Asuka and Shinobu hurried along, but the moment they stepped into Sarayashiki City as Urahara had instructed, they immediately sensed something was wrong.
"Asuka! The air here... isn't it a bit strange?"
Feeling the depletion of Reishi in their surroundings, Shinobu Kocho furrowed her brows and quickly spoke up to warn him.
Following her words, Asuka focused his senses. Indeed, he could barely detect any Reishi in the atmosphere.
"It might be the influence of an otherworldly environment..." he analyzed, recalling his previous experiences in Fuyuki City.
Back in Fuyuki City, the atmosphere was filled with Magical Energy, something similar yet fundamentally different from Spiritual Energy.
Although he could utilize it as if it were Reishi, it often came with numerous restrictions.
Not to mention during the era of demons, merely lifting the limiters on his Spiritual Pressure had nearly incinerated his Reigai.
It seemed a similar situation was occurring in Sarayashiki City. The very concept of Spiritual Energy appeared to be confined strictly within a person's body.
While Shinobu could still draw upon her internal Spiritual Energy for now, this barren spiritual field meant she would likely run out of power after casting only a few low-level Kido spells.
He grabbed Shinobu's hand. "...It might be the influence of the otherworldly environment. Can you still move? Do you want to leave the area and wait for me to come out?"
"No!" Shinobu refused immediately. "Don't underestimate me. Even without Spiritual Energy, I am still a proud swordswoman."
"On the contrary, Asuka, why does it feel like you aren't affected at all?"
It was exactly as Shinobu said.
Despite the depleted spiritual environment, aside from his internal Spiritual Energy remaining as restless and difficult to control as ever, Asuka showed no obvious abnormalities.
For him, this wasn't the first time he had dealt with the shifting rules of another world; he could adapt to them perfectly well.
"...Maybe it's just because I've fought so many battles and seen a lot," he replied uncertainly. "Since the environment here is special, don't force yourself to fight. I'll protect you."
"Okay!"
The two walked side by side and soon arrived at the designated rendezvous point to meet Yoruichi.
Just as Asuka had expected, Yoruichi didn't look too good either.
She was sitting cross-legged on a battered paint bucket at the corner of the street, exhaustion written all over her face.
After two days of surveillance and investigation in such a barren spiritual field, even the Flash Goddess—who primarily relied on Hoho and Hakuda—was feeling physically and mentally drained.
"Yo, you two finally made it... Any later, and my old bones might have just given out right here," she greeted them jokingly.
"Miss Yoruichi, are you alright?" Seeing her state, Shinobu quickly stepped forward to check on her.
Yoruichi waved her hand, stopping Shinobu from coming closer. "Stop, stop, I'm not hurt, little butterfly."
"You guys felt it too, right? The spiritual field here is as clean as a plate licked by that starving ghost, Kisuke."
"I've been keeping watch here for two days, relying solely on Hakuda and Hoho to weave through those hordes of Blanks. It's seriously exhausting."
As she spoke, Yoruichi hopped down from the paint bucket, dusted off her pant legs, and walked over to them.
"But seeing you two stroll in hand-in-hand like you're wandering through a festival puts my mind at ease," she smiled slyly. "It seems Kisuke's analysis was spot on. Only a guy with your constitution could adapt to these troublesome otherworldly laws."
"...Let's get down to business, Master Yoruichi." Asuka let go of Shinobu's hand, his gaze sweeping across the distorted, grayish-white world. "What exactly is the situation here right now? Who do I need to cut down?"
Yoruichi dropped her playful expression, her demeanor turning solemn.
"The situation might be even worse than what Kisuke told you."
She walked to the edge of the street and pointed at the fog-shrouded city. "Two days ago, when Kisuke first detected this rift, it only existed in the downtown blocks."
"The concentration of the gray fog wasn't high back then either. Ordinary humans would have just thought it was a sudden smog." Unease flickered in Yoruichi's golden eyes. "But now, take another look."
Following her gaze, Asuka noticed a massive gray curtain stretching from the sky to the ground, covering the city's canopy.
This curtain wall was like a living creature, expanding outward unstoppably at a speed that was agonizingly slow yet clearly visible to their spiritual senses.
"In just two days, it has spread from the center to cover almost the entire urban area of Sarayashiki City. It's moving much faster than Kisuke predicted."
"If we don't find a way to close it soon, at this rate of expansion, this grayish-white fog will spread to neighboring Karakura Town in less than a week..."
"And after that, the entire Kanto region... maybe even the entire World of the Living."
The future Yoruichi painted made even Asuka, who usually didn't care about outside affairs, realize the gravity of the situation.
"The World of the Living will be covered..." Shinobu muttered in shock. "The entire human realm will turn into a barren wasteland devoid of Spiritual Energy?!"
"Exactly!" Yoruichi extended her hands, drawing a circle in the air. "The Soul Society, the World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo. The reason these Three Realms can exist stably is that the Creator formed a dynamic cycle between them."
"When humans in the World of the Living die, their souls are guided into the Soul Society by Soul Reapers. When souls in the Soul Society dissipate, they turn into Reishi and are reborn as new life in the World of the Living. Even Hollows, who fall into depravity without guidance, are purified when slain by Soul Reapers and return to the cycle."
"But if the link to the World of the Living is severed, and there are no Soul Reapers to guide them..."
Shinobu voiced the ultimate conclusion: "The balance of the Three Realms will completely collapse... Our world might come to an end!"
"Why didn't that shady merchant say something so important earlier?" Asuka was somewhat speechless. How could he still be joking around at a time like this?
He had originally thought this was just a localized disaster, never expecting it could turn into a cataclysm capable of destroying the world.
"That's just how Kisuke is. You'll get used to it," Yoruichi shrugged helplessly.
Asuka gripped the hilt of his sword and asked urgently, "Since it's an emergency, let's not waste any time. What should I do?"
"Urahara said there's a Spirit Detective causing chaos here. Do you want me to go kill him first?"
Hearing Asuka's bloodthirsty proposal, Yoruichi couldn't help but sigh in exasperation.
"Hey, hey, hey! Can't you fit anything in that head of yours besides cutting people down? Why is your first instinct always murder!"
Yoruichi quickly waved her hands, trying to extinguish Asuka's killing intent. "Don't do anything reckless! That Spirit Detective isn't an enemy; in fact, he's our ally!"
"An ally?" Asuka frowned deeply. "Didn't Urahara say this guy was a nuisance?"
"Sigh, you can't entirely blame him." Yoruichi sighed helplessly. "The situation with the Valley of Screams is completely new to them too. Their boss probably panicked and grasped at straws, sending this brash kid to deal with the Blanks."
"The trouble he's causing is definitely significant. His large-scale energy outbursts are actually making the edges of the rift even more unstable... But his original intention is to protect his World of the Living, his friends, and his family."
"He thinks that simply smashing all the Blanks appearing on the streets will solve the problem, little does he know... it's actually making things worse."
"So the best way to deal with him is to communicate and resolve it peacefully. Make him understand what the real problem is, instead of just cutting him down with a single strike."