Manifestation
On the other side, although Ichimaru Gin had never undergone systematic training, he began sparring with other students after Kimura Keiichi demonstrated basic sword-gripping techniques, swinging motions, and skills such as cleaving, slashing, upward flicking, and thrusting.
Living up to his reputation as a prodigy, Ichimaru Gin was slightly unfamiliar during the initial exchange, but he quickly grasped the knack of it after just a few breaths.
With a precise strike, he knocked the wooden sword from his opponent's hand, winning easily.
The freshmen who had entered the academy several months before the two were simply no match for Lin Huang and Ichimaru Gin.
The duo's talent was not only reflected in swordsmanship; they also displayed extraordinary comprehension in learning Hakuda, Kido, and even Shunpo, with their scores leading all first-term students in every category.
Consequently, as the designated person in charge, Kimura Keiichi processed the first grade-skipping procedures for them in the middle of the second month after their enrollment.
Lin Huang and Ichimaru Gin both advanced to the second term... Inside the lieutenant's quarters of the Fifth Division barracks of the Gotei 13.
A tall, handsome man with long brown hair and black-rimmed glasses was sitting in a seiza position on the floor. He was stroking a crystal in his hand that emitted a blue-black glow, unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.
Not long after, a dark-skinned man wearing a shinigami uniform and a half-face mask, with an afro hairstyle, pushed open the door and entered respectfully, bowing to the seated man.
"Lord Aizen, taking advantage of a mission, your subordinate has collected another fragment in the Human World."
Having said that, he held up a glimmering light with both hands that emitted a milky white halo, like a firefly, and presented it to the other person.
The seated man—Aizen Sōsuke—showed a faint, knowing smile on his face. He gently took the particle of light and placed it upon the blue-black crystal.
In an instant, the crystal's light intensified brilliantly!
"It's done... It seems my Hōgyoku will be completed very soon."
Aizen murmured to himself, bringing the crystal close to his eyes to examine it carefully, while his left hand pushed up the frames of his glasses on the bridge of his nose.
"It is time to prepare for live experiments."
A confident expression appeared on his face, as if he had calculated everything in the world into his schemes.
The two men before him were the then Fifth Division Lieutenant, Aizen Sōsuke, and the Ninth Division's Fifth Seat, Tōsen Kaname.
After Tōsen Kaname delivered the item, he rose and used Shunpo to quietly leave the Fifth Division barracks.
Almost the moment he left, the sound of breaking air rang out, and Kimura Keiichi appeared behind Aizen.
Sensing the newcomer, Aizen's expression remained normal, the gentle smile still on his lips as he asked softly, "It seems you are in a good mood lately, Keiichi. Have you encountered something worth being happy about?"
Hearing this, Kimura Keiichi immediately stepped forward and knelt on one knee with a restrained expression.
"Reporting to my Lord, two students with excellent aptitude have recently appeared at the Shino Academy. They started with Fifth and Sixth-Rank Spirit Power and are from the Rukongai. Your subordinate believes we can attempt to recruit them..."
Before he could finish, Aizen had slowly stood up and turned to look at the kneeling Kimura Keiichi, his tone flat.
"Keiichi, how long have you been following me?"
Kimura Keiichi's whole body jolted as an ominous premonition surged in his heart, but he could only bite the bullet and answer.
"Ei... Eighty years, Lord Aizen."
His voice carried an uncontrollable trace of trembling.
"Eighty years."
"In such a long time, have you still not learned... what 'boundaries' are?"
"Boom—!"
A spiritual pressure like divine wrath crashed down!
Kimura Keiichi's prideful, near Captain-level spiritual pressure was like paper before this power, instantly crushed.
He let out a muffled groan as the bones throughout his body emitted an overwhelmed wail, nearly being crushed into the floor.
Amidst this earth-shattering pressure, he heard Aizen's voice ring out again, still as composed as ever.
"I allow you to think, I allow you to make mistakes, and I even allow you to fail."
"But the power of 'judgment' belongs to me alone, from beginning to end."
"To speculate on my will is an overstep. To attempt to make choices for me is even more... foolish."
As soon as he finished speaking, the spiritual pressure abruptly vanished, as if it had never existed.
Kimura Keiichi slumped on the floor, gasping for air, cold sweat having already soaked through his shinigami uniform.
Aizen looked down at him, the perfect, warm smile once again hanging on his face.
"Go on, invest your energy into more valuable matters. For example, perfecting your crude Bankai."
"Yes... I shall follow your teachings!"
Kimura Keiichi practically crawled out of the room.
Meanwhile, in the Shino Academy student dormitory.
Lin Huang was on his wooden bed, continuously performing spirit particle infusion on that asauchi.
Progress was faster than he had estimated. In just a month and a half, under the dual influence of his human spirit body and Vasto Lorde True Body, the asauchi had been more than seventy percent infused.
With the continuous pouring of spiritual pressure, a dark purple spiritual mist had spread across the blade, with only the tip of the sword not yet completely covered.
The spiritual mist slowly crept forward, and before long, it finally enveloped the entire Zanpakuto completely!
In an instant, the Zanpakuto erupted with a burst of dark purple radiance!
A powerful blast of air erupted from it as the center, blowing away all the tables and chairs in the room.
Lin Huang stared at the now fully infused Zanpakuto in his hand, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.
As the spirit particle infusion was fully completed, Lin Huang felt a profound, subtle, yet tight connection established between himself and the Zanpakuto.
With a slight thought, the Zanpakuto let out a soft hum like a swallow returning to its nest and spontaneously fell into his palm.
The blade felt lighter than air in his hand, as if he weren't holding a weapon, but rather an extension of a third palm that moved as easily as his own limbs.
Staring at this Zanpakuto that had been thoroughly marked with his own soul's imprint, a sharp light flashed in Lin Huang's eyes.
"Since the spirit particle infusion is complete... I wonder if I can strike while the iron is hot and master 'Shikai' now?"
With his mind made up, he set to work.
Lin Huang once again placed the Zanpakuto across his knees, closed his eyes, and sank his mind into his inner self.
In an instant, within his vast Spiritual World, a strange phenomenon suddenly arose on an empty grassy field.
A dark purple glow appeared out of thin air, flowing and converging.
Before long, a diamond-shaped mirror crystal dozens of feet high, emitting a pure, glaze-like luster, stood towering.
The surface of the crystal did not reflect external objects but held infinite depth within, as if it sealed an entire brilliant starry sky, with starlight slowly flowing through it.
"Clatter—!"
A crisp sound like ice crystals shattering rang out, and the massive crystal suddenly disintegrated, turning into countless specks of dust shining with starlight.
The sky full of stardust did not disperse; instead, as if pulled by an invisible hand, it reconverged and reorganized, slowly outlining a hazy, curvaceous, and graceful silhouette.
A moment later, the light withdrew, and a woman wearing a flowing light-dress, with a pale and beautiful face and an ethereal, otherworldly temperament, revealed her form.
She was barefoot, and with every step she took, ripples would spread from her toes, with bits of starlight appearing and disappearing with them, as if she were walking upon the Milky Way.
"Hmm, interesting..."
Lin Huang's Vasto Lorde True Body had appeared on the scene at some unknown point. He stood with his arms crossed, sizing up the beautiful woman constructed of stars and mirror light with a sense of pure curiosity.
"Are you... my sword spirit?"