana and make her give birth, so she wouldn't be Isshin to die."