The people who rushed in were not just the Daimyo's samurai, but members of the Demon Slayer Corps too!
Muzan had known it. He and Jiyuki must have already drawn the Demon Slayer Corps' attention. What was more, he suspected they had begun to guess who he really was.
Jiyuki looked at Muzan. He knew his boss disliked slaughtering innocents. Muzan especially disliked attacking people like the Demon Slayer Corps members, almost all of whom had tragic lives yet remained strong-willed and good-hearted. Whenever he could let them go, he did.
Although the Demon Slayer Corps opposed them, they had no Breathing Styles at this point. Even if a Nichirin Blade could kill a demon by beheading it, hardly any of Muzan's demons were weak now. The Corps posed almost no threat.
Muzan was actually waiting to see something. If his demons did not kill indiscriminately as they did in the original story, would the Demon Slayer Corps still have an endless supply of new recruits?
If only the Ubuyashiki Family persisted in the end, what good would that do?
When the time came, he could even go to the Ubuyashiki Family's estate and mock the Ubuyashiki Head.
(ಡωಡ)
Only a few years had passed so far. Given enough time, things would change.
But whatever the future held, this Daimyo's actions had thoroughly displeased Muzan.
Several tubular whips extended from Muzan's back. The samurai trying to protect the Daimyo were all swept aside in a single strike, the tremendous force hitting their stomachs and instantly robbing them of any ability to resist.
Seeing Muzan's hideous, terrifying crimson whips dancing through the air, the others trembled on unsteady legs. Some samurai had already begun backing away, intending to flee.
Muzan had no idea what was going on or why the Demon Slayer Corps was working with the Daimyo.
A whip pierced the Daimyo's chest as smoothly as a knife slicing through tofu. Determined not to waste anything, Muzan transformed one hand into a giant beast and swallowed the Daimyo, whose face was filled with terror and regret, in a single bite.
He chewed and swallowed right in front of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The Corps members tried to stop him, but Jiyuki held them all back.
Muzan's arm returned to normal, and his whirling whips easily sent every surrounding Corps member and samurai flying.
He casually picked a nearby Corps member, hooked a whip under his collar, and lifted him up before him.
Ignoring the man's fierce glare and futile struggles, Muzan patted his face and smiled. "I wasn't even planning to eat anyone. You're the ones who got the Daimyo killed.
"Pass a message to the Ubuyashiki Family. Don't get too cocky. Just because I can't be bothered to kill you doesn't mean I won't."
The Corps member dangling in midair gritted his teeth. "Stop spouting that twisted nonsense! I'll kill you!"
Muzan indifferently tossed him aside and glanced at Jiyuki, who gave a slight nod.
Jiyuki casually threw aside the samurai he was holding.
Muzan lifted Jiyuki with a whip, and the two vanished, leaving the Corps members and samurai scattered on the ground, bitter but powerless to pursue them.
In the courtyard, the Ubuyashiki Head reached out to receive the messenger crow as it descended. He gently stroked it a few times, his expression grave.
The future was growing increasingly chaotic.
The darkness shrouding the world was becoming indistinct.
The shortsighted, selfish, cowardly Muzan he knew seemed to have changed. Demons had begun posing as physicians, ordinary people, and even Daimyo, profiting from war.
The demons seemed to have split into two kinds.
One slaughtered and devoured humans without restraint, while the other hid among humans and controlled wars.
Yet Muzan, the Demon King, was traveling with a demon skilled in medicine to save people?
What exactly was Muzan trying to do?
And why was he showing mercy to the Demon Slayer Corps?
Although some demons still killed indiscriminately and showed the Corps no mercy, at some unknown point, the demons hiding among humans and the Demon King himself had begun to "steer clear" of them.
In the future he saw, the Demon Slayer Corps and the demons fought endlessly. Yet, for some reason, that struggle felt increasingly meaningless to him.
Why?
Killing demons couldn't possibly be meaningless!
The Ubuyashiki Head let out a heavy sigh. His resolve and determination to destroy the demons at any cost would not waver!
Demons that killed indiscriminately and had lost their humanity should not exist in this world. Only by killing Muzan Kibutsuji, the evil of this world, could they stop more innocent people from losing their loved ones to demons!
This was their responsibility!
But confronting the Demon King required planning.
Perhaps his threat that day had worked. Even though Muzan and Jiyuki's identities had been exposed, no members of the Demon Slayer Corps came to bother him.
Time passed quickly. With the scumbag boss's centuries of memories, Muzan did not consider a few decades particularly long.
A life spent without counting the days was a little dull, but it was comfortable too.
To Muzan's delight, he seemed able to enter the Transparent World, though it was very unstable. He had first entered it roughly a dozen years ago, and since then, he had only succeeded another five or six times.
He always felt he was missing some crucial opportunity.
So what if I'm missing it? I'm not going to die anyway. I can take my time.
A dozen or so years earlier, after he had wandered around enough, Muzan had found a village and settled down.
His demons were responsible for delivering books and meat.
After settling down, Muzan successfully became a physician under the alias Kibutsuji Xuming, drawing on the knowledge he had accumulated over decades.
Although the villagers all wondered why the physician never came out during the day, they respected him greatly.
The last trace of sunlight retreated from the land, and a full moon hung high overhead. With his courtyard gate open, Muzan lay lazily in a rocking chair by the entrance, holding a book and gazing at the stars.
I kind of miss the sun. I've barely seen it in seventy or eighty years. Let me find the Blue Spider Lily already!
I want to bask in the sun!
An old retiree several hundred years old like me can't even fulfill such a simple wish. Sigh!
The rocking chair swayed back and forth. Muzan settled for bathing in moonlight, laying his book facedown over his face. As he reclined in the chair, his thoughts gradually grew quiet.
Just as he was about to fall asleep, he suddenly noticed something poking his arm.
Muzan narrowed his eyes, lifted the book off his face, set it beside him, and turned to look at the human child poking him.
A tiny little boy stood there with two other children behind him. Under Muzan's gaze, the boy who had poked him shrank back a little.
Amused, Muzan smiled and reached out to pat the little fellow's head. "What is it?"
Seeing how gentle Muzan was, the boy grew bolder and found a rock to sit on with his two little followers.
"Uncle, why don't you bask in the sun during the day?"
Muzan leaned back in his chair, rocking leisurely. "I'm sick, so I can't go out in the sun."
The little girl anxiously asked, "But Uncle, aren't you a physician?"
The little boy chimed in, "Can't you cure yourself either?"
The other boy, who was a little taller, cried, "No way! Mom said you're an amazing physician!"
Muzan smiled. "No matter how good a doctor is, there are always illnesses they can't cure. I can't cure my own illness either."
"Then teach me how to treat illnesses! I'll help cure you!"
Hearing the boy's words, his two little followers cried out too. "Me too! Me too!"
Muzan found it rather amusing, and suddenly an idea struck him. Why not take on a student for fun?
Before you continue