Under the Night Sky
The mountains and fields lay blanketed in white beneath the night sky.
Two warriors led the way, followed by sedan bearers and the maids. These samurai came from the Bugyosho, their primary duty was Oboro's safety. They were now close to their destination but had not yet entered the town.
Generally speaking, traveling at night was extremely dangerous unless faced with an emergency. Beyond the threat of Demons, there were barbarians and thugs, including robbers. No one could guarantee they wouldn't be targeted Some daring individuals would squat in town searching for prey, following potential victims secretly.
However, due to limited leg strength and varying distances between towns in each region, Oboro's sedan chair hadn't reached the town at the foot of Mount Kumoqu during daylight hours. They were estimated to arrive in the middle of the night. They could only hurry forward on their journey.
"How long will it take?" a muffled voice asked from behind the sedan chair's curtain.
"My lord it will take more than an hour. After we pass this mountain, we'll see the lights. But a few kilometers ahead, I remember there's an abandoned shrine. Travelers often stop there. If you feel tired, we can rest there," a warrior turned and replied.
"Ahem" Oboro coughed violently.
"Be careful," he reminded.
"Yes," the warrior responded, but obviously, he didn't take Oboro's words to heart.
In the narrow sedan, Oboro's brows lowered as a smile touched the corner of his mouth. These two warriors, who seemed to have experienced many battles, were complete wastes Oboro could already smell blood in the air.
The warrior hadn't noticed. It might not necessarily be a demon; it could also be a fight between humans.
After walking for a while, they looked up and caught a glimpse of a dilapidated house beside the mountain road. A candlelight flickered in the window, indicating someone was inside.
But the next second, a cold wind seemed to sweep in and extinguish the flame
The warrior frowned, only then realizing something was wrong as he noticed bloodstains on the road ahead.
Just as he was about to speak, suddenly, without warning a force swept him up and instantly carried him into the dense, dark forest beside them. He disappeared without a trace.
To the others, it seemed like in the blink of an eye, the warrior's feet flew off the ground as he ran into the mountains and vanished.
"Who's there?"
"What the hell!"
The remaining warrior was horrified. He drew his sword and looked around in confusion, screaming in panic.
Then, something else seemed to rush toward them, striking the warrior and carrying his body into the forest.
Because the speed was so fast, the two warriors didn't even have time or strength to react.
The mountains fell quiet filled with an eerie, weird atmosphere.
The chill in the hearts of the sedan bearers and maids was even greater than the biting cold weather.
The four sedan bearers dropped their loads almost simultaneously and ran away.
They weren't guards. At this critical moment between life and death, they couldn't even protect their own lives, so how could they care about Oboro's?
Then, the two maids watched as the four fleeing sedan bearers suddenly flew upward one after another, as if controlled by an invisible force, and were dragged into the woods.
Accompanied by heart-wrenching screams, everything returned to silence.
The sedan chair fell, and Oboro, who had been sitting inside, touched the ground with his toes to dissipate the remaining force, avoiding injury.
Outside the sedan, the maid holding the imperial coin threw away her possessions and curled up at the door of the sedan, trembling Another maid instinctively looked at the sedan, her teeth chattering: "My Lord"
Oboro bent over and walked out of the sedan chair.
He appeared calm.
Just one glance and he could tell the Demon's ability
Although there were messy footprints in the snow, there was a straight trail on both sides of where the two warriors had stood, connecting to the mountains and forests.
The ghost had simply become invisible.
Unseen to normal eyes
It should be its Blood Art.
Then, in an instant, with explosive speed, it had abducted the living people into the woods and killed them.
"Chatter" Suddenly, a strange laugh that made it difficult to determine its origin echoed in the night sky.
"You seem to be an important person."
With a whooshing sound, a gust of wind and snow stirred the air, and a figure appeared ten meters in front of the sedan chair.
A demon.
He wore casual attire, with large patches of uncoagulated blood staining his body. His hair was tied up like a warrior's, his pupils different from ordinary people's, his skin black and purple, and his fingernails as sharp as a wild beast's.
The veins in his limbs bulged, his whole body exuding ferocity and brutality.
Apparently, before turning into a demon, he had been a samurai.
"Ahem" Oboro looked at the demon before him with great interest, a smile on his face.
He put his fist to his mouth and coughed continuously.
"A sickly person" the demon narrowed his eyes.
The man before him was very young, with black curly hair sticking to his forehead. He wore a furry black haori and held a samurai sword in one hand to support his thin body.
The blade seemed more like a crutch, and the man's face was even paler than the snow on the ground.
It seemed like he might collapse at any moment without any action from the demon
Extremely weak.
"My lord" A maid showed fear on her face, mustered her courage, and opened her arms to block Oboro.
She signaled for him to run first.
"She's quite pretty I'm going to enjoy her later."
The demon wasn't in a hurry. He looked at the others like fish on a chopping board, stroking his chin with a playful smile.
"Indeed," Oboro observed the demon for a moment and smiled slightly.
The demon's blood and flesh were extraordinarily strong, which meant that Muzan's blood had extremely powerful catalytic and assimilative properties.
If this substance were placed in the world of Hunter x Hunter, it would be a rare treasure Not to mention using it to increase a Nen user's aura, even for an ordinary martial artist, there would be no need for years of practice and refinement.
Although it was a lower-level world, some things still held value.
Not completely undesirable.
"Hmm?"
The demon couldn't help but look puzzled.
The other person was too calm He didn't display the fear ordinary people would show when facing him, his eyes as calm as still water.
"With that attire, you're a high-ranking official of the town magistrate a retainer of the shogunate?"
When the demon mentioned the word "shogunate," veins bulged on his forehead and his face twisted with ferocity.
"How can a loser like you be considered a high-ranking official? The shogunate should truly fall" the demon sneered.
Based on his memory, Oboro knew the current situation: the shogunate's regime was unstable, with rebel parties appearing in various regions, mostly composed of samurai.
After these people were caught, they were almost all beheaded The same fate had befallen the person before him.
Otherwise, a pure ronin wouldn't be familiar with the political structure, and it would be impossible for him to determine Oboro's identity just by killing two minor officials of the Bugyosho and examining his attire.
"It's still genes still evolution" Oboro's response was to simply ignore the demon and seem to be talking about something else.
He tightened his clothes and asked softly, "Who gave you blood? With your physical strength, it couldn't have been given by Muzan himself, and it couldn't have been an Upper Rank Was it a Lower Rank? Where did you come from?"
"What's the descent?"
As soon as Oboro spoke, the demon's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"You you you"
"How dare you call that name"
The demon's eyes showed more fear than shock.
It seemed that the name "Muzan" held some kind of magical power over him synonymous with supremacy and terror.
"You sick person who can't even dress properly go to hell!" Just as Oboro was about to speak again, the demon's heart began to race. He suddenly became invisible and disappeared, shouting loudly.
He swung his sharp claws and pounced toward Oboro.
Although the demon became transparent, it was too easy for Oboro to track his position.
The wind's speed, the trajectory of snowflakes in the air, the traces on the ground everything provided "information" to Oboro.
In the Hunter world, "intelligence" was paramount.
This fighting technique was too low-level
Oboro's previously peaceful eyes suddenly sharpened.
He bent slightly, and the wide haori that almost covered his entire body suspended in mid-air because of his sudden movement
Oboro gently inhaled a wisp of cold air into his lungs, "Breath of the Soul, Form One, Funeral in the Underworld."
After he spoke, the countless snowflakes falling from the sky stopped.
Diamond-shaped ice crystals broke and exploded, forming white fine powder floating in the air, like a river flowing with the wind, washing away the "picture" in space.
A slender silver blade light, like a straight line, swept across the demon's neck.
And Oboro also broke away from the haori and appeared behind the demon.
In the transparent void, blood splashed out
In the demon's eyes, everything in his vision became wonderful. It was no longer a cold and snowy night, but his soul was surrounded by warmth. He transformed into his younger self, standing on a bridge with yellow water flowing beneath and pleasant scenery all around.
He looked down at the yellow water under the bridge and saw a young face reflected in the surface. This suddenly reminded him of why he had wanted to become a samurai
"Yeah since when did I forget my original intention relying on my status as a samurai to commit crimes and wantonly swinging my sword at civilians, this shouldn't be the case"
"Tendo, what are you thinking about? Hurry up or you'll be late. Be careful of being punished by the gym owner."
His childhood friend suddenly appeared beside him, giving him a bright, sunny smile.
He took his hand and they ran away together.
In reality, the demon's body appeared directly from the void, and the corpse separated.
The severed head rolled several times on the snow.
Then, the body slowly turned to ashes
Tears flowed from the demon's eyes. He looked at Oboro's figure and said in an inaudible voice, "Thank you."
"Cough, cough, cough"
Oboro coughed violently, and the palm of his hand that covered his mouth was stained with bright red blood.
Damn it
Although he had just wanted to test his abilities and used the minimum amount of strength, the damage to his body was still considerable.
"Hehe But it's exactly what I thought I can achieve the same effect without the Sun Blade. Coming from a higher world, my use of Nen is beyond common sense The more powerful the world, the purer the level and nature of power that can be touched. In a lower world in a limited power environment, it's not too difficult to achieve the effect of breaking the 'setting'."
Oboro smiled.
Then came another coughing fit.
He was too familiar with the soul.
As for the so-called Breath of the Soul, he had just named it randomly to suit the occasion.
To put it simply, it was a transformation of his Nen.