Hearing Gyutaro's words, a spark of hope flickered through the darkness of Izumi Kiyokazu's mind.
Without a moment's hesitation, he scrambled toward the basket that had been tossed haphazardly into the corner. He shoved aside a pile of firewood at the top, and at the very bottom, he found two rice balls wrapped in a clean cloth.
The rice had gone hard, and due to the wounds on Gyutaro's back, both the cloth and the food were stained with smears of blood.
These two rice balls were what Gyutaro had traded his life for; they were the surprise he had prepared for his sister the night before. Looking at the blood on them, Qinghe knew exactly how much these meant to the siblings.
But now was not the time for sentimentality!
He grabbed one of the rice balls and began gorging himself, shoving it into his mouth.
The grains had turned brittle and dry from sitting out, but unlike the first one he'd eaten, this one was mixed with a small amount of wild greens. Though it tasted bitter after sitting overnight, to Qinghe at this moment, it was as delicious as a grand imperial banquet.
He didn't eat both. One was enough to stabilize his body's immediate needs. Gyutaro was also incredibly weak; if Qinghe couldn't bring back enough food and medicine, the elder brother likely wouldn't survive, even with the aid of a breathing technique. For safety's sake, he had to leave one rice ball behind for emergencies.
As soon as he swallowed the food, the circulation of Sun Breathing accelerated instantly. The immediate effect was so potent it even surprised Qinghe. As warmth began to flow through his limbs following his breath, he could feel his body steadily recovering.
Once he was certain he had enough strength to swing a blade, Qinghe turned to look at Gyutaro.
Gyutaro's eyes were tightly shut, his brow furrowed in a mask of agony. His chest rose and fell in a peculiar rhythm. Qinghe could tell it was a style very close to Sun Breathing, though it lacked the refined efficiency of the original. Even so, it was working; Gyutaro's face had shifted from a deathly pallor to a slightly more healthy hue.
"I'll bring Ume back safely. Don't you dare die!"
Qinghe left only those words. He placed the remaining rice ball beside Gyutaro and, using his partially recovered strength, charged out the door.
Sun Breathing was different from other styles. From the moment Qinghe had acquired it, he realized its unique nature. While Thunder Breathing emphasized speed and Serpent Breathing focused on physical flexibility, every derivative style had its own specialization.
Sun Breathing, as the Progenitor, was the master key.
Qinghe could use Sun Breathing to reverse-derive the techniques and movements of all other styles, potentially reaching a level of power even greater than the derivatives themselves. For example, by concentrating the power of Sun Breathing into his legs, he could explode with speed comparable to Thunder Breathing; by focusing it into his hands, he could achieve the fluid versatility of Water Breathing.
In the original story, Tanjiro's extraordinary "sense of smell" and "hard head" were essentially subconscious applications of Sun Breathing's potential.
Now, Qinghe focused the power of Sun Breathing into his olfactory senses. In an instant, Ume's scent appeared before his eyes like a vivid, colored ribbon flowing through a black-and-white world.
Without hesitation, he sprinted off, tracking her scent with staggering speed.
Meanwhile, in a small clinic on the outskirts of Yoshiwara.
Ume stood at the counter, her small hands tightly clutching the copper coins her brother had earned. The air was thick with the scent of herbs. The clinic was poorly lit; even in the afternoon, it remained gloomy and dim. In this environment, Ume looked exceptionally vulnerable and small.
The doctor was a man in his forties, clean-shaven with a bloated, pale face. He glanced at the money Ume had placed on the counter, then looked her up and down.
Though Ume was wearing oversized, ill-fitting clothes, her beautiful silver hair and the bright face beneath the intentionally smeared grime caught his eye. A lecherous glint flickered in his narrow eyes.
"This is all you have?"
The middle-aged doctor let out a mocking sneer. His short, fat fingers tapped on the counter with a dull thud. His voice was heavy with nasal contempt.
"Your money wouldn't even cover the cost of a styptic, let alone anything to actually nourish the body!"
Hearing this, Ume's heart sank to the pit of her stomach. She stared at the prices listed under the various medicines, feeling a wave of despair. She knew the money might be tight, but she hadn't expected it to be this far off—she couldn't even afford basic medicine to stop the bleeding.
Thinking of the two people lying in pools of blood back at the shack, Ume didn't hesitate. She dropped to her knees and pleaded in a voice choked with tears.
"Please, sell me the medicine first! I promise I'll pay you back later. I need it right now, as soon as my..."
Before she could finish, the doctor rudely cut her off.
"If the money isn't enough, then pay with something else! If you really want to save your family, brat, then..."
At this point, he dropped all pretense. He looked at Ume and laid his cards on the table.
"I can give you the medicine. But only on the condition that you stay with me for a while. As for how long... that depends on the value of the medicine you need."
A chill surged from the soles of Ume's feet to her forehead. Growing up in a place like Yoshiwara, how could she not understand what he meant?
Seeing Ume's pale face and her look of visceral revulsion, the doctor's expression soured.
"Either produce enough coin or agree to my terms! If you won't do either, then get the hell out! Don't waste my business!"
As he spoke, he reached out, lunging to grab Ume's clothing. He made it look as if he were trying to shove her away, but in reality, he was trying to grope her.
Looking at the oncoming hand, a look of agonized despair crossed Ume's face. But in that exact moment, a dagger shimmering with a faint red light whistled through the air from outside. It struck with unerring precision, piercing through the doctor's wrist.
Before the man could even scream, Izumi Kiyokazu was already there. He clamped a hand over the doctor's mouth and slammed him violently into the floor.
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