Chapter 301: The Ninja World Consciousness Being Fleeced by Orochimaru

However,

when hearing about predestination, one still cannot help but retort: "Fate, how could such a thing possibly exist?"

Orochimaru said with a firm tone: "Fate has existed from beginning to end."

"For a thousand years, you haven't been able to find a medicinal flower that even an ordinary doctor would know of."

"It is clearly just Demonization induced by medicine, so why was your family cursed? And why did you not seek a way to resolve the curse, but instead, as if your memories were implanted, fixated on the idea that killing you—who was demonized by medicine—would break the curse, and thus established the Demon Slayer Corps?"

"Why is it that after you were demonized, the Sun Breathing, which restrains demons, just happened to appear?"

"Even if Tsugikuni Yoriichi possessed the Sun Breathing, as long as he, an ordinary human, died of old age, you would still be able to walk the world without any obstacles."

"Yet, Tsugikuni Yoriichi happened to possess the Transparent World, capable of seeing clearly the rise and fall of human lungs and blood vessels, as well as the Demon Slayer Mark that can trigger resonance; he was able to build a solid foundation for the ant-like, weak Demon Slayer Corps in a short time, to the point where they could resist demons for hundreds of years to come?"

"I am merely a bystander listening to your crude experiences, and even I can sense that something is wrong. Could it be that you, having lived for a thousand years, have felt nothing at all?"

At first, he did not believe it either, until that game merchant, who was like a god, said it himself and demonstrated it before everyone; all rebuttals then became pale and powerless.

"This is because, I, the Demon Slayer Corps..."

Kibutsuji Muzan took a deep breath; he could not explain it.

Even though he had said that fate could not possibly exist, after hearing Orochimaru list his experiences in the Demon Slayer World with such clear logic,

he could not help but feel suspicious.

"Is it really just such a coincidence?"

"If we follow Orochimaru's theory, Tsugikuni Yoriichi is like a messenger of fate created specifically to tidy up and clean away a defective product like myself."

Kibutsuji Muzan's gaze was dazed; even if he had luckily escaped the pursuit of fate and hidden in dark corners until Tsugikuni Yoriichi died of old age,

the other party still passed down the method to kill him and the Breathing Technique.

The weak Demon Slayer Corps constantly produced new Demon Slayer Corps members to hunt demons; logically, even using the crudest methods, hundreds of years would have been enough to find the lair of the Demon Slayer Corps.

But instead, I, who possess the Twelve Kizuki, the strongest creature on the Demon Slayer Continent, have actually never been able to find them.

So, is it really as Orochimaru said, that my death is destined by fate?

A surge of inexplicable unwillingness and anger welled up in Kibutsuji Muzan's heart; his entire body of flesh and blood began to fluctuate violently, like waves, becoming deformed and twisted.

"No, it shouldn't be like this!"

"If everything is led by fate, then what is the meaning of my existence?"

Kibutsuji Muzan's hoarse voice

came from a mass of constantly expanding and deforming flesh.

What he feared most was death;

likewise, if even the meaning of his existence were revealed to be a process like that of a marionette, what difference would there be between him, having lost his meaning, and death? Perhaps it was his emotions being disturbed by the memory of Tsugikuni Yoriichi, or perhaps it was because Orochimaru, who was stronger than him, had made the definitive prophecy that he would certainly be annihilated,

as well as the various new changes that appeared in the Demon Slayer World after the arrival of the Samsara Game, which left him bewildered and panicked; in short,

Kibutsuji Muzan's current emotions were particularly chaotic and complex.

"There is no such thing as living necessarily having meaning."

Orochimaru's calm voice reached the ears of the bewildered Kibutsuji Muzan,

his tone slow and steady, naturally possessing a magic that made one unable to help but believe.

"However, if you keep on living, you will always be able to find an opportunity to break fate."

"Just like how you accepted the game's invitation and appeared in the Grand Forest."

"And just like how I happened to meet you."

Orochimaru waved the Necromancer Staff, and a dense aura of death was infused into the deformed flesh, absorbing all the Dark Energy that was uncontrollably erupting within.

"Come, become my subordinate."

"If you are unwilling to be the wind that drives the windmill to turn, then surpass those windmills chosen by fate and take control of your own destiny with your own hands."

In his confusion, Kibutsuji Muzan's external body was already about to turn into a dead fetus, but his true form was dragged out from deep within the flesh by Orochimaru. Kibutsuji Muzan raised his head,

looking at those indifferent golden snake pupils, and heard the other party's words, which were spoken with such nonchalance as if the shackles of fate could be broken at any moment.

A sense of defeat flooded into his heart,

filled with envy.

Having been the Demon King for a thousand years, he actually felt a sense of inferiority, as if he were beneath the other party.

Fang Yi, who was still paying attention to the trash Demon King and Orochimaru, revealed a look of surprise and thought to himself:

"Orochimaru, is he trying to reach his hand into the Demon Slayer World? What truly massive ambition."

The current situation of the Fire Empire was that it was blockaded by the alliance of four nations, unable to continue expanding and even facing the possibility of being breached.

The ninja world could no longer think of a way to break the deadlock.

Originally, he thought

that Orochimaru would, as he had in the past, abandon the Fire Empire and hide his identity to establish a small force similar to the Sound Ninja Village.

But he did not expect that the other party would actually cast his gaze toward another world.

First, he contacted the Straw Hat Pirates of the Pirate World, and after finding it unsuitable, he now happened to encounter Kibutsuji Muzan of the Demon Slayer World.

Under normal circumstances, Orochimaru would never waste words on a Demon King treated as experimental material;

being able to say these things already fully expressed his attitude.

"That's right, the Fire Empire, which has already launched the National Ninja Project, will be able to produce an unimaginably large amount of Reward Points once it is fully formed."

"It is not like the Sound Ninja Village that can be discarded and exchanged at will."

Orochimaru, who ruled the Fire Empire of the ninja world, could still obtain a considerable amount of Reward Points even after needing to distribute the output to new Nobles like the Hyuga Clan.

His game net worth had already reached the limit of a Tier 1 player.

One million Reward Points.

One must know that even in the Pirate World, which had more abundant assets and was more vast, almost swallowing the wealth of the Si Hai, the Celestial Dragon Im and the Five Elders, who claimed to be the God Clan, had not reached the limit of one million Reward Points.

Yet Orochimaru relied on the ninja forces he carved out to achieve this level.

In essence,

it is a method of fleecing the Ninja World Consciousness, which will incur the hatred of the Ninja World Consciousness and lead to fate being guided to target them.

That is why the Fire Empire is being besieged.

However, the Ninjutsu learned from the Ninja World contains origins, and in the Pirate World, the victor after a slaughter can devour the origin of the loser; this is a rule set since the birth of the world.

It cannot be easily changed.

Just like the Demon Slayer Consciousness, which guided the birth of Muzan Kibutsuji through fate, wanting to catalyze a perfect life form to help its own world ascend.

But Muzan killed the doctor who helped him and failed to become a perfect life form.

Even if the Demon Slayer Consciousness wanted to clear away the defective product and reclaim the origin, it could not directly violate the world rules to take action, and could only expend a large amount of Reward Points to guide the birth of Tsugikuni Yoriichi.

Yet Muzan Kibutsuji still lived perfectly well until a thousand years later.

Of course,

if there were no external interference, the constant targeting by an entire World Consciousness would mean that even if one luckily dodged it once, they would still be finished off by the forces that keep rushing in.

Just like how Orochimaru used thunderous means to kill the Noble and Daimyo to found the Fire Empire; in less than a year, he has already been repeatedly ambushed by various wandering samurai, wandering ninja, and Four-Nation Ninja.

This is the price of fleecing the Ninja World Consciousness.

It is the same as the natural disasters triggered by Im and the Five Elders forcibly redeeming Reward Points at once that exceeded the limit the Pirate World could withstand.

These are all punishments and counterattacks from the World Consciousness.

(End of this chapter)