Bleach: Getting Stronger Starting from Teaching at the Spiritual Arts Academy

A few days later, in July, they still couldn't find the place where Xia Dalu's family forged the tapir knife through the "monitoring point".

It's not easy to track down the Kasumi family.

This kind of "monitoring point" still has some limitations. It is a fixed observation point and its movement cannot be remotely controlled. The duration also depends on the spiritual pressure applied.

When the Xia Dalu family conducts these clandestine activities, they always wear invisibility cloaks.

To find them using "monitoring points," you need to have "monitoring points" set up right near where they are visible.

However, the Soul Society is too vast, and the number of "monitoring points" that July can set up is limited, so not all areas are under shadow.

Moreover, with July's current spiritual pressure, it's impossible to spread "monitoring points" to every shadowy corner of Soul Society.

"Sousuke, when you were in the Woju Ward, did you hear anything unusual, like souls disappearing?" July looked at Aizen wielding his wooden sword and thought that he had lived in the Woju Ward for a while. With his keen observation skills, he might know something.

“Teacher, in places like the Inugami Ward, disappearances and deaths happen every day.” Aizen stopped what he was doing. “You weren’t actually looking for me that day, were you? You must have had something else to do there?”

"You've been found out," July laughed. "I saw you looked nervous, so I just teased you a bit, going along with what you were saying."

Before actually meeting Aizen, July's impression of him was that he was good at disguising himself and had an extremely high level of pretentiousness.

Seeing Aizen so nervous and embarrassed was a rare sight, so I couldn't help but tease him.

"..." Aizen was somewhat helpless. This teacher really had a twisted sense of humor. He had actually been outwitting him back then.

“Under those circumstances, the tension is understandable…” July continued to ask, “However, judging from your actions, it seems that you wanted to leave the Xudiao area, and you even made some modifications to your appearance before going down the mountain.”

Aizen thought for a moment and decided to talk about the "divine sword," which would be a good opportunity to test his teacher's attitude towards such a thing.

He was able to move safely through some of the most dangerous areas of Rukongai because he paid close attention to the intelligence around him.

Sometimes, seemingly insignificant pieces of information can be the key to solving a problem.

Aizen stared into July's eyes and said:

"I was indeed preparing to leave the Xu Diao area because obtaining food there was still too difficult."

"However, if we're talking about something extraordinary..."

"I did encounter something before I left the Xudiao District."

"I know someone who gained the favor of a certain magistrate and received a 'divine sword'."

"However, although this 'divine sword' can enhance one's strength, it also requires one's own blood and spiritual pressure to sustain it."

July felt a sudden thought; the "divine sword" Aizen described was very similar to the Baku-yō-jitsu.

This is very likely the Kasumi family searching for souls with spiritual talent to feed the Tapir Blade!

"You're very perceptive," July praised. "This 'divine blade' is very likely not a good thing; choosing to avoid it is a wise choice."

After hearing Aizen's description, I guessed that he most likely chose to leave the Inugami district overnight to avoid this matter.

July continued, "This information is very important. I want to confirm it. Sousuke, can you show me the way?"

"of course."

...

Nighttime, Xudiao District—

Shikatoki Nanatsuki followed Aizen Sousuke to the place where he used to live.

“Teacher, someone came here after I left.” Aizen checked the door and windows and found that the window had been opened.

Before he left, he placed a hair tied to each door and window so that if anyone came by and didn't notice the hair, they could tear it off.

However, the hair is intact and has not been torn off.

He concluded that someone had been in the house, not because of the hair tied to the doors and windows, but for some other reason.

Chapter 71 Divine Blade (Please continue reading)

The window in this room had been opened.

The hair tied to doors and windows is just to attract the attention of observant people.

The real, hidden way to identify it is by the location where the door or window is jammed.

He built this wooden house by hand, and the door and window frames are different from ordinary frames due to his careful design.

After the doors and windows are closed, if you lift them up a bit, you can still pull them a little further. Once they are pulled all the way up, there will be a difference of about half a centimeter.

When he closes the doors and windows himself, he lifts them all the way up.

The window is currently in its normal position.

In other words, the person closing the window did not lift the window slightly before closing it!

Moreover, the person avoided tearing off the hair tied to the rope to cover up their presence, clearly indicating ill intentions.

July watched Aizen demonstrate the mechanism and stroked her chin: "Sousuke, it seems you've been targeted too. Your caution was justified."

Aizen said, "If you don't act carefully, it will be difficult to survive in this place for long."

"However, I think—it was probably my departure that drew their attention."

"Because I didn't show my spiritual talent to Kato before."

"Kato must have come looking for me, and when I wasn't there, that's when they noticed me."

July nodded and said, "I want to meet Kato, but we can't meet him directly, lest we alert him."

He wanted to see the so-called "divine sword" for himself and, incidentally, set up some "surveillance points" near Kato.

Aizen suddenly suggested, "I can find an excuse to meet with him, which would give me a chance to test who's behind him."

Now that he has joined the Shikatodo Dojo, he wants to gain his teacher's trust as soon as possible so that he can learn more from him.

If he can learn some valuable lessons from his teacher, it will be very beneficial to his growth.

July shook her head: "The waters here run deep. Those 'divine blades' that use spirits as nourishment are very likely to involve those high-ranking nobles. I don't want you to get involved in these matters."

As a teacher, he didn't want his still-developing students to get involved in the feuds of the Kasumi family.

A teacher should protect their students from hardship, not send them into danger.

Aizen was slightly taken aback upon hearing this.

He has long roamed the more dangerous areas of Rukongai. Those who can live here are either skilled fighters or deep thinkers.

Kato is a friend I met while fighting, and he's more than one friend like me.

But they were all just superficial friends.

Kato came to show off the "divine sword" that day, but only to flaunt his "miraculous encounter" in front of him.

This is the first time I've encountered a teacher who is so considerate of him.

Aizen didn't say much, but nodded and said, "I know where Kato lives. I'll take you there now."

In July, the Shadow Maiden waved her hand, enveloping the two in shadow.

Although he couldn't pull Aizen into the shadows to completely hide his figure, he could still use the shadows to conceal his form. At night, this method of concealment was almost equivalent to invisibility.

A little while later, the two arrived at another street.

This area is not much different from the area where the indigo dyeing house is located; there are wooden shacks on both sides of the street.

However, this street was built earlier, and the wooden houses on both sides of the street are obviously more dilapidated.

“The residents of this street are mostly born in the Woju-dori district,” Aizen explained in a low voice. “The residents of my street are mostly souls who came from the mortal world.”

"We're here. This is the house." Aizen pointed to a wooden house on the side of the street. "Kato doesn't seem to be home."

There was no spiritual pressure fluctuation inside the room.

Kato wasn't the type to hide his spiritual pressure, so he deduced that Kato wasn't home.

“If he wasn’t hiding his spiritual pressure fluctuations, we could find him by the spiritual pressure aura he left here,” July said.

July entered the house directly through her shadow.

Shikatori Ryu has many training methods for controlling his own spiritual pressure and utilizing external spiritual particles, and he has naturally mastered the method of conducting reconnaissance through "spiritual networks".

He carefully sensed the spiritual particles in the room, and after a moment, the spiritual particles materialized into several fluttering pieces of cloth within his perception.

“Found it.” July reached out and grabbed one of the white and red spiritual veins.

The spiritual veins of the human soul are white, while those of the Grim Reaper are red.

Kato's spiritual energy is turning red, indicating that he has already acquired some of the characteristics of a Shinigami (death god).

"What determines the color of the spirit network?" A thought flashed through July's mind. He suddenly remembered that the spirit networks of Quincy were also white.

In terms of strength, the elite Quincy he had met were definitely stronger than ordinary Shinigami soldiers, so the color of the spirit network was definitely not based on strength.

"Perhaps the birth of the Zanpakuto caused some changes in the Shinigami's soul. In that case, the 'divine sword' that resembles the Baku sword also caused some changes in Kato's soul," July speculated in her mind.

July sank into the shadows and returned to Aizen's side: "Let's go, I've found Kato's location."

Kato's location is quite far, in a distant mountain forest, but it's within ten minutes on foot for the two of them.

When they arrived in the mountains in July, Kato's spiritual pressure fluctuations had already disappeared.

The scene here is somewhat chaotic; it seems a battle has taken place.

To his surprise, in July he actually met a student from the sixth grade class here.

That's Guan Zhimu Yan, who was punished by him for his inappropriate attitude and made to stay after school for training!

Moreover, the knife in his hand was undergoing a dramatic change.

a few minutes ago--

The sounds of clashing swords echoed continuously through the mountains and forests.

Including Kato, there were a total of four boys fighting each other with real swords.

The battle between the four did not last long and soon came to an end.

In the end, only Guan Zhimu Yan was still able to stand; the other three were lying on the ground. Kato, whom July and the others were looking for, was one of them.

"I won—hahaha!" Guan Zhimu Yan gasped for breath as he finally defeated the other three.

He could feel the divine sword in his hand constantly absorbing his spiritual pressure, but at the same time, it was also continuously feeding back power to him.

So what if I don't have a Zanpakuto!

His current abilities are already stronger than many of his classmates!

As long as he continues to nurture this divine weapon, he can continue to grow stronger.

Just then, the three boys lying down suddenly let out painful howls.

"what!!!"

Guan Zhimu Yan turned his head and saw the boys desperately trying to shake off the knives they were holding.

But the knife seemed glued to his hand, and he couldn't shake it off no matter what he did.

The group was enveloped in spiritual pressure, and their spiritual bodies were dissolving at a visible rate.

A few seconds later, all three of them melted into spiritual particles and were drained by the knife.

Chapter 72 Man and God (Please continue reading)

Guan Zhimu felt a chill run down his spine upon witnessing this horrifying scene.

"Kujiro Hideaki! What's going on?!" Guan Zhimu Yan shouted.

Shukui had never told him that this "divine sword" was so dangerous!

"Don't worry, they only suffered a backlash because their spiritual pressure was insufficient. Your spiritual pressure is enough to nurture it," Shuu Kukai reassured him.

Shuu Kukai stepped forward and examined the three "divine swords" left on the ground, discovering that all three had developed cracks.

"It's a pity that I couldn't forge them. What a waste of three blade blanks... The success rate is really low. I should have succeeded with at least one!" thought Shuu Kukai.

He only got four blade blanks. If the last one doesn't turn out well, all his efforts will have been in vain.

Kukai Shu turned to look at Kanzaki En and said persuasively, "Look, the inferior spiritual power flowing through their bodies has even damaged the 'Divine Blade' embryo. You are different. The Kanzaki family has a noble bloodline and will soon be able to nurture the 'Divine Blade'."

"That's for the best!" Guan Zhimu said with some doubt. "If anything happens to me, the Guan Zhimu family won't let you off the hook!"