Heh heh heh...

"Heh heh heh..."

Muzan sat on the wooden floorboards, grinning foolishly at the thing in his hand.

After chuckling for a while, Muzan made a show of clearing his throat twice and composed himself.

"Composure. Have some composure."

"Heh heh heh..."

No sooner had he said that than Muzan broke into another foolish grin. The Blue Spider Lily!

So much for the power of the plot. Just look!

I still got my hands on it!

After painstaking cultivation, Muzan had obtained a blooming Blue Spider Lily. To guard against becoming a Half-Demon-or against the power of the plot, if that even existed-he steeled himself and decided to consume it directly.

There was only one flower right now. He couldn't bear to let anyone else eat it!

Tamayo sat some distance away on the other side, watching him expressionlessly.

Nakime remained in her usual spot, head lowered and biwa in her arms, ready to act immediately if anything went wrong.

Tsugikuni Michikatsu had also come to watch the spectacle, though he stood by the railing, a fair distance from Muzan, in case something went wrong.

Muzan glanced at Tamayo and forced his face into a serious expression.

"I'm going to eat it. If anything goes wrong, make sure you save me."

With a solemn, almost grave expression, Muzan held the Blue Spider Lily, which he hadn't even dared wash for fear of ruining it, and carefully brought it to his mouth. Suddenly, he paused, lowered his hand, and turned to look at the others again.

"If I turn human, you won't ruthlessly kill me, will you?"

Tamayo, Nakime, and Michikatsu: "..."

You really are cautious.

Seeing their reactions, Muzan raised the Blue Spider Lily to his mouth again, only to pause once more and look at them.

"I really won't turn human or die after eating this, right?"

"All right, all right, I'll eat it."

Faced with their speechless expressions, which practically said, "Don't you already know the answer?" Muzan stopped wasting time. After all, the Blue Spider Lily wouldn't stay in bloom for long.

Besides, he did have a good idea himself. He most likely wouldn't turn human or die.

Over the centuries, both Muzan himself and the original scumbag boss had done plenty of research into the relevant records. Combined with his foreknowledge of the original story and Nezuko's example, he could be pretty sure he'd be fine.

Taking a deep breath, Muzan made up his mind and swallowed the Blue Spider Lily in one mouthful.

He chewed twice, tasting it.

"Ugh-"

Muzan's face instantly scrunched up. It was numbing and astringent, with an indescribable taste, like a mixture of rust, insecticide, gasoline, rot...

All sorts of indescribable flavors flooded his mouth at once.

That taste took over his entire mouth, and its pungency seemed to punch straight through his throat. His whole body recoiled in misery.

But the next moment, before the taste had even faded, an intense burning sensation spread from his stomach and intestines throughout his body. The scars Yoriichi had left on him hurt especially badly, piling pain upon pain.

Muzan's expression instantly grew even more agonized, twisting into a hideous grimace.

He kept curling in on himself. His plum-red pupils and long, black-and-red nails, which he had kept concealed, emerged uncontrollably. His sharp nails dug deep into the flesh of his palms, veins bulged across the backs of his hands and neck, and the pounding of his seven hearts became unusually loud and rapid.

The bone whips and tubular whips on his back, waist, and legs all burst out as well, thrashing madly. They tore through the surrounding wooden pillars and floorboards like paper, as though that might ease the excruciating pain.

Tamayo hurriedly backed away. Muzan's tubular whips weren't holding back now; one accidental graze would be the end of her. His heartbeat also made all three of them uncomfortable, dragging their own hearts into a deeply unpleasant rhythm.

The floor caved in beneath his clawing hands, and Muzan's teeth creaked as he clenched them.

His consciousness grew hazy. He felt as though his entire body had been submerged in a scorching volcano, every cell surrounded by searing heat.

Time stretched on endlessly.

It felt like a day, a month, a year, or even decades before Muzan collapsed groggily onto the floor.

As his consciousness gradually returned, Muzan struggled to open his eyes and looked up at the same view he'd seen before passing out.

He checked his body. The pain had completely faded, and the scars Yoriichi had left on him were gone too. His tubular and bone whips still lay limply across the floorboards.

I haven't gotten weaker.

Relieved, Muzan retracted the tubular and bone whips that had punched holes all through his clothes when they emerged. He got up from the floor and saw Nakime kneeling in her usual spot with her biwa in her arms. Tamayo and Michikatsu had already left.

Afraid that moving him might cause something to go wrong, no one had touched him. They had simply left him lying on the floor.

"How long was I out?"

"My lord, one day."

"Only one day?"

Muzan was rather surprised. How had it only been a day?

He wouldn't have been surprised if she'd told him it had been a year.

Perhaps it had hurt so badly that time had seemed to drag. After all, he still remembered getting injections as a child; even a few seconds had felt like forever.

Muzan straightened his hole-riddled clothes, anticipation and excitement rising within him. "Nakime."

At his words, Nakime gently plucked a string on her biwa.

Twang-

Muzan appeared in the house where he lived, changed his clothes, and took a deep breath.

Please let this work!

Muzan opened the window a crack. Seeing the sunlight streaming in from outside, he cautiously reached out to feel it...

It doesn't hurt!

Growing a little bolder, Muzan opened the window all the way and extended one hand into the sunlight...

Completely unharmed!

I really don't have to fear sunlight anymore!!!

Muzan instantly seemed to lose his mind and leaped straight out the window. Sunlight spilled over a body that hadn't seen the sun in more than five hundred years, and its long-missed warmth seeped into his skin.

More than a hundred years!

More than a hundred years!

He could finally see the sun again!

"I'm fucking alive again!!!"

Muzan spread his arms, tilted his head back to stare straight at the sun, and shouted.

Even if the sunlight hurt his eyes, they would heal anyway.

Staring straight at the sun?

Piece of cake!

"Heh heh heh..."

Muzan couldn't help grinning foolishly. "I'm invincible. This time, I'm truly invincible. No one can kill me anymore!"

Honestly, ever since he'd transmigrated, his fear of sunlight had been a constant source of anxiety. After all, sunlight was what had killed Muzan in the original story. He had never felt truly safe. Even with no one who could match him, that weakness had made it impossible to rest easy.

But now, after consuming the Blue Spider Lily, he no longer feared sunlight-or even the Bright Red Blade.

The Bright Red Blade relied on high temperatures, and the Blue Spider Lily had eliminated that weakness along with his vulnerability to sunlight.

Though he still couldn't beat Yoriichi, Yoriichi could no longer hurt him either.

All sorts of ideas for running wild began to surface.

But those ideas could wait. Right now, he, Muzan, was going to bask in the sun!

Sprawled comfortably in a rocking chair with the sunlight shining down on him, Muzan was in absolute bliss.

Before long, Tamayo hurried over after learning that Muzan had woken up.

"My lord, give me some blood. I need to study it."