The Supreme Soul, Starting with Death

However, the focus of their attention differed from one another.

Jiro was clearly more interested in taijutsu ninjas. When Gu Shi talked about Hyuga Neji's battle, he subconsciously swung his claws, trying to manipulate spiritual energy to imitate techniques like the Rotation Technique. When the Eight Gates were mentioned, he couldn't help but touch his own body, trying to find out if the Great Hollow also had such a "gate" that could instantly increase spiritual energy output.

Ulquiorra, on the other hand, was more focused on Sasuke Uchiha. He didn't have any particular feelings about the character himself, neither liking nor disliking him. What he was really interested in was Sasuke's Sharingan, which was said to be able to replicate any ninjutsu or taijutsu.

Since becoming a Vasto Lorde, Ulquiorra has gained many new abilities, one of which is that he can remove his own eyes, crush them, and then recreate what he "sees" and share it with others.

When Ulquiorra first heard Gu Shi talk about the Sharingan, he thought that his own eyes had the function of "recording," and as a Hollow, this record was undoubtedly preserved in the form of spiritual energy.

So, if we could extract the records of specific objects, specific actions, and specific energy flows from this spiritual power and import them into our own bodies, could we achieve an effect similar to the Sharingan?

If he could do that, the difficulty of learning the Kido would drop dramatically for him. He would only need to find a few Grim Reapers and have them demonstrate the various Kido techniques to him.

Only Neutra, though he also enjoyed listening to stories, lacked the necessary background knowledge, so he ultimately just listened to stories and found it difficult to gain anything from them.

However, according to Gu Shi's observation, when talking about Orochimaru killing his master, the little mantis clearly showed some disgust, which proves that the moral education classes during this period were not in vain, and can be considered a good thing to some extent.

For the energetic Hollows, rest time was destined to be short. Soon, today's story time was over. Those who had gained something seized the opportunity to start researching while their inspiration was still fresh, while Nnoitra, who hadn't gained much, took the opportunity to go hunting.

Gu Shi also ventured into his inner world, once again attempting to communicate with his Zanpakuto.

Surprisingly, a short while later, Neutra hurriedly ran back.

"Lord Gu Shi, I sensed a terrifying spiritual pressure in the east. It must be Adjuchas, the one you told me to watch out for!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Shi and Erlang opened their eyes at the same time.

Chapter 187 Cryo Modulation

Compared to their Kylian days, Gu Shi and Jiro, now Adjuchas, carry an additional burden they never had before: the fear of regression.

Menos Grande in this stage must consume another Adjuchas at regular intervals. If they fail to consume a Menos Grande of the same level for an extended period, they will regress to a Gillian and completely lose their self-awareness, becoming mindless zombies.

It's important to understand that, aside from the rare Vastodes, the Adjuchas are already considered to be among the top combat forces in Hueco Mundo. The danger of hunting prey of this level is self-evident.

Theoretically speaking, for the Adjuchas, the safest approach is to raise a self-aware Kyrian and hunt it down the moment it has evolved and before it has adapted to its new body, rather than hunting down ancient monsters that may have hundreds of years of combat experience.

After all, people are diverse, and the virtual world is no exception.

Among the Adjuchas, there are certainly madmen like Grimmjow who are so proud that they disdain hunting the weak and even more disdain "breeding" and pursue continued evolution and strength. But there are also cowards who lack ambition, have no thought of continuing to evolve, and only want to prolong their lives, thus actively throwing themselves into the "breeding" business.

Therefore, before encountering Stark, Gu Shi was actually quite worried, fearing that he and Erlang were all "sheep" pre-selected by a certain cowardly Adjuchas.

Fortunately, the five years he spent with Stark had dispelled Gu Shi's concerns in this regard. After successfully evolving, the questions he needed to consider were quite simple—

How do you find your prey?

After all, Hueco Mundo is a vast region. In such a vast area, even if one is willing to hunt, there is a possibility that one might be so unlucky that one could not encounter another Adjuchas until one's own body degenerates.

Although Stark's major actions in the Great Hollow Forest five years ago scared most of the Adjuchas into fleeing to the surface desert, which to some extent reduced the Adjuchas's activity space and made it easier to find prey, who can say what luck is?

Therefore, when Gu Shi set off from the camp, he specifically brought a few blue crystals produced by Stark as a backup plan for the worst-case scenario.

Once his and Jiro's regression time limit is up, and they are still unlucky enough to not be able to find any prey, he will break through the mask before he regresses. Although he may lose some potential, at least he can preserve his self-awareness, right?

However, Gu Shi's luck was clearly not as bad as he had imagined, and sure enough, Neutra brought him good news.

Suddenly, Gu Shi and Erlang perked up. They looked at each other, and Gu Shi, in high spirits, couldn't help but chuckle.

"Erlang, who should go first?"

Although Jiro's fighting spirit was high and he longed for a life-or-death battle with a Hollow of the same level, he hesitated for a moment, then suppressed the eagerness in his eyes and shook his head.

"I haven't developed any martial arts techniques suitable for the Adjuchas level yet, so I'll leave the first battle to you."

This is a lie.

After evolving, Erlang quickly awakened the talent of "super speed regeneration". When he tried to use the martial arts he had created to transform his body structure into steel, he also awakened the extremely strong talent of "steel skin" due to this stimulation.

These two talents can be said to be the strongest talents for close-quarters combat of the Great Void. Even without martial arts, relying on these two talents, Jiro's combat power is definitely not weak.

His only reason for making this choice was to give the prey to Gu Shi, so that Gu Shi could complete his first feeding with his peers as soon as possible and eliminate the degeneration crisis.

Gu Shi could obviously see what Erlang was thinking, and laughed loudly as he patted Erlang's head hard.

"Alright! You said it yourself, Erlang. Since you're so generous, I'll give you half after I kill that guy!"

……! ??

Erlang's eyes widened suddenly as he realized what was happening.

"Wait! Wait a minute! To eliminate the degeneration crisis, don't we need to eat a whole Adjuchas? Can we share it? Then let me handle the first battle! I beg you, let me go!"

"Haha, no way! What's handed to me, I'm not going to give back. Just sit back and watch me fight!"

Gu Shi laughed and rubbed Erlang's head, adjusting his own state as he quickly walked back in the direction Neutra had run back.

Adjuchas isn't a Devil Fruit, so where does the idea that it can't be shared come from?

Grimjow's five subordinates had been hunting together since the time of the Adjuchas. If they couldn't share their prey, how could five Adjuchas possibly get together?

Could these inherently tyrannical Hollows really be expected to engage in friendly negotiations, holding occasional small meetings to harmoniously and amicably discuss who their next prey should be? Would they still be Hollows then?

Of course, this possibility is not entirely out of the question. If the prey really cannot be divided, it is not a big problem. After all, Ulquiorra is already a Vastod.

If they really can't find their next prey until Jiro is about to degenerate, Ulquiorra certainly won't stand idly by. The mighty Vastod will personally take action, grabbing Adjuchas to bring him back as an emergency measure. What difficulty could that possibly be?

Therefore, Gu Shi accepted the mission of the first battle without any mental burden, and no matter how much Erlang regretted and shouted from behind, he had no intention of giving up the battle to Erlang.

He really needs a battle now to see what he's gained from his evolution.

With a clear direction for the search, Gu Shi quickly noticed that there was a hint of the unique spiritual energy of Achukas in the air.

Got you!

Gu Shi laughed even more heartily, instantly accelerating to shake off Erlang, who was following him around incessantly, and rushed at full speed toward the direction from which the aura was coming from.

After a few breaths, Gu Shi saw his target—

A giant, eight-legged starfish?

The moment Gu Shi saw his target clearly, he couldn't help but frown slightly. Beside the Adjuchas, there were three Kylians that clearly possessed self-awareness, bowing respectfully at his feet like servants, listening to his teachings.

...An Adjuchas from the farming faction? Perhaps not very good at fighting?

It seems we need to devote more energy to preventing him from escaping after being defeated.

The moment Gu Shi saw his opponent clearly, the starfish also noticed him. The bone mask, which should have been in the position of a natural starfish's mouth, looked towards Gu Shi.

Without wasting words, Gu Shi gave the other party a bright smile, raised his right scythe to condense a Cero, then turned his arm and shot the crimson Cero directly into his mouth.

The next moment, crimson flames, pale lightning, brilliant golden light, and blood-red smoke all spewed out of Gu Shi's mouth at the same time.

Vibration modulation!

Gu Shi's new ability is one of the new abilities he gained after evolving!

Chapter 188 Talking incessantly

If we were to pinpoint the most iconic ability of a Hollow, it would definitely not be super-regeneration or steel skin, but rather the "Cero Flash," which is naturally awakened from the Killian stage. Basically, all Hollows develop this innate ability during their evolution, the only difference being the degree of development.

Some Hollows simply change the color of their Cero, such as Nnoitra's yellow Cero and Szayelaporro's purple Cero;

Some Hollows go a step further, changing the shape of their Cero. For example, Halibel's Cero changed from a pillar shape to a fan shape, expanding its attack range. Stark's Cero became a pack of wolves that could move on their own. Ulquiorra's Cero was compressed to be more solid and slender, increasing its penetrating power while almost completely eliminating the spread damage outside the point of impact, fully satisfying his hobby of making holes in the center of other people's collarbones.

Some Hollows have even more elaborate techniques, such as Nel's "Cero Repetition," where she can absorb other people's Cero and then add her own Cero to counterattack.

For example, Gu Shi at this moment.

Perhaps because he had analyzed a large number of Kido and was familiar with the spiritual energy structure that Kido should have, after evolving into Adjuchas, he discovered that he could swallow Cero and then change the spiritual energy arrangement within it, so that Cero, which originally only relied on a large amount of spiritual energy to create "impact and explosion", could simulate additional characteristics similar to Kido. If necessary, he could even simulate the structure of the return path and turn his Cero into a healing beam.

Based on the characteristics of his ability, Gu Shi named this ability "Virtual Flash Modulation".

After spitting out a modified Cero containing fire, lightning, light, and smoke, Gu Shi couldn't help but spit out a few mouthfuls of saliva. Releasing the Cero from the mouth was already enough to make one's throat dry, and spitting it out after swallowing and modifying it made the feeling even worse.

Like deep, ptooey, ptooey, like smoking a whole pack of cigarettes in one go!

Spitting, Gu Shi chased after his own Cero and suddenly charged towards the starfish Hollow opposite him.

However, the starfish, which should have been slow, displayed an incredible speed that was inconsistent with its appearance. Just as the Cero was about to hit it, it easily dodged it.

So fast!

Gu Shi's pupils contracted, and he accelerated again. At the same time, he swallowed another Cero, modulated it into the Waste Flame ability, and spat it onto his scythes. Instantly, the surfaces of the two gleaming scythes were covered with a layer of flame that spun rapidly like a chainsaw, and they cut towards the starfish's left tentacle.

Unlike Gu Shi, who doesn't have the habit of talking nonsense during battle, Hai Xing seems to be a bit of a chatterbox. While dodging to the side again, he seizes the opportunity to start talking nonsense.

"If this speed is your full potential, then you might as well step back now. My speed can be improved even further."

"My degradation period has at least seventy-three years left. I don't want to waste time on meaningless fights before then. If you're willing to turn back, I can guarantee I won't pursue you."

It must be said that this starfish is not only fast in its movement, but also incredibly fast in its speech. In the brief moment of dodging to the side, it uttered a long passage, and its words were clear and unambiguous.

You're probably a rapper, aren't you?

Gu Shi mentally scoffed, then suddenly ducked to dodge the claws that attacked from behind. With a casual slash, he cut the Killian behind him in two, gave the starfish a mocking smile, and continued his charge.

In battle, especially against a Hollow, it's best to treat everything the opponent says as nonsense and not believe a single word. This giant starfish claims to have no intention of fighting, but in reality, it's drawing Gu Shi's attention to create an opportunity for his three Killian subordinates to launch a sneak attack.

Although Adjuchas's physical strength is such that he is unlikely to get injured even if he stands still and lets Killian hit him, Killian could still delay Gu Shi for a moment if he recklessly grabs him.

Given the speed of this giant starfish, if Gu Shi were to reveal even a slight opening, it could probably pierce through Gu Shi's head.

Fortunately, Gu Shi never let his guard down around these three Kylians from the very beginning.

"It is impolite not to retaliate," Gu Shi continued to slash at the starfish with one hand, while his other hand quickly swung out dozens of spiritual energy "blades," cutting the remaining two slow-moving Kili'an units into pieces.

Despite his sneak attack being exposed and his subordinates being killed, Da Haixing remained calm and composed, his tone unchanged and his words still fluent.

"They are not my subordinates, but innocent people who believe in my ideas and voluntarily gather around me. Does killing such weak and innocent people give you satisfaction?"

“I don’t blame you. I can see that there is demonic intent in your heart. It is demonic intent that has blinded your mind. Why not calm down and listen to my teachings, see the real world clearly, and recognize your true self?”

"The world is a chaotic and disorderly abyss; we must establish proper rules for it so that we can..."

Gu Shi's eyes twitched a few times. He hadn't expected that this giant starfish would actually start preaching to him like this. He simply swallowed another Cero and then spat out a fiery red spider web.

As predicted, Da Haixing's speed increased once again. He casually moved through the mesh of the spider web, still chattering incessantly, trying to persuade Gu Shi.

[Huh? This guy is trying to get closer to me?]

Gu Shi's pupils contracted slightly as he noticed something unusual. The fiery spider web spread outwards from him, becoming sparser the farther away and denser the closer. However, while the giant starfish kept rambling on in an attempt to distract him, it did not move towards the sparser areas of the web; instead, it kept getting closer to him.

Is he confident in close combat? Are his tentacles highly venomous? Or is his "wrist strength" so strong that once he grabs me, I'll have absolutely no chance of breaking free?