That was rash

Neither of them could withstand the countless ice vines.

Bam!

"Cough, cough..."

The other Tsuguko finally gave out as well. A vine lashed him away, slamming him hard into the ground and making him cough up blood.

"Higashida!"

The other Hashira cried out. Seeing the ice blades about to strike the fallen Tsuguko, he hurriedly blocked the swinging ice vines while retreating at full speed.

But Doma had no intention of letting him have his way.

Bam!

An ice vine lashed him hard from behind. The tremendous force knocked him to the ground, and another lash sent the Nichirin Blade in his hand clattering to the floor.

The only Hashira who could still fight had reached his limit too, and was easily knocked down.

All four struggled to get up and keep fighting, but no miracle came.

Doma kicked one of the Hashira, who still had enough strength to struggle to his feet, then smugly picked up a half-eaten thigh from the pile of corpses beside him and said with a grin:

"Stop struggling. I'm very gentle. I won't kill you."

Watching the demon smugly feast on human flesh right in front of them filled their hearts with helplessness.

"I'm going to kill you!!!"

The Tsuguko on the ground struggled desperately to reach the Nichirin Blade nearby, roaring like a madman.

Doma walked up to him with a smile and kicked him, then casually kicked the nearby Nichirin Blade far away as well.

The four Demon Slayers could only watch as the demon enjoyed his "hearty meal."

They all gritted their teeth, the agony of their helplessness searing itself into their bones.

After the demon leisurely left, none of them had the strength to stand again. They could only wonder whether they would die as time slipped by.

But a moment later, rustling came from the distant grass, and a familiar figure appeared-the survivor they had just rescued!

"Are you all right?"

That day, the Demon King received a Recommendation Letter to join the Demon Slayer Corps.

Only after getting the Recommendation Letter did Muzan remember something.

To join the Demon Slayer Corps, he still had to pass the Demon Slayer Corps Final Selection, and the site of that selection was covered in wisteria...

He also finally remembered that he could no longer sense any of the demons under his command on Mount Fujikasane. He had lost contact with them back when he first transmigrated here.

Putting that together with the memories of that scumbag boss, had all those demons broken free of his control?!

By that logic, those Half-Demons had come into being when they broke free of his control at that same moment.

In other words, the demons on Mount Fujikasane could actually be classified as Half-Demons too.

The problem Muzan now faced was how to overcome the wisteria and take the selection on Mount Fujikasane.

It would not really be a big problem if he forced himself to endure the discomfort and went anyway, but Muzan genuinely did not want to suffer the effects of wisteria.

There really was not much hope on Tamayo's end, though. The necessary technology had not been unlocked yet, and there was no way to climb that tech tree!

Still, Muzan went to Liu Shi Pharmaceuticals and found Tamayo.

Strangely, for some reason, his ability to sense Tamayo's thoughts had suddenly become very hazy.

When Muzan reached Tamayo, she was leaning back in a chair, her brow tightly furrowed and her face unnaturally pale. Her normally concealed fangs and long claws were exposed, and both hands gripped the chair's armrests so tightly that they had already been crushed out of shape.

Noticing Muzan's arrival, she forced out, "Lord Muzan."

"What's going on with you?"

Muzan did not rush Tamayo for an answer, instead waiting patiently beside her.

Only after several hours did Tamayo gradually seem to recover, though she still appeared somewhat uncomfortable.

Muzan looked curiously at the bottles and jars on the table beside Tamayo and joked:

"Are you planning to break free of me and strike out on your own?"

Tamayo wiped away the sweat that her earlier pain had brought to her forehead, set down the towel, and said:

"Lord Muzan, I've formulated a potion. Just two doses will grant immunity to wisteria."

Muzan's expression brightened. What she described sounded rather like the vaccines he had received.

He could not help feeling that it sounded pretty reliable.

But remembering how Tamayo had looked half-dead just now, he frowned.

"Don't tell me that so-called potion of yours was what did that to you?"

"That was the version before I improved it. However, the improved version will still cause some pain, and I need to explain exactly how this so-called potion works first..."

Hearing Tamayo answer without hesitation, Muzan breathed a sigh of relief.

Although his perception of her thoughts was still somewhat hazy, he could tell that Tamayo was telling the truth.

"Some pain" shouldn't be too unbearable, right?

Excited by the prospect of going to have some fun in the Demon Slayer Corps, Muzan hurriedly urged her, "Skip the explanation. Just give it to me first."

Tamayo opened her mouth, but seeing Muzan's eager expression, she had no idea what had happened. Then something else occurred to her, and after a moment's hesitation, she picked out the latest potion from the table and handed it to Muzan. Out of kindness, she still warned him:

"Won't you reconsider?"

"No need. It won't kill me anyway, right?"

"It certainly won't kill you. At worst, it will make you suffer."

Eager to overcome his final weakness, Muzan had some doubts about what he was holding, but he merely glanced at the purplish-black potion in his hand, swallowed, and made up his mind.

He gulped it down.

It couldn't kill him anyway!

Pain erupted in an instant.

His entire body felt as though countless insects were tearing into it, itching and numbness mingling with the sensation of being struck by a sledgehammer. All five of his brains felt as though they had been filled with lead, leaving him dazed and groggy. Weakness swept through every part of his body, yet his seven hearts beat harder and harder.

The pain was second only to what he had suffered when he ate the Blue Spider Lily!

"Tamayo-"

Muzan's voice was low and ragged, her name forced through his clenched teeth like a growl.

To ease the pain, the cells inside him began multiplying wildly. Huge, tumor-like masses of flesh appeared on the surface of his body, growing more and more numerous...

The scene was extremely similar to the one in the original story where Tamayo sacrificed herself to make Muzan take the poison.

Muzan had seriously had enough!

Did overcoming every weakness have to put him through another bout of pain?

It had been the same when he ate the Blue Spider Lily!

Yet even as Muzan clearly felt his body growing weaker, he could also distinctly sense that this posed no threat to his life. In fact, as time passed, he could feel himself "evolving."

Muzan only felt his consciousness growing hazier, barely hearing Tamayo's anxious voice:

"My lord! Boss!"

As the enormous mass of flesh spread, Tamayo was forced to retreat, watching anxiously as "Muzan" nearly filled the entire room.

Finally, after an unknown stretch of time that felt agonizingly long to Muzan, the pain began to recede, vanishing swiftly like an ebbing tide.

At that moment, Muzan felt as though he had regained control of his body. He took several heavy breaths, feeling as though he had just survived a disaster.

The wildly proliferating flesh retracted into his body, and Muzan gradually returned to his original appearance.

Remembering Tamayo's repeated warnings before he drank the stuff, he could not help rubbing his temples.

That had been rash!

"Tamayo, what exactly is going on with this stuff? That was not just a little pain!"