Demon Slayer: Starting with the Kingdom

This is exactly the point in time when Mitsuha traced the intersection between this mysterious wealthy merchant and the caravan leader.

Great, she finally found it.

"Ms. Tamayo, are you sure we really want to go this far?"

Late at night, in a mansion where the Demon Slayer Corps leader was hiding, there were no outsiders.

Ubuyashiki, whose face already bore some cursed scars, looked at the girl with dark purple eyes in front of her and asked in confusion.

The girl was none other than Tamayo, who had disappeared for almost a hundred years.

Since parting ways with Yoriichi more than 80 years ago, Tamayo has been trying to independently complete the medicine she envisioned that could turn demons back into humans.

That being said, not long after starting the research, Tamayo realized that the blood of demons was essential to developing this medicine.

Without such a sample for research, nothing can be discussed.

The key issue is that, given Tamayo's own fighting ability, she can only obtain the blood of some extremely weak demons at most.

For those truly powerful evil spirits, even if she encountered them, she would only be throwing her life away in vain.

Furthermore, the blood of these weak demons contains extremely few Muzan cells, making them insufficient as samples for her research...

The research has reached a dead end here.

After some hesitation, Tamayo finally decided to seek help from the Demon Slayer Corps.

She still needs to rely on the Demon Slayer Corps to obtain the blood from those powerful demons.

Of course, you can't come empty-handed when seeking help.

Therefore, in the past few decades, Tamayo temporarily put aside her research on the "human-turning drug" and began to painstakingly develop a "poison" that could effectively harm even the powerful Upper Moon demons.

Turning a demon back into a human is difficult, but if you simply consider how to kill the demon's cells, the difficulty becomes much simpler.

After all, there is indeed a plant in this world that can naturally subdue evil spirits—the wisteria flower.

For evil spirits, wisteria is like arsenic to humans—both are deadly poisons.

Even the most powerful evil spirits are no exception; it's just a matter of how many there are.

If you accumulate enough of it, even the most ferocious evil spirit can be killed by the medicine.

The only challenge Tamayo faces is how to prevent the evil spirit from detecting the presence of the wisteria poison in its body before the poison takes effect.

To overcome this challenge, she spent decades developing an inhibitor that could temporarily suppress wisteria flower toxin.

This substance is non-toxic and harmless, and can suppress the toxins in wisteria flowers for a certain period of time, thereby temporarily preventing the cells in the evil spirit's body from having an adverse reaction to the wisteria flowers.

By the time the inhibitors had completely worn off and the wisteria poison began to erupt in large numbers, these toxins had already spread successfully to all parts of the evil spirit's body.

In this way, even if the powerful evil spirits cannot be poisoned to death instantly, their strength can be greatly weakened in a short period of time, creating a favorable opportunity for the demon hunters to kill them.

Chapter 69 Tamayo's Cooperation with Ubuyashiki

After completing all of this, Tamayo took the initiative to approach Ubuyashiki.

Ultimately, when it comes to combat, she still needs to rely on the Demon Slayer.

Establishing a dialogue with Ubuyashiki was not difficult for Tamayo.

The Demon Slayer Corps is not a separate organization.

Besides the demon hunters who are responsible for fighting the evil spirits at the front, there is also a complete medical system, logistics system and many medicinal material suppliers behind them.

In addition, the Demon Slayer Corps also has a large number of "civilian strongholds" outside the official Demon Slayer Corps organization, namely the "Fujihana family".

These families, who all use wisteria flowers as their family crest, are not affiliated with the Demon Slayer Corps.

They were all people whose lives had been saved by the Demon Slayer Corps, and who offered their help to the Demon Slayer Corps free of charge in gratitude.

Each of these is a potential breakthrough.

Once you find an organization or base that is confirmed to be connected with the Demon Slayer Corps, you can pass on information about the powerful demons you possess and your desire to communicate with Ubuyashiki.

After a while, the Demon Slayer Corps will send someone to make contact.

Tamayo was certain that if she did this, both the real and fake Demon Slayer Corps would send someone to try to make contact with her.

After all, if it's fake, it's just a wasted trip, and you won't lose anything.

But if it's true, it would be a huge gain for the Demon Slayer Corps!

Since decades ago, the overall strength of the demons has grown stronger and stronger, and even the "Twelve Demon Moons," which have never been heard of in the past hundreds of years, have emerged.

The demons among them are so powerful that they are far beyond the reach of ordinary demon hunters.

Among them, the higher-ranking ones, the so-called Upper Moon demons, some can even easily kill the Pillar-level swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps on their own!

From the Demon Slayer Corps' perspective now, they desperately need any information related to the Twelve Demon Moons.

And things did indeed unfold as Tamayo had predicted.

Not long after she released the information, the Demon Slayer Corps took the initiative to send someone to contact her.

The one who arrived was a demon slayer who looked remarkably like a yellow owl, and I heard he was the current Flame Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Yellow owl...

Instantly, she recalled the owl swordsman she had encountered with Mitsuha Tsugikuni more than eighty years ago, and even Tamayo couldn't help but mentally mutter a curse—

Do people of your kind share the same face and hairstyle for generations?

Although the current Flame Pillar was quite shocked after Tamayo revealed that she was a "demon who had broken free from Muzan's control."

But in the end, he still took her to the agreed meeting place with Ubuyashiki, as requested by Ubuyashiki.

Thus, Tamayo successfully connected with Ubuyashiki.

After that, Tamayo explained in detail to the Demon Slayer Corps leader she was meeting for the first time her plan to kill Muzan and the predicament she was currently facing.

With her knowledge of the Warring States period more than eighty years ago, Tamayo quickly gained the trust of Ubuyashiki.

Of course, there might also be some unseen hints from the gods in the heavens...

In short, after just one meeting, Ubuyashiki completely believed in Tamayo's determination and expressed his willingness to cooperate with her actions.

Tamayo's plan to "exterminate the Upper Moon demons" was actually quite simple in general.

The plan is to first lure out an Upper Moon demon, and then find a way to make it accidentally ingest the poison she developed.

If the person dies on the spot from the poison, then collect their blood and leave.

If it isn't poisoned to death on the spot, the evil spirit will definitely be weakened. Then, the ghost hunters lying in ambush around it can attack together and take its life while it's still weak!

As for the target chosen by Tamayo to be subdued, it is naturally the Upper Moon One, currently ranked first among the Twelve Demon Moons.

Of course, the Demon Slayers today are extremely lacking in information about the Upper Moon demons, and they are unaware that Mitsuha Tsugikuni is the Upper Moon One of the Twelve Demon Moons.

That's what Tamayo said.

But to be honest, Tamayo doesn't actually have any absolute evidence to prove that Mitsuha Tsugikuni is definitely Upper Moon One.

After all, she herself has been hiding and concealing herself for years, how could she possibly know anything about these mysterious Upper Moon demons...

It was her own feeling, and it must be true.

However, this feeling was not unfounded; it was a reasonable deduction made by Tamayo based on her past understanding of Mitsuha Tsugikuni.

Although it has been nearly a hundred years, there has been no news of Mitsuha Tsugikuni.

But Tamayo was certain that Mitsuha Tsugikuni was still alive.

Not only that, she is now far more powerful than the person Tamayo remembers!

More than eighty years ago, Mitsuha Tsugikuni was already able to catch a full-force attack from a Marked Swordsman with his bare hands, and only suffered a slight cut on his palm!

Eighty years later, how terrifying will her strength become?

Add to that Muzan's fondness and indulgence towards her, and her terrifying Blood Demon Art...

Even without being able to confirm it with her own eyes, Tamayo was almost 100% certain that the current Mitsuha Tsugikuni must be the Upper Moon One of the Twelve Demon Moons!

So here's the question: since Tamayo already knew how powerful Mitsuba was, why did she still choose her as the target of her attack?

The answer is that Tamayo didn't really have a choice.

First of all, apart from Mitsuha Tsugikuni and her brother, Tamayo had no idea who the other Upper Moon demons of the Twelve Demon Moons were.

The Demon Slayer Corps was also unaware of this.

Secondly, these Upper Moon demons are all extremely well hidden; normally, even demon hunters can't touch their tails.

Aside from waiting for them to reveal themselves at some unknown time, actively trying to find them is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Therefore, Tamayo's only option was to "deceive".

Let's think of a way to create a pretext that will definitely interest the demons and lure out these deeply hidden Upper Moon demons.

So, what kind of pretense would definitely pique the interest of evil spirits?

The answer is ready to come out -

Blue red spider lily!

Just like the information about the Twelve Demon Moons is to the Demon Slayer Corps.

This mysterious flower, which Muzan has been tirelessly searching for for nearly six hundred years, is also information that demons would definitely be interested in!

Given Muzan's desire for the blue spider lily, even if he knew in his heart that such information might be false, he would definitely send his demon subordinates to gather intelligence.

As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Tamayo knows Muzan too well; he would never let go of any information related to the Blue Spider Lily.

So here's another question: given such dubious information, which of Muzan's demons would he send to gather intelligence?

Chapter 70 is titled "The Plan to Subjugate Mitsuha Tsugikuni" (Bonus Chapter)

First and foremost, they must be highly capable.

Considering the possibility that the information might be false, even a powerful demon could have the ability to protect itself or even fight back if it encounters a trap.

Secondly, they must be intelligent.

Needless to say, as long as Muzan himself isn't mentally unstable, he wouldn't send someone mentally unstable. After all, the smarter the demon, the easier it is for them to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Then, they must be absolutely loyal, and their loyalty must be the kind that has withstood a major test!

Needless to say, given how important the Blue Spider Lily is, as long as Muzan hasn't developed dementia, he will definitely send his most loyal and least likely to-be-scheming demons over there.

In short, it's better to be safe than sorry.

In Tamayo's view, Muzan himself doesn't have many merits; in fact, he's full of flaws. But his caution is something he's almost perfected...

Lastly, if possible, it would be best to send out a demon with relevant special abilities.

For example, it can instantly distinguish between true and false human speech, and even see into the past and future, making it completely impossible to be deceived, and so on.

With a demon possessing such special abilities at the helm, victory is virtually guaranteed.

So, are there any demons under Muzan's command that meet all of the above conditions?

Believe it or not, such a demon actually exists!

That is the legendary younger sister of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the son of God, the most trusted demon in the world by Muzan, the clever and witty female head of the Sengoku period, the usurper of divine authority, the controller of cause and effect and destiny, the only usurper in the world, the Upper Moon One of the Twelve Demon Moons—Mitsuba Tsugikuni!

That's right! It can only be her!

When formulating this plan for the expedition, Tamayo, after countless deliberations, sadly discovered that no matter what arrangements or adjustments she made in the end, it would be ineffective.

As long as she still wants to use the blue spider lily as bait, and as long as Muzan isn't completely brain-dead, he will eventually send Mitsuha Tsugikuni to handle this matter.

The reason is simple: Mitsuha Tsugikuni is just too good!

Not only is he extremely loyal and powerful, but he is also intelligent and possesses a twisted blood demon technique that allows him to trace the past and see the future.

Faced with a situation that even Muzan himself wasn't sure was true or false, having Mitsuha Tsugikuni handle it was practically his only choice!

That's why it's said that this was a complete dead end for Tamayo; it wasn't that she wanted to choose Mitsuha Tsugikuni, but that she simply had no choice at all...

Mitsuha Tsugikuni will definitely come.

However, this is fine.