"So... you're just voluntarily letting Instructor Unohana hack you to pieces? So you can 'deeply experience' the profound mysteries of Kaido by healing yourself?"
Aizen stared at Lu Li with a deeply disturbing expression after hearing his explanation.
"Are you addicted to being slashed open?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Who in their right mind gets addicted to having their heart carved out by a god-speed strike?!"
Lu Li was completely exasperated. Desperate to prevent Aizen from harboring any more horrifying misunderstandings about his personal life, he had reluctantly confessed the truth about the "after-school tutoring" and sworn Aizen to secrecy.
After living with the guy for two months, Lu Li could safely assume Aizen's lips were securely sealed. Aizen wasn't the gossiping type.
"Yet, I keep hearing rumors that voices pleading, 'Instructor, please do it again' constantly echo from the Kaido classroom after hours," Aizen remarked completely deadpan.
Lu Li's face froze.
"That's because I'm fiercely dedicated to my academic progress! Also, where the hell are you hearing this garbage?!"
Aizen casually swept his gaze across the other students in the room.
"I don't think there's a single soul in the Academy who hasn't heard. It's already been immortalized as one of the Seven Great Mysteries of the Shin'o Academy."
"Huh? The Academy has Seven Great Mysteries?"
Lu Li was genuinely dumbfounded. Weren't these urban legends supposed to be limited to superstitious high schools in the World of the Living? Usually revolving around ghosts and stuff? But they were literal Soul Reapers! Why were they buying into this crap?
"Indeed. Did I not mention them to you?"
Aizen began to list them off with utmost seriousness.
"The Blood-Stained Bamboo Sword in the Zanjutsu Storage. The Asauchi that vanishes at midnight. The Dormitory Building where ambient Reishi inexplicably drains after dark. The White Mouse that bleeds eternally. The disappearing rice in the Midnight Cafeteria. The shifting staircases. And... the Kaido classroom that emits highly questionable noises after hours."
Lu Li planted his face in his palm. He was utterly defeated by the student body of the Shin'o Academy. Apparently, whether human or Soul Reaper, the primal urge to gossip about absolute nonsense was universal.
Furthermore, he desperately wanted to call out his roommate's blatant hypocrisy. You're telling me you aren't personally responsible for at least one of these "Mysteries," Sosuke?!
The dorms inexplicably draining of Reishi after dark? That's obviously just you secretly absorbing everything like a black hole while the rest of us sleep!
"Lu Li, regarding the disappearing rice in the Midnight Cafeteria..." Aizen started.
"That is absolutely not me!" Lu Li instantly cut him off, waving his hands defensively.
After the brief interlude, the two settled down to commence their Zanpakuto Resonance practice. Aizen was simply putting on a convincing act; he had unlocked Shikai long ago.
Over the past two months at the Academy, Lu Li's gains had been astronomical. Setting aside the significant level-ups in all his combat proficiencies, his skill tab had expanded massively.
He had successfully extorted the advanced Shunpo technique, Utsusemi, from Yoruichi. He had internalized the profound mechanics of "Soul Reaper Kaido" from Unohana. And he had mastered a comprehensive arsenal of highly practical Bakudo and Hado spells from Instructor Tsukabishi.
His proficiency in Kaido was particularly exceptional. Now, Unohana only needed to supply the lethal damage; he was fully capable of performing the restorative surgery on himself. His only current bottleneck was cast speed.
It currently took him roughly ten minutes to fully heal a catastrophic, diagonal bisection from his shoulder to his waist. If he were assigned to a rearguard medical unit, that speed was more than sufficient.
But his goal was to integrate Kaido into active, high-speed combat. Ten minutes was an eternity in a deathmatch. He needed to reach a point where he could instantly mend minor wounds and regenerate critical trauma within a few breaths.
He temporarily put the concept of instantly healing fatal blows on the back burner. No matter how fast his Kaido became, if he encountered an enemy capable of instantly obliterating his vitals in a single strike, he was probably dead regardless.
He wanted to refine his Kaido to the point where recovering from severe trauma was nearly instantaneous, drastically elevating his tactical viability. However, achieving that level of mastery felt incredibly distant. He doubted he could reach that plateau before his time limit in this world expired.
Nevertheless, his current training was far from useless. He could already weave rudimentary Kaido into his combat, rapidly healing superficial muscle tearing mid-fight.
As for his Reiatsu... Lu Li wasn't actually slacking off. He simply refused to become a hollow vessel of raw stats.
His old master had constantly drilled a fundamental truth into him: yes, his raw physical numbers were terrifyingly beautiful compared to a normal human. But if he relied purely on brute force, one day he would inevitably encounter a true grandmaster and pay the ultimate price.
Therefore, polishing his martial techniques remained his absolute top priority. He already knew how to cultivate Reiatsu; he could grind those numbers anytime, anywhere. But if he completely ignored the Shin'o Academy's unparalleled environment for leaching premium combat techniques, he would deeply regret it later.
Most importantly, he had heavily analyzed his Main Mission. To successfully "Speedrun the Shin'o Academy," he was almost certainly going to face some sort of specialized graduation exam.
The examiners would undoubtedly possess a significantly higher Spiritual Pressure than him. But, being proud Soul Reaper veterans, they likely wouldn't bully a student with pure Reiryoku suppression. To pass, his safest bet was elevating his comprehensive combat techniques to an untouchable level.
Though, he figured he should probably ask Instructor Unohana to go a little easier on him in the coming weeks. His Kaido fundamentals were solid now; there was no need for the "after-school tutoring" to be so violently extreme every single day. Conserving his physical stamina would allow him to finally join Aizen's late-night Reiatsu grind.
Lu Li looked down at the Asauchi resting across his lap. He had attempted Resonance every single night for two months, failing completely every time.
He didn't think it was because his Class 16 Spiritual Pressure was too low, nor did he believe he lacked the innate talent for Zanpakuto communion. He suspected the issue was that the absolute depths of his soul were... strangely anomalous.
Whenever he looked inward, trying to peer into his soul, he was met with an endless, suffocating, purple-black expanse. It felt exactly like staring into the abyss.
During his deepest meditative dive, he felt a terrifying sensation of endless free-fall. And echoing in the dark... he swore he heard monstrous, unearthly roars.
"Sosuke, what was it like the very first time you heard your Zanpakuto's voice?" Lu Li finally decided to consult his roommate.
"My Zanpakuto's voice?" Aizen opened his eyes. He hadn't been attempting Resonance at all; he was purely cultivating Reiatsu.
"The voice of a Zanpakuto is the voice of our own soul. I'm afraid I've forgotten exactly what it first said to me."
Lu Li didn't buy that for a second. Aizen was definitely just guarding his privacy. He tried a different approach.
"Does a Zanpakuto speak a human language? Is its voice calm or chaotic? Gentle or terrifying?"
Aizen cast a deeply peculiar look at Lu Li.
"A Zanpakuto is the mirror reflection of one's own soul. Generally speaking, unless an individual harbors severe, pathological self-hatred, a Zanpakuto will not project malice toward its wielder. As for whether it speaks a human language... Lu Li, are you not human?"
"Of course I'm human!" Lu Li's expression darkened.
He understood Aizen's point perfectly. Logically, a Zanpakuto should communicate in a language the wielder understood. Unless the wielder wasn't human.
Since a Zanpakuto spirit was essentially birthed from the wielder's soul, it should share the same linguistic foundation. Even if he spoke multiple foreign languages, the Zanpakuto should still speak something comprehensible. It shouldn't be communicating in an utterly alien tongue.
But the problem was... amidst those terrifying, abyssal roars echoing in his soul, he swore he had also heard faint, unintelligible whispers.
"Then, Lu Li... do you harbor a deep hatred for yourself?" Aizen asked, his tone shifting into that of a highly attentive therapist. He was genuinely trying to analyze Lu Li's psychological block.
Lu Li fell completely silent.
His mind drifted back to the life he lived before the Terminus Space. He was an orphan, abandoned at birth and taken in by his master. In his entire life, he had only ever cherished two people.
His master.
And his senior martial sister.
But they were both dead. Slaughtered right in front of his eyes.
__________
PLEASE SUPPORT ME ON PATREON:
Patreon.com/IndifferentVillain
Early Access and + 60 chapter ahead of webnovel monthly, ur support keeps me motivated...thanks and enjoy reading
Chapter 90 is out on patreon
_______________