When Rui saw Xia Feng, his face filled with shock.
Just now… Xia Feng had been fighting Gyokko.
And now Xia Feng was here.
Which meant…
Gyokko was dead.
That was Upper Rank Five!
Between him and Rui, a mere Lower Rank Five, there was a gap of six entire ranks!
And yet he had died at Xia Feng's hands!
Rui's eyes widened as his heart began pounding wildly.
Seeing Xia Feng casually chatting with Tanjiro, Rui slowly began stepping backward.
He wasn't a coward.
He simply didn't want to die a meaningless death.
However, the moment he took a step back, Xia Feng looked over.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"
As he spoke, Xia Feng raised his hand and grabbed the air.
Rui's eyes widened in disbelief as his body suddenly lost control and was dragged forward!
When he sensed carefully, Rui realized with horror that the thing controlling him was actually several invisible threads!
His entire being—no, his entire demon existence—felt terrible.
Controlling people with threads was supposed to be his specialty as a spider demon!
So why could Xia Feng do it too?!
Watching Rui's reaction, Xia Feng sighed.
"You demons never bother studying other people's tactics."
"Did you take the information Kokushibo shared and just eat it with rice?"
Earlier, Xia Feng had killed Gyokko using puppet threads.
Gyokko's strange teleportation ability made chasing him purely with speed extremely difficult.
Among all breathing styles, probably only Thunder Breathing or Mist Breathing could match Gyokko's speed.
But during their conversation earlier, Xia Feng had secretly attached a puppet thread to Gyokko.
He didn't activate it.
He didn't use it.
Its only purpose was to track Gyokko's location.
Xia Feng forced Gyokko back with Wind Scar, making him retreat into a jar.
And based on Gyokko's habits, he would naturally immediately move to another jar.
That habit had sealed his fate.
Guided by the puppet thread, the moment Gyokko teleported, Xia Feng found his location, rushed over using Thunder Breathing, and decapitated him instantly.
If Gyokko had properly studied Xia Feng's abilities and fought head-on instead of relying on tricks, Xia Feng wouldn't have been able to kill him so quickly.
After all…
Once Gyokko entered his complete form, those fish scales harder than diamonds weren't a joke.
Hearing Xia Feng's words, Rui's face darkened.
On Natagumo Mountain, he was always the one lecturing others.
Aside from Muzan…
This was the first time someone had lectured him like this.
Unforgivable!
Unforgivable!
He let out an angry roar as red light burst from his body.
Under the effect of that light, the puppet thread Xia Feng planted began weakening.
At the same time, Rui extended both hands, releasing ten crimson threads.
They whipped through the air like long whips, slicing toward Xia Feng with violent force!
Such thin threads moving at such speed—
If they struck a human body, they could slice someone into pieces instantly!
Tanjiro knew how dangerous those threads were and shouted quickly,
"Be careful, Mr. Xia Feng!"
Xia Feng only smiled.
Holding Nezuko with one arm and his sword with the other, he casually swung his blade.
A flash of deep blue light passed.
Every single thread snapped.
Xia Feng didn't bother looking at Rui again.
Instead, he reached out and placed a hand on Tanjiro.
White light shimmered.
Tanjiro's injuries healed rapidly at a visible speed.
The relief was so overwhelming that Tanjiro almost groaned out loud.
After finishing the treatment, Xia Feng said,
"Go on, Tanjiro. I'll leave this one to you."
For a demon at this level, he truly couldn't be bothered to fight personally.
Tanjiro nodded.
He took a deep breath.
Flames erupted from his blade again.
"I'm going!"
He shouted and charged toward Rui.
Facing a fully recovered Tanjiro, Rui realized immediately—
He couldn't stay.
He had to run.
He might not even beat Tanjiro alone, let alone fight with Xia Feng standing behind him.
If he stayed any longer, he would definitely die.
Rui kicked off the ground and retreated rapidly, continuously lashing out with red threads while fleeing.
Steam occasionally rose from Tanjiro's mouth.
His body temperature was rising rapidly through breathing.
Although spring was nearly over, his body heat far exceeded the surrounding air.
Xia Feng watched with surprise.
The scar on Tanjiro's forehead seemed to be changing color.
"Is the Demon Slayer Mark awakening this early…?"
Nezuko had shrunk in size again.
She sat on Xia Feng's arm with her arms hanging around his neck.
Tilting her head, she didn't understand what "mark" Xia Feng was talking about.
Seeing her confused expression, Xia Feng smiled and didn't explain.
Even if Nezuko could understand something so complicated in her current state, explaining it would only make her worry.
Under Xia Feng and Nezuko's watchful eyes, Tanjiro pressed Rui relentlessly.
After several exchanges, the two finally engaged in close combat.
Rui relied heavily on his threads.
Once he lost the distance advantage, he immediately fell into a disadvantage.
After several strikes, Tanjiro shattered Rui's defense and slashed fiercely at his neck.
CLANG!
The impact made Tanjiro's hand tremble.
He had never imagined that a demon's neck could be this hard.
Was this a neck or a knee?!
Although a demon's neck was tough…
His sword was tougher!
His training with Xia Feng had not been for nothing!
Tanjiro roared and poured more strength into his arms.
RIP!
Before Rui's disbelieving eyes, Tanjiro's blade cut through his neck.
Originally, Rui had planned to cut off his own head to escape before Tanjiro's blade finished.
But Tanjiro suddenly increased his strength, moving faster than Rui expected.
Despair appeared in Rui's eyes as he looked at Xia Feng and Tanjiro.
Then—
He turned into ash.
Seeing this, Tanjiro finally relaxed and collapsed onto the ground.
His entire body felt sore and exhausted.
This was the first time he had pushed Hinokami Kagura to this extent.
Looking at Xia Feng approaching, Tanjiro weakly said,
"Thank you for your help, Mr. Xia Feng."
Xia Feng nodded.
Then suddenly he looked toward the distance.
Someone was rapidly approaching.
Xia Feng originally thought it was Giyu Tomioka, since in the original story he was the first to arrive.
But when he saw the person clearly, he was slightly surprised.
It was the Flame Hashira — Kyojuro Rengoku.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed.
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