At the same time that Yamamoto Genryusai and the Tsunayashiro Clan were in a standoff, on the other side.
"It's over, Lord Hikaru!"
A branch family member of the Tsunayashiro Clan rushed over from a distance. His anxious expression seemed to indicate that the situation was not good.
As soon as he arrived, he breathlessly reported bad news to Tsunayashiro Hikaru.
"Yamamoto Genryusai has attacked the clan grounds!"
"Our abduction of Kisuke Urahara has been exposed!"
"What?!" Tsunayashiro Hikaru stood up abruptly upon hearing this.
He asked repeatedly, "You're not joking, Yamamoto Genryusai is here?"
"How dare he? Just a mere Captain-Commander..."
"It's absolutely true, Lord Hikaru. The Three Clan Elders are already confronting Yamamoto Genryusai, but they're likely no match for him. What should we do next?"
"Don't panic!" Tsunayashiro Hikaru gestured for the other party to calm down first.
He lowered his gaze and muttered to himself, "This shouldn't be..."
"How could it be exposed? I shouldn't have left any clues."
"Right, no clues means no evidence. They can't possibly have evidence!"
As if he had figured something out, Tsunayashiro Hikaru decisively raised his head:
"Ignore him. If the Three Clan Elders want to fight Yamamoto Genryusai, let them fight. "
"As long as we don't show ourselves and stay here honestly, they won't be able to find Kisuke Urahara!"
There was a considerable distance between this location and the clan grounds.
Basically, every direct descendant owned several properties in the Noble District, some of which were even unknown to others.
Located in their blind spot, they couldn't possibly be discovered!
Tsunayashiro Hikaru firmly believed this.
So, within a few short seconds, he calmed down and began to ponder his next plan.
At the same time, he asked, "Who else is with Yamamoto Genryusai?"
"Just him?"
"No, the head of the Shihouin Clan, Yoruichi Shihouin, is also there. Besides her, there's another Shinigami I haven't seen before."
"Red hair..."
"Red hair?" Upon hearing this hair color, Tsunayashiro Hikaru froze for a few seconds.
This hair color is generally very common, but next to Yamamoto Genryusai, it's quite rare... He had only seen one person with it so far.
—Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Is it him?
Just a mere Rukongai... Wait, he seems to have recently become a lower-ranking noble.
But even the strongest lower-ranking noble is still an ant.
How dare a mere ant interfere in the battles between giants?
His thoughts returned. Due to his strong emotional control, he did not show obvious emotion at Tsugikuni Yoriichi's appearance, only silently despising him in his heart.
Then, he commanded:
"We can't afford to provoke Yamamoto Genryusai, and we can't afford to provoke Yoruichi Shihouin, but this small Shinigami... it's time to let him experience the cruelty of the nobles."
"Go set a trap and try to make him fall into it."
"I want to see what kind of judgment Yamamoto Genryusai will make when his disciple accidentally kills a high-ranking noble."
"..Lord Hikaru, will he really fall for it?
"What, are you questioning my decision?"
"No, of course not. I just think that any normal person would tolerate the provocation of a high-ranking noble, even if it's a trap."
"Idiot, who told you to provoke him? Besides provoking, can't you do anything else?"
Tsunayashiro Hikaru's tone was filled with impatience.
"As long as a high-ranking noble dies in front of him, it doesn't matter how he dies, and it doesn't matter if he was killed by Tsugikuni Yoriichi."
"I only want the result, a result that will make Yamamoto Genryusai overwhelmed, understand!"
"Yes!"
The voices of the two gradually faded as their conversation ended.
In a room a few rooms away from the two, Kisuke Urahara was under house arrest.
Sitting on a chair, with several blank sheets of paper in front of him, he held a pen and was deep in thought.
He really didn't want to draw the blueprint for that thing, because it represented betrayal.
But Tsunayashiro Hikaru's relentless pressure could not be ignored.
Outside, his intelligence might still have some use.
But here, surrounded by killing stone, no matter how high his intelligence was, even higher than the Soul King's.
It was difficult to think of a way to escape.
He only had one day left to choose. If he couldn't draw the blueprint before tomorrow.
According to Tsunayashiro Hikaru's words... he would kill him, extract memories from his brain, and then destroy the body.
The reason he wasn't acting now was because he himself was more important than the memories.
Keeping him alive might lead to more cooperation opportunities in the future.
But once killed, everything would be gone.
No one doesn't understand the principle of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Headache...
The light around him was dim. Kisuke Urahara rubbed his temples, increasingly hoping that someone would descend from the sky and rescue him from the tiger's mouth.
Even an animal would do, he wasn't picky.
Sigh...
Why did this happen to him? It was just a machine, was it necessary for the Tsunayashiro Clan to be so concerned?
Was a little bit of fame more important to them than a Captain?
Nobles... too corrupt.
But Kisuke Urahara was powerless to change it, he could only go with the flow...
He sighed helplessly in his heart, toying with his pen, the surroundings were so quiet that he could hear his own breathing.
In this tranquil atmosphere, his thoughts gradually spread out.
And at the same time.
Outside the Tsunayashiro Clan grounds.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi's innate intuition made him seem to sense something.
The feeling to him was like a fleeting spark, leaving nothing but a faint afterglow in his vision.
Gazing into the distance, he seemed to be able to see through buildings. Yoriichi pondered for a moment, then whispered to Yoruichi Shihouin beside him:
"Do you trust my intuition?"
"I feel that Kisuke Urahara is not here."
"If it really is an abduction, I don't think they would be so foolish as to leave the evidence in the most obvious place..."
This sentence instantly enlightened Yoruichi Shihouin.
Those involved are often confused. Yes, why did they directly assume that Kisuke Urahara was within the Tsunayashiro Clan's grounds?
Were they fools? Obviously not.
Even if the younger generation were fools, there were still older nobles to teach them.
Even children knew the principle of immediately hiding something once stolen.
Phew...
Taking a deep breath, slowly calming her emotions, Yoruichi Shihouin quickly stepped forward and informed Yamamoto Genryusai of the matter.
Mistaking it for persuasion, the anger in Tsunayashiro Sanhua's eyes gradually faded.
He slowly loosened his quietly gripped Zanpakuto.
But he didn't know that the dark hilt was already covered in sweat.
With shallow breaths, his mindset gradually relaxed.
The head of the Shihouin Clan was still sensible.
Yamamoto Genryusai was purely a brute.
He wasn't afraid to fight him, because they were near the clan grounds, and he wouldn't die no matter what.
But being beaten up for no reason was also quite embarrassing.
At this moment, he only wanted to know who had abducted Kisuke Urahara, after all, Yamamoto Genryusai wouldn't act without reason.
Damn it, those heirs really picked their timing.
Yamamoto Genryusai was injured just now, and then... a Captain was gone. Isn't this deliberate provocation?
Which idiot did it?
...
While his heart was burning with anger, on the other side, with self-comfort, the tension quickly dissipated.
After Tsunayashiro Hikaru finished handling the main matters, he sat in a study, sipping wine.
Suddenly, he sneezed, and his right eyelid twitched continuously.
There was a vague feeling that something bad was about to happen.
He covered his eye with one hand, put down the wine, and frowned deeply.
He got up and walked to the window, lightly pulled back the curtain, and gazed at the scene outside, suddenly feeling an oppressive heaviness in his chest, like dark clouds pressing down on a city.
—What's going on?
—Haven't things been dealt with? Why do I have a premonition of impending disaster?
Could Yamamoto Genryusai find this place?
What a joke! Only a few people knew the location of this place.
Even a Zanpakuto with tracking abilities would have its effects blocked by the killing stone.
This place was a fortress that blocked all signals. Unless concrete evidence was found, it would be impossible for anyone to detect anything amiss.
And as for evidence, he had never left any.
But...
Now...
Lowering his gaze, Tsunayashiro Hikaru's mood grew increasingly uneasy.
The shimmering, starlit water surface reflected in his eyes, but he felt no beauty at all.
Thump—He decisively turned and left the room, attempting to make Kisuke Urahara speed up the drawing process.
He couldn't delay any longer.
...
...
"So you think... where would Kisuke be?"
Outside the Tsunayashiro Clan grounds, after Yoruichi Shihouin returned from Yamamoto Genryusai's side, she quietly asked Tsugikuni Yoriichi:
"Indeed, Kisuke might not be here, but if that's the case, our actions would be in vain."
"Even if we break into the Tsunayashiro Clan's grounds, we won't get the desired result..."
"Not to mention, the longer we drag this out, the higher the probability of Kisuke encountering danger..."
"I'm thinking..." Yoriichi replied.
Intuition is hard to say. Touhou Sekigan has an ability to predict movements through changes in others' muscles.
In reality, this is an enhancement of the sixth sense.
Like Gyoumei Himejima, even though he is blind, he can avoid obstacles through his other senses..
Even before Touhou Sekigan was activated, it was like this.
Not to mention himself, who was born with Touhou Sekigan.
If nothing unexpected happened, that fleeting thought just now was probably his judgment of Kisuke Urahara's location.
It was just... very faint, as if he was wrapped in some confined space.
His thoughts raced, and Yoriichi's gaze subconsciously looked towards a certain place.
Remembering his noble status, he quickly walked towards that direction with Yoruichi.
Of course, he didn't forget to inform Yamamoto Genryusai.
The Captain-Commander could not act with them, because he had to stay there to prevent interference from the Tsunayashiro Clan.
Yoruichi alone was enough.
She was the Clan Head.
No matter how displeased those high-ranking nobles were, they couldn't do anything to her.
Tsunayashiro Sanhua initially wanted to stop them when he saw this situation, but then, Yamamoto Genryusai's extremely oppressive gaze and his about-to-be-drawn Ryujin Jakka forcibly stopped his words.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi was also a noble, so the rules here didn't have much effect on him, coupled with Yoruichi Shihouin's accompaniment.
The nobles along the way were angry but dared not speak, fearing that a single word would lead to a reckoning from Shihouin.
Frustrating... too frustrating!
What kind of situation was it for a dignified high-ranking noble to be suppressed like this by three people!
Tsunayashiro Sanhua even had the thought of calling for backup at this moment, but then realized that even calling for backup would be of little use.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi and Yoruichi Shihouin had already left the Tsunayashiro Clan's territory.
Only Yamamoto Genryusai remained, but Yamamoto Genryusai hadn't done anything out of line, merely standing quietly outside the clan grounds.
You can't even tell someone not to stand there, can you?
That would truly lead to a fight.
The losses would be considerable.
It wasn't a responsibility that he, as a clan elder, could bear...
Extremely depressed!
...
While the two were in a standoff, Tsugikuni Yoriichi, accompanied by Yoruichi Shihouin, had already arrived in front of a courtyard.
On the surface, this courtyard was not much different from its surroundings, like two adjacent eggs, even more like twins.
However, intuition told Yoriichi that there was a problem here.
Like seeing an egg and knowing that its inside is rotten.
"Is this it?"
With the quiet gate reflected in her eyes, Yoruichi Shihouin involuntarily raised her eyebrows and asked softly.
Yoriichi responded, "I can't be sure yet."
"But..."
He shifted his gaze, "Yoruichi, will you trust me this once?"
"What do you want to do?" Yoruichi pressed.
"Break it." Yoriichi's answer was concise and powerful.
"What?" Yoruichi was full of surprise upon hearing this.
"This is 100% pure killing stone!"
Although she came from a prominent background, she had never seen an ability that could shatter killing stone.
Even her Hakuda could only leave some marks on the killing stone... To shatter it, she would need to cultivate for several hundred more years.
Yoriichi's tone was as calm as ever:
"I know, but that doesn't matter. I'm mainly worried about hitting the wrong target."
"My teacher is Yamamoto Genryusai, as you know. Shattering killing stone is just a part of my daily training..."
...Yoruichi was speechless. What could she say? How could she say it?
The goal she would need hundreds of years to achieve was actually Tsugikuni Yoriichi's daily training...
Should she be jealous? Or should she... humbly seek guidance?
Of course, all of this would have to wait until they left this place. Although she was very reluctant to believe it, it seemed to be true.
Because the Tsugikuni Yoriichi she knew would never say anything beyond his own capabilities.
Damn it... how disheartening. Why does such immense power sound so ordinary when it comes from your mouth?
It makes it seem like I can do it easily too, you bastard.
Yoruichi's heart ached. She paused, then lowered her voice:
"Go ahead and do it boldly. I'll cover for you. It doesn't matter if you hit the wrong target; they wouldn't dare do anything to me."
"Mhm." Yoriichi nodded faintly. He didn't see the complex emotions that lingered in Yoruichi's eyes.
Of course, even if he did, he wouldn't care too much...
He was used to it.
His fists clenched, and a mighty spiritual pressure instantly accumulated at his knuckles.
Under Yoruichi Shihouin's expectant and worried gaze, he swiftly threw a punch forward.
Immediately after.
Boom!
A thunderous roar erupted, startling the few people inside the courtyard.
Inside the room, Tsunayashiro Hikaru was about to intimidate Kisuke Urahara again, but when he heard the noise, he couldn't bother to speak.
Instead, he quickly ran to the window and looked outside.
He saw.
A small section of the courtyard had collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust as if hit by a missile.
As the dust settled, revealing the two figures behind it, Tsunayashiro Hikaru's pupils instantly constricted.
—Not good!