Bullet Time! Su Chen was stabbed in the back!

Another Lower Rank demon!

Su Chen instinctively tightened his grip on his Nichirin Blade.

Things were starting to slip out of his control.

As far as Su Chen knew, demons generally did not act in groups unless "that one" ordered them to.

It was not that he feared he would fall here; rather, Su Chen was afraid Kanao Tsuyuri would notice something amiss if he went home injured.

After all, Su Chen did not want others worrying about him.

After drawing a deep breath, Su Chen slowly closed his eyes.

"Byōyō! Why didn't you come out and save me sooner?! I'm your superior! You idiot!" Rokuro shouted furiously.

He blamed Byōyō and Koyuki for not saving him immediately.

Byōyō planted his stinking foot directly on Rokuro's dissolving head. "Because once you're dead, I'll be Lower Rank Two! Hahaha!"

Koyuki wept beside him but did not say a word.

Clearly, she thought the same.

Such was trust between demons. They were extremely selfish creatures who would stop at nothing to obtain anything that benefited them.

Rokuro was getting his just deserts.

In his final moments before dissolving, Rokuro glared viciously at Su Chen.

He vented the last of his pent-up fury on the only human in the room.

He simply could not understand why Su Chen had severed his neck first instead of trying to dodge!

It was all this human's fault!

If his Nichirin Blade had not severed his neck, he would not have died!

He would still have been the lofty Lower Rank Two, reveling in power!

But there were no ifs.

Su Chen had cut off his head in the end.

"Hahaha!" Rokuro suddenly burst into wild laughter.

The two Lower Ranks stared at him in bewilderment, thinking he had gone mad before his death.

But Rokuro knew they had made a terrible mistake!

Without him, Rokuro, those two demons alone would likewise die at the hands of this mysterious man in black!

"Hahaha!" Rokuro laughed until tears streamed from his eyes.

How laughable!

How utterly laughable!

At the final moment before he dissolved, his smile abruptly vanished.

A look of despair appeared on his face. "I'll be waiting for you in hell!"

Those words sent a chill through the demons.

Already sensitive, Koyuki broke out in goose bumps after hearing Rokuro's words.

Byōyō also instinctively looked toward Su Chen.

Su Chen stood with his eyes closed, showing no sign of attacking or fleeing.

He remained completely motionless.

It seemed as though he had given up resisting.

But by then, Su Chen had entered a state in which his brain worked at high speed, and everything around him slowed down from his perspective.

In this state, Su Chen's mental energy would drain rapidly.

But his learning ability and combat reflexes would improve dramatically.

Bullet Time!

He normally would not use it, but even Su Chen dared not be careless when facing two Lower Rank demons at once.

The next moment, he slowly opened his eyes.

Grotesque black auspicious-cloud patterns covered his entire body.

Byōyō and Koyuki exchanged a glance, then the two Lower Rank demons charged at Su Chen simultaneously, one from the front and the other from behind!

But to Su Chen as he was now...

Too slow!

Su Chen broke down and reconstructed the two demons' movement paths like formulas.

[You discovered demons and observed their attacks. You discovered that they use nothing but dirty tricks, fighting without honor in a thoroughly disgusting manner. You disdain observing them.]

[You observed the demons' physical structure and discovered that it is utterly disgusting. You disdain observing it.]

[You saw a demon crawling toward you rapidly across the ground. You found this movement deeply shameful and disgusting. You disdain observing it.]

[The demons attacked! You attempted to dodge, and your body gradually adapted to their rhythm. Your understanding of footwork deepened further. With a flash of insight, you created Ghost Shadow Footwork!]

[Your opponent used Blood Demon Art-Ghost Mist against you. You could not understand it, but you were profoundly shocked.]

[You attempted to imitate it by increasing your own vibration frequency and promoting blood circulation. With a flash of understanding, you created Bee Breathing, Eighth Form-Blood Demon Bee Fang!]

[...]

[Your observation is complete. Your opponents have nothing left worth observing.]

Whoosh!

A cold gleam flashed!

Su Chen flicked the tip of his blade, unleashing over a hundred slashes in two and a half seconds!

Blade light streaked past, and with every slash, Su Chen precisely cut a tiny piece of bone from the demons.

The demons' screams rose one after another.

Su Chen was like an artist, using the Nichirin Blade in his hand as strings and the bodies of the two Lower Ranks as instruments.

Every flick of the Nichirin Blade made Byōyō and Koyuki howl together like a tenor and a soprano.

The harder Su Chen struck, the more horribly they screamed, as though performing the final song of their lives.

The entire process lasted a full minute.

One minute later.

The Nichirin Blade returned to its sheath, and Bullet Time ran out.

Su Chen quickly put distance between himself and the two demons.

Behind him, white bones lay scattered across the floor.

The dance was over.

One hundred and fifty-six notes in total, corresponding to one hundred and fifty-six pieces of white bone!

Su Chen had sliced off all seventy-eight joints of each of the two Lower Ranks!

Byōyō and Koyuki collapsed on the floor like two boneless chicken feet.

"Why?! Why?! How can you be so strong?!" Koyuki could not help shouting in despair as she looked at her slowly regenerating body.

Byōyō, however, fell unusually silent.

Because he had discovered a terrifying fact!

Since Su Chen could cut out their bones, did that mean he could also cut off their heads?

Was the gap between his strength and a Hashira's really that vast?!

Why could Upper Ranks kill Hashira while he could not?!

An expression of resentment appeared on Byōyō's face.

He had become a demon for the sake of immortality and power.

But seeing Su Chen, so young yet possessing power he might never attain in his entire life, finally made him lose his reason.

"Impossible!!!"

He began shouting and screaming along with Koyuki.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on the floor, looked at the two heaps of sludge, and said helplessly:

"Save your strength. If you weren't still useful to me, you'd be dead already."

"Your name's Koyuki, right? Could you cry a little more quietly? It sounds awful!"

"And you, whatever your name is, Byōyō-could you turn your head away? You're so ugly you're polluting my eyes."

Su Chen was utterly exhausted now. Having overworked his brain, he needed to rest for a while.

But Koyuki was crying so loudly that she seriously disturbed his rest.

So Su Chen simply cut off Fallen Leaves' head.

At the sight, Koyuki finally quieted down a little.

Su Chen sat down again.

An overwhelming weariness washed over him.

Overusing Bullet Time just now had severely depleted Su Chen's mental energy. At this point, perhaps any random demon could injure him?

Su Chen exhaled, intending to recover some stamina with his Breathing Style first.

But suddenly, he felt a chill behind him.

A sharp weapon plunged straight into Su Chen's back!