Great Kūkaku Training Hall

Duan Mu's wounds healed quickly. Kūkaku had used many precious herbs while treating him, and Duan Mu's skill in Kido was no weaker than that of the Fourth Division. In just three days, he had completely recovered.

He had not been idle during those three days of recuperation. Although he could not train, he could still settle down and fully master his newly acquired knowledge.

After Intermediate Kido reached the "Intermediate" level, Duan Mu's breakthrough in the "Reishi Control" bottleneck after raising Byakurai to Intermediate broke through once again. By analogy, his Byakurai proficiency soared by nearly a hundred points. If he fought Daimaru again, the other man definitely would not be able to take his Byakurai head-on.

Shiba Kūkaku had not appeared these past few days. According to Iwao, she had been busy underground with something or other.

Uzuki had also come to visit Duan Mu during that time, conveniently giving the lively Iwao a scolding. As for Iwao, who had been scolded... Duan Mu always felt that the guy seemed rather happy about it.

It had been four years since he came to Rukongai, yet this was the first time Duan Mu had rested for so long without accepting a commission. It made him feel as though something was missing.

Just as Duan Mu was preparing to say his farewells and leave, Shiba Kūkaku, who had been mysteriously busy with something all this time, appeared.

In the living room, Kūkaku looked at Duan Mu with her smoking pipe between her teeth and asked, "How are your injuries?"

"All healed!" Duan Mu waved his arm to prove that he had more or less recovered.

Kūkaku tapped her smoking pipe against the ashtray to extinguish it, then stood and said, "Perfect timing. I'm ready too. Come with Iwao."

"Huh?"

Duan Mu froze and turned toward Iwao beside him, only to find that Iwao wore the same confused expression.

"What are you two standing there for? Do you want me to drag you both down?" Kūkaku barked over her shoulder when she saw that they had not followed.

Iwao's expression changed, and he hurried to catch up with Kūkaku.

I came to say goodbye...

The corner of Duan Mu's eye twitched. He swallowed the words he had been about to say. After all, this big sister's temper was genuinely explosive. He did not want to end up like Daimaru, pinned beneath the ground.

Kūkaku led the two of them down the stairs. The staircase seemed endless, and even after nearly five minutes, the three of them still had not reached the bottom.

"Big Sis, just how deep did you dig?" Iwao finally could not hold back any longer and asked.

"About a thousand meters."

"A thousand meters?"

Duan Mu clicked his tongue. This kind of construction ability was as unreasonable as ever. She had actually dug so deep in just three days.

After walking for several more minutes, a sliver of light finally appeared at the end of the stairs.

"We're here."

Kūkaku turned around. With a proud look, she pointed behind her and said, "This is my latest creation, the Great Kūkaku Training Hall!"

The name was as simple and direct as ever, and her narcissism was off the charts!

Duan Mu silently complained to himself before looking at the vast space behind Kūkaku.

The Great Kūkaku Training Hall was incredibly spacious. From the entrance, it was impossible to see the entire area. Something unknown had been laid across the ceiling, making the whole space extremely bright. If he had not known this place was a thousand meters underground, Duan Mu might have thought he was in the wilderness on the surface.

It looked somewhat like the playground Urahara Kisuke had built, but compared to the "Urahara Playground" in Duan Mu's memories, this place was much more orderly. There were countless platforms in the center, each surrounded by glowing runes that continuously released waves of spiritual pressure.

Looking at the space before him, Iwao seemed to realize something. His face instantly went pale, and he said in a trembling voice, "Big Sis, you're not planning to..."

"This time won't be like last time."

Kūkaku gave a strange laugh. "Until I'm satisfied, whether you cry or howl, you're not leaving." She turned to glance at the confused Duan Mu. "That goes for you too."

"Huh?"

Duan Mu and Iwao both froze. Unlike Iwao's fear, however, Duan Mu's eyes lit up with delight once he understood Kūkaku's words.

These past few days, Duan Mu had constantly been thinking about where he could learn Intermediate Kido.

He had considered asking Shiba Kūkaku to teach him. After all, Shiba Kūkaku was a "Kido master" acknowledged even by the Soul Reapers of Seireitei. But he had not known how to ask.

Although requesting Kūkaku's instruction in Kido in exchange for this incident should not have been refused, doing so would clearly have seemed like repaying a favor with a demand. It would turn the incident from "mutual assistance between friends" into a "transaction," and he might even lose Kūkaku's friendship.

Compared to learning Kido, Kūkaku's friendship was clearly more important to Duan Mu.

Now that Kūkaku had taken the initiative to suggest it, how could Duan Mu not be overjoyed?

"Big Sis, I can actually train by myself..." Iwao said quietly.

"You can?"

Kūkaku sneered. "Someone with spiritual pressure equal to a High-ranking Officer but actual combat strength only a little above that of a low-ranking officer already left you completely helpless. Where did you get the courage to say you can do it?"

Iwao opened his mouth but could not come up with a rebuttal.

"You go to the last platform in the southwest corner. I built that platform from spirit walls and added spiritual runes for stabilization and sealing. It was specially prepared for training the Shiba secret arts. Once you can successfully turn that platform into sand, move on to the next one."

"There are ten platforms in the southwest corner, with gradually increasing strength. You can leave once you've passed all ten. Until then, you can stay here!"

"Big Sis, that's a little too—"

"Get over there!"

With Shiba Kūkaku's shout, Iwao slunk toward the southwest corner of the training ground.

"As for you..."

When Kūkaku's gaze fell on him, Duan Mu suddenly felt the same nervousness he had experienced in his previous life when he was called on to recite a passage in elementary school. As the head of one of the five great noble families, the Shiba Clan, Shiba Kūkaku rarely displayed it, but she certainly possessed the dignity of a great noble family head.

"I saw your battle. Whether it's Hakuda, Kido, or even Shunpo, you've mastered them quite well." Kūkaku paused before suddenly changing her tone, her voice turning stern. "I don't know where you learned them, and I have no interest in knowing. But if anyone asks in the future, you must say..."

"These techniques were all taught to you by me, Shiba Kūkaku!"

Duan Mu was stunned, then nodded. "Thank you, Big Sis Kūkaku."

The reason Zanpakuto, Kido, Hakuda, and Shunpo were called the "four great techniques of Soul Reapers" was precisely because they were techniques only Soul Reapers could master.

Zanjutsu, Shunpo, and Hakuda were fine, but Kido contained all kinds of complicated knowledge, including "incantations," "reishi manipulation," and "attribute conversion." Without someone to guide them, they were absolutely impossible to learn on one's own.

Although obtaining this knowledge through the system was convenient, there was no way to explain where it had come from. That was why Duan Mu often visited the Shiba Clan, giving others the impression that he had learned this knowledge from them.

Shiba Kūkaku had clearly noticed this long ago. Judging from what she had just said, she might even know that the Punishment Force was monitoring him. She had simply maintained an attitude of neither denying nor admitting it all this time.

"There's no need to thank me."

Kūkaku waved her hand dismissively. "Actually, I've never really liked you."

Duan Mu gave a strained laugh. He had already figured that out from Kūkaku's favorability rating, which had never increased. But he could only pretend not to notice and keep shamelessly visiting her...

"Iwao is an idiot, while you..."

Kūkaku paused and sighed. "You're too mysterious. I secretly had people investigate you. The way you appeared in Rukongai and the way you became stronger are both mysterious. I even carefully studied every day of your four years in Rukongai, but I couldn't find any sign that you had learned Zanpakuto, Kido, Hakuda, and Shunpo from anyone."

"The few times you encountered Soul Reapers, you merely watched from the side without forming any connection with them. You gave people the impression that you had simply known these things from birth."

"And besides..."

Shiba Kūkaku seemed to recall something and snorted. "I've never had much liking for people who maintain a 'gentle toward others' or 'good-natured' image."

"On top of that, although you disguise yourself extremely well, the gloominess you developed over many years, as well as your indifference toward people, affairs, and even life itself, cannot be changed in a short time. You've indeed changed a lot over the years, though it's also possible that you've simply become better at disguising yourself."

"So considering you a dangerous person is entirely reasonable."

Shiba Kūkaku was quite forthright. She directly explained every reason she disliked Duan Mu, leaving him, who had always wanted to defend himself, speechless. In the end, he could only force a laugh. "Well... deep down, I'm actually a good person."

Kūkaku smiled noncommittally and continued, "Your performance in this battle might have seemed dangerous to others, but it actually reassured me. If you had chosen to hide your abilities even in that situation, I would have seriously considered making Iwao cut ties with you."

"There are many oddballs in Soul Society. Even among the captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, there are plenty of strange people beyond your imagination. One more won't matter. As long as you don't oppose Seireitei or become a Soul Reaper, at worst, you'll be monitored. So there's no need to live so cautiously."

"Of course, continuing to hide what should be hidden is fine too. It can produce unexpected results when necessary."

"I understand, Big Sis Kūkaku!" Duan Mu shouted as though making a solemn promise.

"Why are you shouting? Are you trying to die?"

Duan Mu promptly shut his mouth. As for what kind of person he really was, even he was not sure.

There was a kind of person in this world who, supposedly, could only change after death.

So after coming here, Duan Mu had constantly tried to change. But whether he had actually changed, he himself did not know.

There was one thing, however, that Duan Mu knew very clearly.

That was...

He liked this life very much.

"Tell me." Kūkaku somehow produced a chair, crossed her legs, and smoked her pipe. "What Kido do you know?"

Duan Mu immediately listed all the Kido he knew.

After hearing him out, Shiba Kūkaku froze. "If I didn't know you'd never been to the Soul Reaper Academy, I might have thought you were a student there."

Every Kido Duan Mu mentioned was, without exception, taught at the Soul Reaper Academy.

Although the Soul Reaper Academy was a training ground for newcomers before they joined the ranks, graduating from it did not mean one became omnipotent. In fact, the opposite was true. Only after graduating did the real training begin, which could also be called the internship period.

During the internship period, each division provided the newcomers with a long second round of training. Unlike the academy's initial training, however, this second round involved countless real battles.

Therefore, most advanced techniques were taught by seated officers in the various divisions, not by the academy.

The Kido Duan Mu knew were unmistakably academy techniques, and specifically those of an academy student with no background, born in Rukongai.

After saying that, she seemed to think of something. Her gaze toward Duan Mu became strange. "I think I understand why you set up that 'Soul Reaper Cram School.'"

"Heh heh heh~~"

Duan Mu chuckled and seized the opportunity to flatter her. "As expected, nothing gets past you, Big Sis Kūkaku."