Chapter Summaries

After their battle, Liu Hao warned Kaien Shiba to conceal what they knew and used his Zanpakuto’s time barrier to erase the battlefield’s damage. Back in the Seireitei, Kaien arranged for Shiba Miyako to leave her combat post for her protection, while Liu Hao considered the first step of his plan complete.

• Liu Hao told Kaien Shiba to act normally and conceal their suspicions, then explained that they needed to pretend to dislike one another.
• Liu Hao sealed and dispersed the Four Symbols Barrier, restoring the battlefield to its pre-fight state through his Zanpakuto’s time ability.
• Kaien Shiba returned to the Seireitei with Liu Hao, kept their encounter casual around Rukia Kuchiki, and went to speak with Jūshirō Ukitake.
• Kaien Shiba asked Jūshirō Ukitake to move Shiba Miyako from Third Seat to a clerical position, and Ukitake agreed despite suspecting Kaien was hiding something.
• Kaien Shiba asked Shiba Miyako to accept the transfer for their protection, and she agreed after he apologized for deciding without consulting her.
• Liu Hao watched the lights of Kaien Shiba’s room from his own quarters and concluded that the first step of his plan was complete.

Aizen sought to recruit Liu Hao into the Fifth Division, prompting Unohana to investigate why Liu Hao avoided him and his Shikai. Unohana uncovered Liu Hao’s deliberate absences from Aizen’s demonstrations and resolved to watch him closely, protecting him if Aizen proved dangerous.

• Over several years, Kaien Shiba repeatedly encountered Hollows resembling Metastacia, while Liu Hao avoided discussing the threat and visited the Thirteenth Division less often.
• Liu Hao earned recognition as a healer and was promoted to Fifth Seat of the Fourth Division.
• Aizen asked Unohana to transfer Liu Hao to the Fifth Division to lead a rescue team combining medical and combat skills.
• Liu Hao refused the transfer, and Unohana agreed to decline Aizen’s request while considering a Fourth Division medical escort unit proposed by Liu Hao.
• Unohana ordered Isane Kotetsu to investigate Liu Hao’s records and discovered that he had avoided every Shin'ō Academy class where Aizen demonstrated Kyōka Suigetsu.
• After concluding Liu Hao feared Aizen’s Shikai despite knowing details about its hidden danger, Unohana resolved to keep watch and protect Liu Hao if Aizen threatened him.

Unohana secured approval from Yamamoto and Aizen to establish the Medical Guard Team within the Fourth Division, then appointed Liu Hao to lead its training. Liu Hao refused Aizen’s transfer offer and privately considered how to survive Aizen’s scrutiny while Isane took him to meet the team’s initial recruits.

• Unohana proposed forming a Medical Guard Team in the Fourth Division, and Yamamoto approved the plan.
• Aizen agreed to the team’s placement but again invited Liu Hao to join the Fifth Division; Liu Hao firmly refused.
• Unohana named Liu Hao captain of the Medical Guard Team and assigned him to train its members.
• After Aizen left, Liu Hao privately worried that Aizen was probing him and considered risking Kyōka Suigetsu’s hypnosis to mislead him.
• Isane told Liu Hao that the initial recruits were assembled and that a training ground was planned; she then led him toward the General Treatment Center.

Liu Hao established the Medical Guard Team’s rules and began training its members, then asked Unohana to train him so he could become strong enough to lead them. After revealing he knew her past as Yachiru and wanted to prevent her death at Zaraki’s hands, he followed her to a battle space and began a fierce swordfight.

• Liu Hao set four iron rules for the Medical Guard Team, and the members fetched their Zanpakuto and medical packs before starting weighted physical training.
• Liu Hao told Unohana that the team needed stronger leaders and asked her to train him personally.
• Liu Hao revealed Unohana’s past as Yachiru and said he knew how to awaken Zaraki’s sealed power, but wanted to do it himself to keep Unohana from dying.
• Unohana agreed to train Liu Hao after warning him that her training could kill him, then led him to a private battle space.
• Unohana and Liu Hao clashed with their Zanpakuto, and she praised his unfamiliar, self-created swordsmanship before demanding more from him.

Liu Hao fought Unohana, revealed the Imperial Sword’s fuller Shikai and healing ability, then continued training while hoping to earn her guidance. When the Imperial Princess materialized and challenged him, their battle unleashed his elemental powers and drew Unohana and Isane Kotetsu to watch.

• Liu Hao fought Unohana for about fifteen minutes, suffered severe wounds, and released the Imperial Sword’s fuller Shikai after Unohana told him he would die otherwise.
• The Imperial Sword healed Liu Hao’s wounds, but Unohana defeated him through superior swordsmanship and told him to train harder before seeking to please her.
• Liu Hao trained the medical escort squad by day and honed his own abilities at night, while waiting for Unohana to guide him again.
• The Imperial Princess materialized in the white space and challenged Liu Hao to prove he could master his power and begin training for Bankai.
• Liu Hao and the Imperial Princess fought with their full strength, using powers tied to the elements, while Unohana and Isane Kotetsu watched and Unohana sealed the space to conceal the battle.

Liu Hao lost his duel with Imperial Princess, whose strength drew Unohana into a fierce battle inside the sealed white space. The chapter left Unohana facing Imperial Princess’s provocation about using Bankai.

• Unohana watched Liu Hao and Imperial Princess unleash their full Reiatsu, while Isane Kotetsu saw Unohana’s dormant desire for battle awaken.
• Liu Hao and Imperial Princess clashed their Five Phases attacks, creating a brief void that annihilated everything within thirty zhang before space repaired itself.
• Imperial Princess defeated Liu Hao in their final sword clash, then invited Unohana into the barrier and challenged her to test her strength.
• Unohana and Imperial Princess released their Reiatsu and fought at full strength, trading dozens of sword blows and countering each other’s hidden and summoned weapons.
• Imperial Princess claimed her strength was limited because Liu Hao had not fully awakened and challenged Unohana to use Bankai, asking whether she had noticed something.

Unohana and Imperial Princess fought with swordsmanship before Unohana released her Bankai, Minazuki, and the two clashed their strongest attacks until the Bankai was undone. Imperial Princess returned to the Imperial Sword, and Unohana took the unconscious Liu Hao back to the Fourth Division, left wondering what he knew about Soul Society’s past and future.

• Imperial Princess explained that the Imperial Sword held power Liu Hao had not yet grown strong enough to wield, and Unohana realized his potential exceeded her expectations.
• Unohana and Imperial Princess resumed their duel using only swordsmanship, wounding and healing themselves until Imperial Princess challenged Unohana to use her Bankai.
• Unohana activated Minazuki, filling the white space with a sea of blood that strengthened her and eroded Imperial Princess.
• Imperial Princess and Unohana exchanged their strongest attacks, neutralizing the sea of blood and leaving Imperial Princess exhausted and unable to continue.
• Imperial Princess returned to the Imperial Sword, and Unohana found Liu Hao unconscious, then ordered Isane Kotetsu to take him to rest.
• Unohana took the Imperial Sword to her office and healed Liu Hao while considering Imperial Princess's claims about his knowledge of Soul Society.

After waking from his overtraining, Liu Hao admitted to Unohana that the Imperial Sword had shown him Soul Society’s possible futures and that he wanted to change her fate. He explained why he had avoided Aizen and began to reveal what he had seen about Kaien Shiba and Rukia Kuchiki.

• Liu Hao woke in Unohana’s private room and learned that he had slept for a day after collapsing during training.
• Unohana asked whether Liu Hao had seen possible futures, and he admitted that he had seen her fight Zaraki in Muken and die after passing on the Kenpachi title.
• Liu Hao summoned Imperial Princess, who created a barrier against outside observation, and he revealed that the Imperial Sword controlled time and space and had shown him Soul Society’s history and possible futures.
• Liu Hao told Unohana that he wanted to change her fate and challenged her belief that she had to die to pass on the Kenpachi title; Unohana ended their discussion of the title.
• Unohana asked why Liu Hao wanted to change Kaien Shiba’s and Rukia Kuchiki’s fates, and Liu Hao said that Rukia had suffered a difficult fate.

Liu Hao told Unohana how Aizen’s experiments had shaped Rukia’s original tragedy and revealed that Kyōka Suigetsu used Complete Hypnosis. He explained the known way to resist it, while Unohana proposed that touching the blade might also break the hypnosis, a possibility they had not tested.

• Liu Hao explained that Hisana had abandoned Rukia in Rukongai, later married Byakuya Kuchiki, and died before finding her; he said he had arranged for the sisters to meet earlier.
• Liu Hao revealed that Aizen’s experiments had made Kaien Shiba and his wife victims, and that Rukia would have killed Kaien while he was controlled by Metastacia.
• Liu Hao told Unohana that Aizen had used Kyōka Suigetsu’s Complete Hypnosis to deceive witnesses, and that seeing its release triggered the ability.
• Liu Hao identified Kaname Tōsen as Aizen’s ally and Gin Ichimaru as an undercover agent seeking to recover what Aizen’s subordinates had taken from Rangiku Matsumoto.
• Liu Hao said Gin had learned to avoid the hypnosis by touching Kyōka Suigetsu’s blade just before its release, and Unohana suggested that touching the blade might also free someone already hypnotized.

Liu Hao told Unohana about Aizen’s ambitions, Yhwach’s return, the Soul King’s origins, and her own future death, warning her not to reveal the information because Yhwach could perceive events through the Almighty. Unohana agreed to verify his predictions, leaving Liu Hao aware that changing fate could disrupt his plans.

• Liu Hao told Unohana that Aizen planned to replace the Soul King and explained how Aizen’s experiments led to Isshin Shiba losing his powers, Masaki Kurosaki’s death, and Ichigo’s birth.
• Liu Hao revealed that Yhwach would return, kill Yamamoto, and ultimately be defeated by Ichigo Kurosaki, Uryū Ishida, and Aizen before becoming the new Soul King.
• Liu Hao explained that the original Soul King, Adnyeus, had been mutilated and sealed by the ancestors of the Five Great Noble Clans, and warned Unohana not to share the secrets because Yhwach could perceive them.
• Liu Hao told Unohana that she would die fighting Zaraki, and she asked whether she could tell Yamamoto before agreeing to watch for evidence of Liu Hao’s predictions.
• Unohana left to consider what she had learned, while the Imperial Princess warned Liu Hao that Unohana might take actions that disrupted his plans.

Unohana learned that Metastacia had attacked a Thirteenth Division patrol and recognized the Hollow from Liu Hao’s warning. After Liu Hao recovered, Kaien Shiba thanked him for helping protect Miyako, but Liu Hao warned him to keep their secret as Sōsuke Aizen arrived at the Fourth Division barracks.

• Unohana heard that Metastacia had controlled a Third Seat and wiped out a Thirteenth Division patrol before Captain Ukitake and Lieutenant Shiba destroyed it.
• Kaien Shiba told Unohana that Metastacia could control Soul Reapers and make Zanpakuto disappear, confirming Liu Hao’s warning about Aizen’s experiments.
• Unohana left Liu Hao asleep and considered whether his predictions about future events were reliable.
• After recovering, Liu Hao told Kaien Shiba not to discuss Metastacia or his warning, especially after sensing Aizen nearby.
• Aizen asked Liu Hao and Kaien Shiba about the Hollow attack, and Liu Hao deferred the answer to Kaien because he had not been present.

Aizen questioned Kaien Shiba and Liu Hao about Metastacia, then invited the Medical Guard Team to train with the Fifth Division while continuing to scrutinize Liu Hao. Several days later, Aizen and Momo Hinamori visited the training grounds, where Hinamori spoke privately with Liu Hao as Aizen watched; the teams began sparring practice.

• Kaien told Aizen that the injured were recovering and that the Twelfth Division had taken Metastacia's body for study.
• Aizen described the classified Hollowfication Incident and suggested Metastacia was part of a reverse experiment, then probed Kaien and Liu Hao about their knowledge and abilities.
• Liu Hao and Kaien declined Aizen's invitation to investigate, citing their duties, and agreed to keep his claims confidential while Liu Hao arranged for Fifth Division members to train the Medical Guard Team.
• Several days later, Aizen, Hinamori, and experienced Fifth Division members arrived at the training grounds, where Aizen instructed the Medical Guard Team in rescue tactics and teamwork.
• Hinamori caught up with Liu Hao and mentioned that Kira thought he had changed, while Liu Hao remained wary of Aizen's attention.
• Aizen finished his instruction and split the Fifth Division and Medical Guard Team into groups for sparring practice.

Liu Hao asked Sōsuke Aizen to teach the Medical Guard Team about Shikai, giving him a chance to observe Kyōka Suigetsu firsthand. After Aizen released it and hypnotized everyone present, Liu Hao learned how its power worked and resolved to find a way to counter it.

• Sōsuke Aizen advised Liu Hao that the Medical Guard Team needed more combat training and Shikai experience, and Liu Hao asked him to demonstrate Shikai.
• Aizen explained how Reiatsu and resonance with a Zanpakuto enabled Shikai, then released Kyōka Suigetsu using the command “Mesmerize.”
• Liu Hao sensed a faint Reiryoku fluctuation in the mist as Imperial Princess explained that Kyōka Suigetsu implanted Reiryoku Seeds through sight to alter perception.
• Imperial Princess told Liu Hao that removing or disabling the Seeds could theoretically break the hypnosis, but he would have to discover how himself.
• Liu Hao realized everyone present had become a target of Aizen’s Complete Hypnosis and resolved to seek a way to resist it.

Liu Hao demonstrated the Imperial Sword’s Shikai before the Medical Guard Team, while Aizen’s Kyōka Suigetsu concealed that their entire exchange with him was an illusion. The Imperial Princess explained that Liu Hao was nearing the level required to pursue Bankai, but he first had to master the full range of his Shikai abilities.

• Aizen questioned Liu Hao about Kyōka Suigetsu and invited him to demonstrate his Zanpakuto’s Shikai.
• Liu Hao released the Imperial Sword, and the team members laughed at his dramatic release phrase before he explained his combat and healing abilities.
• Aizen praised Liu Hao’s training approach, then left with Momo Hinamori.
• The Imperial Princess revealed that Aizen had never approached them and that Kyōka Suigetsu had made Liu Hao and the team speak to an illusion.
• The Imperial Princess explained that Bankai depended on understanding and controlling one’s own power, and that Liu Hao needed to master his Shikai before beginning Bankai training.
• Liu Hao resolved to master the Imperial Sword’s remaining Shikai abilities and grow strong enough to face future threats.

After years of training to detect and suppress the foreign Reishi planted by Aizen and Yhwach, Liu Hao secretly demonstrated his spatial barrier ability to Unohana and warned her that someone could spy through shadows. Unohana then confirmed that Isshin Shiba had encountered a strange black Menos Grande in the World of the Living, and Liu Hao recognized that White had appeared.

• Liu Hao discovered dormant Kyōka Suigetsu seeds attached to his nervous system and unusual Reishi spread throughout his spiritual body, which he suspected came from Yhwach.
• Liu Hao trained to control his Reishi, learned to partially block the foreign particles, and fooled Sōsuke Aizen into believing he remained fully hypnotized.
• Kaien Shiba urgently brought Liu Hao aside, and Unohana joined them after sensing their presence.
• In Unohana’s concealed training room, Liu Hao used the Imperial Sword’s “Isolate All Things” to separate the barrier room into another dimension and warned that observers could spy through shadows.
• Unohana revealed that Isshin Shiba had encountered a strange black Menos Grande in the World of the Living, and Liu Hao recognized the arrival of White.

Liu Hao and Unohana discussed how to preserve contact with Isshin Shiba without alerting Aizen, then Liu Hao secretly marked Isshin and Kaien Shiba’s Reiatsu in Isshin’s body during treatment. Isshin accepted the means of communication, leaving the three able to contact one another in the future.

• Liu Hao told Unohana and Kaien Shiba that Isshin would choose to remain in the World of the Living and that his future wife would die, prompting them to plan how to save her and keep in touch with him.
• Liu Hao proposed inviting Isshin to the Medical Guard Team under the pretext of combat instruction and warned Kaien to wait until they could avoid Aizen’s surveillance.
• Kaien brought Isshin to the training ground, where Isshin instructed the team while Liu Hao noticed Aizen’s people watching them.
• Isshin asked Liu Hao to treat his mission wound, and Liu Hao used Kaidō to place a communication mark made from his and Kaien’s Reiatsu inside Isshin.
• Liu Hao healed Isshin’s wound with Kaidō and the Imperial Sword, then explained the mark and asked Isshin to respond when they needed his help; Isshin nodded in acceptance.

Liu Hao and Unohana left Reiatsu marks in Isshin Shiba as beacons, but Liu Hao refused to interfere when Isshin lost his powers saving Masaki Kurosaki in the World of the Living. After Isshin’s disappearance led to Tōshirō Hitsugaya’s appointment as captain of the Tenth Division, Hitsugaya confronted Liu Hao, and their exchange ended in a tense standoff.

• Liu Hao and Unohana discussed the secret surveillance of Isshin Shiba and agreed to wait rather than intervene rashly.
• Isshin Shiba lost his Soul Reaper powers while saving Masaki Kurosaki from White, then settled in the World of the Living as Isshin Kurosaki with the Reiatsu marks still inside him.
• After the Gotei 13 declared Isshin Shiba missing, Kaien Shiba urged Liu Hao to go help him, but Liu Hao insisted they wait.
• Tōshirō Hitsugaya became captain of the Tenth Division and reopened the investigation into Isshin Shiba’s disappearance.
• Tōshirō Hitsugaya accused Liu Hao of knowing more about Isshin Shiba’s disappearance, and Liu Hao challenged his evidence as Rangiku Matsumoto prepared for a possible fight.

Unohana brought Liu Hao, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, and Rangiku Matsumoto to her private training space, where she promised to reveal what she knew about Captain Shiba's disappearance if Hitsugaya defeated Liu Hao. Their duel drew several Gotei 13 captains and Vice-Captains, and after Hitsugaya's released Hyōrinmaru failed to finish Liu Hao, Liu Hao released the Imperial Sword and began the fight's second round.

• Unohana stopped Tōshirō Hitsugaya's confrontation with Liu Hao, and Liu Hao captured a Soul Reaper who had been spying on the Fourth Division before Unohana sent him away with a warning.
• Unohana offered to reveal the truth about Captain Shiba's disappearance and other matters if Hitsugaya defeated Liu Hao in her private training space.
• Isane Kotetsu activated the barrier as Liu Hao and Hitsugaya began their duel, while several Gotei 13 captains and Vice-Captains arrived to watch.
• Hitsugaya released Hyōrinmaru and trapped Liu Hao's arm in ice, but Liu Hao broke free, counterattacked with Byakurai, and avoided being defeated.
• Liu Hao released the Imperial Sword, summoning the apparition of the Imperial Princess, and announced the start of the second round.

Liu Hao overwhelmed Tōshirō Hitsugaya’s Bankai with the Imperial Sword’s flames, countering his ice techniques and revealing that he knew Hitsugaya’s abilities and the circumstances of Captain Shiba’s disappearance. The spar ended on the brink of turning hostile as Liu Hao warned Hitsugaya to stop investigating.

• Liu Hao used Imperial Flame to burn away Hitsugaya’s ice dragons and weather attack, forcing Hitsugaya to release Daiguren Hyōrinmaru.
• Liu Hao created the Blazing Graveyard to counter Hitsugaya’s freezing domain, then identified Hyōten Hyakkasō before Hitsugaya used it.
• Hitsugaya’s ice petals and Ryūsenka failed to stop Liu Hao, who escaped the ice pillar and exposed Hitsugaya’s Ice Image trick.
• Liu Hao told Hitsugaya that he knew about his abilities and Captain Shiba’s disappearance, and urged him to stop pursuing the matter.
• Hitsugaya insisted on learning the truth, and Liu Hao answered with killing intent, warning him not to meddle in what Captain Shiba could not resolve.

Liu Hao defeated Tōshirō Hitsugaya in a spar, forcing him to release his Bankai and acknowledge the loss. After the others left, Unohana suspected Liu Hao had sensed Aizen watching them through Kyōka Suigetsu.

• Liu Hao overwhelmed Tōshirō Hitsugaya with close-range attacks and Imperial Flame, damaging his Bankai and leaving only one Ice Flower.
• Tōshirō Hitsugaya launched a final ice attack, but Liu Hao's flames melted it and his Pillar of Flame Formation forced Hitsugaya to release Bankai and concede.
• Unohana dismissed the visiting captains, while Liu Hao gave Shunsui Kyōraku a guarded explanation for the spar and noticed Aizen was still observing them through Kyōka Suigetsu.
• Liu Hao advised Tōshirō Hitsugaya to avoid using Bankai casually until his body and Reiatsu matured, and Hitsugaya left with Rangiku Matsumoto.
• Liu Hao returned to the barracks to rest, and Unohana wondered whether he could sense or resist Kyōka Suigetsu.