Infinite: Start as a ghost

Last time, Jiang Jiu was just a rookie with the power of death at the vice-captain level. He only reached the captain level after absorbing the plum needle.

Afterwards, he absorbed a lot of spiritual power from the spirit tree and learned Bankai.

The game also added various Blood Demon Arts by completing missions.

And so, he can only fight Mei Zhen to a standstill now?

Jiang Jiu was extremely unhappy. What did all his growth over such a long period of time amount to?

It's not as good as the other side occupying a Hollow, and it's only a Gillian-level Hollow at that.

How could Jiang Jiu accept this?

He has now forgotten about the power of the Hollow and is fighting his opponent using only the power of the Shinigami.

This was a limitation he set for himself, and also a way for him to vent.

Bankai is not the end for a Shinigami; it only proves the extent to which he has mastered the power of the Shinigami.

However, the degree of control does not mean that the ability to use it perfectly; these two things are not necessarily related.

Both Mei Zhen and Jiang Jiu possess perfect control over spiritual power, but Mei Zhen can think of ways to utilize it, while Jiang Jiu cannot; he can only rely on his own sword.

In such a match, he couldn't even utilize the Kido technique.

He... didn't have time to use the Ghost Path, and the improvement in his reaction and thinking speed couldn't make up for this deficiency.

Plum needles could not break through Jiang Jiu's defenses, and Jiang Jiu could not do anything about plum needles for the time being. The two of them were temporarily helpless against each other.

"No, I'm relying too much on breathing techniques." During the battle, Jiang Jiu finally began to face this problem.

The world of Bleach is several levels higher than the world of Demon Slayer, so logically the fighting styles of the Shinigami should be much more advanced.

It was already remarkable that Jiang Jiu managed to carve out a place for himself in this world by relying on his mastered breathing technique. He needed to consider more combat methods.

His current methods are still too simplistic.

Shikai, Bankai, and Fullbring only increase his physical strength; his fighting style fundamentally relies on breathing techniques.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, he's become too reliant on breathing techniques.

However, regardless of the circumstances, just now he had boasted that the other party could not break his breathing technique.

If other methods are used to resolve the plum needle issue now, it will deal an irreparable blow to his own beliefs.

"Beginning with breath, ending with form, the sun, moon, earth..."

Jiang Jiu unleashed his trump card, using the most powerful physical attack.

But the plum needle dodged it in mid-air.

Jiang Jiu could also stand on the void. However, this would weaken the point of leverage, and the attack power would still not be enough to break through the plum needle defense.

"What should we do?" Jiang Jiu frowned, unable to think of a way to deal with the plum needles.

The markings and the transparent spacetime were not activated; moreover, he also deactivated all the Blood Demon Arts.

He will use the full power of Death to deal with Plum Needle.

Jiang Jiu would stop at nothing to save anyone else, but Mei Zhen is different.

He must defeat Mei Zhen with the power of death; this is his current obsession.

"Insufficient attack power, insufficient speed, what to do?" Jiang Jiu thought carefully: "Single-target attacks are not powerful enough, and area-of-effect attacks are even less likely to penetrate his defenses."

Jiang Jiu's gaze darkened slightly: "So, either you need to improve your attack power to the next level, or you need to make yourself so fast that he can't react."

"These are the only two options!"

"Star Breathing O Second Form O Star Speed" Jiang Jiu used this move again, trying to find a weakness in Mei Zhen's speed.

"In terms of attack power, Sun, Moon, Earth and Star have already reached perfection, and the possibility of going any further is extremely slim."

"It seems we still need to focus on speed."

However, after several attempts, the results were mediocre.

Meizhen sneered, "Didn't you say I couldn't break your breathing technique? How come you can't do anything to me?"

"It's not difficult to defeat you," Jiang Jiu said in a deep voice. "I simply want to limit myself to defeat you."

"Hahaha, what a ridiculous excuse." Mei Zhen's sarcasm intensified: "Look at you, you can't even maintain your previous composure, so what are you boasting about?"

Jiang Jiu did not explain, but simply continued to use the same moves over and over again.

"No, this move won't work." He thought to himself as he fought, "Star Breathing is already at the level of the Primordial Breathing, I need to attack faster."

"Thunder Breathing - First Form - Thunderclap Flash - Divine Speed!"

Before he could act, an unexpected attack pierced through Jiang Jiu's chest.

Ichimaru O-Gin has arrived.

Chapter 173 Seeking a Breakthrough

The long blade was retracted.

Jiang Jiu clutched her heart and collapsed.

"Yin, you bastard!" Mei Zhen cursed loudly at the empty space as she looked at the fallen Jiang Jiu.

Gin Ichimaru hadn't arrived yet, but his attack had.

Five minutes later, Gin Ichimaru finally arrived.

"Why are you interfering with our battle?" Mei Zhen asked coldly.

"Oh dear, you really don't appreciate kindness." Gin Ichimaru habitually revealed his venomous smile: "I only helped you because I saw you couldn't defeat the other party. You should be thanking me."

"Nonsense!" Mei Zhen retorted angrily. "I was clearly about to kill him."

“Is that so?” Gin Ichimaru said. “It doesn’t seem like that to me.”

"I fed you over twenty Adjuchas, and you can only out-compete him in terms of spiritual pressure. What a pity."

"If you could work a little harder to completely integrate all your spiritual pressure, becoming the 3rd Espada wouldn't be a problem at all."

As he spoke, he held up his Zanpakuto, pointed to the tip, and said, "Look, look. If you hadn't been unable to defeat your opponent, my blade wouldn't have developed this nick."

"Hmph, who asked you to meddle?" Mei Zhen said unhappily, "Does that old man Barragán know about this?"

Gin Ichimaru slightly opened his eyelids: "What a pity, I didn't have a chance to get to know him. This guy isn't the type to like teaming up with others."

"Then let's find an opportunity to devour him too!" Mei Zhen's eyes flashed coldly.

“It won’t be that easy,” Gin Ichimaru chuckled. “Neither he himself nor Aizen’s high regard for him will allow us to succeed so easily.”

Mei Zhen sneered, "Are you scared?"

Gin Ichimaru had a slight headache: "It's not a question of whether I'm afraid or not, it's a question of whether I have the opportunity."

"Hmph." Mei Zhen snorted coldly, pointing at Jiang Jiu and asking, "What do you plan to do with him?"

"There's nothing we can do," Gin Ichimaru laughed. "He's been poisoned by me and has no chance of surviving. Let him fend for himself."

Then, looking troubled, he said, "The difficult part is how to explain to Aizen the excuse that my sword tip has a nick."

Mei Zhen said bluntly, "What's the point of making excuses? Just say this person hacked in, isn't that enough?"

"This kind of nonsense can only fool a brute like you," Gin Ichimaru said sarcastically. "Aizen won't believe me easily, even if it's true."

"I'm a brute?" Mei Zhen sneered. "Heh, then why did you want to cooperate with me?"

"You talk as if Aizen ever trusted you."

“Although I’m impulsive, I’m never stupid,” Mei Zhen said. “Otherwise, how could I be the captain?”

“Although I have always been inside Yarrow’s body, I can see the relationship between you three so-called leaders very clearly.”

"You've always worked on regulatory technology, right?"

"Heh, this is clearly Szayelaporro's forte, yet Aizen entrusted it to you. What do you think that means?"

"When it comes to all the plans and arrangements, Tosen is always the first to know, and you're always the second."

"You know what this 'second' means."

"Whether you've discussed with the top leader how to guard against you, you probably don't even know, do you?"

"Oh?" Gin Ichimaru looked at him with some surprise: "I didn't expect you to have considered this much, even though I already knew it."

As he spoke, he turned to walk back: "Let's go back. Staying away for too long will arouse Aizen's suspicion, and he'll think I'm up to something again."

"Hmph, how dare you prevent me from personally killing my enemy." Mei Zhen looked at Jiang Jiu, who had fallen to the ground, with resentment, and then at Ichimaru Gin's back: "One day, you will also die by my hand."

Mei Zhen stretched out her palm, then suddenly seemed to remember something, withdrew her palm, and turned to leave.

Five minutes after they left, Jiang Jiu's fingers suddenly twitched.

A few more minutes passed before he fully recovered, and then he looked in the direction of Hueco Mundo with a gloomy gaze.

"So, to keep the poison active, you deliberately preserved my body intact, is that right, Gin Ichimaru?"

"So you already know that I possess immortality and incredible regenerative abilities, right?"

"But you can forget about taking the plum needle from my hands!"

Jiang Jiu gave a soft shout and chased after the two.

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap Flash..."

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap Flash, Six-Strike Combo..."

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Lightning Flash, Divine Speed..."

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap Flash, Divine Flash..."

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap Flash, Divine Thunder..."

Jiang Jiu repeatedly used these four moves, constantly closing the distance with the person in front.

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap Flash..."

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap Flash, Six-Strike Combo..."

"Thunder Breathing, First Form, Lightning Flash, Divine Speed..."