Chapter Summaries

Lin Yoriichi visited Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s grave, and the reflection raised his restoration rate to 42%. Upper Rank One Kokushibo arrived and confronted him, convinced he was an impostor, while Lin Yoriichi called him his elder brother.

• Kyojuro Rengoku praised Lin Yoriichi for training harder and left with Sanemi Shinazugawa after promising to report his victory over two Lower Rank demons.
• A Kasugai Crow ordered Giyu Tomioka and Murata to investigate signs of a demon aboard a train, and they departed while Lin Yoriichi stayed behind.
• Lin Yoriichi found Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s grave, cleared the weeds around it, and saw his restoration rate rise to 42%.
• Kokushibo arrived at the grave after hearing rumors of an ancient burial site and recognized Lin Yoriichi’s resemblance to Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
• Kokushibo insisted that Yoriichi Tsugikuni had died three hundred years earlier and accused Lin Yoriichi of being an imitator.
• Lin Yoriichi addressed Kokushibo as his elder brother and called him pitiful.

Lin Yoriichi’s appearance and words convinced Kokushibo that Yoriichi Tsugikuni had returned from the dead, stirring jealousy and painful memories between the brothers. In the Infinity Castle, Muzan Kibutsuji sensed Kokushibo’s intense emotions and considered connecting his vision to Kokushibo’s to discover what was happening.

• Kokushibo drew his sword but recognized that the person before him was Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and felt jealousy over Yoriichi’s return.
• Lin Yoriichi asked Kokushibo for the broken flute, reminding him of their childhood and the bond he had carried into old age.
• Nakime played her biwa in the Infinity Castle while worrying that her strength and healing had declined after Muzan Kibutsuji took her blood.
• Muzan Kibutsuji grew impatient waiting for Kokushibo’s report and realized Kokushibo was experiencing unusually intense emotions.
• Muzan Kibutsuji recalled Kokushibo’s past encounter with the elderly Yoriichi and considered linking his vision to Kokushibo’s.

Lin Yoriichi provoked Kokushibo into drawing Muzan Kibutsuji’s attention, then struck at Kokushibo’s neck with a sun-flaming blade. Muzan Kibutsuji felt the slash through their synchronized senses, leaving both demons facing the attack.

• Kokushibo recognized Lin Yoriichi as Yoriichi Tsugikuni and attacked him with Moon Breathing, but Lin dodged and blocked the strikes.
• Kokushibo grew furious and distressed as he compared himself with Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
• Lin used Kokushibo’s emotional turmoil to draw Muzan Kibutsuji into sharing Kokushibo’s senses.
• Lin awakened his Demon Slayer Mark, ignited his Bright Red Nichirin Sword with sun flames, and targeted the scar on Kokushibo’s neck.
• Muzan Kibutsuji heard Lin’s words about overcoming death and panicked as Lin’s blade slashed toward Kokushibo’s neck.

Muzan Kibutsuji realized Yoriichi Tsugikuni had returned and resolved to find the Blue Spider Lily and disrupt the Demon Slayer Corps. Lin Yoriichi nearly beheaded Kokushibo, who fled, and Lin prepared to reveal what he meant by a surprise.

• Muzan Kibutsuji panicked after sharing Kokushibo's experience of being struck by Yoriichi Tsugikuni and decided to seek the Blue Spider Lily while ordering his subordinates to search for Demon Slayer Corps bases.
• Muzan Kibutsuji roared for Nakime to vent his fear and anger.
• Kokushibo felt his neck wound regenerating only to char again and fled from Lin Yoriichi in fear.
• Lin Yoriichi let Kokushibo escape, recognizing that his surprise attack had nearly beheaded him but that destroying him would likely require waiting until sunrise.
• Lin Yoriichi decided his surprise for Kokushibo and Muzan Kibutsuji had succeeded and prepared to explain what came next.

Lin Yoriichi told Kagaya Ubuyashiki that driving back Kokushibo would make Muzan Kibutsuji avoid the Demon Slayer Corps for a while, giving Lin time to grow stronger. He proposed gathering the Hashira at the Swordsmith Village to train them to use bright red Nichirin swords, and Kagaya then asked whether he planned to visit the Kamado Family at the Butterfly Mansion.

• Lin Yoriichi returned to Headquarters, where Kagaya Ubuyashiki praised him for killing Lower Rank Three and Lower Rank Six and asked about his encounter with Kokushibo.
• Lin Yoriichi explained that Muzan Kibutsuji would likely hide and focus on gaining strength, leaving the Demon Slayer Corps with fewer missions and time to train.
• Lin Yoriichi told Kagaya Ubuyashiki that he wanted his cooperation with a plan involving the Swordsmith Village and possibly all the Hashira.
• Lin Yoriichi proposed training the Hashira to use bright red Nichirin swords and explained the weapon's effects to Kagaya Ubuyashiki.
• Kagaya Ubuyashiki began to thank Lin Yoriichi, but Lin stopped him, and Kagaya asked whether he was planning to visit the Kamado Family at the Butterfly Mansion.

Lin Yoriichi traveled to the Butterfly Mansion, where Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado thanked him for saving their family. He accepted a Disaster-Averting Mask from Kagaya Ubuyashiki and arrived at the mansion with Momoki Haruko, who offered to prepare and wash his clothes.

• Kagaya Ubuyashiki gave Lin Yoriichi Sakonji Urokodaki's Disaster-Averting Mask, and Lin Yoriichi decided to take it.
• Momoki Haruko escorted Lin Yoriichi to the Butterfly Mansion and apologized for failing to provide him with a Demon Slayer Corps uniform.
• Lin Yoriichi realized his Restoration Level System had increased after he used Sun Breathing to dry his clothes.
• At the Butterfly Mansion, Tanjiro recognized Lin Yoriichi's matching hanafuda earrings and introduced him to the others as the man who saved his family.
• Nezuko Kamado saw Lin Yoriichi's earrings and sincerely thanked him.

Lin Yoriichi reunited with the Kamado family and told Tanjiro that he had saved them because of a promise to Tanjiro’s ancestor. At the Butterfly Mansion, Shinobu Kocho tried to teach Giyu Tomioka about communication and discovered that his bluntness stemmed from poor emotional intelligence.

• Kie Kamado thanked Lin Yoriichi for saving her family and introduced him to Takeo, Delia, Shigeru, and Rokuta Kamado.
• Tanjiro asked Lin Yoriichi why he had saved them, and Lin said it was because of a promise to Tanjiro’s ancestor.
• Giyu Tomioka told Shinobu Kocho that he was uninjured and asked whether she disliked him.
• Giyu explained how he had spoken to Sanemi Shinazugawa, including advising him, “if you suck, practice more,” and Shinobu realized Giyu lacked emotional intelligence.
• Shinobu tested Giyu by asking what he would do if she wanted to see over a crowd, and he said he would lift her by the scruff of her neck.

Lin Yoriichi took Giyu Tomioka to Mount Fujikasane so he could face the Hand Demon that killed Sabito. He handed Giyu a Disaster-Averting Mask and declared that Giyu’s Final Selection began there.

• Lin Yoriichi found Giyu Tomioka holding Shinobu Kocho, who attacked him after he said something that angered her.
• Giyu Tomioka explained their conversation, and Lin Yoriichi realized he had told Giyu to speak plainly without warning him to choose his words.
• Lin Yoriichi decided to take Giyu to Mount Fujikasane after finding a Disaster-Averting Mask in Kagaya Ubuyashiki’s room.
• At the foot of the mountain, Lin Yoriichi gave Giyu the mask and revealed that the Hand Demon who killed Sabito hunted swordsmen wearing such masks.
• Lin Yoriichi told Giyu that his Final Selection began on Mount Fujikasane.

Giyu Tomioka found the Hand Demon on Mount Fujikasane and learned that it had killed Sabito, Makomo, and Urokodaki’s other students. Enraged, he attacked the demon and formed a new Water Breathing technique, the Twelfth Form: Torrent.

• Giyu Tomioka sensed a huge creature moving through the forest and recognized the Hand Demon when it emerged.
• Giyu asked whether Urokodaki had captured the demon, and the Hand Demon admitted it had eaten Urokodaki’s students, including Sabito and Makomo.
• The Hand Demon mocked Giyu and described how it had killed Makomo, then tried to flee when it saw the Hashira inscription on his blade.
• Giyu charged with Water Breathing: Eleventh Form: Dead Calm, withering the demon’s arms and knocking it down.
• Giyu recalled Lin Yoriichi’s words about water becoming a furious torrent and unveiled Water Breathing: Twelfth Form: Torrent against the Hand Demon.

Giyu Tomioka returned from Mount Fujikasane after killing the Hand Demon and developing a new Water Breathing form, which Lin Yoriichi urged him to name Torrent. Giyu then described the vanished train passengers and staff, before his Kasugai Crow ordered him back to Headquarters.

• Giyu Tomioka thanked Lin Yoriichi for sending him to Mount Fujikasane, asked him to keep the Hand Demon’s death secret from Mr. Urokodaki, and revealed he had developed Water Breathing’s Twelfth Form.
• Giyu Tomioka explained that Lin Yoriichi’s remarks about water’s turbulent tone inspired the form, and Lin Yoriichi stopped him from naming it Water’s Tone, Heads Cut Off.
• Giyu Tomioka said he and Murata had found no demon traces aboard the train where passengers and staff had vanished, and Tanjiro had detected no demon scent on the samples.
• Giyu Tomioka’s Kasugai Crow delivered the Master’s order for him to return to Headquarters immediately.

After Giyu Tomioka received a formal welcome for passing Final Selection, Kagaya Ubuyashiki asked Lin Yoriichi to investigate the suspicious disappearances on a train. Lin Yoriichi suspected Enmu was involved, then learned Kagaya had already sent Kyojuro Rengoku ahead.

• Hinaki Ubuyashiki and Kiriya Ubuyashiki congratulated Giyu Tomioka on passing Final Selection and presented him with a uniform, ore for a Nichirin Blade, and renewed recognition from his Kasugai Crow.
• Kiriya Ubuyashiki led Lin Yoriichi to the cemetery, where Kagaya Ubuyashiki was cleaning gravestones; Kiriya explained that many graves were cenotaphs for swordsmen devoured by demons.
• Lin Yoriichi promised Kiriya Ubuyashiki that he would put an end to Muzan Kibutsuji and asked Kagaya Ubuyashiki not to tell Mr. Urokodaki about the Hand Demon.
• Kagaya Ubuyashiki asked Lin Yoriichi to investigate a train where missing passengers and crew had later reappeared with dreamlike explanations for leaving.
• Lin Yoriichi suspected Lower Rank One Enmu had used his ability to put the passengers to sleep, and Kagaya Ubuyashiki revealed that he had already sent Kyojuro Rengoku to investigate.

Lin Yoriichi rushed to join Kyojuro Rengoku at the train station, where they encountered a demon in a boxed-meal shop. After Rengoku killed the demon, Lin caught the hidden Enmu, who had been manipulating their perceptions and dreams.

• Lin Yoriichi hurried from Ubuyashiki Headquarters after learning that Kyojuro Rengoku was investigating a train, and Momoki Haruko drove him there at speed.
• Momoki Haruko revealed that she had learned to drive in Gunma Prefecture and had once been called the racing god of Mount Haruna, prompting Lin to realize her family ran a tofu shop.
• Lin found Kyojuro Rengoku eating boxed meals near the station, and the two began eating together while discussing the mission.
• A demon seized a little girl in the shop, and Rengoku broke through a partition and killed it with one slash of his Flame Breathing.
• Lin recognized the strange déjà vu as a sign of Enmu's interference, caught the hidden demon by the neck, and demanded to know why he was tampering with their meals and dreams.

Lin Yoriichi beheaded Enmu’s decoy body while resisting his sleep hypnosis, then summoned Chachamaru to track down Enmu’s real body. The others remained asleep as Lin Yoriichi prepared to search for the demon.

• Lin Yoriichi grabbed Enmu after recognizing the dream and found Kyojuro Rengoku and the shopkeeper and her granddaughter asleep nearby.
• Enmu used his hand’s Blood Demon Art to put Lin Yoriichi to sleep, but Lin Yoriichi still beheaded him with Sun Breathing.
• Enmu revealed that the severed head and body were only a decoy, then began to disintegrate without giving up the location of his real body.
• Lin Yoriichi checked on the sleepers and concluded Enmu’s real body was hidden nearby.
• Lin Yoriichi used Miss Tamayo’s knife to summon Chachamaru and asked him to track Enmu’s scent.

Lin Yoriichi defeated Enmu after discovering that the demon had hidden his real body beneath a shop and ambushed him. After the shopkeeper and her granddaughter were evacuated, Kyojuro Rengoku blamed himself for being trapped by Enmu’s Blood Demon Art and asked to fight alongside Lin Yoriichi next time; then heavy footsteps approached.

• Chachamaru tracked Enmu’s scent to the shop floor, and Lin Yoriichi broke through it to expose a neck-like structure underground.
• Lin Yoriichi used the exposed bones as bait, drew out the smaller Enmu, and killed him with Sun Breathing.
• Lin Yoriichi confirmed Enmu’s death when his Restoration Level System rose to 55%, and Kyojuro Rengoku and the shopkeepers woke up.
• Lin Yoriichi summoned a Kasugai Crow to bring Momoki Haruko and the nearby Kakushi to evacuate the shopkeepers.
• Kyojuro Rengoku apologized for being unable to help and asked Lin Yoriichi to let him fight alongside him in future encounters.
• Forceful footsteps sounded as Lin Yoriichi and Kyojuro Rengoku stood together.

Lin Yoriichi and Kyojuro Rengoku confronted Akaza, who had come to investigate Enmu’s death and confirm whether Lin was present. When Muzan Kibutsuji took control of Akaza and ordered him to leave, Lin seized the opening to attack, leaving Akaza struggling to understand why Muzan feared the supposedly unremarkable swordsman.

• Kyojuro Rengoku recognized Akaza as Upper Rank Three and stepped in front of Lin Yoriichi, prepared to risk his life protecting him.
• Akaza praised Rengoku’s fighting spirit and offered to make him a demon, but Rengoku refused.
• Akaza inferred that Enmu had been killed by Rengoku and wondered why Muzan Kibutsuji had sent him to check for Lin.
• Muzan forcibly took control of Akaza and ordered him to leave immediately.
• Lin drew his blade and used Sun Breathing’s Seventh Form, Sunflower Thrust, while Akaza struggled against Muzan’s control and asked why he had to flee.

Muzan Kibutsuji took control of Akaza to evade Lin Yoriichi and Kyojuro Rengoku, overriding Akaza’s desire to fight. Akaza escaped after using a series of unexpected maneuvers, and Muzan taunted Lin Yoriichi as he fled.

• Muzan Kibutsuji tore apart Akaza’s consciousness, took control of his body, and made him rip off his own head to evade Lin Yoriichi’s strike.
• Kyojuro Rengoku attacked Akaza with Flame Breathing, Fifth Form: Flame Tiger, while Akaza’s consciousness briefly resurfaced to praise the attack and try to fight.
• Muzan suppressed Akaza again when he questioned the order to flee and began preparing Destructive Death.
• Muzan made Akaza leap into Kyojuro Rengoku’s blade, allowing the slash to cut him in half at the waist.
• Akaza regenerated his lower body and fled, while Muzan taunted Lin Yoriichi that he had not anticipated the escape route.

Lin Yoriichi pursued Akaza with Kyojuro Rengoku, but Muzan Kibutsuji’s intervention brought Hantengu’s clones into the fight and let Akaza escape toward the Infinity Castle. Lin Yoriichi threw a blood-taking knife at Akaza just before he vanished, leaving his counterplan in motion.

• Lin Yoriichi ordered Kyojuro Rengoku to pursue Akaza, and Rengoku propelled him forward with a modified Flame Breathing technique.
• A lightning strike brought Hantengu-Sekido into Lin Yoriichi’s path, but Lin Yoriichi beheaded him and then killed the Hantengu-Aizetsu and Hantengu-Karaku clones.
• Hantengu-Urogi seized the fleeing Akaza and carried him into the sky as a biwa opened a passage to the Infinity Castle.
• Lin Yoriichi realized Muzan Kibutsuji was using Akaza as a way to escape and undermine him, while further demons might threaten Kyojuro Rengoku.
• Lin Yoriichi threw a blood-taking knife at Akaza, and Akaza disappeared into the Infinity Castle with it.

Lin Yoriichi sent Yushiro a blood sample and instructions to use Chachamaru to locate the Infinity Castle and counter Nakime’s Blood Demon Art. Meanwhile, Muzan Kibutsuji dismissed the knife Lin had planted, reprimanded Akaza, and sent him away to search for the Blue Spider Lily, whereupon Akaza remembered Koyuki.

• Lin Yoriichi filled a knife with Hantengu’s clone’s blood and sent Yushiro a note asking him to locate the Infinity Castle and find a way to counter Nakime’s Blood Demon Art.
• Lin Yoriichi reflected that finding and breaching the Infinity Castle might be necessary to reach Muzan Kibutsuji.
• Muzan Kibutsuji returned to the Infinity Castle, removed Lin Yoriichi’s knife, and congratulated himself for saving Akaza and outwitting Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
• Muzan Kibutsuji reprimanded Akaza for confronting the Demon Slayer Corps and ordered him to resume searching for the Blue Spider Lily while avoiding the swordsman with hanafuda earrings.
• Nakime sent Akaza away, and fragments of his memories surfaced as he called out Koyuki’s name.

Lin Yoriichi and Kyojuro Rengoku returned safely to Headquarters after Upper Rank Three and Upper Rank Four escaped, and the Hashira began traveling in staggered groups to the Swordsmith Village. Lin arrived ahead of Gyomei Himejima, whose unexplained delay left him concerned as running footsteps approached.

• Kyojuro Rengoku accepted that Upper Rank Four had escaped and looked forward to learning new techniques from Lin Yoriichi.
• Lin Yoriichi and Kyojuro Rengoku returned to Headquarters, where Kagaya Ubuyashiki welcomed them and confirmed that the Hashira would travel to the Swordsmith Village in separate groups.
• Kagaya Ubuyashiki sent Gyomei Himejima ahead, assigned Shinobu Kocho to travel after Lin and Kyojuro, and arranged Lin Yoriichi's secret journey with a Kakushi relay.
• Lin Yoriichi reached the Swordsmith Village and heard a Kakushi wonder why Gyomei Himejima had not arrived despite setting off first.
• Lin Yoriichi heard someone running nearby.

Lin Yoriichi and the arriving Hashira waited together at the Swordsmith Village entrance for Gyomei Himejima, with Tengen Uzui’s arrival making the Kakushi carrying him struggle. Gyomei finally appeared on a trembling Kakushi’s back, saying he could have walked himself.

• Shinobu Kocho arrived and joined Lin Yoriichi in waiting for the missing Gyomei Himejima.
• Muichiro Tokito and Obanai Iguro arrived, and Lin Yoriichi persuaded Obanai to stay by saying Mitsuri Kanroji would arrive soon.
• Mitsuri Kanroji arrived, learned everyone was waiting for Gyomei, and chose to wait with them.
• Kyojuro Rengoku, Giyu Tomioka, and Sanemi Shinazugawa arrived and joined the group at the entrance.
• Tengen Uzui arrived, leaving his exhausted Kakushi relieved after carrying him.
• Gyomei Himejima finally appeared, carried by a Kakushi whose legs were trembling, and said he could have walked himself.