Chapter 36 Opposition

How are you?

It's you again?

Yan Sheng did not expect to encounter Tian Fang Yu Hai again. He stood in front of Zhu Shi, with Xu Ku Shen standing in front of him, and six eyes looking at the person opposite him.

Tamayo never expected that it would be Iwakatsu who saved her at the last moment; she had thought she was going to die.

Tamayo had originally planned to return to her hideout before dawn. Her main purpose today was to search for rare experimental materials.

She went to Yizhen Pavilion to see if there were any suitable materials. She also made an agreement with the owner that she could buy whatever she needed first.

After parting ways with Yan Sheng, she stayed in the private room for quite a while before leaving. She hadn't seen any suitable experiments that day. After leaving the Yibao Pavilion, she quickly headed towards a less crowded and secluded alley.

Because she came here often, Tamayo had a small house here. She didn't want to get sunburned to death without paying attention, so she bought a small yard just in case.

As Tamayo made her way through the maze of turns to the courtyard, she unexpectedly encountered members of the Demon Slayer Corps at a corner.

The situation was very bad for Tamayo at that time. For her, who had been living on a small amount of blood for a long time, her body would become weak and the range of the Blood Demon Art would be extremely limited.

Unfortunately, the Demon Slayer Corps members she encountered were two who knew Breathing Techniques. She immediately regretted not staying in the private room longer.

Lightning was incredibly fast; if it weren't for the large crowds in the town and the added boost from the Blood Demon Art, Tamayo wouldn't have been able to reach the woods outside the town at all.

Her Blood Demon Art, Bewitching Blood: Visual Illusion Fragrance, has the effect of blurring vision and rendering the body unable to move. Therefore, it played a significant role in her escape.

Tamayo was filled with resentment at that moment. She slumped against the tree, her heart pounding. She was so close, so very close to having her head chopped off. Thankfully, she was still alive. She wasn't afraid of death, but she still had a goal: she needed to see Muzan Kibutsuji die before she could find peace.

Compared to Tamayo's harrowing experience, Iwakatsu stood there, feeling incredibly awkward. The situation was urgent, and he had rushed forward without thinking, but it felt a bit unreasonable for him to save her!

Iwakatsu's mind raced, trying to come up with an excuse. Speaking of which, there was also Tenka Umi and later, the Flower Pillar—Asai Sakura, whose sudden appearances caught everyone off guard. Iwakatsu initially assumed they were just ordinary members, as they hadn't used their breathing techniques much, so he made a simple judgment based on the environment and their pursuit of Tamayo.

What to do, what to do?

Iwakatsu was extremely frustrated. He gritted his teeth, racking his brains but couldn't come up with anything. Oh well, as long as the mission was completed and Tamayo was alright, that was enough. Iwakatsu resigned himself to his fate; it wouldn't affect the plot, so why should he care what they thought?

"Cough cough cough—".

As the two sides remained locked in a stalemate, Iwakatsu heard Tamayo cough violently behind him. Iwakatsu turned his head slightly and saw her prop herself up, her chest heaving violently with the movement, as if she might pass away at any moment.

Yan Sheng raised his hand, and a large green leaf floated down into it. He bent the leaf slightly, and amidst the puzzled gazes of the others, he used the Void Crying God to cut his wrist, catching the flowing blood with the leaf.

Iwakatsu only needed to take it once, and his wound healed instantly. He then handed the leaf containing the blood to Tamayo.

"Drink it, then leave."

After speaking, Iwakatsu looked at Tenka Umi and Asai Sakura, who had remained motionless. He held the Hollow Crying God, and the oppressive aura emanating from him instilled immense fear in the two. Iwakatsu then seemed to be seeking their opinions, slightly tilting his head and parting his thin lips slightly.

"You guys... are you going to fight?" Don't fight, bro, I'm really going to chop someone up in a minute.

Yan Sheng's words drew the other man's attention from the leaf to him. Tian Fang Yu Hai looked at Yan Sheng, unsure whether he should make a move.

In the last battle between Tenfang Yuhai and Yan Sheng, they were utterly defeated in a three-on-one situation. Although they didn't use any special skills and only suffered superficial injuries, the overwhelming situation made him realize that if the two of them went up together now, they would probably just be throwing their lives away. Moreover, he had a special intuition that when the three of them fought Yan Sheng, not only did they not use their killing moves, but Yan Sheng also held back.

Why?

Tenka Ukai stared intently at Iwakatsu, desperate for an answer. Seeing this, Asai Sakura stepped forward and tugged at his sleeve. This was a subtle gesture from Asai Sakura, signaling to Tenka Ukai to avoid conflict.

Kokushibo knew this woman who possessed the only original breathing technique in the Demon Slayer Corps; she was a very energetic and beautiful girl. She had long pink hair, tied in a bun for easy movement, and wore modified samurai pants and a pink-and-white gradient haori for slaying demons. She seemed to be an E-person; in Kokushibo's memory, she had a good relationship with everyone, and she especially trusted Yoriichi.

"It must be because I was saved," Kokushibo thought for a moment. Kokushibo himself joined the Demon Slayer Corps relatively late, and most of his interactions with others were related to work and training, so he didn't know much about them.

He had only heard Kawakami Akio mention that Asai Sakura was brought back by Yoriichi Tsugikuni during a mission shortly after he joined the Demon Slayer Corps. Few knew the details, only that she was the only survivor out of dozens of people in that village.

Iwakatsu didn't want to drag this out any longer. Putting aside whether Tamayo could hold on, the main concern was that the bastard might come over!

If he were to stumble upon such an awkward situation, Kokushibo would truly be unable to defend himself. Not every place would randomly spawn a Yoriichi Tsugikuni to help him regain Muzan Kibutsuji's trust.

Yan Sheng opened the transparent blue task panel, where the temporary tasks were still incomplete.

It seems we have to take Tamayo away to succeed, otherwise the chances of Tamayo dying are too high.

Speaking of which, has Yushiro not appeared yet? Ever since the timeline went wrong, Iwakatsu has had no way of predicting when important characters in the plot will appear.

"Yu Hai..."

Asai Sakura held her Nichirin Blade and looked at Tenka Ue. She was a rational person and had a great liking for the Tsugikuni brothers. Subconsciously, she didn't want to fight Iwakatsu, especially in a situation where she was completely outmatched.

Both she and Kawakami Akio couldn't bring themselves to harm Iwakatsu because he was a former comrade, even after becoming a demon. However, unlike Kawakami Akio, she didn't believe it was Yoriichi Tsugikuni's fault. (Here, unlike the original story, Iwakatsu's actions don't seem like betrayal leading to his demonization, so there will always be some conflicting feelings.)

Kibutsuji Muzan, being a demon king, is inherently unpredictable, so not killing him wasn't Yoriichi's fault at all. She felt that Kawakami Akio was being too simplistic, attributing all the blame to one person.

"hateful."

Tenka Ukai understood Asai Sakura's thoughts; he simply didn't want to give up like this, as if he was afraid.

Seeing the two men's reactions, Iwakatsu breathed a sigh of relief; the matter could now be resolved smoothly. As the two men prepared to put down their Nichirin Blades, Iwakatsu also sheathed his own Kyokushin.

Suddenly, Iwakatsu's eyes sharpened, and he unleashed the full power of his Upper Moon One aura. The intense pressure instantly put Tenka Umi and Asai Sakura into a defensive stance.

Iwakatsu sensed the approaching aura of a demon, and in this situation, he decided he couldn't let the demon see him. After all, Iwakatsu himself could shield himself from Muzan Kibutsuji's gaze, but the other demons were his spies.

Iwakatsu shielded Tamayo behind him, concealing his presence with his own aura, and kept his six eyes fixed on the woods.