The Ubuyashiki family's mansion was very secluded.
A black crow circled in the sky and descended, flying into the elegant courtyard and landing on the veranda.
Kuno, the current head of the Ubuyashiki family and leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, strolled over.
The man had smooth black hair that fell past his ears, an approachable demeanor, gentle eyes, and wore wooden clogs.
"It's Yanagiwara..."
Kuno Ubuyashiki recognized the crow.
Yanagiwara was an outstanding swordsman among the Otsuki-ranked Demon Slayer Corps members and a successor to the Wind Breathing style. He had been assigned to a place called Camellia Hill to find and slay demons. Now that this crow had returned, his mission was likely completed.
Kuno smiled faintly, feeling relieved.
He cared about the safety of every Demon Slayer Corps member.
They were all shouldering a mission, working together to fulfill a wish.
To slay Muzan Kibutsuji.
It was just a pity that in his generation, they had never found Muzan's whereabouts.
"Mysterious person! Black haori... strange breathing style, killed a demon..."
Yanagiwara hopped to Kuno's feet, tilted its head, and looked at its master, suddenly exclaiming.
"Hmm?"
Upon hearing this, Kuno's expression changed slightly.
He quickly crouched down, took the letter from Yanagiwara's leg, unfolded it, and read it carefully.
Then, his gaze became vacant...
The paper contained Yanagiwara's report on the mission, which detailed a man.
Using an ordinary samurai sword, he killed the demon with a single blow, decapitating it.
"..."
The white paper fell from his hand. Kuno's expression shifted from daze to ecstatic joy and excitement.
His family bloodline was cursed by Muzan, and most of them didn't live long... To fulfill their long-held wish, the Ubuyashiki family dedicated themselves to helping the Demon Slayer Corps members, doing everything they could.
Although they couldn't personally wield swords and fight, they contributed in other ways, such as using their intelligence network to gather information on demons in advance, minimizing casualties among the Demon Slayer Corps, or facilitating conveniences through the Shogunate.
There was also the 'Invisibles' unit and the coordination with frontline members.
Ensuring the Demon Slayer Corps functioned as a whole, protecting the information of each member, preventing them from being targeted by demons, and so on.
There were also plans to be made for different missions... these intricate details all fell on him to arrange. It was too much.
It was very draining.
But there was no choice... As the head of the Ubuyashiki family, Kuno also wished he could hunt demons alongside the members, but he couldn't.
He had tried wielding a sword, but with his body, even the simplest action of swinging a sword was incredibly difficult.
He could only burn himself out in this way.
Every generation of Ubuyashiki heads had tried to train like him... expressing their defiance against fate. Unfortunately, the curse placed upon them was too great.
Everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps was like him; they didn't care about their own lives or deaths. What they cared about more... was the inheritance of will.
Due to his momentary excitement, Kuno couldn't help but let out a guttural sound and spit out a mouthful of blood.
Blood splattered on the wooden floor. He paid it no mind, slowly clenching his hands that were supporting his body into fists. His usually calm and serene eyes instantly became sharp, and his voice was filled with excitement: "It has appeared... It has actually appeared. The wheels of fate have finally begun to turn."
"I have finally waited for this glimmer of dawn in the darkness."
A white-haired woman behind him moved close, comforting her husband's emotions.
Kuno's two children quickly turned around and skillfully went to get medicine.
"Ena... do you know what this means? This person... this swordsman who can slay demons in the dark with an ordinary weapon! His appearance has opened a new door of hope. Besides sunlight, demons have another fatal weakness! Muzan Kibutsuji... a crack that cannot be erased has appeared in his destiny..."
"I understand," Ubuyashiki Ena replied calmly.
As a descendant of a lineage of Shinto priests, Ena had foreseen some blurry images in her dreams a few days prior.
She could only sense a hint of an opportunity.
Some power had suddenly appeared, an arm gently pushing them out of the 'mud.'
Yes, they were deeply mired in the mud.
Looking at the Demon Slayer Corps' achievements over the generations, although they had been continuously eliminating demons and fighting Muzan... the results were minimal. Not only had the Demon Slayer Corps failed to find Muzan, the mastermind behind it all, but many members, including Hashira-level swordsmen, had also died at the hands of demons.
From this perspective, their war against demons had always been at a disadvantage.
If not for the Ubuyashiki family uniting everyone's will, if not for everyone holding onto their beliefs, the Demon Slayer Corps would have been in danger of annihilation at any moment... losing the qualification to fight demons.
Muzan now probably didn't even take the Demon Slayer Corps seriously.
Every time news of a member's death arrived, Kuno, though seemingly calm, was in immense pain and torment. As his wife, Ena knew this all too well.
Therefore, a few days ago, she had shared her premonition with Kuno.
However, Kuno had analyzed the situation and couldn't find the opportunity for her premonition in any aspect... He had initially speculated that it might be a Pillar in the Demon Slayer Corps who had suddenly 'awakened' and possessed unparalleled combat power, or perhaps the Swordsmith Village had invented some technique to enhance the power of the Nichirin Blades.
But he had ultimately dismissed both possibilities...
As the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps, Kuno understood everything with utmost thoroughness and dared not be careless... He knew the strength of every Pillar and the foundation of the Swordsmith Village.
He firmly believed in his 'comrades,' but he also dared not underestimate Muzan...
To be honest, the probability of the opportunity appearing within their own ranks was extremely slim.
He had even prepared himself to, within his remaining time, do his best to maintain the current number of Demon Slayer Corps members... and pass on this will intact and in good condition.
In his generation, he no longer held any hope.
He began to focus on cultivating the next generation.
Passing the baton down...
This was his mission, and the greatest effort he could make for the Demon Slayer Corps.
He hated his own powerlessness.
However... the balance had been broken.
With the appearance of one person...
Who is he?
This was Kuno's subconscious thought. For so many years, they had fought against Muzan Kibutsuji for a long time... The Demon Slayer Corps had gathered all the outstanding juniors, collected all the information and intelligence that could be used against demons. Logically, there should be no omissions.
If such a power truly existed, the Ubuyashiki family would have found out long ago...
At this moment, it could only mean... it was a dereliction of duty on the part of the Ubuyashiki family.
After the initial excitement, Kuno felt more self-reproach and regret. If he had known earlier that such a power existed in the world... then perhaps fewer companions would be sleeping under gravestones on the mountain.
"Black haori..."
"Gather all the Pillars!"
Kuno grabbed his wife's sleeve and said in a deep voice.
"Okay."
...
A few days later, the Hashira-level swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps, having received the news, arrived at the mansion one after another.
A total of seven.
Five of them represented the inheritors of the five major breathing styles derived from Sun Breathing.
Water, Thunder, Stone, Flame, Wind.
Or rather, in the history of the Demon Slayer Corps, the outstanding individuals who became Pillars were primarily from these five major styles.
The remaining two were a variation derived from Thunder Breathing, the Light Breathing.
And one was Iron Breathing, derived from Stone Breathing.
The five basic breathing styles, with their relatively complete inheritance, were more meticulously developed and suitable for most people. Compared to niche breathing styles, they were easier to learn... hence the largest number of practitioners.
As for niche and unconventional breathing styles like Light Breathing or Iron Breathing, the reason they were difficult to pass down was that they were created by swordsmen of a certain generation based on their specific circumstances. They were not suitable for everyone, and the training methods and foundations were incomplete... Many lineages were eventually broken.
Throughout the history of the Demon Slayer Corps, many variations of breathing styles had appeared. Some were powerful, while others were relatively mediocre... Most were fleeting, and very few were remembered.
Niche breathing styles had too many limitations and no practical significance for inheritance... It was difficult for others to learn them.
They had relatively strict requirements for cultivation methods and physical condition, making it hard to find inheritors.
They were like custom-made special skills, hence, among all breathing styles, only those five were steadfast.
To put it bluntly, the creation time for these styles was too short, and they hadn't been studied and developed in detail.
Swordsmen were entirely focused on demons, with little energy left for other things, naturally unable to compare with the breathing styles of the five major basic schools that had been refined over time.
The seven Pillars gathered together. They all looked young, with the oldest being in his early thirties.
From this, it was not difficult to see the frequency of Pillar replacements... and the casualty rate from fighting demons.
In some eras, the situation was so dire that the Demon Slayer Corps changed Pillars several times in just one year... Some, in their early teens, had already become Pillars, all very young.
Of course, to become a Pillar, both strength and talent were essential.
Before arriving, the seven Pillars had already received the news and had a general understanding of the situation.
Yanagiwara, as the messenger, also arrived at the mansion.
In front of everyone, he reported on his mission, recounting the process of being saved by a mysterious person that night.
"Could it be that some kind of drug was applied to his sword to achieve that effect?" the current Water Pillar asked after listening, expressing his opinion.
After all, using ordinary weapons to destroy a demon's life force was too unbelievable.
He preferred to make a 'rational' inference.
"Are you talking about Wisteria?"
The Thunder Pillar, sitting cross-legged, stroked his chin and looked at his friend.
"Hey, are you sure it was an ordinary samurai sword? Did you see it clearly? It might have been a Nichirin Blade, just looked ordinary, and was definitely forged with Tamahagane steel..." another person questioned Yanagiwara, staring at him.
"Yanagiwara wouldn't be mistaken."
The Wind Pillar spoke up for his junior disciple, "Besides, every Nichirin Blade comes from the Swordsmith Village... they are numbered, and cannot fall into the hands of outsiders. No one else can master the method and skill of forging Nichirin Blades..."
"Where is he?"
"I inquired. Someone of his stature would be very conspicuous. Before I left to come here, he should have been staying in the town at the foot of Mount Okumoto Toriyama."
"Mount Okumoto Toriyama, where is that? I think I've heard of it..."
A man with flame-like red hair asked enthusiastically.
"Idiot."
The woman kneeling beside him rolled her eyes.
"Ah... I remember!"
Rengoku Kyojuro clapped his hands, revealing a row of big white teeth.
"Regardless, we must meet this person."
At this moment, Ubuyashiki, who had been smiling silently, looked at the chattering Pillars before him and said softly.
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