Presented before Tanjiro was a massive fan-shaped pit of scorched earth over a hundred meters in diameter.
A dozen towering trees, each requiring three people to encircle them, had all been turned to charcoal.
The rocks on the ground had been slightly crystallized by the terrifying high temperature. At the end of this scorched earth lay a dozen piles of ash belonging to demons. When the wind blew, they dissipated into the air.
"This... what kind of Breathing Style could cause such destruction?" Tanjiro gasped.
Even the most explosive moves in Water Breathing couldn't possibly leave behind such large-scale burn marks, as if a natural disaster had passed through.
Not only that, as Tanjiro continued deeper, he saw even more incredible sights.
Along the way, there were fallen trees sliced in two by an extremely sharp blade, giant boulders shattered by lightning, and demon ashes scattered everywhere on the ground.
When he reached a rocky forest in the central area of Mount Fujikasane, an extremely vast aura—one that still retained a terrifying lingering resentment even after death—made the hair on his body stand on end.
That was the residual aura of the Hand Demon!
Tanjiro looked at the absurdly large deep pit on the ground and the ravines around it that had been forcibly plowed by some kind of blue lightning energy, his mind going blank.
"It seems a very strong demon was killed instantly here?" Tanjiro gulped.
Relying on his overpowered nose, he clearly smelled that the person who had killed this gargantuan creature and the one who had left the giant fire pit were the same person. Moreover, that person's scent was currently just a short distance ahead.
Tanjiro gripped his sword hilt and cautiously circled around a giant rock.
The next second, he froze.
In the center of the rocky forest, on a flat, large green stone, sat a young man with black hair and black eyes, wearing a black yukata.
A bonfire was burning beside him, and two wild rabbits caught from somewhere were roasting on a rack, sizzling with oil. Across his knees lay a black straight sword in its scabbard.
This scene didn't look like someone participating in a cruel trial at all. It looked more like some young noble had come to the mountains for a rural picnic.
Hearing footsteps, Yamada's hand roasting the rabbits paused slightly, and he looked up at Tanjiro, who was wearing the fox mask.
"Oh? Finally entered the arena?" Yamada greeted casually.
"The little demons in this mountain have basically been cleared out by me. The remaining few are hiding in nooks and crannies, not daring to come out. If you're hungry, come over and have a bite?"
Tanjiro opened his mouth, and it took a long time before he squeezed out a sentence. "Excuse me... were all the demons here killed by you?"
"Yeah, I was bored anyway, so I came in early to warm up."
Yamada pulled a wisteria sachet from his waist and toyed with it, his tone as relaxed as if he were talking about pulling a few weeds just now.
Just then, a sudden burst of hurried footsteps came from the woods behind them.
"Demons! Where are the demons! Get the hell out here!"
Accompanied by a violent roar, Shinazugawa Genya, with his mohawk and bloodshot eyes, rushed over.
He had wandered the mountains for most of the night without seeing even a shadow of a demon, and his stomach was full of pent-up rage.
Seeing firelight ahead, he immediately charged over.
When he saw Yamada sitting on the green stone roasting meat and Tanjiro standing dazed beside him, Genya's anger flared up instantly.
"Hey! What are you two bastards doing here? Are you on a field trip!?"
Genya strode forward, grabbed Tanjiro by the collar, and glared fiercely at Yamada. "Where are the demons here? I came here to kill demons and become a Hashira! Tell me where the demons are, or I'll beat you both up!"
Tanjiro, being an honest person, quickly explained, "That... this gentleman said that the demons in the mountains have already been killed off by him."
"Ha? Do you take me for an idiot?!"
Genya let go of Tanjiro and locked his sinister gaze on Yamada.
Looking at Yamada's leisurely and self-satisfied appearance, he felt greatly insulted.
"Just this guy who looks like a pretty boy? Killed all the demons on the mountain?"
Genya sneered and reached out to grab Yamada's collar. "Stop playing tricks on me! Tell me where the demons are hid—"
Before his hand could even touch the corner of Yamada's clothes, his voice came to an abrupt halt.
Because Yamada, sitting on the green stone, tilted his head slightly and glanced at him.
Buzz!
Those originally deep black eyes instantly turned an eerie crimson color, with three black tomoe spinning coldly within the pupils.
The moment Genya made contact with those eyes, the scene before him completely changed.
The bonfire vanished, Tanjiro vanished, and the entire Mount Fujikasane vanished.
He found himself standing alone on the edge of an abyss, with a blood-red moon overhead.
And the black-haired youth who had been sitting on the green stone had somehow transformed into a deity, watching him with an extremely indifferent gaze.
Under that almost tangible, terrifying killing intent and mental pressure, Genya felt as if his heart were being squeezed by an invisible giant hand and even his breathing stopped.
Thud!
To Tanjiro's horrified eyes, the previously arrogant and overbearing Genya suddenly jerked his hand back as if he had touched an electric current. His legs went weak, and he knelt before Yamada.
Large beads of cold sweat rolled down from Genya's forehead. He gasped for breath, his body trembling violently and uncontrollably.
Just one look!
It made this hot-tempered tough guy experience the fear of being infinitely close to death.
"If you keep shouting, I'll throw you off the mountain."
The Sharingan in Yamada's eyes faded, his tone flat without a single ripple.
He tore off a roasted rabbit leg, not even bothering to look at Genya kneeling on the ground again.
If it weren't for the fact that in the original story, Genya wasn't bad at heart and had a pretty tragic life, that glance just now wouldn't have been a simple deterrent of killing intent, but rather using Genjutsu to turn his brain into mush.
In the tree canopy not far away, Kanao, who had been quietly following and observing, tightly gripped her sword hilt. In those purple eyes that were usually still, a trace of shock flashed for the first time. She hadn't even seen how Yamada made his move.
[Ding! Detected that the host has significantly shocked protagonist group members Kamado Tanjiro, Shinazugawa Genya, and Tsuyuri Kanao.]
[Dimension points +600]
—
The next seven days, for the newcomers participating in the Mount Fujikasane trial, were an unprecedented "magical time."
There was no intense fighting, no desperate fleeing.
Because all the demons, long before the trial began, had been slaughtered clean by a certain cheater using the Sharingan and Ninjutsu.
Occasionally, a few small demons that had escaped by hiding underground popped up, only to be easily dealt with by Tanjiro and Kanao.
As for Zenitsu?
After discovering that following Yamada was absolutely safe, he transformed into a lackey, helping Yamada collect firewood and catch wild game every day.
Seven days passed in this bizarre atmosphere of "wilderness survival + picnic camping."
On the morning of the seventh day, when sunlight once again filled the wisteria forest on the outskirts of Mount Fujikasane.
The two twin guides of the Ubuyashiki Family, standing before the Torii gate, finally couldn't maintain their perennial poker faces.
In the Final Selection, where surviving with five or six people was usually considered a bumper harvest, this time... twenty-two people actually walked out alive.
Moreover, each one was glowing with health, not only uninjured, but Zenitsu had even gained two pounds from eating.
This was hardly a trial of life and death, it was clearly just coming back from a mountain vacation.
"Congratulations to everyone on your safe return." The white-haired girl suppressed the shock in her heart and began the process.
"Next, please select the scarlet ore to be used for forging your nichirin blades."
The crowd did not move. Instead, they all turned their gazes toward Yamada, who stood at the very back of the group, yawning listlessly.
Everyone knew clearly in their hearts that they were able to come out alive entirely because this god of slaughter had cleared the field in advance.
Yamada didn't stand on ceremony either, walking straight to the table where the ores were laid out.
He possessed the Kusanagi Sword which inherently had the properties of a nichirin blade, so he didn't actually need to forge a new sword, but he needed the identity of a Demon Slayer and that Kasugai Crow used for communication.
After casually picking up a piece of cold-glinting scarlet ore, a pitch-black crow suddenly landed on Yamada's head with a flutter.
"Caw! Caw! Yamada! Monster! Yamada! Monster!"
As soon as the Kasugai Crow landed, it began screaming in its raspy voice.
Clearly, this crow had witnessed Yamada's slaughter in the mountains over the past few days from the sky.
Yamada raised an eyebrow and flicked the Kasugai Crow's head lightly with his finger.
"Shut up. If you scream again, I'll roast you tonight."
The Kasugai Crow instantly shut its beak, so intimidated that it even retracted its wings.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completely overturning the results of this Final Selection and saving a large number of cannon fodder swordsmen who were originally destined to die!]
[Significantly influenced the future effective strength of the Demon Slayer Corps!]
[Dimension points +2000!]
Hearing the generous notification of income in his mind, Yamada curled his lips in satisfaction.
An intake of nearly three thousand points. As expected, shearing the sheep along the plot line is the way to go.
Once he gets his uniform, it'll also be time to go and contact the Hashira, or even Kibutsuji Muzan.