Chapter 340

Kibutsuji Muzan blinked in surprise.

The next instant, markings appeared on his neck, and Uzui Tengen, eyes glazed with focus, materialized beside him, his twin blades now crimson Red Blades slashing down like flowing fire.

Kibutsuji Muzan had not yet reacted.

One arm was cleanly severed.

Boom!

The explosives detonated.

His falling right arm and entire right shoulder were utterly obliterated.

"C-Cursed!"

Kibutsuji Muzan swung his blood-colored scythe with his other hand, a streak of crimson light slicing toward Uzui Tengen's neck.

Shhh!

Uzui Tengen arched backward at a perfect angle, evading the strike.

Kibutsuji Muzan seized the opportunity to immediately retreat, creating distance.

It stared at Uzui Tengen—markings activated, Red Blade ignited, eyes focused, his aura utterly transformed—and a bead of cold sweat rolled down its face.

"What the hell is this guy?"

………………

Meanwhile.

Yukiya, while searching for information on the blue higanbana, headed toward the Swordsmith Village.

As he passed over a small hill.

A short figure appeared before him, blocking his path.

"Hm?"

Yukiya narrowed his eyes.

The bright moonlight poured from the night sky, filtering through the forest gaps to reveal the figure's true form.

It was a petite, beautiful boy with long black hair, clad in the Demon Slayer Corps uniform, draped in a dark haori, expressionless.

"A Demon Slayer Corps Pillar?"

Yukiya, whose body was fused within the pot, regarded him with slight surprise.

Shinobu Kocho gripped the hilt of his Nichirin Blade and gazed at it calmly:

"This path is blocked."

Yukiya paused, then let out a derisive laugh:

"Shiiii~"

"I wasn't even looking for you, yet you dare come here to deliver your deaths? Very well—I'll oblige you. This will weaken the Demon Slayer Corps."

It extended its hand, and a pot materialized in its palm.

Several harmless-looking goldfish swam out of the pot.

The next instant, the goldfish spat a torrent of sharp needles at Shinobu Kocho, catching him off guard.

Shinobu Kocho remained calm, drawing and slashing his blade.

Mist Breathing, Third Form.

Dispersing mist.

As he swung, his Nichirin Blade turned a searing, iron-red Red Blade, blazing like fire in the night.

"The blade… turned red?"

Yukiya stared at the Red Blade in his hand, a faint unease stirring within him.

Better end this quickly.

It immediately unleashed another Blood Demon Art.

Blood Demon Art: Octopus Pot Hell!

A giant octopus, the size of a house, crawled from the pot, its thick, elastic, uncuttable tentacles coiling toward Shinobu Kocho.

"Love Breathing, First Form… The Tremor of First Love!"

A woman's voice rang out.

A sharp tearing sound pierced the air.

Pink-red lines sliced through the giant octopus.

The next instant.

The giant octopus was shredded apart.

"What?!"

Yukiya's expression snapped into shock.

"Upper Rank Demon, you will die here today."

A cold voice echoed behind it.

The next instant.

A flash of cold light, swift as a venomous snake's tongue, severed Yukiya's neck.

Snake Breathing, Second Form.

Narrow Head Poison Fang.

Kanroji Mitsuri, wielding a slender, flexible sword, appeared behind Yukiya, flanking it between herself and Shinobu Kocho.

Ikkyu Shobu stood beside the pot, his curved Nichirin Blade having sliced through most of Yukiya's neck, leaving only a thin layer of skin connecting head and torso.

"Is this all the Upper Rank Five has to offer?"

Iguro Obanai glanced coldly at it and said, "You must have other tricks up your sleeve, right? Bring them all out."

"Three Hashira? You really think highly of me. Looks like I'm done for tonight…"

Gyokko's head, nearly sliced off, glanced at him, at Muichiro, and at Kanroji Mitsuri, then let out a sinister laugh:

"You think I'd say that?!"

Iguro Obanai exerted a slight force, and his Nichirin blade completely sliced off that layer of skin.

But there was no sense of solidity.

Its remaining body slipped into the pot like a slippery fish.

"Let me show you—my true form, the true power granted to me by my lord Muzan!"

The words fell.

A black shadow darted out of the pot.

It was a monster covered in scales from head to toe.

"Behold! These translucent scales I've refined from the pot are harder than diamond! Behold my perfect form!"

It coiled around a tree, looking down at the three smugly: "Ignorant Hashira, bow before my flawless, beautiful form!"

Tokito Muichiro, Kanroji Mitsuri, and Iguro Obanai exchanged glances.

The next second.

All three looked at it at once, a disdainful sneer crossing their faces.

"Your looks are just as ugly as your pot—abso~lutely u~gly."

Gyokko, who had just revealed his strongest form, exploded with rage at those words.

"It's your eyeballs that are rotten, ahhhhhhhh! Bastards!!! Where on earth is anything ugly about my pot and this form of mine, ahhhhhhh?!!!"

Whoosh.

Tokito Muichiro appeared instantly before it, expressionlessly swinging his crimson-red blade down at it.

At the same time, Kanroji Mitsuri and Iguro Obanai also struck in an instant.

The three of them slashed Gyokko together.

Even in his strongest form, facing the three simultaneous strikes, Gyokko felt a bone-chilling cold rising from deep within and…

The fear of death!

47. A lightning thrust, a blazing slash.

While Uzui Tengen and Tanjiro and the others were dealing with Upper Rank Six—Gyutaro and Daki—Tokito Muichiro, Kanroji Mitsuri, and Iguro Obanai were dealing with Upper Rank Five, Gyokko.

Himejima Gyomei and the Shinazugawa brothers also discovered at that location a Hantengu that had transformed into an old hag-like being with countless eyes, a swollen forehead, two horns on its head, and a face resembling a Hannya.

As Shinazugawa Sanemi sliced off its head with a single sword stroke.