Since Itokai's spiritual pressure completely dissipated, Ren's spiritual pressure no longer felt blocked, like seawater pouring back into a shallow pit.
Suddenly, Ren felt a dizzying turn. When he looked up, he saw that the surrounding scenery had changed drastically. It was obviously no longer the Forest of Great Void, and it was not even in the Void Circle!
Looking at the low dirt houses and messy streets around him, Ren was confused.
"Is this... District 77, West District of Liuhun Street?"
Ren found that the scene he was in was exactly the same as the Liuhun Street in Itokai's memory.
"I'm in the Soul Society? No, this is the inner world... This is Itokai's inner world!"
Just as Ren was trying to make sense of everything, a handsome and tall young man with purple hair suddenly appeared at the end of the messy street. He was wearing a traditional Shihakushō and holding a shallow hit.
"Itokai?"
Looking at the approaching figure, Ren called out tentatively.
The purple-haired man did not answer. Instead, he rushed toward Ren, quickly unsheathing his sword and slashing in his direction from dozens of feet away.
In the next moment, "Itokai" had already closed the distance to three feet and slashed out with a single strike.
"So fast! Is this a flash step?"
In a hurry, Ren had to summon an arc of lightning to his right arm and hurriedly raised it to block the attack.
Bright red blood spurted like a fountain. Ren's huge right arm was severed by "Itokai."
Fortunately, Ren's reaction was fast enough that he immediately widened the gap between them. He rolled up the severed arm with his tail and pressed it against the wound.
Just as the wriggling granules at the wound were about to reconnect the arm, the purple-haired man acted again. The long knife in his hand instantly transformed into a pitch-black spear, unleashing a strong gust of wind that blew Ren's severed arm away before it could heal.
"Damn it, so fast!"
Ren gritted his teeth in pain and retreated quickly, making several flash steps to escape the range of the black spear's gale.
The granules at the notch of his severed arm wriggled wildly, and soon, the right arm finally regenerated.
Since the severed arm had been completely blown away, regenerating it from scratch consumed far more spiritual pressure than simply reattaching it. However, Ren was surprised to find that he didn't feel any depletion of spiritual pressure within his body.
At that moment, Ren fully confirmed it—he was inside Itokai's inner world.
But Ren clearly remembered something important. In the lore of the Soul Society, if one were to die in the spiritual world, they would truly perish.
Seeing "Itokai" rushing forward once again, determined to cut him down, Ren decided to take a gamble.
"I can help you find Xiada Road and Yunchuan!"
Hearing this, the purple-haired man halted immediately. He fell to the ground, clutching his head, his face contorted in pain.
"My wife... Yunchuan!"
"I am... Itokai... No, I am Kamikazumaru!"
Ren observed the purple-haired man before him. He had no way of leaving this inner world, nor did he dare to act recklessly. His only choice was to wait and see how things unfolded.
After a long moment, the purple-haired man finally calmed down.
Then, he looked at Ren and spoke slowly:
"I am... Kamikazumaru... the remnant of my master's obsession to find Yunchuan."
After saying this, the purple-haired man waved his hand. Ren suddenly felt another dizzying turn. When he came to his senses, he realized that he had returned to the Forest of Great Void.
"I'm back?"
To Ren, it felt like he had been in the inner world for a long time, but in reality, only a fraction of a second had passed in the real world.
Even so, as he recalled the experience, a lingering sense of fear gripped him. The joy he had once felt from devouring and growing stronger in the Void Circle for all those days had now been shattered by a single battle.
"A Vice-Captain level Shinigami is already this strong..."
"No, I can't afford to slack off. I have to keep growing stronger!"
Ren quickly calmed his thoughts and began reflecting. This experience, while dangerous, had granted him valuable knowledge of Itokai's past. More importantly, he now possessed all of Itokai's training memories.
He immediately raised his left hand and pointed at a giant tree in front of him.
"Bakudō 4: Byakurai!"
Ren shouted the spell's name and channeled his spiritual pressure according to the technique stored in Itokai's memory. Despite Itokai being famous for his exceptional hand-to-hand combat skills as a member of the 11th Division, he was also proficient in Kido techniques. His most practiced spell was Byakurai, the White Lightning.
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Thirty seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
"Alright, so it turns out that Hollow spiritual pressure really can't be used for Kido techniques."
Ren sighed but did not feel disappointed. He had merely wanted to test it out.
His resolve, however, only strengthened.
The path ahead was clear—he needed to evolve, grow stronger, and break through his limitations. With his newfound knowledge, Ren knew that he was now closer to his goal than ever before.
There was no time to hesitate.
He clenched his fists and looked forward, determination burning in his eyes.
"I will continue to grow... until I surpass even the strongest of the Soul Society!"
What really made him happy was that he was holding it in his right hand at this moment—the shallow hit, now more than ten meters long and extremely close to his body!
"I am the only one in this world who has a Zanpakutō without undergoing Hollowfication!"
The experience in his inner world had granted him the right to wield this Zanpakutō, and his mind was now filled with all the memories of Itokai's practice in slaughter techniques and past battles. All he lacked now was actual combat.
This was a Vice-Captain-level killing technique. As long as he became proficient in using these techniques, his strength would undergo a qualitative leap in the shortest time!
Ren raised his right hand and slashed outward. A sharp sword light flashed, and the towering giant tree next to him—over a hundred meters tall and more than five meters in diameter—was cleaved cleanly by his blade.
"Boom!"
The massive tree crashed down, raising a thick cloud of dust and crushing a cluster of shrubs beneath it.
"Amazing! This is truly worthy of being the masterpiece of King Yue, the Sword God Ermeiwu. What a treasure!"
Ren admired the Zanpakutō in his hand, growing fonder of it with every moment. As his spiritual pressure surged into the blade, the once-damaged weapon, full of nicks and cracks, was restored to pristine condition. Even more incredible, the sword could adapt to his body, extending up to ten meters long!
Like a child who had just received a new toy, Ren swung the enormous blade around excitedly, testing its balance and feel.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
Seven Gilians let out fierce roars, encircling the towering Hollow before them who had dared to provoke them. Their stance made it clear—they were ready to tear him to pieces at any moment!
"Oh? A few ordinary Menos with some intelligence. Can't you send me a real challenge? Without an Adjuchas, there's no excitement. Give me a real opponent!"
Ren's voice carried a hint of boredom as he raised his upgraded Zanpakutō and swung it several times in quick succession.
Seven flashes of sword light streaked through the air.
A moment later, all seven Menos were split cleanly in half.
Then, activating his Hollow Devour ability, a dark golden vortex swirled into existence at the end of Ren's tail, pulling in the disintegrating remains of his enemies, their spiritual essence absorbed completely.
Feeling the surge of spiritual pressure within him, Ren smiled in satisfaction.
It had been half a year since he had obtained this Zanpakutō. Over the past six months, he had relentlessly practiced the killing techniques stored in Itokai's memories. At the same time, he had scoured the Great Hollow Forest, devouring countless Gilians.
Now, his spiritual pressure had grown four to five times stronger than when he first arrived here.
Ordinary Gilians were no longer a match for him!