Demon Slayer: The Second God Who Walks the Earth

"Is your sister okay?"

Walking up to Tanjiro, Chiba Yang asked him in a low voice.

"It's alright, she's asleep now. She always recovers by sleeping whenever she's injured," Tanjiro replied with a smile.

After seeing Chiba and the others talking, Kanzaki Aoi quietly walked out and closed the door behind her.

"That's good."

Chiba Yo said something, then remained silent for a while before saying to Tanjiro, "Don't resent the Pillars' attitude. The fact that demons eat people and must be killed is already deeply ingrained in their hearts."

They have always seen evil spirits that harm humans and have witnessed countless tragedies caused by ghosts, which is why they treat you siblings this way.

After all, apart from your sister, I've never seen a ghost that doesn't eat people.

They were people who sacrificed everything to slay evil spirits and protect humanity. Countless lives were saved because of their protection, which is why they are so respected.

The man who spoke very loudly and looked very sunny and enthusiastic was my teacher and also the Flame Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps. After my village was attacked by demons, he took me in as his adopted son and taught me everything he knew without reservation. He took great care of me and everyone else.

He wanted to execute you and your brother only because he didn't believe what you said, but now he's willing to temporarily accept you as siblings.

Chiba Yo said a long speech. The reason he told Tanjiro all this was that he didn't want Tanjiro to misunderstand the other Pillars because of this incident. In his eyes, these Pillars were all very respectable.

Tanjiro did not interrupt Chiba Yo, but listened quietly. After Chiba Yo finished speaking, he smiled and said, "Of course I don't resent them. After all, Nezuko's situation is indeed very special. It's normal that they would act this way if they didn't know."

After hearing Tanjiro's words, Chiba Yo smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Tanjiro continued, "But that guy covered in wounds stabbed Nezuko so many times, which still makes me very angry. Although I don't resent him, I really want to give him a couple of headbutts!"

"Speaking of which, using a headbutt shouldn't be considered a violation of team rules, right?"

Tanjiro recalled the scene from that time, and his face turned angry. He pursed his lips, puffed out his cheeks, and steam rose from his head, much like Nezuko's expression back then.

Seeing Tanjiro's expression, Chiba Yo couldn't help but laugh, and then said to Tanjiro, "It's normal for you to have such thoughts, but Sanemi-sensei is much stronger than you. Even if the captain allows you, you probably can't give him two headbutts."

Moreover... Mr. Sanemi was also a very pitiful person..."

Chiba Yo didn't continue, since it involved Genya and Sanemi, and he didn't intend to tell anyone without Genya's permission.

I wonder how Genya is doing now, whether he successfully became Xingming's apprentice. I didn't dare to ask when Shimi was there...

Chiba Yo's thoughts drifted to this.

After thinking about it for a while, Chiba Yo asked Tanjiro, "Master said you encountered Kibutsuji Muzan. Can you tell me about him?"

This was another important matter for him when he came to visit Tanjiro and Zenitsu. Muzan was now the guy he hated the most, and after learning that Tanjiro had encountered him, Chiba Yo naturally wanted to know the details.

Tanjiro collected his thoughts after hearing this, and then replied to Chiba Yo, "I met it at the market. It was disguised as a human and lived with humans. It was holding a human girl, and the person next to it who called him 'husband' was also human."

Tanjiro still feels a chill run down his spine when he recalls what happened back then.

"It itself was exactly like a young human man, tall and slender with pale skin and crimson eyes. Although I don't want to say it, its appearance was indeed quite handsome, just like a human."

If it weren't for the smell, I probably wouldn't have recognized it as a ghost.

After finding him, I was so angry that I immediately wanted to kill him to avenge my family. But when I saw that he was living completely with humans, my body froze in disbelief. At that moment, he quickly attacked a human next to him and turned him into a ghost.

I had no choice but to protect the humans around me first, and Muzan took advantage of the chaos to escape.

After listening to Tanjiro's account, Chiba Yo gained a certain understanding of Muzan. The most useful information for him was that Muzan could disguise himself as a human and live a normal life.

On the other hand, after hearing Tanjiro's description of the situation, Chiba Yodo felt a little frightened and thought that Tanjiro's behavior was really reckless.

Surrounded by humans, if Muzan were to unleash his power, few of them would likely survive. Tanjiro's situation can be considered extremely fortunate.

"You're being a bit reckless, Tanjiro." Although she knew that speaking out would definitely upset Tanjiro, Chiba Yo still decided to explain her views to him.

Otherwise, if a similar situation is not handled properly next time, not only could many humans die, but Tanjiro himself would also likely be left with a deep scar.

Tanjiro lowered his head upon hearing this. He had realized his recklessness afterward, and felt guilty after the human turned into a demon. Fortunately, he was saved by Tamayo.

"Yes, I understand. I will be more careful if I encounter this situation again in the future," Tanjiro said.

"Then I won't say anything more. Thank you for telling me all this."

Seeing that Tanjiro understood, Chiba Yo didn't say anything more and smiled as he thanked him.

"If you need any help later, feel free to come to me. I can also give you some guidance when there are no missions. But that will have to wait until your injuries have healed. For now, just focus on recovering," Chiba Yo said to Tanjiro.

"Mm," Tanjiro replied with a smile.

After saying goodbye, Chiba Yo left the ward. Zenitsu was still unconscious, and Chiba Yo did not disturb him.

On his way back to his residence (assigned by the Demon Slayer Corps to the Pillars), Chiba Yo was also thinking about what he should do if he encountered Tanjiro's situation and how he could kill the demon without harming the humans around him.

In the end, he could only come up with two solutions: either dodge the humans and instantly kill the evil spirit, or find a way to lure the evil spirit to a deserted place and then fight it.

Chiba Yo felt that the second method was more reliable. The first method would not only cause a huge commotion, but if the demon was not killed instantly, the humans around would still have a hard time surviving.

So how do you lure a ghost to a deserted place...?

After thinking for a while, Chiba Yo couldn't come up with a suitable method.

My experience in ghost hunting is still lacking. I'll ask my teacher tomorrow...

Chapter 40 Mugen Train / Hinokami Kagura

The soft morning sunlight shone down, illuminating the master and apprentice sitting side by side.

"So that's what's bothering you! It's simple! Ghosts disguise themselves as humans mostly to lure them into the shadows and devour them! Therefore, you don't need a sophisticated plan. As long as the ghost doesn't discover that you're a ghost hunter, it's easy to lure it away!"

After hearing Chiba Yo's question, Kyojuro answered it loudly for him.

“That’s true.”

After listening to Kyojuro's words, Chiba Yo felt enlightened and immediately stopped worrying about the problem.

If he ever finds a ghost disguised as a human in a crowd, he should just tell the ghost that he wants to go to a quiet place with it for a while. He believes that the ghosts will definitely agree because they want to eat him.

Muzan is probably the same, I guess...

"Thank you for clearing up my doubts, teacher," Chiba Yo said to Kyojuro with a smile.

"Well, it's good that it's useful to you. Now I should go." Kyojuro said, standing up. His crow was perched on the fence not far away.

Seeing this, Chiba Yo also stood up and asked him, "Is there another new mission?"

Kyojuro nodded and said, "Yes, we just received new information about the demons. It seems that the soldiers we sent there have all been killed, and they've started causing civilian casualties as well. We can't leave this unattended."

"Is that so? If possible, I'd like to go on a mission with you, teacher," Chiba Yo said to Kyojuro.

Kyojuro shook his head at Chiba Yo upon hearing this, and then said to him, "If you hadn't become a Pillar, it would be fine, but now we are both Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps, and we each have our own areas to guard. If we carry out missions together, the people in other places will be in danger."

After Kanroji became a Pillar, he never went on missions with me again.

Chiba Yo was well aware that the Demon Slayer Corps would not send the two Pillar-level fighters together, but he felt a little regretful that he had not been able to carry out a mission with Kyojuro.

"Alright, then I wish you a triumphant return, teacher," Chiba Yang said.

"Don't worry! I will slay the demons and protect everyone!" Kyojuro said loudly with great momentum, then turned and walked out, his robes billowing as he turned before slowly falling down.

The silhouette bathed in the morning sun brings a sense of peace...

After watching Kyojuro leave, Chiba Yo began his daily training; he had not yet been assigned any tasks.

To his surprise, the next afternoon he received a message from the crow about the ghosts in his area of ​​surveillance.

"Looks like I should get going too."

Chiba Yo sheathed his Nichirin Blade and muttered to himself before setting off for the location given by the crow.

Chiba Yang successfully completed his mission. This time, he only encountered an ordinary demon, and there was no need to make a second move. However, in Chiba Yang's opinion, it was no different from Lower Moon Two.

The teacher hasn't come back yet...

I glanced at Kyojuro's residence at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters; the door was still tightly shut, just as it had been when he left.

"Xiao Yang is back! How did the mission go?"

A familiar female voice came from behind. Chiba Yang turned around and saw that it was Kocho Shinobu. Behind her were two members of the Hidden Team carrying baskets filled with wisteria flowers.

"Yes, because it was discovered in time, there were no casualties this time," Chiba Yo replied with a smile.

Then, glancing at the baskets on the backs of the two hidden team members, Chiba Yang asked, "Is Shinobu-neechan gathering so many wisteria flowers to develop a poison to fight demons?"

"I suppose so..." Shinobu Kocho replied with a smile, her purple eyes seeming to conceal something.

Actually, some of these wisteria flowers were used to develop a poison to combat demons, while Shinobu Kocho intended to extract the toxins from the wisteria flowers for her own consumption.

She has been doing this for a year and is still persisting. Now her body contains the equivalent of 700 times the lethal dose of wisteria poison.

"By the way, Tanjiro and Zenitsu are much better now."

During the final check, Tanjiro asked me if I knew what "Hinokami Kagura" or "Hinokami Breathing" was, and told me that he had used techniques from the Kagura dance passed down through generations of his family in his battle against Lower Moon Five, and had also used the breathing technique his father had taught him.

I felt that these two things seemed to be related to your and Mr. Rengoku's breathing techniques, so I told him that I could ask you two for advice, but at the time you and Mr. Rengoku were both on a mission.

"Now that you're back, Xiao Yang, do you know what Hinokami Kagura and Hinokami Breathing are?" Shinobu Kocho changed the subject and asked Chiba Yang.

During the time she was treating Tanjiro and the other two and training them to recover their physical functions, Shinobu Kocho developed a good impression of Tanjiro. Now that she had run into Chiba Yo, she thought she might as well ask him about it.

Chiba Yo was completely baffled when he heard these two names. He had never heard of Hinokami Kagura or Hinokami Breathing, nor had he ever heard Kyojuro mention them.

“I’ve never heard of either of these before. As Shinobu-neechan knows, I only found out that the ability I had been using before was a breathing technique after I joined the Demon Slayer Corps. The name Sun Breathing is based on my own name and the performance of my breathing technique,” ​​Chiba Yo replied to Shinobu Kocho.

“But we can’t tell anything just from two names. I just finished my mission and I don’t have anything to do right now, so why don’t I go and ask him for more details?” Chiba Yo added.

Tanjiro had previously told him some information about Muzan, so Chiba Yo was naturally very happy to help Tanjiro with his questions.

“That’s true. Let’s go to the Butterfly Mansion together. Those three children have been training very hard lately.”

Shinobu Kocho smiled and said upon hearing this.

The two then went to the Butterfly House together.

As soon as Chiba Yo entered the Butterfly Mansion, he saw Tanjiro and the others. Tanjiro was training with Kanao. The two were sitting facing each other with a table between them, on which were many teacups.

The two men's hands moved rapidly above the teacup, trying to pick it up while preventing the other from doing so.

Zenitsu and Inosuke stood aside, watching their actions in shock.

"Are they training their reaction time?" Chiba Yo asked Shinobu, who was standing next to him, without disturbing them as he watched them train.

“Yes, they started training as soon as they were able to move freely. Of the three of them, Tanjiro has improved the fastest,” Shinobu Kocho nodded and said.

While they were talking, the two had already decided the winner, and Kanao got the teacup.

"That's it!"

Chapter 41 Chiba Yo's New Name

As Kanzaki Aoi's voice faded, Kanao and Tanjiro both stopped.

"Kanao is really fast, as expected." Tanjiro said to Kanao with a smile, panting heavily.

Kanao remained silent.

"We're now 10 wins and 9 losses," Kanzaki Aoi said.

"That's still far from enough..."

Tanjiro rubbed his shoulder and turned around, just about to go for another run, when he saw Chiba Yo and Kocho Shinobu standing at the door.

"Yang!" Tanjiro exclaimed in surprise.

Zenitsu and Inosuke turned around after hearing Tanjiro's shout, only to find that two people had entered. They had been so engrossed in watching Tanjiro and Kanao's fight that they hadn't noticed their surroundings.

"Are your injuries all healed?" Chiba Yo asked with a smile as he walked towards them.

"I'm fine now," Tanjiro replied with a smile.

"Yo!!" Zenitsu pounced on Chiba Yo.

"I feel completely recovered! But they still made me drink that really awful-tasting medicine for another seven days! It really, really tastes awful, the kind that makes it impossible to eat after drinking it!"

Zenitsu immediately poured out his troubles to Chiba Yo after seeing him.

"Yang, I heard you're already a pillar, could you talk to them and tell them to stop making me drink that kind of medicine?"

Zenitsu's eyes were filled with pleading as he looked at Chiba Yo.

"Of course not! Zenitsu's condition was very serious back then. Although he doesn't have any symptoms now, if he doesn't finish his medicine, he might suffer from long-term effects!" Kanzaki Aoi said angrily, hands on her hips, after hearing Zenitsu's words.

"very scary!"