The moment Tanjiro said that, several little stress marks popped up on Dan Lei's forehead. How did this kid's mind get so full of dirty thoughts? Dan Lei had said they should examine Nezuko inside and out, and Tanjiro thought he was flirting with a young girl?
Dan Lei was 193 years old, after all. Though among the Chizuru Clan, he was only just an adult—like an ordinary eighteen-year-old young man.
But Dan Lei had been single all his life, across all three of his lives. In his first life, he had been too much of a shut-in, and he hadn't had enough money to go looking for a girlfriend.
His second life had been all about fighting to stay alive. He hadn't had the energy to think about romance.
And in his third life, praise the ridiculous worldview of the Longevity Species. Most people on the Luofu saw themselves as children, and the Chizuru Clan had every advantage—except the ability to have children.
All in all, marrying someone from the Chizuru Clan was about the same as getting a life-size adult toy. The only difference was that you could also find emotional comfort in them.
The classic example was the love story between Xiao Cong and Jingzhai. Xiao Cong, a member of the Chizuru Clan, fell in love with Jingzhai over and over across many reincarnations, and she married him several times. But he died young each time and reincarnated again. In the end, Jingzhai was simply numb to it all. Even though she still had feelings for him, she wasn't planning to rekindle their relationship.
So, although beautiful women were everywhere on the Luofu, they had nothing to do with Dan Lei. After all, in the eyes of the Foxian Clan and the people of the Luofu, most people couldn't accept getting married and then having no children.
As for relationships between members of the Chizuru Clan, well, they had absolutely no need to share a life together.
But Dan Lei could only grumble about all this to himself. If he told them he was 193 years old, it would be troublesome whether Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka believed him or not.
So Dan Lei could only grit his teeth and explain,
"By examining her inside and out, I mainly mean drawing a little blood and collecting things like your sister's hair, nails, and skin flakes to study her Oni Clan bloodline.
"You keep saying you want to cure her, but how can you treat her if you know nothing about her body?"
Hearing Dan Lei's explanation, Tanjiro finally relaxed. Then, full of hope, he asked,
"Mr. Dan Lei, do you mean Nezuko can still be saved? Is there a chance she can become human again?"
Dan Lei answered honestly,
"I don't know about demons, but there are Dead Apostles in foreign lands—creatures similar to them—and I've heard they can become human again. I just don't know how.
"Besides, today is the first time I've ever seen a creature like a demon, so I can't promise you anything. I can only say that I'll have to study her first.
"Also, young Tanjiro, you don't actually have the right to refuse. If you don't let me study her, I'll have to kill a creature like your sister today to eliminate the threat."
Hearing that, Tanjiro could only fall silent, because he really had no choice.
But then Giyu Tomioka spoke again. He said outright,
"You could take this demon to my master at Sagiri Mountain.
"Mr. Dan Lei, if you want to learn about demons, my master has spent his whole life hunting them, so he's sure to have information you'd find interesting. I can write you a letter of introduction."
Dan Lei knew that Giyu Tomioka was saying this to reassure Tanjiro, since Dan Lei's words had sounded a little like he was throwing his weight around.
However, if Sakonji Urokodaki were there, he'd probably want to beat Giyu Tomioka up. Both Dan Lei and Nezuko were a lot of trouble, and Giyu Tomioka was trying to dump them both on his master.
Still, Dan Lei was more interested in the Breathing Technique than in demons. The ability to let an ordinary person wield the elements after training was probably more valuable than it seemed.
The main reason he wanted to study Nezuko was to find out how she had managed, in just two years, to draw energy directly from the Ley Line and completely do away with the need to eat people.
The Holy Grail inside Dan Lei needed a great deal of Ley Line energy to recharge, but Dan Lei didn't want to spend his time in this world sitting like a post, trapped in an energy-absorption array.
So Nezuko's ability to move around while absorbing Ley Line energy was exactly what he needed.
Dan Lei was quite agreeable, and spread his hands. Then he deliberately asked,
"No problem. Also, I promise that any further research on Nezuko will be done at... uh, what was your name?"
Only then did Giyu Tomioka realize that he hadn't introduced himself at all. It was terribly rude of him, so he hurriedly said,
"My name is Giyu Tomioka, the current Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. You can ask my master about the Corps later."
Seeing Giyu Tomioka pass the matter off to Sakonji Urokodaki again, Dan Lei silently mourned for the man for a few seconds. It couldn't be easy having a disciple like that.
But Dan Lei could also guess that Giyu Tomioka didn't know how much information about the Demon Slayer Corps it was appropriate to share with him, so he'd passed the whole matter off to his master.
So Dan Lei didn't call him out on it and continued,
"Fine. I'll do the follow-up research on Nezuko at Giyu Tomioka's master's place. And young Tanjiro, you can learn a few things from Giyu Tomioka's master too. In times like these, you can't take control of your own fate without some skills."
Tanjiro nodded very seriously at what Dan Lei had just said. Then he turned directly to Kojiro Sasaki and said,
"Actually, if possible, I'd like to learn from this gentleman."
Dan Lei laughed as soon as he heard that. He stepped forward, clapped Tanjiro on the shoulder, and said,
"Haha, you've got a good eye, Tanjiro. But trying to learn from him would be like an infant trying to run before learning to crawl. The gap is just too great.
"Even I would have to start from scratch if I wanted to learn the sword from him."
With that, Dan Lei flicked his hand and used Magecraft Thread to cut down a tree. He then instantly shifted it in front of himself.
Dan Lei's hands flashed through a flurry of movements. A few seconds later, he had cut the tree into planks and made a box. After adding some wisteria vines, it became a backpack box.
Once he was finished, Dan Lei said,
"Newly turned Dead Apostles generally can't stand sunlight. I imagine demons are similar. When I tied Nezuko up just now, I felt that she could change her size freely, so have her hide in here during the day.
"Oh, Giyu Tomioka, don't leave just yet. Sunrise is almost here. Let's go up the mountain and see, all right? You'll feel more at ease that way."
Giyu Tomioka nodded. As long as Dan Lei could stand in the sun, they could completely rule out the possibility that he was a demon.
Giyu Tomioka turned and started leading the way.
"Sure. You've mentioned Dead Apostles several times. They seem to be monsters similar to demons, and I'm very interested in what you know about them. Please tell me whatever you can."
Dan Lei had no objection to Giyu Tomioka's request. Everything he'd said about Dead Apostles was true; they simply weren't in this world.
Still, the story of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba only took place in this tiny island nation. Dan Lei had no idea how vast the outside world was.
But judging by the strength of the Great Source here, it wouldn't be surprising if this world also had creatures like Dead Apostles and vampires.
After that, Nezuko obediently shrank and climbed into the box. Tanjiro put his shoes back on, then carried the box as he followed Dan Lei and Giyu Tomioka up to the mountaintop.
As for Kojiro Sasaki, he turned into a Spirit Body.
But Dan Lei pretended to be mysterious and said Kojiro Sasaki was still nearby. Giyu Tomioka and Tanjiro could only assume they weren't skilled enough to detect what the expert was doing, and stopped asking.
Before you continue