ok. time to clarify a few things in this chapter that some of you have noted above. keep in mind this is how i understood it, so my thoughts here may not be entirely correct.
the balls that yoruichi threw at yhwach were similar to, if not the same as, those dust balls ganju used against yumichika in the soul society arc. yhwach was not the person who warped yoruichi's arm and threw her out of the soul king's palace; that was pernida parnkgjas using its "the compulsory" that did all that.
regarding yhwach seemingly pulling another aizen-esque keikaku*, i don't think he was saying that he was literally pulling ichigo's strings, even though the translations from both mangastream and mangapanda (taken at face value) insinuate this. rather, what i think he was saying is that he never bothered to stop ichigo from becoming a shinigami (or, if the mangastream translation is to be taken at face value, allowed ichigo to become a shinigami), even though he could have done so, just so he (ichigo) could get strong enough to complete yhwach's goal of slaying the soul king for him. i thought of this conclusion after seeing how yhwach basically forced ichigo to kill the soul king by manipulating ichigo's blood a few chapters ago. of course, i may be wrong about this. it's kubo writing the story after all.
anyways, while most of this chapter didn't make too much sense, what i found interesting was yhwach's use of words rather than his own abilities to deal lasting psychological damage to ichigo. during the fight in this chapter, yhwach casually brought up ichigo's unwillingness to kill his enemies (this is actually a major plot point; see ichigo's fights against grimmjow and ulquiorra) and the fact that he was the agent primarily responsible for masaki's death at the hands of grand fisher just to throw ichigo off his focused mental state. yhwach's having uryū shoot arrows at ichigo in the soul king's palace was more than just a means of keeping ichigo and co. away from mimihagi and the soul king; it was another attack on ichigo's psyche that worked extremely well.
also, kubo, can we please get an update on the non-elite sternritter, grimmjow, nel, harribel, and the fullbringers?
*translator's note: keikaku means plan