Chapter 102: Refinement
After parting with Kotetsu Isane.
Suoh's figure departed through the deepening night, quickly melding into Seireitei's crisscrossing layout.
Extremely faint medicinal fragrance drifted across Seireitei's pathways.
Carrying his abundant ingredients, Suoh returned to his secret base.
The stone slab descended, sealing off the outside world.
Hot spring cottage.
Opening each paper package, rich medicinal fragrance immediately spread in all directions.
Suoh mobilized his spiritual pressure, enveloping each ingredient and grinding them into extremely fine powder.
Next, he retrieved the bamboo cylinder of honey, heating it with kido to remove excess moisture, making it more viscous and pliable.
Following Unohana Retsu's suggestions, he readjusted the proportions.
Taking a ceramic jar, he poured the medicinal powder by ratio, properly sealing away the remainder.
No need for fire. No need for external implements.
Simply grinding various ingredients into fine powder by precise proportion, then mixing with carefully refined honey, finally rolling them into smooth, round pills.
This was Suoh's pill-making method.
Completely lacking mysterious operations—also the full extent of what he could access and master.
No pill furnace or true flames, no formation assistance, none of the legendarily profound hand seals.
But this simple method had always effectively released the medicines' properties in the past.
This time, however, proved slightly different.
Suoh no longer merely mixed them together.
He attempted applying Kaidō techniques during the blending process, allowing these distinctly characterized spirit particles to fuse with each other.
Spiritual pressure infused thread by thread into the medicinal paste. Countless active spirit particles of varying attributes gathered into clusters under guidance.
The room fell silent, containing only his rhythmic hand movements and his fully concentrated breathing.
This process continued for considerable time.
Until he sensed the medicinal paste beneath his palms forming a perfect whole.
With precise touch, Suoh rolled the paste one by one into uniformly sized black pills, arranging them neatly on previously prepared clean oil paper, using kido to accelerate air-drying.
"Thank you, Captain Unohana."
Facing the fragrant pills before him, Suoh revealed a bright smile.
He'd committed every word Unohana Retsu spoke today to memory, including her parting instructions.
At the time, he'd found it somewhat strange why she would suddenly emphasize that particular phrase.
Initially Suoh thought perhaps she worried that without her present during his next patient treatment, some accident might occur, hence the special reminder.
But during the return journey afterward, he'd carefully reconsidered today's process of learning Kaidō.
Suddenly inspiration struck, producing this special idea.
His Kaidō could guide and assist injured persons' own spiritual pressure to complete spiritual body repairs. So then, could it also guide spirit particles within medicinal ingredients to fuse with each other?
After realizing this point.
While making pills just now, Suoh had applied today's learned Kaidō techniques.
Under Suoh's keen perception, these newly formed medicinal pills differed utterly from any batch he'd previously refined.
The pills before him underwent complete structural transformation, incomparable to anything prior.
Their surface gleamed with deep luster, as though possessing faint vital rhythm, conducting extremely subtle exchanges with the surrounding spirit particle environment.
Immediately, Suoh picked up one pill, his figure flashing to the outdoor clearing.
"Hadō Number Ninety: Black Coffin!"
He directly activated Black Coffin with incantation abandonment.
Pitch-black coffins abruptly rose across the clearing.
Causing the underground space's air to shudder.
One, two, three—
Coffin after coffin rose in succession, like a silent forest of monuments growing wildly across the wasteland.
They stood staggered, their force fields interfering with and overlapping each other.
All surrounding spirit particles fell into gravitational distortion within this pitch-black moment.
The air grew viscous and heavy. Ambient light itself seemed devoured.
Suoh stood before this scene he'd personally created, clearly sensing his body's rapid consumption from continuously casting high-level kido, directly stuffing the pill into his mouth.
The pill dissolved instantly upon entry, transforming into countless gentle streams rapidly flowing into his Saketsu and Hakusui.
Nourishing his nearly depleted spiritual body with unprecedented efficiency.
Suoh's previously somewhat pale complexion recovered its healthy color almost instantaneously.
The nourishment speed proved remarkably fast.
In an instant he reached a judgment—combined with the hot spring, roughly three pills would replenish the consumption just now.
Training felt amazing!
This night, Suoh rediscovered the enthusiasm from his first Black Coffin training session, pushing toward higher limits.
Thirteenth Division office.
Suoh pushed open the door carrying a joyful, satisfied smile.
This relaxation hadn't lasted even a moment.
The instant he crossed the threshold, a large hand that had awaited him seized his neck from behind the door without sound.
"You brat! Your body had problems and you didn't say anything!"
"Then yesterday you disappeared all day!"
"If Kotetsu Isane from the Fourth Division hadn't sent word this morning saying you'd successfully completed treatment, I would've thought something really happened to you!"
The person's grip controlled force expertly, bringing no sense of suffocation while pinning him firmly in place.
Immediately after, Shiba Kaien's voice—clearly angry yet worried—sounded beside his ear.
Suoh looked around. Everyone regarded him with equally concerned gazes.
He immediately directed a questioning look toward yesterday's sole accomplice.
"I—had—no—choice!"
Kotetsu Kiyone beside them spread both hands, her face written full of helplessness, her gaze turning aside as she mouthed words silently.
Originally she'd honestly kept Suoh's secret according to their agreement. Unfortunately, the observant Shiba Miyako had noticed something wrong.
After being thoroughly questioned, she'd confessed the entire situation honestly.
Seeing Kotetsu Kiyone's expression of "you're on your own now" sympathy.
"I know I was wrong."
"It won't happen again!"
Suoh's mouth twitched slightly before surrendering without hesitation.
This trial would mostly prove inescapable. His expression instantly switched to sincere acknowledgment of error, his tone carrying regret.
However, Shiba Kaien clearly wasn't buying it.
"Sit down!"
He brought Suoh's entire person to the office center, pulling over a chair and placing it before him.
His gaze fell sharp as a blade on Suoh, speaking gravely.
"Your Saketsu and Hakusui developed problems, and you didn't immediately find me and Miyako, didn't find the captain, stubbornly waited until Kiyone returned."
"You take your own body far too lightly!"
He inhaled deeply, suppressing the surging emotions in his heart.
"I know—exactly because of that I didn't want to say anything."
"You all know my Kaidō proficiency. At the time, though my pressure points' condition seemed somewhat abnormal, I felt I could still control it."
"I just didn't want to make too much fuss and worry everyone. I thought I'd get an examination first."
Suoh obediently took his seat, lowering his head with a sigh, answering helplessly but sincerely.
These words left the office atmosphere briefly stagnant.
The others understood—under unclear circumstances, they too would likely have remained silent.
Shiba Kaien stared at him, reading that stubbornness unwilling to affect others, his voice carrying concern.
"No next time! If your body shows any abnormalities, you must tell the division. This cannot happen again!"
"Yes, I promise!"
"You brat!"
Shiba Kaien stood, vigorously ruffling Suoh's hair before his pent-up anger finally released.
Suoh got tousled every which way yet dared not resist, only able to endure his instantly disheveled hair while showing an expression of resigned acceptance.
Everyone laughed lightly.
His comical appearance immediately dissolved the previously heavy atmosphere.