As dawn approached, Musashi began his journey back to the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, intending to report on Kaigaku. He had already buried all the people in that small village.
When he left, Musashi had an additional Kasugai Crow charm on him, one with its mouth tied shut with a rope.
"Crow, don't blame me. I didn't want to do this, but I really couldn't rest easy. It concerns human lives, so I hope you'll bear with me. Afterwards, I'll definitely find you a couple more worms to eat."
Musashi said to the Kasugai Crow as he walked, and the Kasugai Crow, with its mouth tied, could only make "hoo-hoo" sounds.
The next night,
Musashi was hurrying towards Headquarters, thinking that he should be able to get back in two more days.
Just then, a man covered in blood, limping, ran towards him, his expression terrified, as if something dreadful was chasing him.
He seemed to be out of strength, looking as if he was about to collapse at any moment.
Upon spotting Musashi, hope appeared on the man's face.
"Help! A monster is chasing me! Please, help me!"
Although Musashi looked only in his teens, the man was now almost desperate and could only resort to a last-ditch effort. In his mind, even if Musashi couldn't fight the monster behind him, he could at least distract it, increasing his chances of escape.
Had another demon appeared?
Musashi frowned, feeling that it was too abnormal. Previously, he would usually only encounter one demon per mission, but this time, his mission itself required him to eliminate two evil demons, and he had already encountered three more demons on the way. Now, it seemed he had encountered another one.
Although Musashi wished all demons would come after him, the current situation was clearly abnormal. The number of demons seemed to be increasing day by day, and at a very rapid rate.
I should go back and ask about the situation of the other Hashiras...
Musashi secretly planned in his mind.
"Where is that monster?"
Then, Musashi called out from a distance, asking the man.
Before the man could speak, a voice answered Musashi for him.
"Hehehehehehe! Even if you hide to the ends of the earth, as long as I have your blood, I can find you immediately!"
Then, accompanied by this voice, a small blood mass floated from the air behind the man towards him.
"I've played long enough this time. It's time to dine. Hehehehehehe!"
Upon hearing these words, the man gradually fell into despair. He had originally thought that he had repeatedly escaped the monster's pursuit with his intelligence and resourcefulness. Each time the monster found him, it always seemed to be struggling and annoyed, which made him full of hope each time he evaded the monster's attacks and ran away again.
Now he understood that this was all just the monster toying with him. He had been under the monster's control the entire time.
If only I had known, I wouldn't have been greedy and taken that small Buddha statue from the dilapidated temple...
The man was originally a loafer. He had just arrived in the city and squandered all the money he had exchanged. In the evening, on his way home, he saw a small Buddha statue in a dilapidated temple. Thinking he could sell it for some money, he went inside to take the statue, and that's when he encountered this monster.
After realizing the truth, the man simply collapsed to the ground and stopped running, awaiting death.
The blood mass floated above the man and stopped there. Immediately after, a somewhat hunched White-Haired Demon appeared in front of Musashi and walked towards the man. Then, he also noticed Musashi.
"I didn't expect to have an extra meal tonight, this is great, hehehehe! Too bad this guy probably just heard about my ability, so I can't toy with him anymore.
But it's fine, I've had enough fun."
The White-Haired Demon was somewhat surprised when he saw Musashi. After muttering to himself for a while, he decided to first kill Musashi, and then eat both of them.
"Your ability allows you to track as long as there's blood?"
At this moment, Musashi spoke, his voice filled with excitement.
"Hehehehe! Of course!" The White-Haired Demon nodded proudly, stopping his steps.
Musashi's seemingly admiring expression for his Blood Demon Art made the White-Haired Demon temporarily abandon the idea of killing him, deciding to properly introduce his Blood Demon Art to him.
Because his Blood Demon Art was not very useful to demons, he had been mocked by other demons. Now that someone was willing to understand his Blood Demon Art, and seemed to highly approve of it, he felt incredibly happy in his heart, thinking he could kill this young man later.
"Can you track me no matter where I am, even to the ends of the earth?" Musashi asked again.
"Of course!" The White-Haired Demon nodded again, and then added, "And the tracking of my Blood Demon Art is absolutely accurate. Even if someone's body contains another person's blood, my Blood Demon Art can precisely locate the target based on the blood content ratio.
Hehehehe! How about it, kid, isn't my Blood Demon Art incredibly powerful?"
The White-Haired Demon asked Musashi with a smile.
"Amazing! It's truly amazing! And incredibly useful!" Musashi praised repeatedly.
His mood was incredibly excited now. Not being able to find Muzan's whereabouts had always been a deeply troubling problem for him. Even when he, the Master, and Tamayo discussed it last time, they couldn't come up with a solution. Ultimately, only Tamayo came up with a method that had a chance of luring Muzan out, but the probability was minuscule.
However, the ability of this demon in front of him just happened to solve this problem. According to what he said, as long as he could get relatively pure blood from Muzan, his Blood Demon Art could track Muzan's location.
To get Muzan's blood, Miss Tamayo should have a way. Also, it's still unclear if this guy will be killed by a Demon after using this Blood Demon Art with Muzan's blood. If he's directly killed, then it's useless.
But I can't make a direct conclusion now. No matter what, I still know too little about demons. I should hand this guy over to Miss Tamayo for research.
If a way to find Muzan can really be found...
Thinking of this, Musashi was so excited that he could even hear his own heartbeat. The possibility of completely eliminating the evil demons, the possibility of slaying Muzan, was now right before his eyes!
"Hehehehehehehe! You're a sweet-talker, kid. I almost don't want to kill you. But unfortunately..."
The White-Haired Demon's words were cut short when he suddenly realized that Musashi, who had just been in front of him, had disappeared.
The next instant, a heavy blow, as if struck by a heavy hammer, landed on the White-Haired Demon's neck, interrupting his unfinished words and even breaking his neck.
However, because it wasn't cut by a Nichirin Sword, it wouldn't endanger his life.
The excited Musashi hoisted the White-Haired Demon onto his shoulder and ran towards Tamayo's residence.
Kibutsuji Muzan, this time you definitely won't escape!
...
The man lying on the ground with his eyes closed, waiting for death, heard no more sounds. Then he opened his eyes and found that the surroundings were empty, and the monster from before had also disappeared.
This... this... could it be that the gods saved me?
The bewildered man attributed this to supernatural powers. The joy of surviving instantly filled his body. He immediately scrambled to his feet, crying and limping his way home.
"Wuwuwu... Divine beings, I will never be idle again. Please, never let me encounter such a monster again."
The man attributed tonight's encounter to divine punishment for his past actions, and he vowed to change himself in his heart.