The Water Hashira Has a Water Injection

The last guest Dan Lei mentioned was naturally Giyu Tomioka, who had rushed over upon hearing that a demon was harming people.

At this moment, the scene he saw was this.

A flamboyantly dressed individual (Xianzhou civilian clothes compared to the Taisho era) was suspending a girl in midair with an unknown power, flames flickering in his hand as if he was about to roast the girl in front of another boy, while at the same time, a dense demonic aura emanated from the trio's position.

So, which of these three would be the demon?

Giyu Tomioka didn't need to think twice about this question. As he sprinted at full speed, he made a drawing motion with his sword, and the moment he burst out of the forest, he swung.

[Water Breathing First Form: Water Surface Slash]

The blade wrapped in flowing water transformed into a water sword, slashing straight at Dan Lei's neck.

Dan Lei had actually detected Giyu Tomioka when he was still hundreds of meters away, but he made no move now, only turning his head to watch him with a amused smile as he emerged from the trees.

With a "clang," Giyu Tomioka's horizontal slash was deflected by a long katana that appeared out of nowhere. The immense force forced Giyu Tomioka to perform a backflip in midair to create distance, and he still had to retreat three steps to fully dissipate the momentum.

Staring at the suddenly appeared blue-haired swordsman, Giyu Tomioka asked with extreme seriousness, "Who are you? Why are you shielding this demon?"

Kojiro Sasaki remained silent in response to Giyu Tomioka's question, merely walking slowly to Dan Lei's side and assuming a guarding stance to show his position.

As for Dan Lei, he shook his hand, extinguishing the flames, looked at Giyu Tomioka, and asked bluntly, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? Why are you attacking me? Are you also trying to stop me from killing this demon?"

It was only then that Giyu Tomioka realized the demonic aura was coming from the "girl" suspended in midair by unknown means. The aura of the man before him was strange, vastly different from a demon's, but not like a human's either—more like a large wild beast.

As for the guard beside the man, Giyu Tomioka noted that even in this face-to-face confrontation, he still couldn't sense any presence from this man, as if the person simply didn't exist.

There were no characters in this man's eyes, proving he wasn't a special demon like an Upper or Lower Moon.

If he was human, this made Giyu Tomioka think of a legendary martial arts realm: Oneness with Nature.

Of course, Kojiro Sasaki's martial arts realm was very high. Although he was a fictional character, he was a swordsmanship genius recognized by humanity's will.

But the reason Giyu Tomioka couldn't sense his presence even face-to-face wasn't due to the so-called Oneness with Nature realm.

[Presence Concealment D] A skill inherent to the Assassin class. It might be useless against Grandmaster-level martial artists, but it was more than enough to affect Giyu Tomioka at this moment.

With such a guard by Dan Lei's side, Giyu Tomioka dared not act rashly, so he spoke again, "Swordsman, the one you're protecting isn't human. He can make people float and conjure fire from his hands—that's a Blood Demon Art used by demons. Don't be deceived!"

However, no matter how much Giyu Tomioka said, Kojiro Sasaki still couldn't be bothered to reply. After all, whether Dan Lei was human or not was a topic that didn't need discussion.

So, it was Dan Lei who answered Giyu Tomioka's question again, "Really, looks like I've run into a local demon slayer. As expected, vampire hunters and the like are never easy to reason with.

Anyway, calm down first. I'm a living person, a Sorcerer. Being able to manipulate fire, water, and lightning is just a technique from my sect."

As Dan Lei spoke, he used magical energy to condense a fireball, a water ball, and a lightning ball around himself, each with almost no real power, leaving Tanjiro nearby looking at him as if he'd seen a god.

But Giyu Tomioka didn't believe Dan Lei's words at all. He said that with so many tricks, this demon was definitely no ordinary one; it might even be capable of mind-controlling humans, which was how it had gotten the expert guard, and why that guard never spoke.

It could only be said that if Dan Lei knew what Giyu Tomioka was thinking, he would have sighed and remarked, "You're quite the genius, aren't you? Do you have to fill your head with water to become a Water Hashira?"

But feeling that further communication was useless, Giyu Tomioka prepared to act again. He believed that once he killed this demon, the controlled expert would naturally be freed.

Suddenly, swirling foam appeared around him, and his figure vanished in an instant, leaving only a few scattered droplets of water to prove someone had been there.

[Water Breathing Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow]

This technique minimized landing time and landing area to the utmost, allowing unrestricted movement—it was the most mobile move in Water Breathing.

Giyu Tomioka's target, as he continuously leaped at high speed across the snow, was still Dan Lei.

However, the moment he entered within ten meters of Dan Lei, Kojiro Sasaki appeared before him again and once more sent Giyu Tomioka flying with a single sword strike.

Moreover, Giyu Tomioka's repeated attempts to attack Dan Lei had already made Kojiro Sasaki view him as a threat. He directly closed in on the airborne Giyu Tomioka, preparing to cut him down.

Fortunately, just as Kojiro Sasaki showed his intent to attack, Dan Lei immediately spoke, "Kojiro, don't kill him. We need to establish contact with the locals here."

Dan Lei's words came just in time. Kojiro Sasaki's blade stopped right above Giyu Tomioka's right shoulder blade; if he had been even 0.1 seconds later, Giyu Tomioka would have been split in two.

Looking at Giyu Tomioka, who had narrowly escaped death, Dan Lei spoke again, "Alright, now that you know the gap in strength between us, can we have a proper talk?

Let me introduce myself. My name is Dan Lei. I just arrived in this country today.

The reason I came to this country is that I heard there are monsters similar to vampires and Dead Apostles here, so I came specifically to take a look.

The organization I belong to is called the Sea Navigating Ranger. I look forward to working with you from now on.

Oh, and from what you just said, you came to kill a demon. Is your target this demonized girl beside me?"

Here, Dan Lei was merely casually claiming to be a Sea Navigating Ranger, because saying so sounded more authentic and wouldn't easily let Tanjiro, with his cheated sense of smell, detect a lie. After all, it was impossible for a real Sea Navigating Ranger to pop up in this world and call him out.

However, Giyu Tomioka wasn't thinking about what a Sea Navigating Ranger was at all right now.

He only knew that he was no match for the swordsman before him, and after hearing Dan Lei say he was a foreigner, he began to scrutinize Dan Lei carefully.

Then Giyu Tomioka realized he might have truly been reckless, because although Dan Lei's clothes were flamboyant, they were clearly not of local design.

Moreover, her appearance didn't resemble a local; it was closer to that of someone from Shenzhou.

Realizing he might have misunderstood, Giyu Tomioka, though still on guard, rose and bowed in apology.

"Apologies. Seeing you wield flames, I mistook you for a demon.

As for my target, I am indeed pursuing the demon that recently killed the charcoal seller's family on the mountain."

Having said this, Giyu Tomioka glanced at Nezuko, who was still trapped in midair and struggling. His meaning was clear: he believed she was that murderous demon.