Su Chen poured his last bit of strength into his hands. Shadowless Hand!
A black shadow was sent flying.
Luckily, the opponent seemed very weak. After Su Chen knocked them to the ground, they couldn't get up for a long time.
Su Chen clutched the wound on his back, sucking in sharp breaths. He had been using his Breathing Style when he was stabbed, and the sudden shock had caused some damage to his lungs. But thankfully, the blade hadn't hit any vital organs. The wound wasn't deep; his attacker didn't have much strength. They were probably just a very weak demon.
But when the shadow in the distance slowly stood up, Su Chen was stunned.
"Grandpa?!"
The person was the same old man he had met at the foot of the mountain.
No wonder he didn't have much strength. Even though Su Chen's energy was exhausted, he was still maintaining constant vigilance against demons. He would have detected even the weakest one. But Su Chen had subconsciously stopped watching out for humans, which gave the old man the perfect chance to attack.
But... why did the old man try to kill him? And how did he get to the top of the mountain?
The old man gave Su Chen the answer himself.
"What are you doing?!" The old man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes wide as he roared. "Look at what you've done! You killed them all! How am I supposed to become a demon now?!"
The old man looked at the mess on the floor, unable to accept what he was seeing. He had clearly put in so much effort. He was supposed to become a demon tonight! But Su Chen had ruined everything. In the entire house, only one female demon was left. The old man, in his helpless rage, focused all his fury on Su Chen.
Su Chen fell silent, which was rare for him.
'Do you know? Sometimes, the human heart is scarier than demons. Many times I saved them, but they showed no gratitude. They even said they wanted to become demons!'
At this moment, Su Chen finally understood the meaning of those words from Shinobu's diary. Sometimes, the human heart is scarier than demons. They would help demons harm their own kind, just to get what they wanted.
Su Chen understood everything. He understood why there were people living at the foot of a mountain that was clearly full of demons. He understood why the first demon he met didn't chase the old man, but targeted him instead. Su Chen hadn't been able to figure out how Shinobu got injured, because he hadn't found any trace of an Upper Rank demon.
But he had overlooked one factor: humans.
Su Chen finally understood how Shinobu Kocho was injured.
His gaze grew colder. The wound on his back burned.
The old man moved again. He saw Mukago, who was quietly sobbing on the ground. With a last bit of hope, he rushed over to her. "Please, turn me into a demon! I have cancer... I'm going to die soon! Please, I don't want to die! Let me live!" The old man was in tears, looking pitiful.
Mukago blinked. She looked at the old man... and then bit directly into his neck.
The old man looked overjoyed for a second. The next moment, he was dead.
Su Chen watched all of this with indifference.
The contents of Shinobu's diary reappeared in his mind. 'I'm very angry. I want to kill them! But I am a member of the Demon Slayer Corps; I can't do that.'
Su Chen thought to himself, What do the rules of the Demon Slayer Corps have to do with me?
Shaking off these thoughts, Su Chen silently raised the Nichirin Blade in his hand. He walked toward Mukago. She was still greedily eating the old man's flesh. Her mouth was stained with blood and meat, making her look like she was starving. She showed no reaction to Su Chen, even as he stood over her with his sword.
Su Chen watched her silently. He knew that wisteria poison stopped a demon's regeneration. But if a demon ate a large amount of flesh and blood, the toxins would be weakened. Su Chen silently kept this fact in mind.
Watching Mukago eat the last bite, Su Chen raised his Nichirin Blade and chopped off her limbs again.
Mukago finally broke down. "Why! Why are you doing this to me! I only needed to survive, and I would have been Upper Rank Two! I only needed to kill you, and I would have been qualified to challenge an Upper Rank for their position! Why is the world so unfair! No! I can't die! Never!"
Swish!
Su Chen expressionlessly cut Mukago again with his blade. The wisteria poison in the steel made her shriek in agony.
Realizing she couldn't escape, Mukago suddenly laughed like a maniac. "Hehe, you care a lot about that butterfly-colored girl, don't you? You should know, our people already stabbed her once! Tonight, she was the one who was supposed to die! Lord Douma really likes that girl. I think when Lord Douma eats her, I'll get a little bite too! Hehe!"
Crack!
Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch!
Su Chen's Nichirin Blade fell, cutting the demon's head in front of him into powder. But Su Chen didn't stop. He continued to swing his blade, carving a deep pit into the floor before he finally stopped.
Douma. That name again. Su Chen hadn't expected Muzan Kibutsuji , the leader of the demons, to let Douma gather other demons in a group. This was beyond his expectations.
Just as Su Chen was lost in thought, there was another slight movement beside him. Su Chen turned his head.
It turned out that Wazurai, Lower Rank Three, hadn't completely died. His head had crawled next to Mukago's headless corpse. Since her body had not yet dissipated, Wazurai opened his mouth and began to eat it like a starving animal.
"You're really hungry," Su Chen said, shaking his head.
Then he walked over to the head and brought his Nichirin Blade down, crushing Wazurai's skull and finally sending him to his end.
...
Night.
A large group of people moved up Autumn Mountain, heading toward the summit. They all wore the black uniform of the Demon Slayer Corps , with a Nichirin Blade at their waists and the character '滅' (Destroy) on their backs.
Leading them was a young woman. She wore a beautiful butterfly-wing haori, and her purplish-black hair was tied up with an exquisite butterfly hair clip.
However, her hand seemed to be injured. Fresh red blood stained half of her sleeve.
"Lady Shinobu, let's stop and rest for a while!" a Corps member said, seeing that she was struggling.
But Shinobu Kocho shook her head. They had been trying to get up this mountain for several days. If they delayed any longer, the situation could get worse. The enemies on this mountain were clever. They knew they couldn't defeat her in a straight fight, so they were using various Blood Demon Arts to interfere with them, trying to trap them on the mountain forever.
On top of that, a sudden attack from an old woman at the foot of the mountain had injured Shinobu, and the team's strength was low.
Why would demons gather in groups? Shinobu had been thinking about this question. 'Is it that demon with the fan?' She suddenly recalled that hateful figure. Besides that demon, Shinobu couldn't think of anyone else who could command so many demons.
Just then, a Demon Slayer Corps member suddenly pointed ahead and said excitedly, "Look! The path ahead has changed!"