"Blood?" Tanjiro's voice trembled, his face twisting with unbearable worry.
There was no one else living in this mountain range except for his own family.
Li Xuan followed closely behind as Tanjiro broke into a desperate sprint. Unlike Tanjiro, whose heart pounded with fear, Li Xuan had already steeled himself. He knew very well what awaited them ahead.
He was prepared to witness hell.
The path to Tanjiro's home was not long. Within moments, they arrived.
What unfolded before their eyes was a scene drenched in cruelty and horror.
Tanjiro's family had been massacred.
Corpses lay scattered in disarray, bodies twisted unnaturally, while blood seeped across the wooden floorboards and stained the walls. The cold air carried the metallic stench of it, sharp enough to sting the nose.
The sight was far more devastating than anything seen through the safe distance of a screen. Even Li Xuan, whose nature was calm, detached, and hardened with strong self-control, felt his expression tremble against his will.
A scream tore through the silence.
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Tanjiro collapsed in agony, his cries echoing through the snow-covered valley. His wails carried despair so raw that Li Xuan could find no words, no comfort to offer. He stood silently, watching.
The boy staggered among the bodies, sobbing, calling the names of his loved ones. His hands shook violently as he touched each cold face, searching desperately for breath, for warmth, for even the faintest spark of life.
And at last, he found one.
Someone was still breathing.
It was his sister, Nezuko Kamado.
The girl's small frame was soaked in blood. Her arms were wrapped tightly around the body of one of her younger siblings, as though even in her final moments she had tried to shield them from death.
Tanjiro's eyes burned with grief and hesitation, but there was no time to dwell. With trembling hands, he pried her arms open and pulled her onto his back.
"She is still alive! She can be saved!" His thoughts raced like wildfire. "If I can bring her down the mountain to a doctor quickly, there might still be hope. Faster, faster!"
Overcome with urgency, Tanjiro bolted down the snowy path, leaving Li Xuan forgotten in the chaos.
Li Xuan did not mind. He quietly fetched a bucket of snowmelt water and washed away some of the blood at the door. He then closed the entrance to prevent the smell from attracting wild animals. Afterward, he followed in Tanjiro's tracks.
He could not help but sigh inwardly. "As expected of the protagonist of this world. His physical strength is already beyond ordinary."
Because of his sign-in system, Li Xuan's body had been enhanced to the peak of human capability. Yet even he found it difficult to keep up with Tanjiro's frantic pace. Only the clear trail of deep footprints in the snow kept him from losing sight.
One had to remember that Tanjiro was only a teenager, and not one who had undergone any special training. Clearly, the people of this world did not share the same limits as humans from reality.
Li Xuan was in no rush, however. He knew what was to come. Nezuko's transformation into a demon, her attack on Tanjiro, and the dramatic intervention of the Water Hashira. That pivotal moment was fast approaching.
His own small pouch contained miraculous medical supplies from the Lord God, such as disposable bandages that could stop bleeding instantly. But Li Xuan knew well that none of these could help Nezuko. She was no longer in danger of death. Her demon blood had already begun to heal her body completely. The wounds that appeared mortal were nothing but illusions now.
What she truly hungered for was flesh.
Through the falling snow, Li Xuan finally caught sight of the siblings.
Nezuko had already lost her humanity. Her eyes glowed with a savage hunger as she pinned Tanjiro to the ground, her fangs snapping toward his throat. Tanjiro held her back desperately with the handle of his axe wedged in her mouth, tears streaming as he cried out her name again and again.
He remembered the old man's warning about demons that hunted at night. His chest ached with guilt, pain, and disbelief.
"Save her first," Li Xuan murmured.
The Hashira had not yet arrived, and Li Xuan could not allow this scene to end in tragedy. Without hesitation, he lunged forward.
The moment Nezuko sensed him, Li Xuan twisted his hips and unleashed a powerful roundhouse kick. His leg cut through the air with a sharp crack, striking Nezuko squarely in the torso.
Her body flew like a broken kite and slammed against a tree trunk with a thundering crash.
"Nezuko!" Tanjiro cried out.
"Are you hurt?" Li Xuan asked quickly.
Tanjiro shook his head, staggering to his feet. "I am fine. Thank you, Li Xuan."
He rushed toward his sister, believing with all his heart that she was only confused, that somewhere inside the demon was still the kind girl he loved.
The kick had looked fierce, but Nezuko's body was already far sturdier than a human's. She rose from the snow almost unharmed, her eyes burning with feral light, her lips curled back in a snarl.
Tanjiro reached out to her.
But before he could take another step, a sharp gust of wind passed.
In the blink of an eye, Nezuko was restrained. A blade gleamed coldly against her neck. Her arms and torso were pinned, her struggles useless against the strength of the man who held her.
He was tall and striking, his black hair framing a face of stern beauty. His expression was cold as winter stone. Over his black uniform he wore a patterned haori with mismatched halves. On the blade in his hand were engraved four characters: Destroyer of Demons.
His name was Giyu Tomioka.
The Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps.
"Who are you? What are you doing?" Tanjiro cried, panicked as he saw the blade pressed against his sister's neck.
"I am a swordsman of the Demon Slayer Corps. My duty is to slay demons," Giyu replied in a flat, merciless tone.
"She is my sister! My sister! I do not know why she became like this, but Nezuko has never harmed anyone. She has never eaten anyone! The scent at my house proves it—someone else killed my family. It was not her. Please, do not hurt her!"
For a brief instant, Giyu's heart wavered. Compassion stirred, but years of merciless duty quickly hardened his resolve. His grip on the sword grew even tighter.
"Your sister was wounded by a demon's blood. That is how new demons are born."
"You are wrong! Nezuko will not harm anyone. I will never allow her to. I will find a way to turn her back into a human. I swear I will cure her!"
"That is impossible. Once one becomes a demon, they can never return."
"I will find a way! I will not give up. Please, I beg you, do not kill her!"
Tanjiro's desperate voice tore at the silence. He had already lost everyone. Nezuko was all he had left.
Still, Giyu's expression did not change. He had slain countless demons, had seen far too many families destroyed by them. Too often, people promised that their demon kin would never harm them, and too often those promises ended in blood.
Suddenly, a fist shot toward him.
Li Xuan.
Giyu reacted instantly, raising his blade to block the strike. In the same motion, he spun and drove a sharp kick into Li Xuan's chest.
The tables had turned. Only moments ago, Li Xuan had kicked Nezuko away. Now he was the one sent flying.
He landed heavily in the snow, motionless.
The kick had not been strong enough to knock him unconscious. He simply chose not to rise.
"I will just lie here," Li Xuan thought. He had no desire to entangle himself in the storm of emotions between Tanjiro, Nezuko, and the Hashira. What mattered was that he had shown support for Nezuko's survival, nudging the events back on track. That was enough.
The clash between Tanjiro and Giyu continued. Tanjiro begged on his knees, shouting, refusing to give up. He even tried to fight, hurling stones to disguise the throw of his axe, surprising Giyu for an instant. Yet in the end, he was overpowered and knocked unconscious.
It was Nezuko's final act of shielding her brother that softened Giyu's resolve. Seeing her protect Tanjiro even in her demonic state, he lowered his sword.
Meanwhile, Li Xuan lay half-buried in snow, flakes slowly covering his clothes.
"I just decided to work harder, yet somehow I cannot stop being a salted fish," he muttered inwardly.
In his past life, the sign-in system had provided everything he needed. Skills, money, power—he only had to sign in. It was a life of ease, free from struggle, and naturally it had made him lazy.
At last, Giyu departed.
Before leaving, he instructed the awakening Tanjiro. "Do not let your sister see the sunlight. Go to the foot of Mount Sagiri and seek out an old man named Urokodaki Sakonji. Tell him Giyu Tomioka sent you."
His words faded into the cold air as he vanished into the snow.
Tanjiro sat dazed, as if he had woken from a nightmare. His gaze fell on Nezuko, who now sat quietly with the bamboo gag fastened over her mouth. Relief washed through him like a warm tide.
"She is still here… She is alive… Thank goodness…"
Li Xuan finally rose from the snow and walked over. "Are you alright?"
Tanjiro glanced at him, remembering the kick he had taken earlier. Concern crossed his face. "Li Xuan, are you hurt?"
"It is nothing serious. Earlier I kicked your sister, now I received a kick myself. I suppose that is karma," Li Xuan joked.
Tanjiro shook his head but his eyes softened. "Thank you."
He understood that Li Xuan's strike had been to protect him. And now that he knew Nezuko's body had changed, he realized that her resilience was far beyond that of a normal human.
"Li Xuan, I must find a cure for my sister. I will seek out the old man on Mount Sagiri as that man said. So you…"
After spending more than a day together, Tanjiro already thought of Li Xuan as a friend. But now his path was uncertain. He had no home left, no clear destination, only the resolve to save Nezuko. He could not provide Li Xuan shelter or comfort any longer.
Perhaps he could bury his family and leave the house for Li Xuan to use. He did not cling sentimentally to the building, even though it held all his memories. If offering it could help someone else, he would gladly do so.
"Let us travel together a while longer," Li Xuan said calmly.
Of course he would not part ways now. Everything Tanjiro was about to face was exactly what Li Xuan sought.
The demon in the temple, Urokodaki Sakonji, the Final Selection of the Demon Slayer Corps.
All of these were his true objectives.