In an area thousands of miles away from Musashi Province in eastern Japan, where the Demon Slayer Village is located.
Inside a certain mansion hidden deep within a bustling street.
As the sun rises, the high walls of the estate block out all sunlight, and the densely packed locust trees growing inside shroud the entire building in a cold chill.
And at the deepest part of these mansion walls.
The paper doors were tightly shut, and there were no lights in the room; only mottled light pierced through the thick shade, casting faint spots of light on the tatami mats.
A man sat in the shadows where the sunlight could not reach.
He wore an elegant kimono, his face was handsome, and his skin was excessively pale, as if he had never seen the sun.
His eyes were red.
They were clearly non-human vertical pupils.
He was also drinking tea.
But in the next second, his hand suddenly paused, and ripples appeared on the surface of the water in his teacup.
'Dead?'
He put down the teacup, his mouth curving slightly downward as he sensed the demise of a certain vile demon he had created as the 'Progenitor of Demons'.
As a demon he personally created, that fellow's strength was not considered weak; at the very least, he could rank among the top under his current command and was one of the main forces in searching for what he pursued.
His strength was infinitely close to the high-level demons of this era—without knowing his weakness, his immortality could even make those high-level demons feel a headache and unwilling to provoke him.
He was a vile demon equivalent to the Twelve Kizuki of later generations.
However, now.
He is dead.
An existence that should have been immortal is dead.
'Interesting.'
Kibutsuji Muzan—an existence little known in the human world, but an absolute taboo in the world of abnormal demons that are not regular yokai—showed a look of interest.
'In this era, there are still quite a few strong people.'
He actually wasn't surprised at all.
In the chaotic Sengoku period, heroes were divided.
It wasn't just humans fighting; demons, ghosts, mages, Onmyoji... various forces were intertwined, making it more chaotic than most previous eras.
Not to mention, there were Great Yokais entrenched in various regions.
Although the grand spectacle of demons from hundreds of years ago—when major demon kingdoms were established on the surface and even the relatively strong Kyoto Shogunate was helpless—no longer existed, and the scenes of the Heian Period where even gods would frequently show miracles were gone.
But, it was truly not weak at all.
Muzan was quite wary of those things.
It wasn't simply because he couldn't win.
Although he indeed could not match the top-tier combat power of this era—those great mages, great Onmyoji, and even Great Yokais.
Their strength was indeed formidable, strong to the point where he could never confront them head-on.
But Muzan would not die.
As long as he avoided sunlight, he was immortal.
Those Great Yokais could wound him, but they couldn't kill him.
However, similarly, he could do nothing against those old monsters who had already completed their qualitative transformation.
More importantly, although Kibutsuji Muzan was immortal, he had a 'weakness'.
Sunlight.
Even if he rarely exposed himself in public, he was confident that no one, no existence, could force him into the sunlight—as long as he was determined to flee, even those Great Yokais could not forcibly keep him without any intelligence.
But he was still very wary, even fearful.
What he constantly thought about was exactly this point.
'Only by solving the problem of sunlight...'
Muzan's eyes narrowed.
This was the goal he had pursued for hundreds of years; he wanted to overcome his fear of sunlight and achieve true immortality.
At that time, Great Yokais, mages, priestesses—
None of them would be worth mentioning.
'Wait a little longer.'
He picked up the teacup and continued to drink tea.
As for the demon that was killed?
It didn't matter.
If it's dead, it's dead.
He could create more anyway.
However—
The existence capable of killing that fellow... is it from the Demon Slayer Corps?
In this era, not many knew of his existence, and even fewer knew the weaknesses of 'demons'.
Only that organization that had been targeting him, which shared the'same origin' as his bloodline, had the greatest possibility—one must know that for some reason, that organization named the Demon Slayer Corps also didn't dare to announce the existence of Kibutsuji Muzan to other forces.
Muzan's gaze drifted out the window.
Looking at the lush sunlight, he made a judgment, but he had no intention of investigating at all.
There was no need.
Just one demon.
Although it was relatively strong, he had plenty of subordinates.
In any case, Muzan did not want to expose his whereabouts.
At least not now.
'When I overcome the sun... at that time, this world—'
I've heard that recently, the legendary Shikon Jewel has appeared once again.
He felt that the object might be worth... exploring further.
"What's wrong with you?"
A voice suddenly rang out by Kibutsuji Muzan's ear.
Kibutsuji Muzan remained expressionless throughout; although it was sudden, he seemed long accustomed to it. He merely raised his eyes, looked at the elderly figure that had suddenly appeared before him, and revealed a smile that looked somewhat fawning.
"No, it's nothing, Lord Kidomaru."
...
The back mountain of Demon Slayer Village.
The horizon began to turn the color of a fish's belly.
Under the first ray of sunlight, that demon's body turned into ash.
A few wisps of black smoke still lingered in the ashes.
Kanbe Hikaru glanced over.
"It really is that Demon Slayer setup."
He stood up and clapped his hands.
The bone armor, demon plate, and demon mask all receded.
The white-haired, cold-faced Oni Samurai stood in the morning breeze, his grey clothes fluttering.
Kikyo walked over, the hem of her red hakama stained with dew. Her expression was calm, but her dark eyes showed a hint of deep thought.
Tsubaki followed half a step behind, her face filled with astonishment.
Although he concealed his true nature as a transmigrator, Kanbe Hikaru still explained the existence of these 'demons' to them.
After listening, Kikyo and Tsubaki were indeed quite surprised.
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