"Su... Su Chen," Kanao Tsuyuri called softly.
Su Chen answered gently, "What is it?"
Kanao turned around, took a jar of purple liquid from a drawer in the room, and mustered her courage to say, "Use this."
Su Chen took it, puzzled.
He sniffed it and detected the fragrance of wisteria.
Su Chen immediately understood.
Kanao had probably heard that his Breathing Style required poison, then run off to Shinobu Kocho's laboratory to steal a jar.
Su Chen looked at Kanao tenderly.
The girl's face grew even redder, her two small, fair hands twisting together as though tied in a tight knot.
Su Chen suddenly took Kanao's hand.
Kanao trembled.
In the sunset, the evening light streamed through the window, bathing Su Chen's face in gold.
Kanao seemed to see something different in that handsome face.
What was it?
The blush on the girl's face said it all.
Kanao could not help staring, entranced.
Su Chen smiled sweetly, revealing a heartwarming smile. "Thank you. I'll bring Shinobu Kocho back."
"Mm." Kanao's voice was quieter than a mosquito.
When she wanted to say a few more words to Su Chen, however, she discovered that he had already left the room.
Kanao immediately ran to the window.
Her steps were so quick that she even used Flower Breathing!
She simply kept waiting, silently keeping watch by the window for a boy's figure to appear again.
Gradually, night fell.
Su Chen briefly covered his face in his room, then opened the door and slipped out.
He went to the wisteria bushes in the courtyard and quietly picked a handful.
At the same time, he carefully applied the poison he had received from Kanao to his sword.
After giving his Nichirin Blade a simple coating of poison,
he headed out under cover of darkness.
Meanwhile,
in a room on the second floor of the Butterfly Mansion, a pair of lively eyes watched everything intently.
Kanao leaned quietly by the window, her lips curved in a smile.
At night, on the way down the mountain.
A boy's figure bounded swiftly through the mountains, like a traveler in the dark.
In an instant, he leaped several meters.
This was Su Chen's first time leaving the Butterfly Mansion.
Following the direction he remembered, he ran the way Shinobu Kocho had gone.
He had two main objectives for this outing.
The first was to find Shinobu Kocho and confirm that she was safe.
After all, because he had transmigrated here, Su Chen had no idea how the subsequent plot would develop.
On top of that, this girl went charging all over the place. It would be bad if she encountered Doma.
The second was that Su Chen wanted to test the results of his training over the past few days.
He felt that he had improved greatly, but without Shinobu Kocho as his sparring partner, Su Chen was somewhat unsure just how large the gap between him and the Hashira was now.
He was rather impatient to test his strength.
He probably could not beat an Upper Rank as he was now.
But a Lower Rank might be another story.
As everyone knew, in the Demon Slayer world, Upper Ranks surpassed Hashira, Hashira surpassed Lower Ranks, and Lower Ranks surpassed ordinary Corps members. This hierarchy applied across the board.
As for the ranks of Demon Slayer Corps members, they were purely for show. Apart from Hashira, none of the other ranks had any value as a reference.
With the full moon hanging high overhead, Su Chen suddenly stopped.
Looking at the hazy darkness ahead, a trace of confusion appeared on his face.
Su Chen seemed to have gotten lost...
"Damn! I should have asked around at the Butterfly Mansion!"
But since he was already out, there was no reason to go back. Su Chen planned to find a random household and go inside to ask for directions.
Looking around, he unexpectedly spotted an old man taking a walk in the mountains.
"Sir, how do I get to Autumn Sky Mountain?"
That was the first thing Su Chen said as he bounded over.
Seeing the black-clad masked man suddenly appear, seemingly blending into the darkness,
the old man's vision went black, and he nearly went straight to meet his great-grandmother.
The old man shrieked, "A-a-a-a... a robber?!"
"No! Sir, you've misunderstood!" Su Chen hurriedly pulled down his mask.
Sure enough, after seeing Su Chen's handsome face, second only to the reader's, the old man felt considerably reassured.
How could such a handsome young fellow possibly be a robber!
What a fright!
Clutching his chest, the old man said, "Young fellow, don't keep wandering around in the middle of the night. This old man has a bad heart!"
"Yes, yes, yes." Su Chen hurriedly admitted his mistake. "Then, sir, do you know how to get to Autumn Sky Mountain?"
"Autumn Sky Mountain?" The old man raised his eyebrows and sank into thought.
Seeing this, Su Chen took a few coins from his pocket. This was the spending money Shinobu Kocho had given him back then.
Upon seeing the money, the old man immediately remembered. "I remember now. This is Autumn Sky Mountain. What would you like to know, young fellow?"
Su Chen took out a banknote and placed it in the old man's hand. "I'm looking for someone. She's a girl wearing a butterfly haori. Have you seen her, sir?"
The old man shook his head. "Oh dear, I'm getting old. I really can't remember!"
Su Chen stuffed all the money into the old man's hands.
"Oh, I couldn't! I couldn't!"
The old man kept shoving the money into his own pocket.
Then he said with sudden realization, "Now that you mention it, I really did see her!"
The old man said with a grin, "It's mainly because I feel you and I have a connection, young fellow. Otherwise, I really wouldn't tell you."
"A few days ago, a group of young fellows came up from the foot of the mountain. Every one of them looked friendly. There was indeed a girl among them. You mean the one wearing the colorful haori, right?"
Su Chen nodded.
The old man sighed. "But that girl seemed to be injured. I think I saw a lot of blood on her sleeve."
"Injured?" Su Chen immediately furrowed his brow.
Shinobu Kocho was a Hashira-level Corps member. What demon could injure her?
Could it really have been an Upper Rank?
Daki and her brother, Gyokko, or Hantengu?
Or was it... Doma!
"Sir, it's a little dangerous here. I heard there are demons around. You know, right? So you'd better hurry down the mountain and leave!"
Su Chen's heart felt somewhat heavy. Learning this news immediately sent it plummeting.
If Shinobu Kocho really had encountered an Upper Rank, the situation was rather bad.
But for now, he needed to send this defenseless old man away first.
Despite Su Chen urging him to leave, the old man walked at a leisurely pace.
As he walked, he even said cheerfully, "It's fine. I'll wander around a little longer. Aren't you here too? I'm not afraid!"
Not afraid, my ass!
Just as Su Chen was about to forcibly move the old man away, he suddenly heard leaves rustling in a patch of shadow behind him.
The sounds came in rapid succession, as though something were crawling along the ground.
Su Chen stepped half a pace forward, shielding the old man behind him.
By the moonlight, Su Chen looked warily into the depths of the mountain forest.
In the hazy darkness, a pair of ferocious eyes suddenly lit up!
Before you continue