Chapter Summaries

Liu Hao woke in Rukongai and recognized the young Renji Abarai and Rukia Kuchiki, who took him in with their group of children. After the children were chased into a dead-end alley while stealing food, Liu Hao stayed behind to protect them and knocked one of their pursuers down with a stick, leaving the other hesitant to attack.

• Liu Hao woke in a dilapidated settlement, recognized Renji Abarai and Rukia Kuchiki, and asked to join them.
• Rukia brought Liu Hao to the children's hut, where Renji explained that the group stole food to survive.
• Renji and the other children stole food from a neighborhood while Rukia tripped their pursuer, then the group hid in an alley.
• Liu Hao sensed pursuers approaching and realized Renji had led them into a dead end, so he urged the children to escape while he held the men off.
• Liu Hao deflected a club swing and struck one pursuer in the chest with a stick, leaving him badly injured and the other man afraid to advance.

Liu Hao escaped two men in Rukongai, got lost, and reunited with Rukia, Renji, and the other children after catching a spirit fish. Over the next several years, he helped improve the group’s food supply, but his spiritual power remained dormant as he waited for a chance to become stronger.

• Liu Hao injured one of the burly men, escaped their pursuit, and became lost in unfamiliar streets.
• Rukia and Renji searched for Liu Hao, confirmed he had escaped, and eventually found him carrying a spirit fish.
• Liu Hao and the children grilled and shared the fish, and they welcomed him into their group.
• Over the next several years, Liu Hao helped the children fish more efficiently, preserve surplus fish, and trade for supplies.
• Liu Hao failed to awaken his spiritual power despite repeated attempts, while occasional Hollow attacks and distant Soul Reaper battles reminded him of his weakness.
• Liu Hao deepened his bonds with Rukia, Renji, and the others, but continued to wait and prepare for a chance to gain strength.

A Hollow killed Ogawa and fatally injured Kosuke, prompting Liu Hao to unleash immense power before Fourth Division Soul Reapers intervened. Liu Hao, Renji, and Rukia declined an invitation to the Seireitei to stay with Kenta, who died several years later from damage caused by the Hollow.

• Liu Hao sensed danger at the river and arrived to find Ogawa gone, Kosuke in a Hollow's grip, and Kenta trying to save him.
• Liu Hao unleashed powerful Reiatsu, broke the Hollow's arm to rescue Kosuke, and diverted its Cero before collapsing.
• Isane Kotetsu destroyed the Hollow, and Retsu Unohana helped Liu Hao survive his uncontrolled Reiryoku.
• Kosuke died despite emergency treatment, and Liu Hao, Renji, and Rukia declined Retsu Unohana's invitation to become Soul Reapers so they could stay with Kenta.
• Over the following years, Liu Hao cared for Kenta, whose soul had been damaged by the Hollow's Reiatsu.
• Kenta died despite Liu Hao's efforts, leaving Liu Hao, Renji, and Rukia as the group's only survivors.

After losing Kenta, Liu Hao, Renji, and Rukia entered Shin'ō Academy and began training as Soul Reapers. Liu Hao challenged the Academy’s ideals while explaining his own reasons for protecting Seireitei, and his words drew the attention of Captain-Commander Yamamoto, who ordered special excellence training for the trio.

• Liu Hao persuaded Renji and Rukia to leave their hut and seek strength by entering Shin'ō Academy, and the three spent six months training before passing the entrance preliminary test.
• Liu Hao noticed Momo Hinamori and Izuru Kira among the successful candidates and considered finding a way to reunite Rukia with her sister, Hisana Kuchiki.
• The three were assigned to the First Division direct recommendation elite preparatory class, received uniforms and Asauchi, and settled into their academy dormitories.
• During Chōjirō Sasakibe’s lesson on Soul Reaper duties, Liu Hao criticized the Gotei 13 for protecting Seireitei rather than Rukongai and told Renji and Rukia that strength and influence were needed to change things.
• Liu Hao said he would protect Seireitei out of gratitude while choosing for himself whom else to protect, and Captain-Commander Yamamoto and Chōjirō Sasakibe overheard his remarks.
• Yamamoto ordered the Academy to give Liu Hao, Renji, and Rukia special excellence coursework and training.

Nakamura Sōya taught the elite class about Reiatsu and the rarely effective Reishi Breathing, which Liu Hao suspected might suit his unusual spiritual power. After Itō Shōta put the students through punishing basic sword training, Liu Hao guided Renji through meditation with their Asauchi and began exploring Reishi Breathing himself.

• Nakamura Sōya explained Reiatsu levels and described Soul Body Training and Reishi Breathing as methods of growth, while warning that the latter was difficult and rarely effective.
• Liu Hao recognized a possible connection between Reishi Breathing and his past experiences controlling his spiritual power.
• Itō Shōta took the students to the training ground and drilled them in sword grips, stances, and repeated cuts until they were exhausted.
• Liu Hao persuaded Renji to stop training and recover, and Rukia agreed that rest was more important than pushing further.
• Back in their room, Liu Hao led Renji in a seated meditation with their Asauchi and tried to match his breathing to the fluctuations of his Reishi.

Liu Hao refined his meditation and settled into the academy’s demanding routine with Renji and Rukia. After learning rumors that Rukia might be the missing sister of Lady Hisana Kuchiki, he brought Rukia to Squad Six’s headquarters, where a guard refused to pass on their request to meet the Kuchiki family.

• Liu Hao meditated through Renji Abarai’s snoring, sensed Reishi slowly strengthening his spiritual body, and later discussed the subtle effects of meditation with Renji and Rukia.
• Liu Hao, Renji, and Rukia trained and studied at Shin'ō Academy as their daily classes and practice settled into a routine.
• Liu Hao told Rukia that Lady Hisana Kuchiki had been searching for a younger sister whose appearance resembled Rukia’s, and Rukia agreed to meet her.
• Liu Hao and Rukia asked Nakamura Sōya for permission to visit Squad Six’s headquarters and request an audience with Byakuya Kuchiki.
• A Squad Six guard mocked Liu Hao and Rukia and refused to report their possible family connection, so Liu Hao left with Rukia after warning the guard that his decision could cause lasting regret.

Liu Hao brought Rukia to seek out Hisana Kuchiki, believing they were sisters, but the Kuchiki guards turned them away. The next day, Byakuya and Hisana summoned Rukia to meet them, and Hisana tearfully embraced her long-lost sister.

• Liu Hao explained to Rukia that Hisana Kuchiki was gravely ill and urged her to meet the sister she might have lost.
• Renji confronted Liu Hao over taking Rukia to the Kuchiki Clan, then accepted that Rukia should decide for herself whether to reunite with them.
• A man in white arrived at Shin'ō Academy and invited Rukia to meet with Byakuya Kuchiki and Hisana Kuchiki, allowing Liu Hao and Renji to accompany her.
• Hisana recognized Rukia, tearfully apologized, and embraced her while Rukia stood overwhelmed by the reunion.

Rukia reunited with her sister Hisana and learned that Hisana had asked Byakuya to adopt her into the Kuchiki Clan. After considering the choice overnight, Rukia accepted, leaving Liu Hao and Renji to pursue their shared goal of joining the Gotei 13.

• Byakuya thanked Liu Hao for helping reunite Hisana and Rukia and offered him a favor, but Liu Hao declined because he had helped Rukia as family.
• Hisana explained that she had left Rukia in Rukongai as a child and asked her to join the Kuchiki Clan as Byakuya’s adopted sister.
• Liu Hao suggested that specialists from the Fourth Division or the Research and Development Institute investigate whether spiritual power could strengthen Hisana’s soul, and Byakuya agreed to consider it.
• Liu Hao and Renji told Rukia they would support her decision, and Byakuya gave her time to think before he and Hisana left.
• The next morning, Rukia accepted the offer to join the Kuchiki Clan, and Byakuya promised that the clan would protect and instruct her.
• Rukia left with Hisana and Byakuya while Liu Hao and Renji stayed behind, promising to meet again in the Gotei 13.

After Rukia left for the Kuchiki household, Renji threw himself into training while Liu Hao chose to study Kaidō so he could repay Captain Unohana and Lieutenant Kotetsu by serving in the Fourth Division. Liu Hao’s first dream meeting with the woman within his power taught him how to connect with his Asauchi, and he began the process of awakening it.

• After Rukia departed, Liu Hao teased Renji about one day facing Rukia’s noble family, and Renji turned his embarrassment and worry into intense training.
• Liu Hao told Renji he planned to join the Fourth Division under Captain Unohana and explained that he wanted to repay her and Lieutenant Kotetsu for saving them.
• Liu Hao continued studying Kaidō and meditating, while his attempts to communicate with his Asauchi failed and Renji urged him to get proper sleep.
• After Liu Hao slept, a furious woman appeared in his dream, scolded him for keeping his spiritual body tense, and kicked him awake; he found a faint warmth on the Asauchi’s hilt.
• Liu Hao changed his routine to include sleep, then dreamed of the woman again, learned that she was the source of his Soul Reaper power, and received instructions to circulate Reiatsu through the Asauchi rather than simply pour it in.
• Liu Hao began using the woman’s method to build a continuous connection with his Asauchi, while she declared that they had finally stepped onto the stage of Soul Society together.

Liu Hao’s Asauchi transformed into a Tang Dao, bringing him closer to Shikai, but he avoided Sōsuke Aizen’s class to protect himself from Kyōka Suigetsu. After Aizen investigated his fabricated injury, Liu Hao left the encounter wary of Aizen and determined to grow stronger with his Zanpakuto.

• Liu Hao awakened his Asauchi into a Tang Dao, though he still did not know its name, and Renji Abarai congratulated him on nearing Shikai.
• After Renji told him Sōsuke Aizen would demonstrate Kyōka Suigetsu, Liu Hao feigned a Kidō injury and asked Renji to repeat that explanation if anyone questioned his absence.
• In his consciousness space, Liu Hao’s Zanpakuto spirit called him a coward, then attacked him in a training session and warned him that Aizen had found his actual body.
• Sōsuke Aizen accompanied Renji to the dormitory and used Kaidō to examine Liu Hao, who woke and maintained his story about an advanced Bakudō backfiring.
• Aizen accepted Liu Hao’s explanation and left; Liu Hao then reflected on the danger Aizen posed and resolved to keep training with his Zanpakuto.

After Aizen visited Liu Hao, Liu Hao trained harshly with the woman in his inner world and discovered his injuries had healed, while she withheld her name until his Reiatsu could withstand Shikai. Three years passed, and Liu Hao chose a Fourth Division medical internship as Renji Abarai prepared for Hollow combat training, setting their academy paths on different courses.

• Gin Ichimaru questioned Aizen about his visit to Liu Hao, and Aizen dismissed Liu Hao as an insignificant piece who did not yet warrant concern.
• Liu Hao resumed training with the Zanpakuto woman, who attacked him until his consciousness was badly weakened and explained that he was not ready to learn her name or use Shikai.
• Liu Hao woke from meditation to find his real injuries healed, while the woman revealed that she had restored him and feared Shikai would overwhelm his body.
• Over the following three years, Liu Hao improved through nightly training, Renji Abarai awakened Zabimaru, and the two regularly sparred at the academy.
• Nakamura Sōya announced a Fourth Division medical internship alongside the elite class's Hollow combat training, and Liu Hao registered with Isane Kotetsu.
• Liu Hao and Renji Abarai discussed their different training paths before returning to their dormitory to meditate with their Zanpakuto.

Liu Hao began his Fourth Division internship and learned how Soul Reapers treated injuries corrupted by Hollow power, while Renji Abarai joined a Hollow-hunting exercise at Shin'ō Academy. The exercise turned into a massacre when four Menos Grande trapped the students, and Liu Hao rushed to join the rescue team as Renji was struck down.

• Isane Kotetsu led Liu Hao and the other Fourth Division interns to the General Treatment Center, where they observed emergency surgery on Soul Reapers injured by a powerful Hollow in West Rukongai.
• Liu Hao practiced Kaidō on an injured 11th Division member, carefully guiding the man's Reiatsu and stabilizing his broken arm.
• Nakamura Sōya led Renji Abarai and the other students into the Hollow Hunting Training Ground, where four Menos Grande appeared and surrounded the two student groups.
• Renji Abarai, Momo Hinamori, Izuru Kira, and several other students charged the Menos Grande to protect their senior leaders, but Renji was hurled into rubble and left motionless.
• After sensing a sudden, ominous palpitation and hearing of the training accident, Liu Hao gathered emergency medical supplies and hurried to join Isane Kotetsu's rescue team.

Aizen and Gin rescued the surviving students from the Menos Grande, while Liu Hao helped save the gravely injured Renji Abarai in the Fourth Division. After recovering enough to leave the hospital, the students returned to Shin'ō Academy, with Liu Hao suspecting Aizen had engineered the attack as the larger conflict began to take shape.

• Gin Ichimaru killed one Menos Grande with Shinsō, and Sōsuke Aizen erased another with Hadō #90 before Gin dispatched the remaining two.
• Liu Hao learned that Renji Abarai had been gravely injured and joined the emergency operation, helping stabilize Renji until the surgeons saved his life.
• Momo Hinamori and Izuru Kira praised Aizen and said they hoped to serve under him, while Liu Hao privately suspected Aizen had manipulated the students' gratitude.
• Renji awoke, resolved to join the Fifth Division, and agreed with Liu Hao that they needed to grow stronger, though Liu Hao warned him about the rescue response.
• Liu Hao cared for Renji as he recovered, and Nakamura Sōya later led the surviving students back to Shin'ō Academy.

After the training-ground disaster, Liu Hao entered his soul space and confronted his Zanpakuto spirit, who forced him to face his identity as an outsider and accept himself as Liu Hao. Once he crossed that inner barrier and gained the right to wield his Zanpakuto, she revealed her true name and power: the Imperial Sword.

• Nakamura Sōya addressed the surviving students about the deaths at the Hollow Hunting Training Ground and dismissed them to recover.
• Liu Hao returned to the dormitory alone while Renji Abarai remained hospitalized in the Fourth Division, then used Tōzen to enter his soul space.
• Liu Hao’s Zanpakuto spirit attacked him and challenged his fitness to wield her, prompting him to recognize that his outsider’s detachment had kept him from fully accepting his life and bonds in Soul Society.
• Liu Hao accepted himself as Liu Hao, and his Reiatsu surged as the Zanpakuto spirit guided and stabilized it.
• Liu Hao formed a blade from Reiatsu, gained his spirit’s recognition, and manifested his Zanpakuto in its complete form within the soul space.
• Liu Hao’s Zanpakuto spirit revealed her true name, the Imperial Sword, and transformed her blade into a majestic Han sword.

Liu Hao awakened his Shikai, Imperial Sword, and learned to control its power while Imperial Princess protected him from exposing his Reiatsu. Years later, he and Renji Abarai graduated from Shin'ō Academy and chose different divisions, while Sōsuke Aizen's interest in them remained unresolved.

• Liu Hao released Imperial Sword in his soul space, and Imperial Princess told him to master its basic form before trying to develop its abilities.
• Liu Hao returned to his dormitory, discovered Imperial Sword had contained his Reiatsu, and visited Renji Abarai in the Fourth Division hospital; Rukia joined them, and Liu Hao urged Renji to recover fully and practice Tōzen.
• Over the following years, Renji Abarai recovered and trained for the 11th Division, while Liu Hao studied at Shin'ō Academy, interned with the Fourth Division, and grew more proficient with Imperial Sword.
• At graduation, Liu Hao confirmed his assignment to the Fourth Division and Renji Abarai to the 11th Division; Sōsuke Aizen invited Liu Hao to the Fifth Division, but Liu Hao chose Retsu Unohana's division out of gratitude.
• Kenpachi Zaraki blocked Sōsuke Aizen from recruiting Renji Abarai, and Aizen later told Gin Ichimaru that he would leave both young Soul Reapers to follow their chosen paths.

Liu Hao began his work in the Fourth Division and reunited with Renji Abarai and Rukia, whose closeness to Kaien Shiba made him fear the tragedy he knew was coming. He explained his fears to Kaien, who promised to protect his juniors, while Liu Hao resolved to keep trying to change the future.

• Liu Hao joined an elite medical squad under Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu and gained hands-on experience treating Soul Reapers.
• Renji Abarai and Rukia visited Liu Hao, and Rukia described how Kaien Shiba and Shiba Miyako had welcomed and cared for her.
• Liu Hao realized that Rukia's bond with Kaien could make his predicted death devastating, so he asked Rukia to introduce him and Renji to Kaien.
• Kaien Shiba joined the friends at a gathering, befriended Liu Hao and Renji, and gave them combat guidance.
• Kaien visited Liu Hao and asked why he seemed wary of the closeness between Kaien and the others; Liu Hao explained his fear of Rukia suffering the pain of losing him.
• Kaien promised to protect Liu Hao, Rukia, and Renji, and Liu Hao felt their conversation had begun to change the course of events.

Liu Hao revealed to Kaien Shiba the future in which Kaien and Shiba Miyako died because of a modified Hollow, and urged him to keep Miyako away from the front lines. He warned Kaien to conceal what he had learned, then left him alone to face the choice.

• Liu Hao told Kaien that he had witnessed a possible future in which Rukia killed Kaien while he was possessed by the Hollow Metastacia.
• Liu Hao explained that the mastermind behind the captain Hollowfication Incident planned to use Metastacia to merge with Miyako, then Kaien, leading to their deaths and Rukia's lasting trauma.
• Liu Hao proposed that Miyako leave her Third Seat duties and avoid missions, while Kaien worried that doing so could put other Soul Reapers at risk.
• Liu Hao warned that a hidden enemy could trap people in a false reality through Dream Weaving and said they needed to build strength before acting.
• Kaien asked about Isshin Shiba and learned that his future wife, Masaki Kurosaki, would die, but Liu Hao said he could not change that chain of events.
• Liu Hao ordered Kaien to keep their discussion secret and left, while Kaien remained on the hillside, uncertain whether to follow the advice.

Liu Hao challenged Kaien Shiba to a duel and revealed his extraordinary Reiatsu and Zanpakuto, Imperial Sword. Kaien released Nejibana and met Liu Hao in an even clash inside the Four Symbols Barrier.

• Liu Hao challenged Kaien Shiba to fight and decide their future, then overwhelmed him with powerful sword strikes and a Byakurai attack.
• Liu Hao raised the Four Symbols Barrier to isolate their Reiatsu and unleashed the full force of his unusual spiritual pressure.
• Liu Hao released Imperial Sword, first in an incomplete form and then in its full gold-and-red dragon form after reciting its complete release command.
• Kaien Shiba released Nejibana, and he and Liu Hao fought evenly with sword and spear inside the barrier.
• Liu Hao praised Nejibana’s beauty and recalled how a counterfeit of it had nearly killed Rukia Kuchiki.

Liu Hao and Kaien Shiba escalated their battle, trading long-range attacks until both revealed abilities that could control and redirect their weapons. The chapter ended with Kaien trapping Liu Hao in a ring of pursuing rain swords as Liu Hao prepared to unleash more of his power.

• Liu Hao pressured Kaien Shiba with calculated sword strikes, then summoned hundreds of golden sword rays that forced Kaien to defend with Nejibana.
• Kaien countered with a huge water column, but Liu Hao reflected it with Water Mirror and froze Kaien’s defensive water wall before Kaien escaped and dodged the resulting ice blades.
• Liu Hao summoned a thousand tracking swords and drove Kaien toward him, then used spatial ripples to redirect the swords and regroup them behind himself.
• Kaien unleashed a massive water vortex that split into rain swords, then combined water slashes and transformed droplets into another barrage against Liu Hao.
• Kaien made the spent rain swords and dispersed water vapor reform and encircle Liu Hao, who began releasing more of his golden-red Reiatsu.

Liu Hao revealed the Imperial Flame’s overwhelming power and defeated Kaien Shiba in their spar, then secured Kaien’s agreement to withdraw Miyako from the front lines. He warned Kaien about Metastacia and the need to hide their conversation, leaving Kaien to consider the enemy who had framed Kisuke Urahara.

• Liu Hao unleashed the Imperial Flame, evaporating Kaien Shiba’s water attacks and steadily drying and heating the entire barrier.
• Liu Hao overwhelmed Kaien in a close-range duel, then summoned five pillars of fire and hundreds of flaming blades, forcing Kaien to concede.
• Liu Hao told Kaien he had to trust him because otherwise Liu Hao would have killed him to protect the secrets he had revealed.
• Kaien agreed to have Miyako leave the front lines and return to division duties.
• Liu Hao warned Kaien about Metastacia’s ability to erase a Zanpakuto and fuse with a Soul Reaper, then told him to act as if their meeting had never happened.
• Liu Hao said their enemy could see what he wanted and cited Kisuke Urahara’s framing as proof.