Chapter 284 — The Hogyoku Problem, Ishida Uryu

Kurosaki Ichigo, resolved to walk a different path, did not "actively seek out" Kuchiki Rukia.

He quietly opened the copy of Introduction to Chinese Script in his hands.

Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, the Wandenreich, battle, bloodshed...

None of that was what Ichigo wanted.

With the aid of the newly acquired Photographic Memory, Kurosaki Ichigo soon had the entire primer committed to memory.

Every character was branded into the deepest recesses of his mind; the moment a thought arose, it would surface at once.

Precisely because of this, he truly grasped the difficulty of the task.

If memorizing every high school national language textbook was equivalent to his phase as a "ryoka" invading Soul Society...

then the task of learning Chinese was on the difficulty level of going head-to-head with Aizen Sosuke.

Even with Photographic Memory to help him, Kurosaki Ichigo's task progress had only reached 2%.

The road was long and blocked.

More effort would be needed.

Boom!

A violent explosion rang out downstairs.

Shock flickered across Kurosaki Ichigo's face, and he quickly regained his composure.

He remembered.

At this point in time, Rukia should be collapsing her spiritual pressure to protect his family from the Hollows, forced to give him half her Shinigami power through her Zanpakuto.

Reason told him that even if he did not act, his father Kurosaki Isshin would never stand by and let Rukia die.

Yet his feelings would not let him stand by and watch.

Ichigo did not hesitate long.

He set down the book in his hands, leaped out from the window, and landed before the young Shinigami girl.

Not far from her, a Hollow was glaring at them with predatory eyes.

The so-called Hollow is a kind of evil soul.

Some spirits, out of lingering attachment to the living world or other obstructing factors, linger in the places that draw them.

A portion of them, after years upon years of torment by grief and resentment, or accelerated by external factors, ultimately fall and become Hollows.

Pitch-black bodies, pale masks, the holes in their chests...

The scene before him made Kurosaki Ichigo feel as though ages had passed.

Kuchiki Rukia watched the orange-haired youth, who seemed not to know death when he saw it, walk step by step toward the Hollow, and anxiety spread across her face.

She shouted loudly: "Get out of the way!"

But Kurosaki Ichigo turned his head and said earnestly: "A Hollow that doesn't even count as a [Gillian]—no need to worry."

Above ordinary Hollows, there existed what were called "Menos Grande."

And the Menos Grande were divided, from low to high, into three ranks: Gillian, Adjuchas, and Vasto Lorde.

Such knowledge and intelligence was clearly beyond what an ordinary human could know.

Rukia stared blankly at Ichigo.

No matter how she looked at him, the man before her was **mortal flesh.

Moreover, constrained and weighed down by his physical shell, she could barely sense his spiritual pressure at all.

Not a Quincy.

Nor a special gifted one.

That meant that even if the orange-haired youth possessed tremendous talent and potential, he could never be a match for a Hollow.

Yet Kurosaki Ichigo, like some hotheaded novice, slowly paced toward the Hollow that had wounded Rukia.

Ten meters.

Seven meters.

Five meters.

Closer...

Closer still!

Kuchiki Rukia's heart was about to leap into her throat.

Badly injured, her spiritual pressure scattered, she could barely muster any fighting strength.

In such a state, she had no way to save him.

But then Ichigo did something that left Rukia dumbstruck.

He took out the notebook he carried with him and sat cross-legged before the Hollow.

Looking at this delectable human, the Hollow let out a hoarse, greedy sound.

It turned into a gust of fierce wind and slashed savagely at Kurosaki Ichigo.

Yet in the next instant, time within dozens of meters around them seemed to freeze.

[A malevolent life form has been detected obstructing the host's learning process.]

[Top-Scholar Domain activated.]

[Annihilation Mode engaged!]

A hollow, pale, indifferent voice sounded in Ichigo's ears.

The hideous, terrifying monster suddenly became like an insect trapped in amber.

Its body was crushed to pieces, bit by bit, by an invisible force, and dissipated between heaven and earth.

Just like that...

It was over?

Kuchiki Rukia's eyes went wide, her face full of disbelief.

Normally, when a Shinigami dealt with a Hollow, they merely purified it with their Zanpakuto and sent it on; the harshest punishment was no more than casting the Hollow through the Gates of Hell.

But this power...

Had directly annihilated that Hollow's existence.

That was equivalent to erasure at the level of the soul!

"How... did you do that?"

Rukia propped herself up with her Zanpakuto and managed to stagger over to Ichigo.

"This is the 'Top-Scholar Domain.' Any life form that disturbs my studies receives a punishment corresponding to its degree of malice."

Kurosaki Ichigo scratched his head.

Though he had lived a whole lifetime and been reborn, the awkwardness deep in his nature had remained.

"That Hollow just now tried to kill me, so the Top-Scholar Domain erased it outright."

He was not very good at handling such situations, so he could only answer honestly: "But the Top-Scholar Domain isn't omnipotent. Right now it can only handle combat power below the sixth Espada—hmm... roughly, the upper limit is a Menos Grande at Adjuchas level."

"As for a Vasto Lorde-class powerhouse, I can only drive it back, wound it—I can't finish it off directly."

Kuchiki Rukia listened, stunned again and again.

After a long while, she blushed and asked: "I'm badly hurt. Could I stay at your house for a few days?"

Ichigo tilted his head and thought, then gave a slight nod, agreeing to Rukia's request.

This time, unlike his previous life, Rukia had not passed her Shinigami powers to him; once her injuries healed, she could return to Soul Society.

As for the Hogyoku problem inside her body, Kurosaki Ichigo gave it a moment's thought.

People often say: know three days ahead, and you'll enjoy wealth and honor for ten thousand years.

He, however, had intelligence spanning the next several decades.

Armed with such extraordinary information, the schemes of the Hogyoku and Aizen were not a very difficult problem to handle.

...

The next day.

In national language class.

Kurosaki Ichigo hunched over a Xinhua Dictionary, studying intently.

At the podium, the teacher noticed this but could only shake his head helplessly.

This student, with his oddly colored hair and delinquent looks, was in fact a genius—he scored full marks on every national language test.

Under the circumstances, there was no need for him to interfere with the boy's behavior.

So long as Kurosaki Ichigo did not disturb the others' studies, that was enough.

Ding, ding, ding, ding...

The school bell rang, signaling the end of class.

Kurosaki Ichigo pored over his Chinese dictionary as though no one else existed, utterly indifferent to the students filing past him in the aisle.

But then a slender young man in school uniform came to a stop beside him.

His brows knitting faintly, he lifted his head and found himself looking at a student with neatly parted blue hair and a pair of clear, unpowered glasses.

A Quincy who fought with a bow: Ishida Uryu.

Kurosaki Ichigo's closest friend in his previous life.

After a moment's thought, he asked quietly, "What is it?"

Ishida Uryu pushed the frame of his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and in his smile lurked a faint hint of danger. "Yesterday... I saw it."

"You and that girl—you're both Soul Reapers, aren't you?"

At those words, Kurosaki Ichigo felt the situation had grown rather thorny.

Before the two of them had gone through so much together, this friend of his had been someone who harbored an extreme hatred for Soul Reapers.