Library Of Heaven's Path: Anime Art 7 Illusionist's Might Ii

Zhang Xuan due to being embarra.s.sed by being robbed immediately circulates a small portion of the zhenqi he has recovered into his legs with intention of using the Heaven's Path: Movement Art to race ahead of the thief.

"Hmm… I sense a circulation of spiritual power. Is the person Lady Yoruichi asked me to keep an eye on finally about to make a move?" Suì-Fēng thought, "Not that I don't understand though… if I allowed some thief to pickpocket me after being trained by Lady Yoruichi… then I'd likely want to kill myself from shame."

Due to having a sudden thought, Zhang Xuan reigns in his circulation of "spiritual power" or rather his circulation of zhenqi as if it never had occurred in the first place.

"There's still much I don't know about this world, but even after walking around for a few minutes…. I can already tell that like back home only a select few are capable of becoming this world's version of cultivators. If someone is watching me… then relying on my powers to catch this thief will guarantee a trip to a nice dark room for a chat….. I have to use some other kind of method."

Zhenqi is obviously out seeing as how it attracted those Hollows from earlier, using his soul strength would likely be worse given how often the word "soul" is tossed around, and it's a complete mystery whether or not the concept of physical body cultivation exists here. No….. much like when he scammed his first Master Teacher, Zhang Xuan will clearly have to think outside of the box.

"And now to begin the workday."

Zhang Xuan turns to the right and saw that the person who happened to have spoken up at this moment was an upper-low (but not quite middle) cla.s.s store clerk carrying a couple of large baskets of mixed fruits and vegetables on his shoulders to a stand in front of his store.

"My apologies humble store-clerk, but I need to borrow something. I swear on my honor as a teacher to be sure to pay you back for the inconvenience." Zhang Xuan said apologetically as he walked up to the store clerk.

"Huh? Pay me back fo… Hey, what are you doing?!!!"

Zhang Xuan grabs an apple from the top of the man's basket and throws it with the intention of aiming for the thieving brat's leg. His attack strikes true, however, Zhang Xuan only used enough strength to knock the boy over and not seriously harm him. He had also infused the apple with just a hair of zhenqi so it remained undamaged allowing the store-clerk to sell it later.

"No… let me go… let me go!" the kid yelled as Zhang Xuan picked him up by the collar f his robe.

The store-clerk who owned the apple ran up to Zhang Xuan and the bratty thief after witnessing what had happened.

"What are you doing?!" the store-clerk asked.

"Thank you for allowing me to borrow some of your produce for a moment." Zhang Xuan appreciatively said as he returned the apple, "This young child stole an important possession of mine leaving me no choice but to borrow your fruit to stop him from getting away, so once again apologize for the inconvenience."

"What?! I have heard from a few of the other store owners on the street how some brat's been quickly going around stealing people's stuff. I know every kid in the neighborhood as well as their par-"

The store-clerk was mad and annoyed after hearing Zhang Xuan's explanation considering how he and many others have to work hard to make a living in the Soul Society, but he becomes truly angry upon seeing the bratty kid's face.

"You un-filial brat! Your mother and I did not raise a thief!!!"

"Dad?!! What are you…. oh that's right... I forgot this street runs by your shop."

"And you dare to forget the fact that I am your father?!! To think my own son would be the one that's been stealing money out of the pocket of my fellow store owners… now give this man his ring so I can give you a "good lesson" later."

"I can't dad…. I had to steal it. We need the money to pay for sis's medicine."

"I told you I would figure out a way, but by doing this you risk being tossed in jail by the Soul Reapers!"

"It was those b.a.s.t.a.r.d Soul Reapers that killed mom and hurt sis!!" the bratty thief yelled as he points at Zhang Xuan, "Besides…. even if he's not one of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds and is dressing like he's from around here….. he clearly walks like he's from one of those stupid n.o.ble families. Anything this guy has could easily help pay for sis's medicine and just as easily get replaced."

"You dare to-"

"Cough… cough…. Ahem."

"What?!" the store-clerk yelled annoyed that he was disrupted from lecturing his unruly son, "Ah my apologies…. as a victim in this scenario you shouldn't have to witness our family matters."

"It's fine…. it's just that perhaps it would be best if you discipline your son behind closed doors." Zhang Xuan retorts as he nods his head in the various directions around him.

The store-clerk was at first confused, but he quickly realizes that Zhang Xuan was referring to the crowd that was starting to form as a result of his yelling.

"Ah of course." the store clerk said as he turned to face his son, now as for you…. give back the young man his ring."

The store clerk's son only glares at his father and Zhang Xuan as if to signal that he'll refuse to give it back. It can already be seen from the expression on the kid's face that he knows what he did was wrong, but still believes it was necessary for the sake of his sister.

"Either you give him back his ring or your daddy here will show you what he did to thieves back when he was alive serving as one of Emperor Go-Sanjō's bodyguards. Here's a hint… it involved people losing hands."

The boy immediately returns Zhang Xuan's stolen spatial ring to him out of fear of his father. After saying a few more words to his father, Zhang Xuan hears the sound of angry yelling steadily dissipate into the distance as he leaves the area while a mysterious shadow continues to leap across rooftops behind him.

"d.a.m.n... after all those several long days I've spend cultivating, I can't believe I allowed an ordinary person to steal from me. Even though I still haven't recovered my strength after arriving on this world…. there's just no w"
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The young G.o.d of destruction had a sudden epiphany at that exact moment. As his train of thought was about to suggest, there's just no way that an ordinary mortal could have stolen anything from him even if he wasn't at full strength.

"Wait…. that talking cat went along with my suspicions of the nature of this world…. so could it be…"

Zhang Xuan then takes a deep breath and sends out a tiny wave of zhenqi out in 360 degrees as though it were like a radar pulse, and the information he receives in the response of this pulse proves to be shocking.

"I see… so that's why I didn't notice the kid…. And perhaps that captain from earlier as well!"

If one could see the things Zhang Xuan had sensed on an actual radar screen….. then what they would see is the entire screen being brightly lit from countless symbols as though it were a bright lightbulb behind it instead.

"When that cat said there was no difference between one's soul and physical body here….. I thought that meant the two were simply strongly interconnected when compared to back home….. but to think that the clouds in the sky, the people peddling their wares, and the grains of dirt below are all literally made out of a mixture of zhenqi and soul energy."

Zhang Xuan instantly deduced from this that despite the flawlessness of his Heaven's Path techniques, that even the most common foot-soldier of this world must have greater sensitivity to the change in the flow of spiritual energy or qi than he does. They simply have to be as the Soul Society would be in chaos from their experts consistently being the victim of sneak attacks.

"If I could completely adapt my sensitivity to the flow of zhenqi and spiritual energy here….. then even if my cultivation doesn't increase at all before returning home… there won't be a single person capable of sneaking up on or hiding from me. No wonder Kong-s.h.i.+ found a ma.s.sive improvement to his perspective on cultivation after coming to that strange place. Unfortunately, who knows how long it will take for me to adapt my senses here?"

This process of adapting his senses without any knowledge of this world could take Zhang Xuan a month, a year, and perhaps several decades more. Even if he could find a way around his innate fetal poison, by that time Zhang Xuan's students, as well as Luo-s.h.i.+, would think he had died and left them behind for the next life.

"No... since the only way for me to return home is to use my ability as a Celestial Master Teacher to guide someone capable of changing this world's destiny. Perhaps I should ask around for any poor kid that's found some strange-looking object or a young master of some n.o.ble clan with crippled meridians. If that doesn't work I'll try looking for a young submissive or bratty girl that's suddenly developed a fierce personality while showing impossibly high medical skills for their age. If only I was sent to a world where Yan Zhaoge was real… I could ask him for advice."

With that thought, Zhang Xuan comes out of his epiphany only to discover what felt like a few seconds hand actually been several hours. It wasn't a hard discovery to make seeing as how the sun had set and there were a few people pointing at him saying "Look… that strange man still hasn't moved since I was here a few hours ago" or something similar.

"It seems I'm not fated to read the books of this world just yet…. most of the stores around me are already starting to close, so I should just he"

"No… give it back! I need that money!"

"That sounded like a child's voice….. and it seemed a bit familiar too."

Zhang Xuan started to walk towards the source of the child's desperate plea, of which he found in some secluded alley. After hiding behind the corner of one end of the alley, he saw that the child was the same bratty kid who stole his spatial ring earlier.

"Give it back! I need that money to buy medicine for my sister!"

"Hah… you citizens of this trashy Rukongai district will die anyway."

"Besides you, useless commoners should consider it an honor that I want to use your money to buy booze."

The brat was receiving karmic justice in the form of having his back against the wall due to a pair of Soul Reapers.

"Help!! Someone help!!"

"Don't bother screaming you piece of trash."

"Yeah… even if one of the other Soul Reapers a.s.signed to patrol this district heard you just now…. well let's just say it's not worth it for them to offend our families."

"Should I interfere?" Zhang Xuan thought as he clenched his fists in anger at what he saw, "But…. I still don't know anything about the strength of this world's cultivators, and if I make a move then I'll definitely look suspicious to anyone watching me"

Meanwhile, the shadow that had been following Zhang Xuan from rooftops is also struggling with how to act in response to this sight.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!!! Such actions are an insult to Soul Reapers that risk their lives to protect the people of the Soul Society and the Realm of the Living! Should I intervene? But then if I do… I'd be violating Lady Yoruichi's orders." Suì-Fēng thought as she too clenched her fists in anger.

"I was right… all Soul Reapers are just a bunch of bullies and cowards!!"

"Kill the kid already so we can be done with this."

"Yeah yeah…. but just in case… let's say he was killed by one of the wanted bandits in the area… haha ha and that we heroically tried to save him but were too late."

"As a Master Teacher I'm supposed to guide humanity as well as defend it from threats foreign and domestic, so screw discovery!"

Zhang Xuan took a step out from around the corner with every intention of making a move b.u.g.g.e.r everything else, but…..

"Don't you two dare!!!"

Another Soul Reaper appeared at the opposite end of the alley…. a certain familiar-looking lanky one at that with his sword drawn. The two trashy Soul Reapers looked like they were scared for a moment, but they immediately burst into laughter at the sight of the newcomer.

"Haha ha…. phew… it's just Aizen, the tras.h.i.+est Soul Reaper in our division."

"Yeah.. hahaha… I was worried for a second since anyone who dared to interfere with our business would have to come from a family like ours.

The bratty kid quickly runs behind the newcomer even though he was a Soul Reaper out of fear.

"Ya know since we're in the same division and all… if you turn around and leave now we won't say anything."

"But first we gotta beat you up a bit to show you who runs things around here. I mean everyone already knows that Soul Reapers with illusion-based zanpakutō are for the most part useless."

Aizen responds by drawing his zanpakutō and pointing it towards the two disgraces to the Soul Reaper name, but even so, his sword arm was still shaking from a bit of fear-induced nervousness.

"Or the two of you can…. can surrender peacefully. It will hopefully reduce your sentence at trial. There's been talk of how Soul Reapers have been abusing their authority in this district, and now I finally know who you are. You two won't be able to keep your secret for long."

"Ha haha… you're being totally serious, aren't you? All we have to do is kill you and the kid… and our problems disappear."

"It won't take long between the two of us, and maybe the other guys will thank us for getting rid of the trash that's been wasting our division's training resources."

The two disgraceful Soul Reapers draw their own zanpakutō and point it towards Aizen and the kid as if declaring violence was the only answer from this point on.

"Raghhhhhhh!!!"

All of a sudden a loud roar comes from the rooftops right next to the alleyway.

"A Hollow?!"

"d.a.m.n…. how did it appear right next to us without any of us noticing?!"

"This isn't good… there's no way I can catch these guys and protect the kid from the Hollow at the same time." Aizen thought.

This Hollow was around 10-12 feet tall with a humanoid-like body, it had a hole where the left kidney would be on a human, and it had a large muscular body like the Hulk…. but even so none of these descriptive features matched any of the Hollow variants these three Soul Reapers were familiar with.

"Roaghhhhhhh!!!"

The Hollow gives off another loud beast-like roar and begins to give off an immense spiritual pressure almost immediately. The bratty kid was lucky enough to pa.s.s out from fear, however, the three Soul Reapers were quickly brought down to their hands and knees from the weight of its spiritual pressure. The fact that they too haven't lost consciousness was thanks to their training, but right now 2/3 would be more than willing to curse their training for allowing them to stay conscious through this terrifying ordeal.

"I don't wanna die!"

"c.r.a.p… I'm losing consciousness….. how did… how did a normal Hollow appear here without any warning?!"

"No… it's far from normal….. humanoid shape… and this much spiritual pressure… this can only be a… an Adjuchas cla.s.s!!"