Chapter 205 Return to the Great Void Forest
If it was just an ordinary cave, it would be nothing, but before everyone moved in, this was the cave where Xu lived.

Gin Ichimaru, Komamura Sajin and others witnessed how Watanabe Yuji and Asido found this cave, killed the Hollow inside, and then occupied the cave.

Judging from the behavior, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong.

After all, the confrontation between the God of Death and the Hollow is only natural.

But when this matter is put into practice, it always gives people a feeling of "the cuckoo taking over the magpie's nest".

Besides, is there no other place to live?
"Why do you have to live in the cave where Xu lives?"

“It really stinks in here!”

Matsumoto Rangiku expressed the thoughts of some people.

As a female Grim Reaper, and a beautiful one at that, she found it difficult to accept the environment in the cave.

Not only is the environment here dim, but the creatures that lived here before were almost like wild beasts.

Deep in the cave, there are some excrement of the opponent. After the opponent captures the prey, that is, the rest of the Void, here, they also like to eat inside. Although they are all spiritual creatures, they occasionally leave behind some remains, bones and the like.

The entire interior of the cave was in a mess.

Plus there's no ventilation inside, so you can imagine the smell.

"No other way, just make do with it for now."

Watanabe Yuji explained to everyone, "The environment in Hueco Mundo is extremely harsh. It's always night here, and there are strong winds. And because there is desert everywhere, the surface is actually not suitable for survival. These Hollows are used to living in caves."

"Because this place is so huge, the distribution of Hollows is actually very scattered. We are new here and haven't figured out which part of the Hueco Mundo this is. It's already very difficult to find a Hollow and occupy its cave."

"Rest here for a while, and then I will find a way to find a more suitable place for everyone to live."

Although Yuji Watanabe has retired.

But he was once the vice-captain of the 11th Division after all.

In the eyes of these people, he is an absolute senior.

Now that this old senior has said this, what else can they say?
Of course there is nothing to say.

Although Xia Mu also felt that the environment in the cave was rather harsh, he did not say much.

After all, he himself came out of Hueco Mundo.

It was not like he had not experienced such an environment before.

Now that I experience it again, there is a sense of reminiscing about the past.

Compared to the living environment, he cares more about other things.

"Stop complaining."

"Let's discuss our next move."

Xia Mu's words attracted everyone's attention.

So everyone gathered together.

Someone took out a "lantern" from the props he brought with him and injected a ghost bullet into it. Suddenly, the orange light illuminated the entire cave.

He placed the lantern in the center of the crowd to provide light for everyone.

Over the years, Soul Society's development of ghost arts is no longer limited to weapons.

Some ghost ways can provide convenience in life.

For example, the "Red Fire Cannon". Based on this direction, Urahara Kisuke also studied some necessities of life, such as the lamp in front of him. As long as the bullets sealed in the Red Fire Cannon are injected into it, it can provide lighting for a long time.

This is much easier and more convenient than manually maintaining the Red Fire Cannon.

You know, in the past, in the Soul Society, it was pitch dark at night and you couldn't see anything.

Although the current Seireitei has not yet fully entered the modern society of the present world, and many things are studied in preparation for battle, there can be some improvements in life occasionally.

For example, setting up some street lights or something.

Back to topic.

Everyone gathered together and listened quietly to Xia Mu's story.

Xia Mu first drew two concentric circles on the ground.

"Hueco Mundo is an extremely unfamiliar world to most of you, but in fact, its structure is not complicated. We can regard it as another Soul Society."

"Among them, this outer circle is the outer circle of Hueco Mundo. You can think of it as Rukongai."

"However, unlike Rukongai, the outer circle of Hueco Mundo is much wider, and the Hollows within it are also extremely scattered. Generally, the Hollows living within it are not very powerful. Only some weak Hollows, or newly born Hollows, will wander around this area."

"Why is this happening?" Komamura Sajin asked Xia Mu.

The dog's head is still covered by a huge wooden barrel, which conceals his true appearance. Back then in the Maou Spiritual Academy, he was an alien, a freak, and thus he and the blind Tosen Kaname sympathized with each other and became good friends.

However, after joining the 11th Division, he no longer suffered such discrimination.

The 11th Division respects the strong, and doesn’t want too many freaks.

Komamura Sajin is also quite powerful. He is doing very well in the 11th Division. He is together with Tosen Kaname, and in such an atmosphere, his personality has become much more outgoing.

If it was the Komamura Satsuki of that time, he would never take the initiative to ask.

"The Hollows are different from us Death Gods. Before they evolve to the top, they are almost like wild beasts, always dominated by the instinct to devour."

"Because of the emptiness in their hearts, that is, the Hollow, they long to find something to fill this emptiness, and as souls of the same kind, they are the best fillers. Therefore, compared to living together, the Hollow prefers to devour its own kind."

"The reason why the Hollows in the outer circle of Hueco Mundo are so weak is because the powerful Hollows live in the inner circle."

As he spoke, Xia Mu drew a very small oval under the inner circle of the two concentric circles in front of him.

"Great Void Forest!"

"It is located underground in the inner circle of the Hueco Mundo. There are a lot of complicated caves there, and in the center of the caves is a large underground space. That is the Great Hollow Forest. We don't know how it was formed, but because it connects countless caves, a large number of Hollows were born inside, and then they devoured each other and evolved into Great Hollows."

"After a long period of evolution, there are a large number of Great Voids living there, which is also the origin of the name Great Void Forest."

"Because all the great hollows are concentrated there."

“So even if some powerful Voids occasionally appear in the outer circle, they will be pulled into the inner circle and enter the Great Void Forest by instinct…”

After Xia Mu finished explaining.

Everyone also understood why there were no powerful Voids in the outer circle.

If you think about it carefully, isn’t this also the case with Soul Society?

Although there are a huge number of souls living in Rukongai, the real strong ones are still gathered in Seireitei. In fact, because of the cluster effect, the strong ones in Rukongai will instinctively go to Seireitei.

Xia Mu continued, "In the central area of ​​the inner circle of Hueco Mundo, there used to be a palace called the Palace of the Night. The previous owner of the Palace of the Night was called Bylergan-Ruisenbon, a Great Hollow of the Vastod level."

"Of course, there is no need to mention him now."

"Why?" Matsumoto Rangiku also asked.

The living environment is so bad that we can only find ways to distract our attention from other places.

It was a rare occasion that her captain talked about the situation in Hueco Mundo, so of course she had to listen carefully.

Natsuki did not answer Matsumoto Rangiku's question.

Watanabe Yuji told Matsumoto Rangiku the answer, "Many years ago, the Hueco Mundo expeditionary force was attacked, and the Gotei 13 sent several captains to help Hueco Mundo. At that time, they went to the Hueco Mundo Palace in the center of Hueco Mundo."

"The King of Hueco Mundo, Bylergan, was already dead at that time."

"!!!"

Many people's pupils contracted, and some were horrified.

According to the records of Soul Society, the Great Hollow is a being that only the captain can deal with.

However, they are not people without common sense. They know that this is just an inaccurate statement. To put it more accurately, it is the superior who is the virtual one and the captain needs to deal with it.

Daxu is divided into three levels.

The most common one is Killian, above that is Achukas, and then Vastod, which is the highest level Hollow.

Everyone present had only heard of this level of Void but had never seen one.

Unexpectedly, a Xu of this level was killed back then.

Moreover, he was killed in the center of Hueco Mundo, in his own palace.

What shocked them even more was what Watanabe Yuji said next.

"It was the captain who killed the King of Hueco Mundo!"

"It's actually the captain?!"

Ichimaru Gin, Komamura Sajin, Matsumoto Rangiku, Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika and others all turned their heads to look at Natsuki. Even Tosen Kaname, who was blind and had no eyes, couldn't help but turn his head to "glance" in this direction.

Only Asido did not show much shock, but instead revealed a faint smile.

In the blink of an eye, this incident seemed like a long time ago.

I still remember that when he first heard about this, he was also extremely shocked.

"It's just a small matter, not worth mentioning." Feeling everyone's gazes on him, Xia Mu acted very calmly.

Having said that, everyone's mood was difficult to calm down for a long time.

They don't know about this.

No one has ever heard of the so-called Tsunayashiro Tokinada.

Obviously, this happened a long time ago.

Maybe it was so long ago that they didn't become the god of death by that time.

At that time, did the captain already have the ability to kill a Hollow of the level of Vastold?
"As expected of the captain!"

Someone sighed inwardly.

Over the years, I don't know how many people have had similar feelings, and they are all amazed at Xia Mu's strength.

Dongxian Yao thought of more.

"The death of Tsunayashiro Tokinada back then actually involved the inner circle of Hueco Mundo, and the King of Hueco Mundo?"

He only found out later that Tsunayashiro Tokinada was dead, but he had no idea how Tsunayashiro Tokinada died.

Xia Mu continued, "After escaping from Soul Society, Aizen hid in Hueco Mundo. He was also a participant in the battle against the King of Hueco Mundo and had personally entered the Hueco Mundo. If I were Aizen, I would never let the Hueco Mundo go after entering the Hueco Mundo."

"Kyouya Palace should be Aizen's current base camp."

"So, our current mission is to explore the Xuye Palace?" Ichimaru Gin, who had been silent, finally spoke. Although these people were all strong, they were the chief officers of the 11th Division and the elite among the elite.

However, because there are not many people, they came to Hueco Mundo not to raid Hueco Mundo.

Their main purpose is to investigate Hueco Mundo, find out the forces under Aizen's command, and find out the specific situation of Hueco Mundo. Only in this way can they actively prepare for the subsequent war with Aizen.

"No!"

Natsuki rejected Ichimaru Gin's proposal.

"The situation in the Hollow Palace is extremely complicated. It is not convenient for us to explore it for the time being. If we act rashly, it is likely to arouse Aizen's vigilance and cause unnecessary losses. Let's explore the Great Hollow Forest first."

"The Great Hollow Forest is the forest of the Great Hollows. If Aizen wants to recruit subordinates, he will definitely not let go of that place."

After a few words, Xia Mu introduced the specific situation of Hueco Mundo to everyone, and then also told them where to go next.

……

After a short rest in the cave.

The next day.

Well, actually it’s hard to tell which day is which. After all, there is no distinction between day and night in Hueco Mundo, and it’s night all the time.

The situation with a clear division between day and night only exists in the Kyūya Palace headed by Aizen in the original work. Because he built a sky curtain, the climate in Kyūya Palace is pleasant and there is a distinction between day and night.

After resting, everyone continued on their journey.

Everyone carries a spiritual shielding device made by Urahara Kisuke.

Many Hollows in Hueco Mundo possess detection nerves, which are more sensitive than the spiritual perception of the Shinigami. With so many Shinigami appearing in Hueco Mundo, if they are not prepared, they are likely to be discovered at the first moment.

After the battle in Seireitei, Natsuki also discovered that the current Hueco Mundo seemed to be different from the Hueco Mundo in the original work.

Aizen was more prepared.

For example, when Ichigo appeared before the Soul Society, the group of Hollows that invaded the Soul Society actually appeared in the form of a legion.

It can be seen that the current indigo dyeing is more prepared.

More importantly, the current time point is not the point before the decisive battle of Aizen Karakura Town in the original work.

Aizen had not yet thought of starting a decisive battle, as he was currently in the Hunnyah Palace.

Even though the people under Xia Mu are very powerful, enough to match half of the Gotei 13, and many of them have mastered Bankai, but heading directly towards Kyonyaku is almost like seeking death.

Anyway, Xia Mu would never do such a rash thing.

We will continue the investigation, but of course we have to take it slow.

It would be better to start the investigation from the Great Hollow Forest.

This time, their luck was rather bad. Although they did not encounter any accidents in the Sundered World, the place where they landed in the Hueco Mundo was on the edge of the outer circle, which meant that it would take a long time for them to reach the inner circle.

So for the next period of time, they were busy on the road.

Along the way, I was exhausted and felt very uncomfortable.

On this day, a completely different feeling came over everyone.

"This feeling……"

On the way, Xia Mu told everyone the division of the inner and outer circles of the Hueco Mundo.

Strictly speaking, there is no exact division.

But once you step into the inner circle, you will naturally understand.

At first, they didn't understand and didn't comprehend.

Now, they understand.

If the lepton concentration in the outer circle is already very high, then the lepton concentration in the inner circle is even higher than that in the outer circle.

"No wonder the captain said that."

Everyone was stunned.

"In other words, we are now entering the inner circle?"

The god of death is a spiritual creature with spiritual power in his body and can use this power.

Because of its own particularity, it is more dependent on the external environment.

After arriving at the inner circle, in addition to sensing the high concentration of spirit particles, everyone also felt that they could perform instant steps faster here. As expected, if they performed ghost methods, the power would be even greater.

"According to what the captain said, the Great Void Forest is located below the inner circle, so should we dig all the way down next?"

Madarame Ikkaku said something a little stupid.

After he said this, many people looked at him strangely.

"What? Am I wrong?"

Madarame felt everyone's gazes and his cheeks turned red, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Well, what you said is a good idea." Xia Mu nodded in agreement, "However, if you want to go to the Great Void Forest, there is a more convenient way."

"Of course, if you have no place to spend your energy, you can dig through the earth and dig to the Great Void Forest."

Madarame Ikkaku felt more and more embarrassed.

Then, he knew what method Xia Mu was talking about.

Find the Xu Cave, borrow a path from the Xu Cave, and go to the Great Xu Forest.

Madarame glanced at the people around him again and found that they did not show any sign of surprise.

Only then did I remember that the captain had previously introduced the Great Hollow Forest in detail.

The Great Void Forest is an underground space located in the middle of many virtual caves. It is unknown how many caves are connected. With the help of these virtual caves, you can reach there.

Boom boom boom! !

A roaring sound was heard in the cave.

Compared to the extremely scattered distribution of the Voids in the outer circle, in the inner circle of the Great Void Forest, except for the extremely powerful Voids, the rest of the Voids live in groups. There is no way, the environment forces them to stick together.

Only by sticking together can we survive in the inner circle of the Hueco Mundo, which is a more hostile and competitive environment.

Of course, devouring is an instinct.

Even if they stick together, self-devourment among races is inevitable.

In the inner circle, simply because of environmental restrictions, ordinary Voids were slightly restrained.

It’s hard to say whether Xia Mu and others’ luck is good or bad.

In order to enter the Great Void Forest, they need to go through Void's cave.

Once they broke in, even if they were carrying devices that could shield their own spiritual channels, they were still inevitably bound to encounter the void.

If an ordinary god of death encountered a large number of voids, he would definitely be terrified and worry about his own safety.

But the people on this trip did not.

"Leave it to you."

Xia Mu just said it lightly.

Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika, Zaraki and others rushed out instantly.

This is a massacre.

Especially Zaraki, how could he encounter so many Hollows in Soul Society.

Generally, the Hollows that appeared in Soul Society were not even enough for their 11th Division, so they needed to fight and snatch them. Now, with so many Hollows appearing in front of him, he could finally have a good fight.

Such thoughts also filled the minds of the other officials.

Fortunately, there are enough Voids here, and there will be even more once they reach the Great Void Forest. They can fully enjoy the joy brought by the battle.

The roar continued to echo in the cave.

Because of the devices they were wearing, the characteristics of everyone as a Shinigami were all hidden. Even if the Hollows had detection nerves, they would not be able to detect their existence. However, with so many Hollows being slaughtered, those scattered spirit particles, and the spiritual pressure fluctuations generated when the Hollows fought, were enough to attract more Hollows.

So, in the process of moving forward, we passed through the caves that were interconnected underground.

Xia Mu and his group were constantly fighting.

This is different from the first time Xia Mu came to the Great Void Forest.

At that time, Natsuki and Yoruichi, in order to find out the changes inside the Great Hollow Forest, fought with Hollows on the way, but in essence, they did not intend to cause a huge commotion. Later, Tsunayashiro Tokinada in the Great Hollow Forest discovered their whereabouts and manipulated many Great Hollows to attack them.

This time, the expeditionary force did not even conceal its existence.

They fought all the way towards the Great Void Forest.

Pass through the deep cave.

An extremely vast space appeared in everyone's eyes.

Ayase Gawa Yumichika picked up the lantern and increased the power. Suddenly, the lamp, which was not particularly bright, showed a tendency to evolve into a strong light, and the darkness around was completely dispelled.

"Is this the Great Void Forest?"

Shocked!

The shock is hard to describe in words.

Looking around, I saw that there was no boundary in this space. Darkness shrouded the space, and in the limited light, white trees stood in it. The trees were towering and went straight upwards, and I didn't know where they ended.

"No wonder this place is called the Great Hollow Forest. It turns out it really is a forest." Komamura Satsuki looked at the forest and thought of the name of this place again.

"It's true that it's a forest, but these things aren't actually trees. They're a type of stone that's very similar to trees." Xia Mu explained, "They support this huge underground space that extends all the way to the surface of Hueco Mundo."

"Sometimes, we can see some coral-like plants on the surface, which are actually the tops of these trees."

Xia Mu asked everyone to continue moving forward.

Soon, a whole new scene came into their eyes.

"It seems that we made the right decision to come to the Great Void Forest. There have indeed been great changes here."

The Great Void Forest is a dark forest.

In the past, this place was extremely dark, with countless virtual beings living in it. They fought each other, devouring and evolving in the battle.

But now, the originally dark forest is full of light. Can it still be called a dark forest?

(End of this chapter)