They won the Holy Grail War, but this turned out to be the Virtual Tree Universe.

Chapter 26 The Cunning Shinobu Kocho
Tanjiro's roar abruptly interrupted the impending battle between Shinobu Kocho and Giyu Tomioka.

Shinobu Kocho was clearly puzzled by Tanjiro's words. She tilted her head slightly and looked at Tanjiro, asking...

"You said he's a magician? The one who does magic tricks in theaters?"
A Celestial Realm expert... hmm... I do seem to have heard of that somewhere before."

After speaking, Shinobu Kocho looked at Danlei and Kojiro Sasaki again and found that their auras were unusually strange. So she looked at Danlei and asked...
"Then, Mr. Magician, why did you come to hijack the convoy?"

In response to this question, Dan Lei answered directly...
"I didn't intend to hijack the caravan. I just saw Tanjiro tied up here, so I came over to ask about the situation. Didn't you see that I haven't untied the ropes binding him?"
As for disarming the guards later, it was purely to avoid unnecessary conflict.

After hearing this, Shinobu looked at Tanjiro again and noticed that he was indeed still bound, but his wounds seemed to have completely healed. So she asked again...
"What about his injury?"

Dan Lei nodded in agreement.

"I cured him."

Shinobu Kocho nodded, remained silent for two or three seconds, then raised her sword again and said...
"I'm sorry, I can't believe that someone can possess the three abilities of ice, silk threads, and healing. You can only be a ghost."

However, Shinobu Kocho was immediately proven wrong after she finished speaking.

A kasuri crow suddenly flew above Shinobu Kocho, circling and shouting.

"Order! Order! Order from headquarters! It has been verified that Dan Lei killed Lower Moon One and Lower Moon Three. Dan Lei killed Lower Moon One and Lower Moon Three. He is a distinguished guest, a distinguished guest. Welcome him back to headquarters! Welcome him back to headquarters!!"

Upon hearing this, everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps looked at Dan Lei again, but this time there was no malice; they were all incredulous.

Dan Lei looked at the raven and complained.

"It's not surprising that they saw him kill Lower Moon Three, but there weren't any Kasugai crows around when he took down Lower Moon One. The Demon Slayer Corps is really powerful."

Actually, the Demon Slayer Corps' confirmation that Dan Lei killed Lower Moon One wasn't based on what they saw.

Lower Moon One died, but the ordinary people who worked for him didn't die; instead, they suffered mental breakdowns.

With the Demon Slayer Corps' intelligence network, it would be easy to learn from them that the demon controlling them is Lower Moon One, since the words in its eyes are too obvious.

The Lower Moon One attacked Dan Lei, and now Dan Lei is standing here unharmed.

Furthermore, the Demon Slayer Corps investigated the debris and traces in the train car, confirming that a powerful demon had indeed been killed there.

Based on the combined intelligence, the conclusion that Dan Lei killed Lower Moon One is quite simple.

However, for members of the Demon Slayer Corps, killing two Lower Moons, especially two of the higher ranks, is an extremely exaggerated achievement. Even Giyu Tomioka, who is not good at expressing himself, couldn't help but ask.
"Mr. Danlei, did you really kill Lower Moon One and Lower Moon Three? Or...?"

As he spoke, Giyu Tomioka looked at Kojiro Sasaki.

Giyu Tomioka isn't looking down on Dan Lei, but judging from their strength, Kojiro Sasaki seems more capable of killing two Lower Moons.

However, when Sasaki Kojiro saw Tomioka Giyuu looking at him, he said directly...

"Dan Lei handled everything by himself; I didn't lift a finger."

Since Sasaki Kojiro had said so, Tomioka Giyuu had no choice but to believe him. He then sheathed his sword and bowed ninety degrees to Dan Lei in gratitude.

"Lord Danlei, thank you for helping us slay the evil spirit."

The reason why Giyu Tomioka is so serious here is because he knows that Danlei is not a citizen of this country and has no obligation to stay here to kill demons.

A guest helped them eliminate two major enemies, so naturally they had to be grateful.

Dan Lei naturally accepted Giyu Tomioka's gratitude without hesitation, as he had indeed helped the Demon Slayer Corps. Seeing that the misunderstanding had been cleared up and Shinobu Kocho had sheathed her sword, Dan Lei used magic threads to instantly reseal all the Nichirin Blades in the car back into their original sheaths, then casually said...
"The Kasugai Crow just said he wanted to take me to your headquarters, right? That's great, it's a good opportunity to meet the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps."

"Oh, right, you can leave Nezuko with me. I'll take care of her."

Dan Lei's request was met with a glance from Tomioka Giyuu and Kocho Shinobu. The former remained silent for a moment before turning and leaving, clearly without any objection.

Shinobu Kocho actually had objections, but the other side was able to kill both Lower Moon One and Lower Moon Three by one person, and judging from Giyu Tomioka's words, it was the weaker one who did it. She couldn't stop it by herself.

Moreover, the headquarters has already said that Danlei is a distinguished guest, so Shinobu Kocho can only greet him with a smile.

So, Shinobu Kocho stepped forward and said...

"Mr. Danlei, let me introduce myself. My name is Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. Since you are a distinguished guest, please don't stay here. I will arrange a carriage for you."

Tanjiro neither refused the carriage arranged by Shinobu Kocho nor tried to get better treatment for him. Instead, he left with the box containing Nezuko.

Once inside the carriage, Shinobu Kocho visited again shortly afterward. This time, she brought some pancakes, explaining that she had made them herself as an apology for the earlier misunderstanding.

Danlei wasn't a stingy person. He took a quick sniff and, based on his medical knowledge, determined that the cake was probably not poisonous, so he picked it up and ate it.

It must be said that Shinobu Kocho's cooking skills were quite good; her pancakes even had a floral aroma, making them a decent-tasting dish for this era.

So Danlei took the opportunity to praise him.

"Miss Shinobu Kocho, your cooking is really good. This cake even has a floral fragrance. It's delicious."

However, this simple compliment was met with a different response.

"Oh, I'm glad Mr. Danlei likes it. I put some wisteria flowers in this cake. The toxins in this flower are only effective against ghosts and are harmless to humans. Mr. Danlei, you can eat more if you like it."

Shinobu Kocho's words almost made Dan Lei choke.

What the hell is this? They put wisteria flowers in the cake! This is clearly a sign that they don't believe they're not a ghost and are deliberately testing them with this stuff.

Although the toxins in wisteria flowers do indeed have almost no harmful effects on the human body, Shinobu Kocho spent more than a year continuously ingesting the toxins from wisteria flowers, and even when her whole body was covered in the toxins, she did not experience much of a reaction.

However, once Danlei sensed that the pie was a test, he immediately felt uncomfortable and said...

"Miss Shinobu Kocho, let's watch the sunrise together tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Butterfly Ren smiled brightly, feigning a smile.
"Oh my, is Mr. Danlei inviting me on a date?"

Dan Lei shook his head directly, answering decisively.

"No, but please make sure you keep our appointment so that you won't put anything weird in my future food and water, Shinobu-san."

Dan Lei's meaning here is very clear: in order to avoid Shinobu Kocho always thinking that I am a ghost, he simply uses the most direct way to verify his identity.

After Dan Lei showed no aversion to the scent of wisteria, Shinobu Kocho had actually begun to believe him to some extent, not just in a bad way.

However, it would be best to verify it with sunlight, so in the end I agreed to Danlei's invitation to watch the sunrise together.

However, Danlei chose the roof of his carriage as the location to watch the sunrise, to show that he had no other intentions.

(End of this chapter)