Chapter 167: Can a Person Become a Demon, But a Sword Cannot Become a Person?

While Lin Yu was recalling the plot of Demon Slayer, Tanjiro was still fighting with great difficulty.

The reason it was called difficult was not because the enemy was so powerful, but because his current opponent was a member of the Demon Slayer Corps who had come with him to hunt demons!

"Clang!"

The intense sound of clashing blades accompanied by sparks came through.

Tanjiro forcefully parried the Nichirin Blade swinging from in front, leaping backward to create distance.

Following his gaze, one could see a black-haired girl wearing a Demon Slayer Corps uniform.

She was wrapped entirely in spider silk, with joints throughout her body twisted to varying degrees, resembling a human-shaped marionette, crying with tears streaming down her face while launching attacks against Tanjiro that exceeded her body's limits.

"What should I do?"

"What should I do?!"

Tanjiro gritted his teeth tightly, blocking the girl's attacks while trying hard to think of a way to save his companion.

But unfortunately, he had already tried many methods; whether cutting the silk threads or tangling the spider silk together, none could stop that demon from controlling these Demon Slayer Corps members.

"Hoo—"

A whistling gust of wind suddenly came from behind.

Tanjiro's heart jumped in surprise; he quickly withdrew to dodge the sneak attack from behind, narrowly avoiding it.

By the time he stabilized his stance, two other Demon Slayer Corps members controlled by spider silk had already rushed up.

... Should I strike?

Looking at the two Demon Slayer Corps members whose movements were full of openings, Tanjiro fell into a moment of hesitation.

Just then, a burly youth wearing a boar head suddenly burst out from the nearby dense forest, holding two serrated long blades, and intercepted the two Demon Slayer Corps members at extremely high speed.

"What are you staring at?!"

The boar-headed youth shouted angrily, snapping Tanjiro out of his daze.

He wore a bitter expression and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a weak voice coming from ahead.

"Quickly... kill me..."

What?!

Tanjiro's pupils contracted; he couldn't help but turn his head to look at the Demon Slayer Corps member who had spoken.

He saw blood trickling from the other's mouth; while waving the Nichirin Blade with twisted joints, he gritted his teeth and said, "The bones in my hands and feet have pierced into my internal organs... it's too... too painful..."

"Anyway, no matter what... I'm going to die... I beg you... give me the final blow!"

The boar-headed youth gritted his teeth, charged at the other with both blades in hand, and shouted loudly, "Fine, I understand!"

Tanjiro came to his senses and hurriedly said, "Wait!"

The boar-headed youth stumbled, clumsily dodging the blade returning from ahead, then turned his head and shouted angrily, "What are we waiting for?!"

"He himself asked someone to kill him; do you have a better way?!"

Tanjiro said bitterly, "I..."

"Be careful!"

Before the words had fully left his mouth, the girl's tearful warning voice came from ahead.

Tanjiro quickly turned around, gripping the Nichirin Blade and swinging it upward... hmm?

The empty feeling of nothingness came from his palm; Tanjiro was slightly stunned and lowered his head in confusion.

He saw that the black Nichirin Blade had somehow detached from both hands at some point, actually flying into the air, tracing a strange arc, precisely passing through the girl's two arms, and striking the hilt.

"Pfft—"

A light sound rang out; the blood-stained Nichirin Blade flew from its grip and was driven into a tree trunk not far away.

Seeing this scene, both Tanjiro and the girl showed expressions of shock.

But before they could react, that black Nichirin Blade flew up again, falling into the hand of a Demon Slayer Corps member's corpse suspended by spider silk above their heads.

The next second, the black Nichirin Blade erupted with silver light.

The Demon Slayer Corps member who had long lost the breath of life suddenly opened his eyes, gripped the long blade tightly with his right hand, forcibly tore apart the spider silk wrapped around his arm, and spun around to strike in a way completely incomprehensible to everyone.

"Clang—"

In an instant, brilliant blade light erupted from the dark dense forest.

All the spider silk snapped; the black-haired youth suspended in midair crashed to the ground with a thud, holding the Nichirin Blade in his right arm, while his left arm twisted lightly, reconnecting the dislocated joint.

Seeing this scene, everyone, including Tanjiro, showed expressions of shock.

The black-haired youth paid no attention to everyone's gaze; after reconnecting all his joints, he tried swinging the blade once, then frowned and muttered in a language no one could understand:

"So this is a human body... it's too weak!"

Having finished speaking, he raised his head, looked at the completely shocked Tanjiro, and smiled lightly, saying, "Although the feeling of being held by you wasn't very good, we've at least spent a few minutes together; is it necessary to be so distant?"

"Ah?"

Tanjiro's eyes widened; he said in disbelief, "You are my sword?"

The black-haired youth, or rather Lin Yu, nodded and said with a smile, "You can understand it that way."

Tanjiro said in disbelief, "But... how is this possible?!"

"Why not possible?"

Lin Yu said seriously, "If a person can become a demon, can't a sword become a person?"

Tanjiro: "..."

Is... is this the same thing?

The innocent Tanjiro looked completely confused; before he could wrap his head around this strange logic, he saw the weaponless girl, with tears streaming down her face, rush over and fiercely punch Lin Yu's head with her fist.

"Zing—"

Accompanied by the light hum of the blade, blade light shaped like a full moon erupted from Tanjiro's pupils.

It was the supreme sword technique from group member Lin Lie—the Moonlight Slash!

In an instant, all the spider webs within a ten-meter radius were severed by the blade light.

The girl, deprived of control by the spider webs, fell to the ground, then struggled to rise, with spider webs spreading again across her body as she tried to reconnect with the webs in the air.

Seeing this, Tanjiro's pupils contracted, and he hurriedly cried, "Be careful—"

"Boom!"

Before his words finished, Lin Yu stepped onto the girl's back, gazing calmly at the collar at the back of her neck.

There, more than ten white spiders the size of rice grains were rapidly weaving spider webs, trying to regain control of this body.

"So these little things are the ones causing trouble?"

"No wonder cutting the spider webs was useless..."

Lin Yu's face showed understanding; then he flipped his wrist, turned the blade, and stabbed sharply downward!

"Pfft!"

The black Nichirin Blade pierced the ground.

Streams of slender blue-white lightning arcs leaped from the blade, spreading rapidly in all directions with this Nichirin Blade as the center.

In an instant, the dense forest within a fifty-meter radius was covered by thunder; blue-white lightning arcs intertwined, resembling a dense electric net woven from thunder, enveloping everyone, including Tanjiro.

"Crackle-pop!"

Accompanied by the crackling of the arcs, Tanjiro and the boar-headed youth were electrocuted, howling like wolves and ghosts, dancing and waving their limbs.

The originally hard spider webs gradually burned and broke under this solemn and majestic Yang Thunder; hundreds of small spiders, struck by lightning, hurriedly leaped from the possessed Demon Slayer Corps members, only to fall into the denser thunder net below.

The blue-white thunder arcs, like sharks smelling blood, surged together crazily.

The cute little spiders danced wildly in the arcs, until finally their spider legs kicked once, and they lay there, completely charred black.

Seeing this, Lin Yu finally revealed a satisfied smile and drew the Nichirin Blade.

The arcs, not intense but certainly painful, finally vanished; the boar-headed youth let out a long sigh, then turned to glare angrily at Lin Yu and said:

"Hey! Tanjiro's blade! Don't hurt your own people!"

"Rest assured, I know my limits."

Lin Yu casually brushed it off, then glanced toward Tanjiro beside him.

Unlike the boar-headed youth Inosuke, Tanjiro did not mind the accidental injury he had suffered.

After the electric net vanished, he immediately rushed to the girl, squatted down, and began checking her injuries.

"No need to look."

Lin Yu looked at the squatted youth before him and said, "This little one's injuries are not severe; only her limbs are crippled. Compared to her, the other two little ones are the ones truly critically injured."

"Their internal organs were pierced by bones; they probably won't last more than a few minutes..."

Are they going to die?

Tanjiro hurriedly glanced at those two, then turned his head, looking at Lin Yu with a face full of hope.

"You must have a way, right?"

"... Not yet."

Lin Yu shook his head, then glanced at his right palm, smiling as he said, "But I will in a moment!"

Following his gaze, one could see that within his right palm, a mysterious eye pattern was clearly carved.

This pattern was a mystical symbol representing the universe within his body, named the Eye of Chaos or the Hidden Eye.

From the moment he possessed the Nichirin Blade, this Hidden Eye appeared on the hilt; after taking possession of this corpse, the same pattern also appeared on the corpse's palm.

Borrowing the connection between the Hidden Eye and the original universe, he could continuously draw power from the original body.

However, because the two worlds were too far apart and this body was too fragile to withstand too much power, Lin Yu could only constrain the power channel linking to the original body, strengthening this body gradually like a steady stream.

In this process, he tried many different power systems.

But unfortunately, most power systems could not be used; either they lacked external conditions like spiritual roots, spiritual energy, or magic power, or they were not permitted by the world's rules.

After picking and choosing, Lin Yu ultimately chose the Qi cultivation path from The Outcast.

The Primordial One Qi represents the essence of human lifespan, thus universally existing across all heavens and worlds; it is only that different world rules cause differences in the difficulty of cultivation.

For instance, in Demon Slayer, the difficulty of cultivating a sense of Qi here is equally exaggerated.

Lin Yu could easily enter the path because the person he possessed had already become a blank slate due to death.

In this situation, he only needed to convert the borrowed power into Qi to forcibly bestow it upon the head, stepping onto the path of Qi cultivation.

With the circulation of the Zhou Tian, the Qi within Lin Yu's body continuously increased, becoming ever more vast.

His body also grew stronger continuously due to the nourishment of the Qi.

Every muscle, every inch of skin, was filled with incredibly solid Qi.

This is the simplest and most basic external hardening technique in The Outcast.

As long as a cultivator's Qi quantity is sufficient and its quality is solid, the body's strength can be raised to an extremely terrifying level.

About half a minute later, Lin Yu raised his right hand; first, golden light bloomed in his palm, then gradually turned blue, and finally, under the tint of red light, completely transformed into a semi-transparent red hand.

"It's ready!"

Lin Yu smiled slightly, then squatted down and, amidst Tanjiro's nervous gaze, pressed his hand onto the girl's back.

(End of this chapter)