Chapter 1482 - 5: Harmless Researchers

Chapter 1482: Chapter 5: Harmless Researchers

Su Xiao began walking towards Hollows Street, heading outside the clearing. He sat on top of a residential building, took out a tablet, and started indulging in games.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes, an hour passed, and Su Xiao was still not in a hurry. There was no use in being anxious about entering Jingling Court, so conserving stamina was better.

After Su Xiao had been meditating on the roof for an hour and a half, the stone gate in the distance rose again, and Hitsugaya Tōshirō led a blonde woman out from inside.

The blonde woman was named Matsumoto Rangiku, the deputy captain of the 10th Division, and Hitsugaya’s assistant. Her voluptuous figure and daring attire had beguiled countless male Soul Reapers.

"Is it that person?"

Matsumoto Rangiku squinted her eyes. It seemed that all the strong Soul Reapers had the same reaction the first time they saw Su Xiao.

"That’s right, it’s him. Did you notice?"

Hitsugaya seemed to be hesitating about something.

"Of course, I can feel it from this far away, this person is definitely not a good one. You’re not planning to..."

Matsumoto Rangiku’s evaluation of Su Xiao was straightforward, not a good person.

"Precisely, I showed that potion to Uzohara Retsu. She said it’s something impressive, with semi-solid spiritual particles mixed in; even she couldn’t do that."

"But..."

"No buts. Get him inside Jingling Court first and then consider other matters. Among the Guard Court Thirteen Teams captains, how many are genuinely good? Even people like Momo Hinamori are accepted by Jingling Court."

Hitsugaya returned here with a simple aim: to get Su Xiao into Jingling Court. Even if he couldn’t be used by the Soul Reapers, leaving Su Xiao to wander in the Soul Society might lead to unknown dangers.

"Now that you say it, you seem quite reasonable."

Matsumoto Rangiku thought of the unpleasant Momo Hinamori and suddenly realized that Su Xiao was entirely within her tolerance range.

"Let’s go, you’re in charge of negotiating."

"Me?"

Matsumoto Rangiku pointed at herself.

"Of course."

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto Rangiku approached Su Xiao one after the other, and Su Xiao put away the tablet and leaped down from the rooftop.

"Looks like you knew I would come back."

Hitsugaya crossed his arms. A Soul Reaper’s attire is all black windbreakers, while team captains wear an additional layer of white over it.

"Of course not."

Although Su Xiao wasn’t very skilled at negotiation, his 28 charm attributes had some effect; not meeting an immediate attack showcased how reliable these 28 points were.

"I mentioned earlier that I’ve wandered Hollows Street for many years. There’s nothing strange about staying in one place for someone without a goal. So, is Jingling Court ready to accept a wandering soul like me?"

"This isn’t something to be decided hastily."

Hitsugaya gestured to Matsumoto Rangiku to go ahead and negotiate, but she only smiled without speaking. Noticing this, Hitsugaya turned and glared at Matsumoto Rangiku, who shrugged.

"If that potion is indeed your doing, I can let you enter Jingling Court, but before that, there’s a question you must answer."

"Speak freely."

"How many people did you kill in your lifetime?"

Hitsugaya sensed Su Xiao’s blood energy, though it was Su Xiao deliberately suppressing it.

"I forgot."

"..."

Hitsugaya’s face looked displeased, and Matsumoto Rangiku stepped forward and said, "If you don’t answer, you can only continue wandering in Hollows Street."

"No need to ask."

Hitsugaya raised a hand. He understood Su Xiao’s implication—not forgotten—but simply too many to count.

Both parties fell into silence, and after a long period, Hitsugaya broke it.

"Come with me."

With that, Hitsugaya walked towards the stone gate, Matsumoto Rangiku followed closely, and Su Xiao kept a certain distance as he followed.

In Su Xiao’s plan, he hadn’t intended to follow Hitsugaya into Jingling Court. However, given the development, Su Xiao recognized his own strategic skills. Drawing Hitsugaya out showed his plan hadn’t been in vain, but compared to old cunning foxes like Qing Ye, there was still some gap.

Qing Ye was able to toy with hundreds of Contractors from the Holy Sanctuary Paradise and Apocalypse Paradise at will. If you put Qing Ye and Aizen together, excluding brute strength and only talking about intrigue, who would win is genuinely uncertain.

Su Xiao hadn’t reached the Fourth Tier based on strategic skills but was superior to Qing Ye in overall capability, which was his advantage.

Su Xiao stepped into the stone gate, and with a rumbling sound, the killing stone gate closed. The moment it shut, the towering stone walls around vanished. This was a spiritual particle mechanism, triggered when a foreigner approached, causing the stone walls to drop and block intruders outside.

The Guardian of the White Road Gate, Danbō, continued his snoring. He possessed extremely keen hearing, able to detect anyone approaching immediately.

Crossing the clearing, Su Xiao entered a compact building cluster where the concentration of spiritual particles was notably higher.

This was Jingling Court. The architectural style here was also ancient yet pristine, with walls lining both sides of the streets, creating a sense of confinement like wandering within a courtyard—a novel experience.

The streets of Jingling Court were quite intricate. There were no vehicles or transportation tools, so the roads didn’t need to be too wide.

Occasionally, Soul Reapers passed by on the streets. Seeing the white-haired youth, Hitsugaya, they all greeted him politely, and Hitsugaya returned the gestures courteously.

The power structure of Jingling Court was intriguing and simple. The Guard Court Thirteen Teams — the First Squad captain served as the commander, currently headed by Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni, with the remaining twelve squads having their respective captains and deputy captains. In total, the First Squad oversaw the other twelve.

Of course, beyond the Guard Court Thirteen Teams were the Soul King Palace, Zero Squad, and the Royal Family.

Unless Su Xiao got involved in the later staged plots involving the Soul Reapers, he wouldn’t have to deal with entities like Zero Squad, who rarely appeared early on or wouldn’t do so unless something significant occurred in the Soul Society, like Su Xiao detonating an Apollo in the center of Jingling Court...

This would obviously be courting death, so Su Xiao wouldn’t do it. Instead, until he truly penetrated the inner workings of Jingling Court, he intended to ascend as a researcher, biding his time until the appropriate moment to unleash his power plan.

Even someone as formidable as Aizen had to disguise himself within the Soul Society. Su Xiao’s strength didn’t match Aizen’s, so he naturally wouldn’t rampage through the Soul Society but he wasn’t about to remain compliant forever; he had to wait for the right moment.

While pondering these matters, Matsumoto Rangiku glanced sideways at Su Xiao. She always felt he was up to no good, and when he looked at her, she had a strange sensation, as if he might eat her at any moment.

Matsumoto Rangiku wasn’t entirely wrong. Su Xiao could indeed ’devour’ her—not in the sense of grinding her into the ground, but by consuming her energy.

The bodies of Soul Reapers were composed of spiritual particles, their power system was Spiritual Pressure, and the stronger the pressure, the more spiritual particles they could manipulate, resulting in greater combat strength.

Moreover, once spiritual particles made up a Soul Reaper’s body, they converted from natural to life energy.

According to Su Xiao’s perception, the biological energy within Soul Reapers wasn’t ample, potentially less than one percent of a Tailed Beast’s, but the purity of the energy far exceeded that of a Tailed Beast.

After entering Jingling Court for half an hour, Su Xiao found that not all Soul Reapers’ life energy was fit for devouring. Regular Soul Reapers’ life energy was quite scattered, while deputy captains or captain-level energy was very pure.