Kibutsuji Muzan died, crushed by the dual forces of money and poison.
The medicine Tamayo had injected into Kibutsuji Muzan was pure poison to him.
As for the money, Dan Lei's life-force conversion array was all about brute force. It used the ley lines of an entire mountain as its source, a vast quantity of silver as its foundation, and plenty of gold and jewels to boot. The array had drained Kibutsuji Muzan dry, even though he had already been weakened.
The attack targeted life force directly. With Kibutsuji Muzan's pitiful grasp of the Abundance Destiny, he had no way to resist it.
And without life force, he naturally couldn't use his Blood Demon Art.
Even if he could, it wouldn't have mattered. A protective barrier powered by the ley lines of an entire mountain wasn't something Kibutsuji Muzan could break in a short time. His fate was sealed.
After Kibutsuji Muzan died, all the demons he had turned vanished on the spot, except for Nezuko, who had used the Demon Transformation Medicine to become human again, and Yushiro, whom Tamayo had turned. That included Tamayo.
But Tamayo said that seeing Kibutsuji Muzan die meant she had no regrets. Smiling, she faded away in Yushiro's arms.
At the same time, the curse Kibutsuji Muzan had placed on Kagaya Ubuyashiki vanished. Unfortunately, the damage it had already caused didn't disappear with it. His eyesight couldn't be restored, and his body remained severely weakened. Even if he took good care of himself from then on, he probably wouldn't live past fifty.
But Kagaya Ubuyashiki took it in stride. He said that his body had already been on its last legs, so gaining a few more decades was a blessing. He had no complaints.
As for Dan Lei, he gained a Magic Crystal refined from Kibutsuji Muzan's life force.
However, the black-and-red Magic Crystal was filled with resentment and curses. Dan Lei sealed it away after a single glance.
Actually, Dan Lei had initially planned to use Kibutsuji Muzan's Magic Crystal to charge the Holy Grail, since he didn't know whether he could take anything from this world with him.
But after seeing the thing, Dan Lei figured that using it to charge the Holy Grail would probably turn it into a Black Holy Grail on the spot.
So sealing it away and taking it with him was his only option.
Afterward, Dan Lei formally said goodbye to the Demon Slayer Corps, explaining that he was leaving the country.
As for the materials from the life-force conversion array, Dan Lei only pried out the jewels. He left behind all the gold and silver.
Without the jewels as nodes, and with Dan Lei having destroyed the energy pathways, the array couldn't be repaired unless another Magecrafter from the Type-Moon Universe crossed over.
Still, the remaining gold and silver were precious metals. The Ubuyashiki family wouldn't go bankrupt just because they'd defeated Kibutsuji Muzan.
After saying goodbye to the Demon Slayer Corps, Dan Lei headed straight to Mount Fuji and forcefully drew on the ley line—practically Japan's lifeline—to charge the Holy Grail.
Mount Fuji was Japan's largest ley-line node, so charging the Holy Grail there was extremely efficient.
But "efficient" was relative. It took eleven years to finish charging it.
Fortunately, Dan Lei was a Longevity Species and stayed calm about it. Besides, he hadn't wasted those eleven years. Under Kojiro Sasaki's training, he had managed to turn himself into a swordsmanship master.
According to Kojiro Sasaki, Dan Lei didn't have much talent for swordsmanship, but he made up for it with perseverance. His swordsmanship was now good enough to make him a moderately renowned swordsman in Kojiro's era.
Of course, Dan Lei seriously doubted Kojiro Sasaki's idea of what counted as a swordsman, since he had never once beaten him in a straight-up close-quarters fight.
But once the Holy Grail's power to cross worlds had filled up again, Dan Lei didn't hesitate. He left that world at once.
After all, becoming a sword-training legend in the Demon Slayer world was out of the question. Its ceiling was simply too low compared with the Star Rail Universe.
Returning to Star Rail felt no different from leaving it. After entering the Root's space-time tunnel, Dan Lei found himself back in his workshop in Golden People Alley a second or two later.
To be honest, this trip had taken thirteen years in total, and Dan Lei had worried that thirteen years might have passed on the Luofu by the time he got back.
But even if thirteen years had passed, he still had to return. He'd come up with an explanation back in the Demon Slayer world: after obtaining the Remembrance Destiny, he'd been unable to resist exploring the Sea of Memories, only to get trapped inside.
Fortunately, when Dan Lei returned, he found himself in his familiar workshop. Everything was spotless, and the talismans and weapons he'd prepared before setting out were still scattered at his feet. Clearly, not much time had passed since he left.
Somewhat reassured, Dan Lei glanced at the clock and confirmed that, in Star Rail, his trip had been an instant there and back.
This was clearly the power of the Remembrance Destiny. Since it could manipulate time, it could control when he returned to this world.
That was good news. At least Dan Lei wouldn't have to worry about being discovered the next time he crossed over.
After tidying up the talismans and weapons at his feet, Dan Lei entered a meditative state again and went into the space inside the Holy Grail to see whether it had changed after his trip.
The moment he entered the sea of flowers inside the Holy Grail, Dan Lei realized the place had gotten livelier.
Of course, that didn't mean the space had come alive. It now held a projection and a whole lot of cards.
The projection was Kojiro Sasaki's phantom. After studying it, Dan Lei concluded that it was a backup of his Spirit Origin. Dan Lei could use it to temporarily summon a clone of Kojiro Sasaki, or use the backup to set up a summoning array that would precisely summon the Heroic Spirit himself.
Simply put, it was Fujimaru Ritsuka's ability: temporarily summoning the clone of a Heroic Spirit who couldn't be contacted during battle.
Of course, the clone's combat strength depended on Dan Lei's own magical power and the Heroic Spirit's original limits. For now, Dan Lei could only temporarily summon Kojiro Sasaki.
It was a useful ability, and Dan Lei was pleased with it. Then he turned to studying the cards around him.
To his delight, he discovered that they were all Light Cones and Conceptual Artifacts.
There wasn't much to say about the Conceptual Artifacts. They were records of Dan Lei's experiences in the Demon Slayer world and the belongings he'd carried with him. They included the puppets he had made, jewels, even his Nichirin Greatsword, and the Magic Stone he had later named the Demon King's Crystal.
When he returned to the Luofu, Dan Lei had come back with nothing but the clothes on his back. He'd assumed that all the things he'd made in the Demon Slayer world were gone, but now most of them had appeared in this space as Conceptual Artifacts.
So Dan Lei first picked up one of the fewer Light Cones, something he hadn't seen in the Luofu before.
That's right: in the Star Rail Universe, Light Cones were extremely rare. March 7th had clearly said in the game that they were a rare commodity found only within the IPC.
So Dan Lei had lived on the Luofu for nearly two hundred years and never seen one.
He hadn't even heard of anyone on the Luofu owning one. After all, the Imprisonment Court still held several Memokeepers who had tried to steal memories there, including the notorious "Dream Eater."
Even the Herta Space Station only had one three-star Light Cone, "Data Bank." That showed just how rare the things were.
But now Dan Lei had two Light Cones in his hands.
One recorded an image of Kibutsuji Muzan, his face twisted into a menacing scowl. The Light Cone was called [Ghost King's Malice].
Its effect suited Kibutsuji Muzan perfectly. When attacking enemies, it absorbed their life force. Killing an enemy gave it a chance to turn them into a demon.
The other Light Cone's image surprised Dan Lei a little. It showed Shinobu Kocho sitting at the entrance to a courtyard, seemingly waiting for someone to return. The Light Cone was called [Quietly Waiting].
Its effect was to increase the holder's resistance to abnormal status effects.
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