What Lengqing said wasn't really meant to comfort Yui Indigo or born from sudden kindness.
Their current location was District 49, while Yui Indigo's home was on the streets of District 45. Lengqing had no intention of staying satisfied in District 49. Moving forward was definitely his plan.
The only difference was that Rukongai was vast. Previously, when heading inward, he had simply picked a direction and walked wherever it led. Now, with Yui Indigo as his guide, he could precisely target his forward direction.
Lengqing didn't know what Yui Indigo had been like before. He only knew that after recovering his strength and returning to the scene of the incident, Yui Indigo—who held back tears while collecting the belongings of everyone including his father, even though they were just clothes and such—displayed a strength and maturity that surprised him.
However, Lengqing could understand this state.
Generally speaking, when people experience major ups and downs in life, their personality and mindset tend to change significantly.
What's interesting is that the personality changes caused by major ups and downs usually show a negative correlation.
His blood relative had died right before his eyes, and he had nearly died himself. Even though he managed to survive, he still had to shoulder the burden of bringing this terrible news back—not just to his own mother, but to other families as well.
The weight on Yui Indigo's shoulders would be difficult for even an adult to bear.
But he didn't release too much negative emotion, nor did he show any intention of venting his feelings on Lengqing.
Quite the opposite—throughout the journey, he adjusted his mindset more than once. Lengqing could see that Yui Indigo was trying to maintain a positive attitude as much as possible.
Both to distract Yui Indigo from focusing on those events and to clarify some of his own confusion, Lengqing asked Yui Indigo some questions.
From Yui Indigo, Lengqing learned more about Soul Reapers. Most importantly for him, he learned about an institution called the "Shin'ō Academy."
It was an educational institution used by Soul Reapers to train the next generation.
Shin'ō Academy practiced an inclusive teaching approach—as long as someone had the qualifications to become a Soul Reaper, even residents of Rukongai could enroll.
However, precisely because of this, the difficulty of entering Shin'ō Academy was very high. Before entering the academy, one had to pass an entrance examination. Due to the high difficulty of the entrance exam, it was common for many candidates to make repeated attempts.
Lengqing further inquired about whether there were any restrictions on taking the entrance exam multiple times, but Yui Indigo responded with admiration: "Someone with exceptional talent like you, Mr. Lengqing, who can so easily slay Hollows without even being a Soul Reaper, definitely won't have any problems."
However, Yui Indigo's response showed he clearly hadn't realized the real reason behind Lengqing's question.
On another note, Lengqing also learned some information about Hollows from Yui Indigo.
Or rather, legends.
Compared to Soul Reapers, Hollows seemed to be something distant and legendary to the residents of Rukongai, at least those within the first fifty districts.
In contrast, they were said to be quite common in the outer twenty districts. Perhaps Lengqing's luck was particularly bad... or particularly good? Throughout his journey, Lengqing hadn't encountered any Hollows until reaching District 49. This point also amazed Yui Indigo.
Because for the residents here, Hollows were more like legends. Before actually encountering one, no one could definitively say that Hollows truly existed—unless they had encountered a Hollow during their dying moments before coming to Soul Society and were lucky enough to survive. Therefore, the accuracy of the information lacked any standard.
However, Yui Indigo mentioned rumors that Hollows had been frequently appearing in Rukongai districts closer to the inner areas recently, and his encounter with the attack could be considered proof of those rumors.
This point, along with the information about Shin'ō Academy's entrance exams, drew Lengqing's attention.
Probably because Lengqing had saved Yui Indigo, he answered all of Lengqing's questions without reservation.
However, limited by his age and experience, most of what Yui Indigo shared was just things he had heard about, so their reliability had to be taken with a grain of salt.
The two spent several days traveling and finally reached the soul gathering place of District 45.
For Lengqing, this was truly the first time he had seen a relatively healthy and stable settlement, or rather, a town-like situation.
Although it was still far inferior to big cities or even the countryside from his previous life, at least this place felt healthy. Houses stood in rows, streets were level, and people moved back and forth on the streets with normal buying and selling activities.
Or to put it more simply, this finally gave Lengqing a feeling as if he had traveled back to ancient society, rather than making him think he had fallen into some battle royale game where everyone within three steps was an enemy.
Lengqing didn't want to say much about the survival conditions in the outer thirty districts.
That's right. That wasn't living—it was mere survival.
Lengqing escorted Yui Indigo home. When Yui Indigo's mother learned of his father's death, she actually fainted directly in front of Lengqing, an outsider.
However, when Yui Indigo's mother woke up again, her expression and eyes had changed. It was probably the same kind of change that had occurred in Yui Indigo—when a mother becomes strong, and after the family's pillar falls, she becomes the only one left who can protect Yui Indigo.
Yui Indigo's family wasn't exactly a prominent clan in Rukongai, but they could be called wealthy with stable business connections.
However, after Yui Indigo's father's death, whether the family business could continue as before became questionable.
Under these circumstances, Lengqing accepted the invitation from Yui Indigo's mother to temporarily live in their home.
Yui Indigo's mother had heard from her son about how Lengqing had defeated the Hollow. She realized that even if Lengqing wasn't a Soul Reaper, the power he possessed was fundamentally different from ordinary souls like themselves.
During this precarious time for their family, having such a powerful ally would make everything much better. For this, any cost would be worth it.
Of course, Lengqing's acceptance of the invitation wasn't for the so-called benefits. He had his own plans.
With the assistance of Yui Indigo's family, he temporarily settled down in District 45 and opened something like a general problem-solving office that accepted commissions.
Although he said he would take any commission, Lengqing wouldn't even glance at requests to find cats or dogs. However, when people approached him to tentatively ask if he would be willing to go subjugate Hollows appearing in the surrounding area, Lengqing would always immediately set out.
That's right—this was the biggest reason why Lengqing had changed his original plan and temporarily settled down in District 45.
Because Lengqing could indeed kill Hollows that appeared in Rukongai and caused massive destruction and casualties, his reputation gradually accumulated and began to spread.
Also, because Lengqing had proven his strength with his own power, and that the sword in his hand wasn't just for show, certain people who had originally intended to seize this opportunity to absorb Yui Indigo's family business suppressed the impulses rising in their hearts.
Yui Indigo's family successfully weathered this crisis and got back on track.