Realizing her mistake had compromised his position, Mai frantically extended her hand to catch his falling frame. However, the heavy mechanical lag of her missed skill, combined with the chaotic velocity of the collapsing horse, rendered her rescue completely meaningless.
Worse still, straight out of the tight wedge formed between Mai's extended fingers, a long, jagged row of razor-sharp fangs materialized out of thin air, followed immediately by another snarling aberration leaping out of the spatial void!
This time, there was absolute zero defensive coverage left to intercept the threat!
Dozens of anomalous hounds bared their bottomless maws, raining down upon a mid-air Li Ke with savage, tearing bites. Left with no physical leverage to execute an aerial dodge, he could only watch as the creatures buried their teeth deep into his musculature, aggressively pumping a highly irregular, burning venom into his bloodstream while driving their shifting mass directly into his wounds to systematically feast on his internal organs.
And yet...
A terrifying, deep-crimson radiance violently ignited within the depths of Li Ke's pupils.
His internal Blood-Qi was instantly converted into a hyper-stabilized, volatile explosive matrix. Utilizing the creatures' own embedded fangs, lashing tongues, and open throats as literal pathways, his crimson energy violently backflowed straight into their biological architectures.
The untamed, savage Blood-Qi cut through their extra-dimensional organs like a localized shockwave, forcefully expanding to its absolute maximum output under the command of his unyielding willpower!
Every single anomaly currently latched onto Li Ke's body was instantly and violently blown into a crimson mist by the internal detonation!
One after another, the monsters burst in mid-air like over-inflated water balloons filled with heavy ichor. Jagged shards of bone, ruptured tissue, and dark fluids rained down across the burning path, leaving absolute zero cohesive biological matter intact!
With a fluid, casual rotation of his frame, Li Ke planted his palm firmly against the charred earth, absorbing the kinetic impact to execute a flawless, perfectly balanced landing on both feet.
However, his physical wounds hadn't automatically closed yet, and executing that sudden, massive explosion had drained a monumental volume of his internal Blood-Qi in one go. The moment he attempted to pull himself up into a standing posture, an involuntary wave of deep, suffocating vertigo washed over his senses, nearly causing him to collapse back onto the charred earth.
Fortunately, the mangled remains of these hound-like anomalies rapidly dissolved into a cascading torrent of shimmering golden motes, surging straight into his biological frame. The specialized spatial feedback loop didn't just cleanly seal his ruptured skin and fully replenish his lost blood volume; it completely restored his spent stamina reserves back to maximum operational capacity.
"Whew..."
Letting out a long, heavy breath, Li Ke ran a hand over his upper uniform, which had been reduced to a collection of burnt, tattered rags. The phantom sensation of his flesh being violently torn apart still lingered within his nervous system. Had he not spent significant time under Rias Gremory's direct guidance, forging his tolerance through the grueling, high-intensity cultivation of the Blood-Qi Mystic Arts—gradually acclimating his mind to the agony of his own physical form being systematically broken down—he honestly might have faltered moments ago, failing to successfully channel his energy into the maws of those troublesome beasts!
"Solid foundational training really is a lifesaver."
Li Ke drew a deep breath into his lungs, pulling himself completely upright, before casting a grim glance at his warhorse, whose spine had been cleanly shattered by the kinetic force of Mai Shiranui's missed tackle. He couldn't help but shake his head in silent frustration.
He had actually taken a staggering amount of structural damage just now. During his high-stakes duel against the Upper Moon female demon in the city, he hadn't suffered a single wound of this caliber, yet he had just been severely mauled by a pack of what were clearly disposable vanguard minions.
"But given their spatial behavior... these things have to be the Hounds of Tindalos, right? Manifesting strictly out of geometric angles... it fits the classic description perfectly."
Reaching into the tattered remnants of his shirt, Li Ke retrieved his secure inventory items, wrapping them tightly within his equally ruined travel cloak. He calmly extended the bundle toward a thoroughly panicked Mai, who was currently sprinting toward his position, her expression painted with intense anxiety.
"Li Ke! Are you alright?!"
Although Mai had previously listened to the party's theoretical discussions regarding the regenerative properties of the golden motes, witnessing a catastrophic physical mauling disappear in real-time was an entirely different psychological hurdle. Her hands instinctively traced across his solid chest and forearms, desperately scanning the exact sectors where the anomalies had buried their fangs to verify his biological structural integrity.
Had Li Ke not explicitly grabbed her wrists to halt her frantic inspection, her panic-driven checking would have likely resulted in her stripping his trousers right off his waist!
"I'm completely fine... but your operational trajectory entirely destroyed our mount."
Li Ke reached out, lightly pinching Mai's cheek to forcefully break her out of her frantic loop and ground her senses, before shifting his gaze down toward the fallen beast.
At this stage, the warhorse was violently foaming at the mouth, its breathing turning shallow and erratic as its biological systems rapidly collapsed. Realizing he lacked the specific restoration tools to salvage the animal's life, Li Ke smoothly drove his blade straight through the horse's cranium, delivering a clean, merciful end to terminate its suffering.
"I only overcompensated because I was terrified something was going to happen to you!" Mai crossed her arms over her generous chest, letting out a sharp, defensive snort, though her posture visibly softened now that she could empirically confirm he was entirely unharmed.
"We need to significantly tighten our defensive perimeter. If we don't, we are going to get ambushed by an immense variety of these irregular anomalies."
Due to the deficit of a horse within their convoy, Shinobu Kocho immediately adjusted their tactical positioning, sharing a saddle alongside Mitsuri Kanroji. Li Ke seamlessly commandeered Shinobu's vacated mount, continuing their forward march while guiding Tanjiro and Nezuko along the burning trail.
However, because Nezuko's specialized wooden box had been completely pulverized into splinters during the chaotic spatial ambush, the young demon girl was currently forced to rely on a thick piece of travel linen draped over her head to block out the harsh, refracting sunlight. To ensure they maintained a high marching velocity, she had zero choice but to tuck her small frame directly into Li Ke's secure embrace on the saddle. Except...
The exact moment her cheek pressed firmly against the solid contour of Li Ke's bare chest, a vibrant, burning flush instantly blanketed Nezuko's face. Earlier, the heavy presence of his formal uniforms, combined with the suffocating, life-or-death urgency of being hunted by invisible matter-erasing horrors, had completely blinded her sensory perception to her immediate surroundings.
But now, resting in this immediate intimacy, Li Ke's overwhelming biological vitality and dense, powerful musculature made Nezuko's head spin. The explosive radiance of his raw life force, projecting directly into her senses, was something her demonic biology simply lacked the capacity to resist. Before she could even consciously check her movements, her cheek slid completely flat against the solid contour of his bare chest.
The exact second she made direct physical contact, the absolute ocean of refined life energy circulating beneath his skin slammed her system with an unutterable, intoxicating level of temptation.
It was an unavoidable biological reality. Li Ke's physical architecture had long since expanded past the structural definition of a baseline human being. The overlapping optimization traits acquired from multiple high-tier universes meant that to Nezuko's parched demonic senses, his body was the literal equivalent of a pristine oasis manifesting in the center of a barren desert!
Furthermore, a profound evolutionary instinct flared within her soul, communicating an undeniable truth: if she could consume even a microscopic fragment of this man's flesh, her biological matrix would instantly undergo a staggering, unprecedented mutation!
The sheer volume of the temptation triggered a wild impulse to part her jaws and sink her teeth into his frame. Yet, her carefully preserved human consciousness immediately pushed back, screaming that she must never consume a human being. Trapped in a violent internal deadlock while the intoxicating scent refused to dissipate, a steady stream of crystal-clear saliva began continuously spilling past the edges of her bamboo muzzle.
Amused by the sudden dampness against his skin, Li Ke tilted his chin down to inspect his lap. Seeing the young demon girl staring at his chest muscles with completely glazed, hyper-focused eyes, he let out a low chuckle.
"What's the matter? You want a bite?"
The moment the question left his lips, Shinobu Kocho shot him a fiercely disapproving, icy glare from her saddle. Simultaneously, Li Ke could feel Tanjiro's entire frame instantly lock up with a massive surge of overprotective anxiety right behind his back.
Nezuko froze, blinking up at him. She instinctively nodded her head in honest compliance, before violently shaking it in a frantic panic. She scrambled to pull her limbs tightly inward, curling her small frame into a rigid ball to physically distance her senses from his bare chest, desperately trying to stop his intoxicating life energy from driving her into a feeding frenzy!
Her reaction was beautifully transparent—first acknowledging her base demonic cravings, before forcefully demonstrating her absolute, unyielding resolve to never act upon them.
Li Ke was entirely willing to place his structural trust in this incredibly endearing canon heroine. Of course, his willingness to trust her would be exponentially higher if she were currently projecting her mature, adult-proportioned combat form instead of her adolescent state!
"Though it makes me wonder... can a demon actually sustain their existence by consuming vital reproductive fluids instead of human flesh?"
Li Ke harbored a profound, scientific curiosity regarding this specific biological gray area. From an analytical perspective, ordinary human meat possessed absolute zero nutritional density when measured against a demon's staggering cellular regeneration rate. If the underlying mechanism relied on the harvesting of human souls, that hypothesis was equally flawed; the lingering spirit of Kanae Kocho continuously trailed right alongside Shinobu's horse, manifesting within his visual field whenever he activated his Observation Haki.
Furthermore, his sensory tracking confirmed that the souls of various ordinary citizens who had historically fallen prey to demons had already smoothly departed for the underworld.
Consequently, it was a logical certainty that demons weren't digesting the spiritual essence of their victims.
Then what exact biological or energetic component contained within the human anatomy was actively fueling their supernatural mutations, maintaining their bizarre blood arts, and driving their near-immortal cellular recovery?
If the system simply required any premium, concentrated biological tissue produced by a human host, would high-density cellular fluids like semen technically fulfill the baseline operational requirements?
If his modern memory of the lore served him correctly, the Demon Slayer universe contained individuals possessing a rare, hyper-concentrated genetic trait known as "Marechi" blood. This specific fluid composition was so intoxicatingly potent that demons lacked the physiological capacity to resist it, empirically proving that specialized bodily fluids could easily satisfy a demon's systemic resource demands.
So, would vital reproductive fluids translate across that same mechanical threshold?
Li Ke was genuinely, profoundly curious about the biological parameters. Unfortunately, every single demon he had crossed paths with thus far had either already heavily indulged in consuming human populations, or had permanently mutated into a grotesque, multi-legged arachnid horror. Nezuko was the singular anomalous test subject who had maintained a pristine record of absolute zero human consumption while operating under a demonic curse.
Unable to contain his academic intrigue any longer, he casually voiced the inquiry aloud to the group.
"Tell me—what exact material component or biological substance inside the human anatomy are demons actually trying to harvest when they consume a person?"
Li Ke's highly improper, analytical question nearly caused Shinobu to lose her balance and tumble straight off her galloping horse. Given her recent intensive physical marathons with the man, her mind instantaneously routed the inquiry to its absolute most scandalous, degenerate implication. Deducing that Li Ke was actively contemplating cohabitating with a demon through highly unconventional means of physical sustenance, she shot back a frosty, immediate answer.
"I have absolute zero knowledge on the matter, nor do I possess a single shred of interest in investigating it."
Her response was entirely accurate. She didn't have a clue about their internal biology.
Because her entire lifetime of specialized medical research had been single-mindedly engineered around a singular directive: figuring out the most efficient way to slaughter them!
The highly taboo nature of the topic left both Kamado siblings completely paralyzed with embarrassment, but Tanjiro ultimately summoned his courage to speak up in defense of his sister.
"Um... excuse me, Lord Li Ke! Nezuko doesn't actually require any form of physical nourishment to survive! She manages to fully stabilize her energy reserves and recover her stamina simply by sleeping...!"
Tanjiro eagerly wanted to establish a definitive baseline separating his younger sister from ordinary, human-eating ghouls. However, if Li Ke's modern memory of the original plot served him correctly, wasn't Nezuko's most game-breaking genetic anomaly her eventual complete immunity to sunlight?
Yet, watching her currently clutching the tattered piece of travel linen, meticulously shielding every single millimeter of her skin from the refracting solar rays in his lap, Li Ke abandoned any reckless ideas of testing that hypothesis in the field.
At the end of the day, his baseline familiarity with the granular lore of Demon Slayer was heavily compromised!
"Understood," Li Ke nodded calmly.
Following his brief acknowledgment, the entire party fell into a dense, unyielding silence, focusing entirely on maintaining their marching pace.
The psychological atmosphere hanging over the valley had simply become far too eerie to sustain casual banter!
The remaining segment of their journey progressed with an uncanny, near-absolute tranquility. Though they crossed paths with several more of those transparent, matter-erasing human profiles along the way, Li Ke utilized his high-precision sensory tracking to map out minor tactical detours, effortlessly bypassing their static perimeters and safely guiding the convoy toward their target destination.
The exact moment they crossed a specific geographical threshold, the visual fabric of reality ceased to glitch exclusively for Li Ke—it violently buckled and warped within the sight of every single individual in the party.
The natural aesthetic of standard Japanese mountain ranges and lush green forests was utterly erased from existence. Materializing right before their eyes was an endless expanse of absolute, abyssal terrain.
The transition executed with instantaneous, jarring velocity; one microsecond they were navigating a familiar trail, and the next, the 'normal' world was violently extinguished, leaving nothing but a rolling, contiguous chain of pitch-black mountains!
The bedrock beneath their boots was entirely composed of thick, rotting black slime. Worse still, rising out of the abyssal mire were hundreds of thousands of pulsing, highly irregular tentacles, weaving and interlocking with one another to explicitly mimic the structural architecture of forest trees. Aside from their uniformly ink-black pigmentation, their biological configurations perfectly mirrored the limbs and branches of the timber they had observed hours prior!
Yet, the atmospheric anomalies extended far past the landscape. The daytime sky was instantly smothered by an unnatural, suffocating darkness, illuminated only by a sprawling canopy of colossal cosmic stars that pulsed with a blinding, aggressive radiance. Blazing prisms of seven-colored starlight cascaded down through the void like literal planetary light pillars, erratically scrawling across the abyssal valleys.
Whenever the horses' hooves skirted the edge of the pitch-black lakes, the disturbed water would ignite with swirling ripples of liquid luminescence, inducing a jarring sensory hallucination that made them feel as though they were stepping directly into the heart of a cosmic galaxy.
It was a structural certainty—they had officially breached the monster's lair.
Consequently, when a colossal, towering titan clad in a tattered, pale yellow robe—his exposed flesh entirely forged from shifting star-fields and blinding cosmic radiance—abruptly materialized across their path, Li Ke didn't exhibit a single shred of astonishment.
"DUA.KFQ... (An immense string of completely unintelligible syllables)."
A wave of utterly alien, non-Euclidean phonetics rumbled from the titan's colossal jaws. Li Ke's modern linguistic database possessed absolute zero capability to decipher the raw auditory sequence, yet his systemic awareness seamlessly translated the underlying conceptual intent directly into his consciousness.
"Ah, so the Fire-Keeper seeking to violently rekindle the fading embers, accompanied by the designated Cleaner of this world, have formally breached my perimeter? Very well. It appears active combat is our singular remaining choice... Step forward! Let us see if your mortal frame possesses the structural integrity to withstand the unbridled weight of the stars!"
As the cosmic translation finalized in his mind, the yellow-robed titan violently swung his massive fist forward, launching a crushing physical strike aimed straight at Li Ke's position. Simultaneously, the towering pillars of prismatic starlight cascading from the celestial void rapidly shifted focus, raining down across the camp.
The cascading rays didn't inflict a direct, kinetic impact upon contact, yet as Mai Shiranui froze in momentary bewilderment, she was suddenly slammed by an excruciating, volcanic surge of agony tearing through her internal organs! Her very skin began to warp and bubble as if it were actively dissolving under a wave of high-density radiation!
Her cognitive faculties practically ceased to function. Behind her, Shinobu Kocho and Mitsuri Kanroji collapsed violently onto the black mire, instantly vomiting mouthfuls of dark blood!
Shinobu's condition was by far the most catastrophic. The precise microsecond she vomited blood, thick, viscous fragments of internal tissue tore past her lips. The exact instant those biological fragments exited her mouth, her nervous system completely lost all sensory feedback from her lungs! Yet, paradoxically, she couldn't register a single shred of physical pain. Even as she weakly lifted her arm, watching her own fingers turn eerily translucent and bubble as they began to liquefy, her mind processed the horrific biological decay with an absolute, terrifying numbness!
To be entirely precise, every single pathway responsible for communicating physical pain across her body had been instantaneously short-circuited and extinguished!
She pieced together the reality of their tactical situation in a single flash of absolute clarity.
Her body was actively dissolving!
Under the unbridled weight of this cosmic radiation, their cellular structures were being systematically turned to liquid!
The cascading prisms of starlight saturated the environment so completely that executing a standard physical dodge was a mathematical impossibility. Li Ke's frame, in particular, was targeted by millions of highly concentrated, lethal light pillars—and yet—
Li Ke felt himself filling with an unprecedented, earth-shattering surge of raw power!
The exact microsecond the specialized cosmic starlight slammed into his flesh, the dormant essence of Alexstrasza's Blessing woven deep within his genetic matrix reacted as if it had just been violently plugged into a high-voltage cosmic reactor! An immense, untamed ocean of life-giving energy spontaneously manifested out of nothingness, completely flooding his biological pathways!
Casting a sharp glance at his collapsing companions, Li Ke didn't hesitate for a single fraction of a second. He forcefully routed every single drops of this newly acquired, overclocked energy straight into the hilt of his massive greatsword. A roaring crescent of azure flames, heavily laced with crackling arcs of wild purple lightning, vibrated violently along the steel edge. Under the pressure of his rapidly multiplying physical stats, the core thermodynamic properties of his Red Dragon Fire violently mutated, shifting from a deep crimson into a blinding, brilliant gold that burned with the absolute authority of a pristine morning sun!
The yellow-robed titan stared down at Li Ke in absolute, unadulterated bewilderment. His booming vocals remained a chaotic, maddening slurry of phonetics to the ears of the collapsing slayers, yet the underlying concept translated into Li Ke's consciousness with pristine, crystal-clear definition.
"How is this statistically possible?! A mere mortal mortal capable of directly absorbing the primordial radiation of the stars—!"
The cosmic titan desperately drove his colossal fist downward. This time, he didn't rely on remote stellar light; he weaponized the full, devastating kinetic mass of his own star-fleshed limb to crush the anomaly.
But Li Ke had already completed his swing.
He aggressively unleashed his greatsword in a titanic, sweeping arc. The brilliant gold solar flames, carrying a devastating surge of azure lightning and raw thermodynamic heat, erupted outward with a reality-splitting velocity that completely defied Li Ke's own baseline understanding of combat physics. In a single microsecond, the roaring golden shockwave entirely engulfed the colossal form of the yellow-robed titan!
The exact instant the strike cleared his blade, Li Ke could feel that the localized reserve of Alexstrasza's divine blessing—the pristine spark the Dragonqueen had personally anchored within his soul—had been entirely burned to absolute zero.
However, the empirical damage output of the sacrifice was nothing short of miraculous.
The moment the blinding golden conflagration dispersed into the void, the colossal physical frame of the yellow-robed titan violently fractured into millions of jagged, crystalline shards. The precise microsecond the cosmic architecture ruptured, the shards instantly dissolved into a towering, cascading waterfall of shimmering golden motes, raining down across the abyssal landscape like a heavy sheet of glowing snow.
Standing amidst the descending starlight, Li Ke slowly, deliberately lifted his right hand.
Trapped in a brief moment of anxious anticipation, he closed his eyes and reached deep into his core to summon his personal command over thermodynamic manipulation once more. He remembered with absolute clarity that he possessed the systematic capability to forge his own draconic flames from scratch.
He willed the energy to manifest—and this time—
The Red Dragon Fire that ignited across his palm...
Was a brilliant, unyielding gold.