Original God, But Chat Group

And Captain Aizen did use Kyōka Suigetsu on Li Yue, but what surprised Aizen was that his Kyōka Suigetsu seemed to have no effect on Li Yue at all. While Li Yue was talking with Gin Ichimaru, the nearby Gin was completely under its control and couldn't see him, but Li Yue clearly could. As he spun his freshly made-up story for Gin, he kept making eyes at Aizen. Gin, absorbed in the tale, didn't notice, but Aizen saw it all clearly.

After finishing his chat with Gin, Li Yue even raised an eyebrow at Aizen and flashed a peace sign. Godfather, how was my story just now?

The meaning behind Li Yue's little gestures made Aizen's mouth twitch as he realized: his Kyōka Suigetsu was useless against Li Yue.

Was it Li Yue's inherent trait or ability? Aizen's mind immediately started churning through possibilities, marking Li Yue as a threat and considering how to eliminate him.

But after a brief deliberation, Aizen gave up. In his view, Li Yue was easy to understand—he did whatever he found interesting, and if you treated him well, he'd treat you well in return. This was clear from Li Yue willingly revealing that he could take people across worlds; he hadn't tried to hide anything. He also didn't care about so-called justice or the bigger picture. So all Aizen had to do was get along with Li Yue, and he'd get immensely satisfying returns from him. Once he figured that out, Aizen's gaze toward Li Yue softened.

After flashing the peace sign at Aizen, Li Yue and Gin decided to put on a show together. After all, their stated reason for coming out was to spar and decide who was Aizen's most capable assistant. If their Reiatsu stayed quiet the whole time, it would be too fake.

What Gin didn't know was that Aizen was right there watching them act.

So, with a teaching mindset, Gin very politely sparred with Li Yue. Based on Li Yue's claim that the remaining Shinigami would at most be Vice-Captain level, and Li Yue's youthful appearance, Gin figured Li Yue's combat ability wasn't much.

And it turned out Li Yue's combat ability really wasn't much. In Gin's eyes, Li Yue's Flash Step was passable, but his sword swings relied mostly on brute force, and he couldn't even skip the incantation for Kido. The only thing worth noting was his Zanpakuto's ability.

The ability to cut space—a Zanpakuto with that power was extremely rare. For anyone unfamiliar with Li Yue's abilities, this blade could easily pull off surprise kills on first encounter. Even if he couldn't win in a fight, he could use the Portal to tactically retreat. No wonder Rangiku had chosen him to be sent to this era teeming with monsters to change history.

With both sides just messing around, Gin easily schooled Li Yue. Li Yue didn't mind; he knew that for now, he had Reiatsu on par with Kensei Muguruma, but against a Captain-level Shinigami of the same tier, if he didn't win with a first strike, he'd likely lose in a prolonged fight.

But! Strength was temporary—looking cool with your moves was eternal!

"Hmph! Keep that title of most capable assistant for now, but sooner or later, I'll take it from you. I'll prove who's truly Godfather's top general!"

After the spar, Li Yue instantly switched faces, slipping into acting mode. He shot Gin a disdainful look and spat out the trash talk only that man deserved. This made Gin's mouth twitch as he inwardly wondered if Li Yue had been chosen by Rangiku Matsumoto from the future not because of his Zanpakuto's ability, but because of his talent for flipping faces.

"Well then, Li Yue-kun, I'll be waiting."

Gin kept his smile, showing great tolerance for this junior from the future.

"Alright, Captain Aizen is still waiting for us. Time to head back."

"Hmph, I don't need you to tell me that!"

Li Yue, looking annoyed, used Flash Step to bolt off. Gin's eyelid twitched, and he followed with his own Flash Step.

Aizen had already left after Li Yue declared he'd prove who was the top general. After all, at that point, Aizen should have been on his way to the lab, waiting for them.

"Godfather!"

Li Yue, with Gin deliberately holding back, arrived in front of Aizen first.

"I'm so sorry, Godfather, I let you down. I couldn't take back the position of your most capable assistant from that squinty-eyed guy."

"It's fine, Li Yue-kun. You're still young, with plenty of room to grow. I believe you'll one day surpass me and become even stronger."

Aizen maintained his usual calm smile.

"Li Yue-kun sure holds a grudge. Just a moment ago, he was calling me Gin, and now he's calling me squinty-eyed."

Gin arrived right after, chiming in with a grin.

"Tch, squinty eyes. Godfather said I'll surpass you sooner or later!"

"Hee hee, so should I strike first before Li Yue-kun surpasses me?"

As he spoke, Gin started releasing killing intent toward Li Yue, his right hand even touching his sword hilt, acting like he was about to take Li Yue out before he could grow.

"Alright, Gin. Li Yue is still young."

Aizen spoke, ending their little act.

"Let's go. Since Li Yue-kun is here, I'll take him to our new lab."

"Taking Li Yue-kun straight to the new lab—looks like Captain Aizen really trusts him."

"Ah, Gin, I can tell you this."

Aizen's eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses narrowed slightly.

"My trust in Li Yue-kun even surpasses my trust in you."

"Looks like Li Yue-kun is quite a threat to me in Captain Aizen's eyes."

Gin deliberately set up a stance of rivalry with Li Yue.

"Let's go. My new research should be yielding results today."

Aizen's new research lab outside the Seireitei—Gin had never been there either. This was his first visit, because what was being studied there wasn't the Shinigami Hollowfication of before, nor the Arrancar's Shinigami Transformation in Hueco Mundo, but the Elemental Power from the world of Teyvat.

"Li Yue-kun, I infused the three elements you gave me into test souls, and the results were quite interesting."

"Oh? What effects did they have?"

Hearing Li Yue's question, Gin was full of curiosity. Three elements? What elements? Were they elements Li Yue brought back from the future? But neither Li Yue nor Aizen would explain it to him; he'd have to piece it together himself.

"I integrated the Elemental Power you gave me into the souls, and successfully gave them the traits of the corresponding elements. Through spirit particle conversion, they can continuously generate Elemental Power from their own Reishi. The stronger the Reiatsu, the stronger the generated Elemental Power."

"You mean—!"

Li Yue's face lit up with surprise, and Aizen gave a slight nod.

"Yes. Those souls can now use Elemental Power."

39. Sacrificing Zhongli, Becoming a Happy Wind Boy

"With the Geo Element at first, after I integrated it into the souls, they developed a trait of toughness, like an Arrancar's Hierro. But I didn't Hollowfy those souls—their skin passively showed a similar effect to Hierro, greatly boosting their defense. After testing, I found their skin was rich in Geo Element."

"Next is the Anemo element. After the Anemo element was integrated into the soul, the soul awakened the power of wind. From time to time, gusts of wind would surge around the soul. Unfortunately, since it's still in the experimental stage, this soul cannot move freely, so we can't yet understand the specific properties of those winds."

"Finally, there's the Dendro element. The soul implanted with the Dendro element showed plant-like growth on its limbs, and its body exhibited varying degrees of fibrosis. Yet it remains alive, and around it, the activity of Reishi has improved noticeably, also affecting the surrounding environment."

Aizen explained the changes in the souls fused with the three elements to Li Yue-kun as he led him into the laboratory he had established in the Soul Society.

Inside three massive glass pillars floated three artificial souls, each a faceless white humanoid. But Li Yue-kun could see the manifestations of the different elements on these white forms. The soul fused with the Geo element had a golden shimmer on its skin, with parts of the surface covered in metal. The soul fused with the Anemo element showed almost no change itself, but green ripples in the air around it spun continuously. The soul fused with the Dendro element had changed the most—its limbs had turned into branches, making it look like a tree-man.

"It's a pity, Li Yue-kun. The Elemental Power reserves you provided are still insufficient. With the amount you gave me, I can only reach this level of research. But since you've come now, the next phase of Elemental Power research should become much easier."

Aizen pushed up his glasses, looking at Li Yue-kun with excitement. Originally, obtaining Elemental Power polymers required Li Yue-kun to send them through the Chat Group. But now that Li Yue-kun could bring people across worlds, acquiring Elemental Power had suddenly become far simpler!

According to Li Yue-kun, the Teyvat continent was a world brimming with Elemental Power. As long as Li Yue-kun opened a gate to Teyvat, he could draw vast amounts of Elemental Power from it for research.

Li Yue-kun, meanwhile, watched the three artificial souls and nodded repeatedly. As expected of Aizen—just by giving him a bit of Elemental Power polymer, he had already produced results like this.

"To reach this level with only your first contact with Elemental Power, Yifu, you're already the strongest researcher I've ever seen."

"Especially in producing Elemental Power. In my understanding, Elemental Power is energy that exists in nature. For humans to use it, they need a Vision—an external organ—to extract energy from nature and convert it into their own Elemental Power. But these souls can directly convert their own Reishi into the corresponding Elemental Power. That means they can still use elemental energy even in an environment without Elemental Power."

"The only downside is that, aside from the Anemo element, the fusion results for the other two elements are honestly pretty ugly."

Even though Li Yue-kun had already obtained the power of a Shinigami, he still had his eye on Elemental Power. Since Zhongli was stingy and wouldn't give him a Vision, if Aizen could help him gain Elemental Power, he'd definitely take it. But the look after this fusion was really unappealing.

"That's because the method I'm researching differs from the way you described Elemental Power being used, Li Yue-kun."

Aizen's approach to studying Elemental Power was to integrate it into the soul. This was what the scientists of the Shinigami world excelled at—they were masters at modifying and studying souls. Meanwhile, the Original Gods of Teyvat used Elemental Power through external magical organs like Visions, not by embedding it in the soul.

For Li Yue-kun, Aizen's method of acquiring Elemental Power was more convenient. The Elemental Power driven by a Vision was essentially borrowed from the Teyvat world, whereas Aizen's method—integrating it into the soul and then converting Reishi into Elemental Power—relied on oneself to generate it. This self-sustaining approach was undoubtedly better suited for use in other worlds.

Venti and Nahida could still use Elemental Power in the mortal world because they were Demon Gods themselves, inherently containing vast amounts of Elemental Power. But the Original Gods using Visions were not like that, and Li Yue-kun naturally didn't want such a weakness.

Yes, Aizen's modification—giving souls Elemental Power and the ability to generate it themselves—was closer to directly transforming someone into a Demon God, just a weaker one without the corresponding authorities compared to those on Teyvat. That was far better than becoming an Original God reliant on a Vision.

But looks were power! In Li Yue-kun's book, he wanted strength, and he wanted good looks too! As the saying went, being strong was temporary, but being cool was forever!

"If only it could look a bit better."

Li Yue-kun's obsession with appearance left Aizen quite helpless. Back when he was spoiling things in the Chat Group, Li Yue-kun had mocked his evolved form for being an ugly moth. Now, he was demanding good looks even for the form after fusing with Elemental Power.

"Li Yue-kun, the Elemental Power you gave me were all basic polymers without any aesthetic bias. So when I integrated them into the souls, the traits they displayed were only the most fundamental characteristics of those elements."

Li Yue-kun understood Aizen's words. In Teyvat, the Geo element had two basic symbols: one was the Geo Slime—small ones were fine, just living rock balls, while large ones had rock shields—and the other was the Geovishap. Whether big or small, Geovishaps had various Geo material protrusions on their bodies. Both Geo Slimes and Geovishaps, like the soul before him, had metallic-shiny substances on their skin—that was the Geo element's manifestation.

The Dendro element was the same. Only the Anemo element was an exception, because wind was formless. So after fusing with the Anemo element, the soul's appearance changed relatively little.

If Li Yue-kun wanted to gain Elemental Power now without turning ugly, his only option might be to fuse the Anemo element into his own soul, transforming himself into a new, low-tier Anemo Demon God.

"So, my only choice is to sacrifice a friend and become a wind-type little boy?"

Li Yue-kun thought back to the wind boys of Teyvat. Every one of them had lost a friend, their backgrounds steeped in tragedy. But he had to admit, while the Anemo element lacked the comfort of Zhongli's shield, in terms of coolness, it was top-notch.

Except for that one Anemo Archon who couldn't even roll up a bomb, the rest of the wind boys were all stylish—the Pile-Driving Adeptus, the High-Jumping Heavenly Emperor, the One-Punch Detective, the Flying Fool. Each was more elegant and flashy than the last. That sense of grace was different from a Shinigami using Spirit Path Creation to walk through the sky. They were actually flying, while a Shinigami's Spirit Path Creation was essentially running through the air. In terms of style, a Shinigami's running was pretty low-tier.

No shield, but still pretty good. But who should he sacrifice? Who in Teyvat could be called his friend... Hu Tao? No way. Xiangling? No way either. Xingqiu? Come on, that was the Hydro Archon! It looked like he'd have to sacrifice Zhongli! Anyway, Zhongli was going to fake his death once—might as well let his mortal incarnation die again.

"Zhongli, maybe this is another form of erosion for me. Don't worry, I'll remember you!"

Just as Li Yue-kun was thinking about how to trick Zhongli into dying again back home, Aizen spoke up once more.

"Li Yue-kun, if you're really fixated on appearance, I do have another method that would let you gain Elemental Power without such external changes."

"Oh? There's another way?"

"That's right. Li Yue-kun should know what my specialty is, shouldn't he?"

Li Yue-kun immediately caught Aizen's meaning.

"Hollowfication!"

40. Target: Young Single Mother

Aizen Sousuke, captain of the Fifth Division in the Soul Society and king of Hueco Mundo—his specialty was the study of Hollowfication!

"Through the experiments integrating Elemental Power into souls, I've confirmed that fusing Elemental Power into a soul isn't difficult. But since I only have the Elemental Power polymers you gave me, Li Yue-kun, I can only reach this level. If you want to possess Elemental Power without the appearance changes caused by its traits, you could actually refer to the method of Hollowfication for the fusion."

Aizen pushed up his glasses.

"According to what you've said, Li Yue-kun, those with Elemental Power rely on Visions—external organs—to use it. But there are also some characters who can naturally use Elemental Power, aren't there?"

Demon Gods!

On the Teyvat continent, individuals who naturally mastered Elemental Power didn't need external organs like Visions to wield it.

"Just find those who can naturally use Elemental Power, obtain their souls, and then fuse those souls into yours using the Hollowfication method. That way, Li Yue-kun, you can master the power of that Demon God in a Hollowfied form, and it won't affect your personal appearance."

"But they're not Hollows. Can they still be fused?"

Li Yue-kun looked at Aizen in surprise. He knew Aizen was skilled in Hollowfication research—he had even personally stuffed a massive Hollow into his own son, Ichigo Kurosaki, leading to Ulquiorra getting killed by the Hollow inside Ichigo. But Demon Gods and Hollows were two different things.

"A Shinigami's Hollowfication is essentially just a conflict between different powers within the soul. So what's stuffed into a Shinigami's soul doesn't have to be a Hollow—it can be another soul as well."

Aizen was very certain.

"A Shinigami's Hollowfication gives them the abilities of a Hollow, specifically manifesting as a Hollow mask and basic Hollow skills like Cero and Sonído, as well as the stacking of Hollow Reiatsu on top of Shinigami Reiatsu to strengthen it. Fusing with an Elemental Power soul would awaken the abilities of the fused soul's original owner—such as the corresponding elemental attribute and any special authorities they might hold."

"However, the prerequisite for gaining power is the same as Hollowfication: you need to defeat the fused soul in your Inner World, make it submit, or use other methods to ensure your dominance—not let it take over your body."

"So, as long as I find a soul with Elemental Power, I can gain it through soul fusion without worrying about turning ugly?"

"Exactly, and it goes even deeper than that."

Aizen smiled and pointed a finger at the Test Soul beside him.

"When I infused Elemental Power into these souls, I also discovered that the souls don't reject it. Li Yue-kun, do you know what that means? It means that if you're willing, you can absorb multiple souls that hold Elemental Power to gain multiple elements—as long as you can suppress those souls within your Inner World."

Li Yue's eyes lit up. Multiple souls meant multiple Elemental Powers. That meant he could be just like the Traveler—wielding several elements at once, even triggering reactions all by himself.

And on top of that, he could finally cut Zhongli some slack! (Zhongli: ?)

"This is great. Let me think—who's on the list?"

On the Teyvat continent, Li Yue knew of several Demon God souls.

Over in Mondstadt, there was Boreas. As a Demon God, he commanded both ice and wind elements. Li Yue didn't know exactly what his authority was, but a guy controlling two elements couldn't be weak. Especially that ability to summon the Pack of Wolves—if Li Yue inherited it, he could even cosplay as Stark, the Primera Espada, and shout: Hunt them down, Pack of Wolves!

And since Li Yue was already in Mondstadt, not far from where that wolf dwelled, he could head over there. What remained of Boreas was just a lingering remnant; most of his power had already been infused into the land. Now, that wolf was merely the leader of the Wolvendom pack, responsible for offering trials to people.

Most importantly, that wolf was cool! Sure, Boreas was weak in the weekly boss fights, but he looked awesome! Having a majestic giant wolf living in his soul space—that was the vibe he wanted!

Alright, decided. He'd go back and capture Boreas later!

Liyue didn't really have any Demon God souls lying around. Back in the day, Zhongli always sealed hostile Demon Gods whenever possible, and if there was no other way, he'd kill them outright, leaving the Adepti to tirelessly cleanse the karmic debt they left behind.

As for Inazuma, the serpent that got chopped up had already scattered its soul, leaving only pure resentment. But on Narukami Island, there was still a Demon God's remnant soul.

Hidden within Raiden Ei's Dream of One Heart was the remnant soul of Makoto Raiden. Getting it directly from Ei was out of the question, but there was another theory: the Sacred Sakura Tree also held the remnant soul of Inazuma's first Electro Archon, Makoto Raiden. Her soul had been planted alongside the seed by Ei, growing into the Sacred Sakura Tree that now protected Inazuma.

He could check that out later. Compared to Boreas, Makoto might be weaker in combat, but she still wielded the Electro authority. Most importantly, Makoto was easy to talk to!

Subduing the Wolf King would definitely require a fight, but subduing Makoto? No need at all. Just tell her how messed up Inazuma was now, and she'd willingly live in Li Yue's soul space, lending him her power so he could go spank Raiden Ei!

Then there was Sumeru. Among Sumeru's three gods, the God of Flowers was a scammer, and King Deshret was a simp. Both had died so thoroughly that not even a speck of soul remained. But Greater Lord Rukkhadevata's remnant soul was still inside the World Tree. Like Makoto, Rukkhadevata's soul was easy to win over. Her biggest worry was the World Tree being corrupted by Forbidden Knowledge, so she was desperate to die, hoping to take the Forbidden Knowledge down with her. If he could strip the Forbidden Knowledge from the World Tree, she wouldn't have to die.

And since Li Yue had Nahida by his side, a little smooth talk would make Rukkhadevata a piece of cake. Call it holding the princess to command the queen!

As for how to strip the Forbidden Knowledge—that was a breeze for Li Yue.

He humbly happened to possess Enma's Blade, which could even sever concepts. One slash, and he could separate the Forbidden Knowledge from the World Tree!