At the back of the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, a sudden explosion rang out in a quiet valley. Trees and earth went flying as if a shell had detonated.
The headquarters and Butterfly Mansion members in the mountains had long since grown used to it. Three months had passed since the last Hashira meeting, and similar noises had been heard in these mountains every day since. By now, all the wild birds and beasts had fled.
The view shifted to the site of the explosion, where two figures were battling fiercely.
The fighters were Dan Lei and Gyomei Himejima.
Gyomei was using Stone Breathing, Fifth Form: Cracked Whale, repeatedly hurling and recalling his chained flail and axe.
With the Path of the Hunt bolstering his Breathing Technique, its piercing power and force had multiplied. His attacks, which could already smash a huge crater into the ground, now seemed to trigger earthquakes.
But Dan Lei, wielding a double-edged greatsword as wide as two palms in one hand, was completely unaffected. Amid the tremors, he darted like a fish through the water, lightning crackling around him as he nimbly dodged every attack.
Then, spotting an opening, he closed in with Thunderclap and Flash and struck the axe Gyomei had raised to block. The blow plowed the axe through the earth and sent Gyomei skidding back more than three meters.
Fortunately, Dan Lei didn't pursue him. "All right, I've more or less mastered Thunder Breathing, too. That means I've learned all the forms of at least the five basic Breathing Techniques. Mr. Himejima, thanks for training with me."
Gyomei patted his chest. "Think nothing of it, Mr. Dan Lei. You taught us how to wield the Power of the Path. The least we could do was help you train. Amitabha."
Dan Lei didn't insist on thanking him again. Scenes like this had become part of everyday life over the past three months.
After the Path of the Hunt entered this world, Sanemi Shinazugawa, Gyomei Himejima, and Shinobu Kocho had stepped onto the Path. They'd immediately wanted to find a few demons and test out their newly gained power.
The first two had even wanted to pick Nezuko.
When Dan Lei heard that, he wondered if all the lessons he'd spent half a day giving them had been for nothing.
Since words couldn't persuade those guys, and Dan Lei had also gained the Power of the Path of the Hunt—with the gaze of an Aeon upon him—he'd had no choice but to use his fists to make them listen.
So Sanemi, whose blade had already broken, was sent flying again with a single punch from Dan Lei.
As for Gyomei, Dan Lei simply had Kojiro Sasaki deal with him.
The next instant, Kojiro Sasaki's sword was resting on Gyomei's shoulder. Kojiro's C-rank Strength made Gyomei feel as if a mountain were pressing down on him. He couldn't even stand.
Seeing how miserably the other two had fared, Shinobu sensibly said she'd listen to Dan Lei. If he wanted her to train, she'd train.
At that point, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, who had also stepped onto the Path of the Hunt, came forward to vouch for them.
The others saw that their master agreed, and figured they'd probably get beaten if they objected, so they let the siblings off the hook.
After that came the training. The Hashira who hadn't stepped onto the Path were curious about how much of a boost it would provide.
Sanemi picked up a random Nichirin Blade and fought Tengen Uzui and Kyojuro Rengoku in succession, winning both matches. Once Sanemi got used to his strength in the first fight, Kyojuro lost much faster than Tengen had.
Of course, after getting carried away, Sanemi insisted on fighting Dan Lei, too. He got thrashed again.
Dan Lei demonstrated just how great the gap was between a Pathstrider who had drawn an Aeon's gaze and an ordinary Pathstrider.
Both of them had just stepped onto the Path of the Hunt, but Dan Lei could wield more than ten times the power Sanemi could.
With such an overwhelming difference in strength, technique didn't matter. And if you counted Magecraft, then sorry—bolstered by the power of the Hunt, Dan Lei's Magecraft had grown explosively powerful. Even if three or four Hashira attacked him at once, he wouldn't be worried.
Of course, Dan Lei also got carried away after a while and went to challenge Kojiro Sasaki.
The outcome was only to be expected. Kojiro Sasaki defeated Dan Lei, who had thrown everything he had at him, without even using Tsubame Gaeshi. Ordinary sword techniques were enough.
As Kojiro Sasaki put it, gaining the Power of the Path of the Hunt had indeed greatly increased the force of Dan Lei's techniques, but his moves were still too straightforward and limited. As long as his opponent wasn't much slower than him, they were easy to dodge.
As for Magecraft, Dan Lei couldn't very well use some elaborate spell that needed to be prepared in advance against Kojiro Sasaki. Kojiro could cut down ordinary elemental projectiles and Magecraft Thread with a couple of swings.
So, for the next three months, Dan Lei stayed at the back of the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, practicing swordsmanship with the Hashira every day and learning all five basic Breathing Techniques along the way.
That's right—out of gratitude for helping the Demon Slayer Corps step onto the Path of the Hunt, Kagaya Ubuyashiki truly handed Dan Lei the secret manuals for all five Breathing Techniques. He also called in swordsmiths from Swordsmith Village and insisted they forge a pair of suitable weapons for Dan Lei and Kojiro Sasaki.
Since it was a hassle to summon a Nichirin Blade every time he needed to kill a demon, Dan Lei accepted Kagaya Ubuyashiki's kind offer.
But if Kojiro Sasaki took a physical sword, he'd have to drop it whenever he turned into a Spirit Body.
So Kojiro Sasaki refused, saying he didn't know how to use any other kind of sword.
Forging a sword for Dan Lei was a winding process, too. He thought ordinary swords were too light, but he also thought a sword shaped like a door was ugly.
The artisans of Swordsmith Village were stumped. In the end, they staked their reputation on it and managed to forge a greatsword two palms wide.
Dan Lei knew that was the best they could do and didn't make things difficult for them.
Really, he should blame himself for not knowing how to forge swords. He was decent at extracting metal, but turning it into a sword was beyond him. It wasn't as if he could just borrow Shirou Emiya's talent.
During the day, Dan Lei practiced swordsmanship. At night, he studied demon blood at Butterfly Mansion and discussed poisons and pharmacology with Shinobu.
After finishing a day's training with Gyomei, Dan Lei returned to Butterfly Mansion as usual, planning to ask Tanjiro whether Tamayo had sent a reply.
He'd sent her the blood of Enmu and Sickle Leaf through Tanjiro ages ago, but three months had passed without a word about their request to meet. It was as though she'd forgotten about it entirely.
Dan Lei's research into demon blood had hit a bottleneck, while Shinobu had improved her poison against demons using the blood of two Lower Ranks.
Watching someone else's research progress surge ahead every day while his own remained stuck was unpleasant, so Dan Lei had decided to press for an answer.
However, when he returned to Butterfly Mansion, he hadn't yet found Tanjiro, who was practicing Total Concentration Constant, when Tengen Uzui approached him first.
The moment he saw Dan Lei, Tengen hurried over. "Mr. Dan Lei, I need your help."
Dan Lei was taken aback. The Hashira all had rather eccentric personalities, but they were proud at heart—especially this guy, who never stopped talking about everything being flashy.
He never spouted nonsense about being a god in front of Dan Lei, but it was extremely rare for him to come right out and ask for help.
Curious, Dan Lei listened to what was going on.
As it turned out, it was time for the Entertainment District Arc. Tengen Uzui's three wives had gone missing in the Entertainment District, and he hoped Dan Lei, with his extraordinary abilities, could help rescue them.
Dan Lei really admired Tengen Uzui. He'd sent three beautiful wives into the red-light district of this era. They could all look after themselves, but wasn't he afraid he'd wake up one day to find his hair had turned from white to green?
But since it was already time for the Entertainment District Arc, Dan Lei figured it was about time to wrap up this stage of his training.
So he decided: Tomorrow, with nothing to do, he'd go enjoy some music in the pleasure district.
Before you continue