Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

When the crow brought the news, Pingchuan had just cut off the evil ghost's head. He only had time to confirm that the evil ghost had begun to burn into ashes, and immediately set off for the place indicated by the crow.

Things haven't been peaceful recently, or rather, the nights have never been peaceful. As long as evil spirits exist, the nights will never be peaceful, and the members of the Demon Slayer Corps will never stop running, hoping to save more innocent lives before the evil spirits.

But this is unfair. The evil ghosts hide in the darkness and appear quietly after the sun disappears. Their physical fitness is stronger, and their hands, feet and arms will grow again if they are broken. As long as the neck is not cut off, even if it is cut in half, the body can be quickly connected, even if it is cut into eight pieces and fixed with a knife or an axe.

Ghosts cannot die.

Ordinary demons are difficult to deal with, and those lower-rank demons with words engraved in their eyes and those upper-rank demons who have almost become horror stories are even more difficult to imagine.

"I've heard you, so stop yelling. I wish I could grow another pair of legs to run."

Under the extremely heavy tone, the calm tone, helplessness, was transformed into disgust. The crow in charge of leading the way made a cawing sound and really didn't say anything else, just led the way in silence.

Pingchuan has seen too many scenes of hell on earth.

It is always like this wherever ghosts go. There is an abnormal silence. Before arriving at the scene, you can already feel the murderous intent brought by the wind, blowing towards you, rushing into your nostrils, and the fishy smell that penetrates deep into your lungs with your breathing, as if those lungs are already rusted.

As we passed through the woods and officially stepped onto the battlefield, all we saw was blood all over the ground, broken hands and feet, falling heads, and bloodstains all over the ground, from men, women, and the elderly.

No, it's the child's.

Not a single child's body was found, and although there were many bodies, they did not match the number of houses in the village. There were too few, too few. There should be more people.

Pingchuan passed by the village entrance, avoiding the corpses and pieces of flesh scattered on the ground with every step. The deeper he went, the bloodier the scene became.

He had seen many hells on earth, so many that when faced with evil spirits, he was left with only numb hatred. It would be best if all the evil spirits could be killed. He hoped to kill all the evil spirits even if it cost him his life.

The missing people appeared in the center of the village. They sat together with their heads down, silent and motionless, forming circles like an altar. Sitting at the top was a boy with his head also down, holding an exquisite pot in his hand.

That pot was too different. Both its workmanship and quality did not match the level of development of this village. It was also too clean. There was blood and corpses everywhere, and the children were more or less covered in dust. Only that pot was spotless.

The palm of his hand holding the scabbard loosened and clenched again, and he took a deep breath.

But before he could do anything, the pot moved first.

The pot swayed as if it were alive, and it also seemed like... it contained something alive.

"Water Breathing..."

He took a deep breath, and the next second, the sound of water appeared before him, and turbid black liquid gushed out of the pot. When the turbid water dispersed, the child he had not been able to find appeared in front of him.

They poured out of the pot one after another, each child's hands held together, as if playing some game, bones randomly emerging from the chest and limbs piercing the flesh and exposed.

But it was said to be pulling, but in fact each child's hands had been tied together like ropes, with exposed bones and completely twisted and deformed flesh. Just looking at them, one could feel the desperate pain, and what was even more terrifying was.

Yes, they are all still alive.

They are all still alive.

With the bones in his body piercing through him and his hands completely broken, he looked at him with lifeless eyes and breathed with difficulty, each breath making a sound like sand in the wind.

They experience such pain every minute and every second, and live with great difficulty.

"Although I don't want to 'waste food' like this, Rinko's idea is really good. What do you think, Mr. Swordsman, who just happened to arrive? The children gathered in a circle and played a death game. Isn't it interesting? It's full of absurd artistic sense, right? A group of children playing, clutching each other's hands tightly, and then one after another in extreme pain! Walking into hell with smiles on their faces! It's really great!!!"

The sound came from behind, and Pingchuan didn't even have time to react immediately. The huge anger swept over his reason, and after turning around, the feeling of fear came over him in an instant.

Upper...Five...?

Is this a, upper string?

They had tried their best before, and with the help of three pillars, he was able to successfully kill a Lower Moon. But now, he had to face an Upper Moon who was who knows how much stronger?

"I just said, 'The children look happy. If they're just happy like this, holding hands, they'll smile and walk into hell even if it's right in front of them.' But I never suggested making something like this out of a group of children."

The voice was so childish, too childish, like a little kid's.

Wait. Little kids?

Wasn't that kid holding the pot on the platform just a little kid? Why were all the other kids treated like that, but that kid was fine?

"Just now. You were going to use Water Breathing, right... I remember that, because we met a Pillar who used Water Breathing before... His sword, like yours, had words engraved on it..."

For a moment, the whole world seemed to have paused. Pingchuan could even hear his own heartbeat and the sound of sweat dripping onto the ground. But he couldn't hear exactly when or how the child approached him. When the sound appeared, he noticed a boy standing right in front of him.

"Demon Slayer. Right? Rinkou knows him."

The boy's voice was filled with laughter, and his little hand gently touched the words engraved on the side of his knife.

"It's you, it's you. You killed...senpai."

Pingchuan tried hard to keep his voice steady. He was good at this. Even if he was furious, he could suppress his emotions, the fear, the tension, the anger, everything, and just let the flood pour out from under the blade, letting the evil spirits bear it all and pay with their heads.

"Oh? It seems you know each other—that's great! I'll take you to your reunion!!"

"I will chop off your heads...in your place, Senior."

Even if it's a child, so what? As long as he has become a demon, there is no room for redemption. And who knows if this child will be the blood demon art of that vase demon? He is the Upper Five, and he can do anything. It is reasonable to create a little demon to deceive him and try to distract him.

Evil spirits are always deceiving and exploiting humans, treating them like pigs, dogs, and lambs.

Such a guy should never have been born in the first place.

"Water Breathing, First Form, Water Surface Slash."

The boy in front of him disappeared in an instant, as if to confirm his guess that it was just the blood ghost magic of the pot ghost, used to deceive him. Perhaps the senior was attracted by this little ghost.

Evil ghost. An evil ghost that deserves death.

The senior was such a good person, and taught him so carefully, but in the end he died tragically at the hands of such a wicked, vicious, and beastly guy who only knew how to exploit human empathy!

"Are you really so naive as to think that he let his guard down because he was deceived?"

The voice appeared in his ears, too close, so close that a slender arm was wrapped around his neck, and he realized that the excessively light weight was that of the boy.

Where did it come from? How did it do that? He should have been very alert.

"Do you still think I'm just fake?"

The boy raised the last syllable of his voice, seeming extremely confused.

"Water Breathing, Second Form, Waterwheel."

The sudden acceleration made the boy behind him slip out of his hand. Just as he expected, the extremely light weight represented a weak body. Since he looked and weighed just like a child, and relied on deception to gain victory, his strength naturally would not be that strong.

This time the attack missed, but it didn't matter. He adjusted his posture in the air and launched a second attack the moment he landed. The boy who passively bore the force was in a gap with nowhere to hide during the fall.

"Ah—ghost hunter, you don't think that as long as you are fast enough, you can cut off little Rinko's neck."

Pingchuan heard the voice of the pot ghost, but he didn't take it to heart. Since the victory was achieved by deception, after dealing with this illusion, the disgusting-looking real body should not be too difficult to deal with.

"Water Breathing, Seventh Form, Shizuku Ripple Strike."

The long sword was held in front of him, and the boy's body was still in a falling position. He was trying to adjust, but it was definitely too late, and he would be hit!

"If you stab me, Coke will laugh at me for a hundred years."

The boy's voice rang out again. He had clearly witnessed the entire process of the boy being thrown and falling. How could it be possible? How could a ghost, so fragile that it could be seen with the naked eye, dodge this?

The boy who adjusted his posture later than him dodged his thrust in the air faster, landed safely and silently, and relied on squatting when landing to relieve the instantaneous burst of force.

"Akoza would also scold me for only learning empty words."

The boy stood up while talking to himself, and raised his head. Pingchuan saw his eyes clearly, with words clearly engraved in his gray-blue pupils.

Winding. Zero

----

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"What is this word?"

There were only the words "Evil Demon Slayer" written on the blade, but as the blade was pulled out, something in the sleeve fell out with it. Lin Guang picked it up and found it was a sewn cloth bag. He recognized the words "Peace" and "Amulet" sewn on the front, but he did not recognize the slightly more complicated words on the back.

"Nagi. Maybe that's his name."

Looking at the hand that was raised high but could hardly reach his eye level, Yuhu had to bend down to glance at the words on it before turning to deal with the children who had already died.

"Nagi. That's a nice name."

Lin Guang tilted his head, memorized the word in his heart, and looked at the hand that stretched out with difficulty and finally grasped his ankle. It was called grasping, but it was just a very reluctant touch. However, it must have taken all its strength to stretch out the hand.

after all....

Lin Guang looked at the man whose body, hands and feet were pierced by countless steel needles, and just took two steps to the man's side.

The man's eyes were already difficult to focus, but it was still clear that they were roughly fixed on the pink bag in his hand.

"Is this what you want?"

Lin Guang shook the pink bag in his hand, and the man's eyes followed his shaking. He then naturally untied the rope on it and opened the cloth bag, but there was nothing inside, just a piece of paper.

"Mr. Nagi, come back safely."

Lin Guang read the words on it. He tried to empty the bag, but there was nothing else.

"You're going to...ah...die."

Lin Guang didn't realize what the other person wanted, but when he was about to ask, the man had already died with his eyes blurred.

"What a shame I couldn't make it back safely, Nagi-san."

The boy sighed and threw the paper and bag at the man.

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【A small note

According to Japanese customs, amulets cannot be opened, and the fact that Rinkou opened it in front of her was ostensibly because she had no interest in things like gods and Buddhas, so she skipped over that part when she read the book. In fact, it also means that the amulet had lost its effect at that time.

It's such a shame that I didn't make it back safely. Mr. Nagi Hirakawa

(Of course, this is also because when Rinyang was a child, he was never taken to a temple for worship, nor did he ever receive an amulet.)