Chapter 96: The Vast Treasure of Genes! The Key to Unlocking the Extraordinary

Yunqu Mountain is now a gathering place for the Demon Slayer Corps, and Luo Fu has just passed through the blue Amanojaku flower, completing his bloodline and genes.

Of course, he would not choose to fight the Demon Slayer Corps head-on at this moment.

Between him and the Demon Slayer Corps, there has never been much hatred; to Luo Fu, the Demon Slayer Corps is more of a tool to be used.

Before Luo Fu can completely eradicate Muzan Kibutsuji, the Demon Slayer Corps serves as his safeguard to hold back the demons.

The commotion around the Kamado family is not small, and with Kanao Tsuyuri, the Flower Hashira, personally arriving at the Kamado household, if they remain absent for too long, the Demon Slayer Corps will quickly gather in large numbers.

Luo Fu would never take such a risk.

Although the children have not yet completed their transformation from human to demon, Luo Fu will no longer wait.

He directly ordered Kamado Kie and Kamado Mitsuri to bring the children and leave with him and his group.

After being transformed into a demon and understanding the relationship between demons and humans, Kamado Kie knew they had no choice left.

Aside from obeying Luo Fu, they had no other option.

Even Kanao Tsuyuri, at this moment, obediently followed Luo Fu’s instructions and left the Kamado household.

As expected, shortly after Luo Fu and his group departed.

Soon, members of the Demon Slayer Corps noticed that Kanao Tsuyuri had not returned.

When Rengoku Shinobu and other Hashira, accompanied by a large number of Demon Slayer Corps members, arrived at the Kamado household, the place was already empty.

Yet, the traces of the battle between Luo Fu and Kanao Tsuyuri remained clearly visible, especially Kanao’s broken Nichirin Blade, which stirred an ominous premonition in everyone’s heart.

On the other side, after finally finishing a batch of charcoal, Kamado Tanjiro returned and learned from the Demon Slayer Corps members of the suspicions surrounding his family.

Because of Luo Fu’s appearance, Kamado Tanjiro entered the Demon Slayer Corps ahead of schedule.

He began striving to kill Luo Fu and avenge his family.

With Komoe, the former local power in Yunqu Mountain, aiding them.

Luo Fu and his group quickly exited the layered peaks of Yunqu Mountain via a narrow, inaccessible path.

After silently breaking free from the Demon Slayer Corps’ encirclement,

they were preparing to find a new base, carrying Kanao Tsuyuri, Komoe, and the Kamado women and children.

Along the way, Luo Fu suddenly faced an attack from Kamado Mitsuri.

This girl, transformed into a demon by Luo Fu, can walk in sunlight and has little desire for human flesh, having inherited even human memories and emotions.

After enduring countless inner struggles, she finally chose without hesitation to strike against Luo Fu.

Yet, Kamado Mitsuri’s actions instantly filled Luo Fu with overwhelming joy.

Besides Kamado Mitsuri, Luo Fu had seen other demons’ techniques before.

For instance, Hantengu—perhaps due to the complementary nature of their Blood Demon Arts—Luo Fu felt nothing strange about being able to absorb Hantengu’s Blood Demon Art to complete himself.

Later, when facing Akaza with his clones, failing to learn Akaza’s Blood Demon Art further confirmed this belief.

But now, when Mitsuri unleashed her unique flame Blood Demon Art, Luo Fu instantly felt as if a skill had been activated within him.

He intuitively sensed that he could effortlessly perform Mitsuri’s Blood Demon Art.

It was as if… as if seeing Mitsuri use her Blood Demon Art had revealed his own genealogy—a vast, untapped treasure of bloodline and genes, fused with Uchiha blood and completed by the blue Amanojaku flower.

And now, Mitsuri’s Blood Demon Art had opened a small passage within it, allowing Luo Fu to learn the method of using this unique Blood Demon Art.

Facing the overwhelming wave of infernal demon fire, Luo Fu immediately split off a clone.

Blue skin, a towering frame, flames erupting sporadically around him—he looked like a revered Mingwang statue in a temple, yet with a face resembling Luo Fu’s.

As the Anger Avatar appeared,

the flames rushing toward it flowed like swallows returning to their nest, merging into the Avatar’s body the moment they reached it.

It caused not the slightest harm to the Avatar.

Opening his mouth wide, the Anger Avatar swallowed Mitsuri’s crimson flames whole, as if a whale devouring the sea.

Mitsuri’s Blood Demon Art is derived from her own blood.

It cannot burn endlessly. After the Anger Avatar devoured all her flames, as her blood diminished, Mitsuri could no longer hold on—her knees buckled, she collapsed onto the ground, and fainted.

“Mitsuri.” Kamado Kie, tending to the still-unconscious children, was terrified when she saw Mitsuri attack Luo Fu, the terrifying demon.

Reaching Mitsuri’s side, she didn’t even have time to check her daughter’s condition before falling to her knees and repeatedly bowing her head before Luo Fu in pleading.

“My lord, my lord, please spare Mitsuri—she… she… this child is only confused.”

With Mitsuri’s unconsciousness, Luo Fu’s Anger Avatar instantly dissipated, returning to his body.

It was precisely this return of Anger that made Luo Fu realize, in an instant, that Mitsuri’s flames contained a unique energy.

This energy originated from blood, yet was even more potent than blood; faintly, Luo Fu felt this energy bore traces of chakra and primordial qi.

But this energy vanished instantly; as the Anger Avatar returned, the energy sank into stillness within Luo Fu’s body.

Whether through chakra extraction methods or the cultivation techniques of the Yiren to refine primordial qi, he could no longer sense this energy’s presence.

Yet Luo Fu was certain—he had truly found a system independent of both demons and humans.

This was the true opportunity to open the door to the extraordinary.

And the key to unlocking this door—Mitsuri’s Blood Demon Art was one of them.

With Uchiha blood fused and demon genes completed, Luo Fu’s own bloodline and genes began evolving according to his will.

Luo Fu would not even allow anyone else to kill Mitsuri, let alone kill her himself.

After all, Mitsuri’s unique Blood Demon Art is the very hope for Luo Fu to solidify his foundation, forge a new path, and become another demon king surpassing Muzan Kibutsuji.

After the previous Shared Space journey,

whether Uchiha Luo Fu or Demon Slayer Luo Fu, both had sensed the massive flaws in their respective world systems.

The ninja world need not be mentioned—chakra itself originates from beyond the heavens, and every ninja’s extracted chakra merely serves as a sacrifice to the hidden Six Paths Sage.

The chakra system does not elevate the essence of life; the more chakra one extracts, the sooner one dies.

This is determined by chakra’s nature.

Only Uchiha Luo Fu, after the sharing, used the knowledge provided by the Yiren Luo Fu and the physique and energy provided by the Demon Slayer Luo Fu, to forge his own unique chakra system.

But compared to the ninja world, the Demon Slayer world is even worse.

From the vacant stares of the Demon Slayer Corps Hashira, it is easy to perceive that the Breathing Techniques of the Demon Slayer world, like Muzan Kibutsuji himself, are flawed, imperfect systems.

Once transformed into a demon, one rarely retains past memories or emotions, and becomes enslaved by Muzan Kibutsuji, driven by an uncontrollable craving for human flesh.

Yet Breathing Techniques are no better.

Yes.

Though the founder of Breathing Techniques, Kokushibo, possessed the unimaginable ability of Transparent World, observing the lifespans of other demon slayers who practice Breathing Techniques reveals that, like the ninja world, Breathing Techniques are fundamentally a method of trading one’s life for temporary power.

In contrast, the Yiren world—though Zhang Luo Fu gave neither Uchiha Luo Fu nor Demon Slayer Luo Fu any direct power boost—the accumulated knowledge from over a decade of pursuit of the extraordinary gave both a clear understanding of how to build their own systems.

All extraordinary systems revolve around essence, energy, and spirit.

Before witnessing Kamado Mitsuri’s unique flame Blood Demon Art, Luo Fu’s physique and spirit had indeed surged countlessfold due to the sharing ability.

But this surge was unbalanced.

If flesh represents essence, energy represents qi, and will represents spirit, then among the three—essence, energy, spirit—of Demon Slayer Luo Fu, essence held absolute dominance.

Strong flesh, weak spirit—this is the common trait of the Demon Slayer world, whether demon or demon slayer.

The former is controlled by bodily cravings, becoming a flesh-eating demon; the latter is likewise driven by physical strength, their spirit suppressed until their eyes grow dull and lifeless.

Mitsuri’s unique Blood Demon Art gave Luo Fu the true opportunity to open the door to his own extraordinary system.

Seeing Kamado Mitsuri, now shrunken to the size of a tiny bean due to excessive blood loss from using her Blood Demon Art,

Luo Fu turned his gaze directly to Kamado Kie.

Mitsuri is so unusual; as her mother, Kamado Kie cannot possibly be ordinary.

Fixing his eyes on Kamado Kie, Luo Fu said: “I have no intention of holding a grudge against a child, but Itachi must first tell me—do Itachi possess a unique ability like Mitsuri?”

Kamado Kie froze, her expression troubled; after a moment’s hesitation, she said: “Master, I don’t know if this counts as a special ability—Mitsuri can release flames, while I can only heal physical injuries.”

“Hahaha…” Luo Fu laughed heartily, silently thinking: Indeed, the Kamado family is truly extraordinary.

Not only Kamado Tanjiro and Kamado Mitsuri, but even their parents and siblings are all unique.

Choosing not to kill them outright, but instead transforming the entire Kamado family into demons and taking them along—this is undoubtedly one of Luo Fu’s wisest decisions to date.

His gaze swept over Kamado Kie, and he said directly: “Show me your ability—Itachi can heal injuries, right? Then heal Mitsuri first.”

“Yes.” Kamado Kie did not dare delay, immediately activating her Blood Demon Art as Luo Fu commanded.

A sudden glow of vibrant green light emerged from her hands, bathing the tiny, shrunken form of Kamado Mitsuri.

Visible to the naked eye, Mitsuri’s frail body, depleted of blood from using her Blood Demon Art, swelled back to normal as if being inflated.

Seeing this, Luo Fu fixed his gaze even more intently on Kamado Kie; to fully understand the mechanism of the Kamado family’s unique Blood Demon Art, he even reached out and touched the glowing green light.

The instant he made contact, Luo Fu clearly felt that these green lights were not mere light—they were a highly manifest form of life force.

What is life force? In the Yiren world, it is the origin of all Yiren power—the primordial qi, the source of all things.

Kamado Kie can directly gather, through her Blood Demon Art, energy nearly identical to primordial qi.

As Luo Fu was meticulously comprehending this energy, so close to primordial qi, Kamado Kie’s Blood Demon Art abruptly ceased.

Luo Fu immediately frowned in displeasure.

“What’s wrong? Why did Itachi stop?”

Panting, Kamado Kie’s face was pale with unnatural weakness: “Master, I have no strength left.”

After being purified by Kamado Kie’s green light, Kamado Mitsuri had regained her normal form, though she still remained unconscious.

Luo Fu glanced at Kamado Kie with disappointment.

Both Kamado Kie and Kamado Mitsuri had skyrocketed in value in Luo Fu’s eyes—they were directly tied to his chance of forging a new system.

No matter how much he still desired to explore further, Luo Fu would not exhaust the well by pressuring Kamado Kie.

That child may not be awake yet, but isn’t there still Komoe and Kanao Tsuyuri?

“Makomo, Itachi’ve never told me what your Blood Demon Art is.”

Makomo immediately flushed with embarrassment, fidgeting as she said, “I… my Blood Demon Art isn’t easy to demonstrate.”

Luo Fu was in the midst of intense research and would not tolerate any evasion. His expression hardened as he gave an unyielding order: “Demonstrate your Blood Demon Art.”

Makomo, having been worn down by Luo Fu, dared not resist even a little, no matter how reluctant she felt inside.

Still, she took a deep breath and began to activate her Blood Demon Art.

A soft sound of flowing water arose.

Before Luo Fu’s eyes, Makomo—once a living, adorable girl—suddenly dissolved into a pool of clear water.

Her Demon Slayer Corps uniform, pulled by gravity, slid through the water and fell to the ground.

Where Makomo had stood, a flowing, translucent shape revealed the faint curves of a girl’s form, and Luo Fu instantly understood why she was reluctant to display her Blood Demon Art.

The Blood Demon Arts of demons were varied and unpredictable—space, water, fire, lightning, ice… no discernible pattern existed.

It was no surprise that Makomo had awakened a water-manipulation ability reminiscent of the Water Clan of the Ninja World.

Luo Fu cautiously extended a hand, plunging it into the rippling water.

From the increasingly turbulent water, Makomo’s voice suddenly emerged.

“Luo… Luo Fu-san.”

“Don’t move.” Luo Fu was wholly absorbed in studying her ability to transform into water; he responded with an unshakable tone: “Don’t move.”

What Luo Fu studied was not the surface manifestation of her transformation, but the deeper mechanism underlying her Blood Demon Art.

All demons were born from his own blood. The Kamado family was unique, but even if Makomo fell short of them, her ability should still allow Luo Fu to glimpse the path to transcendence.

Indeed, by making direct contact with her system through his hand, Luo Fu quickly sensed a peculiar energy sustaining her water form—this energy originated from deep within her bloodline.

Unlike Blood Demon Arts fueled by blood, this energy resembled a product of life’s essence—akin to the Primordial Qi of the Yiren World—but with distinct surface differences.

In the Yiren World, so-called Primordial Qi was not a fixed form of energy. Quite the opposite: it was the most fundamental force sustaining life’s birth and operation. Even calling it “energy” was imprecise; it was better described as the underlying law of life’s functioning.

The energy sustaining Makomo’s water form now bore a striking resemblance to Luo Fu’s idealized concept of Primordial Qi.

“Idealized” because when he first entered the shared space, even the Yiren World’s Zhang Luo Fu had not yet become a Yiren and could not manipulate Primordial Qi at all.

At best, he had spent over a decade obsessively pursuing transcendence, accumulating thorough understanding of concepts and knowledge.

He had merely laid the theoretical foundation for Luo Fu of the Ninja World and Luo Fu of the Demons to develop their own systems.

As Makomo sustained her form longer, a latent energy deep within Luo Fu’s bloodline began to stir.

This energy emerged, then vanished quickly.

But Luo Fu sensed why it vanished: his body had not yet reached the state where essence was abundant enough to extinguish lust, qi was sufficient to eliminate hunger, and spirit was full enough to dispel sleep.

Theoretically, the balanced equilibrium of essence, qi, and spirit constituted life’s ideal state—the very goal of the Golden Light Spell passed down by Longhu Mountain in the Yiren World, the only true path to cultivating life.

In reality, this was merely an ideal. Within heaven and earth, whether through the passage of time, shifting thoughts, or even the slightest movement, all disrupted this balance.

Whether ordinary humans or demons, their essence, qi, and spirit were inherently unbalanced.

In ordinary humans, essence, qi, and spirit gradually depleted over time. Any deficiency in one lowered the upper limit of the other two, eventually draining vitality, leading to aging and death.

Demons, due to their nature, possessed overwhelming essence—their physical forms even gave rise to Blood Demon Arts—but their spirit and qi were deficient. Instead of replenishing their physical form, they consumed it, creating a vicious cycle: the strong grew stronger, the weak weaker.

Their formidable physicality dragged their spirit and qi along, forcing their bodies to passively seek greater strength, ultimately compelling demons to consume human flesh.

This situation closely resembled the final state of the Six Storehouse Thieves in the Yiren World.

Humans, as the most spiritual of creatures, were the optimal food for demons born from them—nothing could replenish a demon’s essence, qi, and spirit faster than human flesh.

Through studying the Kamado family and Makomo’s Blood Demon Art,

Luo Fu suddenly gained a profound insight.

He needed to halt the passive absorption of this special energy after its emergence, while simultaneously using it to strengthen his spirit.

“Refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit”—this meant using the potent physical form, representing essence, to generate a mysterious energy. This energy, akin to life’s essence—Primordial Qi—must be pulled from the realm of concept into reality. This process was refining essence into qi.

Further still, using this fundamental energy sustaining life to elevate one’s spirit was refining qi into spirit.

As for the next stage—refining spirit to return to emptiness—according to Luo Fu’s understanding, it meant strengthening and balancing essence, qi, and spirit until they flowed seamlessly, returning to simplicity, approaching the state of inner luminosity described in the Yiren World.

Only then could one pursue the next step: refining emptiness to merge with the Dao. Unfortunately, Luo Fu had no reference for “refining emptiness to merge with the Dao.” He could only speculate, based on vague, even ethereal ideas, that the ultimate expansion of essence, qi, and spirit would allow one to refine the laws of Heaven and Dao.

Aside from this final vague and ethereal concept, the prior stages—refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, and refining spirit to return to emptiness—were not fixed realms, but continuous processes.

They were not sequential steps, but simultaneous, boundless practices.

Having uncovered the truth behind Blood Demon Arts, Luo Fu was now eager to try it himself.

After giving brief instructions to Makomo and Koyoharu Gotouji, Luo Fu immediately entered seclusion to meditate and refine.

After leaving Kumo Mountain, Luo Fu brought Makomo, Koyoharu Gotouji, and the Kamado family to the outskirts of present-day Tokyo, near Senso-ji Temple.

To confront Kibutsuji Muzan, one could not bypass Yuze without absolute overwhelming power.

Though Yuze seemed inconspicuous, she was, like Luo Fu, relentlessly hunted by Kibutsuji Muzan—only her hiding was far more secretive, and she had never been discovered.

Even the Demon Slayer Corps did not know her whereabouts. Later, her cooperation with Tanjiro Kamado was arranged when Tanjiro obtained demon blood and sent it to her via kirimai.

Since Yuze would eventually settle near Senso-ji, Luo Fu could do the same.

Moreover, during this time, he could continue advancing the development of his own system.

(End of Chapter)