Chapter 187: The Zodiacs x Ging the Sheep, Ginta
Milky-white Nen poured out of his body, forming a "Nen Sphere" that instantly encased Kyojuro Rengoku from head to toe... He hadn't yet learned Ren, so he could only use Ten to coat his body surface.
But even so... Kyojuro Rengoku stood tall before everyone, his aura climbing steadily. In the eyes of the Hashira led by Gyomei Himejima, there was clearly something indescribable about him now.
Once the aura nodes open, the gap between "Mortal" and "Nen" is established.
"This is 'Divine Power'." Kyojuro knew they found it mysterious but couldn't see the "Nen." He extended a finger, coated it with Ten, and lightly poked the wooden pillar beside him. Splurt.
The finger sank into the pillar like a knife, meeting no resistance, leaving a deep finger hole!
Everyone's pupils constricted. Some looked at each other, speechless...
"Did you use 'Divine Power' for that slash just now too?" Sanemi Shinazugawa stared savagely. As the most violent and belligerent of the Hashira, he sparred often with Kyojuro and Tengen. That slash just now, heavy yet fast as lightning, was completely beyond the scope of human mastery. It seemed... it could truly be called "Divine"!
Kyojuro Rengoku nodded.
Tengen Uzui leaned against the pillar, touching the hole, and sighed. "Your physical condition is already no less than a demon's. No wonder..."
"Amitabha." A Buddhist chant drew everyone's attention.
The Stone Hashira, tall as a demon himself, chanted softly. He looked at Kyojuro with burning eyes. "Kyojuro, may I experience it carefully?"
Gyomei Himejima paused his prayer beads and immediately ordered a table to be brought over. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing thick forearms, and set up an "arm wrestling" stance... Clearly, he wanted to test his strength against Kyojuro!
He was the strongest Hashira, famous for his immense strength... In the original story, before learning Breathing Styles, Gyomei could beat a demon to death with his sheer brute force and fists barely smaller than alms bowls. This showed...
Just how strong his body and power were!
"Gyomei..." The monk waited quietly. The Hashira watched in silence. Sanemi sheathed his sword with a clang and stepped aside. Soon... the large front hall was cleared, giving the two plenty of space.
"Master." Kyojuro glanced at Kagaya Ubuyashiki. The latter smiled and patted his shoulder, saying nothing.
Kyojuro's gaze wandered, sweeping over everyone, pausing briefly on Giyu Tomioka standing silently with his sword. Then he stepped forward, laughed heartily, and slapped his right hand into Gyomei's thick palm with a smack!
Whoosh~ A wind blew, swirling wisteria petals in the air...
The moment he touched Kyojuro's right hand, Gyomei felt a warm current attached to the other's palm. According to Kyojuro... this must be the "Divine Power" he spoke of.
Such gentle power... hot... righteous... yet it gave Gyomei no sense of evil, filth, distortion, or madness...
Gyomei was surprised. Buddhists emphasize the "Clear Mind of Buddha," or "Clear Insight Meditation," centering on observing body, breath, and mind, and seeing through emptiness. It advocates breaking through the five hindrances (desire, ill will, etc.) to reach deep meditative states and unlock potential.
It is easiest to cultivate a "Buddha Heart," keenly sensing the "Righteousness" and "Evil" around, understanding others' hearts, and seeing their nature.
At this moment, in Gyomei's eyes, Kyojuro Rengoku was still that "fire" that burned for others, unchanged. The difference was... he burned fiercer and brighter now, growing from a flicker to a "bonfire"!
And this... seemed to be related to the boy with the sun and mountain earrings...
"Kyojuro, if you are leaving, I cannot pretend not to see." The contest began!
The small table between them sank abruptly. Visibly, veins popped on Gyomei's thick forearm, winding like small snakes, blood flowing beneath them. Terrifying to behold!
"Stone Hashira-sama... is serious!"
"He used to play along symbolically with Rengoku-sama and Uzui-sama, never seriously... It seems... Rengoku-sama really hurt and angered him..."
Under the pine trees, by the door, beside pillars, in corners... members of the "Kakushi" squad peeked, craned their necks, or stood on tiptoe to look inside.
Following Gyomei's initial exertion, the Nen-enhanced Kyojuro silently felt that the big brother whose strength used to suffocate him seemed... not as strong as he imagined. Kyojuro's right hand was immovable as a rock, his elbow like an iron nail driven into the table. No matter how hard Gyomei pushed, he couldn't budge it an inch.
"I know, I know it all..." Kyojuro moved his right hand, gently pressing Gyomei toward the table. Amidst Sanemi's silence... Obanai's constricted pupils... Mitsuri's fist raised in support... Muichiro's dazed eyes sparking with light... Giyu's silent observation... and Kagaya's pricked ears...
With a push, he instantly pressed Gyomei's large hand down!
Then came a THUD...
The small table couldn't bear the load and shattered directly. Only Gyomei's pressed-down hand remained suspended in mid-air... unable to lift for a long time.
Silence fell over the Ubuyashiki estate today.
The peeking Kakushi members stared with wide eyes. Some who frequently went on missions with Gyomei couldn't believe... the Stone Hashira, who could crush a demon's head with a casual swing of his flail, had lost. Looking again at... Kyojuro Rengoku, their eyes were full of awe!
"I lost. Amitabha..." Gyomei recovered after a while. Not dejected or depressed, he clasped his hands together and chanted a prayer. He looked at Kyojuro with admiration. "Kyojuro, the you of today is different from yesterday."
The monk praised, "I have never admired anyone. You are the second."
Who was the first... The Hashira understood tacitly. The image of the boy with fiery red hair, piercing the entire courtyard with a casual slash, floated into their minds. In a flash, it seemed like yesterday...
In a corner of the room, Giyu Tomioka, wearing his half-and-half haori, hand on his Nichirin Blade, watched everything silently. Ripples appeared in his cold gaze. He couldn't help but sigh softly in his heart. "Someone isn't even here, yet... he still stirs the winds and clouds... even..."
"Spreading legends belonging to him..."
Giyu thought of his master, the letter he wrote to the Master, the sentence... "If anyone can kill Muzan Kibutsuji, it must be my disciple, Eiichiro Kamado."
Amidst the fluctuating emotions, footsteps were heard. He looked up...
Kagaya Ubuyashiki, whose eyes were nearly blinded by Muzan's curse, dragged his sickly body to find Kyojuro. He raised his hand slightly... The young man lowered himself, allowing Kagaya to pat his shoulder. "I trust your judgment, and I trust Eiichiro. And..."
Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the existence who in the original story wouldn't hesitate to blow himself up along with his wife and daughters to drag Muzan to hell, stared with his blind eyes, sweeping over everyone. "Everyone present."
"If possible,"
The man paused, coughing due to his frailty. Fortunately... Kyojuro was quick, supporting him. Only then did he catch his breath. He smiled and nodded at Kyojuro, then said to the crowd, "You may all leave!"
"As long as,"
"You can become stronger, kill demons, or even..."
"Ask me to give up the position of leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, it's no problem!"
"Master!" Gyomei, Sanemi, Tengen... all the Hashira, including Giyu, knelt on the ground in unison...
Kagaya Ubuyashiki smiled, listening... The Hashira expressed their loyalty, unwilling to leave. Supported by Kyojuro, he could even feel the complex emotions welling up from the young man's heart. He patted Kyojuro's hand. "This is not a discussion, but an order!"
"Giyu."
"Here."
"I speak, you write. A letter to Eiichiro. Tell him I wish to switch allegiance to him as my Lord, and invite him back for a talk."
Giyu Tomioka: "..."
The Hashira: "..."
They looked at each other, speechless...
After a moment, only Kyojuro Rengoku clasped his hands together and said devoutly, "Praise the Sun."
A simple murmur drifted away on the wind, carrying a trace of "piety" and "concern," crossing the boundaries of worlds, leaving the Demon Slayer world, arriving in the Hunter world, and drifting into Roy's ears.
[Notification: Detected nine "Potential Believers"... Observation pending...]
[Believer 1, Gyomei Himejima (Note: "Forced Faith," loyalty to be cultivated)]
[Believer 2, Sanemi Shinazugawa (Note: "Forced Faith," loyalty to be cultivated)]
[3, Muichiro Tokito... 4, Tengen Uzui... 5, Obanai Iguro... 6, Shinobu Kocho... 7, Mitsuri Kanroji...]
[8, Giyu Tomioka (Note: "Semi-Forced Faith," Loyalty: Absolute Loyalty)]
[9, Kagaya Ubuyashiki (Note: "Active Faith," Loyalty: Absolute Loyalty)]
Zoldyck Estate, Kukuroo Mountain, 2:00 PM.
Roy, leaving the bedroom with Gotoh, suddenly heard the panel notifications chiming like a spring. He checked the panel immediately, and... stopped in his tracks.
Creeak The bedroom door closed.
Gotoh, carrying two suitcases and lagging a step behind Roy, asked, "Did you forget something, Young Master?"
Roy's expression was strange. Not "forgotten," but rather, many "things" had popped up...
Potential Believers... Ubuyashiki + Nine Hashira... Did Kyojuro do something?
Roy quietly closed the panel, suppressing his doubts, planning to check in the dream tonight. He moved his feet. "Let's go."
Gotoh followed with the luggage. Master and servant strolled through the mottled corridor filled with the aura of time, exiting the main gate of the castle. Passing the garden, Silva, having just put Kikyo down for a nap, was returning alone to his study. He glanced at Roy at the end, then turned away.
"The Master has been strange these past few days. Why does it feel... like he's intentionally avoiding the Young Master?" Gotoh bowed the moment he saw Silva. When he looked up... the man had hurried inside, leaving only a sentence lingering in the garden...
"Your mother is due soon. Come back early. I want... you to be by her side..."
"Yes." Roy watched the man leave, then turned and headed down the mountain...
In the dimly lit room on the first floor... a withered old man listened to cartoons, rocking contentedly in his chair, chuckling, "How nice... a family should be together..."
At some point, the laughter stopped, turning into a long, wistful sigh. Perhaps returning to his glorious past, remembering something, tossing and turning, unable to sleep for a long time...
2:30 PM.
Padokea Republic. On an airship bound for the Yorbian Continent.
VIP Suite.
The young butler served Roy black tea. Not long after boarding, they received the data sent by the contact.
"Young Master, she sent the mission overview. It says... besides the prison guards responsible for the transport, the target we are breaking out has an additional security team assigned to him."
"Not surprising." Roy opened Grandpa Zzigg's notebook to the page on Ko, reading carefully... This advanced technique, combining the four major principles of Ten, Zetsu, Ren, and Hatsu with the application technique Gyo, was the only difficult problem Roy had yet to conquer besides Ryu.
[Ko: First use Gyo to concentrate all aura into one part of the body (e.g., the right hand). Then use Ten to keep the emitted aura around that part to increase density. At this point, a small amount of aura will still leak from other parts of the body, so use Zetsu to eliminate the aura from other parts. Finally, use Ren (specifically Gyo) to strengthen the right hand. This way... the right hand will receive 100% of the body's Nen and be massively enhanced!]
In short, it increases the Ken utilization rate of a local body part to 100%!
"The target is Razor. Ordinary guards can't handle him. Hiring an additional security team is expected."
"Is this Razor person strong?"
"Very strong."
Gotoh opened the laptop, browsing the data. His gaze lingered on a squinty-eyed man, noting he was also an Emitter. He said deeply, "Young Master... besides him, she also told you to watch out for another person."
"Who?" Roy looked up. Gotoh pushed up his glasses and turned the laptop around. A photo appeared on the screen, entering Roy's view, surprising him.
"So it's him..."
Ging the Sheep—Ginta. Poacher Hunter, commando, future Zodiac.
After Netero's death, when the Zodiacs explored the Dark Continent, he was one of the few assigned to the Biology Team. Moreover...
He was one of the few men scored over ninety by peak Hisoka!
Higher than Saiyu and Kanzai, who were assigned to the "Defense Team"!
Second only to Botobai!
☆☆☆
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