"Speaking of which, do any of you know what this meeting is about?"
From the other side of Kanroji Mitsuri, the Serpent Hashira, Iguro Obanai, suddenly spoke in his hoarse, low, and sticky voice.
Iguro Obanai—the child who had been rescued twenty years ago from a family that worshipped a serpent demon by Tsugikuni Mitsuba and the former Flame Hashira.
Since then, he had remained in the Demon Slayer Corps, diligently training in swordsmanship and creating his own "Serpent Breathing," becoming the current Serpent Hashira.
Perhaps due to the guilt he felt for the sins committed by his family in the past, Iguro Obanai was usually silent and taciturn, not particularly fond of interacting with others. He only showed great enthusiasm when it came to killing demons.
It was worth mentioning that, no matter when, Iguro Obanai would inexplicably appear somewhere close to Kanroji Mitsuri, though no one knew why…
"I heard it has something to do with this year's Final Selection!"
The one who answered this question was the current Flame Hashira, Rengoku Kyoujurou.
At merely twenty years old, Kyoujurou possessed the distinctive traits of the Rengoku family—
A personality that was forever passionate and cheerful, and features that always resembled a yellow owl.
"Gyomei! Did the Master tell you anything?"
Kyoujurou turned his head to look at the man sitting beside him, who had remained silent since the beginning.
The man was blind in both eyes, draped in Buddhist robes, holding prayer beads, with a horizontal scar across his forehead and an extremely robust physique.
He was the current Stone Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, the man who could wield Stone Breathing beyond its peak—
Himejima Gyomei.
In the current Demon Slayer Corps, if one spoke of the highest talent, Tokitou Muichirou would undoubtedly come first. His legend of becoming a Hashira in two months was second only to the former Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
But if one spoke of the greatest strength, there was only one possible answer: Himejima Gyomei.
This Stone Hashira had grown up in a temple, having lost his sight due to a high fever in childhood.
Yet even with such a severe fever, Himejima Gyomei had ultimately survived through his unbelievable physical constitution.
Moreover, despite living in that impoverished temple where meals were irregular, he had not suffered from malnutrition or stunted growth. Instead, he had grown to an astonishing height of 2.2 meters, surpassing the vast majority of humans in this era!
This was simply incredible! It had exceeded the scope of what normal biology could explain!
The power of the gods was truly awe-inspiring.
And it was precisely because of this exceptional physical constitution that Himejima Gyomei, whose talent was not particularly outstanding, had firmly secured his position as the strongest Hashira of the current generation.
His status as the eldest among the Hashira, combined with his greatest strength, made him unquestionably the leader of this generation of Hashira.
At the same time, he was also one of the most trusted and relied-upon Hashira by Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
"Amitabha. The Master has not revealed the details to me either. He only instructed me to wait until everyone has gathered before informing us all together."
The Stone Hashira pressed his palms together and replied in a deep voice.
"It's just a selection, so what could have happened to make it so mysterious?"
Upon hearing this, the Sound Hashira couldn't help but ask:
"By the way, we're all here now, right? Why hasn't the Master arrived yet?"
"Um, Mr. Shinazugawa doesn't seem to be here yet…"
Kanroji Mitsuri raised her hand, somewhat embarrassedly reminding everyone.
Yes, there was still one Hashira who had not arrived.
That was the Wind Hashira, Shinazugawa Sanemi.
A man with rare blood, a rough and violent temperament, and a habit of doing things his own way.
"Hah? It's him again…"
Glancing at the only empty seat in the corner, the Sound Hashira shook his head helplessly.
"He's always the last to arrive at every meeting. That guy really is willful…"
"I-I think Mr. Shinazugawa definitely doesn't mean to. He must have been delayed by something on the way…"
"What could possibly delay that hothead who's always thinking about killing demons?
The way he throws himself at demons like his life doesn't matter, even if something really happened, he probably…"
"Hey, hey, hey! I think I heard someone wishing me dead?"
Before the Sound Hashira could finish his sentence, a hoarse male voice sounded from outside the room. Immediately after, a fierce-looking man with white hair, bare-chested, and covered in scars all over his body strode in.
This was Shinazugawa Sanemi.
After entering the room, Sanemi showed no intention of greeting everyone. He simply walked straight to his seat, plopped down, and closed his eyes to rest.
With his arrival, the previously lively atmosphere in the room suddenly cooled.
From this, one could see that Sanemi's relationship with everyone was indeed not very good.
Of course, he himself didn't care about this in the slightest.
And the one who broke the silence in the room was Giyuu, who had never spoken before.
He slowly turned his head and looked at the resting Sanemi with his signature dead fish eyes, suddenly asking:
"Sanemi, you're not dead?"
"Pfft! *Cough cough!*"
As soon as Giyuu finished speaking, Sabito, who was drinking tea beside him, abruptly spat out a mouthful of tea.
As a close friend who had grown up with him, Sabito naturally understood that Giyuu was expressing concern for Sanemi.
Yes, Giyuu was genuinely concerned about Sanemi. He wasn't cursing him, nor was he mocking him.
What he truly meant to express was—
Although you arrived so late, it's good to see you're alright and didn't encounter any accidents. That's wonderful.
But for some reason, Giyuu possessed this miraculous ability to turn words of concern into expressions that conveyed almost the exact opposite meaning, giving people the impression of "I'm mocking you"…
No, strictly speaking, this probably couldn't even be called an impression anymore…
"Tomiyoka Giyuu!"
As expected, upon hearing Giyuu's words that were practically face-to-face mockery, Sanemi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, instantly flew into a rage.
"If you dare say another word! Believe me, I'll…"
"The Master has arrived!"
Just as Sanemi was about to explode, from the inner room, Ubuyashiki Kagaya—the current Master of the Demon Slayer Corps—finally emerged, supported by his children.
"We greet the Master!"
Hearing this, everyone immediately straightened their posture and bowed their heads in response.
Over a decade had passed. Ubuyashiki Kagaya had grown from a child of several years into a young man in his twenties.
The curse of the Ubuyashiki family had fully manifested on his face. The ugly scars nearly covered his entire upper face.
According to the experience of past ancestors, his time would likely come within the next year or two…
Standing in the position of the Master of the Demon Slayer Corps, Ubuyashiki Kagaya considered his life to have been relatively successful.
Under his leadership, the Demon Slayer Corps had not only successfully completed internal reforms, sweeping away the maladies accumulated over the past millennium, but the overall strength of the demon hunters had also become far greater than in the past several hundred years.
Everything was developing in a positive direction. Although there had yet to be a demon hunter who successfully slew an Upper Rank demon, Ubuyashiki Kagaya firmly believed that as long as this momentum was maintained, the demon hunters would eventually break this deadlock.
Until this year's Final Selection began.
Until he received that piece of intelligence that he himself could hardly believe at first glance.
"Upper Rank One of the Twelve Kizuki appeared at this year's Final Selection."
As soon as he sat down, supported by his children, Ubuyashiki Kagaya cut straight to the point.