Shrek Team

Knowing the power of Raikoho, Kenpachi Zaraki charged straight at it and swung his blade upward. Aizen frowned and had no choice but to redirect the blast toward Kenpachi Zaraki's sword.

A mass of bright yellow lightning flashed between them, scorching a patch of the Training Field black.

When the two emerged from the Lightning Qi, both looked rather miserable.

Kenpachi Zaraki's right hand, the one gripping his sword, had been burned black and peeled apart, exposing tender pink flesh beneath. Blood streamed across his Zanpakuto, painting a crimson tree-like pattern.

Aizen was no better off. The spreading lightning had burned away half his trousers, and his calves still felt numb, making it difficult for him to move.

Though neither had suffered serious injuries, anyone could see that Kenpachi Zaraki had already fallen into a disadvantage. The hand holding his sword could no longer swing as it had before. Aizen only needed to use another Kido of the same level, and Kenpachi Zaraki would undoubtedly lose.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Ning Fengzhi clapped lightly and slowly walked over to the two of them, speaking gently.

"Let's end it here. You've both worked hard."

Aizen followed Ning Fengzhi's words. "Yes, let's end it. This battle ends here. Continuing would only determine a winner, while the true purpose of this fight was simply to demonstrate the capabilities of Kido."

Kenpachi Zaraki silently glanced at Aizen, rested his Zanpakuto on his shoulder, snorted, and turned to leave. Ning Rongrong hesitated when she saw this, but she did not follow him. Kenpachi Zaraki needed some time alone.

The disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect were all dumbfounded.

"Kenpachi Zaraki actually conceded?"

"My god, this is the first time I've seen Kenpachi Zaraki fight someone his age to such a state!"

"This guy named Aizen... isn't he too strong? Is that Kido really that powerful?"

"From the looks of it, that so-called Kido really is formidable. I didn't even see Aizen use any soul skills. Is this a special soul skill that only requires Soul Power to use?"

"I think there'd be no problem with him becoming our teacher."

"Mm, you're right. You're absolutely right!"

Ning Fengzhi glanced at Aizen and said with a smile, "It seems you've already earned their approval."

Aizen replied calmly, "That is truly wonderful. This way, Sect Master Ning can rest assured leaving them in my hands for instruction. It is still early, so I can teach them another lesson."

With that, Aizen headed toward the teaching building.

Ning Fengzhi watched Aizen's departing figure and nodded, then glanced at Ning Rongrong.

"Not bad. If I hadn't already decided that Kenpachi Zaraki would be my future son-in-law, I truly would have wanted to bring him into our family."

Ning Rongrong shyly shook Ning Fengzhi's arm. "Father, what are you talking about!"

Seeing his daughter so embarrassed, Ning Fengzhi burst into laughter. He patted Ning Rongrong's head and took her toward the classroom.

Aizen's lessons progressed from simple to profound. Every point of knowledge was explained thoroughly: the amount of Soul Power used, the circulation of Soul Power, the form of Soul Power—every aspect was covered in detail.

Very quickly, the students in the classroom had all learned Kido below ten. However, only two of them could actually cast it: Ning Rongrong and Oscar.

Aizen even praised them publicly during class, appointing them group leader and deputy group leader to assist the other students with their studies.

After finishing this lesson, Aizen planned to teach only one class each week. Kido training was not so simple, and Aizen did not want them to learn too quickly either.

If he taught too quickly, they would not be able to fully grasp the material. Ning Fengzhi might even blame him for being too hasty, damaging his image.

After the second lesson ended, Aizen sat in his office discussing Kurosaki Ichigo's training with Urahara Kisuke.

There were two reasons for this.

First, Aizen wanted to quickly increase Kurosaki Ichigo's strength.

Urahara Kisuke had already investigated what Aizen Sousuke had been doing outside. The chaotic situation on Douluo Continent had indeed been caused by Aizen Sousuke. He had used Kyoka Suigetsu to disguise the wounds of those he killed as injuries inflicted by other factions, stirring discord among the Soul Master forces.

Perhaps the purpose of this was what Aizen Sousuke had said before: to create chaos so that Aizen could spread his arms and gather soul coins.

However, Urahara Kisuke believed things were not that simple.

Especially those Soul Masters who had died in especially horrific ways. Urahara Kisuke felt that such deaths could not have been caused by mere killing. Aizen Sousuke might have been conducting some kind of experiment.

As for who had been cooperating with him, Urahara Kisuke had also found out. It was the Espada sent to Spirit Hall.

The murderous nature carved into their bones had never changed, and under Aizen Sousuke's careful guidance, they had incidentally been helping him carry out his work.

More importantly, Urahara Kisuke had discovered that the current Espada possessed extraordinary strength. They had actually reached the astonishing levels of fifty-four to fifty-seven, becoming Spirit Hall's rising stars.

According to Urahara Kisuke's analysis, the Espada should not have advanced so quickly unless they had relied on external assistance.

That meant Aizen Sousuke must have developed a method to help them increase their Soul Power.

Assuming the worst—that they had already betrayed them—Aizen had to increase the strength of their side as quickly as possible.

The second reason was that Aizen wanted to increase Kurosaki Ichigo's template compatibility.

Urahara Kisuke's analysis of Kurosaki Ichigo had been extremely helpful to Aizen's progress in raising his compatibility.

It had now reached fifty percent.

At this level of compatibility, Aizen had unlocked Kurosaki Ichigo's Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu!

And Aizen, having reached Level 71, could directly release Bankai.

It counted as another trump card.

Not only that, Aizen had Urahara Kisuke compile everyone's habits and personalities into lists and hand them over to him.

He needed to increase his compatibility quickly. This was not something he could accomplish alone, and it happened to be Urahara Kisuke's specialty.

At the same time, research into the immortal herbs during this period had yielded many results.

It had greatly increased the strength of Kurosaki Ichigo, Ichimaru Gin, and the others.

However, Dugu Bo's medicinal field had suffered for it.

At this time, a large number of immortal medicinal herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had been dug up by Aizen and Urahara Kisuke. What remained were all insufficiently matured herbs.

Dugu Bo was angry but had no way to vent it. After all, Aizen and Urahara Kisuke had contributed greatly to his increase in strength. At the same time, with Urahara Kisuke's help, Dugu Yan had safely obtained Soul Beast Transformation, and her strength had increased rapidly. She had now reached Level 47 and become a core member of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

By the time of the upcoming All-Continent Soul Master Competition, her strength might increase even further. She might even surpass Level 50.

After classes at the Central Spirit Arts Academy ended, Ning Rongrong and Oscar hurried to the Heaven Dou City Soul Arena.

Today, the Shrek Team had a Soul Arena match.

Their opponents were from the Heaven Dou Royal Academy!

Yu Xiaogang attached great importance to this match. On the other side was his nephew, Yu Tianheng, and their team leader was Qin Ming, once a student of Shrek.

This match once again drew the attention of the distinguished guests.

They had all learned that Dugu Bo had gained a new power. At the same time, Dugu Yan's three consecutive leaps in Soul Power within a single year had also drawn great attention.

This battle was the perfect chance to see what that new power was.

In the Soul Master preparation room of the Heaven Dou City Soul Arena, Yu Xiaogang was arranging tactics for Tang San, Xiao Wu, Dai Mubai, and the others.

"This Soul Arena match will be eight against eight. The other side appears to have added a masked support-type member, but there is no need to worry about him. He seems to be a former member of the Soul Reaper Battle Team. He has never made a move and only knows healing, so his strength should not be great."

"Do not underestimate the other seven. None of them are inferior to you; they may even surpass you. Especially Dugu Yan, the granddaughter of Poison Douluo. I heard she was only in her thirties a year ago, yet she is now Level 47. No one knows what happened during that time."

"Facing such powerful opponents, are you confident that you can win?"

Tang San nodded firmly at Yu Xiaogang. "Don't worry. We will win this match!"

Dai Mubai, standing nearby, also said with a smile, "Exactly. We have two Level 50 Soul Kings. How could we possibly fear the Heaven Dou Royal Team, which is entirely made up of Soul Ancestors?"

Yu Xiaogang merely glanced at Dai Mubai and said nothing.

He watched them step onto the Soul Arena.

"Perhaps this match will change how you evaluate yourselves."