In the Sengoku period, the reason Lord Muzan was driven to desperate straits was purely because he was facing Elder Brother Yoriichi.
As long as it was Elder Brother Yoriichi, even if he didn't use Sun Breathing, even if you only let him use Water Breathing with relatively the weakest attack power, he could still cut Lord Muzan into pieces!
Conversely, those Sengoku Hashira other than Elder Brother Yoriichi—even if you let them all master Sun Breathing, then together surround and beat Lord Muzan.
They would still only end up being whipped into pieces by Lord Muzan with one strike.
Sun Breathing was far from having that so-called "world-changing" power.
Therefore, Mitsuba herself actually didn't mind at all that the Demon Slayer Corps regained mastery of it.
Because essentially, it was meaningless.
Not to mention Sun Breathing was truly difficult to learn—there were hardly any people in this world who could master it.
Secondly, even if someone learned it, for the current Mitsuba, they would still be fated to be crushed to death with a single thought.
You experienced countless hardships, trained desperately from dawn to dusk daily, honed your physical body to the extreme, repeatedly comprehended between life and death, and finally completely mastered all the essence and mysteries of Sun Breathing techniques.
Just when you experienced countless hardships, constantly challenged powerful enemies, finally walked before that powerful Upper Rank One, preparing to use this strongest Breathing Style in the world that you mastered over many years to engage in a fierce life-and-death battle with her.
You suddenly discovered that the combat power value above her head was ten thousand.
And above yours, was a pitiful ten...
Even more despairing, you didn't even have the chance to see her make a move. You merely saw a flower suddenly appear in her hand...
Then, you died.
Your physical body honed to the extreme through desperate effort, your rich combat experience and techniques, and that so-called strongest Sun Breathing that you exerted all your strength to master...
All of this that you took pride in, you didn't even have the opportunity to display them, and you died just like that...
Yes, that's exactly how it was.
You exerted all your strength, merely to be able to walk before that powerful Upper Rank One, to let her glance at you one more time, then kill you with a light thought.
All your past efforts could only accomplish this much, nothing more.
Incidentally, don't think this is very unfair.
Because even if you purely competed in talent, you still couldn't beat her.
For Tsugikuni Mitsuba, that peerless sword technique was merely the "weakest shortcoming" on her body.
This was the terror of "Karma Demon" Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
Her strength had long transcended the level of pure "power competition," entering the higher realm of "mastering rules."
No matter how strong your power, she could directly craft rules to make you die on the spot.
It was all the same...
So from Mitsuba's perspective, since it was already like this, why not take out these old things to play with, to add a bit more fun to her boring demon life?
Having grown tired of being the evil and ferocious "Upper Rank One," occasionally becoming the just and kind "demon slayer," personally experiencing those bonds and friendships that demon slayers often spoke of.
Wasn't this also quite interesting?
Demon life should be about living happily, after all~
"Are you alright?"
"N-no, I'm fine! Thank you!"
"It's good you're fine. Get up quickly, be careful yourself."
Mount Fujikasane. Mitsuba's figure rapidly shuttled through various parts of the mountain.
With extremely high efficiency, she quickly eliminated the demons that had accumulated in Mount Fujikasane over many years.
The originally planned seven-day selection journey in the mountain, she only used one night to completely exterminate all demons in the mountain.
Most of this time was actually spent traveling back and forth.
Otherwise, for these small demons trapped in the mountain hungry for nearly a year, even if all tied together, for her it would merely be a matter of one breath.
Throughout the entire process, the only thing that could leave some impression on Mitsuba was that Hand Demon hidden in the deepest part.
Unlike other demons in the mountain, this Hand Demon's aura was clearly much stronger.
Mitsuba speculated that before encountering her, this Hand Demon had likely been quietly hiding in Mount Fujikasane for at least twenty years or more.
Twenty years—even if it could only devour one person per year, that would still be over twenty people.
For these prospective swordsmen who came to participate in the Final Selection for the first time, this level of demon was clearly already excessive.
This demon was simply not an existence they could handle at their current stage.
The Demon Slayer Corps could actually have such a huge oversight in their own designed selection?
Mitsuba was greatly shocked.
Lord God, fortunately you encountered me this time and smoothly eliminated it.
Otherwise, who knows how many more of your chess pieces this Hand Demon would kill in the future...
Credit this merit to my account, I'll take it out to offset when I kill demon slayers next time, understood?
Through Mitsuba's active efforts, of the twenty-one prospective swordsmen who came to participate in this selection, none died.
By merely the second day, everyone had already gathered at the mountaintop.
"What are you looking at?"
Among them, Mitsuba was the first to arrive.
Last night after killing all demons in the mountain, she immediately came to this highest point of Mount Fujikasane, sitting alone on that large rock, staring intently at the direction where the sun would rise in the east.
It was now dawn, the horizon whitening. That blazing sun was about to rise from below the horizon.
"I'm looking at the sun."
Facing the questioning voice beside her, Mitsuba merely replied without turning her head, her gaze still fixed on the sunrise direction.
"Why look at the sun?"
The voice asked again.
"I'm watching how it rises."
"Is this special?"
"For me it's special, because I haven't properly looked at it for a very long time in the past..."
The voice beside her asked no more.
Mitsuba also didn't speak again. She just kept her eyes wide open, staring continuously.
Until that ball of fiery red light completely rose from the horizon, thoroughly dispersing the darkness of the night sky, until that blazing light illuminated the face of this human body of hers.
Only then did a trace of a smile finally appear on her face.
"As beautiful as ever..."
Letting out a sigh of emotion, only at this moment did Mitsuba withdraw her gaze, turning to look at the person beside her.
"Ah, Owl Swordsman..."
What entered her eyes was a young man with red-and-yellow intermingled hair color, sporting a unique hairstyle resembling an owl.
The young man's face was resolute, clearly that warm and outgoing personality type.
"Owl Swordsman?"
Suddenly being given a nickname by Mitsuba, Rengoku Shinjuro was first stunned, then laughed heartily.
"This nickname is indeed quite fitting! Hello! I'm Rengoku Shinjuro, Flame Breathing swordsman! Can you tell me your name?"
"Tsugikuni Mitsuba, Sun Breathing swordsman, descendant of the Original Breathing Style swordsman.
At the same time, also your future companion who will fight alongside you."
A brilliant smile appearing on her face, Mitsuba smiled and raised her hand, gently grasping the hand Shinjuro extended.
The Child of Destiny also needs companions, does she not?
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(Rengoku Shinjuro is the nihilistic alcoholic train wreck of a father to Flame Hashira from the original canon, meow~)
(Additionally, Ubuyashiki Kagaya who appeared earlier is also the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps from the original work, meow~)
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This story has ended in chapter 315, you can read on patreon.com/dzeref887 for faster access or wait until August to read on WebNovel until the story ends.