Chapter 055
Qingxi, who had been here several times, was more or less familiar with this place. Even if there was no one waiting here to take her to Uberyashiki Yoya, she could easily find her way to the Hiroma where he met with the Hashira.
"My lord." Looking at Jiro standing with the young man under the eaves, Qingxi was no longer surprised that he always arrived at the headquarters before him.
Ubuyashiki Yoya's gaze lingered on the white snake on Qingxi's neck for a moment, and a look of understanding flashed in his eyes.
His hand gently stroked Jiro's back and he smiled, "This kid was in a very bad mood when he came here just now. I thought something had happened, but it turns out he was just jealous."
Even a crow would be shy if its little secret was revealed... although its black feathers prevented others from seeing the pink skin beneath its feathers.
Jiro took a few steps to the side, away from Ubuyashiki Yoya's hand touching his back, then turned around at the instruction of the big and small one, facing them with his butt.
"It's Kabutomaru, a friend of mine who's also a ghost hunter. But he's injured and is currently recovering in the clinic. It's inconvenient for Kabutomaru to travel alone, so he asked me to take him out for some fresh air."
Ubuyashiki Yoya nodded in understanding.
"My lord, your face..." Qingxi hesitated to speak, his brows furrowed so tightly that he could pinch a fly to death.
The first thing she wanted to ask when she got here was what this little bumpy, dark purple thing that had suddenly appeared on his handsome, bookish face was. It looked like the flesh had decayed and could no longer be considered a "scar". She had never seen anything like that on his face, whether it was the first time they met or the subsequent times she visited the headquarters.
"Sorry, did I scare you?" Ubuyashiki Kakuya raised his hand to his forehead and spoke with an apologetic tone.
Qingxi shook his head, "You know, I'm not that timid."
"What's that?" she asked.
"It's a curse." Ubuyashiki Yoya waved at Qingxi.
Qingxi walked over and the two of them sat down on the corridor under the eaves.
"Isn't it a disease?" Qingxi asked in confusion, scratching his hair.
Ubuyashiki Yoya shook his head and asked, "Why do you think so?"
"It's probably because, whether it was the era I originally lived in or the era I was later taken to by the God of Food, people were more inclined towards atheism than believing in the existence of gods in this world.
Of course, it’s possible that they really exist, but I just haven’t seen them.”
Ubuyashiki Yoya chuckled, "Haven't you seen the god who asked you to collect delicacies?"
Qingxi curled her lips and said, "I can only say 'I've heard of it'. I've never seen its true form."
"Then, what about the sword god Tsukumogami who recognizes you as his master?" Ubuyashiki Yoya said again.
"Yakuen and Tsurumaru." Qingxi stretched out his voice, "Maybe it's because I've known about them for a long time, so I don't really feel that they are swordsmen at all.
As for why I've known about them for so long, it has to do with the methods used by their Time Government to recruit people with spiritual powers to serve as Shinsengumi. Actually, I've only known about this for a while now, and since they're currently out of touch with the Time Government, I don't think they have anything to do with the Demon Slayer Corps, so I won't go into detail."
She changed the subject, looked up at the forehead of the young man beside her, and changed the subject again, "So, my lord, why were you cursed?"
"This story starts a thousand years ago. The Ubuyashiki family has a blood relationship with Muzan Kibutsuji." Ubuyashiki Kakuya said in a flat voice, his tone still as gentle.
"To be honest, Muzan Kibutsuji is the ancestor of our birthing family. According to family history, his heart stopped beating several times in his mother's womb, and he was born dead, without breathing or heartbeat. He only cried for the first time when he was being buried. Although the adults in the family took good care of him, he was still weak and sickly. The doctor once asserted that he would not live past the age of 20.
But he survived later, and a doctor cured him and gave him a normal body. However, perhaps the long-term treatment and the lack of physical recovery caused his mind to become distorted. While his body was being cured, he killed everyone in the house, including the doctor, and ate people.
However, he was impatient to kill. When he found that his body would burn when he walked under the sun and wanted to find the doctor who treated him to ask what was going on, the only person who could cure him had already been killed by him.
And it was precisely because of the abundant sunshine that day that the remaining members of the clan were not destroyed.
But at the same time, as Muzan Kibutsuji continued to kill, eat people, and create demons, all the children born in our Ubuyashiki family were cursed.
All male children born were plagued by illness and died young, in their twenties. Girls were better off, but they were all born with some congenital defects.
Even this result is only a small "privilege" that can be obtained when the head of each generation of the Umayashiki family marries a girl from a priest's family.
That is why the heads of the Ubuyashiki families all got married early before Muzan Kibutsuji was dealt with.
But precisely because this incident was caused by the Ubuyashiki family, it is up to us to put an end to this ridiculous farce that has lasted for a thousand years," said Ubuyashiki Yoya.
"That's just one of the reasons." Qingxi looked up at the boy who kept his back straight even though he was sitting in the corridor like her, and then revealed another side of his firm tone, "If the Ubuyashiki family gets rid of Muzan Kibutsuji, the curse on him should be lifted."
Perhaps it was because Kiyoki had always considered herself just a worker working for Ubuyashiki, rather than recognizing him as her master like others, someone who was willing to sacrifice her body and life for the Demon Slayer Corps. Therefore, she had always only shown superficial respect to Ubuyashiki Kōya, and even now she could listen to what he said from the perspective of a bystander.
When the girl grabbed hold of him and questioned him, Ubuyashiki Kōya just smiled softly and said, "Perhaps the managers in the past had that mentality. However, as more and more people and families have suffered from the persecution of Muzan Kibutsuji, the desire to make the curse disappear has become less important. What matters is how to find Muzan Kibutsuji and eliminate him, the ancestor of demons, so that all the children who are burdened with revenge for their loved ones and families can be freed from this hatred that has lasted for thousands of years."
"Is it possible?" Qingxi asked. "Can we eliminate him in your generation, my lord?"
"The Ubuyashiki family possesses the ability to predict the future. Thanks to this ability, our ancestors were able to form the Demon Slayer Corps in the first place." Instead of answering her question directly, Ubuyashiki Yoya said, "It's also thanks to this ability that they were able to accumulate vast wealth over the past millennia to operate this massive organization."
Qingxi listened quietly, waiting for his follow-up.
"I don't know if I can eliminate Muzan Kibutsuji in my generation, but this is the fate of our Ubuyashiki group. I believe that even if I can't eliminate Muzan Kibutsuji in my generation, Teriyachi can."
Qingxi stared at the small spot on his forehead. It was as if someone had thrown a drop of saliva, a piece of mud, or a rat shit curse into a perfect and beautiful cake. It was really... an eyesore!
She thought silently in her heart.
Not wanting to hear any more about the "deeply tragic love story" between Ubuyashiki and Muzan Kibutsuji, which was triggered by a curse, she abruptly changed the subject, "My lord, is there something you summoned me for today?"
"I wanted to discuss raising another batch of crows," Ubuyashiki Kōya said. "Last year on New Year's Eve, when you sent me a message telling me you'd bred four crows meant for Jiro, I sent crows to find you. At that time, I wanted to ask you, Aki, to raise a few more. We don't need eighty, just forty will be enough. They'll then serve as the Demon Slayer Corps' crucial message-carrying crows in the sky."
However, I didn't expect that you and Kyojuro would encounter a ghost that day. Although you were rescued later, you both had varying degrees of injuries, so the matter was put on hold."
Qingxi didn't expect that her simple complaints about Ueno Arata would be remembered by the other party. When did she say those words to Dr. Ueno?
Oh, she remembered, it was just over two months ago.
If this happened three months ago, she would definitely not want to take over after she had just handed over the four crows she raised. But after all, she had both arms in plaster for three months and was bored doing nothing for a month. Now she is excited about any job and wants to do it.
"I understand." Qingxi agreed readily.
She paused and added, "Then send another sixty crows over. Don't take the original twenty-six with you. I want to feed them for another month.
Maybe there will be a second growth of the crow."
"I understand." If it was just a small request, Ubuyashiki Kazuya would agree directly, not to mention that what Qingxi said made sense.
"There's one more thing," Ubuyashiki Yoya said. "I don't know if it's because Jiro himself is an exception, or if you didn't feed them while they were recovering, but the first four jays you raised were three or four times larger than the average jay, but they still couldn't match Jiro's size."
She couldn't answer this question.
Qingxi tilted his head and thought for a moment, then said directly, "We have to raise a whole group of them, and it's okay to have four more, so let's raise them and see how they go.
However, I think it would be nice if they didn't suddenly drop back to the speed of a normal jay in the middle of the flight."
He pointed at the crow on his arm, which was sulking because they pretended to ignore it, and then inched towards them again. "If everyone was as big as Jiro, not only would they attract the attention of passers-by when flying in the sky during the day, they would also become sitting ducks for ghosts at night.
The four we've bred so far are about right. There are still birds of their size, and they don't attract much attention, day or night. Even if they grow longer, they probably won't be as big as Jiro."
Ubuyashiki Yoya looked in the direction of the girl's finger and met Jiro's dark eyes. He said, "You're right. Then stop feeding those four crows for now."
After waiting for a while and seeing that the other party seemed to want to continue talking, Qingxi was about to retreat to see the sisters Hinai and Rika and Teriya, but before she could open her mouth, a crow flew over from the sky.
Ubuyashiki Yoya raised his hand, and the crow landed on his arm.
"Water Pillar Hasegawa Naoto encountered an upper-rank demon and died in battle, and we lost track of the demon."
The space, which was not quiet at first, became silent in an instant.
Qingxi's face turned a little ugly. No matter who saw him, he had just seen him more than four months ago, and they had worked together to move tables to prepare nutritious meals for Madam Tianyin during her delivery. He also shouted that he doubted his own people because he saw strange ingredients that were beyond his personal knowledge. It would feel very unreal for a pillar-level person to be notified of his death like this.
Compared to Qingxi who was still in a state of self-doubt, "Did my ears get broken just now, so I heard it wrong?", Ubuyashiki Yoya quickly regained his sanity after initially falling into sadness.
"Thank you for your hard work. Go take a rest for a while."
Ubuyashiki Yoya raised his hand high again, and the crow that was assigned to report the news flapped its wings and flew away.
Rubbing Qingxi's head, "I'm going to see Naoto off for the last time. Ah Xi, do you want to come with us?"
Qingxi opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but his mind was blank, so he finally closed his mouth and nodded silently.
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