Under Kanao's puzzled gaze, Xia Feng moved.
His left thumb flicked the blade slightly out of its sheath.
The next instant—
His right hand tightened around the hilt and drew the sword!
In the distance, the three little girls only saw a flash of silver light.
They hadn't even seen the motion of the draw itself.
The next moment—
A black shadow flew backward and crashed into the garden.
When she saw the figure, Kanao's pupils shrank.
The three girls screamed in shock.
The figure knocked away by Xia Feng was a man.
No—
To be precise, a humanoid creature.
Bluish-black skin.
Bulging veins on his forehead.
Blood-red eyes.
Every feature clearly revealed his identity.
A demon!
Kanao immediately drew her blade.
Her heart was filled with shock.
A demon had actually infiltrated the Butterfly Estate?!
How was that even possible?
Once she steadied herself, she noticed a large patch of purple bruising on the demon's left shoulder.
The mark looked strangely familiar.
"Lady Shinobu's poison…"
The bluish-black demon stared at Xia Feng.
A long wound stretched across his chest where Xia Feng had cut him.
Yet the injury was already beginning to heal.
"You… are not Shinobu Kocho's disciple."
He then turned toward Kanao and showed a twisted smile.
"You… ah, that's right. You're Shinobu Kocho's disciple!"
"That hateful woman used poison to torture me, making my life unbearable!"
"I'll kill you and make her feel even greater pain!"
Hearing this, Xia Feng roughly guessed the situation.
This demon had probably encountered Shinobu before and been injured by her poisoned blade.
Somehow he had escaped.
But unable to remove the poison, the agony drove him to seek revenge on Shinobu's disciple instead.
Thinking of this, Xia Feng chuckled.
"If you want revenge, wouldn't it be better to go after Miss Shinobu herself?"
The demon opened his mouth as if to respond.
But nothing came out.
He shouted angrily.
"How I handle my revenge is none of your business!"
"Since you're meddling, I'll kill you first!"
With that, he kicked off the ground and rushed toward Xia Feng.
Kanao instantly stepped forward and swung her sword.
Flower Breathing — Third Form: Shadow Plum!
Four flower-shaped arc slashes burst forward instantly.
Against this technique, she was confident she could even block Shinobu's attacks head-on.
But the expected clash never came.
Under her astonished gaze—
The bluish-black demon vanished into thin air.
A flash of confusion crossed Kanao's eyes.
Before she could react, Xia Feng suddenly stepped forward and stood in front of her.
At the same time—
He swung his blade sharply.
Slash!
It felt as if the blade struck something invisible in the air.
A spray of blood burst out.
With a scream, the bluish-black demon suddenly reappeared.
Clutching his bleeding arm, he stared at Xia Feng in shock.
"H-How did you hit me?!"
The first time he attacked Xia Feng could be explained by poor concealment.
But this time—
He had hidden himself with his full power.
Yet Xia Feng had still found him!
Xia Feng didn't answer.
The demon's ability looked somewhat familiar.
He remembered a demon named Yushiro who had a similar power—an illusion-type technique.
But the demon in front of him used something much simpler.
If Xia Feng was guessing correctly—
The demon distorted the air and changed the refraction of light, creating a form of invisibility.
For ordinary humans, around 83% of external information comes through vision.
Once visual input was suddenly removed, most people couldn't attack properly—or even react at all.
Even a Hashira-level fighter might stumble momentarily when faced with such an ability.
But for Xia Feng…
This ability had unfortunately met its perfect counter.
With his enhanced hearing, he could completely abandon vision for a short time.
He turned toward Kanao.
"Let me borrow your Nichirin Blade."
As he spoke, he reached out and took the sword from her hand.
When his hand touched hers, he felt Kanao tremble slightly.
Xia Feng lightly swung the Nichirin Blade, familiarizing himself with its balance.
Meanwhile, the bluish-black demon's expression flickered between anger and hesitation.
After a moment's thought—
He suddenly turned and ran away.
As a weak demon who relied mostly on his unique ability, his survival rule was simple:
Never fight someone you can't beat.
That was exactly why he hadn't confronted Shinobu directly.
Instead, he had used every possible trick to secretly follow them to the Butterfly Estate.
As he fled, he shouted back,
"You bastards dared to injure me again!"
"I might not be able to beat you—but can you protect every human nearby?!"
"Just wait! I'll grab a few people and eat them soon enough!"
"By the time Shinobu Kocho returns, I'll already be long gone!"
Hearing this, Kanao's eyes widened.
Her body tensed instantly.
She wanted to chase the demon down immediately.
But Just after he spoke—
The bluish-black demon disappeared into the air again.
Even with her excellent vision, she couldn't determine his exact location.
Just as panic rose in her chest—
Kanao saw Xia Feng move.
Without hesitation, as if completely unaffected by the demon's ability, Xia Feng dashed in the opposite direction of where the demon had run.
The next moment—
Under Kanao's shocked gaze—
Xia Feng swung the blade.
Slash!
A flash of silver light cut through the air.
A head suddenly appeared—
And flew high into the sky!
A second later, the headless body materialized and collapsed to the ground with a thud.
On the ground, the demon's severed head stared at Xia Feng in disbelief.
"Why… why can you find me?!"
Xia Feng ignored him.
He stared at the corpse until it began to turn to ash.
Only then did he finally let out a breath.
"Because you're too noisy."
He sheathed the Nichirin Blade and walked back to Kanao.
The girl in the pink kimono looked up at him.
Xia Feng smiled gently.
"Don't worry."
"It's over now."