Chapter Summaries

Xia Xi pretended to share Sabito and Giyu’s grief, then trained and treated them while secretly grinding life skills with Mount Sagiri’s wildlife. He finally mastered Water Breathing, but discovered his compatibility with it was only 57%.

• Sabito told Xia Xi how he had once slapped Giyu out of despair, and Xia Xi resisted the urge to try the same approach himself.
• Xia Xi recognized Giyu’s red haori as a keepsake from his dead sister and pretended to share the grief Sabito and Giyu believed he carried over his own little sister.
• After returning the next day, Xia Xi treated Sabito and Giyu’s sparring injuries, gained Medicine experience, and announced more combat practice.
• Xia Xi secretly experimented on Mount Sagiri’s animals and gained Dissection, Medicine, Poison-Making, and Pharmaceutical Crafting skills.
• Xia Xi completed Water Breathing and its side quest, receiving experience that raised the style to level one and increased his attributes.
• Xia Xi checked his Water Breathing compatibility, found it was only 57%, and angrily judged the style not worth learning.

After mastering Water Breathing, Xia Xi stayed with Urokodaki to learn crafts and sparred with him, leaving Sabito and Giyu determined to catch up. Several days later, Xia Xi received his first Demon Slayer mission and a Nichirin Blade that turned bright silver before he set off for Rain Village.

• Xia Xi mastered Water Breathing, then persuaded Urokodaki to teach him crafts and spar with him before his first mission.
• Urokodaki narrowly defeated Xia Xi, and Sabito and Giyu realized how vast the gap between Xia Xi and themselves was.
• Sabito vowed to train harder so he and Giyu could someday stand beside Xia Xi, while Giyu imagined the three of them fighting demons together.
• A Kakushi member arrived with Xia Xi's uniform and his first mission to hunt a demon in Rain Village, along with a standard Nichirin Blade because his custom weapon was not ready.
• Xia Xi's Nichirin Blade briefly shimmered with many colors before settling into bright silver, and he named it Third-generation Kangshi.

Xia Xi set out on his first Demon Slayer mission in Rain Village but found no useful clues from the wary villagers. After pretending to be a Tokyo secret police officer, he gained the trust of a woman who asked him for help.

• Urokodaki gave Xia Xi a Disaster-Repelling Fox Mask, while Sabito and Giyu gave him a green cord knot before he left for his first mission.
• Xia Xi arrived in Rain Village and questioned the farmers and villagers about disappearances, but no one gave him useful information.
• Xia Xi searched the mountains until the next day, then learned from Little White that Kakushi had found gnawed human remains and a demon's scent somewhere nearby.
• Xia Xi recognized that a worried woman had been trying to tell him something and pretended to be a young operative from Tokyo's Special Affairs Division Nine.
• The woman believed Xia Xi's secret-police story and asked him to help her.

After Kirimori Yuko revealed that villagers had vanished in Noki Village, Xia Xi learned that a monstrous bear had torn apart its victims and set out to investigate. He left alone at dusk, while Kirimori Kuro and Yuko expected he would return only after killing the bear demon.

• Kirimori Yuko told Xia Xi about the disappearances and asked him to protect her pregnant younger sister in Noki Village.
• Xia Xi persuaded Yuko to introduce him to her husband, Kirimori Kuro, who doubted that a samurai could handle a bear.
• Xia Xi split a boulder with his sword, convincing Kuro of his strength and prompting Kuro to share what the hunters had found.
• Kuro described torn-apart victims and claw marks unlike those of ordinary bears, and Xia Xi called the creature a bear demon.
• Xia Xi confirmed Noki Village's location, declined Kuro's offer to accompany him, and walked into the forest with his Kasugai Crow.

Xia Xi tracked a demon to an abandoned mountain shrine and used his game-like detection system to hunt it down. After killing it with ease, he asked the Kasugai Crow to request tougher missions and announced he planned to train under the next Cultivator.

• Xia Xi examined rotting animal carcasses near the Mountain God Shrine and concluded that a demon had been feeding there.
• Xia Xi spotted a hostile red marker in the woods and pursued the demon when it fled.
• The demon protested that it had eaten only a few people, while Xia Xi joked that he only wanted to borrow its head.
• Xia Xi assessed the demon as weak and beheaded it with a single slash.
• Xia Xi asked the Kasugai Crow to request more challenging missions from Oyakata-sama, then said he would seek out the next Cultivator for training.
• The Kasugai Crow angrily refused to guide him on the way back, saying it could not read maps.

Xia Xi learned about the Demon Slayer Corps’ salaries and rewards for killing demons, then eagerly asked where to find the Twelve Kizuki. The Kakushi member realized that Xia Xi seemed unusually motivated by money.

• The Kasugai Crow returned to Xia Xi after reporting the mission’s completion, and Xia Xi wondered how demons had failed to discover the Corps’ headquarters.
• A Kakushi member delivered Xia Xi’s monthly salary of 100 yen and offered to deposit it at a bank.
• Xia Xi asked how much swordsmen earned for killing demons and whether rewards increased with rank.
• The Kakushi member explained that rewards depended on a demon’s strength and the swordsman’s contribution, and that killing a Twelve Kizuki alone could bring a lifetime’s worth of spending money.
• Xia Xi asked where the Twelve Kizuki were so he could rid the world of them, leaving the Kakushi member puzzled by his fixation on money.

Kurumazuka Natsumi was promoted directly from Mizunoto to Kanoto after his demon-slaying record earned Kagaya Ubuyashiki’s approval. He continued training Stone Breathing with Matsuyama Daimon, reaching its third stage: forging iron with a hammer.

• Kurumazuka Natsumi completed three more demon-slaying missions, including defeating a powerful demon with a Blood Demon Art on his own.
• A Kasugai Crow announced that Kagaya Ubuyashiki had promoted Kurumazuka Natsumi from Mizunoto to Kanoto for his exceptional achievements.
• Matsuyama Daimon said the Master valued Kurumazuka Natsumi and ordered him to continue hammering hot iron.
• Kurumazuka Natsumi recalled Matsuyama Daimon’s demanding Stone Breathing training, which began with holding a horse stance and then pushing against a cliff while matching its rhythm.
• After days of training, the ground beneath Kurumazuka Natsumi cracked, marking his progress to Stone Breathing’s third stage.

Xia Xi trained Stone Breathing by hammering iron under Matsuyama Daimon’s guidance, eventually finding a rhythm that allowed the system to fast-forward his blacksmithing practice. As Matsuyama reflected on his former student Fudō Hino and Xia Xi’s unusual potential, Stone Breathing activated, beginning at Unpolished Jade Lv. 0.

• Matsuyama Daimon taught Xia Xi to coordinate his breathing with each hammer blow while forging iron.
• After several days of practice, Xia Xi found a resonance between hammering and Stone Breathing, unlocking fast-forwarded blacksmithing training.
• Xia Xi immersed himself in forging, and his Stone Breathing progress steadily increased as Matsuyama observed his exceptional talent.
• Matsuyama remembered Fudō Hino’s death in battle against an Upper Rank Demon and wondered whether he could have helped save his former student.
• Xia Xi’s hammering changed as Stone Breathing activated, with his system showing Unpolished Jade Lv. 0 and progress at 1/250.

After completing his Stone Breathing training with Matsuyama Daimon, Xia Xi asked which Upper Rank had killed Matsuyama’s former disciple, Fudō Hino, and promised to avenge him. Matsuyama warned Xia Xi to grow stronger before facing a Lower Rank, then resolved to tell Oyakata-sama about his potential.

• Xia Xi checked his Stone Breathing progress, raised his attributes above eighty, and left Matsuyama’s training with an iron hammer.
• Matsuyama began to advise Xia Xi about the value of Stone Breathing, but Xia Xi asked which Kizuki had killed Fudō Hino.
• Xia Xi said he would avenge Fudō Hino, and Matsuyama warned that Upper Ranks were far beyond his current strength.
• Matsuyama estimated Xia Xi had less than a twenty-percent chance to defeat a newly appointed Lower Rank and about a fifty-percent chance to survive by fleeing or holding out until dawn.
• Xia Xi took the odds as reason for optimism, while Matsuyama urged him to wait until he was stronger and resolved to inform Oyakata-sama about him.

Xia Xi began training in Thunder Breathing under Nikaido Mei, whose brutal teaching method was to attack him without warning. After a rooftop conversation, he understood that her harshness came from wanting him to survive battles against demons.

• Xia Xi arrived at Dian Ci Dojo and met Nikaido Mei, who dismissed Kazami's letter and immediately challenged him with her sword.
• Mei overwhelmed Xia Xi with Thunder Breathing techniques, and he narrowly dodged her Thunderclap and Flash by drawing on his previous training.
• Mei continued attacking as Xia Xi parried, and his Thunder Breathing progress increased; he then switched to offense and fought back.
• That night, Mei shared shochu with Xia Xi on the dojo roof and explained that demons posed far greater dangers than her training attacks.
• Mei said she disliked Kazami's outdated teaching methods and preferred to teach Thunder Breathing through repeated combat.

Nikaido Mei criticized the other Cultivators’ teaching methods, then pushed Xia Xi through nine days of intense Thunder Breathing training. Xia Xi finally landed a decisive strike, and the system showed Thunder Breathing had his highest compatibility yet.

• Nikaido Mei explained the strengths and flaws in Kazami Kōgi, Matsuyama, and Urokodaki’s teaching methods, then said her own real-blade sparring was the most practical.
• Nikaido told Xia Xi to develop every skill he had learned and return alive, while insisting they continue their deadly sparring the next day.
• Xia Xi questioned whether Nikaido’s harsh training drove students away, and she claimed her strongest student was about to become a Hashira.
• Over the next nine days, Xia Xi improved rapidly under Nikaido’s aggressive Thunder Breathing, falling sixteen times on the second day and fewer than five times by the fifth.
• During his second week at the Dian Ci Dojo, Xia Xi deflected Nikaido’s slash with Wind Breathing and struck her with a Thunder Breathing First Form, knocking her down for the first time.
• Nikaido praised Xia Xi’s progress and compared him to Tengen, while the system reported 84% compatibility with Thunder Breathing.

Xia Xi explored ways to create a breathing style and tested a simplified modification of Wind Breathing, but refused to commit to the degraded result. He decided to master all Five Great Breathing Styles and use them to reconstruct a more powerful lost prototype.

• Xia Xi reasoned that breathing styles differed in how they trained the body and recalled that combining Wind and Water Breathing had caused suffocation and produced a weaker hybrid.
• After learning Stone Breathing from Matsuyama, Xia Xi tried adjusting the rhythm of one style, while Nikaido Mei advised him to modify only the parts he understood.
• Nikaido Mei described how her former student Tengen Uzui created a prototype Sound Breathing despite limited training, then graduated after his physique and ninja skills helped him overpower her and damage the dojo with bombs.
• Xia Xi tested changes to his LV.3 Wind Breathing, and the system identified the result as a degraded prototype with 83% compatibility and warned that a self-created style would occupy his unique skill slot.
• Xia Xi declined to register the degraded style and chose to learn all Five Great Breathing Styles before using them to reconstruct the lost Prototype Breathing Style.

Xia Xi raised Thunder, Stone, and Water Breathing to LV.3, greatly boosting his strength, then defeated Nikaido Mei in a spar and left her dojo. A Kasugai Crow sent him to the eastern logging camp, where Kanae Kocho was in danger from a powerful demon.

• Xia Xi spent achievement points to raise Thunder, Stone, and Water Breathing to LV.3, maximizing the effects of his Total Concentration.
• Xia Xi overwhelmed Nikaido Mei in a spar, and their clash broke her Nichirin Blade.
• Nikaido Mei told Xia Xi he had learned all she could teach him, urged him to kill Koyuki and advise Tengen, and gave him a wine gourd and a scroll before he left.
• A Kasugai Crow reported that Kanae Kocho was in danger at the eastern logging camp after a powerful demon killed a Corps member.
• Xia Xi turned toward the eastern logging camp and hurried to reinforce Kanae Kocho.

Kanae Kocho and two Demon Slayers investigated disappearances at a logging camp and confronted a demon that could emerge from trees and stone. After the demon killed one swordsman and trapped Kanae and the other survivor in the forest, the Kakushi requested urgent reinforcements.

• After seventeen workers and their families vanished from a logging camp, the Demon Slayer Corps sent Kanae Kocho and two [Kanoto]-rank swordsmen to investigate.
• Kanae and her team found drag marks leading into the forest and discovered a broken Nichirin Blade embedded in a boulder.
• A demon burst from a tree and attacked the three slayers with flying wood splinters.
• One swordsman struck the demon but could not cut through its hardened body, and the demon killed him during the fight.
• Kanae severed the demon's arm with Flower Breathing while the surviving swordsman pulled their injured companion away.
• The demon later killed one [Kanoto]-rank swordsman and trapped Kanae and the remaining swordsman in the forest, prompting Kanae to request reinforcements.

Kanae pursued a demon through the forest with two swordsmen, but it lured them into a trap and killed one while badly injuring the other. After discovering that it could harden its body into metal, Kanae sent her Kasugai Crow for reinforcements and vowed to slay the demon that night.

• Kanae and the two swordsmen pursued the demon through the forest after learning it had captured people as winter food.
• The ground collapsed beneath Kanae, and the demon attacked the other swordsmen, killing one and knocking the other unconscious.
• Kanae fought the demon with Flower Breathing, but her blade could no longer cut through its metal-hard body.
• Kanae realized the demon had adapted its body through contact with wood and steel, then called for emergency reinforcements through her Kasugai Crow.
• Kanae protected the crow from the demon's thrown wood and declared that she would slay the demon that night.

Kanae held off the demon Mu while Kojiro rescued the missing loggers, but Mu’s larger brother Luo emerged from the forest before reinforcements arrived. With the civilians fleeing and Kanae cornered by two demons, the story left her facing a far more dangerous fight.

• Kanae distracted Mu so the wounded Kojiro could crawl away and search for the missing loggers.
• Kojiro returned with seven or eight rescued loggers, but a Wooden Hound killed an old man as Kanae rushed to help them.
• Kanae ordered Kojiro to lead the civilians south while she stayed behind to hold off Mu and the hounds.
• Mu revealed that it had surrounded the escape routes and taunted Kanae as the civilians fled.
• Luo emerged from the forest and joined his younger brother Mu, leaving Kanae facing two demons before reinforcements arrived.

Kanae fought two demons at once, nearly beheaded the thinner one, and was left exhausted when the burly demon threatened to kill her. A mysterious three-sword swordsman descended to face the demon and asked what it had said about the Twelve Kizuki.

• The burly demon chased after Kojiro and the fleeing civilians while the thin demon trapped Kanae with wooden spears and hounds.
• Kanae used Flower Breathing’s Seventh Form, Fleeting Blossom-Crimson Cherry, and nearly severed the thin demon’s neck, but exhaustion kept her from finishing it.
• The thin demon healed and prepared to kill Kanae, who feared she would die before she could protect Shinobu.
• A swordsman wreathed in electrical currents crashed down between Kanae and the demon, carrying three Nichirin Blades.
• The newcomer ignored Kanae’s warning and asked the demon what it had said about the Twelve Kizuki.

Xia Xi defeated Tanmu, a demon with a steel-hard body, and beheaded him after he refused to answer questions. As Tanmu died, his human memories returned, and Kanae prepared to leave to help Kojiro while Xia Xi seemed lost in thought.

• Xia Xi used Thunder Breathing to destroy Tanmu’s wooden hounds, then severed all four of Tanmu’s limbs when the demon charged with his metallic body.
• Xia Xi repeatedly cut down Tanmu’s regenerating limbs and questioned him, then beheaded him when Tanmu appeared unwilling to answer.
• As he died, Tanmu remembered his brother, the demon who transformed them, and the people he had killed, and he apologized for the bird that had brought misfortune.
• Kanae watched Tanmu die in tears and felt renewed hatred toward the Demon King, then turned to leave and help Kojiro.
• Kanae thanked Xia Xi for rescuing her, but noticed that he seemed lost in thought.

Xia Xi left the injured Kanae behind and hurried through the forest, where he found Tengen Uzui overwhelming a demon with his unusual fighting style. As Uzui prepared to deliver a finishing blow, Xia Xi’s expression suddenly changed.

• Xia Xi told the injured Kanae to stay behind, then used Water Breathing to rush toward another swordsman in danger.
• Kanae tried to follow but her injuries stopped her; she resolved to train harder so she could stand alongside stronger swordsmen.
• Xia Xi found Kojiro safe while Tengen Uzui battered the metallic demon with Nichirin Greatswords, explosives, and his distinctive techniques.
• Xia Xi checked Uzui’s panel and discovered that he had Ninjutsu alongside Thunder Breathing and Sound Breathing.
• Uzui crossed his blades and readied a decisive strike, and Xia Xi’s expression abruptly changed.

Xia Xi beat Tengen Uzui to the final blow against an Elite Monster, then introduced himself under a fake ninja identity and treated the mortally wounded Kojiro. He left the rescued villagers receiving emergency care while he focused on gaining experience.

• Xia Xi used Thunder Breathing to behead the demon just before Tengen Uzui could strike, gaining proficiency.
• Xia Xi called himself Kurumazuka Natsumi, a Special Jonin of the Hidden Leaf Village, and Uzui recognized his Thunder Breathing as connected to Nikaido.
• Xia Xi and Uzui found the wounded Kanoto swordsman Kojiro, and Xia Xi set his bones and treated his injuries with Medicine.
• Xia Xi called over the rescued villagers and began treating them one by one to gain experience.