Dan Lei's explanation clearly didn't satisfy the Hashira present. As far as they were concerned, he was making claims with no proof to back them up.
However, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, Master of the Demon Slayer Corps, had been listening in for a long while and decided it was about time to step in. If he waited any longer, they really would start fighting.
At the announcement, "Master has arrived," he slowly emerged from the house.
Unlike in the original story, where he first remarked on the fine weather, this time he immediately apologized to Dan Lei.
"Mr. Dan Lei, I'm sorry my children left you with a bad impression.
"But please believe me when I say they're all good children. I, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, sincerely apologize for the attack just now."
As he spoke, Kagaya, whose body was already frail, gave Dan Lei a slight bow with the help of his two daughters.
However, he was so weak that even this small movement made him stumble, and he nearly fell.
At that moment, Sanemi Shinazugawa, still kneeling on the ground, had finally come to his senses. He said with concern, "Master, please don't do that. I'm the one who caused trouble. If someone needs to apologize, I'm willing to bind my own hands and let him decide what to do with me."
In truth, Dan Lei knew what Kagaya was up to. He was trying to win him over.
He knew Sanemi's personality well, so there was no need to arrange anything. Sanemi would play the bad cop on his own, making it easy for Kagaya to play the good cop and earn Dan Lei's favor.
So, after giving a slight bow in return, Dan Lei said, "There's no need to apologize for what just happened. Like I said, he swung his blade at me, and I returned a strike. We're even."
Kagaya nodded, accepting his explanation, then asked slowly, "All right, Mr. Dan Lei.
"But you said earlier that Nezuko replenishes her energy in a way that differs from ordinary demons. Could you explain it to me in more detail?"
Dan Lei had no objection. He briefly explained his theories about demons, Ley Lines, and Breathing Techniques.
There was a lot to cover, so Dan Lei's lesson stretched from morning into the afternoon. Along the way, he even brought out his research notes for the others to look over.
Most of the Hashira had only an ordinary level of education, and they struggled to follow his explanation. Kagaya, however, kept nodding. At least he seemed to grasp the gist of what Dan Lei was saying.
Finally, Dan Lei slipped in a little of his own agenda and also explained the concept of the Hunt to Kagaya.
To be honest, Dan Lei had only told Kagaya about the Hunt so his claim to be a Sea Navigating Ranger would seem more credible.
But he had forgotten one thing.
He had used the Holy Grail to cross into this world through the Imaginary Number Tree, and at least two Aeons were watching him—especially [Xa], who had set all of this in motion.
When Equilibrium sensed Dan Lei explaining the concept of Aeons, it took a moment to survey the world.
Then it found that this was an extremely unbalanced world.
To put it bluntly, the few hundred members of the Demon Slayer Corps were completely outmatched by the demon forces as a whole.
The Hashira could kill demons below the Lower Ranks with relative ease, but there were only nine of them, and none could beat an Upper Rank Demon one-on-one.
In the original story, the main reason Kibutsuji Muzan's plans fell apart was that he had never taken the Demon Slayer Corps seriously.
As a result, by the time of the final battle, all but three of the original Upper Ranks had been killed, forcing him to hastily promote other demons to replace them.
One side had prepared carefully, while the other was so arrogant it hadn't even bothered to investigate before charging straight in. The new Upper Ranks were also weaker than the old ones, and Tanjiro had managed to cheat with a power-up in his dreams. That was how things went wrong.
As for the rest of this world, [Xa] considered it unbalanced as well.
Although this world was insignificant to the Star Rail Universe and had no effect on its overall balance, it was common knowledge that Aeons were all obsessive about balance.
So [Xa] began to dynamically rebalance things.
As Dan Lei vividly described the Hunt, the Aeon of the Hunt's gaze was instantly drawn to this world by [Xa], and turned toward Dan Lei.
Of course, if only one side had the Power of the Path, that would also be unbalanced, so [the Abundance] turned its gaze toward a certain Demon King throwing a tantrum in the Infinity Castle.
Let's set aside what was happening on Kibutsuji Muzan's end. Dan Lei was startled by [Lan]'s glance and wondered, What the hell? Could explaining Aeons really get me noticed by one?
And if an Aeon was going to look my way, shouldn't it have been The Erudition, since I'm spreading knowledge?
However, [Xa] had only drawn [Lan]'s gaze toward Dan Lei as a side effect. Its main goal was to bring the concept of the Hunt into this world.
So, to the Demon Slayer Corps members, they had simply been listening to Dan Lei's grand descriptions of Aeons and the Hunt.
Then, an invisible pressure descended in an instant. The next moment, several people present reached an understanding.
It made sense. The Demon Slayer Corps' hatred of Kibutsuji Muzan and demons perfectly aligned with the Hunt. They hadn't caught an Aeon's eye, but as soon as the Path of the Hunt entered this world, several of them stepped onto it.
Besides Dan Lei, who had caught the Aeon's gaze, those present who gained the Path of the Hunt were Kagaya, Shinobu Kocho, Sanemi, and Gyomei Himejima.
The Paths were mysterious. Even those who stepped onto one without knowing what it was could draw Imaginary Energy from it without instruction.
What's more, the Paths generally didn't conflict with the local power systems. After all, under the Star Rail Universe's framework, all entities—including energy—could ultimately be traced back to the Imaginary Number Tree.
Although the few people present had only just stepped onto the Path and gained little from it so far, the Hunt was a standard combat Path, and its boost to their strength was still quite noticeable.
Kagaya, for instance, had been cursed by Kibutsuji Muzan until even raising his hand took effort. With the Power of the Path bolstering him, he suddenly felt strength return to his arm. After a brief silence, he raised his hand and exclaimed, "So this is the power of the Hunt. I understand now."
Shinobu was also feeling the Path's power bolster her. She turned to Dan Lei to confirm, "Mr. Dan Lei, does this mean I've stepped onto the Hunt?"
Dan Lei looked at Shinobu, who could already call upon the Power of the Path, and had no idea where to begin with his complaints.
So he really had come to this world to share the wealth. He'd arrived with nothing but the clothes on his back.
As a result, no matter how much knowledge he had about Star Rail and interstellar travel, there was no way to put it to use.
It was like sending a twentieth-century engineer back to the Stone Age. No matter how much he knew, he'd still have to build technology up from scratch.
Besides, the knowledge Dan Lei had gained from Xianzhou was useless here, since Earth didn't even have the most basic materials.
The only thing Dan Lei could do in this era was build a few automatons for transportation and combat, but that would attract far too much attention.
So Dan Lei had followed Kojiro Sasaki's advice about swordsmanship.
Dan Lei thought Kojiro Sasaki had been right about one thing:
"People who've experienced convenience are always looking for shortcuts, thinking they can get things done in one fell swoop and that it'll be more efficient.
"But without laying a solid foundation, even the greatest talent will be held back by a shaky base."
Aozaki Touko had said something similar to Dan Lei. Back when she trained him in Magecraft, she often made him repeat simple, tedious exercises hundreds or even thousands of times for no particular reason.
Likewise, on the Luofu, martial arts had to be practiced one step at a time.
After all, how far someone progressed along a Path depended mainly on how well they understood and practiced its ideals.
And one's own strength was what enabled the Power of the Path to be converted into combat ability.
So, in response to Shinobu's question, Dan Lei smiled and replied, "Congratulations, you're now a Pathstrider too. But right now, you're only a newborn on the Path. Time to start your special training.
"After training, you'll realize that demons don't have all that much of an advantage over humans after all."
All right, let's stop saying that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is all just flashy effects.
I've only written 2,000 words for the first twenty chapters of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. I haven't even fully developed the ideas, and the protagonist has only just started practicing the sword to make up for his weaknesses in close combat, yet people are already questioning everything.
Also, why do so many people think the Star Rail Universe doesn't require training in martial arts?
The Power of the Path grows through understanding and practicing its ideals.
But to turn that power into combat ability, Pathstriders rely on their own skills or technology.
I won't discuss those who focus entirely on technology for now.
Every powerful Pathstrider we know started with the basics. Jingliu practiced swordsmanship for hundreds of years before becoming the Sword Champion. There's no such thing as directly training in the Power of the Path.
Also, practicing an ideal has little to do with how powerful a world is. As long as a Path enters a world, even a weak world can produce powerful Pathstriders.
After all, many Aeons ascended directly from nothing after reaching enlightenment, proving that the Path doesn't care how powerful your original world was.
Before you continue