Page 50
If the look in Erlang and the others' eyes before was just envy, now it was naked jealousy. Looking at Bai who still looked a little confused, with the words "I want to replace him" written all over his face, even the most timid big rabbit began breathing heavily out of jealousy.
Although Bai couldn't fully understand what Gu Shi said, just by looking at the expressions of the crowd, she knew that she must have indeed obtained an incredible ability. So she sprinted with all her strength, smiling brightly and nodding repeatedly.
"Oh! That sounds really great. As long as I become really, really strong, I won't have to worry about others bullying me, right? I'm suddenly very motivated. I've decided! I'm going to keep running. As long as I'm alive, I'll never stop!"
Bai's statement sounded very motivated, but no matter how Gu Shi listened, he felt that the kid thought he wanted to hear this and said this in order not to disappoint him. In fact, he didn't care much about things like "powerful" and "unlimited potential".
It's normal to think about it. Bai looks to be just over ten years old. At this age, no matter how sensible he is, he probably won't have a clear understanding of power and wealth, nor will he have a strong desire to pursue the power that supports power and wealth.
Just like when Gu Shi was in his teens, his mother told him every day that he should study hard so that he could make a lot of money and live a better life in the future, but he did not really pursue knowledge.
After thinking for a while, Gu Shi decided to change his way of saying it.
"Bai, do you know? The world we live in is not unique. The stars we look up at night are all suns that are extremely far away from us. Near those suns, there are other 'worlds'. I plan to explore those worlds in the future.
"However, the starry sky is extremely dangerous. If an ordinary person enters the starry sky, he will definitely die immediately. Even if he does not die, he will be frozen into ice and unable to move at all. Therefore, when I leave, I will only take those who are powerful and qualified to survive in the starry sky with me..."
Before Gu Shi could finish, Bai interrupted him excitedly, and with far more enthusiasm than before, he shouted at the top of his voice to express his determination.
"I will become stronger! Extremely stronger! When you leave, Uncle Gu Shi, I will definitely go with you!"
Seeing this, Gu Shi nodded with satisfaction and gave a thumbs up to the excited little girl.
"Yes, this is exactly what I want! The starry sky is very lonely, and I also want to take my family and friends with me as much as possible. Bai, as long as you are strong enough and can protect yourself in the starry sky, there will definitely be a place for you by my side!"
Chapter 109: Zanpakuto?
"Gu Shi, are there really other worlds in the starry sky?"
Erlang knew that Gu Shi had set his sights on the starry sky, Tianpeng knew it, and even the big rabbit had heard it while hiding underground. Only Asido knew nothing about it. After the little girl ran away happily, he could not help but ask Gu Shi in a low voice.
"Of course it's true, Ashido. The starry sky is so vast that the world we live in is so tiny in such a vast concept that it's not even as small as a speck of dust. Do you think that in such a vast scope, only the land under our feet can give birth to life? Such an idea is too arrogant."
Gu Shi answered Asido's question frankly. He never intended to hide his goal. The reason he did not invite Asido before was only because he understood that Asido's greatest goal and belief in this life was to defeat the virtual beings and protect ordinary people living in the world.
With such a goal in mind, even if Asido becomes stronger in the future, it is unlikely that he will abandon those ordinary people and explore the starry sky with him, so the invitation would be a waste of words and there is no need to spend that effort.
"Arrogant, huh?"
Asido savored Gu Shi's words carefully, and after a while he asked a new question.
"So, are there humans in those worlds?"
"I'm not sure about that, maybe..."
Before Gu Shi could finish his answer, he saw Asido's eyes suddenly roll back and he fell to the ground with a thud. Then, Gu Shi felt a terrifying pressure enveloping him from bottom to top. His consciousness suddenly became slow and his body became extremely heavy, as if he could not control himself and fell to the ground.
Not far away, Bai, who was sprinting at full speed, fell to the ground immediately and lost her breath in an instant. Fortunately, the effect of Fullbring was still strong, and she was resurrected quickly. She climbed up and looked around in a daze, as if she didn't understand why she died suddenly.
"Gu Shi, this is that guy again, right?"
Erlang, who was standing next to him, was supporting his knees with his hands, his body swaying, and he was barely able to stay standing. His voice seemed to be stuck as he asked with difficulty.
"Well, it should be him."
Gu Shi's answer was equally difficult. This terrifying and oppressive feeling that seemed to cover the entire world clearly came from Stark, the strongest person in Hueco Mundo.
Even after traveling a long distance equivalent to the height of the dome of the Great Hollow Forest and being blocked by the huge amount of white sand in the surface desert, the pressure brought by Stark's spiritual pressure on everyone still made them feel so powerless.
[It seems that the little spiritual pressure in Stark's voice was really the result of his best efforts to restrain it. I was able to escape at that time, but now I can't even move. ]
[Luckily, we were transferred to the surface desert. As expected, when an Arrancar transforms, his spiritual pressure will go out of control. I'm afraid that the Great Hollow Forest is now littered with corpses.]
[I just don't know what's going on with Bats. He has obviously passed the Killian stage and is evolving directly to a higher level. Before the evolution is complete, he can't run away even if he wants to. I hope that the place where Stark transforms into an Arrancar can be farther away from Bats.]
Even under Stark's spiritual pressure, Gu Shi's thinking became slower and slower, but his brain still couldn't stop, constantly thinking about various things.
As he was thinking, the suffocating spiritual pressure suddenly and quickly retracted. In the blink of an eye, the world in front of him became clear again. Gu Shi subconsciously began to take deep breaths, like a person who was finally rescued from drowning.
At the side, the big rabbit, who had already fallen to the ground, was grateful for having escaped death. He took a deep breath and shouted out his heart's voice.
"Alive! Alive!"
"Uncle, are you okay? What happened just now? You all look very uncomfortable."
Bai, the only one who was not in the situation, came close to Gu Shi, braving the strong wind brought by Gu Shi's heavy breathing, his little face full of worry.
The moment Stark's spiritual pressure descended, the little girl died before she even had time to feel the pain due to the huge gap in strength. After her resurrection, she immediately became immune to the oppression of the spiritual pressure, and therefore could not understand the pain of Gu Shi and others at all.
Being looked at with concern by Bai, Gu Shi could only smile bitterly. For a moment he didn't know how to react. He gasped violently for a few times before he finally calmed down.
"I'm fine, go check on Asido."
Asido, the weakest one, has not woken up yet. He lies straight on the ground and does not move. Gu Shi is a little worried that he was crushed to death by the spiritual pressure.
"Uncle Asido is fine. I just checked him. He should wake up in a while."
Gu Shi and the others were still able to stand, only Asido fell down. Of course, the first thing the girl paid attention to was Asido's condition. In order to prevent Asido from suffocating in the sand by falling face first, Bai Hao considerately helped him turn over.
However, when Bai was doing this, Gu Shi and the others were in a very bad condition and did not notice her actions at all.
Gu Shi finally relaxed completely. Since even Asido was fine, this crisis was perfectly overcome. Everyone survived and there were no casualties. As long as they waited for a while and waited for Stark, who had completed the Arrancar, to leave, they should be able to return to the Great Hollow Forest.
[However, after being suppressed by Stark's spiritual pressure, there must be a huge piece of white land in the Great Hollow Forest under their feet. If they want to find a place where there are a large number of Killians and they can hunt freely, they will probably have to migrate a long way. ]
[By the way, we need to go back to the bats to check if they are still alive.]
Gu Shi was thinking about his plans for the future when a girl's voice, which was full of innocence and vitality but seemed to be suppressing some restless emotions, suddenly sounded from behind him.
"Hey, is this our benefactor? He looks quite ordinary."
A chill suddenly surged into his heart, and Gu Shi subconsciously wanted to throw a fake flash backwards, but at the moment when his spiritual power gathered, he suppressed the urge to counterattack.
The sound was already very close, but he did not feel any spiritual pressure. An enemy of this level was definitely not something he could deal with. A rash counterattack would only anger the other party and would be meaningless.
Turning his head with some difficulty, Gu Shi looked behind him.
What came into view was two figures, one big and one small, covered in tattered furs, standing in the air at eye level and looking at me.
The shorter one looked like a girl with short light green hair that reached down to her neck. On her head, she had a piece of bone armor shaped like a bull-horned helmet. The right horn was smooth and long, but the left horn was broken off at the root.
The taller one was a middle-aged man with long brown hair hanging down to his shoulders. There was no bone fragment left on his face, only a circle of pale jawbone like a necklace on his neck.
In an instant, Gu Shi confirmed the identities of the two people, the future first Dekablade Stark, and the "same soul individual" Lilinette who split from his soul.
Although Lilinette looked a little different from what he had seen in the comics before his death, the bone piece that was supposed to cover his left eye had disappeared, and there was no bone left on his face, but these were just trivial matters. What really concerned Gu Shi was -
Why do these two people have Zanpakutō on their waists?
Chapter 110 Friend Candidate
It seems natural for an Arrancar to possess a Zanpakutō. After all, the definition of an Arrancar is a Hollow that has broken the boundary between itself and the God of Death and has mastered the power of the God of Death.
Even the one who was killed by the protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki's father in the plot, who didn't even have a human form, and whose mask was not broken at all, and could only be described as a degraded, semi-finished, small-time Arrancar, had a huge Zanpakutō.
Becoming an Arrancar, it seemed natural that he should obtain the Zanpakutō that originally belonged to the God of Death.
However, among these many Arrancar, there are two outliers who do not have Zanpakutō.
One of them is Stark, the first of the Ten Espada. Although he also has a sword in the plot, that sword is most likely a mock-up made for him by Aizen. His real Zanpakuto is actually Lilinette, which was split when he turned into an Arrancar.
The other outlier is Lilinette. Although she can pull out a scimitar from the broken horns on her head during battle, the sword cannot be released and cannot be considered a Zanpakuto.
But now, Stark and Lilinette, who were standing in front of Gu Shi, each had a long sword on their waist that had not been unsheathed.
At this point in time, it is hard to say whether Aizen has entered the Maou Spiritual Academy, but no one would come to Hueco Mundo to make knives for Stark and the others. The long swords they carry can only be the Zanpakutō that are automatically born when they transform into Arrancar.
But...why?
Gu Shi's heart was full of confusion. Could it be that the difference between independent Hollow and using Hogyoku Hollow is whether or not the Zanpakuto has a "blade" form?
But isn't Ulquiorra also an autonomous Arrancar? Not only does he have a Zanpakutō that can be returned to the Blade, he can even perform a double return to the Blade, so the difference shouldn't be in the autonomous Arrancar.
Are there other influencing factors?
Gu Shi's heart was full of doubts, but he did not forget the two Arrancars in front of him. Seeing that they seemed to have no ill intentions, he took the initiative to raise his hand and greeted them.
"Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself. My name is Gu Shi, and I'm a Hollow that provides the blue crystal formula. It looks like you're the owner of that voice from before? Congratulations on completing your Arrancar. Who's this cute girl next to you?"
"...My name is, Koyate Stark, and this is Lilinette, my...partner."
A hundred years of living alone seemed to have seriously degraded Stark's communication ability. He was silent for several seconds before he organized his words and responded to Gu Shi's words.
In sharp contrast to the lifeless Stark is Lilinette beside him. This girl, who was probably born less than an hour ago, is full of energy. When she heard Gu Shi say that she was cute, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Lilynette struggled to free herself from Stark's hand on her head and climbed up Stark's body like climbing a tree. She sat on Stark's left shoulder with her small body, her slender legs raised and straightened, and touched her cheek with one hand, striking a pose that she thought was very charming, but seemed clumsy and cute to others.
"Hi! This is the super cute Lilinette. Gu Shi, you have good taste! Come on, praise me more!"
The Hollows don't know how to be humble or tactful. If they want something, they will use the simplest and most brutal means to get it. Lilinette, who wanted to be praised, didn't say "I will kill you if you don't praise me". Among the group of Hollows, she is already considered kind and harmless.
It was just a few words of praise, which was certainly not a problem for Gu Shi. Besides, Lilinette was indeed cute, so he simply praised Lilinette thoroughly from head to toe, from appearance to personality, and gave some sincere suggestions on her future dressing, and then he stopped talking with a feeling of unsatisfied desire.
As a child less than an hour old, even though Lilinette inherited some basic common sense from Stark and had a degree of "maturity" that was not in line with her age, her cheeks still blushed when she was praised by Gu Shi. She became a little confused and could not even keep her balance, and she was swaying as she sat on Stark's shoulder.
Stark, who was used by Lilinette as a base to show off her "charm", silently helped Lilinette and helped her sit back down. Compared with the look he had a moment ago, the look he gave Gu Shi was now full of friendliness.
Lilinette is Stark's only companion, his half, and the person he cares about most. If Lilinette is happy, Stark will be happy too.
A moment ago, in Stark's eyes, Gu Shi was just a benefactor who provided the blue crystal formula. Apart from the need to help Gu Shi evolve into Vastrod as promised, the two parties no longer had any connection.
But now, in Stark's opinion, Gu Shi can already be considered a candidate friend.
The reason why he is a "substitute" is simply because in Stark's opinion, if one wants to be his friend and stand shoulder to shoulder with him, one must possess strong strength. One cannot stretch or yawn and accidentally leak some spiritual pressure, otherwise the opponent will be suppressed to death.
If Gu Shi was strong enough, he would probably be able to become Stark's friend on the spot.
"Thank you."
After thanking Gu Shi for praising Lilinette, Stark began to ask about the word that concerned him.
"What does Arrancar mean?"
Gu Shi had already prepared a plan for what to say the moment he saw Stark. When asked, he gave an explanation immediately without any hesitation.
"Arrancar is a term I created myself. In my opinion, both Hollows and Shinigami are just aspects of the soul. Both sides should have something in common, but there is a certain barrier between the two, which makes Hollows and Shinigami become two seemingly opposing groups.
"In my conception, as long as this barrier can be broken, the Hollows and the Shinigami should be able to gain each other's power. Arrancar is my name for the Hollows that break the barrier."
Upon hearing this, Stark carefully felt the spiritual power in his body, then gripped the Zanpakuto at his waist and nodded slightly in agreement.
"Your idea is correct. My current power does have some of the characteristics of the god of death."
"That's great news. Although it may sound like I'm asking for something in return, I still want to ask, can you describe the process of your Arrancar transformation in detail?"