The independent worlds of matter and spirit particles happened to line up perfectly with the World of the Living and the Seireitei.
At this moment, even without Ichibe continuing, everyone already understood how things must have unfolded countless years ago.
The founders of the five great noble clans had succeeded.
They had succeeded in splitting the Three Realms, thus creating what was now Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, and the World of the Living, with the flow of life cycling between the three.
But what about the Spirit King?
He was the strongest existence in the world.
In name, he was also the creator of the Three Realms.
So what role had he played in all of this?
Thinking of that, everyone swallowed hard, their gazes nervously fixed on Ichibe.
Even Yoruichi, Byakuya, Isshin, and Kisuke, who each knew a portion of the inside story, were no exception.
The information they had came only from secret traditions passed down through their clans.
But Ichibe was someone who had actually lived through that age. What he said was the truth of what had really happened.
Under everyone's tense stares, Ichibe's voice grew heavy.
"To achieve the goal of dividing the Three Realms, the Spirit King's near-omnipotent power was absolutely indispensable. Only he could create a world."
"But the noble clan founders under him did not want him to freely control that future world—the world that could only be forged and maintained through his power."
Hearing this, everyone swallowed again, hearts lodged in their throats.
Even Cole felt a little nervous.
"Even though I'm all for there being no creator," he muttered, "I really don't want the creator to have too tragic an ending…"
A god who ruled the world was far too dangerous—its life and death, its existence and destruction, all lay within his grasp.
However…
That in itself was not the creator's sin.
It was simply the instinctive fear that the beings he ruled had toward their creator.
At this moment, everyone present already had a vague realization: the story that followed would undoubtedly be soaked in sin.
Beings sheltered by a god—
Because they feared that god's power—
Had slain their own god.
The instant that thought surfaced in their minds, their doubts only grew stronger.
If the Spirit King was really that powerful…
How had he ended up like this?
What exactly had the five noble founders done?
Had they ambushed the Spirit King?
Tricked him?
Poisoned him?
While everyone's imagination ran wild, Ichibe drew in a deep breath and spoke.
"And so, when it came to how the Spirit King should be treated, a rift formed between the founders of the five noble clans."
The current nobles of the five great families all pricked up their ears.
"The founder of the Shiba clan believed they should discuss matters with the Spirit King," Ichibe said, "and from there seek out a suitable solution. They mustn't take things to an extreme."
Isshin's eyes lit up. He cleared his throat and straightened his chest proudly.
Then he glanced at his idiotic son, who apparently still couldn't understand human speech, and his face darkened. He smacked Ichigo on the back of the head.
"Straighten your chest when I'm being praised."
Ichigo's mouth twitched. He glared at his old man, face darkening as he clenched his fist.
"Old man, are you looking for a fight!?"
Isshin's mouth twitched as well. He slapped a hand over his forehead, too exasperated to even look at his foolish son.
He'd finally understood—
His stupid kid really didn't understand human words.
He had clearly explained to him that his real surname ought to be Shiba Ichigo…
Yoruichi and Byakuya both shot Isshin a dark look, but they couldn't find a proper reason to hit him.
So they could only turn away and look toward Ichibe again, full of expectation.
If the founder of the Shiba clan had held such thoughts…
Could their own founders have thought the same way?
Even though they already knew part of the truth from their clan's traditions, they still held on to a sliver of hope in their hearts.
Maybe the truth wasn't so ugly and sinful after all.
But the very next second, Ichibe's words shattered their hopes. His voice sank.
"However, just as the Shiba founder was about to persuade the Spirit King, the founder of the Tsunayashiro clan suddenly launched a sneak attack on the Spirit King."
Everyone involuntarily held their breath.
They all felt sure that what followed would be the description of an earth-shattering battle.
What kind of battle must that have been!?
It had to be incredible, right!?
But their expectations were crushed again a heartbeat later.
Ichibe's tone didn't change.
"And just like that, the Spirit King was sealed inside a crystal. The other clan founders were forced to accept this reality…"
"Wait!!!"
Shinji finally couldn't hold back and cut Ichibe off.
"How exactly was the Spirit King defeated? Say it properly! How did the Tsunayashiro founder ambush him? Where's the battle between them?"
That was what everyone else wanted to ask as well.
They all started chiming in.
"What did the Tsunayashiro founder actually do? How did he pull off a sneak attack on the Spirit King?"
"Could it be that the Tsunayashiro founder was incredibly strong? Otherwise, even with a sneak attack, he shouldn't have been able to defeat the Spirit King, right?"
"Was it because the Spirit King was already terribly weakened at the time, so he could be gravely injured and sealed in one blow?"
Amid the buzzing voices, even Aizen couldn't help but ask a question.
"What realm were those founders at, exactly?"
He had originally believed Ichibe was already extraordinarily strong.
In his previous evolutionary state, if he'd faced Ichibe for even a single instant, he would absolutely have been instantly killed by that man's brush.
But now, it seemed the founders of the noble clans were even stronger than Ichibe.
So what realm was the Spirit King in?
Faced with everyone's doubts and pressing questions, Ichibe showed no surprise or displeasure. He simply replied calmly:
"At that time, the Spirit King was not injured in any way, nor was he weakened. He was in his strongest possible state."
"And the founder of the Tsunayashiro clan was not as powerful as you imagine."
"In terms of realm, he might not even have been my equal."
Everyone was completely stunned. Even Kisuke couldn't help asking:
"Then how did he seal the Spirit King?"
A guy who was inferior to the Spirit King in every possible aspect had managed to seal him with a binding technique.
Was this a joke!?
And not just any joke, but a joke on a world-class scale!
It was like asking Renji to seal Yamamoto.
Even if Renji stacked eight hundred binding spells on him, the moment Yamamoto activated his bankai (Final Release) and swung his blade once, Renji would owe him eight hundred lives in return.
Their strength simply wasn't in the same dimension at all.
"I don't know."
Ichibe gave an answer that left everyone utterly shocked.
He shook his head slowly.
"No one knows why the Spirit King was sealed. Even when I heard the news, I could hardly believe it."
"Because if the Spirit King chose to act, even the shadow of his pinky finger would have been enough to crush the Tsunayashiro founder."
"And yet, the Spirit King was sealed. The other four clan founders also personally confirmed that the one sealed in the blue crystal was indeed the Spirit King."
Everyone was at a loss for words.
This was far too anticlimactic.
The earth-shattering battle they had all pictured had never happened.
Instead, the Spirit King—the ruler of the world—had simply been sealed away with ease.
Seeing that no one could find anything to say, Ichibe let out a long breath and continued the tale from before the Three Realms were formed.
"After discovering that the Spirit King had been sealed, the other four clan founders—including the Shiba founder—changed their minds."
"Not a single founder chose to rescue the Spirit King."
"Instead, they joined hands and stripped the Spirit King of his omniscient, omnipotent power. They used that power as a wedge to split the chaotic world."
"One side became a world of spirit particles. The other became a world of matter. And from the interval between those two worlds, a desert paradise born of emptiness came into being."
"That is, Soul Society, the World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo—the current Three Realms."
After finishing the story of the time before the Three Realms were established, Ichibe didn't pause. He continued straight into what happened afterward.
"Just like you, the five noble founders were filled with doubt."
"Why had the Spirit King been sealed so easily?"
"Because of this, the Tsunayashiro ancestor even began to suspect the Spirit King himself, afraid that he would one day break the seal by his own strength and annihilate them all."
"So the founders of the five great noble clans did not allow the Spirit King to live on, but neither did they simply kill him. They left him in a spiral of neither life nor death."
"After that, they severed the Spirit King's arms, which governed 'advance' and 'stillness'."
"But even that did not put them at ease."
"Led by the Tsunayashiro ancestor, the founders spent countless ages. They dug out the Spirit King's heart, cut off his feet, split open his internal organs, removed them from his body, stripped them of their power, and cast them down to the lower world."
"They kept cutting away at the Spirit King's power, all for the sake of creating a 'king' who would be easier for them to control."
"In that moment, Soul Society's original sin was born."
"And as if to cover up that sin, they proclaimed the Spirit King to be Soul Society's monarch, a sacred being that transcended all."
"But the truth is that the Spirit King is merely the cornerstone of the new world—he paid the price of stability and lost every last trace of his own consciousness."
(End of Chapter)
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