"Whew… whew…" Every time Ivan exhaled, two streams of white vapor poured from the corners of his mouth, and as his body temperature kept rising, the patterns on his skin became more and more ferocious.
The originally faint wave-like marks gradually turned into raging torrents, giving off a powerful aura.
Even the temperature around him grew hotter because of his breathing.
So breathing can improve my body's functions too. I can feel all the cells in my body waking up. This increase in power is pretty impressive.
And my mind is getting more focused. What I need to do now is burn this breathing rhythm into my body and turn it into instinct.
Ivan noticed his lungs were expanding and contracting extremely hard under the guidance of the breathing technique.
A normal person's lungs would have exploded like a firework from taking in that much air. But he was different. Thanks to his regeneration talent, his lungs would only grow stronger.
Sss! Hah!
Ivan's lungs worked like a vacuum pump, greedily sucking in the air around him.
Although he still couldn't completely empty the air in front of him to create a vacuum zone, he already had the beginnings of one. At the very least, Urokodaki standing nearby could clearly feel the change in the surrounding air.
What a monster. I don't know if it was the right decision to teach him the breathing technique.
Urokodaki's usually steady face under the mask showed a rare flicker of emotion.
Since he had become a trainer, he had never seen a trainee with such monstrous talent. Even the gifted Giyu Tomioka looked average next to this Edogawa Ivan.
"Your talent leaves me speechless. But I must warn you, opening the marks may give you a huge boost in a short time, but it's a power gained by burning through your lifespan. Generally speaking, people who open the marks early don't live past twenty-five.
I can see you're still young. There's no need to burn through your life for this temporary strength."
However, Urokodaki's kind warning didn't make Ivan stop his breathing.
He kept exhaling hot air while looking toward the setting sun in the distance. "This feeling is really comfortable. You've probably been in a hot spring before. That feeling of heat waves drilling into your skin is incredible. For normal people, this might be burning through their lifespan, but for me it can become part of my daily routine."
"Do as you wish. Once Tanjiro gets here, I'll teach you the ten forms of Water Breathing. After you learn them, you can develop the one that suits you best from those ten forms. Giyu did the same. He is the Water Hashira. With your arrival, the Water Pillar position will soon have two holders."
Urokodaki spoke with some emotion.
"But to become a Hashira you need to meet one of two conditions. First, defeat a member of the Twelve Kizuki. Second, kill fifty demons. So right now you only have the strength of a Hashira, but you aren't one yet. Once you complete one of those two conditions, I'll write to the leader and request you become a new Hashira."
"But the title of Water Hashira is unique. Giyu is like the calm sea while you are more like a raging tsunami ready to destroy everything. So calling you the Roar Hashira, what do you think?"
In Urokodaki's view, Ivan, who could open the marks at will, might not be able to kill an Upper Rank demon, but taking down a Lower Rank from the Twelve Kizuki would be more than enough. So he wasn't worried that Ivan couldn't complete one of the two conditions.
"Not really interested. Besides, what do I get from joining the Demon Slayer Corps?" Ivan said indifferently.
"You can pick any breathing style you want. Don't tell me one Water Breathing is enough for you. That insane ambition in your eyes can be seen clearly even from a thousand meters away."
After hearing Urokodaki's words, Ivan couldn't help throwing his head back and laughing wildly. Steam-like air spread outward. He swung both hands downward and his figure shot into the sky. A massive gust of wind kicked up clouds of dust.
From above the dust, Ivan's voice rang out. "Fine! The heads of the Twelve Kizuki, right? I'll bring them to you tonight."
"Is… is that Ivan Onisama?"
Tanjiro, who had finally reached the wooden house, leaned on his knees, breathing hard, and looked toward where Ivan had disappeared.
He thought he saw some strange patterns on Big Bro Ivan's body. Maybe it was just his imagination.
"Is… is this enough… for you to accept me?" Tanjiro, who had finally caught his breath, turned to look at Urokodaki. Every time he took a breath of fresh air, his dry throat felt like it was being stabbed with needles. Sweat had soaked his forehead with its red burn scar.
"The test has only just begun. Get ready to head up the mountain."
"Ahh!!" Tanjiro let out a shocked sound.
...
At the same time.
Ivan's figure shot toward the distance at incredible speed, propelled by wave after wave of telekinetic force.
"There really aren't many demons around here."
Even when Ivan expanded his electromagnetic sensing range to the maximum, he only picked up a handful of demons, and they were all extremely weak ones.
Ivan had no interest in wasting time on them. His targets were the Twelve Kizuki and Muzan. As for whether he could find the latter, he wasn't holding out much hope.
The guy was ridiculously cautious. He never stayed in one place for long. Add in his ability to change appearance and almost no one could find him.
Soon Ivan spotted a town faintly visible in the distance. This was Japan's Taishō era, celebrated as Taishō Roman or Taishō Romance.
"Hmm?" Ivan's gaze instantly locked onto a wooden house in the town. The house was lavishly decorated with pink bows and ribbons on the pillars out front.
"Finally found a big fish."
Ivan's toes touched the ground lightly. He lifted his head and walked toward the wooden house under the surprised stares of others.
Even though it was night, the lights on the streetlamps were unusually bright.
Most of the houses in the town had a traditional Japanese style, but every now and then you could see one or two modern buildings, like coffee shops and dance halls.
"There's a strong smell of herbs inside. Looks like the previous owner was pretty sick."
Ivan raised his right hand and pushed open the wooden door. Crack! The latch behind the door snapped. Ignoring the fallen wood, he walked straight inside. Suddenly the inner door cracked open a small gap. Then a head with two short white horns on the forehead poked out from the doorway.
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69