For the next few days, Sui continued sparring with Yoriichi Type Zero.
But no matter what she did, she could not recapture that first sensation.
Something was missing.
She sheathed her blade and gave a faint shake of her head.
By now, dusk had already fallen. In the distance, Kanamori Tecchin approached after seeing her finish training, as he did every day, to oil and repair the puppet.
To be honest, despite all these days of training, only a few scratches had appeared on its outer shell. The Thunder Hashira's control over her strength was terrifyingly precise. During practice, she almost never damaged the puppet at all.
"Thunder Hashira-sama, is there anything you need?" Tecchin asked when he noticed the slight furrow in her brow.
"No, nothing." Sui replied. "You won't need to trouble yourself anymore after this. My training ends here."
"Have I failed you somehow?" Tecchin asked hurriedly.
"You've already done something amazing for me. Training always has to end eventually. Yoriichi Type Zero helped me a great deal. Thank you. And thank you as well, Yoriichi Type Zero."
Sui brought her hands together and bowed toward the puppet in prayer, then turned and bowed seriously to Tecchin too.
"By the way… Haganezuka-san has been found, hasn't he?" Tecchin asked.
"Yes. The chief said he disappeared because he'd been training like a madman in the back mountains."
"Training? Hah, that does sound like Haganezuka. That guy is always saying that if swordsmen risk their lives against demons, then swordsmiths cannot afford to fall behind." Tecchin sighed. "Honestly, Haganezuka is handsome enough, but his personality is far too strange. That's why, even in his thirties, no girl is willing to marry him."
"Haganezuka-san is an excellent smith. He's polishing a blade for me now—a Nichirin Blade from the Warring States era."
"Really? That's incredible!" Tecchin exclaimed.
"Mhm," Sui nodded with narrowed, smiling eyes.
"Then I'll take my leave. Please take care, Tecchin-san." Sui said. "Your body doesn't have much time left, does it? If you can, spend a little more of it with Kotetsu."
The man, who had been putting the wooden crate away, froze in place.
"So you already knew." He gave a bitter smile.
Sui returned the borrowed Nichirin Blade, then left beneath the gathering night.
Night. The slope leading to the hot spring.
A swordsmith in wooden clogs and a bath towel wrapped around himself came humming down the steps.
The night was black, with a crescent moon hanging high overhead and laying pale moonlight across the stone stairs.
"Maybe I soaked too long… my head's a little fuzzy," the smith muttered to himself. "Honestly, I've been getting slack lately. I have to get up early tomorrow and work."
His clogs clacked crisply against the steps—then he suddenly stopped.
"Hm? Why is there a pot here?"
On the landing ahead sat a white ceramic jar painted with trailing willow branches and purple flowers.
The smith frowned in puzzlement. It had definitely not been there when he came up earlier.
"Did someone leave it behind?" He scratched his head and stepped closer. "That's dangerous. What if someone passes by and breaks it?"
He bent down and reached out to pick it up.
"Huh?"
A mass of black water suddenly surged from the jar's mouth, swallowing him in an instant. Within the water, it felt as though a pair of powerful arms had seized him, pinned him down, twisted his muscles, snapped his bones, and forcibly crammed his entire adult body into the jar.
The mouth of the jar was stained with blood.
The ceramic vessel bounced once in place, then toppled over. From its opening spilled black water in great quantities—along with the smith's shriveled corpse.
The flowing black liquid gathered itself into a grotesque human shape.
Pale skin. A face with mouth and eyes reversed. Infant-like arms dangling from both sides of its body and cheeks. And a vertical eye split open on its forehead, marked with Upper Rank, while the eyeball lodged in its mouth rolled and revealed the character for Five.
Upper Rank Five. Gyokko.
"Ptooey, ptooey!" Gyokko stuck out his tongue. "As expected, these mountain swordsmiths are disgusting to eat. The meat is nowhere near as good as that of infants and little children."
"So this is the Swordsmith Village, hm? If I destroy this place and wring the source of Nichirin material out of the chief, I'll be able to find the Blue Spider Lily that Lord Muzan wants! Lord Muzan will surely think more highly of me then. That little fox brat—barely more than ten years old—and she dares lord it over me, even sneering that my pots are ugly!"
Gyokko's face bulged with veins, every eye and mouth twisting in rage.
The Upper Rank meeting had been held not long ago.
Gyokko had been shocked by Upper Rank Three Akaza's death. Worse, that former Lower Rank brat had suddenly climbed above him. Hantengu said nothing, but both Gyokko and Daki had been deeply dissatisfied.
The moment Daki mocked the fox demon's true face as hideous, her head had been lopped off.
The fox demon, Miwazuki, had then held Daki's severed head and spoken to it as casually as if they were still conversing face to face. Even Gyutaro's Blood Demon Art had been brushed aside with ease, proving that the current Upper Rank Six was no match for the fox at all. Gyokko had kept his own mouth shut during the quarrel—
Because the fox had attacked him first the moment she appeared.
A powerful brat. But an infuriating one.
Gyokko's features twisted. She had inherited the title of Upper Rank Three by directly devouring the former holder, Akaza—a brutally direct succession. He could not beat the fox. Upper Rank Six could not beat her. Hantengu could only sit there crying. And Upper Rank Two, Doma, was strangely friendly toward the new Upper Rank Three. Before Gyokko knew it, everyone had accepted that creature as the new Upper Rank Three.
Miwazuki had said she already had a lead on the Blue Spider Lily.
The materials used to forge Nichirin Blades—scarlet crimson iron sand and scarlet crimson ore—only appeared in places that received the most sunlight, perfectly matching the conditions where the Blue Spider Lily would grow.
And if that was true, then the Swordsmith Village would certainly have elders or the village chief safeguarding that secret.
That was where Gyokko would make his mark.
It just so happened that he had something to report.
One of the villagers had purchased one of his pots and kept it in their home. At last, he had managed to pinpoint the exact location of the Swordsmith Village.
That important piece of intelligence had finally made Lord Muzan spare him another glance. But then Miwazuki had spoken up and revealed the location of the Ubuyashiki estate—information pulled from the memories of the former Flame Hashira. Even Lord Muzan himself had shown delight at that news, and Gyokko had nearly gone mad with jealousy.
"If you permit me, I can go and take Ubuyashiki's head for you as well," Upper Rank One, who had remained silent for so long, finally said.
"No." The Demon King standing at the highest point of the pavilion had rejected the proposal at once.
"I want the Blue Spider Lily. Then I will stand beneath the sun and go see Ubuyashiki myself." The Demon King's voice was cold. "Let him live a little longer. If he dies before he sees me standing in sunlight, that would be too much of a pity."
"Now then—destroy the Swordsmith Village and obtain information on the Blue Spider Lily, Gyokko… and Doma as well."
"Do not disappoint me."
Even now, the cold, heavy echo of the Demon King's voice still reverberated in the deepest part of Gyokko's mind.
He trembled with excitement.
In the night, he gazed at the village not far away.
"All those who dare oppose Lord Muzan… will be slaughtered."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
My patreon : patreon.com/queen_sin