Chapter 44: Enlightened Muzan, Derailed Demon Slayer

"Do you know each other?"

Upon hearing the conversation, Kochou Kanae keenly sensed that these humans who had suddenly appeared on Fujikasane Mountain knew one another.

The Professor's eyes flickered, and he quickly smiled as he spoke, "Yes, we are all adventurers from overseas. We came to this country, but heard that man-eating ghosts were running rampant everywhere, so we wanted to investigate a little. We didn't expect to be attacked in these mountains after nightfall, and we all got separated."

The Professor was very skilled at dealing with Plot Characters. Although what he said could not be called flawless, Kochou Kanae could not easily verify it in such a short time.

Moreover, the signs of battle on them did not look fake, and adding the fact that Bai Cangshu, the fierce man who had just killed a ghost with his bare flesh, did not deny the other party's words, Kochou Kanae nodded, lost in thought.

"So, it was you few who were fighting ghosts on Fujikasane Mountain tonight?"

"I had thought... it was some Peyushi from a remote region still sending disciples to Fujikasane Mountain..."

There was both relief and disappointment in Kochou Kanae's tone.

Several years ago, Kibutsuji Muzan had somehow, as if suddenly "enlightened," changed his past style of conduct.

He actively approached high-ranking officials and Nobles, utilized the wealth accumulated over a thousand years, and the secret technique that could grant people "Chang Sheng," quickly gaining the support of the powerful and eventually reaching the high and mighty figures.

The Taisho Era was the era after the Meiji Restoration, a time when the entire country was undergoing massive changes. The Heian era, when Jujutsu was at its peak, had long since ended; those Shintoism priests had long lost their divine miracles, and Kibutsuji Muzan became a new "True God" in the hearts of many aging powerful figures.

Ultimately, with the support of a certain descendant of the Taisho Emperor, Kibutsuji Muzan began to actively purge the interference of the Demon Slayer Corps. The industries of the Ubuyashiki Clan were affected, and the Demon Slayer Corps was viewed as a private armed force, unable to walk in the open.

The number of man-eating ghosts began to skyrocket in this environment.

The Demon Slayer Corps was instead suppressed to the point where they could barely appear.

Fujikasane Mountain was also largely burned down by the Left Minister and his men. From then on, Peyushi in various regions began to lose contact with the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, and quite a few Demon Slayer Corps members were arrested and then defected from the Demon Slayer Corps to join the government.

Various signs made it almost impossible for the Demon Slayer Corps to continue.

Fortunately, the core of the Demon Slayer Corps, the Pillar-level swordsmen, all remained and continued to run about in the shadows. The Stone Pillar, Himejima Gyoumei, consecutively beheaded 3 Lower Ranks, causing the search speed of the Twelve Kizuki to drop, and the Lower Ranks began to fear acting alone.

But Lower Ranks teaming up in pairs would still be hunted by the Stone Pillar. Kibutsuji Muzan was furious because of this, promoted quite a few so-called 【Lower Moon Candidate】s, and adopted a cruel 【Elimination by Rank】 system among the Lower Rank ghosts, periodically eliminating Lower Rank ghosts without merit every six months.

This caused the Lower Rank Ghost Moons to begin rioting, and the Demon Slayer Corps suffered heavy losses.

And today, the lady 【Ubuyashiki Amane】, who possessed the bloodline of a priest, announced that she had received a revelation that a new power had appeared in the Fujikasane Mountain area. Kochou Kanae therefore led a team to investigate, but was hunted down by the police officers and the man-eating ghost team who had also arrived.

It only ended up in its current state.

Hearing Kochou Kanae's explanation, the few Reincarnators all had different expressions in their eyes.

It was very clear that they all realized this world was indeed different from the plot world in their memories. The biggest change was naturally Kibutsuji Muzan; this boss, who in the original work had neither brains nor courage besides being 【scum】, had suddenly become enlightened.

He began to utilize humans and control the general trend.

The Professor went a step further, realizing that if he could quickly integrate the opinions of everyone in the team after entering the world, the seven of them could cooperate to complete a blockade when the man-eating ghosts rushed over.

Then they would see the Demon Slayer Corps faction represented by 【Flower Hashira, Kochou Kanae】 and the 【Kibutsuji Muzan】 faction represented by the police officers and man-eating ghosts.

Afterwards, the Reincarnators could choose to help one side based on their own inclinations and goals, defeating or even killing the other side, which would satisfy the requirements of Main Mission 1 and Main Mission 2, and they could even directly obtain a sum of faction Reputation.

It is just a pity...

The Professor's eyes shifted, finally resting on the man who had "disguised" himself in that terrifying appearance.

It is just a pity that the strongest person in the team has such a difficult personality.

Just as the straw-hat man Liu Qi said, the first man-eating ghost to appear had an unreasonably strong desire to attack this person. The only explanation they could think of was that this man's strength was extremely high, which was why he was targeted by the space.

Or... The Professor smoothed out his breathing before taking two steps forward to take the initiative to engage with Kochou Kanae.

She still wanted to obtain more detailed Intelligence.

For example, the current number and strength of the 【Twelve Kizuki】, and even the whereabouts of Kibutsuji Muzan, etc.

But Kochou Kanae only shook her head gently, refusing the other party.

"The night is not yet clear; I will first treat this gentleman's injuries. Once it is dawn, we will find a place to discuss it in detail."

She came before Bai Cangshu and took the initiative to bandage the injury on Bai Cangshu's right hand.

Seeing this, the others could only disperse. Vincent and Elizabeth remained on the outermost periphery of the team, their eyes constantly sizing up Bai Cangshu.

In their eyes, Bai Cangshu was the culprit who made this mission so dangerous.

Of course, they would not be stupid enough to erupt at this time. Reincarnators have their own way of survival, and the most important rule—do not provoke someone stronger than you, especially... when the other party is not a "good person."

Elizabeth watched Bai Cangshu reveal a dangerous smile at her and subconsciously shifted her gaze away.

At this moment, she was indeed somewhat certain that what Liu Qi and the Professor said was correct: this man is extremely dangerous! Someone who would provoke others without knowing their background is either a fool or an extremely confident madman.

Seeing that the blonde man and the green-haired woman had both shifted their gazes away, Bai Cangshu withdrew his gaze with the self-satisfaction of a victorious general.

Kochou Kanae was indeed from a family of medicine; her bandaging technique was very professional, not making Bai Cangshu feel that his arm was too restricted, yet the twisted finger joints and damaged capillaries were all pressed down.

"Your right hand cannot exert force for a short time, otherwise it may cause deformity."

Bai Cangshu was unmoved by the "medical advice." So-called Reincarnators are disposable combat weapons; as long as they don't die and return to the space, any injury can heal.

What's more...

Bai Cangshu had been maintaining the unique rhythm of 【Ripple Qigong】 between his mouth and nose. That tingling sensation remained in his right hand. Besides having combat effects, Ripple Qigong was also quite remarkable in healing and prolonging life.

He felt that his right arm would soon be able to recover.

"When it is dawn, I need you to go with me to see someone and find a way to resolve the matter of killing the police officer."

Kochou Kanae spoke softly, but her words were firm. Her bandaging hand also gripped Bai Cangshu's arm joint at some unknown time.

Bai Cangshu did not care at all. He heard Kochou Kanae's previous explanation and knew that this was probably another world unfolding where the ruling class cooperated with Kibutsuji Muzan to jointly exploit ordinary people.

That kind of story was staged almost every moment. He could guess the general development thread with a casual guess; whatever Left Minister, whatever police officer, were all nothing more than the will of that son of the Emperor.

"Does this kind of thing need someone else to resolve it?"

"Tell me the location of that minister and the ghost, and I will go communicate with them myself; it is very easy to resolve."

Kochou Kanae felt that although the person before her had heroic features (Plot Characters are not affected by the disguise of the Ancient God's appearance, Plot Characters are affected by Charisma), he acted very recklessly, and she frowned.

"You killed someone, how can you still communicate?"

Bai Cangshu nodded.

"That's right, I killed someone, and I still need to communicate?"

(End of chapter)