What did she mean, 'awakened the Quincy power after coming into contact with them'?
Ryūken Ishida believed that Soifon was simply too lazy to find even a perfunctory excuse, spouting nonsense just because she was powerful.
However, when he met Soifon's gaze, he actually believed it a little.
Her calm expression did not seem fake. Moreover, he didn't seem to have any capital that she could exploit; Ryūken Ishida had even let Soifon borrow the collection of books that served as the foundation of the Quincy family.
Not to mention strength. Judging by the Spirit Bow Soifon had just revealed, he knew that her strength as a Quincy was not beneath his own—not to mention she was also a Shinigami Captain.
After a storm of brainstorming, Ryūken Ishida rubbed the space between his eyebrows and shook his head. "Apologies, Captain Soifon, but your reason is really far-fetched..."
But he couldn't find a reason for Soifon to do this.
Knowing that the other party had no intention of fighting, Soifon retracted the Spirit Bow and sat back down.
"But facts are facts," Soifon said, spouting nonsense with a straight face. "Perhaps coming into contact with you people caused the Quincy bloodline inside me to awaken."
Like a spark igniting gunpowder?
Ryūken Ishida looked thoughtful.
By that logic, is Soifon a hybrid of a Shinigami and a Quincy?
Then why wasn't she subjected to the Auswählen?
Is it because Yhwach's power of Auswählen cannot penetrate the Soul Society?
Although he remained skeptical of Soifon's words, Ryūken Ishida made a preliminary judgment that Soifon held no malice and decided to continue observing.
The private forest behind the Ishida villa.
Soifon stood in a clearing. Opposite her was Uryū Ishida, his small face taut with tension. He held a small Spirit Bow in his hand, its light still somewhat unstable, flickering on and off.
"Focus your mind."
Soifon spread her hands. The Reishi in the air gathered into her palms at an extremely slow speed. She even easily pried away the Reishi on Uryū Ishida's Spirit Bow, stripping away quite a bit of it.
This was Soifon demonstrating to him the ability to gather Reishi.
Uryū Ishida nodded vigorously, beads of sweat already seeping from his forehead.
He attempted to draw the bow again. The Reishi arrow slowly took shape, denser than the previous few times, though still somewhat diffuse.
The arrow left the string, tracing a faint blue light as it shot toward an old tree acting as a target ten meters away.
The arrow tip barely pierced the bark, penetrating less than half an inch before collapsing into spots of light and disappearing.
Under the shade of a tree not far away, Ryūken Ishida leaned against the trunk with his arms crossed, shaking his head.
He didn't want to hurt Soifon's pride, but he really couldn't see any Quincy talent in his son.
Such training continued for several days.
Every afternoon, the muffled sound of Reishi arrows striking trees would echo through the forest.
Today's training was just halfway through when hurried footsteps came from outside the woods. Sōken Ishida appeared before the two, looking travel-worn.
"Grandfather?"
Uryū Ishida dismissed his Spirit Bow in surprise.
Sōken Ishida nodded to his grandson, then turned his gaze to Soifon.
"Captain Soifon." His voice held a lingering fear. "I heard from Ryūken... Thank you for your guidance of Uryū during this time."
"The lives of Kanae and Masaki are also thanks to Captain Soifon..."
Sōken Ishida regretted it. He shouldn't have run to such a far place. His wife had encountered Yhwach's Auswählen on the road, losing the chance to be treated by Soifon.
His gaze fell upon his grandson, seemingly unsurprised that Uryū Ishida was standing here unharmed.
To be honest, no matter how much the Ishida family had declined, they were a family of pure-blooded Quincys. Why he had chosen Kanae Katagiri as Ryūken Ishida's wife was already enough to provoke wild speculation.
It couldn't be because Sōken Ishida had a way to detect the Schrift ability hidden within every Quincy, could it?
Casting aside the bizarre speculations in her mind, Soifon let Uryū practice alone and led the other party deeper into the woods.
"Mr. Sōken." Soifon condensed a Spirit Bow right in front of Sōken Ishida. "What do you think of my Spirit Bow?"
He was stunned for a moment, then involuntarily stepped forward two steps, his gaze instantly locking onto the Spirit Bow.
The stability of the condensed Reishi, the smoothness of the Reishi flow—the intensity of this Spirit Bow already exceeded that of most Quincys Sōken Ishida had ever seen.
"This is truly..." he muttered in disbelief. "When Ryūken told me, I thought he was exaggerating..."
Such speed, such a quantity of Reishi... only Quincys at the level of the Sternritter could achieve this.
Sōken Ishida raised his head and said, "Captain Soifon's Spirit Bow is close to perfect."
Retracting the Spirit Bow, Soifon asked meaningfully, "Then... if I switch sides to the Quincys now, would the Ishida family be willing to take me in?"
Thump, thump, thud—
Sōken Ishida froze for a moment, then waved his hands frantically:
"Captain Soifon! I don't want to be hunted down by you Shinigami!"
"The power of a Quincy is really just so-so; Captain Soifon had better focus on the power of a Shinigami..."
It was obvious that Sōken Ishida was truly a bit scared. A Shinigami Captain defecting to the Quincys—this matter was enough to put the Ishida family on the wanted list.
"Just a joke." Soifon changed the subject. "Then let me propose something else. Is Mr. Sōken willing to cooperate with me?"
Hearing this, Sōken Ishida calmed down a lot. After all, Ryūken had mentioned to him that Soifon wanted to kill Yhwach.
"Cooperate how..." Sōken Ishida glanced at his grandson practicing in the distance. "Forgive my bluntness, although Captain Soifon is very strong, that Lord is..."
"It's fine. I just need the pass to the Gate of the Sun that Mr. Sōken holds."
"No, that is too dangerous for the Ishida family."
"Please continue."
"I brought the pass out when I left the Empire. As soon as it is used, it will be noticed by the Empire immediately."
"Is that so..."
But if she didn't catch a Knight-level Quincy to bring back for research, Soifon would be very unwilling.
—Who else is going to fill in the missing pieces of the Vollständig and Schrift for me?
Soifon pondered for a moment. Suddenly, a Quincy arrow lit up in her hand, aimed at Sōken Ishida in front of her. "Hmm... What if we do this? Mr. Sōken."
...
The Wandenreich—the Invisible Empire. It was composed of pale buildings formed from some kind of condensed Reishi, with a deep, shadowy sky overhead.
Soifon's arrow was pressed against Sōken Ishida's neck as she followed him, slowly stepping onto the white stone slabs.
"This is our Quincy empire..."
To play the role of a Quincy well, Soifon had taken great pains.
"The fluctuation of a pass..."
"Someone entered from the World of the Living?"
"That is... Sōken Ishida? Didn't he leave with the key to the Gate of the Sun?!"
The instant the two appeared, dozens of white figures appeared in unison beside the Gate of the Sun.
Most of them wore unified white military-style uniforms, with insignias symbolizing their affiliation pinned to their chests.
____
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