Chapter 183: Muzan's Fury
This was the third time Ren had said those words to Akaza.
That alone was enough to show just how helpless Ren felt.
Communicating with a demon from an entirely different era was troublesome. It always felt like trying to communicate across different servers.
To make matters worse, Ren was a transmigrator, while Akaza was a man from the Edo period.
With two eras stacked on top of each other, the generation gap had practically doubled!
"Sit down. I'll teach you."
Akaza immediately sat down opposite Ren.
Ren placed a hand directly on Akaza's face.
During the process, Ren repeatedly emphasized that Akaza needed to use his own power.
Just like the regenerative abilities granted by a Blood Demon Art, if he concentrated his energy on his face, he should be able to imitate another appearance.
After a long conversation and countless attempts, Akaza still couldn't succeed.
So Ren simply scratched Akaza's face.
"Regenerate."
Whoosh!
In an instant, a mass of flesh sprouted across Akaza's face, rapidly forming a new one.
Ren asked, "Do you understand?"
Akaza blinked. "Understand what?"
"Remember this sensation. Then make the flesh grow in a different direction. Don't let it return to its original shape."
Ren repeated the instructions over and over, and Akaza nodded heavily.
After the two of them made countless adjustments, Ren finally managed to carve out a passable face for Akaza before dawn.
The tattoos on his face, however, couldn't be removed.
"All right. This will do."
Ren was exhausted as well. As long as the result looked passable, he wasn't going to make any unreasonable demands.
Once Akaza found Tamayo, she would naturally be able to figure out a solution.
"Then I suppose this is where we part ways."
Ren said this calmly.
Hearing that, Akaza suddenly felt reluctant to leave.
"You're leaving already?"
Akaza had lived for a hundred years and had been controlled by Muzan all that time. Now that he had spent such a long period together with Ren, he suddenly realized that the centuries he had lived through in the past seemed almost meaningless.
I should go.
Ren shook his head.
"You should go find Tamayo later. Don't forget our plan."
Besides, I'm already home. Otherwise, I'd like to talk with you a little longer.
"And it's almost dawn. Remember to come back at night."
"Before you've atoned for your sins, don't even think about using death as a way to escape from all of this."
...
Infinity Castle.
Within this towering city that stretched toward the heavens, the demons had gathered.
Muzan looked at Nakime before him and fell into deep thought.
Douma had been sent out on his orders to search for the Blue Spider Lily.
Kokushibo was rarely summoned directly by Muzan, because Muzan would not casually make use of him.
That made Akaza Muzan's most capable assistant.
But today, Muzan had already ordered Nakime to summon every member of the Twelve Kizuki except Upper Rank Two.
So why was there still no progress?
Muzan stared thoughtfully at Nakime, suspicion flashing through his eyes.
"Your technique..."
Nakime was startled and hurriedly explained, "Master, I really did summon them!"
Muzan frowned.
"Then why...?"
Nakime cautiously asked, "Could it be like what happened with Hantengu and the others before?"
Nakime knew the situation all too well.
Several Lower Rank demons had already died, and then Muzan had killed the remaining Lower Ranks on a whim.
Several Upper Rank demons had also died, and then Muzan had casually chopped Gyokko's head off on another whim.
Her master was remarkably committed to the principle of "buy one, get one free."
Nakime suddenly realized a problem.
If Akaza had also died, then among the remaining demons, who could Muzan casually kill next?
Almost the entire Twelve Kizuki would be gone!
No!
There was actually still one demon left here.
Her.
Nakime couldn't help feeling nervous.
He wouldn't kill her, right?
She was merely an accompanying musician. Her crimes shouldn't warrant a death sentence.
If she died, Muzan wouldn't even have anyone left to play the biwa for him.
Now everything depended on what Muzan was thinking.
Meanwhile, Muzan's brows were tightly furrowed.
He clearly couldn't believe that he had somehow become a commander without an army.
How long had it been?
The organization he had spent centuries building had practically been wiped out!
The Lower Ranks were nothing special. He could replace them every few years.
But the Upper Ranks were different.
Especially Upper Rank Three.
They were all precious assets to Muzan, employees whom he had cultivated with a massive amount of his own blood.
If they died just like this, what a waste!
However, after recalling what had happened, Muzan suddenly understood.
Perhaps he had been wrong.
In fact, he had been watching Akaza's memories the entire time.
He had watched the entire process meticulously from beginning to end.
It was that Demon Slayer—Ren.
Using nothing more than an ordinary Nichirin sword and without employing any flashy techniques, he had cut off Akaza's head.
His speed had even surprised Muzan somewhat.
Muzan's expression changed.
He hadn't expected Ren to be so powerful.
Even Akaza couldn't defeat him?
Muzan closed his eyes and carefully replayed the memory in his mind.
He discovered that although Ren's movements were simple, they carried a strange, almost sacred elegance.
His footsteps were light and graceful, making it extremely difficult for ordinary demons to track his movements.
Moreover, his swordsmanship was extremely unusual.
He could actually summon genuine flames with nothing more than a Nichirin sword.
"Flames..."
Muzan murmured under his breath.
A trace of disgust unconsciously entered his voice.
And beneath that disgust was even a hint of fear.
That's right.
Those flames reminded him of that man!
The man dressed in red had left a deep-seated terror in Muzan's heart—one he would never forget for the rest of his life.
"Damn it... When did such a genius appear in the Demon Slayer Corps?!"
Originally, Muzan had assumed that Ren merely knew about the Blue Spider Lily.
Furthermore, Ren had obtained a blueprint related to the Blue Spider Lily, so finding the flower was only a matter of time.
Muzan could simply keep searching for another few centuries.
But if a genius like Yoriichi Tsugikuni appeared at this point, everything would be different.
Muzan remembered all too clearly how insignificant his own strength had been before Yoriichi.
Every encounter had consisted of only one attack.
Yoriichi attacked once.
Muzan attacked once.
Yet for Yoriichi, cutting through Muzan's neck had always been effortless.
Even today, Muzan still couldn't forget the day he encountered Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
That day, the man wielding the crimson Nichirin sword awakened the Transparent World, and the Demon Slayer Mark appeared on his body.
Within a single second, he completely shredded Muzan's brains and hearts.
Then Muzan exploded into countless fragments and barely managed to escape.
Thus, the legend of the God of Cunning officially began.
"Something isn't right."
Muzan suddenly spoke in a low voice.
He had just realized something.
According to his perception, Ren had clearly cut off Akaza's head.
But why could he still see his opponent's memories afterward?
Normally, Muzan could only see a demon's memories for a few minutes after its neck had been severed.
If the demon's eyes were completely destroyed, that period could be even shorter.
But after Akaza's head was cut off, the memories Muzan was seeing didn't stop.
In the end, Muzan saw Akaza's head slowly regenerate.
A strange aura began radiating from his body.