Morning, seven o'clock.
Kurozawa waited at the station with lingering fear.
Last night, after saying goodbye to Hongyue, every step he took felt incredibly heavy.
It wasn't until he no longer felt her gaze on him that Kurozawa finally breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he noticed the back of his clothes was completely soaked with cold sweat.
"There's actually a hidden giant Buddha in Asakusa."
"This trip was well worth it, well worth it."
Standing in the waiting area, Kurozawa's mind was filled with thoughts of Hongyue.
He had already listed Asakusa as a high-risk area. He wouldn't be coming back unless he became strong enough.
Hongyue was, in all likelihood, the ultimate being in the Demon Slayer world, the Demon Progenitor, Muzan Kibutsuji.
"Just her presence alone makes me feel completely powerless."
"The power gap is too vast."
"I just don't know if my current Power of Despair can hurt her."
Kurozawa guessed there would be some damage, but likely just minor injuries.
When the Pitch-Black Aura attacks a Demon, if it only hits their body, it requires numerous strikes to accumulate enough damage to kill them.
Damaging the brain can lead to an instant kill, but Kurozawa wasn't sure if this also applied to very strong Demons.
This still needed to be verified. After all, the Demons he had killed before were all very weak.
The frail Demons on Mount Fujikasane were completely incomparable to the Demons in the outside world who constantly consumed blood and flesh.
"Now, should I still go to Hachijo Island, or go straight back to Mount Sagiri and tell Master about Hongyue?"
"No, forget it."
"I'll go to Hachijo Island first and think about how to handle this matter along the way."
"Now, the Demon Slayer Pillars... Stone Pillar, Flame Pillar... once Master Flower retires, there will only be three left."
If Kurozawa remembered correctly, in the original work, the Demon Slayer Corps at its peak had eight or nine Pillars, plus a strong protagonist group. Only by combining their strength did they manage to achieve a near-mutual destruction ending with Muzan Kibutsuji.
Even if he found her now, he couldn't defeat her.
Muzan Kibutsuji constantly evading the Demon Slayer Corps' search didn't mean they were afraid of them.
After intense psychological struggle, Kurozawa decided to go to Hachijo Island first and complete his mission.
During this time, he would carefully consider the matter concerning Hongyue.
Thump, thump, thump... Before long, accompanied by a loud noise, a steel beast gradually appeared in Kurozawa's field of vision.
Gray-white paint, huge steel wheels, rising steam... The black train slowly came to a stop after entering the station.
Kurozawa glanced back, then stepped forward, leaving Asakusa.
On the train, Kurozawa found his seat.
Since the journey to the Hachijo Island ferry terminal was quite long, he had bought a sleeper ticket.
Kurozawa had the lower bunk. In the bunks opposite him, both upper and lower, were a man and a woman who looked to be in their thirties. Judging by their conversation and demeanor, they seemed to be a couple.
On the upper bunk above Kurozawa was a tall girl no older than twenty.
As soon as Kurozawa entered, the girl's gaze was uncontrollably drawn to him.
After briefly observing his surroundings for a moment, Kurozawa lay down in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.
At the same time, his Breathing Technique began to circulate, constantly training his physique.
In his peripheral vision, Kurozawa checked his current stats.
Strength 0.59, Agility 0.54, Constitution 0.63, Intelligence 0.29.
These four physical attributes, through Potential Points and Kurozawa's own Breathing Technique training, had nearly reached an average of 0.6, with the exception of Intelligence.
"The speed of this strength increase is even startling me."
"Hongyue... No matter who you are, when I come to Asakusa next time, we'll get reacquainted."
Kurozawa felt that his physique should be able to barely catch up to a Demon Slayer Pillar.
However, the Pillars' Sword Forms were all very powerful. If they were to actually fight, Kurozawa was highly likely still no match.
"Given the pressure Hongyue exerted on me, if her physical stats could be represented by numbers, how high would they be? An average of 1.5? Or above 2?"
Considering the inherent powerful physique of Demons, the possibility of it being above 2 was high.
After reviewing his physical attributes, Kurozawa focused his attention on his special attributes.
In terms of Skills, Water Breathing Sword Forms was still at Tier 2, and Water Breathing was still at Tier 4, neither had increased.
His Charm Stat had increased significantly, especially regarding smiling. Kurozawa looked in the mirror himself and almost didn't recognize his own radiant smile.
The cost was that his Potential Points were pitifully low, only forty-odd points remaining.
Considering the Potential Points Kurozawa now needed to increase his attributes, forty-odd points were essentially negligible.
Undying Man-Eating Demon Power of Despair: 63 points
"Hmm, the Power of Despair has indeed been increasing."
"The concentration and coverage of the Pitch-Black Aura are also indeed expanding as the Power of Despair increases."
"Given enough time, forging a sword with despair and turning despair into armor isn't impossible."
"My current overall strength should have fully reached the level of a Lower Moon Demon."
Kurozawa reached this conclusion after analyzing his own strength and the information he got about the Lower Moon Demons from Sakonji Urokodaki.
"If I could master Sword Forms at the Pillar level, maybe I could even fight an Upper Moon."
"Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. My talent for Sword Forms is too poor."
Sabito had only been practicing swordsmanship for a year or two, but his mastery of Sword Forms was already on par with Kurozawa's, who had been practicing Sword Forms for over a decade. If his Breathing Technique hadn't reached the Total Concentration: Constant stage, he would have even been surpassed by his junior disciples.
If Kurozawa's Sword Forms had been strong enough, his Nichirin Blade wouldn't have broken when he fought the Hand Demon.
It was only after realizing his lack of skill in Sword Forms that he decided to focus his attention on the Breathing Technique, primarily to improve his physique.
"No matter which world it is, the word 'talent' is truly disheartening."
"If it weren't for Gray-White, I might have just been a nobody throughout my entire life."
"Let's not think about this for now, it's time to rest for a bit."
Inside the fast-moving, constantly shaking train, Kurozawa didn't interact with anyone nearby. Before long, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
Due to the events of the previous night, Kurozawa had stayed vigilant and hadn't slept for the entire night. Coupled with several days of continuous travel, he was already very tired, his eyes filled with dense bloodshot veins.
However, even in his sleep, Kurozawa's Breathing Technique continued to operate without interruption.
This was the power of the Total Concentration: Constant stage of the Breathing Technique, hailed as the threshold to becoming a Pillar.
Operating at all times, while eating, walking, zoning out, sleeping... at any moment, it subtly enhanced the user's physique, even allowing a swordsman to possess a body capable of contending with Demons!
Time passed little by little, from midnight to noon, and from noon to evening.
Inside the train, it was lively. The people nearby, having become familiar with each other, opened up and chatted animatedly.
But Kurozawa remained asleep, the sounds from the outside not affecting him at all.
The couple in the upper and lower bunks opposite him were amazed by how much Kurozawa could sleep, while also complaining about how noisy the train was.
In reality, Kurozawa appeared to be in a deep sleep, but his sleeping body still maintained a posture that allowed him to spring up instantly.
This was one of the results of the swordsman training on Mount Sagiri.
Sakonji Urokodaki possessed an ability called Suggestion, which could help his disciples subtly filter out safe information in their brains and set truly dangerous actions or sounds as warning conditions. Once triggered, they would instantly wake up.
This Suggestion allowed swordsmen to sleep peacefully while remaining highly vigilant.
In the original work, Sakonji Urokodaki successfully suppressed Nezuko's bloodthirsty nature through continuous Suggestion.
Thank you to all the readers for your tips and support.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Read 777+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------