Chapter 156 - Jiguo Yansheng’s Ambition and Hope.

…

the other side.

The smoke on the battlefield slowly rose in the dark night.

The undulating flat slope was covered with blood-stained flags, and several figures on horseback and wearing red armor fell there.

A place where simple long bamboo poles were erected and white cloth covered the surrounding area, revealing the dome.

This seems to be a barracks.

A bonfire set up with a few iron rods not far away was crackling and burning.

The firelight reflected and trembled in the muddy water on the ground, and there was black dirt on the rattan armor worn by the soldiers.

"Jigoku-sama!" The ashigaru who was in charge of patrolling at the entrance of the barracks lowered his head and shouted respectfully.

The man wearing snake-print feathers under his armor slowly stepped out of the carriage. He stepped on the muddy ground and looked around sharply.

In the camp, all the soldiers, ashigaru or samurai, had a sword on their waist.

A few strong warriors, who looked like sumo wrestlers, were sitting on the ground talking, laughing and drinking around the bonfire, carrying tachi and being naked from the waist up.

After seeing "Master Jiguo" at the entrance of the barracks, they all quickly put away their drinks, stood up and said nothing.

These are all miscellaneous soldiers, and the real combat power is in the tent with the black family crest on the side.

The samurai family known as the "Jiguo" naturally does not have only this power. This is just a smaller rear camp.

At the entrance of the camp, there was even an ashigaru holding a "matchlock" in charge of the handle.

Yes, in this era of neon, there are already simple muskets and even iron cannons, but the shooting distance is very close.

The patrols continued to patrol, and the dead and wounded soldiers in the camp lay on white cloths, staring blankly at the dark sky.

A very ordinary camp scene.

The man who was called "Master Jiguo" narrowed his eyes impatiently, and his gaze quickly scanned here.

tread!

He slowly walked into the camp, shrugged his nose, and smelled the faint smell of blood in the air.

"Your Majesty, we have captured an enemy warrior, and our gun generals are interrogating him at the moment."

Ashigaru on the side followed the man and explained to him what happened on the battlefield during this period.

The man didn't speak, but his expression became increasingly gloomy.

Wow!

The man walked to the tent with black family patterns, reached out to lift the door curtain, and walked straight in.

Seeing this, Ashigaru did not follow him any further, but instead breathed a sigh of relief.

The other warriors behind him also breathed a sigh of relief.

Their leader is a ruthless man who controls his troops with absolute rules and iron laws that cannot be disobeyed.

Even generals who violate the iron law will be killed immediately.

…

Inside the family tent.

Several generals wearing dark red armor and rattan armor, with golden Prajna masks on their faces, instantly turned their attention to the door.

"Your Majesty." Their voices came out from under the masks. Even in the tent, several of them never took off the black and gold helmets on their heads.

In their hands, they all held a sharp spear.

"Have you found the person who killed Zhongze?" A cold voice came from the man's mouth, and he glanced at the people in the tent with an indifferent expression.

There are three people here.

They are called the "Seven Spears of the Successor Country". There are seven people in total, and they are all powerful guys.

The "Chongze" the man mentioned was one of the "Seven Guns of Jiguo" who died suddenly recently.

He died tragically, as if his body had been torn open by wild beasts. When he was found, his limbs were mutilated, his white bones were exposed, a big hole was dug out of his belly, and all his internal organs were completely missing.

The strong smell of blood would make anyone faint.

There were many ordinary soldiers who died in the same way as "Zhongze".

Such a horrific death situation may even shake the morale of the army for a while.

The three of them looked at each other, and even though they were hidden under their masks, their nervousness could be felt:

"...Master, we captured the prisoner who sneaked into the camp, but it seems that he was not the one who killed Yamauchi."

The man frowned when he heard this, and he looked at the captive kneeling on the ground surrounded by several people, covered in mud.

The prisoner was unshaven and covered in scars, but his eyes were unusually firm.

At this moment, the dirty prisoner was glaring at the man fiercely.

The man with the snake-patterned feathers glanced sideways at the prisoner, then turned around, opened the door curtain and left, saying at the same time:

"Keep checking."

"in addition."

"Chop off that prisoner's fingers."

…

…

Ubuyashiki mansion.

"Ghost hunting!"

A group of people jumped over the wall and rushed out of the courtyard with bone knives.

Say so.

However, one night passed.

"Gah! Karma!"

The Hashira and the crows returned to the Ubuyashiki mansion at the break of dawn.

Everyone looked a little tired. Only Purgatory Jinjuro scratched his head and patted the serious Iwami Inkstone beside him with a smile.

After spending a whole night, they found no trace of the ghost.

In these days, those weak and hungry ghosts who appeared for a long time were also killed by the second-level and other team members.

If you now put your perspective on Mount Sagi, you will find that

——Even the Yin team members are idle, and they have begun to help Zhu Shi.

This made the doctor beside him feel unhappy all day long.

As a result, now there is no trace of ghosts in various regions, and a situation has emerged where they can only "raise troops" but cannot "use them".

Tsukuni Enichi and Minazuki Haku stood in the middle of the courtyard. Due to Minazuki Haku's strong request, they had to create a breathing technique for Haku today.

The other pillars stood aside, and under the leadership of Purgatory Jinjuro, they practiced their sword skills.

"...no misfortune."

Shang Quannai lowered his eyes. He was sitting on the roof at the moment, and the shadow of the eaves enveloped him.

Next to him were two wooden lunch boxes that had been cleaned and arranged neatly.

He glanced at his hands, which were wet from water, and then looked to the other side of his body.

Kanroji Sakuracake was sitting next to him, holding her Odachi sword with a bright red blade and carefully wiping the dust with a handkerchief.

She reached out and gently pushed the hair on the side of her face behind her ears.

The bright white rays of light reflected from the mirrored blade onto Kanroji Sakura's face. Her long eyelashes were slightly drooped, the corners of her mouth were tightly closed but slightly raised, and her three-dimensional facial features were clearly bright and dark.

As he wiped the blade of the blade, the hem of his clothes slightly rubbed against the wooden floor.

"Bah——!" As a sound of liquid evaporating came, Shang Quanna slightly accelerated the blood circulation in his hands and evaporated the water in his hands.

Shang Quannai stood up without saying a word, and the early morning sunlight passed through the eaves in a straight line and shone on his face.

"What's wrong?" Ganluji Sakura Cake stopped what she was doing, and she raised her head in confusion.

"It's okay." Shang Quannai shook his head slowly, his tone helpless, and then said: "It's not an option to stay like this."

The Demon Slayer Corps is maintaining a steady and step-by-step process.

He has also communicated with Uyashiki Sukeyo in the past few days and learned about what happened in the past six hundred years.

However, it was discovered that even the Ubuyashiki family was not particularly familiar with Muzan's situation.

Even poorer than he knew.

The only useful information I got was

——The Twelve Ghost Moons have changed several times in the past six hundred years.

Ubuyashiki Sukeyo told Naosenna very clearly.

In the past, many members of the Demon Slayer Corps, and even Hashira, became ghosts and were hidden by Muzan without knowing what they did.

In order to stabilize the mood of the Demon Slayer members, the Uyashiki family did not make the news public.

Judging from the current situation, Wuxian must be hiding.

And, taking his younger brothers with him, he hid together.

Tsk.

Shang Quannai looked up at the sky.

"I want to go out for a walk."

Kanroji Sakuracake looked at Shang Quanna's back, and she slowly put her sword back into her body, just as she was about to speak.

Shang Quanna turned his neck towards Ganlu Temple Sakura Cake and said slowly:

"Want to come together?"

Kanroji Sakuracake looked at Shang Quannai looking at her, her expression was slightly stunned, and then she stood up with a smile:

"OK."

…

On the side, Purgatory Jinjuro watched the two people walking out of the courtyard in a daze, holding the bone knife in his hand.

He took another look at the brand new Nichirin sword he had placed under the roof and had been made by someone at the swordsmithing village last time.

He scratched his head worriedly.

"...Strange...I haven't seen Takehara boy for a while." Purgatory Jinjuro frowned. The brand new Nichirin sword was the birthday gift he originally wanted to give to Takehara boy.

There is also a passage written by him engraved on the blade.

After all, he was the one who brought that child into the Demon Slayer Squad.

"...Where are you on a mission?"

But because of their status as members of the Demon Slayer Corps, it would take months before they had time to see each other.

According to the previous time, it has been less than a month since the last time we met, so there is no need to worry at all.

But during these days, Purgatory Jinshourou always felt inexplicable worries in his heart.

Purgatory Jinjuro stopped his practicing movements, raised his head and looked at the bright sky.

There were white clouds floating in the blue sky, which were reflected in the red and calm pupils of Purgatory Jinjuro.

"Purgatory! What are you doing! This is the first time I see you being lazy!" Kazama Chengya's provocative voice came from the side.

Purgatory Jinjuro was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted:

"Oh! Here we come!"

Although he immediately regained his former energy on the surface, he was still worried deep down.

Takehara boy...must...be okay!

…

…

In a brightly lit room.

It is not so much a room as it is a complex and intertwined space composed of countless Japanese-style rooms.

Even though it's early morning outside, the space is lit with a dull yellow light like it's night.

During this period of time, Wu Mei came up with a name for the space where Naru's vampire technique was created.

"Infinite City"

At this moment, Wuhan stood in front of Takehara who was tied up and hung in the air by him with a meat whip, his scarlet eyes staring at Takehara emotionlessly.

"Failed again." His voice was cold and indifferent, as if he had crushed an irrelevant ant to death.

Wu Kai turned around disdainfully and returned to his seat.

Takehara's eyes were in a trance, his mouth was sewn shut with flesh threads, and a bloody hole the size of a fist appeared on his chest.

Although there was such a big hole in his chest, Takehara showed no signs of dying.

In the middle of the blood hole, there was a ball of blood floating.

——That is Wu Ke’s blood.

Takehara lowered his head, Muzan was trying to merge into Takehara's blood by not touching the blood belonging to "Kamiizuna" in Takehara's body.

This sounds ridiculous, but it is also ridiculous to do, so Wu Mei has never succeeded, but he still keeps trying.

Because this will make Takehara very painful.

Maybe...the man in front of him just enjoys torturing himself.

Takehara kept thinking this in his mind.

He didn't know how much time had passed since he came here.

There is no distinction between day and night here, only the annoying sound of the pipa keeps ringing.

Every time there is the sound of the pipa, it means that someone from the outside world has been transported and became Wuhan's ration.

Psychological torture, watching Wu Mei eat people in front of him every day, and his body endured the pain of being cut into pieces every day.

But under Wu Mei's control, he just couldn't die.

Once again, he was about to collapse.

The dried sweat had long since stopped dripping, and his eyes and vision were dark and blurry.

What is the meaning of living...

Takehara recalled that he seemed to have thought this way a long time ago.

Was it... before joining the Demon Slayer Corps...

By the way, Demon Slayer, I am a member of the Demon Slayer...

The last impression in my mind was shining like a red flame...

…Purgatory Jinjuro.

In the sea of ​​​​fire, he lay in the room in despair.

Next to it is a raging evil spirit.

His consciousness was blurred, and he could only remember a few white lights.

"Young man! Can you hear me! Young man!"

"do not give up!"

"Hold on! Live!"

Consciousness awakens from the mind.

"Ho... ha..." His voice was hoarse and he could not speak. Takehara's mood suddenly became dull at this moment, and he could no longer squeeze out any tears from his eyes.

If he dies, Purgatory-senpai will be very sad...

Please don't blame yourself.

Purgatory...Senior.

With this thought, Takehara slowly closed his eyes.

Muzan, who was sitting on the high platform, glanced at Takehara. He tilted his head slightly and controlled his blood to violently flow into Takehara's heart again.

"Pfft!!" Takehara opened his eyes suddenly, and the pain from his heart made him wake up from the edge of death again.

This also reminded Takehara of the first words that Purgatory Jinjuro said to him after joining the Demon Slayer Corps.

In memories.

The golden-haired Purgatory Jinjuro stood in the sun, patting Takehara's shoulder with his generous palm:

"Takehara boy!"

"You are a lucky man, are you sure you want to join the Demon Slayer Corps?"

"If you join the Demon Slayer Corps, your luck may be shared with others!"

"Yes! I want to join the Demon Slayer Squad!"

The young man hesitated, but the emotion in his voice was extremely sincere.

"I...want to share my happiness!"

Yes, he has always believed that the world will one day be beautiful again.

It was a happily reforged world divided by their countless members of the Demon Slayer Corps.

People will sing and dance there to celebrate the arrival of peace.

No war, no evil spirits.

There will be no regrets there.

"Really! A very ambitious goal! Young man!" Purgatory Jinjuro looked at Takehara and smiled happily, then he walked past Takehara and faced the east:

"Believe you, that world will definitely shine brightest in the east where the sun rises!"

Takehara turned around and looked at Purgatory Jinjuro walking towards the east, his pupils filled with light.

When that time comes, everything they have done will be replaced by the peace that truly exists.

Forgotten in people's memories.

No regrets.