Afternoon.
Taka sat cross-legged on the tatami mats of the Rengoku family dojo, his Tonan laid flat across his knees.
Across from him, Kyojuro sat with his back straight as a pine, eyes closed in meditation, breathing slowly.
"Haah—" Taka exhaled a long, scorching breath. A warm current flowed through his body.
Hearing this sound, Kyojuro nodded approvingly: "Excellent! Taka, your Flame Breathing is becoming more and more proficient. It's hard to believe only a few days have passed!"
"Feel the burning sensation in your chest, like fuel pumping blood through your entire body! The core lies in the will to explode!"
Following his guidance, Taka continued to sink deeper, feeling the flow of air within him.
These past few days, staying at the Rengoku Residence, his progress in learning Flame Breathing had been much faster than expected.
Although more often than not, he would subconsciously activate Wind Breathing, causing the two different breaths to clash in his bronchial tubes, leaving him briefly suffocated.
But with repeated occurrences, the memory of the pain gradually taught him how to correct this habit.
He especially noticed that wind was the formless, free, unrestrained sharp blade, while flame was the blazing, pursuing explosion and ultimate fierce sword.
Although vastly different, they also held some similarities.
"Although the methods of exertion and circulation points differ, their rhythmic feel is very similar," Taka said calmly.
"Exactly!" Kyojuro responded loudly. "Taka! Your perception is very keen!"
"Oyakata-sama once told me that the root of all current Breathing Styles comes from the original breathing of the Sengoku period. So it's normal for there to be common points!"
Speaking of this, Taka opened his eyes and asked curiously: "Then why don't we directly practice the original breathing?"
Kyojuro also opened his eyes, his gold-red pupils somewhat lost: "It can't be learned! That breathing method has been lost!"
'Lost?' Taka frowned slightly as Kyojuro continued to explain:
"I'm not clear on the specifics either. What I know also comes from fragments of Oyakata-sama's words:"
"Legend has it that in the very distant past, the Demon Slayer Corps encountered a devastating disaster, nearly completely annihilated!"
"In that fierce and tragic battle, beyond our imagination, all the swordsmen who mastered the original breathing fell! Along with that inheritance, it was completely severed!"
He touched the Flame Breathing Instruction Manual beside him: "Although what we can inherit now is merely the embers derived after that catastrophe.... I believe that even so! We can still slay demons!"
"As they say, those who exhaust the path must reach the same destination! Whether Flame Breathing or other breaths, they are all sharp weapons for killing demons!"
Taka remained silent, somewhat regretful that he couldn't directly learn about the most primal breathing method.
He stood up, nodded slightly to Kyojuro, and turned towards the restroom outside the dojo.
Speaking of which, this revealed the inconvenience of the Rengoku Residence's traditional samurai architectural style.
At the Butterfly Mansion, it was Taka's first time using a Western-style toilet. Although awkward, it was quite convenient.
Earlier, in Hayama, Taka simply used the outdoor latrine and never thought much of it.
But the Rengoku Residence actually used a shared restroom, requiring one to go outside and turn right a few steps. Otherwise, one could only use the chamber pot inside the house.
To avoid causing trouble for the Rengoku Family, Taka preferred to go outside....
The afternoon sun carried a chill as it passed through the veranda.
The air was filled with the fresh scent of grass and trees, along with a faint, lingering smell of aged wood.
Just as Taka turned a quiet corner of the veranda, his footsteps stopped.
The tall figure of Shinjuro was sitting not far ahead, blocking him on the veranda.
His flame-patterned haori, symbolizing his status as former Flame Hashira, was crumpled on his shoulders. Several empty sake flasks lay scattered at his feet. It seemed he had started drinking again shortly after waking up.
Taka had noticed through his Reiatsu Perception these past few days.
Shinjuro had been secretly watching their training.
He never approached Taka and Kyojuro. Sometimes he leaned against a wall in the distance, drinking and watching. Other times, he just pretended to nap on the veranda, listening to the rhythm of their breathing.
Taka didn't know what he was thinking.
He was about to silently bypass him when, without warning, the other suddenly waved a hand at him.
Slap!
A red-covered, battered booklet was roughly tossed at Taka's feet:
"Take it." Shinjuro's voice was hoarse, every syllable seeming soaked in alcohol. ".....Since you insist on wasting time learning useless things, then take a good look!"
"See for yourself... just how useless these so-called Breathing Styles really are!"
Taka bent down and picked up the tattered booklet… The Book of the Twenty-First Generation Flame Hashira.
Then, Shinjuro said no more. He just tilted his head back and gulped down a large mouthful of sake. His Adam's apple rolled violently. He stood up and disappeared into the shadows of the veranda with staggering, unsteady steps.
When Taka returned from the restroom and handed the Flame Hashira's book to Kyojuro, his expression clearly changed.
"This is... the book Father always reads?" He was somewhat confused, also somewhat shocked, as if he didn't understand why Taka had obtained this booklet that his father never let out of his sight.
Taka carefully placed the book between them and casually said: "He threw it to me. Told us to take a look, not to waste time on Flame Breathing."
".....Is that so." Kyojuro's expression was serious. He gently opened the plain and simple red cover.
A strong musty smell of old paper rushed out.
The first few pages had ancient handwriting, clear and neat, likely recording the life and achievements of the Rengoku Family's Flame Hashira, along with descriptions of the early forms of Flame Breathing.
However, when Kyojuro's fingers turned past a dozen pages, his movement abruptly stopped.
The pages were no longer continuous.
Large sections of pages had been torn out in an extremely rough manner. The contents inside were incomplete and damaged, completely unreadable.
"This is...." His gaze trembled slightly, carrying an unbelievable shock: "How? Did father destroy it?"
The torn edges were jagged. Large stretches of blank space were shocking.
Among these tears, some chapters were completely missing, while others had their crucial parts torn out mid-narration, the text abruptly ending.
This was not merely destruction of family history, but a desecration of the efforts of past Flame Hashira.
As Kyojuro's fingers trembled across the next page, Taka's gaze sharply caught something unusual: "Wait."
He reached out and, at the edge of one torn chapter, found a piece of coarse paper tucked inside.
Similarly, in other torn sections, he also found similar inserts.
These coarse papers were folded and stuffed inside. The paper material was completely different from the book itself.
Opening them, they were covered in twisted strokes and scrawled handwriting. The ink shades of many entries varied, as if the writer wasn't quite sure what to write next, only adding words after some time, leading to this situation.
Amidst their constantly contracting and confused gazes, Kyojuro and Taka looked at each other and finally understood that these coarse papers were parts of the lost chapters.
And the things recorded in them were mostly about the previous Flame Hashira's accounts regarding the original breathing.
As well as the conversations between the Flame Hashira of the Sengoku period and a special person—
[Tsugikuni Yoriichi]