Meanwhile, Ailin also wanted to see whether, under his intervention, Aizen could still evolve to his peak.
When the time came, if Aizen still survived his battle with Ichigo Kurosaki and continued evolving, Ailin would not mind holding back Urahara Kisuke, Isshin Kurosaki, and Shihoin Yoruichi for him, waiting until Aizen's evolution was complete before having a battle at their peaks.
Ailin's clone returned to the Fifth Division, continued playing Aizen's role, and used the Hogyoku to raise his spiritual pressure.
Though it was only half a Hogyoku, before this clone's spiritual pressure reached the limits of a Soul Reaper, that half of the Hogyoku was still highly effective at increasing Ailin's spiritual pressure.
However, the limit of this Hogyoku was merely the limit of a Soul Reaper.
Even Aizen, the creator of that half of the Hogyoku, had no way to use its power to help himself break through the limits of a Soul Reaper.
Even so, Ailin was quite satisfied.
The spiritual pressure at the limit of a Soul Reaper—he would need to forge at least ten Zanpakuto of the "strongest" grade to increase his spiritual pressure by that much.
So far, including the weapons Ailin had forged himself, there were only a little over thirty Zanpakuto of the "strongest" grade.
With the vast number of Zanpakuto added in, Ailin's spiritual pressure had now surpassed the limits of a Soul Reaper and climbed onto the first step.
Using Aizen as a comparison, this was the evolved Aizen after Gin Ichimaru had ambushed him and he had completely fused with the Hogyoku.
The gap between the spiritual pressure limit of a Soul Reaper and the Spirit King was incomparably vast. In order to quantify that gap, Ailin divided this stage into three steps.
At the beginning was the spiritual