"☑..."
Faced with Su Yan's question, Kagaya Ubuyashiki was left speechless.
For a moment, he didn't know how to answer.
It wasn't just Kagaya who fell silent.
Even the Hashira, who had been hostile toward Su Yan from the very beginning, were equally quiet.
The scene suddenly became eerily still.
Su Yan quietly swept his gaze over the surrounding crowd.
To be honest, his overall assessment of the Demon Slayer Corps was actually quite positive.
After all, they were a group of people who had been harmed by demons, banding together solely to seek revenge against Muzan. Furthermore, their actions were beneficial to humanity as a whole.
However, when it came to the Master of the Demon Slayer Corps, Kagaya Ubuyashiki...
Su Yan didn't have much of a favorable impression.
For one thing, as he had just mentioned, pinning their family's genetic disease on Muzan Kibutsuji's curse was entirely baseless.
Of course, there wasn't much to criticize about that. Since Muzan was the enemy, pinning every single blame on him was perfectly justifiable. At most, it was just adding a layer of personal vendetta on top of a righteous cause to strengthen their motivation to fight him.
What Su Yan couldn't understand was this: regardless of whether the Ubuyashiki family's illness stemmed from a curse tied to Muzan or was simply a genetic disease, choosing to continue producing offspring—fully knowing that their descendants would generally suffer short lifespans—was baffling.
Furthermore, forcing the seemingly hopeless, despair-inducing task of eradicating Muzan onto those descendants was a practice that others might view as selfless and great.
But perhaps because Su Yan had grown up as an orphan...
He despised the Ubuyashiki family's approach. He felt that this so-called act of leaving everything to the wisdom of future generations was, in fact, the most irresponsible behavior possible.
Even doctors in hospitals would strongly advise pregnant women to reconsider having a child if they knew the family had a history of severe genetic diseases.
If one were to argue that the Ubuyashiki family was absolutely indispensable to the Demon Slayer Corps, that wasn't entirely true either.
Even without the Ubuyashiki family or the Demon Slayer Corps...
As long as Muzan never gave up his search for the Blue Spider Lily and still wanted to conquer his weakness to sunlight, he would continue creating new demons. The mere fact that demons had to eat humans to grow stronger destined humanity and demons to be mortal enemies.
Therefore, there would never be a shortage of people who harbored deep grudges against demons.
If these people gathered together, they might be called the Demon Extermination Squad or the Demon Killing Squad. It would just be a change of leader and organization name.
One could even say that with the progression of eras, Muzan would eventually face the day when he was utterly crushed by increasingly advanced modern technology.
If Muzan were a bit unluckier and happened to live near Hiroshima a few decades later, the Demon Slayer Corps wouldn't even need to lift a finger. 'Little Boy' would blow him to smithereens, leaving not even ashes behind.
If Su Yan could at least say he 'didn't understand but respected' the Ubuyashiki family's aforementioned actions...
Then, looking at Kagaya Ubuyashiki's approach to the Final Selection as the Master of the Demon Slayer Corps...
Su Yan's feelings could only be described as: *'I don't understand, but I am profoundly shocked.'*
Turning the Final Selection into a battle-royale survival game, throwing a group of Demon Slayer reserves into Mt. Fujikasane, which was locked down with demons. It completely ignored the individual strength of the members and instead heavily prioritized personal luck. As long as they managed to survive, they could become official members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Even in Giyu Tomioka's batch, everyone else survived and became Demon Slayers, while the strongest, Sabito, died during that very selection.
In addition, the outstanding disciples trained by the former Water Hashira perished one after another in the Final Selection year after year.
Yet, the Demon Slayer Corps didn't notice anything amiss at all.
They maintained this brainless selection method until the protagonist, Tanjiro, appeared and finally managed to eliminate that early-stage mini-boss, the Hand Demon.
This couldn't help but make one think that this Master truly believed that only those who became Demon Slayers were his 'children,' while those who couldn't even pass the selection were nothing more than stray dogs on the side of the road.
Su Yan simply couldn't fathom it. With such a bizarre selection method...
How on earth had the Demon Slayer Corps managed to stay operational for over a thousand years?
Or was Muzan really just that incredibly capable? Did the tragedies he created provide them with that many people desperate to join the Demon Slayer Corps every year?
However, the reason Su Yan said those things to Kagaya Ubuyashiki wasn't purely because he disliked the man and wanted to disgust him.
Su Yan's philosophy on life was actually quite simple.
With strangers, he only weighed the pros and cons, ignoring right and wrong. The process didn't matter; achieving the desired result was the only thing that counted.
With his own people, it was the exact opposite. He only looked at right and wrong, ignoring the pros and cons. While the result was important, the process in between mattered even more.
Therefore, Su Yan's true goal was mostly for the sake of his prospective Contractor, Shinobu Kocho.
Although it sounded like this had absolutely nothing to do with Shinobu...
In reality, many people from this island nation harbored a strange samurai mentality.
As the sole leaders of the Demon Slayer Corps for a millennium, the Ubuyashiki family's image as the 'Master' was deeply rooted in everyone's hearts. They were the undisputed primary object of loyalty within the Corps.
But for his Contractor to have another master to serve was absolutely intolerable to Su Yan.
Surprisingly, however, before Su Yan could even use his words to shake the ideological conditioning the Hashira had toward the Ubuyashiki family...
Shinobu Kocho—perhaps because she truly believed his claim of being her brother-in-law—didn't immediately assume a hostile combat stance like the other Hashira when he openly cursed Kagaya Ubuyashiki.
This indirectly proved that in Shinobu's heart, her sister Kanae Kocho held far more weight than the Demon Slayer Corps.
Thus, after confirming this point, Su Yan felt confident about making Shinobu his Contractor.
Everything else from here on out would be easy to handle.
"Forget it."
Ultimately, it was Su Yan who broke the eerie silence in the courtyard. "You can take your time to think about that question."
"However, I do acknowledge the Ubuyashiki family's resolve to eradicate Muzan Kibutsuji."
"So now, I have two questions I want to ask you."
Su Yan held up a single finger toward Kagaya Ubuyashiki and said seriously, "First question: to eliminate Muzan Kibutsuji, are you willing to pay any price?"
"This..."
Thinking back to Su Yan's previous question, Kagaya didn't answer immediately.
Even though he firmly believed in his family's curse and possessed the resolve to pay any price to destroy Muzan...
He still had other concerns in his heart.
Su Yan added, "I am talking about you, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, not the Ubuyashiki family."
"I am!"
Hearing this, Kagaya answered without hesitation.
If it was just him alone, he was willing to pay any price to kill Muzan.
"Very good."
Su Yan nodded, then held up a second finger and asked, "Then the second question: if someone like Yoriichi Tsugikuni were to appear right now who could defeat Muzan Kibutsuji, would you be willing to fully support and cooperate with all of his decisions?"
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