"
đ Power Stone Bonus: Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter
đ 5-Star Review Bonus: Every 5 (5-Star) Reviews = +2 Extra Chapters
đŹ Comment Speed-Up: If any chapter reaches +10 Comments = The Next Chapter Will Be Released Faster!
đ„ Want to Read Ahead? If you want to read advanced chapters, check out my buymeacoffee(.)com/Oyunbozan
An abandoned old house under the night sky.
The dilapidated garden was filled with the smell of decay and blood.
Cheng Mo was the first to step through the gate, followed by Tanjirou, who was tense and serious.
He noticed his teacher in front of him suddenly stop, a hand resting on his shoulder.
"Boomâ!"
Blinding lightning, mixed with ominous black and red energy, like an out-of-control giant python, slammed violently into the spot where Cheng Mo and Tanjirou had just been standing.
The already crumbling corridor pillars were completely shattered, wood splinters flying, and smoke and dust filling the air.
"Hahaha! You're pretty quick to dodge!"
A ghostly figure stood in the center of the courtyard.
He wore a dark, demon-patterned kimono, his skin pale, eyes crimson, and a cruel, excited grin on his lips. His body exuded a strong smell of blood and sickening demonic energy.
It was the fallen demon, Kaigaku!
His eyes, etched with the characters "Lower Three," were filled with madness and venom.
"I was wondering which ill-mannered rat was leaving such a disgusting scent everywhere⊠It's you, that eyesore!"
He shook his arm, which had mutated into a demon claw, the jumping electric arcs sizzling as they scorched the air.
"Do you feel my power now, Cheng Mo!"
His voice was sharp, filled with boastfulness and hatred.
"Do you see? This is true power! What does that old cripple know? He only ever favored you and that useless Zenitsu! What I possess now is power he could never imagine in his lifetime!"
Tanjirou was almost suffocated by the violent pressure, his heart pounding.
This demon⊠is so strong!
Much stronger than the Lower Moon Six he encountered before!
And, what he said⊠he and his teacher⊠are actually from the same sect?
"Once I kill you, I'll take your head back to Peach Mountain! Let that blind old man see clearly! How wrong his choice was back then! Let him regret it! Hahaha!"
Kaigaku's maniacal laughter was particularly jarring in the night sky.
Tanjirou listened as he repeatedly called their master "old man" and "useless," his words full of insults to their sect, even including his respected teacher in his mockery.
A surge of anger suddenly rushed to his head, overriding his fear.
He suddenly stepped forward, and though his voice trembled slightly from tension, he shouted clearly and loudly: "Shut up! Someone like you, who willingly fell, betrayed your sect, and cast yourself into darkness! Do you even deserve to be compared to my teacher?!"
Kaigaku's maniacal laughter abruptly ceased.
His eerie pupils sharply turned to Tanjirou, as if he had only just truly noticed the young man who had been standing behind Cheng Mo all this time.
He scrutinized Tanjirou from head to toe, his gaze lingering for a moment particularly on Tanjirou's new clothes, which seemed out of place in the dilapidated surroundings.
Then, it was as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"Teacher?"
He tilted his head, repeating the title, his tone filled with absurdity and a hint of ignored annoyance.
He looked at Cheng Mo, who had remained silent and expressionless since his appearance, and an unnamable irritation surged within him.
This feeling of being completely ignored was more unbearable than direct mockery.
Just like on Peach Mountain, no matter how hard he tried, the old man's gaze always fell more on Cheng Mo and that crybaby!
"Heh⊠hehehâŠ"
Kaigaku chuckled, his laughter gradually turning sinister.
"So that's it, you took in a little follower? Is this the disciple you chose? A good little boy in new clothes?"
He suddenly raised his demon claw, pointing at Tanjirou.
Black and red lightning gathered once more, emitting a terrifying aura of destruction.
"Fine!" A cruel, vicious grin spread across his face.
"I'll chop off his limbs first! Let him lie on the ground, watching helplessly as I tear you apart piece by piece, torturing you to death! I'm sure his expression will be quite entertaining then, won't it, Cheng Mo?!"
Before his words finished, the violent lightning had already ripped through the air, carrying a wailing shriek like a demon's cry, and shot straight towards Tanjirou!
Tanjirou's pupils contracted sharply; the immense oppressive feeling was like a tangible mountain pressing down on him.
He even felt his breathing stop, his body stiff, and even the act of drawing his nichirin blade became incredibly difficult.
He would die!
If he was hit directly, he would absolutely die!
Just at this critical momentâ
Cheng Mo, who had been standing still, moved.
He didn't draw his nichirin blade, nor did he make any defensive or offensive posture.
He simply lifted his foot, as if taking a leisurely stroll after a meal, and unhurriedly, step by step, walked towards the charging Kaigaku.
His pace could even be described as casual, unhurried, yet it precisely inserted him between Kaigaku and Tanjirou.
He used his back to shield Tanjirou from the overwhelming pressure of death.
His leisurely demeanor formed a bizarre contrast with Kaigaku's explosive and ferocious attack.
Moonlight streamed from behind Cheng Mo, casting his long shadow further and further, slowly extending forward like a silently spreading tide, gradually enveloping the charging Kaigaku.
Kaigaku's charging momentum suddenly faltered.
The vicious grin on his face froze, and an inexplicable sense of dread, without warning, clutched his heart.
Looking at the gradually approaching, deep shadow, and looking at the emotionless face of the shadow's owner.
The fear and oppression from being completely crushed by the opponent during his training on Peach Mountain, the immense gap that he could never reach or even comprehend no matter how hard he tried, instantly drenched his entire body like ice water!
He actually⊠involuntarily took a step back!
Just that one step brought him back to his senses instantly.
Shame! Anger!
A monstrous rage instantly swallowed that hint of fear!
"Bastard! Don't underestimate me!"
Kaigaku let out a beastly roar; he was thoroughly enraged.
All the black and red lightning around him frantically converged on his demon claw, the energy violently compressing and boiling, emitting a piercing screech like thousands of birds.
The destructive power caused the surrounding air to distort!
"Blood Demon Art: Thunder Blast Explosion!"
He roared out his strongest technique, which he had developed by combining his demon power with Thunder Breathing.
It was a form far more violent, chaotic, and filled with pure destructive intent than Thunder Breathing, Sixth Form: Electric Lightning Blast!
A pillar of lightning, thick as a giant tree, imbued with endless resentment and dark energy, erupted with a devastating force, charging straight at Cheng Mo!
"Teacher!"
Tanjirou cried out in alarm, the terrifying power even forcing him to his knees, barely able to support himself with his nichirin blade.
His heart was overwhelmed with immense worry!
This attack was too terrifying!
Facing this world-destroying blow, Cheng Mo continued to walk forward, as if he hadn't even seen the terrifying lightning blast that was rushing towards him, capable of leveling the entire estate.
Just a split second before the black and red lightning pillar was about to engulf himâ
Sizzle.
An extremely faint, almost illusory, sound of electricity.
Cheng Mo's figure vanished from his original spot, leaving behind only a faint, almost invisible, azure lightning arc that flickered slightly in the moonlight.
The next momentâ
Cheng Mo's figure appeared silently, like a ghost, behind Kaigaku.
His posture was still as relaxed as if he were taking a stroll.
The nichirin blade "jingzhe (awakening of insects)" in his hand had, at some unknown point, been drawn an inch, its cold gleam and faint golden light flashing in the moonlight.
No, it wasn't drawn.
It had already⊠been sheathed.
Accompanied by a crisp and soft "click," the tsuba and scabbard met perfectly.
The sound was light, yet it was like a heavy hammer, striking Kaigaku's chest with full force.
The vicious grin on Kaigaku's face completely froze, twisting into an expression of extreme astonishment and bewilderment.
His vision suddenly began to spin.
He saw below him, still in the posture of charging and swinging his nichirin blade, but headless, and gradually turning into black ash⊠his own body?
Wh-what?
When⊠when did he⊠draw his nichirin blade?
And when⊠did he⊠swing it?
How could I⊠not see⊠anything⊠In the end of his consciousness, there was endless astonishment, bewilderment, and a trace of fear from the depths of his soul, rapidly swallowed by darkness.
It wasn't until his flying head and kneeling headless body began to turn into ashes and dissipate that Cheng Mo's cold voice, as if piercing through a great distance, clearly entered his rapidly fading senses:
"Too slow."
"Useless."
Dust slowly settled, and silence returned to the courtyard.
Only the crumbling walls, swept by the aftershock of Kaigaku's final attack, occasionally let out a groan of distress.
Tanjirou knelt on the ground, gasping for breath, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
He stared blankly at his teacher's back as he sheathed his nichirin blade, then looked at the spot where Kaigaku had vanished, his mind a blank.
What⊠what just happened?
That Lower Moon Three, who had given him an almost suffocating sense of pressure⊠that incredibly powerful demon⊠just⊠vanished?
By his teacher⊠in one blow?
He hadn't even seen how his teacher drew his nichirin blade!
The only things that seemed to prove the brief conflict had existed were the faint smell of scorching in the air and his own relentlessly pounding heart.
He looked up, gazing at his teacher's tall yet somewhat distant back in the moonlight.
An indescribable shock and reverence swept over him like a tide.
To what extent⊠had his teacher's strength reached?