Chapter 168: Chopping Melons and Slicing Vegetables

At this moment, whether the girl at his feet or the other two Demon Slayer Corps members, all had already fainted from pain.

Lin Yu first used his Red Hand to repair the injuries, then switched to his Blue Hand to soothe the girl's spirit, which had been tormented by suffering.

After doing this, the girl's tightly furrowed brows finally slowly relaxed, her originally unstable breathing also became calm, and she fell into a quiet and peaceful sleep.

Afterwards, Lin Yu followed the same method to treat the injuries of the other two Demon Slayer Corps members.

During this process, Tanjiro and the boar-headed boy Inosuke were not idle either; the former picked up a Nichirin Blade from the ground and, together with the latter, remained vigilant against possible attacks from the surroundings.

Lin Yu multitasked, treating the wounded while casually asking, "Boy, I am curious, when those three little ones actively sought death just now, why didn't you act?"

"..."

Tanjiro was stunned by these words, then fell silent for a moment before speaking softly, "Because not wanting to live does not mean one cannot live."

"Humans are fickle creatures; their thoughts change every moment. I believe that when he said those words, he truly was prepared to face death, but... what if he changes his mind in the future?"

Lin Yu glanced at him and said with interest, "Just because of that?"

Tanjiro hesitated for a second, speaking uncertainly, "It should be more than that, but I am clumsy with words and cannot express it. I only know that if it happened again, I would still make the same choice."

"Because only by surviving do they have a chance to change their minds!"

As he spoke the latter part, Tanjiro's expression became increasingly firm.

Seeing this, Lin Yu couldn't help but smile, thinking to himself that this little one was indeed the protagonist of a shonen manga; this gentle yet firm personality was indeed very likely to win others' affection.

Thinking of this, he stood up and said with a smile, "Boy, I admire your kindness, but as a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, being too soft-hearted is not a good thing."

"This time, with my rescue, your choice was indeed correct."

"I hope that next time I am not here, you can still achieve a perfect outcome..."

Saying this, he took a step forward, holding the Nichirin Blade, and walked toward the depths of the dense forest.

Seeing this, Tanjiro was stunned and hurriedly asked, "Where are you going?"

Lin Yu spoke without turning his head, "The three little ones are all fine, they just need to sleep for a while. If you do not wish to leave them behind, you had better carry them out immediately."

"As for the rest, leave it to a reliable my lord!"

Before the words had fully faded, golden light erupted from Lin Yu's body, blocking the sharp spikes whistling down from above.

A headless body standing over two meters tall descended from the sky under the control of spider silk, its two powerful arms transforming into keratinous spikes, launching a storm-like attack on Lin Yu.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The sharp and hard spikes collided fiercely with the amber-like golden light.

Just by looking at the sparks flying and the wind whistling sharply, one could imagine how powerful the opponent's strength was.

But unfortunately, no matter how the spider silk squeezed the power of this strong body, the golden light on Lin Yu's surface did not fluctuate in the slightest, not even rippling once.

"Sss—"

In the next instant, brilliant sword light bloomed like falling petals.

Lin Yu flicked his long blade, letting it hang by his side, and strolled past the headless body as if taking a leisurely walk.

Just at the moment of passing by, the headless body exploded with countless splashes of blood, and wounds like a spiderweb cracked open, splitting the body into hundreds of corpse fragments.

Blood and severed limbs rained down, leaving both Tanjiro and Inosuke stunned.

The latter came to his senses and couldn't help but gaze at Lin Yu's back with frenzied eyes.

"So strong!"

"..."

Tanjiro also came to his senses, looked at Lin Yu's back ahead, then glanced at the three sleeping people beside him, suddenly gritted his teeth, picked up one of them, turned to Inosuke and said:

"Quick, take them, let's catch up!"

Inosuke's eyes widened: "Hah?"

At the same time, Lin Yu moved slowly yet quickly, covering ten meters with each step as he advanced.

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from the two's field of vision and arrived before the evil demon controlling the corpses behind the scenes.

Seeing the spider demon sitting on a rock ahead, with a pale body, red spots on its skin, and a face resembling a young girl, Lin Yu couldn't help but stop and recall the relevant plot.

If he remembered correctly, the spider demon family of Mount Natagumo was actually a group ruled by Lower Moon Five, Rui, one of the Twelve Kizuki.

The members had no blood relations with each other; they only possessed the Blood Demon Art of spider abilities because they had received Rui's blood.

The spider demon before him was originally just a girl demon; although she played the role of a mother, she had no status in the family. Coupled with her timid personality and actions that did not suit Rui's wishes, she was often subjected to domestic violence from the 'father', living a life full of fear.

At this moment, the spider mother in the form of a young girl had completely failed to notice Lin Yu's arrival.

She was trembling all over, looking at the broken spider silk at her fingertips with a face full of fear.

"They were wiped out... they were wiped out!"

"That puppet was clearly the fastest and strongest, how could it... In the end, it's all Rui's fault for coming to threaten me; if not for that, how could I have been so anxious..."

Speaking to this point, the spider mother suddenly paused, then suddenly raised her head, looking at Lin Yu ahead in terror.

"You—when did you arrive?!"

At this moment, Lin Yu grew stronger every second; a terrifying amount of Qi surged within his body, causing this youthful body to subtly swell, increasing his height by at least three or four centimeters.

Of course, the change in appearance was merely the effect of overflowing energy.

In terms of the most basic cultivation of life and spirit, Lin Yu had far surpassed the Heavenly Grandmaster; especially his mental cultivation, which had reached the level of influencing matter with spiritual power, and could even vaguely perceive the spider mother's thoughts.

Perhaps triggered by fear recalling past memories, Lin Yu saw scenes of her being abused by her so-called 'family'.

Beating, gouging out eyes, severing arms... various restricted scenes flashed through her mind, making Lin Yu's face show pity, and he couldn't help but sigh softly.

"Truly pitiful, such days must not have been easy to live through, right?"

"..."

The spider mother in the form of a young girl was slightly stunned, seemingly not expecting the monster that had slaughtered her strongest puppet to be so gentle.

Lin Yu held the Nichirin Blade, took a step forward, and spoke softly to comfort her, "Do not worry, you will be liberated very soon!"

The spider mother was stunned again.

The next second, a brilliant full moon rose from the dense forest ahead, filling her entire field of vision...

"Pfft—"

Blood bloomed as the spider mother's body was instantly crushed by a moon-like halo of light.

No matter how pitiful she was, she was still a ghost who had slaughtered countless humans; Lin Yu could not let her go, though he might make her suffer less when striking her down...

"Swish—"

Lin Yu flicked his long blade, scattering a line of blood on the ground, then glanced at the blood mist exploding beside him. Spreading his five fingers, he drew thin streams of blood from the mist, condensing them in his palm into a single drop.

"So this is the blood of the Twelve Kizuki?"

Lin Yu examined the drop in his palm and sneered, "Too weak!"

Despite his words, Lin Yu did not discard the drop; after all, this thing could transform humans into immortal ghosts, so it held some research value.

However, compared to Rui's blood, the final boss, Muzan Kibutsuji, interested him even more.

Thinking of this, he immediately closed his eyes, followed the connection of the blood, and sensed the other spider demons in the mountains and forests.

The one clearly the strongest among them was undoubtedly Rui himself; the remaining three were too weak, and at Lin Yu's level, it was difficult to distinguish the gap between them.

"Then let's wipe them all out together!"

Lin Yu opened his eyes with a calm expression. His jet-black hair began to turn white, and his skin became as crystal-clear as jade, as if transforming from solid to liquid, rippling with waves and circles of milky white.

Reverse Life Stage 3!

In just a few seconds, Lin Yu's entire body turned into Qi; his feet left the ground, and he floated upward, suspended in the air.

His gaze swept across, locking onto the positions of Spider Brother, Spider Sister, and Spider Father. With a light wave of his Nichirin Blade in hand, he unleashed three white Qi blades dozens of meters long, whistling as they rushed toward the three evil demons.

At the same time, Tanjiro's future brother-in-law, 'Zenitsu Agatsuma', was sprinting forward with a look of sheer terror.

On the treetops above him, Spider Brother, possessing a human head and a spider body, grinned sinisterly, constantly spitting out purple, highly corrosive phlegm, forcing the humans below to flee in a disheveled manner.

"Hoo—"

Just then, a terrifying whistling sound suddenly came from above.

Spider Brother, hanging upside down on the tree, paused slightly and instinctively turned his head, only to see a terrifying Qi blade tearing through the air, sweeping unimpeded over the treetops and trunk, growing larger and larger in his eyes...

"Boom!"

A deafening crash made the fleeing Zenitsu jump in fright; he instinctively turned to look back.

He saw that the dense forest behind him had inexplicably raised a sky full of dust and smoke. More than a dozen thick trees had snapped apart with a thunderous crash, resembling a row of broccoli sliced diagonally by a chef, their smooth, slanted cross-sections descending from high to low.

Looking down along the slanted cut, one could see that amidst the dust and smoke lay a terrifying trench ten meters deep and a hundred meters long.

Every object within the trench, whether trees or houses suspended by spider silk, had now turned to ash and vanished, mixing into the dust and mud below.

As for Spider Brother, who had been chasing him just moments ago, he was already nowhere to be seen.

If one were to jump into the trench now and turn the bottom soil completely over, perhaps one could still find some ant-sized, dissipating flesh and blood amidst the dust and mud...

Zenitsu stared blankly at the scene, completely unable to grasp what was happening.

In comparison, Tanjiro and Inosuke on the other side were much more accustomed to this.

After deciding to catch up with Lin Yu, the two little ones encountered Spider Father and Spider Sister blocking their path, so they set down the three unconscious people and engaged them one-on-one.

Before they could even properly begin fighting, a terrifying Qi blade descended from the sky, crushing both evil demons to pieces.

(End of this chapter)