Demons only move at night; during the day, they usually hide.
For Wan Mi, who wanted to hunt demons, he had to wait until dark to find their traces.
Night quickly fell, and in a remote small village, a boy, carrying a smaller boy on his back, walked down the street.
"Brother, when are we going home?" the child on his back whispered softly.
The older boy glanced at the charcoal in the bamboo basket, sighed, and said, "We'll go home after we sell these."
However, the weather wasn't cold yet, so charcoal was already hard to sell, and now it was late at night, every house had closed its doors, and there wasn't a single person on the street. It was uncertain when this charcoal would be sold.
Just then, a man approached from the other end of the street.
"How much is this charcoal? I'll take all of it."
Wan Mi spoke.
The boy's eyes lit up, and his younger brother, who was on his back, also lifted his head.
The boy stated a price that was not expensive, even a bit cheap.
Wan Mi directly paid the money and took all the charcoal from the boy's hand: "Take your brother home quickly. Remember, if you can't sell it this late again, don't sell it. It's very unsafe at night."
"Thank you!"
The boy said gratefully to Wan Mi, then happily walked back with his younger brother on his back.
"Yay, it's all sold!"
His younger brother, who was on his back, also cheered happily. They bounced along, heading towards home.
Wan Mi watched their departing figures, then retracted his gaze, finally focusing on the charcoal in his hand.
He patted his forehead in distress: "Sigh, Chitose is going to scold me again when I get back."
When Chitose saw that he had bought so much charcoal, she would probably scold him again for wasting money.
In a dark corner, a pair of crimson eyes stared intently at the two boys on the street.
Drip! Drop!
That was the sound of saliva constantly dripping.
"Hehe, I can't believe I ran into two children. Little children have tender skin and flesh, they're the most delicious!"
The demon, drooling, quietly crept closer to the two children.
Closer and closer, it was like a spider, hiding in the dark corner, constantly crawling towards the two children.
The two children were chatting and laughing, still unaware of the approaching danger.
"That's great, we really met a good person today, otherwise, who knows when this charcoal would have sold," the older brother said.
The younger brother lay on his brother's back: "I just hope big brother sells a little less in the future so you don't have to work so hard."
"How can that be? Only by earning money can I buy delicious things for Xiaoyu."
"I don't want delicious things, I don't want big brother to be so tired."
"Hehe, big brother isn't tired at all."
"Big brother is lying."
"Your brother isn't lying to you; you two won't have to be so tired very soon!"
An unusually hoarse and unpleasant voice sounded from behind the two of them.
The boy's body stiffened. He lowered his head, and under the moonlight, he saw a shadow enveloping them.
The boy stiffly turned his head and saw a pale, terrifying face.
The demon grinned hideously and reached out its hand to grab them.
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Blue Heaven!"
A flash of fire illuminated the entire night sky.
The demon's face still held the expression it had in life, not even realizing it had been decapitated.
"What happened?"
It saw its head lifted high, and its body stopped alone in place.
Was it killed?
Was its head cut off?
Was it going to die?
Who did it?
Thud!
The demon's head fell to the ground, rolled twice, and finally stopped at someone's feet.
The demon finally saw what the person who killed it looked like; it was a handsome young man. It opened its mouth but couldn't say a single word. Its body quickly began to burn, eventually dissipating into nothingness.
"It's you!"
The boy's voice trembled from a distance, recognizing that the person in front of him was the one who had just sold him charcoal. He looked at the demon, which had not completely dissipated, and swallowed nervously in terror: "What is this?"
"It's a demon."
Wan Mi put away his nichirin blade: "Remember, don't go out at night from now on. Even if not for yourself, think about your younger brother."
"There are no more demons nearby; your way back is safe."
Under the moonlight, Wan Mi raised his hand without looking back, just waved, looking seven or eight parts similar to Ji Guo Yuan Yi.
The boy stared blankly at Wan Mi's departing figure. For some reason, the image of Wan Mi slaying the demon with that single strike was seared into his mind, impossible to shake off.
"Brother."
Finally, his younger brother's voice woke him up.
"Brother, are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. What about you? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?"
..."I'm fine too."
Killing the demon did not make Wan Mi stop. On the contrary, this was just the first stop of his patrol; he still had many places to go.
A Kasugai Crow flapped its wings and finally landed on Wan Mi's shoulder.
Wan Mi tilted his head to look at the crow on his shoulder and asked, "Where are we going next?"
"There seems to be a demon in the southwest direction, but the location is a bit far. If you go, you might return a bit late," the Kasugai Crow said.
"Good things come to those who wait. We can't just ignore it because it's too far," Wan Mi said. "Chitose won't blame me if she knows."
The Kasugai Crow sighed: "Sigh, I still want to eat delicious rice balls."
"Don't sigh. Just ask Chitose to make them for you when we get back."
"That's more like it."
Every member of the Demon Slayer Corps has a Kasugai Crow to relay information to them.
Wan Mi's Kasugai Crow is named Lang You and has been with him for several years.
For Wan Mi, Lang You is not just a tool for relaying information, but also his close comrade-in-arms.
Walking all the way towards the southwest, Wan Mi tracked the demon's traces and soon arrived at an open field.
At this moment, his gaze suddenly noticed a man and a woman walking towards him in the distance.
He abruptly stopped. When his gaze fell upon the man, a chill shot through his heart!
He felt the aura of a demon from this man and woman, but this aura was more terrifying than all the demons he had encountered combined!
What kind of feeling was that?
It was as if a terrifying demon king was slowly approaching him!
The other party didn't even notice him, didn't even glance at him, but the terrifying oppressive feeling made his entire skin feel a burning, stinging pain.
Wan Mi drew his nichirin blade almost instantly. His muscles tensed all over his body, and he gritted his teeth, staring intently at the man in the distance.
"Kibutsuji Muzan!"
That's right.
Only the legendary Demon King, the progenitor of demons, Kibutsuji Muzan, could possess such a terrifying aura!
The man stopped, his eyes carelessly falling on Wan Mi.
His eyes were like he was looking at a fly: "A Demon Slayer, huh."