Simultaneous time travel: But our system is out of sync!

The air seemed to freeze instantly, then be suddenly torn apart by an invisible force.

Lin Bei's calm yet thunderous words—"Kill Muzan," "A secret known to all"—slammed into Mikako's arrogant mask that viewed all living beings as ants.

Mikako's carefully maintained face, radiating an inhuman sense of superiority, suddenly contorted as if struck by a heavy hammer. All color drained from her face, replaced by an incredulous horror.

It suddenly turned towards Lin Bei, its scarlet pupils contracting sharply, as if it were not looking at a human being, but staring directly into some indescribable abyss of terror.

In those eyes, there was a mixture of extreme fear and a furious rage at the desecration of one's faith.

"What...what exactly are you?"

Its sound lost its usual languidness and playfulness, becoming sharp and piercing, like rusty metal rubbing together.

"How dare a mere human like me! How dare I address that supreme being by name! And...and know those...secrets that should never be known to ants like myself!"

Faced with this ferocious questioning that seemed to want to devour someone, Lin Bei's expression remained calm. His voice was as steady as a deep pool, flowing slowly and deliberately through the deathly silent hall, each word crystal clear, carrying an all-knowing indifference.

"Who am I?"

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze piercing through Mikako's fear like a tangible force. "I've said it before, I am the one who will end Muzan's life. As for Muzan's secret..."

A barely perceptible sneer curled at the corner of Lin Bei's mouth.

"Isn't that common knowledge?"

He took half a step forward, and an invisible pressure spread out, as if the weight of the entire space was tilting towards him.

"Moreover, I am even more aware that for you so-called lower-ranking demons, even calling out the name 'Muzan' is a luxury, a fatal act of usurpation."

Lin Bei's gaze swept over Mikako's body, which trembled slightly with anger and fear, as if he were examining a pathetic object.

"You regard humans as insects that you can crush at will. But in Muzan's eyes, you, all of you demons, including the Twelve Demon Moons who are high above, are nothing more than lowly insects crawling on the ground, whose names are not even worthy of being mentioned."

He paused, his tone filled with a compassion as cold as a frost blade.

"If you dare to utter that name aloud, in addition to silently reciting it in your hearts, the curse hidden in the blood he gave you will instantly erupt and completely obliterate you from the inside out. What a ridiculous and pathetic shackle."

Lin Bei's gaze sharpened like a knife. "Therefore, in my opinion, you demons are a thousand times more pathetic than the humans you despise. You, along with the so-called Twelve Demon Moons, are nothing more than pawns on Muzan's chessboard, things that can be used and replaced at any time... No, not even pawns, just disposable... consumables."

Lin Bei's words were like poisoned steel needles, piercing with unparalleled precision into the deepest, most vulnerable, and most unwilling part of Mikako's heart.

The glamorous shell that sustained its existence and distorted dignity was completely stripped away and crushed by this cruel truth.

"Shut up!!" A hysterical scream ripped through the brief silence. Mikako's previous feigned composure vanished completely, as if her fig leaf had been ripped off.

Her eyes instantly turned bloodshot, as if about to drip tears of blood. Her meticulously combed, jet-black hair stood on end, like countless enraged venomous snakes dancing wildly in the air, emitting a nauseating stench. Her beautiful face twisted and deformed, revealing fangs and bulging, bluish-black veins beneath her skin. The last vestige of her "human" facade vanished, revealing her pure, predatory nature as a demon.

"You damned bug! You lowly, filthy human!"

Mikako's voice was hoarse and distorted, filled with frantic hatred.

"How dare you comprehend the boundless greatness of that great being, as vast as the sun and moon?! I don't know where you overheard these snippets about that great being! But this is not your right! It is not a reason for an ant like you to slander and presumptuously comment on him!"

It waved its claw-like hands, and its ghostly aura surged and formed a visible black vortex.

"That great being loves us! He has given us eternal life and unparalleled power! He cherishes us as treasures, as brothers and sisters!!"

Its roar was almost manic, more like an attempt to convince itself to fight against the fear that had seeped into its very bones.

"Absolutely not! Absolutely not what you say, treating us like...like trash that can be discarded at will! You utterly ignorant and arrogant human being! I will tear your mouth apart! I will crush your bones inch by inch! I will make you pay the most terrible price for your blasphemy—eternal torment!"

"die--!!!"

The last word transformed into a murderous roar. Mikako's wildly dancing hair instantly hardened and sharpened, transforming into countless black venomous dragons more deadly than steel whips. With a piercing shriek that tore through the air, they swept towards Lin Bei with an overwhelming force, lashing out and shooting towards him!

Wherever the whip struck, the floor cracked, shattered, and turned to dust like fragile biscuits; wooden furniture and velvet curtains were instantly torn into flying debris! The entire Rose House seemed to be being ravaged by an invisible behemoth, groaning under its unbearable weight.

A terrifying attack swept over her. Lady Rose's face turned ashen, but she reacted swiftly, grabbing Jasmine, who was nearly paralyzed by despair and her injuries, and using all her strength to fly backward, narrowly avoiding the edge of the whip's shadow.

She knew her power was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot in front of a demon of this level, but she bit her lip and stared intently at the tall figure in the arena—she had placed all her hopes on Lin Bei.

At the same time, Jiro Ashina made a completely different choice.

Although his palms, gripping the knife, were soaked with cold sweat, and although he could clearly feel the terrifying power contained in the whip's shadow—powerful enough to tear him apart in an instant—a warrior's almost instinctive resolve dispelled all his hesitation and fear.

He let out a low growl, his eyes sharpening like a hawk's. He took a step forward, gripped the hilt of his knife tightly with both hands, and assumed the most stable stance to meet the enemy, resolutely standing beside Lin Bei.

Even if he could only share a little of the pressure, even if he might be shattered to pieces in the next second, he had to fulfill his duty of protection and stand shoulder to shoulder with Lin Bei to face this raging inferno!

However, Lin Bei, who was at the center of the storm and locked by countless deadly whip shadows, appeared unusually calm.

He didn't even adopt any defensive posture; he simply stood there quietly, as if what was coming towards him was not a terrifying attack capable of turning steel into dust, but merely a few insignificant wisps of breeze carrying the warmth of spring.

This is not arrogance, but rather stems from absolute control.

Under the cover of his terrifying mental power, which far exceeded common sense and reached eight times the normal level, Mikako's seemingly violent, swift, and impenetrable whip attack was as clear as a slow-motion video. Every tiny tremor, every transfer of power, and even the subtle vortexes that tore through the air by the whip tip were all reflected in his "vision" with exquisite detail. The speed was slowed down infinitely.

Far from being afraid, Lin Bei even felt a strange sense of boredom.

This level of evil spirit, though its attacks appear powerful and visually devastating, is far less threatening to him than the "Eye-Ear Ghost" he encountered before, which was initially weak but possessed a strange potential for growth.

The Eye-Ear Demon's abilities are like a bottomless abyss, and its evolutionary limits still pose a slight challenge to Lin Bei.

The Mikako before them, though powerful, possessed a fixed strength, lacking that unpredictable and unpredictable element that could make one's heart pound.

At this critical moment, countless gazes converged on one point—in Mikako's eyes burned a furious rage and a hint of impending triumph; in Lady Rose's eyes was deep worry and unwavering trust; in Ashina Jiro's eyes was tense as if facing a formidable enemy and resolute in the face of death; in Jasmine's eyes was a deathly despair... Under the watchful eyes of these complex gazes, the net of death composed of thousands of whips, powerful enough to tear the entire Rose House to shreds, finally descended upon Lin Bei, just inches away!

However, in the next instant—

The expected carnage and the sound of bones shattering did not occur.

Instead, an extremely bizarre and chilling sight appeared: the countless jet-black whips, containing terrifying kinetic energy and capable of splitting stone tablets, exploded without warning, simultaneously and completely, in the void less than half a foot away from Lin Bei's body, as if they had crashed into an invisible and absolutely solid wall of sighs!

"Pfft—hiss hiss hiss—!"

Like countless black fireworks silently blooming. The whip, as tough as steel wire, instantly crumbled, turning into billions of fine, dust-like black hairs, as if utterly destroyed and disintegrated from within by an invisible force.

They fluttered down like a sudden black, gray snowfall, silently covering the ground in front of Lin Bei's feet, forming a thick, chilling black carpet.

Dead silence.

Absolute silence enveloped the entire space, as if time had been forcibly frozen at this moment.

Everyone was completely stunned.

Lady Rose forgot to breathe, and a look of bewildered astonishment flashed across Jasmine's empty eyes.

Even Mikako, who had initiated the attack, froze in place, her crimson pupils filled with utter astonishment and disbelief.

It didn't even feel the recoil from the blocked attack; it only felt that its extended "limbs" were instantly disintegrated and shattered from the inside by an incomprehensible, irresistible, and overwhelmingly terrifying force at a certain critical point!

What happened?

It was completely dumbfounded!

Only Ashina Jiro, who was closest to Lin Bei, with his swordsman's intuition honed over many years and reaching the level of a master, and his dynamic vision far exceeding that of ordinary people, caught a glimpse of an unusual phenomenon that almost surpassed the limits of human perception in that split second.

He seemed to see, just as the whip was about to touch Lin Bei's body, Lin Bei's figure...disappeared for a fleeting moment, extremely blurry!

No, to be more precise, it transformed into an extremely faint afterimage of light that surpassed the limits of visual perception.

When he "saw" Lin Bei again, Lin Bei was still standing in the same spot, his posture seemingly unchanged, while the countless whip shadows had turned into countless falling black ash.

But only Lin Bei himself clearly knew what had happened in that moment that transcended ordinary understanding.

He did not disappear, nor did the whip explode on its own.

At the critical moment when countless strands of hair were biting down like poisonous dragons, the "Blazing Sun Release" within him, which contained the destructive power of the sun, was precisely and instantly pushed up by a negligible 0.3 percentage points from the original critical point of 0.5%—into 0.8%!

This tiny 0.3% increase is like injecting a burst of powerful fuel into a sophisticated engine.

It caused Lin Bei's physical functions to enter an incredible "overclocked" state within a ten-thousandth of a second! This sudden burst of power, like the ignition of a miniature star core, perfectly merged and resonated with his already terrifying eight times mental strength.

In an instant, his nerve reaction speed, muscle explosiveness, and limb movement speed were elevated to a terrifying level that defied the common sense of physics! In his eyes, the world slowed down completely, as slow as a still painting.

In that moment, stretched to its limit and almost equivalent to a crack in time, Lin Bei moved. His fists transformed into phantoms that surpassed the limits of what the naked eye could perceive.

There were no fancy moves, only the purest, most direct, and most ferocious speed and power! Every punch struck the incoming whip with perfect precision, the terrifying kinetic energy contained in the fist was like countless miniature bombs detonating inside the whip!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

Hundreds and thousands of supersonic punches erupted in a dense burst within a timeframe imperceptible to ordinary people.

Each punch carried the power to shatter steel, and each strike precisely hit the core node of the whip's power transmission. In Mikako's perception, her hair instantly and without warning shattered collectively; in Ashina Jiro's visual residuals, Lin Bei "disappeared" for a moment; and in Lin Bei's own timeline, he simply completed a "cleanup" that was both extremely fast and extremely precise.

Black ash fell from the sky, as if playing a mournful dirge for this silent crushing.

Mikako stared intently at Lin Bei, who was completely unharmed and whose clothes were not even disheveled. For the first time, an undisguised solemnity and deep fear appeared in her scarlet pupils.

That attack, though not its most powerful technique, was completely and effortlessly neutralized by its opponent, a feat that was utterly unexpected. What chilled it even more was that it hadn't even seen how its opponent had done it!

The unknown is always the most fertile ground for fear.

At this moment, Lin Bei was no longer the human that it could manipulate at will.

Its unfathomable image instantly overlapped with those "Pillar"-level swordsmen who were rumored to be among the demons, who possessed the secrets of "breathing techniques" and could kill demons of the Twelve Demon Moon level!

Legend has it that those demon hunters who stand at the pinnacle of humanity possess swords so fast that even the vision of demons cannot catch them. When you see their figures, it often means that you have already seen the end of your own life.

Only the powerful Twelve Demon Moons are qualified to confront them head-on.

However, the man before me... he didn't have the slightest unique rhythmic fluctuation of "breathing techniques" flowing through him, but he exuded a deep, oppressive aura, like staring into a bottomless abyss.

It felt that Lin Bei standing there was like a calm surface, but a dark abyss that could devour all light, unfathomable and unfathomable.

This intense fear, like cold venom, quickly eroded its murderous intent, which was boiling with rage.

Its proud head unconsciously lowered slightly, and its arrogance of regarding humans as worthless was replaced by an instinctive vigilance.

It remembered its true objective for this trip—to lure Urokodaki Sakonji out, wait for its sister Suzamaru to arrive, and then join forces to ambush her.

If it expends too much power here, or even exposes its trump card, even if Zhu Shamaru is its own sister, given that lord's ruthlessness and zero tolerance for failure, it will definitely not have a good ending!

Just as Mikako hesitated briefly due to her fear and was caught in a dilemma, on the other side, with the help of Lady Rose, the seriously injured Jasmine finally stood up shakily.

Her body was still weak, but her eyes, which had lost their luster due to fear and despair, were illuminated as if by a lightning bolt piercing the darkness after hearing Lin Bei and Meijia's thrilling conversation. All her confusion, wishful thinking, and self-deception evaporated completely in the face of the cruel truth.

The last trace of color drained from her face, leaving only a deathly pallor, but her eyes became unusually clear, surging with overwhelming regret and an almost self-destructive mockery.

"Heh...heh..." She let out a few broken, tearful laughs, her voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping, "So...so that's how it is..."

She raised her head, her gaze sweeping blankly over Mikako's hideous demon face, as if piercing through it to see the terrifying figure hidden in the endless darkness, manipulating the fate of all demons.

"So...we fools who thought we'd climbed the social ladder and gained immortality are actually...so utterly worthless in the eyes of you 'noble' demons! Not even worthy of being called tools..."

Jasmine's voice trembled, each word laced with the bitterness of blood and tears, "It's just... just something that can be used up and then disposed of like trash... a disposable item... how ridiculous, how pathetic..."

"And we, still dreaming of eternal youth and immortality... willingly offering our loyalty, offering... the flesh and blood of our compatriots..."

Her gaze fell on the humanoid remains on the ground, which Mikako had drained and discarded, resembling rags. Her eyes were filled with endless pity and self-mockery.

"I think... before they were drained of their last drop of blood and their consciousness sank into eternal darkness... they were probably... probably wondering if they hadn't done something right... that was why they hadn't won the favor of 'that person'?"

Her words were like poisoned ice picks, piercing not only Mikako but also her own already battered heart.

"What's even more ridiculous is..." Jasmine's gaze shifted to Mikako, carrying a chilling pity that saw right through her.

"You seemingly powerful demons, superior to humans... are nothing more than... slightly more sophisticated puppets in the hands of that demon king named 'Muzan'! That 'immortality' you regard as a gift... is nothing but a complete deception! A false illusion that he can take back at any time, and can cruelly strip away at any time!"

Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a heart-wrenching cry of despair.

"Now it seems... compared to us poor worms blinded by false promises and ultimately reduced to food... you evil spirits who live forever under the curse, dare not even utter your names, and may be crushed to death by your master at any moment... are the most pathetic! The most pitiful beings!!"

"How pathetic... how utterly pathetic!" Jasmine's body trembled violently as she shouted these words, as if using all her strength. "Whether it's us delusional fools... or you... poor worms eternally enslaved!"

At this point, the deathly pallor on Jasmine's face was replaced by a strange radiance.

It was a resolute decision born from completely letting go of everything and seeing through life and death; a painful liberation from the shackles of an endless hell. She no longer looked at Mikako, as if that terrifying demon was no longer worthy of her emotional investment.

She slowly turned her head, her gaze falling on the face of Lady Rose, who had been supporting her and had never given up on her.

That look in his eyes was incredibly complex, churning with an overwhelming sense of regret, heart-wrenching guilt, and... a deep, irreparable sense of loss.

"Rose..." Jasmine's voice became unusually soft, yet incredibly heavy, each word seeming to weigh a ton, "I'm sorry... really... I'm so sorry..."

She raised her hand with difficulty, as if to touch Mrs. Rose's cheek, but then let it fall limply, her fingertips digging deeply into her palm.

"If it weren't for me... blinded by that shameful jealousy... and seduced by that false promise of immortality... we... we shouldn't have come to this... we should have been the best of sisters... we should have watched over the Rose House together... continuing to bloom in this chaotic world..."

Large, hot tears finally broke through the last dam and gushed from Jasmine's eyes.