Chapter 51: Hantengu? Half-Dead Dog? Half-Lick Dog?

【Deciphering... Deciphered successfully】

【Name: Upper Moon Four—Doma】

【Identity: Upper Moon Four】

【Superior: Muzan Kibutsuji】

【Age: 150 years】

【Ability: Manifested Splitting】

【Divisions: Kokushibo, Akaza, Hantengu, Gyokko, Zeng Po Tian】

【Blood Demon Art: Accumulated Tears Thrust, Thunder Kill, Strong Wind, Wild Roar, Uninterrupted Karma Tree】

【Note: Beheading all divisions will not destroy him; the original body, Hantengu, must be slain for the divisions to vanish and turn to ash! Additionally, when the four divisions merge into one, they become an even more powerful demon—Zeng Po Tian!】

【Personal Information:...】

"So that's how it is. No wonder beheading the four Upper Moon Fours that time didn't eliminate them!"

"And that demon holding the drumsticks was actually named Zeng Po Tian; he appeared because the four divisions had merged into one!"

"In that case, this Upper Moon Four is indeed a rather troublesome opponent, of course, only within this world!"

He had witnessed the strength of Upper Moon Four in the Infinity Castle that day.

Although his strength was nothing special, the troublesome part was his Blood Demon Art, which was not only diverse but also had a very wide range!

For the current Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, if they couldn't find the original body, even just stalling for time would exhaust the Hashira to death before he finally devoured them!

Moreover, since Hantengu lets his divisions fight, he will surely try to hide himself; even if found, beheading him might not be that easy!

If he protects the original body well and burrows underground, it would take a very long time even if they dug three feet deep!

Besides, it is absolutely possible for Zeng Po Tian to use his Blood Demon Art to create those wooden dragons, hide the original body inside one, and then burrow underground!

However, for Zero, there is a simplest and most effective method: stall the four divisions!

As long as the four divisions are stalled and kept at a distance so they cannot merge, others can be sent to find the original body and behead it, which would still result in his destruction!

"Heh... what's the use of hiding however you want?! As long as your four divisions don't merge, once your original body is found, you will still die!"

"Hantengu? Heh... looks like I need to formulate a dog-beating plan when I have time! Hantengu? If I meet you again, I'll beat you into a half-dead dog!"

Having made up his mind, he continued to check Hantengu's information.

【Personal Information: During his human life, Hantengu was an old thief who always did bad things but always believed he was a kind-hearted weakling.

When a theft failed once, he killed the person who reported him with a knife because he feared being handed over to the magistrate's office.

The day before his execution, Muzan Kibutsuji gave him blood, turning him into a demon; he eventually killed the magistrate and began serving Muzan...】

Having just seen the first half of the Upper Moon Four's information, Zero's eye twitched slightly as he said, "Uh... why do I suddenly feel like finding Hantengu and beating him into a half-dead dog right now?"

"This half-dead dog is truly shameless! Such a twisted, negative-thinking personality, heh... utterly disgusting! No different from that guy Yuhou!"

(Upper Moon Five Gyokko: I *****)

After roasting him a hundred million times, he continued checking the half-dead dog's...

Oh, no, Hantengu's information.

【Normally, he appears as an old man with no pupils in his eyes, a swollen forehead, two horns on his head, and a face resembling a hannya mask.

In this form, after his neck is severed, he splits into four divisions: Kokushibo, Akaza, Hantengu, and Gyokko.

Furthermore, his tongue is carved with words corresponding to the emotions of his divisions.

Meanwhile, the original body shrinks to the size of a mouse, but its neck becomes so hard that it can chip or even break a Nichirin Blade.

The character 【Fear】 is written on the original body's tongue.

Hantengu's emotions are extremely mixed; as the original body, 【Fear】 is timid and cowardly with negative thinking, yet his viewpoint is singular: he has never committed any wrong.

Even when Hantengu commits evil deeds, he always believes he was forced or compelled; as long as he can escape facing his crimes, nothing else matters.

When Hantengu encounters danger, the four most basic emotions deep within his heart—Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Pleasure—emerge to fight, but the relationship between the four divisions is poor, and they only cooperate when protecting the original body.

They merge into the embodiment of his hatred, 【Zeng Po Tian】. 【Hatred】 stubbornly believes that anyone who harms 【Fear】 is an evil person.

Actions harming the original body are seen by him as demonic and heinous, yet he pays no heed to his own countless murders! He possesses unwavering loyalty to Muzan.】

Having finished reading the information, Zero felt speechless; this Hantengu was actually a "lick" dog, absolutely loyal to Muzan Kibutsuji...

"Hantengu? Half-dead dog? Half-lick dog? Forget it, I'll just call you a dead lick dog!"

Although he kept roasting the dead lick dog, ahem, Hantengu, his hands never stopped moving.

On another piece of white paper, he wrote down the relevant information about the dead lick dog... Hantengu, and selected some important parts to record.

During this time, he also used the 【Deciphering Glasses】 to analyze Hantengu's Blood Demon Art and recorded it together.

The scene shifted, arriving at the Infinity Castle.

At this moment, Upper Moon Four—the dead lick dog, ahem, Hantengu—was getting beaten up.

As for the demon beating him, it was Akaza.

The reason...

Was naturally because he was eating humans, and what's more, he was eating women!

Although he didn't succeed.

After the battle in the Infinity Castle, Hantengu's body had consumed a lot of stamina, so he went out the following night to find food.

Passing a village, he disguised himself as a pitiful beggar old man at the village entrance.

Coincidentally, a woman from the village met Hantengu on her way back and felt pity for him.

She took off the small bundle on her back, squatted down, and intended to take out some food for him.

However, Hantengu extended his sharp nails, intending to kill her at this opportunity and then take her to a secluded place to eat her.

Unexpectedly, a gust of wind flashed by, and Hantengu vanished from the spot, gone without a trace.

When the woman stood up, she found the old man was gone; thinking she had encountered a ghost, she was so frightened that she quickly packed her bundle and ran home.

After finishing his cultivation in the Infinity Castle during the day, Akaza ventured out at night to search for clues regarding the Blue Blue Bianhua.

At the same time, he wondered when he might meet Zero again to fight alongside him; he would never miss any opportunity to battle a strong opponent!

If only Zero would come to the Infinity Castle again; then he would find a way to turn him into a demon and fight with him forever!

Just as he was thinking this, by sheer coincidence, he ran into Hantengu; seeing the latter about to harm that woman, he rushed over quickly and dragged Hantengu away.

He found a desolate place and beat him up!

And this beating lasted the entire night.

Precisely because of this, he saved that innocent village woman.

Although Akaza is a demon, he never eats women!

On the contrary, if he encounters a woman walking alone on the road at night, out of politeness, he will safely escort her home.

At sunrise, the two demons were teleported back to the Infinity Castle by Nakime; however, upon returning inside, Half-a-Dog... ah, Hantengu, was still in the state of being beaten.

If Hantengu had eaten a man or a sinful man, Akaza wouldn't have cared, but coincidentally encountering Hantengu eating a woman was a different matter!

The beaten Hantengu dared not resist, muttering things like "I am just a weakling" in his mouth.

Akaza is Upper Rank Three, while he himself is only Upper Rank Four; not only is there a gap in rank, but there is also a gap in strength.

So Hantengu could only obediently take the beating, thinking that once Akaza had vented his anger, he would be let go.

Seeing this situation, Nakime was too lazy to intervene; she was currently slowly playing the shamisen, repairing the damaged Infinity Castle.

After repairing for a day and a night, only about half had been restored so far.

Thinking back to Zero now, a wave of fear involuntarily arose within her heart!

Not only did he shatter her Infinity Castle to pieces, but he also blew her up several times.

She had a feeling that Demon Slayer was deliberately targeting her!

The scene returns to Zero's side.

After recording the information on 【Upper Rank Four】, Zero confirmed that no important details were missed, only then relaxing his mind.

He then looked at the information regarding that brother-and-sister demon pair, namely 【Upper Rank Six】.

【Deciphering... deciphered successfully】

【Name: Gyutaro — Twin Demons】

【Gender: Male】

【Identity: Twelve Kizuki Upper Rank Six】

【Superior: Muzan Kibutsuji】

【Sister: Daki】

【Age: Over 140 years】

【Weapon: Blood-Red Twin Scythes】

【Abilities: Superior Senses, Two-in-One】

【Blood Demon Arts: Flying Blood Scythes, Unbridled Arrogance, Circular Slash Spin】

【Note 1: The individual entity "Gyutaro" and the individual entity "Daki" are a twin pair; even if one demon is beheaded, they will not die; in principle, this is no different from overcoming beheading! Both demons must be beheaded to be destroyed!】

【Note 2: The Blood Demon Arts and attacks of the individual entity "Gyutaro" carry his own blood, which contains a massive amount of poison! Additionally, the body after death will produce an enhanced version of Circular Slash Spin, which is immensely powerful; proceed with caution.】

【Personal Information:...】

"Hmm? This is..." Seeing the information on 【Upper Rank Six】 Gyutaro, Zero noticed that this brother-and-sister demon pair was no simple matter!

Merely overcoming beheading already put them ahead of other Upper Rank demons!

If one demon were beheaded, the other demon would only need to hide; at that time, they could still continue to survive!

In other words, if Gyutaro's attack caused the opponent to be wounded and poisoned, then he would only need to hide with his sister at that time, waiting for the opponent to die from the poison!

Zero was very glad that he was cautious enough!

During the battle in the Infinity Castle a few days ago, had he not been cautious enough, once he fell victim to this Upper Rank Six's attack, the situation would have been entirely different: killed or... turned into a demon!

"It seems I need to think of a way; perhaps I can go to Asakusa, Tokyo again, to see if Hearing Zhu Shi has any methods? And..."

Thinking this, Zero took two specially made small syringes from the 【Nano Space】, containing the blood of an Upper Rank demon.

That day in the Infinity Castle, while the 【Dark Alloy Battle Armor】 was fighting an Upper Rank demon, their blood splattered and stained the surface of the armor.

When injecting the 【Energy Crystal】 into the 【Dark Alloy Battle Armor】 at Taoshan for automatic repair, he discovered that this blood had not yet coagulated into clumps!

Not only the 【Dark Alloy Battle Armor】, but even the hands and feet of the 【Giant Dark Alloy Battle Mecha】 had traces of blood.

So he used his specially made small syringes to suck it up bit by bit.

Unexpectedly, so much time had passed, yet it still remained in a liquid state, not dried up.

That day at Taoshan, Iguro Zenitsu and Sangdao Ciwu Lang were indeed startled by this mecha; after explanation, the grandfather and grandson finally recovered from their shock.

Putting the small syringes back into the 【Nano Space】, he continued to look at the information on Gyutaro on the projection screen.

【Personal Information: Gyutaro during his human life was born in the lower strata of the Yoshiwara district, always discriminated against, insulted, and so on.

Driven by the hardships of life, when hungry he ate poisonous insects, snakes, and ants; his only toy was a scythe dropped by a customer.

Having experienced various misfortunes and mockery, he gradually developed the concept of repaying injury with injury and stealing others' happiness when suffering misfortune.

But because of this concept, his younger sister Ume, who was young at the time, was also influenced and formed this life philosophy.

Relying on each other for survival, while Gyutaro worked as a debt collector.

When his sister was thirteen years old, she gouged out a samurai's eye and was burned alive by the samurai's fire.

Afterwards, Gyutaro, having nowhere else to turn, met Upper Rank Two Kokushibo while carrying his dying sister, and Kokushibo turned the two siblings into demons; after becoming a demon, Gyutaro continued to use "Gyutaro" as his name.

Later, Kokushibo changed positions and became Upper Rank Two, while Gyutaro and Daki together became the new Upper Rank Six.】

"I didn't expect the past of the Gyutaro siblings to be so bumpy; truly a pair of pitiful little children, but... no matter how pitiful you were during your human lives, since you became evil demons, from the moment you started harming people, you must be prepared to be destroyed!"

"This is destined, and it is only a matter of time!"

Although he saw information about the Gyutaro siblings from when they were human, his heart would not become saintly and pity them because of it.

One can only say that fate plays tricks; they were born in a bad era!

He selected some of the more important information regarding Upper Rank Six Gyutaro and recorded it on another sheet of white paper.

After confirming, he looked at the female demon among the last brother-and-sister pair of demons!

【Deciphering... Deciphered successfully】

【Name: Daki — Twin Demon】

【Human Era: Ume】

【Gender: Female】

【Identity: Twelve Kizuki Upper Rank Six (Fake)】

【Superior: Muzan Kibutsuji】

【Brother: Gyutaro】

【Age: Over 140 years】

【Weapon: Sash】

【Ability: Sensory Sharing, Two-in-One】

【Blood Demon Art: Eightfold Sash Slash】

【Note: The individual entity named "Daki" actually possesses strength hovering above Lower Rank demons but below Upper Rank demons, making her a fake Upper Rank Six.】

【Note 1: The individual entity "Gyutaro" is usually fused into Daki's back; if Daki is defeated, Gyutaro will appear.】

【Note 2: The individual entity "Gyutaro" can, through 'Sensory Sharing', transfer half of his own abilities to the individual entity named "Daki", raising her strength to half-step Upper Rank. He controls Daki to fight together via a third eye.】

【Personal Information:...】

Seeing the information on the 【Upper Rank Six】 female demon, Zero's brows furrowed slightly; how to put it, he felt that this Daki's Upper Rank Six status seemed... her brain wasn't working properly!

As for why he felt this way?

It was because during the battle in the Infinity Castle, Daki actually dared to control her sash to resist a mech!

Moreover, she did it twice in a row, and both times she was beaten away like a propeller! She learned no lesson!

Truly, one doesn't know if she is ignorant or fearless?!

But thinking about it, with her strength, if it weren't for her brother's support, let alone becoming an Upper Rank demon, she would have been the first Lower Rank demon to be killed.

According to Daki's own strength, any Hashira could have annihilated her.

Unfortunately, she has a brother, so killing her is quite difficult.

However, for himself, there are still many ways.

Immediately, his gaze turned to the personal information regarding Daki on the projection screen.

【Personal Information: Born in the slums of Yoshiwara, "Rashomon Riverbank"; since her mother died of syphilis at her birth, she was named "Ume".】

She grew up relying on each other with her brother Gyutaro from childhood. Because, unlike her brother, she possessed a beauty that surpassed adults from a young age, Gyutaro viewed her as his pride.

Because she grew up in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, she took working as a courtesan.

But her personality was simple and easily influenced, and having lived since childhood with her brother whose childhood was tragic, she gradually developed twisted notions: returning injury for injury, taking before being taken from, and snatching others' happiness when encountering misfortune.

At age 13, Ume, unwilling to submit to a samurai, stabbed out the samurai's eyes with a hairpin!

Finally, caught by the samurai and the madam together, she was tied up and burned until she was unrecognizable, on the verge of death!

When Gyutaro arrived at the scene and found his dying sister, he burst into tears, cursing heaven and blaming the world!

But he was ambushed by the samurai and suffered severe injuries!

After dealing with that samurai and the madam, while carrying his sister around seeking help, no one was willing to lend a hand.

Gyutaro, holding his sister, collapsed onto the snow; precisely because of this, he met Douma, who was then Upper Rank Six and eating people.

Finally, the two siblings accepted the blood Douma gave them and became demons.

After Douma switched places and advanced through battle, Gyutaro's strengthening drove up the strength of his two-in-one sister.

The two siblings thus replaced Douma to become Upper Rank Six. Ume was renamed Daki after this.】

"Yoshiwara pleasure quarter..." Zero noticed this term, feeling in his heart that place seemed not simple!

"Never mind, I'll go check it out when I have a chance later; right now, the most important thing is to organize this intelligence."

He wrote down and recorded Daki's information as well; after confirming, he finally felt relieved.

Gathering all the papers together, he went to the window and called out to Kanao, the messenger crow resting in the courtyard.

"My lord Zero." The messenger crow Kanao landed on Zero's shoulder, still as always liking to rub against Zero's face.

Since the day Zero disappeared, Kanao's heart had been very sad and sorrowful!

Just yesterday, not long after Zero's funeral began, it discovered its master had actually returned alive!

It thought this was a dream, yet it couldn't help but fly forward and land on his shoulder.

Only after smelling that familiar body scent on Zero did it realize this was all real...

Zero gently stroked Kanao's head and said, "Kanao, trouble you to go tell the Master to have the other Hashira swordsmen come to my residence; I have important matters to discuss."

"Yes, my lord Zero."

Watching Kanao's departing figure, Zero went downstairs and entrusted Kamado Aunt Kui Zhi to prepare some tea and snacks.

Kamado Aunt Kui Zhi agreed without hesitation.

However, downstairs, Zero did not see Shinobu or Xiao Xiao Mili; Kamado Aunt Kui Zhi told him they had gone to bathe after eating.

Speaking of this, that sensual scene from yesterday floated into Zero's mind again, and his body began to feel an inexplicable heat!

He quickly shook his head, shaking those images out, only then extinguishing that feeling of heat.

"What exactly is going on? Why do I have such a feeling? Could it be..."

"Am I sick?"

After pondering and pondering yet finding no answer, he simply stopped thinking, went straight to the second floor, prepared everything, and waited for the others to arrive.

……

【Only two or three more chapters until the Tanjiro plot begins, so if there are any flaws in the writing, please forgive me; thank you for your continued support and care.】