__________
PLEASE SUPPORT ME ON PATREON:
Patreon.com/IndifferentVillain
Early Access and + 80 chapter ahead of webnovel monthly, ur support keeps me motivated...thanks and enjoy reading
Chapter 60 is out on patreon
_______________
According to the theory Unohana had just outlined, Kaido utilized Reishi to repair spiritual bodies. But Lu Li wasn't a spiritual body. When he first heard the fundamental mechanics, he assumed the technique would be entirely useless to him.
Yet, Unohana had successfully healed his laceration. That irrefutable fact forced him to reconsider. What exactly was the fundamental difference between physical flesh and a high-density spiritual body?
If he applied the basic scientific principles of his previous life, could Reishi simply be another form of subatomic particle? Or was there another explanation? Perhaps the Terminus Space's "camouflage protocol" was so absolute that it temporarily rewrote his physical existence into a Reishi-based entity for the duration of this world.
For the practical portion of the class, every student was handed a live white mouse to practice on.
It was a necessary precaution. Not everyone possessed the talent for Kaido. If they practiced by mutilating themselves, Unohana would likely have to spend the rest of the afternoon saving the entire class from bleeding to death.
Taking a scalpel, Lu Li made a small incision on his mouse. Closing his eyes, he desperately tried to recall the exact sensation of Unohana's Reishi flowing over his arm, attempting to replicate the delicate manipulation.
As expected, Kaido was incredibly difficult. His first attempt failed miserably.
He tried again, and again. It took him over a dozen attempts before he finally grasped the microscopic rhythm. Carefully, he directed his spiritual energy to stitch the mouse's wound back together.
After a few moments, the laceration closed, but it left behind a highly prominent, jagged scar.
Clearly, his Kaido proficiency was lightyears away from Unohana's. His healing was slow, clunky, and the end result was crude.
"You must actively visualize its original, unblemished state. Guide the Reishi to restore that blueprint, rather than simply forcing the flesh closed."
Unohana's gentle voice suddenly drifted into his ear. He hadn't even noticed her approaching his desk.
Looking down at the miraculously alive mouse on Lu Li's table, Unohana felt a profound sense of shock. She had guest-lectured this elective numerous times, yet she had never seen a single student successfully cast Kaido on their very first day.
By the Shin'o Academy's strict metrics, Lu Li had already earned a passing grade for the entire semester. Give him a little time to refine his technique, and he would comfortably qualify as a fully-fledged Fourth Division medic.
Does this child truly have no weaknesses? She had already heard the rumors that the Zanjutsu and Hakuda instructors were privately weeping in the staff room, complaining that the transfer student was utterly "unteachable." They didn't mean he was a delinquent; they meant he was already vastly superior to them.
At this exact moment, Unohana was genuinely thankful for her absolute mastery over Kaido. At the very least, in this specific domain, she was still a mountain he had to climb.
Under her watchful gaze, Lu Li took the scalpel and gave the mouse another slice. Following her advice, he activated his Kaido again.
This time, the flesh knitted together at a visible speed, leaving behind a barely noticeable scar.
Unohana's eyes lit up. Leaning in slightly closer, she locked her gaze onto his. "Tell me, Lu Li. Why exactly do you want to learn Kaido?"
Completely absorbed in analyzing the Reishi flow of his second attempt, Lu Li answered without a second thought. "To better enjoy combat, of course."
The moment the words left his mouth, a suffocating, abyssal pressure descended over him. He looked up to see Unohana's dark eyes practically vibrating with dark, unholy excitement.
Oh, shit. Lu Li instantly realized his mistake. He had said the quiet part out loud.
He had momentarily forgotten who he was talking to. Retsu Unohana was the ultimate battle maniac. She had only relinquished her title as the Captain of the Eleventh Division and transferred to the rearguard because she had met Kenpachi Zaraki.
In reality, her ravenous thirst for slaughter hadn't diminished in the slightest; she had simply buried it under a flawless, maternal mask. Before the Head Captain reigned her in, she was the First Kenpachi—the most diabolical, blood-soaked criminal in the history of the Soul Society.
"I see..."
The predatory excitement in Unohana's eyes vanished in a microsecond, seamlessly replaced by her usual warm, gentle smile. Her eyes curved into pleasant crescents. "Since you are so passionate about Kaido, I shall provide you with some special, one-on-one guidance."
A violent chill ran straight down Lu Li's spine. But he also knew that receiving private Kaido tutoring from the supreme master of the art was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He had no logical reason to refuse.
Since you're so desperate to find a worthy opponent to butcher, you wouldn't accidentally kill me during a healing lesson, right? Thinking about Unohana's ultimate rival also brought up a confusing timeline discrepancy. Where the hell was Kenpachi Zaraki? He had asked Aizen earlier, and Aizen confirmed that the current Captain of the Eleventh Division was Kenpachi Kuruyashiki. There was no one named 'Zaraki' in the Seireitei.
His thoughts were interrupted by the class bell. The majority of the students shuffled out of the room, looking thoroughly dejected by their failure to heal the mice.
Lu Li didn't need to worry about his next class; the afternoon was reserved for electives, so taking just one was perfectly fine.
The moment the final student stepped out into the hallway, a sudden gust of wind—generated entirely by Reiatsu—violently slammed the classroom door shut.
Click. The sound of the lock turning made Lu Li's danger radar scream.
He looked up at the podium. Unohana stood there in her pale pink-lined haori, smiling sweetly at him. Her slender, white hand rested casually on the hilt of her Zanpakuto.
"It's just the two of us now, Student Lu~"
Under Lu Li's deeply alarmed gaze, Unohana's pristine hand gripped the hilt, slowly drawing her Zanpakuto, Minazuki, inch by agonizing inch from its scabbard.
"Instructor Unohana?" Lu Li's muscles coiled to their absolute limit. "What are you doing?"
Unohana's smile deepened into that of a loving, doting older sister. "Allowing you to experience advanced Kaido, of course."
Lu Li barely had time to raise a hand to stop her.
In the very next microsecond, a geyser of boiling blood erupted, painting the classroom ceiling a vibrant, sickening crimson.
The harsh fluorescent lights reflected off Lu Li's pitch-black eyes, which were now tinged with a manic shade of red. The pain was delayed, taking his brain a fraction of a second to even register what had just happened. But closely trailing the agonizing pain was a surge of uncontrollable, euphoric excitement.
He wasn't a masochist. But he had never, in his entire life, witnessed a blade that fast.
It was so impossibly fast that his supernatural dynamic vision hadn't even registered the swing. It was so flawless that his hyper-tuned combat instincts hadn't even managed to trigger a warning!
A perfect, diagonal slash cleaved down from his left shoulder. It effortlessly parted his flesh, shattered his ribs, and cleanly bisected his heart. Like an old, dying engine making one last desperate attempt to save a broken machine, his severed heart pumped furiously, only serving to shoot the fountain of blood even higher into the air.
His bodily functions rapidly failing, Lu Li began to collapse backward. But before he could hit the floor, a soft, gentle hand caught him, cradling his back.
Through his rapidly blurring, blood-soaked vision, he saw Unohana looking down at him with a warm, angelic smile.
"I will use your body to teach you."
Lu Li gave a faint, microscopic nod. Despite standing directly on death's door, he felt absolutely no panic. He understood exactly what she was doing. She was forcing him into a fatal state so he could personally experience how advanced Kaido dragged a soul back from the absolute brink of annihilation.
Forcing his fading consciousness to remain lucid, he prepared to memorize her every movement.
A pale, ethereal green light blossomed from Unohana's hand, exponentially brighter and vastly more expansive than her earlier demonstration.
It was a bizarre sensation. Even though he was actively bleeding out and dying, his mind felt sharper than ever. His sensory perception had somehow skyrocketed.
Even with his eyes sliding shut, he could vividly feel every microscopic detail of her Kaido—like thousands of gentle, luminous threads meticulously weaving the shredded halves of his heart back together.