The ape's arms rapidly elongated as it swung them wildly, stirring up a fierce gale between them. With each movement, the surrounding broken logs trembled violently.
In the blink of an eye, the logs shot into the sky before scattering across the mountaintop, forming a labyrinthine battlefield.
Blood Demon Art: Wood Concealment—activated. Seizing the opportunity, the ape slipped into one of the logs, lying in wait.
Tendo scanned the area—there were at least a hundred logs. This Blood Demon Art is annoyingly sneaky, he thought. It can even mask its presence—no wonder I couldn't find it earlier.
Now, trash-talking wouldn't work anymore—it had already fallen for that once. He needed Lower Two to expose itself.
Sure enough, the ape couldn't hold back. Two razor-sharp claws shot toward Tendo from behind. He spun around and slashed down in one fluid motion, the powerful Blade Wind severing both the arms and the log they emerged from.
Forced into the open, the ape had no time to react before crimson-gold lightning erupted from Tendo's feet like flames, coalescing into the form of a furious Thunder Kirin that lunged for the kill.
Just as his Nichirin Blade, crackling with lightning, sliced through the air and cleanly severed the ape's neck—jet-black arms, hard as steel whips, silently lashed out from behind Tendo once more.
And not just from behind—more arms coiled in from both sides.
These limbs moved with terrifying speed and force, as if capable of tearing through the very air, making the surrounding atmosphere crackle with pressure.
The long-armed ape possessed three Blood Demon Arts: Wood Concealment, Elongated Arms, and Doppelgänger.
Its strategy was simple—use one clone as bait, two more to disorient the enemy, and then deliver the killing blow itself.
At first glance, Tendo had fallen right into its trap.
But the ape's imagined scene of its foe being torn to shreds never came to pass. Instead, a massive, earthen-yellow Black Tortoise materialized around Tendo, deflecting every incoming arm with an impenetrable barrier.
Way Breathing: Mountain Form—Black Tortoise.
The moment his blade struck the decoy, Tendo had already shifted techniques—pure instinct. If there's bait, there's definitely a killing move.
Using a log as a foothold, he leaped high, instantly pinpointing the log where the ape's true body hid.
Way Breathing: Flame Form—Vermilion Bird.
In an instant, the Vermilion Bird spread its wings—countless blazing Blade Winds transformed into fiery feathers, piercing straight through the targeted log.
As Tendo landed behind it, a geyser of blood erupted from the log, followed by half a corpse collapsing to the ground. Unable to clearly see his target, he had only managed to sever a quarter of Lower Two's body.
Given its regenerative abilities, the other three-quarters had likely already healed—and it had definitely relocated.In terms of direct confrontation, Lower Two couldn't withstand more than a few moves from Tendo. But when it came to survival tactics, Tendo would find it difficult to kill Lower Two quickly.
He had encountered the most survival-savvy of the Lower Moons. That such a creature could rise to the rank of Lower Two left him utterly speechless.
The long-armed ape hid within the outermost wooden stake, not daring to breathe. It was supposed to be its own trap, yet it nearly cost its life.
Just how strong was this human before it? How much power was he still concealing?
He couldn't possibly be the strongest Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, could he? Surely they wouldn't deploy their strongest fighter just to deal with one demon.
The long-armed ape began to question its very existence as a demon.
That single slash from Tendo had nearly given it psychological trauma. Now it absolutely wouldn't act recklessly, opting instead for a strategy of attrition using clones.
What followed would be a battle of endurance.
Yet every clone that made a move would be instantly decapitated—emergence meant instant death.
Had the long-armed ape not preemptively carved demon blood seals into these wooden stakes, it might not have even had the chance to activate its Blood Demon Art.
Seeing the ape refuse to show itself, Tendo decided to force it out. He began running around the entire mountain, his speed increasing steadily.
A layer of emerald-green Fighting Spirit swirled behind Tendo as his speed created dozens of afterimages surrounding all the wooden stakes.
From a distance, the dozens of emerald figures coalesced into a divine beast with the head of a bird and body of a deer—the Wind God Feilian—which then conjured a hurricane around the mountaintop.
In an instant, howling winds swept across the peak, lifting many wooden stakes into the air before shredding them to pieces.
This was the Way Breathing - Wind Style: Feilian, derived from Wind Breathing.
As the hurricane dissipated, only ten of the hundred wooden stakes remained. Gasping for breath, Tendo stood among the surviving stakes with his Nichirin Blade in hand, utterly exhausted. His sword arm trembled with fatigue.
Seizing the moment, the long-armed ape launched an attack through its clones. It wanted to see whether this human was truly exhausted or merely pretending.
Just as it observed, Tendo barely dodged the assault, sustaining two new wounds as he laboriously severed the attacking limbs.
Hidden in the shadows, the long-armed ape smirked. Strong in power but weak in strategy—how laughable to think brute force could draw it out!
Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!
It began mocking Tendo. Now was the time for the killing blow.
Strike when the enemy is weak!
Thus, the ape revealed itself—or rather, its clone did. The real body remained hidden, needing to confirm whether Tendo was truly acting.
The clone charged at Tendo. After five minutes of grueling combat, he finally managed to slay it.
"Hahaha!"
"Finally got it!"
He wore a relieved smile—precisely the moment the ape had been waiting for, when its enemy's guard was down.
The next instant, four long-armed apes converged on Tendo for the kill.
After two rounds of testing, the ape finally dared to emerge among three clones.
Though the difference was subtle, there remained a faint distinction between the real body and its copies. The smile on Tendo's lips suddenly shifted.
From relief to the smug triumph of a scheme fulfilled.
From unleashing Feilian until now, Tendo had only been using half his strength.The long-armed ape was cunning—at least among the ranks of the Twelve Demon Moons, it was the most cautious and calculating, refusing to fight unless it was on terrain it had prepared in advance.
Facing a Hashira who had already exhausted most of his strength, it still took two probing attacks before personally engaging.
Unfortunately for it, it had encountered the Demon Slayer Corps' most deceptive swordsman—Tendo Kazama.
By the time it realized, it was already too late.
In an instant, thunder rumbled over the peak of Mount Xiemu, crimson-gold lightning illuminating the night sky.
Tendo went straight for the main body, and with a few slashes, blood sprayed as the long-armed ape was carved into pieces.
He kept his word.
With its true form critically wounded, the clones dissipated before they could even touch Tendo.
"You bastard!"
"Deceitful, shameless, despicable scum!"
"You tricked me again!"
"AAAAAHHH!"
The long-armed ape let out a heart-wrenching scream, filled with regret—if only it had probed one more time.
Its severed limbs began crawling toward its head, trying to regenerate, but Tendo wasn't about to give it the chance.
He kicked up a wooden stake, sharpened it with a few cuts, and drove it straight through the ape's skull.
Soon, eight sharpened stakes pinned down every piece of its body.
Between these two, one was more cunning than the other.
And the more cunning one won.
That was Tendo—flexible in battle, after all, if you can't beat them, join them.