Kazumi knew that this young man was probably the same as him, and had also lost his beloved relatives, but this young man was different from himself. Despair failed to defeat this young man. He could still show a gentle smile and face life with strength and positivity.
.
However, he couldn't see the angry expression on Tanjiro's face as he walked away with his back turned.
Tanjiro's hands were tightly clenched on the swords that made clanging noises in his arms, "The ghost dance is so miserable!"
Even Tanjiro, who had always been gentle, became extremely angry at this moment. He could not forgive Muzan Kibutsuji.
Not only because my own family was persecuted by it, but also because there are many people in the world who have lost their families and their lives because of this ghost and are trapped in deep sorrow and unable to extricate themselves.
Ever since he learned about the existence of ghosts, it seemed that the source of all sadness and pain was because of the ghost named "Kibutsuji Mukai".
"It seems that there has indeed been some growth..."
Xuanhao, who was hiding in the dark and observing Tanjiro's every move, felt relieved a little.
This young man is now fully able to defeat ghosts on his own. The most important thing is that he has gotten rid of his bad habit of being merciful to ghosts.
With Tanjiro's current strength, there will be no danger as long as he doesn't encounter the ghost of winding, so there is no need for him to follow and protect him all the way.
A pitch black crow landed on Xuan Hao's shoulder.
The crow did not speak loudly, but raised its foot to signal Xuan Hao to take off the letter tied to it.
This is the crow that Ubuyashiki Yōya specially uses to contact him. He does not have his own crow to follow him all the time. After all, in this era, he is a figure hiding in the darkness, not an official swordsman of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Xuan Hao frowned slightly when he took off the letter sent by Xuan Crow and looked at it.
He originally thought that he had entrusted Ubuyashiki to investigate and got clues about Miss Tamashi's whereabouts, but the news in the letter was about the invitation to the Hashira Conference and the news about Butterfly Ninja.
Butterfly Ninja seems to have met Tong Mo from Shang Xian II again.
"..."
Xuanhao reluctantly crushed the note in his hand into powder.
Butterfly Ninja is not in danger because she and Tong Mo did not fight head-on this time, and that is exactly the problem.
She was afraid of exposing her true strength, so she suppressed her anger and did not take action. She was just protecting the innocent people from harm, and Tong Mo was vigilant and did not approach her.
Ubuyashiki Yoshiya believes that this situation is just a coincidence. If it continues, it will show its flaws sooner or later. The pillars are extremely valuable to the Demon Slayer Corps, so he hopes that Xuanhao can participate in this pillar meeting to find a solution to the problem.
.
Xuanhao said that it was understandable to worry about Ubuyashiki Yōya... In the final analysis, this incident happened because of him. If something happened to the girl because of his failure to stay by the butterfly ninja's side, he himself would feel guilty.
There really should be a solution.
"In that case, let's solve the problem from the root..."
The corner of Xuan Hao's mouth under the mask could not help but reveal a dangerous smile.
The problem exposed by the butterfly ninja is the most serious problem that the Demon Slayer Corps currently has - its combat power is completely at a disadvantage compared to the ghosts.
This problem has existed since ancient times, but they cannot solve it by themselves.
There is no way that there is an inherent gap in physical fitness between ghosts and humans, and such a gap cannot be made up through hard work.
But things are different now. Xuan Hao believes that he is fully capable of solving such problems.
He is fully capable of helping Hashira of the Demon Slayer Squad break through their limitations and become stronger! Looking at Tanjiro's retreating figure, Xuanhao's thoughts became extremely clear.
He has never been a passive person, so Kibutsuji Muzan can only hide and wait?
This may have been the case before, but with the appearance of Tanjiro, the situation has changed.
The reason why he tempered Tanjiro in that way was not just because the boy's tragic experience was similar to his own, but there was another very important reason.
This young man was very similar to the Yukichi he remembered.
This may be an illusion, but it can be exploited.
The same gentle personality, the scar on his forehead that is very similar to Enichi's mark, and the printed earrings that he inherited from nowhere like fate.
If Kibutsuji Muzan could see it... his expression would be wonderful, right?
Thinking of this, the curve of Xuanhao's mouth became more and more dangerous, and he quietly looked at Tanjiro's retreating back.
The morning sun rose in the distance, highlighting the young man's figure. Even he vaguely saw the sun-like man five hundred years ago.
"I'm sorry, Tanjiro... maybe I want to use you as bait..."
Xuan Hao turned around, walked with his back to the sun, and merged into the darkness again.
Everything seemed to be in place, and all he had to do now was to start putting appropriate pressure on Kibutsuji Muzai, who was also hiding in the depths of darkness.
This pressure must be just right, stronger than Twelve Demons Moon and weaker than Demon Dance Tsuji Muzan himself, so that he can be forced to show up!
Onibatsuji Mumei has been hiding in frustration for hundreds of years. Now that he is finally able to reappear in the world, the unwillingness in his heart has probably been accumulated for a long time. He will not allow something like "Ji Kuni Fate" to appear again in this world.
With threats like Yi' and 'Xuan Hao', they would definitely want to eradicate them before they grow up.
Tanjiro's journey this time is destined to be full of ups and downs.
Onibatsuji Mukai would not allow a boy so similar to Enichi Tsukuni to survive in the world. No matter whether this boy could truly threaten him or not, it would touch the 'taboo' in his heart.
With Muzan's character, he will continue to send out ghosts under him to test. If the ordinary ghosts don't work, he will lower the string ghost, and the upper string ghost, when he is sure that Tanjiro cannot defeat his own strength...
The result Xuanhao wanted most was for Wuhan to take action himself.
·····
Afternoon.
In the courtyard of the Demon Slayer Headquarters.
In the courtyard in front of the corridor covered by the eaves, several young swordsmen stood neatly in a row.
There are nine people in total including Butterfly Ninja, Tomioka Giyu, Purgatory Anjuro and others.
They are the "nine pillars" of the Demon Slayer Corps, the most powerful group of the Demon Slayer Corps today.
The strength of the Demon Slayer Corps was greatly reduced five hundred years ago, but now that it has nine "pillars" again, it is the strongest moment in five hundred years.
At this moment, they are all gathered here for the first time in a long time.
As the backbone of the Demon Slayer Corps, such situations rarely occur during busy days, but today, the Lord summoned them here again to participate in the Demon Slayer Corps' highest meeting.
Zhuhe meeting.
"I wonder what the big deal is for the Lord to summon us this time?"
Kanroji Mitsuri asked the other pillars with some doubts.
This was the first time she had attended the Zhuhe meeting since she took office, and this meeting of the lord seemed to be particularly important. The lord specifically told them to put down everything they were doing and come back to attend the meeting whether they were slaying ghosts or on the way to slaying ghosts.
"He seems very serious..."
Thinking of this, Ganluji Mitsuri seemed a little timid.
The pillars looked at each other, and finally shook their heads helplessly to express their ignorance.
"I think... I probably know why." Butterfly Ninja frowned and said softly, his face becoming a little gloomy.
Seeing Butterfly Nin in a bad mood, Tomioka Yoshiyuki subconsciously took a step away.
"Ah... Mr. Tomioka looks so cute when he's scared~"
Mitsuri Kanroji looked at Tomioka Giyu's movements and looked at Butterfly Ninja with some confusion. When she saw Butterfly Ninja's serious expression, her face blushed involuntarily.
"Ah...what should I do? It's so rare for Shinobu to look angry, so handsome..."
She and Butterfly Ninja are the only two female partners in the Demon Slayer Squad, so they have always had a good relationship.
In her impression, although the butterfly ninja is younger than her, he usually looks very mature and gentle, and often takes care of her. But today's butterfly ninja looks different from the gentleness in the past. This is the first time she has seen such an expression.
.
"What exactly happened?" Purgatory Anjuro was a little curious.
"I think I want to tell you about the Ghost of the Wind, right?" Butterfly Ninja replied with some uncertainty, "I met the Ghost of the Wind the night before yesterday."
The second string!?
The expressions on all the faces present changed.
As the pillars of the Demon Slayer Squad, they are naturally familiar with the name Usang-sen in the Twelve Ghost Moons, but so far, none of them have ever personally defeated a Usang-sei ghost, and even meeting them is difficult.
Of course, probably none of them would want to encounter the ghost of winding alone.
The reason is also very simple, it cannot be defeated.
In the history of the Demon Slayer Corps, there are only a handful of pillars who can defeat the Oni on their own. The survival rate of most pillar-level swordsmen who encounter the Oni on their own is zero. There must be at least two or three pillars at the same time.
Only by being present can you cope.
Therefore, they were all a little surprised that the Butterfly Ninja could meet the Oni of Usage II and still stand here unscathed like this.
"Did you fight him?"
Immortal Kawa Saneya's eyes became a little dangerous.
Although he looks scary and has a bad temper, and likes to harm himself when fighting, he looks very crazy, but these are just appearances. There is actually a lot hidden under the seemingly crazy appearance.
For example, he likes to self-mutilate when fighting, because his blood is thin and can make ghosts intoxicated or even lose their minds, so that he can kill them. Although it is dangerous, he hates evil ghosts, so he will do anything to kill them (his own blood).
(except younger brother).
As for looking grumpy... it's because it's necessary. In order to protect his important people and keep those people away from him and away from danger, he thinks he needs to pretend to be like this.
"Did you get any information about him? I heard that your sister was injured by this guy, right? In fact, I have always been a little curious... how did you escape from his hands at that time."
"We...didn't escape at that time." Butterfly Ninja replied hesitantly.
She was a little unsure whether she should tell the other pillars about that man.
"Didn't run away?"
The other cylinders looked at each other and realized that this matter might not be simple.
It's not that they look down on the Butterfly Ninja. They all have a certain degree of understanding of the Butterfly Ninja's strength, but they are far from the point where they can escape unscathed from the hands of the Oni.
Not only the butterfly ninja, but any one of them is not sure that they can escape from the hands of the ghost of the wind alone. If they really meet the ghost of the wind, what they can do is probably the same as the previous "flower column" Butterfly Kanae
Just the same, you can only fight with your life, and as for the result... no one can guarantee it.
"Can you please tell me what happened?"
Mingyu Xingming showed a rare serious expression.
He was also very interested in the ins and outs of this matter.
According to his understanding, the truth of this matter has been very vague since the injury of the "Flower" Butterfly Kanae. The Lord just asked Kanae to compile the information about the abilities of the two children of the wind to them, and did not tell them what happened specifically at that time.
tell them.
According to the Butterfly Ninja's words, they did not escape. No matter how you think about it, it is unreasonable, because as the Twelve Demon Moon Demons, it is impossible for the demon slayer's Hashira to be easily let go.
Since they did not escape, we can only draw one conclusion - it was Tong Mo who escaped!
And if I'm not mistaken... this should be the second time the Butterfly Sisters have encountered Tong Mo. You must have the same confusion in your hearts.
He believed that there was something wrong if the Butterfly Ninja continued to hide it from everyone, and the Demon Slayer Corps must unite as one.
"well……"
The Butterfly Ninja shook his head slightly, "We'll talk about it after the lord comes. I can't tell you easily without his permission, but I think the lord summoned us here this time to explain this matter clearly to you."
"That's fine."
Wei Mingyu nodded lightly, clasped his hands holding rosary beads and put them together on his chest, "Everything will be clear to you when you meet the lord, so don't worry anymore."
"Um……"
Yanzhu Mingyu Xingming, as the eldest and recognized strongest person among the pillars, has a very high status in everyone's hearts and is highly respected. Since he said so, the rest of the people will no longer see this.
ask.
The atmosphere fell into a brief silence for a while.
Everyone looked quietly into the mansion, waiting for the arrival of the lord.
After a while.
Finally, footsteps sounded from the corridor, and everyone turned their respectful eyes to the direction where the footsteps came from, because they all knew the identity of the person coming.
This is the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps, and the only person who can walk out of this mansion is the Lord of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Ubuyashiki Yoshiya, who had long black hair and wore a loose white kimono, walked out of the mansion slowly, his steps a little unsteady, followed by his two daughters.
The two little girls followed their father cautiously, as if they were ready to step forward to help him at any time.
But what surprised everyone was that the Lord, who had to be supported to walk barely last time, actually walked out of the mansion slowly on his own power this time.
There was a trace of sweat on Uyashiki's forehead, and it seemed that walking like this was not very easy, but he still persisted resolutely, as if he wanted to prove something to everyone.