Starting in The Boys to Become the Ultimate Lifeform.

166. Chapter 166: A Temporary Conclusion, Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters (Double Chapter)

Zohakuten was like an enlarged version of Hantengu, and he also had a massive red growth on his head.

"Hoo!!" Zohakuten opened his mouth, revealing sharp fangs on either side of his gums. His scarlet tongue, inscribed with the character for 'hate', was twisted in pain. He wrapped his other arm around his neck, trying to block Xia Shang's slash! This was actually not Hantengu's strongest form.

If Sekido, Aizetsu, Urogi, and Karaku hadn't been killed by Xia Shang one by one, these four clones would have fused together, ultimately giving birth to Zohakuten, who embodies joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure! Zohakuten's strength was not weak; he could not only possess all the abilities of the four demons of joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, but also unleash wood-related Blood Demon Arts.

It was precisely because of his existence that Hantengu was able to rank as Upper Rank Four.

Otherwise, Hantengu would at most be an Upper Rank Six.

"You can't stop it."

As the red blade in Xia Shang's hand slashed horizontally! Instantly, a spray of crimson blood followed the blade tip, scattering into the night sky.

At the same time, Zohakuten, frozen in place, his expression gradually stiffened, his jaw twitched slightly, as if trying to say something. Just then, a gust of evening wind blew, whoosh! A shocking sword mark bloomed on the surface of Zohakuten's arm, followed by countless streams of blood gushing out like burst pipes!

Subsequently, Zohakuten's head and half of his arm slowly slid down diagonally, finally falling into a viscous pool of blood.

"D-dead? Upper Rank Four is just... dead?" Hutaro, flying in the sky, was dumbfounded. It could hardly believe its eyes. You know, since the Upper Ranks were established, there hadn't been any casualties for hundreds of years. Their strength was something even the Hashira couldn't contend with. Unexpectedly, at this moment, it personally witnessed the death of an Upper Rank.

Due to being too shocked, Hutaro even forgot to flap its wings and nearly fell from the sky.

"Phew... finally made it."

Kyojuro Rengoku, with fine sweat covering his forehead, panted slightly. Led by 'Yao', he finally arrived at the battlefield.

However, he seemed to be a step late.

"It's over?" Kyojuro Rengoku's brows slightly furrowed. His thick and fluffy yellow long hair, the edges of which were red like fire, looked like clusters of dancing flames under the night sky, exceptionally striking.

He wore a Haori with flame patterns at the ends and a coffee-colored Demon Slayer Corps uniform underneath.

"Not yet."

Xia Shang suddenly raised his blade, aimed the reddened blade tip at the heart area of Zohakuten's corpse on the ground, and stabbed down fiercely! Accompanied by a scream, a foul demon smaller than a fist was picked out by Xia Shang.

Seeing that its attempt to play dead had failed, Urami, as Hantengu's main body, quickly crawled up from the ground and knelt before Xia Shang, quickly kowtowing.

"Please, sir, spare my life, I really don't want to die."

Urami looked up, only to see its wrinkled face, looking like an old man, with tears welling up in its eyes, looking particularly pitiful at that moment.

Even Kyojuro Rengoku, who was walking over, felt a pang of pity.

"You can go." Xia Shang put away his blade and said indifferently.

Upon hearing this, wild joy instantly surged in Urami's eyes! What a foolish fellow, just because of sympathy, you're letting me go?

Although secretly delighted, Urami's face still wore a miserable expression. It cried profusely and kowtowed several times to Xia Shang: "Sir, Hantengu will never forget your kindness in this life. If there's a chance, I will definitely repay your kindness to me."

After speaking, it stood up, while wiping away tears, and walked unsteadily towards the distance.

"You can't just let him leave like this..." Kyojuro had just drawn the Nichirin Blade from his waist.

Unexpectedly, Xia Shang beside him was much faster. A flash of blade light instantly landed on Hantengu's neck. Hantengu didn't even have time to react before its head was sliced off by Xia Shang. Thud, its head, which wore a look of secret delight, flew off and landed among a pile of debris.

"Did I say I'd let you walk away?" Xia Shang just wanted to send him 'away', not necessarily let him leave.

[Upper Rank Four, Hantengu... Dead!]

"You..." Kyojuro quickly understood the trap in Xia Shang's words. He shook his head silently, not quite agreeing with Xia Shang's method. In his opinion, if you're going to kill someone, just do it cleanly. There's no need to give the other party hope, and then extinguish it. This kind of method is a bit ruthless, it's not like the style of a Demon Slayer Corps member.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy.

Hutaro quickly spoke up to ease it: "Lord Xia Shang, it's good that you're alright. Lord Kyojuro was sent by Headquarters to support you."

"Let's go back." Xia Shang was originally planning to put away his long blade, but found several cracks on the blade. With a snap, he actually crushed the Nichirin Blade directly. "Notify your Headquarters, remember to prepare a new one for me."

Something like a sword, once damaged, affects the feel. He didn't want the next time he encountered Muzan to be the awkward scene where he slashed down, Muzan's head didn't fall off, but his sword broke instead.

On the way back, Kyojuro seemed to have forgotten what just happened. After all, he wasn't the type with a gloomy personality. Besides, how many normal people are there among those who become Hashira? For example, the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, whose emotions vanished along with his memories after losing them, or the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, who is not good with words and is often misunderstood.

Kyojuro Rengoku could tolerate their shortcomings, so he naturally wouldn't care too much about Xia Shang's way of doing things.

"I'm truly sorry, I was a step late." Kyojuro apologized to Xia Shang with a serious expression.

"It's fine."

Xia Shang wasn't bothered by this. Anyway, his purpose had been achieved.

It's estimated that after this incident, Muzan wouldn't dare show his face for a while. However, his bait always exists. As long as Muzan wants to obtain the Blue Spider Lily, then they will eventually meet again one day.

By then, Muzan also wouldn't act without absolute certainty of victory. Presumably, Muzan would gather all the Upper Ranks to act together.

Infinity Castle... Xia Shang thought of the attendant by Muzan's side, Nakime.

If he remembered correctly, her ability should be controlling the Infinity Castle. Regarding this kind of spatial manipulation ability, Xia Shang was still a bit tempted. However, from his fight with Muzan just now, it could be seen that the Infinity Castle's movement speed shouldn't be very fast. Otherwise, during the battle, Muzan could have just retreated into the Infinity Castle.

There was absolutely no need to throw Hantengu over to his death.

Furthermore, the Infinity Castle is a bit special. It seems to have been created by Muzan, and Nakime is just the administrator. If that's the case, he would still need to analyze the related Blood Demon Art from Muzan. He was just afraid that the Infinity Castle was a result of a chance occurrence, possessing uniqueness and special characteristics.

Because from the source material, it could be known from the Infinity Castle battle that the control over the Infinity Castle is unique. When Muzan handed over the authority to Nakime, he himself no longer had authority. So when Yushiro controlled Nakime through his ability, Muzan would rather destroy the Infinity Castle than let it be used by the Demon Slayer Corps.

Could it be that Muzan couldn't control the Infinity Castle from beginning to end? He only had the ability to create, but not the ability to control? Troublesome.

Seeing Xia Shang frown, Kyojuro Rengoku beside him couldn't help but ask with concern: "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell? If you're injured, please say so, I'll carry you to a nearby doctor."

Come to think of it, after chasing down Muzan Kibutsuji alone and then killing an Upper Rank, how could he be alright?

Xia Shang, whose thoughts were interrupted, was slightly startled, then shook his head: "Mr. Rengoku, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something."

...

"Lord Xia Shang, it's great to see you're alright!" After Murata saw that Xia Shang was safe and sound, he instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where's Muzan?"

Yushiro walked out from the room inside. Miss Tamayo, looking slightly tired, followed behind him.

"He escaped." Xia Shang bent down and took out a clean towel from a wooden bucket nearby, and wiped his face. At this moment, his entire body was covered in demon blood. Among it was Muzan's blood, and also Hantengu's. This blood had already been dried by his body temperature, completely losing its activity.

"Lady Tamayo, the place we are currently living is no longer safe, we need to move in a short time." Yushiro said in an anxious tone. At the same time, there was a hint of resentment. If it weren't for Xia Shang's sudden appearance, disturbing his and Miss Tamayo's originally peaceful life.

Otherwise, their Residence wouldn't have been exposed.

You know, they had lived in Asakusa for hundreds of years and had never been discovered by demons. Now this happened, they have to move to another place again.

"Yushiro, we can't possibly stay in one place for too long after all. As long as Muzan exists, we can't live a truly peaceful life." Tamayo heard the resentment in Yushiro's tone, so she spoke. Her tone was always calm and composed, as if she didn't care about moving away from Asakusa.

Miss Tamayo is still so gentle!

Yushiro stole a glance at Miss Tamayo, sighing with emotion in his heart.

"How is Mukago?" After Xia Shang wiped off the clotted blood from his hair with a hot towel, he instantly felt much refreshed.

"Due to excessive blood loss, she is currently unconscious, but the curse in her blood has been removed by me. She should wake up on her own after a while."

"You can remove curses from demons? Are you Lady Tamayo?" Kyojuro Rengoku beside him said in surprise.

Tamayo, wearing a deep purple kimono, was a bit surprised: "You know me?"

For hundreds of years, she had been disguised as a human doctor, helping poor patients who couldn't afford treatment. Although occasionally she would ask some seriously ill patients if they were willing to abandon their human identity and choose to continue living, the only one who agreed was Yushiro. Logically speaking, she had never exposed her identity.

Why, not only did Xia Shang know her, it seems more people also know her.

"Lady Tamayo, my name is Kyojuro Rengoku. I currently serve as the Flame Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps. Your information was told to me by Oyakata-sama. Oyakata-sama specifically asked me to invite you to the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, because we have the same purpose." Kyojuro said with a serious expression.

Tamayo hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, and politely declined Kyojuro's invitation with a clear and gentle voice.

"I'm sorry, I am just a foul demon who has committed unforgivable sins. I am atoning in my own way."

Kyojuro seemed to have anticipated that Tamayo would refuse him. He wasn't discouraged, but continued to speak: "Oyakata-sama said he knows that you and Yoriichi Tsugikuni are old acquaintances. He also knows a little about what happened to you. That wasn't your fault, you were also deceived by Muzan at that time."

At this moment, Tamayo was somewhat moved.

"To prevent tragedies from happening again, we need to unite to fight against our common enemy. Furthermore, in the Demon Slayer Corps, there is also a swordsman skilled in pharmacology and toxicology. The poison she creates is enough to kill demons. Oyakata-sama hopes you can discuss medicine with each other, perhaps you can develop a medicine that can turn demons back into humans."

"Who is it?" Tamayo asked.

"The Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho. She has the same thoughts as you. She believes that humans and demons can coexist peacefully, but she deeply hates demons who harm people." Kyojuro recalled Oyakata-sama's instructions before he left and repeated the words exactly as they were.

Tamayo nodded gently, "In that case, I would also like to meet Miss Kocho."

"Yushiro, please pack up our things, we'll leave in half an hour."

"No problem! Lady Tamayo!" Yushiro almost unconditionally obeyed Tamayo's orders and was happy to do so. He hurried into each room and started packing the necessary luggage. As for some unimportant things, he discarded them all.

"No need, later is fine too. Muzan probably won't dare come over for a while." Xia Shang asked Tamayo where the washroom was. After getting a clear answer, he walked into the long, narrow white corridor.

Soon, Yushiro pushed out several suitcases from the room.

"Go prepare some of your own things." Tamayo didn't even look and knew that Yushiro must have only packed her things.

"Lady Tamayo, I don't have much." Facing Tamayo's gaze, Yushiro shyly lowered his head. Actually, he brought one thing, and that was his diary. It recorded every little detail of Miss Tamayo's daily life, not even missing a single sentence, and the update frequency was in minutes.

For him, nothing was more important than Lady Tamayo's diary.

"Then I'll help you pack." Tamayo's lips curved slightly upward.

"No need to trouble Lady Tamayo, I'll go right away."

Yushiro instantly rushed into the room. How could he let Miss Tamayo pack his things?

...

On the other side, inside the brightly lit Infinity Castle.

A space flickered. Suddenly, a figure rushed out from it. The figure clutched his left shoulder, staggered and shattered the floor beneath his feet. Rapid panting sounds suddenly echoed!!

Hoo!! Hoo!!!

"Hantengu is dead! He actually killed Hantengu so quickly!!" Muzan's pupils were filled with blood threads. His hair was dishevelled, and he was in a sorry state.

Nakime beside him lowered her head and stopped playing the biwa in her hands. She was shocked by Muzan's injury, while also worried that Muzan would vent his anger on her.

(End of Chapter)