Starting in The Boys to Become the Ultimate Lifeform.

151. Chapter 151 Nezuko, do you want this talking ball?

Soon, Tanjiro arrived in front of the cave with a broken bamboo basket and a few pieces of bamboo.

"Why is there an extra cave here? Did I remember the location wrong?" Tanjiro put down the bamboo basket and scratched his head.

"Nezuko doesn't like sunlight, so I specially opened it up for her."

Xia Shang's voice came from deep within the cave.

"No... no." Tanjiro was shocked by Xia Shang's strength. He looked at the knife-cut marks around the cave and couldn't help but reach out and touch them.

Then he sat cross-legged at the entrance of the cave, used the axe on his waist to split the bamboo, and skillfully used bamboo strips to repair the damaged bamboo basket.

While Tanjiro was repairing the bamboo basket, Xia Shang closed his eyes and constructed new eyeballs within his body. This task was no longer difficult for him. At the same time, he also found that since he had fused with Super Perception, his control over his body had reached a higher level.

"Brother Xia Shang, are you cultivating?" At this moment, Tanjiro, carrying the repaired bamboo basket, walked into the cave.

Since Xia Shang had mentioned his name on the way, Tanjiro immediately remembered it.

"You could say that," Xia Shang said in a cold tone.

Tanjiro was already used to Brother Xia Shang not wanting to talk to him, but he didn't mind.

Tanjiro came before Nezuko and placed the finished bamboo basket on the ground. "Want to get in here? This way we can travel during the day too."

"Go in... here... in the bamboo basket." Tanjiro pointed at the bamboo basket, patiently teaching Nezuko.

Nezuko understood. She slowly wriggled into the bamboo basket like a caterpillar, but the bamboo basket could only fit half of her body.

"Can you become a little smaller? Otherwise, the bamboo basket won't fit you."

As soon as Tanjiro finished speaking.

Nezuko kicked her legs and tumbled into the bamboo basket. She flapped her short legs, adjusted her position, and finally poked out her small head, looking at Tanjiro and Xia Shang beside him.

"That's great." Tanjiro stroked Nezuko's head, and Nezuko closed her eyes, enjoying it.

"Let's go." Xia Shang opened his eyes and walked out of the cave.

Seeing this, Tanjiro quickly put the bamboo basket on his back and followed Xia Shang.

Along the way, the three passed through many villages. Most of the residents were kind old folks. When Tanjiro asked, they enthusiastically pointed the way to Mt. Sagiri for the three.

Dusk had arrived, and night fell. As the three passed a shrine, Tanjiro stopped.

"Brother Xia Shang, there's the scent of blood around."

"Mm." Xia Shang also smelled the faint scent of blood in the air, but he didn't want to meddle in others' affairs.

"Someone must be injured."

Xia Shang was about to tell Tanjiro to continue on their way, but unexpectedly, the boy ran directly towards the shrine, following the steps by the roadside.

Forget it, Xia Shang also wanted to see what real Demons were capable of.

However, when Tanjiro opened the main door of the shrine, he saw a room full of corpses. Seeing the tragic state of these corpses after death, Tanjiro's heart trembled, and Nezuko, who had popped out of the bamboo basket, seeing this scene, seemed to have her inner trauma stirred, and tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes.

"How dare you disturb my meal! I will not spare you." The Demon, who was lowering its head and gnawing on a corpse, twisted its face ferociously and turned to look at the two. Its hair was dark green, and its body had green striped patterns.

It stood up, wiped the blood from its mouth, and laughed wantonly, "Humans? Gourmet food delivered right to my doorstep, this is the first time I've seen this."

"Is that so? This is also the first time I've seen a Demon like you."

"Who is it?"

The Demon immediately looked behind it and saw a man with his upper body bare, looking at it with a curious gaze.

"Your eyes are really annoying!" The Demon revealed a ferocious smile, waving its hand to grab at Xia Shang's neck, but unexpectedly, it grabbed nothing.

Before it could be surprised, a palm kept enlarging before its eyes.

Xia Shang lifted its head and came outside the shrine. The sticky floor made Xia Shang a little uncomfortable.

"Brother Xia Shang, be careful." When Tanjiro saw the Demon's arms stab towards Xia Shang's waist, he couldn't help but cry out in alarm.

"I heard that you only die if your head is cut off with a Nichirin Blade?"

"Damn it, why can't I pierce this man's skin?" The Demon realized it might have encountered a tough opponent, but it still pretended to be calm and said, "Since you know, why don't you let go of me? I'm in a good mood today, so I'll let you off."

"But, I don't believe it."

The next second, Xia Shang's other hand decomposed into countless tentacles. In an instant, they chopped the part of the Demon below the neck into pieces smaller than soybeans. The entire process was completed in the blink of an eye. Tanjiro only felt a flash of white light on the Demon's body, and then the Demon's body fell like sand.

"What did you do to my body? Let go of me quickly."

The head held in Xia Shang's hand roared in panic. It actually couldn't sense the existence of its body anymore.

"Is it because the cell activity is too strong? If I'm not mistaken, a certain ore used to forge Nichirin Blades should be able to suppress and kill the regenerative cells within a Demon's body. After being decapitated by a Nichirin Blade, the cells within the Demon's body cannot continue to reproduce and lose their activity. This should be the principle by which Nichirin Blades can kill Demons." Something that can suppress cell regeneration, I wonder if it can suppress him.

However, Xia Shang estimated that the possibility was small. His self-healing ability and a Demon's self-healing ability were completely different things. A Demon's self-healing ability originated from Muzan's blood, while his originated from himself. Therefore, something that can suppress Muzan may not necessarily suppress him.

"Nezuko, do you want this talking ball?"

Xia Shang punched and shattered the Demon's teeth, then turned and shook the head in his hand at Nezuko.

Nezuko seemed to see the Demon as Muzan, who had killed her entire family, and directly pounced towards Xia Shang.

"Catch." Xia Shang threw the Demon's head towards Nezuko.

As a result, Nezuko kicked it back.

"Good shot."

Xia Shang leaped up and accurately kicked the head out again. Nezuko quickly experienced the fun of this activity as well.

Then, they went back and forth, leaving Tanjiro dumbfounded on the side.

Xia Shang's appearance completely destroyed the terrifying atmosphere from just now.

If he lived in the modern era, he would understand that all fear stems from insufficient firepower.

"They can't kill the Demon like this." Just then, a palm rested on Tanjiro's shoulder. Tanjiro turned his head and saw a person wearing a Tengu mask had appeared behind him at some point.

"Then how can you kill a Demon?" Tanjiro asked.

"I want to hear your judgment." The old man wearing the Tengu mask was Sakonji Urokodaki. He was once the Water Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps.

He had since retired and become a Trainer. As the name suggests, a Trainer is a profession specifically for training novices to become members of the Demon Slayer Corps. 47 years ago, during the Keio Era in Edo, he defeated a Hand Demon that was causing trouble in the Edo area, captured it, and imprisoned it in the Wisteria Prison at the Final Selection site on Mt. Fujikasane.

"Cut off the Demon's head with a Nichirin Blade."

Hearing Tanjiro's answer, Sakonji Urokodaki said with slight surprise, "Giyu actually told you these things. It seems he has made some progress over the years, but I still need to add another method, which is sunlight. Besides killing Demons with a Nichirin Blade, warm sunlight can also kill them."

"Old man, are you sure?" Tanjiro extended his right hand and pointed in Xia Shang's direction.

"Tired of playing?" Xia Shang saw Nezuko biting her bamboo muzzle, standing still and dozing off, just like himself in math class, able to fall asleep standing up.

"In that case, you should just die."

Xia Shang gripped the Demon's head and squeezed hard. In an instant, invisible tentacles surged from his palm, completely crushing the head in his hand.

"If you can also grind a Demon's head into powder, then you can also kill it, but this method is not something an ordinary human can do. Even the most skilled swordsman cannot instantly cut a Demon's head smaller than sand."

Sakonji Urokodaki looked at Xia Shang with a solemn gaze.

Just as Giyu said, this person doesn't have the scent of a Demon on him, yet he can do things only Demons can do, and he is also enveloped in an unsettling aura. This aura is very powerful, but there are no traces of a Breathing Style. Could he be another special human?

Sakonji Urokodaki had seen a few such special humans, such as the current Stone Hashira, Gyomei Himejima, whose physique is like a Vajra and possesses immense strength, and the Love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, whose muscle density is eight times that of an ordinary human.

There is also Genya, who is Demon-like. Their physiques are all very special.

"Is he Demon-like? But he hasn't shown any signs of Demonization. Strange, could there be a new type of physique in the world?"

The type of human Sakonji Urokodaki was thinking of, who was Demon-like, had appeared three hundred years ago. Their ability was to achieve Demonization by ingesting and digesting Demon cells. Unfortunately, their strength was not strong, and they often ended up completely becoming Demons because they couldn't suppress their own Demonization.

Seeing Xia Shang walking towards him.

Sakonji Urokodaki spoke again, "I am Sakonji Urokodaki. You were introduced by Giyu Tomioka, right?"

"My name is Tanjiro Kamado, and that's my sister Nezuko."

"My name is Edogawa Xia Shang."

"Edogawa? I haven't heard of that surname, but that's not important. Giyu Tomioka introduced you to me. You are a very interesting person."

Normally, Sakonji Urokodaki would not teach a Breathing Style to someone with a bad personality, because they had stumbled many times on this matter and suffered extremely painful lessons. The number of Hashira who died because of this was countless.

The reason is simple: people like that cannot resist Muzan's blood. They always want to become stronger, even if it means becoming a Demon, they don't care.

But Xia Shang was different. From Giyu Tomioka's mouth, Sakonji Urokodaki learned that Xia Shang not only didn't fear Muzan but was also very disdainful of him.

If the other party had said those words without knowing about Muzan, Sakonji Urokodaki would only think this person was unreliable and arrogant.

But since the other party knew about Muzan and could easily defeat Giyu Tomioka, it showed that he was very confident in his strength. For someone like this, once their confidence is shattered by Muzan, they will not hesitate to crave stronger strength.

The only way to break this cycle.

Is to constantly increase his strength and give him a rising Passage.

This way, even if he is defeated by Muzan, he won't choose to absorb Muzan's blood to become stronger immediately, but will consider cultivating his Breathing Style to its peak.

(End of Chapter)