Tamiko froze for a moment and covered her mouth. "Ah, sorry. I forgot about Miss Yuko..."
Yuko felt relieved, but did not explain further.
She only said, "As for this, just pretend you didn't hear anything. Leave things as they are. If you happen to see one and want to pick it as a wild vegetable, take it home and eat it."
"The reason I was able to break free of Muzan's control without losing my humanity might be because of it."
Because this was Tanjiro's ancestral home, she could be so certain.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why she had been able to break free of Muzan's control just like Nezuko.
Tamiko thought for a moment, then clenched one hand into a fist and slapped it against her palm. "That's right! I think I picked some back then."
In ancient times, even pregnant farmwives often went into the fields to do simple farm work. Picking a few wild vegetables was even less of a problem.
At this moment, Tanjiki said uneasily, "But the flower is ultimately here. If the Demon King discovers it..."
Before he could finish, Yuko shook her head and interrupted him. "Speaking of that, Brother, you should have seen what the flower looked like when it bloomed, right?"
As she spoke, she looked toward Yoriichi.
Yoriichi pondered for a moment. "It suddenly blossomed, even though there hadn't been so much as a flower bud before."
Yuko nodded slightly. "Yes. It was the same when I first saw it."
"And I didn't pick it at the time. It simply bloomed like that for a few minutes before suddenly withering."
Everyone was somewhat surprised. "A few minutes?"
"So Muzan definitely won't be able to find it."
To be honest, Muzan's intelligence was worrying for someone who was supposed to be a boss.
He could have tempted a whole bunch of powerful nobles with the promise of immortality and had them help search for it.
It would have been easy for those nobles to send hundreds or even thousands of people out to look.
Yet he never trusted anyone and insisted on searching himself.
Yuko said, "So I think that flower probably only blooms during the day in summer."
"If that's the case, then the Demon King really has no way to find it."
Yoriichi turned to look at her. "Do you need to transplant it into the house? It would make it more convenient for you to consume."
Yuko froze for a moment and waved her hands. "Better not. What if such an important flower dies after being transplanted?"
Yoriichi nodded slightly.
The two of them stayed at Tanjiki's home for some time, but only managed to pick several more flowers, all of which ended up in Yuko's stomach.
Though they were still completely useless.
The flower seemed to have even harsher growing conditions than they had imagined. Even in summer, it did not bloom every day.
When summer ended, they said farewell to Tanjiki's family. The next time they met might be when the Spider Lily bloomed the following year.
In the days that followed, Yuko continued practicing Sword Style under Yoriichi's guidance.
She gradually discovered that the gap between herself and Yoriichi was not a gap in Sword Style.
When it came to sword techniques and martial skills, she was certainly inferior to Yoriichi.
Even among sword masters who had reached the highest realm of martial arts, there would be an unimaginable gap between the strong and the weak.
As the saying went, "If you do not cultivate, you see me as a frog at the bottom of a well gazing at the bright moon. If you cultivate, you see me as a mayfly gazing at the blue sky."
Yoriichi's talent and strength were unmatched.
But if one considered only the power of the sword techniques, the Sword Style enhanced by Blood Demon Art was something Yoriichi, as a human, could never surpass.
Therefore, the problem lay in speed and reaction.
She was still far from reaching a speed even the Demon King could not react to.
Yuko began focusing on training her dynamic vision and speed.
Once she became busy, she discovered that time really did pass quickly.
During the day, she meditated at home.
At night, she practiced in the mountains.
And every summer, she and Yoriichi would visit Tanjiki's family.
Each time they went, they managed to harvest several Blue Spider Lilies. Despite having consumed many of them, she still did not feel even the slightest sign of overcoming her weakness to sunlight.
Every attempt left her burned by the sun. The worst time was when her entire body was exposed to sunlight.
The burns covering her whole body were so horrific that if Yoriichi had not acted quickly enough, she would have melted completely.
This made Yuko begin to suspect that she needed to take the flower together with some other medicine.
A figure gradually surfaced in her mind.
Tamayo.
But she had no idea where to find Tamayo.
Besides, as a useless freeloader who only knew how to stay home and mooch off her family, how was she supposed to survive once she left home?
She couldn't exactly sneak into someone's house in the middle of the night and drain their blood, could she?
And so, the matter was delayed.
Another summer arrived.
That year, Yuko was thirty, and Yoriichi was thirty-one.
"Sister Yuko, come out and play~"
Miyare had already grown into a little girl. She affectionately kissed Yuko's cheek, then tugged at her clothes, trying to pull her outside.
Tamiko was cleaning wild vegetables in the house. She scolded her, "No, you can't. Sister Yuko is sick and can't be exposed to the sun."
Yuko smiled and gently patted her head. "Go play with your little brother."
Children did not have so many complicated emotions. After giving an "Okay," she hopped away.
Yuko gently withdrew her gaze.
"Daddy~" Miyare suddenly cried out in delight just after jumping outside.
"I'm back." Carrying a basket on his back, Tanjiki emerged from the woods.
After dealing with his daughter, Tanjiki entered the house.
He took the Spider Lilies from his basket and said, "Miss Yuko, I found two."
Miyare watched curiously. She had heard that her father went out to find medicine to cure Sister Yuko's illness.
Yuko nodded slightly, then glanced at Miyare.
Tamiko immediately understood and said to her daughter, "Miyare, go call your little brother over and help Mommy wash these, okay?"
"Okay~"
Tamiko took the children into the inner room.
Only then did Yuko swallow the Spider Lilies.
Meanwhile, Tanjiki skillfully found several ropes inside the house, wrapped them around Yuko several times, and tied them in place.
Yuko smiled. "Then I'll leave it to you."
Tanjiki nodded solemnly. "Yes. Don't worry, Miss Yuko. The moment anything goes wrong, I'll pull you back."
Yuko nodded lightly and rose to walk outside.
The moment her foot entered the sunlit area, her body quickly began to burn.
Still no good?
Yuko gritted her teeth. After becoming a Demon, wounds caused by ordinary weapons hardly hurt her at all. The sun was different, however. Facing the sunlight directly felt no different from being set on fire and burned to death.
The pain was unbearable.
Tanjiki watched intently. When he saw Yuko's burns becoming increasingly severe, he hurriedly pulled on the ropes.
The taut ropes suddenly snapped. They had actually been burned through, and Tanjiki nearly fell backward.
"Miss Yuko!" he shouted in panic, hurriedly steadying himself and reaching out to drag Yuko back.
Fortunately, Yuko was not far beyond the edge of the shadows.
It hurts!
The moment he touched Yuko's clothes, Tanjiki instinctively pulled his hand back.
"Daddy."
Miyare ran out of the inner room after hearing Tanjiki shout.
"Don't come out! Go back!" Tanjiki turned and shouted.
Miyare froze in place.
This is bad...
Just as Tanjiki's heart tightened with alarm, a hand suddenly rested lightly on his shoulder.
"Don't worry."
Before you continue