"Luo..."
Kamado Tanjiro's cry was cut short, caught in his throat.
Luo En's figure had already become a blur, disappearing completely into the night of Fujikasane Mountain after a few leaps.
Tanjiro could only grip his nichirin blade tightly and run east as planned, seeking a place to rest until dawn.
It was night, the perfect time for demons to be active. To get some much-needed rest, he ran towards the east, where the sun would rise earliest.
After leaving the false safety of the wisteria flowers, he donned his fox mask, stepping into the true hunting grounds like a predator.
He didn't rush to climb the mountain or head east. Instead, he released his keen senses, like an invisible net, catching every trace of the demons' foul aura in the air.
He wasn't here to survive; he was here to hunt, to "fish."
Naturally, he wouldn't be as cautious as others, only aiming to last seven days.
Luo En deliberately let his senses expand, wandering through the mountain at a leisurely pace, seeing if he could attract a few demons.
Soon, he caught his first prey. A putrid wind assailed him, accompanied by the nauseating sound of drooling.
A demon with twisted limbs and eyes glowing red from hunger, lured by Luo En's undisguised scent of a living human, lunged from the shadows.
Indeed, after being confined for so long, there was no sanity left in its eyes! Only a greedy desire for flesh and blood!
Now, the scent of a living human was the most fatal temptation for them, leaving no room for any thought of concealment.
Luo En looked at the mutated, somewhat inhuman thing. His steps didn't falter, and his gaze didn't even focus on the monster.
Just as the demon's claws were about to touch his mask, he casually pushed the tsuba with his left thumb.
"Zheng––"
Accompanied by a faint unsheathing sound, almost drowned out by the wind.
"Ice Breathing Style: First Form: Ice Surface Severance!"
A crescent-shaped ice blade, condensed from a Breathing Technique combined with extreme cold magic, silently solidified in an instant from the trajectory of his swing!
An extreme chill flashed along the blade's path. The air seemed to freeze instantly, and the ice blade silently cut through the night.
"Crack!"
It wasn't the sound of flesh being torn, but the crisp snap of something suddenly shattering after being frozen.
The demon's lunging posture froze in mid-air. A thin, ice-blue line appeared at its neck and rapidly spread throughout its body.
The next instant, its head and body cleanly separated along that ice line. The cut was smooth as a mirror, not a drop of blood splattered. All the foul blood instantly froze into crimson ice crystals, falling to the ground with a rustle.
The last spark in the demon's eyes solidified into disbelieving terror, then disintegrated into ash along with its frozen remains.
Luo En sheathed his nichirin blade with fluid grace, his steps not faltering in the slightest.
The ice blade also quietly dissipated into the air after the strike was completed, leaving behind only sparkling ice shards and a bone-chilling cold.
After all, these were just low-level, fodder demons who hadn't mastered Blood Demon Arts. Aside from slightly stronger physical abilities than humans and powerful regeneration, they weren't formidable!
Everyone participating in the selection had a nichirin blade. As long as they weren't too weak or surrounded by a group of demons, surviving seven days wasn't a big problem for those who had mastered a Breathing Technique.
But if one couldn't face the fear brought by demons and couldn't unleash their true strength, even if they survived seven days, they wouldn't be suitable to become a Demon Slayer.
It was nighttime, and these demons, especially those driven mad by hunger, had an extremely keen sense of smell for the scent of flesh.
Constantly fleeing would only exhaust one's stamina faster, expose their location, and ultimately lead to being caught and devoured in despair.
After all, not everyone was like Agatsuma Zenitsu, who had decent strength but completely lacked confidence, only able to perform when unconscious.
Luo En still felt that this selection was a bit too cruel. In the original plot, out of dozens of participants in this selection, it seemed only five ultimately survived.
Perhaps an examiner should be assigned, capable of saving a candidate's life at critical moments and revoking their right to continue the selection.
This might prevent the accidental demise of talented swordsmen like Sabito and also recruit suitable individuals into the "Kakushi" ranks to better ensure logistical support.
Three days passed just like that. Luo En had killed many demons, but he hadn't encountered the Hand Demon.
The forest was not silent. The wind whimpered, leaves rustled, and occasionally, the sounds of distant combat could be heard.
As long as it wasn't a cry for help, it meant there wasn't a big problem, and Luo En wouldn't specifically go to interfere.
"Where could that Hand Demon be?"
Luo En wandered all over the map but still hadn't encountered the Hand Demon. As expected of a demon who had eaten 50 people without being discovered, it was quite good at hiding!
Suddenly, a shrill scream, filled with extreme terror, came from the front-left, followed by the dull thud of heavy objects hitting trees and a beast-like roar.
"Help... help me! Someone... ah—!"
Luo En's eyes sharpened. He pushed off the ground with force, utilizing the Water Breathing Technique to its fullest. His body instantly became incredibly light.
His tiptoes touched the ground almost silently as he swiftly moved through the complex terrain, like a fish in water. In a few breaths, he had rushed into a slightly more open clearing in the forest.
A young man, similar in age to him, lay collapsed on the ground. His nichirin blade was broken in two, and his body bore numerous cuts and injuries from heavy blows.
A hunched demon, on all fours with sharp claws, was grinning menacingly, opening its fanged mouth, and lunging at the powerless swordsman.
Despair was the only thing left in the young man's eyes.
"Stop!"
A furious shout exploded like thunder. Luo En's figure, accompanied by a bone-chilling wind, instantly cut in between the demon and the young man.
The demon, startled by the sudden intruder, paused its movement, then let out a roar of displeasure:
"Another snack coming to die? Perfect, together..."
Before it could finish speaking, Luo En's nichirin blade had already transformed into a cold stream of light!
"Ice Breathing Style: First Form: Ice Surface Severance!"
An ice blade strike condensed and whistled out along Luo En's cutting trajectory!
"Screech—!"
The ice blade precisely grazed the demon's neck. The demon's malicious grin hadn't even fully frozen on its face when its head flew from its body.
After cutting through the demon's body, the ice blade, with undiminished force, struck a large tree behind it.
With a "crack," a deep gash was cut into the tree trunk, the cut smooth as a mirror and also covered in white frost.
The bone-chilling cold permeated the air, causing the rescued young man on the ground to shiver involuntarily, looking at the somewhat unimaginable scene before him with surprise.
Luo En sheathed his nichirin blade and quickly walked to the young man's side, asking:
"How are you? Can you still move?"
The young man was still shaken, looking at Luo En's fox mask and then at the ice crystals on the ground, his lips trembling:
"I... I... my bones feel broken... but... but thank you! Your... your nichirin blade..."
"It's just a special Breathing Technique."
Luo En didn't explain further. He helped him up and picked up the broken nichirin blade, handing it to him.
"It's too dangerous here. You're badly injured. Immediately retreat down the mountain in the direction of the wisteria flowers! You are no longer fit to continue the selection!"
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