Chapter 3: Soul Society
Compared to searching for violators and completing the main quest, Su Xiao's first priority was to confirm his own location.
He took out over a dozen pointers. Some of these pointers trembled up and down, while others spun like windmills.
Seeing the pointers' reactions, Su Xiao confirmed that he was not in the present world of the Bleach universe. When he had seen those old, worn-down residential houses earlier, he had actually already guessed this.
Secondly, Su Xiao was not inside Hueco Mundo. This meant he had most likely been directly teleported to the Soul Society, the realm where the Shinigami reside.
[Tip: Time remaining until Ichigo Kurosaki's invasion of the Soul Society: 7 natural days. To protect certain 4th Rank Contractors, the Hunter cannot reach the present world for 7 natural days.]
Now Su Xiao understood what was happening. It was a protection mechanism. As a reward, he had been directly teleported to the Soul Society.
But one thing surprised Su Xiao: Bubu Wang and Amu were actually in the present world. Through the adventure group channel, Su Xiao learned that this dog and cow were already having a blast in the present world.
With Bubu Wang's current abilities, 4th Rank Contractors really couldn't do anything to him, especially with Amu assisting.
Su Xiao's team split into three groups. Su Xiao was in the Soul Society, Beini was treasure hunting (stealing treasures) in the Soul Society, and Bubu Wang and Amu were in the present world.
Sitting up from the large pit inside the residential house, Su Xiao walked out and found that some civilians had gathered nearby, or rather, they were the wandering souls of the Soul Society.
These people were nominally souls, but in reality, they also had physical bodies, just like the Shinigami.
The bodies of Shinigami are composed of Reishi. They are living beings with flesh and blood. Apart from the difference in their basic composition, their bodies are essentially no different from humans, just stronger.
"Who is this?"
"Not sure, but he feels strange."
"Don't meddle. It'll be bad if a Shinigami shows up."
These wandering souls all looked malnourished, their clothes were old and worn, some even patched.
The nature of the Soul Society should be similar to heaven or a paradise, but in reality, it is not. This place, inhabited by 'wandering souls,' is a massive feudal society, with the Shinigami as its rulers.
The entire Soul Society is divided into two parts. At the center is the Seireitei, the residence of the Shinigami. Surrounding the Seireitei is the Rukongai, which is far larger than the Seireitei. The number of wandering souls is countless times that of the Shinigami.
Is the Shinigami's mission to maintain balance? Of course. But the balance they maintain is not just that of the present world; that is merely a side task. What they truly maintain is the balance of the Soul Society itself, meaning their own ruling power.
The Soul Society needs these wandering souls as a basic labor force. If all the Hollows that these wandering souls turned into were killed, over time, the Soul Society would have no basic labor force.
There is a group of people who advocate for the complete annihilation of Hollows to eliminate the threat they pose to the present world, but the Shinigami flatly refuse.
The Shinigami's stance is that Hollows are also souls, and souls reincarnate. But does reincarnation truly exist in the Shinigami world?
The irony is that Shinigami, who evolved from souls, can also die. After death, they dissolve into Reishi and are absorbed by the Soul Society, rather than being reincarnated. According to Shinigami theory, they should be reincarnated, not completely dispersed.
Therefore, the wandering souls of the Soul Society never reincarnate. After entering the Soul Society, they transform into another life form and live there.
If there is no concept of reincarnation, this becomes very interesting. The Quincy theory does not actually threaten the present world. Even if all Hollows were wiped out, the present world would have no problems.
However, the Quincy who proposed this theory were met with a massive attack from the Shinigami and were nearly wiped out.
Currently, the Shinigami are the righteous side. Of course, they are righteous, because they won. As victors, they only need to rule over the wandering souls of the Soul Society without having to work. For the wandering souls, is this truly a paradise?
Most Shinigami are unaware of these matters. They simply follow the orders of the Seireitei.
Among the many high-ranking Shinigami, two do not approve of this 'ecological development.' One is named Kisuke Urahara, and the other is Sosuke Aizen.
Before his defeat, Aizen said this to Urahara: "Someone as talented as you, why do you bow to something like that? I despise you, Kisuke Urahara."
Thinking of Aizen's words, a smile appeared on Su Xiao's face. He found Aizen very interesting. Simply put, Aizen was essentially a rebel among the Shinigami. He had two goals: first, to reach his own peak, and second, to overthrow the current ruling system of the Soul Society, as this feudal mechanism was bound to cause problems sooner or later.
Unfortunately, in the face of the Soul Society's power, Aizen was not strong enough.
The wandering souls near the residential house were gathering in greater numbers. This place was not safe to stay. Su Xiao easily leaped onto the roof of the house and, with a few bounds, disappeared.
Half an hour later, on a two-story wooden building, Su Xiao had gained some understanding of the outer Rukongai district. These houses were all composed of Reishi, or rather, Reishi was one of the most important components of the Soul Society.
The technology of the Soul Society is very backward. At least in the Rukongai, he saw no sign of electricity, not even a steam engine.
These wandering souls were formed from the souls of people from the present world. They were all modern people in their past lives, yet after arriving in the Soul Society, they couldn't even develop electricity. This was something worth pondering.
Was it the rule power of the Soul Society that forbade the existence of electricity, or did the Shinigami not allow the Rukongai to modernize and become informational? After all, being more backward made it easier to rule.
Su Xiao's goal was the Seireitei, the central area of the Soul Society. No matter which faction he wanted to join, he should first reach there.
After traveling for several hours, an open space appeared ahead of Su Xiao. The buildings of the Rukongai stopped abruptly here. On the other side of the open space was a large area of tall, clean buildings, a world apart from the Rukongai.
Su Xiao jumped down from the residential house. Based on his judgment, crossing this open space would lead to the Seireitei, the center of Shinigami power. The Thirteen Court Guard Squads lived here, responsible for protecting the Soul Society.
Su Xiao was curious about how the Shinigami would receive him, this outsider. Imprisonment, recruitment, or summary execution? Su Xiao felt the first two were more likely.
As soon as he stepped onto the open space, Su Xiao heard a whistling sound from the air.
Boom, boom, boom...
Tall stone walls fell down one after another, kicking up clouds of dust. When the dust settled, a row of towering stone walls appeared in front of Su Xiao, blocking his path. This was why the wandering souls dared not approach the Seireitei. These stone walls were made of Sekkiseki, which could block Reishi and even destroy weak Reishi.
Rumble...
A door between the stone walls rose, and a tall figure walked out from the stone gate. He had two giant axe-blades thrust into his waist. This was the gatekeeper of the White Road Gate, Jidanbo.
"Haa~"
The rough-looking Jidanbo yawned.
"Who's disturbing my sleep?"
Jidanbo's gaze swept around, finally locking onto Su Xiao.
"Shorty, you..."
Whoosh!
A blood-red aura spread out from Su Xiao as the center. Jidanbo's entire body tensed up, his sleepy expression vanishing as he immediately became alert.
"Go inform those inside. Tell them... someone has come to 'surrender.'"