The Fake-Pig Set Reigns Supreme

Ye Chen was furious. He had just used four smoke bombs at 15 exchange points each, plus a sonic bomb worth 25 points-a total of 85 exchange points-and he had still failed to kill Koyuki. All those points had gone down the drain. How could he not be angry? Did they think exchange points grew on trees? That he could just pick them up whenever he wanted?

"Oh? One of us has to die? Kid, the people here aren't like those lowlifes from before. Careful you don't bite your tongue talking so big!"

Hearing Ye Chen's words, Doma smiled from a distance. His hands did not slow down, either. With a sweep of his fan, several ice crystals shot toward Ye Chen.

"Holy shit, you're ganging up on me now?"

Ye Chen was still clashing with Kokushibo. Seeing Doma's attack approach, he immediately rolled, using Bushido Style to evade it.

"Kid, you have strength, and you have a good head on your shoulders. I'll give you one last chance. Serve under me. Become a demon, leave humanity behind, and I can grant you immortality."

Muzan Kibutsuji looked at Ye Chen again and delivered his final ultimatum. Clearly, if Ye Chen refused again, Muzan might take action himself.

He saw Ye Chen's potential. These tricks were unlike anything he had ever heard of, and he genuinely considered Ye Chen a talent. The current Twelve Kizuki were hardly weak, but he had realized that too few of them possessed both strength and intelligence.

Upper Rank One, Kokushibo, was unquestionably the strongest of the Twelve Kizuki, but he never did anything useful. He carried a flute around, wistfully dwelling on the past and constantly questioning his life.

Upper Rank Two, Doma, clearly had not even figured out his own values. Although he spent all day grinning and joking, Muzan knew this fellow had no idea what he wanted to do.

Upper Rank Three, Akaza, was a battle maniac. Intelligence? His brain had only one track.

Upper Rank Four, Hantengu, had a completely warped sense of right and wrong. He had even less of a brain than Akaza. Enough said.

Upper Rank Five, Gyokko, spent all day admiring a collection of jars filled with inexplicable things. Utterly useless.

Upper Rank Six, Gyutaro and Daki-one was a jealous, perpetually single loser who did nothing but call for his little sister, and the other was a weakling who called for her big brother whenever she could not win. Their lack of intelligence was bad enough, but Daki even dragged down the Upper Ranks' overall strength.

As for the Lower Ranks, they were not even worth mentioning. They were weak as hell. Upper Rank Six had killed plenty of Hashira from the Demon Slayer Corps, while every Lower Rank ran whenever they saw one. They either had personality problems or something wrong with their brains. Hadn't two of them just been killed with ease? And another had scurried off.

Although Ye Chen loved his little tricks, Muzan felt that this was precisely the sort of person his Twelve Kizuki lacked. Perhaps finding the Blue Spider Lily would also require more people like him.

For that very reason, however, if Ye Chen refused, Muzan would kill him immediately. This man had managed to kill two Lower Ranks with Kokushibo and Doma present. Although neither had used his full strength, Ye Chen undoubtedly possessed Upper Rank-level power, and he had so many tricks that no one knew what else he might be hiding.

Someone with both tremendous strength and an arsenal of tricks was unquestionably among the most dangerous kinds of people. If such a person could not be put to use, he had to be utterly destroyed.

"I already told you."

Ye Chen winked at Muzan. "As long as you come outside with me after dawn and get some sun, we can talk about anything."

"Is that so..." Muzan Kibutsuji narrowed his eyes, then continued, "I don't know why you dared to come here and meet me, but from what I've observed, your strength is at most comparable to Kokushibo's current level. That is certainly impressive, but do you think it's enough against me?"

"How would I know without trying, you Trash Boss? Besides, we don't know who'll be the one running yet."

Ye Chen grinned. Then his pupils abruptly contracted. Before he could react, a tentacle had already pierced his body. Clearly, Muzan had attacked the instant he saw Ye Chen refuse.

"This sensation..." Muzan narrowed his eyes. Then smoke burst from Ye Chen's body, and the Ye Chen impaled on his tentacle turned into a block of wood.

Muzan turned his gaze in another direction and parted his lips. "That substitution move again? But I've figured it out. That move has restrictions. You can't use it repeatedly. And with your strength, never mind me-you'd struggle to handle even Kokushibo and Doma alone."

Ye Chen emerged in the direction Muzan was looking, feeling rather helpless. His appearance had changed again. He now looked like a resolute man with white hair sticking straight up. Anyone who saw him would surely recognize the Slayer from Dungeon Fighter Online! As for Muzan's words, they were true. The Substitution Technique required a substitute log to be prepared beforehand, and it could not be used repeatedly. There was nothing he could do about being found out.

Still, Muzan's attack had been vicious. He had almost failed to react, and even though he had reacted, he probably could not have dodged without the Substitution Technique. It was too fast-so fast he had barely been able to see it!

His strength was comparable to Upper Rank One Kokushibo's first phase, yet he had nearly been killed in one hit. Muzan really was terrifying. No wonder he had single-handedly thrashed several Pillar-level Members in the original story.

"You really are impressive, you Trash Boss. But today, I'm going to be a Demon King Hunter."

Ye Chen tilted his head and continued, "Besides, you keep going on about humans this and humans that. What do you take human beings for?"

What do you take human beings for?

At those words, Muzan's pupils contracted sharply. He remembered someone saying the very same thing to him over four hundred years ago-a man holding a red Nichirin Blade. That man had possessed unrivaled strength and nearly killed him on the spot, despite all his arrogance.

"Even if you beg me now, I won't spare you."

Muzan's gaze grew colder. Several holes suddenly tore open in his shirt, exposing tentacles like a reaper poised to claim a life.

"Beg?"

Ye Chen's expression returned to normal, his face unnaturally calm. He had deliberately reminded Muzan of that incident. After all, he was about to beat Muzan senseless, so he had to bring back those old memories. Ideally, he'll see me as another Yoriichi Tsugikuni from over four hundred years ago. Then he added, "You really are tough, you Trash Boss, but there's one thing you don't know."

"Oh?" Muzan slowly advanced, with Upper Rank One and Doma following close behind on either side. Ye Chen's words had piqued his interest. "What is it?"

"It's this..." Ye Chen took a deep breath, then shouted:

"The Fake-Pig Set reigns supreme!!!"

Then, before Muzan's astonished eyes, waves of holy light radiated from Ye Chen's entire body, so dazzling that his figure became indistinct. The holy light made Muzan deeply uncomfortable. Although he feared only sunlight, not ordinary light, for some reason this holy light could affect him to a degree.

After a while, the light finally dimmed considerably, revealing the Slayer-Ye Chen-clad in a golden set of armor. He smiled, looked over the set he was wearing, and said to Muzan, "Tonight, I'm going to beat you so badly your own mother won't recognize you!"

At the same time, he knew that although the Fake-Pig Set was awesome, it was still a defensive set. What he needed now was attack power. He immediately shouted in his mind, System, switch Bushido Style to Valor Style! Exchange for a Rathalos Long Sword, a Demon Drug, and a Might Seed! Today, I'm going to give this Trash Boss the kind of brutal reality check he only gets once every four hundred years!