Inside Liuhun Street.
In recent days, a great many strangers had appeared — none of them wearing death god uniforms.
They dressed as ordinary people, blending in without a second glance.
Now and then they asked around for information.
Things like: they wanted to join the Eternal Church, but couldn't seem to find any of its members anywhere.
"Damn it. There's no sign of the Eternal God believers in this area at all."
"Hm... stop complaining. Those people are formidable. The most we can do is keep gathering intelligence."
"I suppose that's all there is for now."
A short-haired girl in rough linen said this with a helpless shrug.
Her name was Kuchiki Rukia.
The pride of the Kuchiki family.
She had originally been on a separate mission in this world, but had been recalled to headquarters — the two missing captains were far too powerful to treat as a low-priority matter.
The search was not confined to northern Liuhun Street. Other areas were being combed through as well.
But so far, nothing.
The other side seemed to be an invisible phantom — simply gone.
Just after Kuchiki Rukia and her companions departed—
Several seemingly ordinary residents exchanged contemptuous looks.
Fish eyes mixed among pearls.
This was their ability.
The followers of the Eternal Church could detect the arrival of death gods. The death gods, for their part, could not detect them.
A bunch of idiots, really.
"Morons. They don't even realize their reiatsu burns like a beacon."
"Don't say that — they're death gods who maintain peace in this world."
"Peace? What peace? They protect the high-born nobles, that's all."
"While you say that, I've been wondering — why does the afterlife divide people into high souls and low souls? Just because someone awakened a Zanpakutō, they get to call themselves a cut above the rest?
The noble clans can go straight to hell! What Tosen — the priest — says is exactly right. Where there's oppression, there will be resistance. We follow God's teachings, and we will bring down this rotten Seireitei!"
The religious personnel had not left. They had simply transferred the senior priests to a new location.
The headquarters was now established in Hueco Mundo.
The religion's main altar would be built there as well.
It was the only sensible option.
A reckless leader might have just marshaled their people and met the death gods of Seireitei head-on.
But whoever said Aizen was reckless.
He liked doing things properly.
The advantage was this: it avoided direct confrontation while allowing them, from the shadows, to continuously pull the outstanding women of the death god world into their ranks — arresting death gods as sacrifices.
Lan Ran had learned through the group chat that there was a Hell in the God Realm.
Which naturally meant he also knew there was a severe shortage of manpower there.
This was a godsend.
His own world had countless souls, many death gods, and Hollows that could be purified and transformed.
If he could seize this opportunity—
Aizen was confident he could carve out a place for himself in the God Realm.
And perhaps the goddess would forget her grievances when she saw what he'd contributed?
With that thought in mind, Lan Ran issued an order from Hueco Mundo: we are short-handed — everyone work harder.
After these Hollows were purified, their contribution would be recorded within the religion's merit ledger.
Hisugaya Toshiro and Uozhihualie were imprisoned in the basement of the headquarters.
Strange-powered shackles bound them completely.
Matsumoto Ranju and Uozhihualie were held at the highest point of the headquarters — a position from which the entire Hueco Mundo could be observed.
This also made education more convenient.
Aizen wanted these candidate goddesses to take an interest.
But there was still the matter of the contradictions between the two sides.
If he wanted these two beauties to yield, he first had to let them witness God's grace for themselves.
Time passed.
The first Hollow was captured. The one who had done it was, naturally, Hina Moritao. She had used golden flame to forge shackles and dragged the creature down to the base of the altar.
"High Priest, it's been secured. But how will it learn the teachings of the Eternal Meditation Sutra?"
Hollows had no reason left in them. They only wanted to destroy and devour.
For this kind of existence, Hina Mori was particularly at a loss.
Lan Ran looked at the struggling Hollow and smiled. "Very simple. First control its mind — let it calm down. Then it can learn the meditation method."
"That simple?"
"Just watch."
Lan Ran turned his gaze on the Hollow.
It shuddered all over, and fell into a trance.
Within a short time—
The carapace wrapped around its body began to peel away piece by piece.
Countless threads of black smoke drifted out of it.
Those were the souls it had devoured. Sinful Hollows sustained themselves by consuming souls.
Lan Ran watched closely.
It was a full hour before the Hollow finally reclaimed its original form. A middle-aged man stood where the creature had been, dressed in white, a chain around his neck.
On his back, in red, was a single character: *Sin*.
Hina Moritao stared. "High Priest — what does this mean?"
"The rules of the God Realm, most likely. Devouring souls is a grave transgression — genuine salvation from that kind of sin is not easily given."
He looked at the man steadily.
"He must atone."
Aizen had suspected something like this would result, and he accepted it without much fuss. The man had had his sanity restored by divine power. It would be absurd to expect that nothing came of it.
Then Aizen turned to the man, who was slowly regaining consciousness, and said, "You have been redeemed. Now make your atonement. When the marks on your back and the shackles around your neck are gone, your sins will be truly paid."
The man woke. He immediately dropped to his knees.
"Thank you, sir. I never imagined I would have a day like this. I will work as hard as I can. One day I will clear my sins..."
——
Inside the prison.
Matsumoto Ranju and Uozhihualie had witnessed the entire process from above.
Both of them were shaken.
To restore a Hollow to its original human form.
This was a problem Seireitei's researchers had never solved in thousands of years.
And Aizen had just done it. Calmly. Without ceremony.
"Sister... do you think this could be an illusion?"
"I don't know. Maybe not. But then — why did God choose Aizen? Not Captain Yamamoto. Not the Spirit King..."
Uozhihualie murmured to herself.
In terms of influence, Captain Yamamoto was undeniably the greatest. The Spirit King had sacrificed enormously to stabilize the world.
But God had chosen Aizen.
Matsumoto Ranju thought back to what Hina Mori had said to her on the road, and offered, "Maybe even if God had chosen Captain Yamamoto, the old captain would have set his will aside for the sake of the greater order."
Captain Yamamoto was the oldest man in the world of death. The most powerful death god in Seireitei.
If God's will came down — what choice would he make?
Very hard to say.
The old captain's thinking was deeply conservative.
But Aizen was different. Young. Sharp. Knowledgeable and daring.
In under ten days, they had built a massive organization from nothing.
That was enough to prove that Aizen had been deliberately concealing his capabilities all along.
People were always more complex than they appeared.