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The roads in District 43 were extremely difficult to navigate; there were virtually no flat paths, and one could be climbing a mountain one minute and descending it the next.
This kind of road condition would persist until District 41 before it eased.
"Whew, no matter how many times I walk this, it's still too tiring," complained the young man next to Ishikawa Katori. "Why can't there be a tunnel that goes directly through the inside of the big mountain? The Shinigami of Seireitei are so powerful; opening a tunnel shouldn't be difficult for them, right?"
"Don't dream," President Shinno chuckled. "Instead of hoping for those high and mighty Shinigami, you'd be better off earning more money and hiring Ishikawa Katori to give it a try. After all, his Everything Store takes on any job."
"Didn't you hear him just now? He's even started opening a bar."
"Hahahaha~~"
Shinno's words immediately sparked a burst of laughter, though there was no mockery in it.
"I can do that," Ishikawa Katori mused for a moment, then nodded. "As long as you can afford it, I can do it. It would probably take… hmm, four or five days."
To excavate a tunnel within a mountain was truly not difficult for the current Ishikawa Katori, even if he used Kido to blast it open; however, if there were such a commission, Ishikawa Katori wouldn't do it that way, as safety would also need to be considered.
Ganju-nii's unique secret technique, Stone Wave, was clearly more suitable for this kind of work, as it was not only neat but also extremely safe!
"Haha, I knew he could take it."
President Shinno immediately burst into laughter, not believing Ishikawa Katori's words; or rather, everyone present thought Ishikawa Katori was just joking.
Ishikawa Katori didn't explain but laughed along with everyone else.
If they didn't believe him, then so be it.
If the group commissioned him, he wouldn't refuse; but if they didn't, he wouldn't beg them to commission him.
Amidst such chatter and laughter, the caravan finally reached the foot of the mountain. As soon as they descended, the atmosphere, which had been lighthearted moments before, suddenly grew tense, and everyone constantly scanned their surroundings with vigilant eyes.
This was precisely the area bordering District 55 of South Rukongai, and also the area most prone to encounters with bandits.
Over a dozen burly men were positioned around the caravan, protecting the entire convoy in the center.
"Everyone, stay alert! If you spot anyone, shout it out immediately!"
Although Ishikawa Katori didn't act like the others, he also released his perception, constantly monitoring his surroundings.
But his mind was completely immersed in the system interface in his head.
His current strength was still too weak. After winter set in, Ishikawa Katori planned to carefully map out his cultivation path for the next few years.
According to Ishikawa Katori's own assessment, his combat prowess was probably in the mid-tier of the Gotei 13's high-ranking Seated Officers; while he was not as strong as some of the extremely powerful Seated Officers, he was still much stronger than most.
His 7000 Reiatsu had only increased by a few points over the past month, and while his other techniques had all made some progress, the advancements weren't significant.
Moreover, his two recent battles made Ishikawa Katori realize that fighting bare-handed against enemies wielding blades put him at an inherent disadvantage, and that was even when the opponent only had ordinary blades, not Zanpakuto.
If the enemy were a high-ranking Seated Officer from the Gotei 13, then his current fighting style would have to be adjusted. It wasn't about abandoning Hakuda, but about further integrating Hakuda with Shunpo, to ensure he wouldn't be cut by the opponent's Zanpakuto as much as possible.
After all, Zanpakuto were different from ordinary blades; their diverse abilities often allowed for weaker opponents to defeat stronger ones. In situations where strength was similar, directly confronting an opponent's Zanpakuto was almost tantamount to seeking death.
Besides the integration of Shunpo and Hakuda, Ishikawa Katori had another option, which was to incorporate Kido into Hakuda, also known as 'Shunko,' but Shunko was not so easy to learn.
In the entire Soul Society, only two people had achieved this: one was Yoruichi Shihouin, who first attempted it, and the other was Soi Fon, the current Captain of the Second Division.
Although Soi Fon claimed it was her own creation, having followed Yoruichi for a long time and served as her sparring partner, her 'self-creation' must have been influenced by Yoruichi.
Yet, even so, it took Soi Fon nearly a hundred years to master 'Shunko,' only truly completing the technique after becoming a Captain.
For Ishikawa Katori to 'self-create' Shunko in a short period…
The difficulty was no less than directly kidnapping Soi Fon and forcing the cultivation method of 'Shunko' out of her.
Relatively speaking, the combination of Hakuda and Shunpo was clearly easier. After all, to put it simply, it involved applying long-distance assault Shunpo to close-quarters combat. There were also examples of this from Yoruichi, with Utsusemi being a similar technique.
It must be said…
In the study of Hakuda, Yoruichi was simply the 'Shinigami ceiling' of existence.
Actually, besides the two points above, Ishikawa Katori had another idea, which was to combine Kaido with Hakuda. The principle of Kaido is to first activate the internal spiritual power of the healing target with one's own Reiatsu, combined with the external Reiatsu given by the caster, to achieve the purpose of healing injuries and restoring Reiatsu.
If Kaido and Hakuda could be integrated, it would not only possess an ability similar to 'super-fast regeneration' but also serve to compress the density of spiritual power within the body, thereby increasing one's own Reiatsu.
Before activating his Zanpakuto, these three paths were Ishikawa Katori's plans for the future.
Although others might find it arrogant, if these three techniques were so easy to create, they would have already been widely circulated among Shinigami. But for Ishikawa Katori, the most difficult part was only the initial stage.
He only needed a prototype, even if it couldn't be used at all, as long as it could be recognized by the system and appear on the system interface. Then, he would only need to invest experience points when encountering incomprehensible problems.
This was something Ishikawa Katori discovered unintentionally during his cultivation not long ago, thanks to his research on 'Byakurai.'
Regarding 'Byakurai,' although Ishikawa Katori had learned many Kido more powerful than Byakurai, he had never given up on researching his 'first Kido.'
The number of Kido is not fixed; in fact, new Kido could be born at any moment throughout the Soul Society.
Those well-known Kido simply lacked specific release conditions, allowing everyone to learn and use them; many people would combine their own circumstances or Zanpakuto abilities to improve or create unique Kido.
For example:
Urahara Kisuke's 'Heavy Strike Byakurai';
Hinamori Momo's Kido, which she unleashed in conjunction with her Zanpakuto;
Captain-Commander Yamamoto's 'Hado #96: Itto Kaso,' created based on his Zanpakuto's abilities and usable by others;
…
There are many similar examples, so Ishikawa Katori has never given up on his research.
The vast and comprehensive, even somewhat unwieldy, knowledge in his mind not only made it easier for him to teach others how to use Kido but also provided Ishikawa Katori with the fundamental conditions for researching Kido.
And his first research target was Byakurai, which was the easiest to get started with.
He attempted to make certain fine-tuned adjustments to Byakurai using the knowledge in his mind. Some of these adjustments would enhance Byakurai's power, while others would weaken it. However, no new Kido appeared on the system interface until…
Ishikawa Katori attempted to fuse 'Bakudo #4: Hainawa' with Byakurai, similar to Hinamori Momo's 'Hakufuku,' hoping that the ropes created by 'Hainawa' would not only have binding power but also the destructive power of Byakurai.
The fusion naturally failed; the two could not be cast simultaneously. However, the system interface changed, and an 'unnamed' special technique appeared, which Ishikawa Katori later named 'Kaminawa.'
When Ishikawa Katori attempted to invest experience points into it, more relevant knowledge immediately flooded his mind, leading him from the wrong path of failed fusion onto the correct one. Finally, with the help of the knowledge deduced by the system, he successfully created a brand-new Kido!!
Upon discovering this, Ishikawa Katori was overjoyed and conducted many more experiments, but without exception, all of them completely failed, and not even a prototype that could be recognized by the system was created.
Therefore, Ishikawa Katori would say…
For him, the most difficult part was only the initial stage, as long as he created a prototype of a new technique that could be recognized by the system.
Then, under the system's deduction, he would be able to gradually perfect this brand-new technique and ultimately obtain a completely new technique like 'Kaminawa'!!
It wasn't that sufficient knowledge could create a brand-new Kido; the birth of new Kido was often filled with various coincidences and opportunities.
The ability to deduce from '1' to its limit—this was the system's greatest strength.
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