Muzan had never imagined that the mysterious man before him would teleport right into his face of his own accord.
And he had come alone, without any companions.
His face twitched, his brows knitted, and he sneered.
"Are you really so confident you can handle me? A mere human-don't think so highly of yourself!
I am the being closest to a perfect life-form."
Veins bulged on his face. Muzan was clearly furious. Though he avoided battle, it certainly wasn't because he was weak. On the contrary, he stood at the pinnacle of this world.
Now Lu You was hunting him down with that look of certain victory on his face, and it infuriated him.
Didn't he have any dignity to preserve?
"The last one who called himself a perfect life-form is still floating through space."
Lu You couldn't be bothered to argue with him. The vivid red patterns on his Nichirin Blade seemed to give off a faint glow, and their biting sting made Muzan slightly uncomfortable.
Could he be someone like Yoriichi Tsugikuni?
Suddenly uneasy, Muzan was ready to burst his body apart at any moment.
Lu You drew a deep breath. Surging air rushed into his lungs, enhancing his entire physique, and he shot forward with a roar like a cannonball.
The air shattered along his path, producing a sonic boom.
"Source Breathing-First Form: Beginning!"
It was existence and nothingness, unassuming yet unstoppable. That gleam of the blade went from dim to dazzling, swiftly filling Muzan's entire field of vision.
Muzan's gaze was cold. He neither ducked nor dodged. Nine tubular whips suddenly extended from his back, their lengths covered in dense, tiny needles, each roughly four meters long.
They lashed out abruptly, moving so fast they cracked the sound barrier before hurtling straight toward Lu You.
Good. He isn't someone like Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Heh, as long as I graze him and inject my blood, he'll be dead for certain.
Muzan could control demon blood, and that ability could also be used in combat.
All his whips bore venom-injecting spikes that could pump his blood into anyone they struck.
It would then completely destroy the vitality of the victim's cells.
Under normal circumstances, death was certain.
He made no effort to dodge Lu You's attack because he saw little threat in it. Lu You likewise didn't dodge his barbed whips, continuing to swing his blade with bright eyes.
Whoosh! Boom!
The tubular whips were right in his face, sonic booms reverberating.
As Lu You closed in on Muzan, their eyes met.
"Source Breathing-Fourth Form: Yin-Yang!"
Though he had changed sword forms on the fly, the transition was seamless. The lethally powerful blade light swiftly spun into a black-and-white millstone.
Clang, clang, clang!
Clear clashes rang out like metal striking metal, sparks flying everywhere. Light and shadow crossed between them; the tubular whips were as hard as steel.
As though neither would ever tire, the two remained locked in a stalemate. Within those two or three meters, blade light and whip shadows had all but woven themselves into a net.
That black-and-white millstone had actually deflected every attack from the tubular whips!
Muzan's gaze sharpened.
His right arm transformed into a vicious, fanged whip, ugly sharp teeth growing along it as it suddenly stretched out to strike Lu You.
This was an attack Muzan commonly used: the barbed whip!
With the nine tubular whips on his back and the barbed whip formed from his right arm attacking together, even Yoriichi Tsugikuni would have to be cautious and seize every fleeting opening.
In the original story, even Gyomei Himejima, who had activated the Transparent World, couldn't react to the speed of this barbed whip.
So fast!
Lu You's expression grew grave at the thought. His Nichirin Blade suddenly wheeled around, emitting a faint glow. "Source Breathing-Fifth Form: Divine Mechanism!"
The world before his eyes abruptly changed. His five senses rose to their limits. The tubular whips he had struggled to react to were now clearly visible, and he even had an instinctive sense of where they would appear in the next instant.
An enormous Bagua Diagram seemed to form beneath his feet: Qian, Kun, Zhen, Xun, Kan, Li, Gen, Dui, and the Central Palace. Every attack would come from one of these nine positions.
Not one was missed.
Though Lu You didn't have the Transparent World, he had his own way of simulating it: heightening his senses.
It worked along similar lines to Akaza's Compass Needle.
In an instant, a fierce exchange rang out in powerful metallic clashes. Lu You breathed deeply, blocking every barbed and tubular whip.
Muzan's expression changed. This fellow wasn't Yoriichi Tsugikuni, but he was no ordinary opponent either!
Then he suddenly grinned savagely.
"Fell for it, Demon Slayer!"
His legs rapidly writhed, sprouting eight new barbed whips. They were faster than before and specifically caught Lu You during the recovery immediately after his blocks.
Lu You's expression turned icy, and he frowned.
Squelch! Eight tubular whips pierced clean through Lu You's body and injected blood into him.
"Game over. You're strong. In these thousand years, you're the second-strongest swordsman I've ever seen. I, Muzan Kibutsuji, declare you the strongest of the modern age.
Unfortunately, I'm still the ultimate victor."
Muzan smiled and proclaimed his victory.
Clack... The Nichirin Blade stood planted upright in the ground. Lu You hung his head, then suddenly raised it with a faint smile.
His palms were already pressed together.
"Convergence: Piercing Blood!"
Hiss! The blood between his palms abruptly shot out in a straight line with a sharp, piercing sound like a laser.
Less than three meters away, Muzan had no time to react before it pierced his body. The line of blood shot through several buildings.
"What is this?!
It's the move he used against Gyokko before. But it doesn't matter. My blood is already inside him. He can't possibly have any strength left to attack me."
Muzan panicked for a moment but quickly calmed down. Even if he were restrained like Gyokko, there was no one else here to help Lu You.
Lu You smiled, then increased the force!
Ever since using Blood Manipulation's Domain Expansion, he had been using Reverse Cursed Technique to repair his burned-out Cursed Technique.
He had only just finished, and then a plan had come naturally to him.
A massive quantity of blood from inside Lu You likewise began pouring into Muzan's body, and Muzan's expression changed drastically.
First, there was the potent poison. This man's blood also contained some kind of toxin that had to be neutralized, or it would affect his movements.
Second, some of the blood being injected into him was actually the demon blood he had just injected into the other man. It had been sent back!
Wait, seriously?
You can actually control the blood inside your own body?!
Then doesn't that mean my demon blood is completely useless against this fellow?
This is bad. My body's seized up...
Muzan could feel some kind of toxin rapidly spreading inside him. It was a strange poison he had never encountered before!
But it didn't matter. He could analyze it through digestion. There was nothing he couldn't absorb.
Lu You quickly pulled out the tubular whips embedded in his body and used Reverse Cursed Technique to repair himself, closing his wounds.
Then he pulled the Nichirin Blade from the ground and instantly unleashed a dazzling flash of steel.
"Source Breathing-Third Form: Myriad Phenomena!"
Too close! Muzan screamed inwardly.
A head shot skyward in an instant, blood scattering everywhere. Muzan's limbs and torso were also severed by the endlessly shifting blade flashes, leaving only a limbless trunk.
"You think you've won?!"
Muzan Kibutsuji roared as his head flew into the air. Caught by that underhanded move, he was practically exploding with rage.
The tubular whips on the limbless trunk's back suddenly moved again. All of them lashed out, each strike powerful enough to smash a human body apart, forcing Lu You back step by step.
Then his head rapidly regrew, while an ugly, enormous crimson hand emerged and swallowed the head that had fallen to the ground.
His limbs regenerated instantly, and Muzan sneered.
"Despair. Beheading no longer does anything to me. Once your stamina runs out, you'll die."
Lu You frowned. As expected, beheading Muzan with a Nichirin Blade couldn't kill him. He had already overcome his weakness to Nichirin Blades. Probably only a Bright Red Nichirin Sword could hurt him.
"So that's how it is... Say, Muzan Kibutsuji, I've always been curious. If you were cut into powder, could you still recover?"
He slowly sheathed his blade and formed hand seals, his face as still as an ancient well, as deep as an abyss.
"Domain Expansion!"
Before you continue