"By the way! Have you heard? Recently, there have been frequent disappearances of residents in Rukongai, and the cause is unknown?" Chen Fan suddenly heard someone say while he was resting on the ground.
Chen Fan was slightly taken aback and said, "The reason is unknown? It disappeared, or it disappeared from somewhere."
"No! It's vanished! Completely vanished! Only the clothes remain, without a trace!" The Shinigami in Chen Fan's team quickly responded upon hearing Chen Fan's words;
"If the Reishi were dead, the clothes it was wearing would also disappear, so it's not dead, right? It just means it couldn't maintain its physical body while alive, that's the only way to put it," Chen Fan said, stroking his chin.
"As expected of Lord Chen Fan, he exchanged 26 words with the Fourth Division Captain!"
"The Fourth Division Captain?"
"It's Captain Unohana Retsu!"
Chen Fan had been a bit caught off guard, having been focused on killing Void Realm cultivators, and his mind was a little hazy. Hearing others mention it brought back the memory of that somewhat cunning older sister, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about women.
The man continued, "Although the cause is unknown, the Ninth Division has already been dispatched to investigate!"
"What?! Has it already alerted Captain-level personnel?!" the other Shinigami exclaimed in surprise;
"Roar..." A hollow voice echoed once again in the forest sky, and the sound seemed to be nearby.
"These things don't need rest! Damn it! We're all exhausted!"
"Yes!" Several men stood up, drew their knives, and prepared to take down the monstrous creature.
Chen Fan smiled, stood up, and said, "Alright! That's enough for today, everyone take a rest!"
With a "clang!" a flash of light appeared. Before the Shinigami could even see what had happened, they only heard the faint sound of a sword being drawn. But soon, some trees slowly shifted above and below them, followed by a series of booming sounds as trees collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust. At the same time, the Hollow let out a miserable howl, and then there was silence.
The team of ten had nine members staring at Chen Fan in disbelief. Was he even human? No wonder he could challenge the team leader! "Lord Chen Fan! You're absolutely amazing!"
"He's almost on par with the captain!"
"No! I don't think even an average captain is as powerful as Lord Chen Fan!"...
Chen Fan smiled at the compliments, then gestured for everyone to stop talking and rest, as they had all had a long day.
At that moment, two people emerged from the shadow of a tree: Aizen and Gin Ichimaru. Aizen glanced in Chen Fan's direction, adjusted his glasses with his finger, and smiled as he said, "So, Gin! Do you think this is enough to kill him?"
Gin Ichimaru's smile vanished, and he did not answer Aizen's question.
Aizen, unperturbed, smiled and continued, "This guy has such a keen sense; he's discovered us. That last strike was also a warning to us not to provoke him. Is he a soul from another world? How far can he truly grow? Can he break the boundary between Shinigami and Hollows? It's something to look forward to! What interesting material!"
Then, leading Gin Ichimaru deeper into the forest, Chen Fan opened his eyes and looked in the direction Aizen had left. When the Shinigami were talking about the people in Rukongai disappearing without reason, Chen Fan thought of Aizen. He also noticed that the appearance of this Hollow did not involve spatial fluctuations. Perhaps because he had died twice in spatial storms, Chen Fan's perception of space was extraordinary. It was impossible for it to appear out of thin air; it must have been created by someone. And the person who had the ability to create Hollows was Aizen.
The move Chen Fan just made was similar to what Aizen had said—it was intentional, a way of telling Aizen to stay away and not approach him. It seemed to work well. However, Chen Fan Aizen knew that once Aizen set his sights on someone, he wouldn't give up easily. That's just the kind of person he is. He probably also realized that Chen Fan wasn't from this world. His current thoughts are nothing more than two things: one is to capture Chen Fan and study him, and the other is to see how far Chen Fan can grow, just like Ichigo Kurosaki.
Rather than being captured and experimented on, Chen Fan chose the second option: a soul from another world, plus Shinigami could fight against Captain-level opponent in just four years. Anyone would want to see how much growth he would experience over the next few years, as long as he had Illusion in hand. Unfortunately, he underestimated superpowers. Chen Fan's computational power, like that of a supercomputer, was enough to defeat a Devil Fruit user who was on par with Aizen. Of course, that person didn't possess Aizen's Kido and Slayer techniques.
Chen Fan had a good understanding of the Kido (Kido) and shared the information in his mind with his Zanpakuto. It could be said that the Zanpakuto was like his brain back then.
As for swordsmanship, Chen Fan believed he would definitely surpass Aizen in the future. Regarding Zanpakuto abilities, Chen Fan believed his 'Vector Manipulation' was the most suitable and strongest for him.
************
A few days later
In the mountains outside Rukongai, the Ninth Division, investigating the frequent disappearances of people from Rukongai in YeWai, set up camp Midnight as the sun was about to set. The Captain of the Ninth Division, Kensei Muguruma, sat on the ground, reflecting on the day's events. He had discovered ten pieces of Shinigami uniform in YeWai earlier that day, a number that perfectly matched the ten members of the advance team investigating the incident.