After Ichigo relaxed his mind, he finally realized that his friend who had come to the Soul Society with him was not in the dojo. "By the way, where is Ryūken? He came to the Soul Society with me..."
"He has already been sent back to the World of the Living. You have to stay here for training for a while."
"The Hollow within you has been awakened, but taming the Hollow's power is not that easy. It will come out to influence you when you are weak."
Sora took out a box containing meatballs and handed it to Ichigo. "Eat these meatballs first."
These meatballs were made by Kirio Hikifune using 'Temporary Souls' at Sora's request. After eating them, Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure would skyrocket.
"Does this have anything to do with taming the Hollow?" Ichigo didn't quite understand the relationship between meatballs and the Hollow, but he was indeed hungry, so he picked up a meatball and started eating.
"Eh? What's happening to my Spiritual Pressure?"
After eating the meatballs, Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure climbed rapidly.
"Consider this compensation for the beatings you took. Those meatballs made from Temporary Souls can increase your Spiritual Pressure significantly," Sora said.
Before meeting Rukia, Ichigo's Spiritual Pressure had already reached the level of an elite Quincy. After awakening his Shinigami powers, his Spiritual Pressure increased significantly once, already rivaling a Captain-class Shinigami.
When the Hollow power within him awakened, his Spiritual Pressure increased drastically again, becoming stronger than many newly promoted Captains.
And now, after eating the meatballs made from Temporary Souls, his Spiritual Pressure approached that of First Generation Captains like Retsu Unohana!
"Next, digest the skyrocketed Spiritual Pressure properly." Sora took out a white humanoid doll from his pocket dimension. "Generally speaking, even if one's Spiritual Pressure reaches the level where they can train for Bankai, it takes several years or even more than ten years of training to learn Bankai. This doll is a spiritual tool called 'Tenshintai', which can allow you to master Bankai in the shortest possible time."
"Can I learn Bankai too?" Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "Will the Shinigami really not cause trouble for me?"
Ichigo knew that Bankai was an ability only the strong among Shinigami could master, and he was somewhat worried that learning Bankai would arouse the dissatisfaction of other Shinigami.
"This is a 'Substitute Shinigami' badge. With this, you count as half a Shinigami." Sora threw a badge imprinted with a skull to Ichigo.
"Am I a legal Shinigami now?" Ichigo played with the badge in his hand.
Sora reached out and grabbed Ichigo's shoulder, taking him to the back mountain forest before he could react.
"Grandmaster's Shunpo is so fast, almost like teleportation!" Ichigo was shocked. He didn't react at all before being taken to another place.
When Rukia was in the World of the Living, she had actually told him that her Professor was a very powerful Shinigami.
Back then, Ichigo thought Rukia's Professor was just a strong person like a Captain-class Shinigami.
However, even with Captain-class Shinigami, Ichigo could see their Shunpo trajectory clearly.
But with Grandmaster's Shunpo, he couldn't react at all!
He even felt that Grandmaster's Shunpo speed had exceeded a Menos Grande's Sonído.
Sonído utilized the Garganta space to achieve teleportation, but entering and exiting the Garganta space actually had an extremely short interval. Grandmaster's Shunpo speed was even shorter than this interval.
Thinking of this, Ichigo couldn't help but be speechless.
Grandmaster's strength was probably much more powerful than the few Shinigami Captains he had met before!
"Complete your Bankai training here," Sora released Ichigo's shoulder and continued, "During this period, no one will come to disturb you."
"Then what do I need to do?" Ichigo asked.
"Thrust your Zanpakutō into the white doll to materialize the Zanpakutō. The materialized Zanpakutō can be maintained for three days. As long as you make the materialized Zanpakutō submit within three days, you can complete the Bankai training." Sora put down the white doll. "Begin. Follow your instincts and complete the Zanpakutō's trial."
"Understood!" Ichigo drew his Zanpakutō and thrust it into the white doll.
Zangetsu and the white doll disappeared slowly together.
"Old Man Zangetsu!"
Ichigo turned around and saw a black-haired man wearing a black trench coat and sunglasses standing behind him.
"Sure enough, his Zanpakutō is actually disguised Quincy power. That so-called Bankai is actually the release of Quincy power. Just like Visionary - Gremmy's Quincy power can materialize imagined things, and my Quincy power possesses the ability to control shadows, Ichigo Kurosaki's 'Bankai' is a way of utilizing his Quincy power." Sora thought to himself.
The image of "Old Man Zangetsu" was very familiar; he looked exactly like Yhwach.
This was because "Old Man Zangetsu" was actually Ichigo's Quincy power. After Ichigo's Shinigami power was awakened, it fused directly with the sealed Hollow power inside his body.
"Ichigo... are you going to challenge me?" Old Man Zangetsu said expressionlessly.
"Of course, I want to master Bankai!" Ichigo rubbed his hands together.
"Then come." Old Man Zangetsu slapped the ground with one hand, and countless blades fell.
A moment later, the ground of the mountain forest was full of blades.
"Among these blades, only one is the real Zangetsu. You need to find that blade to defeat me." Old Man Zangetsu explained the challenge rules.
"Before I kill you, find the real Zangetsu, Ichigo!"
Old Man Zangetsu casually pulled out a blade stuck in the ground and slashed at Ichigo.
Ichigo also pulled out a blade to counterattack.
His blade hit Old Man Zangetsu but caused no damage, while Old Man Zangetsu's blade cut a wound on his body.
"Fake blade!"
Ichigo immediately wanted to switch blades, but Old Man Zangetsu pursued his victory and gave him no chance to switch. He had to block Old Man Zangetsu's attacks with the fake blade first.
However, the quality of the fake blade was very poor; it broke into two pieces after blocking a few slashes.
"Can I use Quincy abilities?" Ichigo asked loudly.
"Of course, Quincy power is also your power." Old Man Zangetsu answered calmly.
Ichigo immediately adjusted his strategy, condensing a Reishi bow and shooting several Heilig Pfeil to seal off Old Man Zangetsu's movement, then took the opportunity to switch blades.
After pulling up a blade from the ground, he immediately slashed at Old Man Zangetsu. Unfortunately, the new blade was still a fake Zangetsu; the blade passed through Old Man Zangetsu's body without causing any damage.
Just then, Ichigo sensed an attack from behind and hurriedly used Shunpo to create distance.
Whoosh—
After adjusting his position, Ichigo found two Old Man Zangetsus standing where there was originally one.
Not only that, but soon more Old Man Zangetsus appeared around him.
He wasn't dealing with just one Old Man Zangetsu, but a group of Old Man Zangetsus!
The pressure on Ichigo increased instantly.
Clang—
The nearest Old Man Zangetsu flashed, and the blade in Ichigo's hand was instantly cut in half.
Immediately afterward, more Old Man Zangetsus attacked Ichigo.
He had no time to switch blades, so he simply raised his Reishi bow and pulled the string rapidly.
In an instant, he shot over a dozen Heilig Pfeil.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Some Heilig Pfeil passed through the bodies of the Old Man Zangetsus, but just like attacking with the fake blade, they caused no damage.
But these Heilig Pfeil could hit the blades in the hands of the Old Man Zangetsus.
Ding, ding, ding—
The Heilig Pfeil landing on the blades shattered Old Man Zangetsu's blades directly.