Lower Rank Two, Rokuro!

But what Su Chen hadn't expected was that the demon would suddenly vanish just as his blade was about to strike!

Su Chen's gaze sharpened slightly.

He soon noticed something unusual.

A layer of swamp-like bubbles slowly floated over the ground where the demon had just stood.

"Blood Demon Art?"

Su Chen narrowed his eyes. This was his first encounter with a demon that could use a Blood Demon Art.

And this ability seemed a little like that of the first demon Tanjiro encountered in the original story!

Without a second thought, Su Chen jumped straight down.

Ten seconds later, Su Chen swam back up.

He held a hideous head in his hand and tossed it to the ground in disgust.

The demon's words were exactly the same as those of the first demon Su Chen had killed: "Impossible!!!"

But Su Chen answered him with a slash.

The Nichirin Blade plunged straight down through his head!

"Talk. Where is Shinobu Kocho?" Su Chen's voice rang beside the demon's ear like an asura from hell.

The demon worked his throat in terror, forcing out a few words: "Shinobu Kocho... who is that?"

Swish, swish, swish!

Su Chen once again chopped the demon into powder.

Su Chen shook his head in disappointment. "Looks like I won't get anything out of him."

After wiping his Nichirin Blade, Su Chen continued onward.

Every demon he encountered along the way fell to a single slash.

Apart from demons with Blood Demon Arts, none could withstand a second slash from Su Chen!

This made Su Chen fully realize that his current strength seemed terrifyingly overwhelming to these demons.

And so, blade in hand, Su Chen cut his way straight from the foot of the mountain toward the summit.

But gradually, Su Chen noticed something was wrong.

The path ahead seemed a little familiar, especially the haystack directly in front of him, which still bore the sword marks from when he had cut down a demon earlier.

Damn it! Didn't I just come this way?

Am I lost?

Su Chen closed his eyes.

Bullet Time activated!

A sense of clarity instantly surged through his mind.

In Su Chen's eyes, the surrounding scenery suddenly slowed.

The howling wind in the air lost its sound.

The birds fluttering through the woods no longer beat their wings.

The fish in the river were caught at the very instant they leaped out of the water.

The mountain forest fell into an inexplicably eerie silence.

Everything around him seemed to have been paused, and Su Chen was the master of this domain.

Su Chen focused his attention on his eyes.

Gradually, he seemed to see a presence appear before him.

It was a faint crimson blood mist.

Dense and thick.

Although he didn't know what it was, Su Chen was sure this was probably what was interfering with his sense of direction.

But since he could see it, Su Chen no longer had anything to worry about.

Parting the blood mist like a red veil, Su Chen finally saw the scenery before him begin to change.

The once-level ground began to rise, and the sounds around him gradually grew more numerous.

Eventually, Su Chen walked out of the "red mist" and began heading toward the summit.

Bullet Time deactivated.

In an instant, all the surrounding sounds returned.

Su Chen closed his eyes and listened carefully.

Demons sounded different from other animals, and after briefly distinguishing between them, Su Chen could easily locate them.

In the end, Su Chen used his powers of observation to work out a route where he would be most likely to encounter demons.

Su Chen slaughtered his way along it as easily as chopping vegetables!

As time passed, Su Chen encountered fewer and fewer demons.

Perhaps even he didn't know that he had already killed nearly half the demons on Autumn Sky Mountain.

Now, the lesser demons on the mountain reacted to Su Chen as though they had seen a ghost. The moment this masked swordsman appeared, they fled.

Su Chen reached the summit with ease.

An abandoned wooden cabin appeared before him.

Whispers came from inside.

"Rest assured, Lord Lower Rank. My Blood Demon Art can confuse their sense of direction. Those women are still going around in circles halfway up the mountain!"

"I also gathered over a hundred demons down below. No Demon Slayer Corps swordsman will make it up here!"

The voice sounded rather timid, with a distinctly flattering tone.

Realization dawned on Su Chen when he heard this. No wonder he hadn't encountered Shinobu Kocho along the way.

She had been trapped in a Blood Demon Art.

Taking into account what the old man at the foot of the mountain had said earlier, Shinobu Kocho could indeed have been trapped here while injured.

Just then, another hoarse voice sounded inside the room.

"Well done. I'll report this to Lord Muzan when I return. You may leave."

"Ah, thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

The voices died down.

Footsteps heading toward Su Chen followed.

Su Chen hid behind the door, waiting for the demon to come out.

The footsteps drew closer, and before long, a somewhat hideous demon head emerged from behind the door.

His face still wore the smile of someone who had narrowly escaped death.

But that smile didn't last long.

Because the next instant, a Nichirin Blade with a floral guard sliced off his head.

The demon hadn't even had time to react!

Before dying, he saw Su Chen, and his eyes immediately went wide.

No matter how hard this demon racked his brains, he couldn't figure out how Su Chen had sneaked in!

And anyone who could cut off his head without a sound had to be Hashira-level!

Unfortunately, his mouth had already disintegrated, leaving him unable to make the slightest sound!

The demons inside the cabin remained completely unaware of what had happened outside.

And so, the demon died with resentment in his eyes.

That should dispel his Blood Demon Art, right? Su Chen thought.

Then he glanced inside the cabin and discovered that there was actually more than one demon in there.

Some clung to the walls, some hung from the ceiling, some were buried in the ground, and one even stood swaying in place with his head smashed apart.

Altogether, there were probably a dozen or so, large and small, with all sorts of strange forms. Perhaps every one of them possessed a Blood Demon Art.

And the one standing among them was probably the member of the Twelve Kizuki that the dead demon had mentioned.

This demon was much taller and larger than the others, with a long beard. He looked like a middle-aged demon in his prime.

His eyes, in particular, were perfectly clear to Su Chen with his maxed-out powers of observation.

Inscribed in his irises were the words "Lower Rank Two"!

Definitely one of the Twelve Kizuki!

Su Chen couldn't help letting out a surprised sound.

Isn't that Lower Rank Two, Rokuro?

Su Chen remembered very clearly that, according to the story, Muzan should have purged the Lower Ranks after Lower Rank Five, Rui, was slain on Mount Natagumo.

It seemed he had intervened ahead of time.

But that was perfect. Su Chen had been wanting to test his strength and see the results of his training.

Rokuro would make just the right opponent!

However, the sight before him made Su Chen click his tongue.