After the system unlocked Stone Breathing, Xia Xi immediately checked its compatibility rating.
[67%]
One achievement point would convert into 335 proficiency points in Stone Breathing.
Quite a bit higher than Water Breathing.
But only slightly higher than Wind Breathing.
Still, his time here had hardly been wasted.
Compared with Stone Breathing, which had been the goal of his training, his Life Skills had actually leveled up first.
[Forging LV.2] Effect: Slightly improves physical attributes and increases the quality of forged weapons. Remaining achievement points: 14
And that was not all.
Perhaps it was because training under Matsuyama Daimon placed greater emphasis on fundamentals and mental discipline.
Xia Xi's attributes had actually risen by a substantial amount.
After putting the two achievement points he had just earned into Stone Breathing to round things out, Xia Xi's total attributes had broken past eighty.
[Kurumazuka Natsumi] [Power level: 82 (Body: 39 Technique: 24 Mind: 19)] [Wind Breathing] LV.3 (490/2000) [Water Breathing] LV.2 (294/1000) [Stone Breathing] LV.1 (170/500)
His only slight regret was that he had barely learned any Stone Breathing sword forms during this visit.
He had asked Matsuyama why he was not teaching him swordsmanship.
The man had answered calmly, "You came here to train your Breathing Style, not to learn swordsmanship. Why waste time?"
Faced with Xia Xi's skeptical gaze at the time,
Matsuyama had simply set down his hammer, his eyes as steady as stone. "The essence of Stone Breathing lies in intent. The sword forms themselves do not matter."
"As long as you can slay demons, what difference does it make if you're holding a forging hammer?"
Xia Xi had then thought of the swordsmen the man had trained.
Outside their training sessions, Matsuyama and he occasionally talked about other things.
Xia Xi had learned a little about the other Stone Breathing swordsmen Matsuyama had trained.
Setting aside the few unremarkable ones who had yet to reach Kinoe,
the previous disciple to become a [Hashira], Fudō Hino, had wielded a warhammer.
The current disciple who had become a [Hashira], Gyomei Himejima, wielded a meteor hammer-a chained ball.
As for Matsuyama himself, their Cultivator,
his weapon of choice was a battle axe.
Hmm...
Xia Xi was already waiting for a custom-made Punch Dagger from the Swordsmith Village, and suddenly found the man's argument very convincing.
Having completed his Stone Breathing training, Xia Xi naturally bid farewell to his Cultivator once again.
When Xia Xi left with his pack and the iron hammer Matsuyama had given him, Matsuyama offered no sentimental words of farewell.
Not because he was cold by nature, but because he had witnessed far too many partings like this.
He merely stood at the door and earnestly reminded him, "Wind is too sharp, water too gentle. But with this bit of [stone] as your foundation, when you face a desperate situation in the future, perhaps you'll be able to stand-"
Only for Xia Xi to interrupt him with a question that came out of nowhere.
Xia Xi's voice was quiet, yet it made Matsuyama swallow everything else he had been about to say. "Master Matsuyama, Senior Fudō... which of the Kizuki killed him?"
The bonfire's light flickered across Master Matsuyama's face.
Xia Xi remembered the bottomless pain in his eyes when he had mentioned that disciple before.
Having learned from the man, he naturally owed him something in return.
Even if the favor had come through Master Kazami,
those were two separate matters.
That was Xia Xi's principle, and part of the manners he had been taught since childhood.
Matsuyama fell silent.
He had already seen Xia Xi out, and had not expected a question like that.
"Why are you asking?"
"To avenge him for you." Xia Xi's voice was calm, yet it drowned out every other sound. "I'm going to cut down those Upper Ranks anyway. If I know which one did it, I can give it a few extra chops on your behalf."
Matsuyama studied the boy's profile. There was no impulsiveness there.
Only a killing intent that seemed perfectly natural.
And perhaps a blood-deep hatred born of having his family slaughtered by demons.
"The Twelve Kizuki are not opponents you should be thinking about right now."
At last, he shook his head, his voice hoarse. "Especially the Upper Ranks... those are not monsters humans should have to face."
"Not being able to do it now doesn't mean I won't be able to later."
Of course Xia Xi knew his level was not high enough yet.
He rubbed the several Nichirin Blades at his waist and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, Master Matsuyama."
"You encountered a Lower Rank back then, didn't you?"
"With my current strength, how many of them could I take down?"
Matsuyama closed his eyes and only spoke after a long silence.
"The Lower Ranks do not remain unchanged. Over the years, swordsmen have occasionally slain them."
"As for newly appointed Lower Rank demons, their abilities, Blood Demon Arts, combat skills... no one can say what those will be."
"But judging solely by my experience back then..."
"If you encountered the lowest-ranked Lower Rank with an ordinary Blood Demon Art, you might be able to hold your own for a while, rather than suffer a swift defeat."
Xia Xi pressed him. "So I just wouldn't get wiped out instantly???"
Wiped out instantly?
He meant being defeated within seconds, presumably?
"Your chance of victory would be less than twenty percent." Matsuyama opened his eyes, his gaze like tempered iron. "But if you focused entirely on escaping, or chose to hold out until dawn, you would have roughly a fifty-percent chance of survival."
Yet Matsuyama did not see the cautious contemplation and disbelief he had expected from him.
Instead, he saw a light in Xia Xi's eyes.
A light of excitement and relief.
"I already have a twenty-percent chance now. After another six months or a year, wouldn't that go straight up to fifty percent?"
Seeing Matsuyama's solemn expression just now, he had thought it would be terribly difficult.
A twenty-percent survival rate on the first encounter?
Those numbers were already generous for a hardcore action game.
In fact, the first boss in most action games could make more than eighty percent of players reload several times.
Not to mention that, even now, he still had a nearly fifty-percent chance of survival.
Twenty percent to win.
Fifty percent to hold out until the game ends.
Doesn't that put my odds of winning at nearly seventy percent?
In competitive gaming, that was already an astonishing win rate.
In the vast majority of PvP games, under an ELO
system, win rates were only a little over fifty percent.
Besides, if he poured in all his current achievement points,
Upper Ranks were hard to judge,
but surely his odds against a Lower Rank would jump considerably.
Xia Xi suddenly smiled, without the slightest fear of demons in that smile.
Instead, it was clear and open, like a fresh breeze sweeping over a mountain ridge.
"Fifty percent... that's very high."
He repeated it with a certainty Matsuyama could not understand.
"Besides, time is on our side."
Once his level was a little higher, he might even be able to steamroll them.
What about the enemies' levels and difficulty increasing too?
He had heard of bosses with multiple transformations and second rounds, but never of bosses leveling up alongside players while they grinded.
If bosses really could level up, the thousand-plus years in their backstory would have maxed out their stats long ago.
All in all,
this fight was winnable.
Watching him, Matsuyama suddenly remembered that equally stubborn disciple from years ago.
Both had such fierce spirit.
"Your... spirit is admirable."
His throat moved before he continued, "But!"
"Not now. I understand that you want revenge, that you want to prove yourself."
"But you're still young. Your Breathing Style will continue to develop, and your blade will grow sharper."
"Wait," Matsuyama said, stressing every word. "Wait until you feel that your [twenty-percent] chance has become fifty percent, seventy percent. Only then should you seek out a Lower Rank."
"The demons aren't going anywhere. But once your life is gone, everything is gone."
Matsuyama believed Xia Xi's talent would allow him to accomplish all of that.
Which was all the more reason not to act rashly now.
He reached out and pressed down hard on Xia Xi's shoulder, with astonishing force.
It was not fear. Rather, he had found something in Xia Xi that felt like hope.
Perhaps... just perhaps,
once this child had grown...
the thousand-year stalemate between the Demon Slayer Corps and Muzan Kibutsuji might change because of him!
"Stay alive, Kurumaji."
"When that day comes, you will surely walk, surrounded by everyone, toward the finish line none of us have ever reached."
Today, I will write a letter and have a Kasugai Crow deliver it to Oyakata-sama. Such a pearl must not be allowed to lose its luster before its time.
So Matsuyama thought.
The morning breeze brushed past, and a cluster of sparks crackled in the iron furnace in the courtyard.
Meanwhile, Xia Xi, standing opposite him, began grumbling inwardly.
Hey, I called you an old master, and now you're planting a huge, rock-solid death flag for me?
Is that really okay?
But... why does this somehow feel kind of thrilling?
(Former [Mountain Hashira], Fudō Hino)
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