He frowned, continuing his clinical assessment. "I'm not certain if using healing Kidō would backfire. It could disrupt the stable spiritual pressure structure of that mark." He glanced at the recovering Long Tao. "While I don't particularly care if this fellow lives or dies, my pride and integrity as a member of the medical corps compel me to ask. If possible, Third Seat Suì-Fēng, would you please remove the spiritual pressure pattern?"
By the time he finished speaking, his treatment of her arm was also complete. Suì-Fēng flexed her hand and clenched her fist, finding the injury was completely gone. She nodded. "If left alone, the mark will disappear on its own after twenty-four hours. However, I can also dispel it myself. Leave it to me."
Long Tao, who was now back on his feet, hid his annoyance at Seinosuke's bluntness and walked over, turning his back to Suì-Fēng. No one in their right mind provoked a member of the Fourth Division, especially not this one. Not only was Seinosuke Yamada a master of healing Kidō, but he was also skilled at leveraging his medical expertise to build influence. Nobles, both minor and major, treated him as a distinguished guest, and there were even rumors that several noble houses were trying to recruit him for the Central Medical Institute. He was not a man to be trifled with.
Suì-Fēng held her hand out over the butterfly pattern on Long Tao's back and communicated internally with her Zanpakutō. The mark seemed to ripple like liquid for a moment before vanishing completely. Seinosuke observed the process from the side, his eyes thoughtful.
Ding—
A familiar, pleasant chime rang in Suì-Fēng's mind. She flinched, a shiver running down her spine. Oh no. The last time she heard that sound, her Bankai had exploded. She was developing a serious case of PTSD.
[Completed Side Quest: Defeat Long Tao.] [Quest Requirement: Defeat Long Tao and make him genuinely acknowledge his loss.] [Quest Reward: Skill "Bee Poison" (Uses today: 3/3).] [Description: Allows the user to compress spiritual pressure and release it through a contact attack, detonating it inside the enemy's body.]
Fortunately, this time it was good news. Suì-Fēng let out a soft, relieved sigh and quietly patted her chest. She continued reading the notification, and her eyes suddenly widened.
[Current selectable "Bee Poison" spiritual pressure: Shinigami spiritual pressure / void spiritual pressure]
Selectable spiritual pressure? Void spiritual pressure? A wave of ecstasy surged up from the depths of her soul, and Suì-Fēng had to try very hard to keep her expression calm. She quickly brought up her system's status bar.
[Suì-Fēng: void poison 23%]
The day before yesterday, after learning of the challenge, she had shown Ōmaeda her explosive Bankai and requested the Captain assessment. Ōmaeda, to his credit, had been remarkably efficient, submitting the request to the First Division that same evening. Even so, in a place like Soul Society where Soul Reapers lived for centuries, paperwork and notifications still took a full day and night to process. And that was considered fast, mainly because the Gotei 13 was so short on Captains. Normally, such a request could take weeks or even months.
Yesterday, she and Ōmaeda had spent the entire day going over tactics and doing special training. She had been on edge all day, worried the assessment wouldn't be approved. It wasn't until evening, when word came that the First Division had agreed and dispatched a team of three Captains, that she finally relaxed.
'Based on today's performance, passing the observation shouldn't be a problem,' she thought. 'The Gotei 13 is desperate for Captains, so they shouldn't be too critical of my incomplete Bankai.'
But a new worry immediately took root. 'What if the official appointment comes too slowly? What if… I don't pass the final assessment?' She dared not even consider the possibility. 'If Bee Poison can release void spiritual pressure, even a tiny amount, it could effectively slow the spread of the void poison! I have to try it. Today!'
With her very survival at stake, Suì-Fēng couldn't wait another second. She hastily bid farewell to the two men and quickly left, heading towards the Rukongai.
A few minutes later, a large, corpulent figure appeared at the training grounds, beaming with joy.
"Little Suì-Fēng, good news! The three Captains said the observation assessment passed!" Ōmaeda announced to the empty space. "We just need to wait for tomorrow's Captains' meeting to discuss… Huh? Where'd she go?"
Ōmaeda scratched his head, messing up his carefully styled hair. "Wah-ya-ya—!" Forgetting all about Suì-Fēng, he frantically pulled out a folding metal comb and began fixing his pompadour.
Soul Society, Rukongai, District 80.
The Rukongai was a massive, circular area built around the central Seireitei, divided into four large regions—East, West, South, and North. Each region was further divided into eighty numbered districts. The quality of life and public order deteriorated as the district number increased. District 80 was the worst of the worst. This particular district was not the infamous Zaraki.
'At this point in time, Zaraki Kenpachi has probably been cutting people down in his own district for two or three hundred years,' Suì-Fēng mused as she moved at high speed. She was only here to test her new skill, not to cross paths with the number one killer in the Rukongai. After finding out where the Zaraki District was, she had deliberately headed in the opposite direction.
Before her reincarnation, Suì-Fēng had always been confused by the existence of the Rukongai. In the original story, when Rukia was performing Soul Burial in the Human World, she had comforted a soul by saying, "Soul Society isn't scary. You won't feel hungry there, and your body will be very light. I'm almost certain it's better than the Human World."
But when souls actually arrived in the Rukongai, they were immediately sorted into a harsh class system. The lower-numbered districts were stable and peaceful, while the higher-numbered districts were lawless slums where souls fought over scraps of food and clothing. Beyond the districts, in the wilderness, Hollows occasionally appeared. She even remembered a plotline where Soul Reapers massacred residents of the Rukongai just to balance the number of souls between worlds.
After arriving in Soul Society and inheriting her body's memories, she began to understand. The Rukongai was essentially a transit station. Souls with deep obsessions could easily become Hollows and be drawn to Hueco Mundo. Souls with strong spiritual power had more agency and would naturally migrate to the safer, more stable districts.
As for the ordinary souls, the ones who didn't even feel hunger, their minds were mostly muddled. They acted on instinct and faint, residual memories. The spiritual power in their souls was so faint that it could barely maintain their consciousness. They were like walking corpses, unable to even leave the district they arrived in, wandering aimlessly like headless flies. They were the true "wandering souls."
'After all, this is Soul Society,' she thought grimly. 'Without spiritual power, you have no rights.'
In District 80, she saw many such souls. They huddled in street corners and wouldn't even resist if someone cut them down. Their consciousness was so weak it was barely comparable to a house pet's. The eightieth districts of each region were places where these souls were left to simply fade away.
Having been human in her past life, Suì-Fēng had no intention of testing her new power on these pathetic beings. Her target was the other type of soul found in the high-numbered districts: those who were fully sentient but, for whatever reason, reveled in slaughter and violence. These lawless districts were their happy hunting grounds.
"Ah ah—!"
A scream echoed from a nearby corner. Suì-Fēng followed the sound. A wandering soul in rags had been cut in half at the waist and was wailing weakly on the ground, his pain not even enough to give his cries any volume. A man with a topknot, dressed in an old samurai uniform, was wiping dark red blood from his katana. He saw Suì-Fēng appear and raised his chin disdainfully.
"Oh? Your clothes look decent, and you have a sword at your waist," he sneered. "Good. Cutting down these wandering souls who can't even scream properly is no fun. Cutting you in half should produce a much more pleasant sound!"
He flicked his katana clean, gripped it with both hands, and took a fighting stance. "Let me test my blade on you!"
Suì-Fēng stood silently, dressed in the plain cloth clothes she had taken from a clothesline while passing through District 20.