"Hey, Qingshui, why'd you stop?"
Murata saw Qingshui suddenly halt, so he gripped his Nichirin Blade tighter and looked around warily.
"Lucky me, I found a slightly stronger one. Wonder if it can take more than one of my blows."
Qingshui pointed forward.
Murata followed Qingshui's gaze.
In the dark, mist-shrouded forest, a colossal Demon shadow, like a small mountain, was approaching them.
It was a massive, corpulent Demon, its head, neck, and body wrapped in countless withered, branch-like arms.
Its bizarre appearance, combined with its enormous size, was quite imposing.
The Hand Demon.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear!
"You… you're kidding! How can a large, deformed Demon that's undergone such a huge transformation be here at the Final Selection?!"
When Murata saw the Hand Demon, his teeth chattered, and he stammered, his face etched with pure terror.
"Forty-three, forty-four…"
The Hand Demon held up several hands in front of itself, continuously counting.
"I ate one tonight, so it should be forty-five. No, no, there are two more, so it should be forty-seven."
The Hand Demon looked at Qingshui and Murata with its brass-bell-like yellow eyes.
Murata surprisingly had the courage to draw his blade and stand beside Qingshui.
"Qing—Qingshui, I don't know why such a powerful Demon is here, but Demons of this level are simply not something we rookies can handle! We have to work together to have any chance of escaping. You're stronger, so you have a better chance. I'll cover you."
Murata's voice trembled, but his tone was quite resolute.
In this world, most members of the Demon Slayer Corps truly possessed impeccable character…
However, joining the Demon Slayer Corps meant choosing to cast aside life and death, dedicating oneself to the greater cause of fighting Demons. This in itself was the initial selection process.
"Struggling is useless. Just let me eat you obediently~"
The Hand Demon loosened the hands wrapped around its neck and mouth, revealing more arms, which then flew towards Qingshui and Murata all at once.
"Murata."
"Huh?"
"You're a good man."
As his words fell, a streak of azure blade light swept across the void.
*Wind Breathing, Eighth Form: First Violent Wind Slash!*
The gigantic, spiraling wind blade instantly shredded the Hand Demon's attacking arms, followed by its body and head.
In less than a breath's time, the Hand Demon was completely torn apart, turning into a rain of blood that quickly dissipated into dust.
Murata stared in shock.
"Well, that's a shame. This guy looked strong, but it turns out he's not very durable. Another one-hit kill."
Qingshui shook his head regretfully.
"Alright, it'll be dawn soon. Let's quickly find the next Demon. It'll be good practice for you."
"Oh, huh?"
Murata froze again, then hurriedly followed.
Qingshui didn't go insane like Sabito, wildly slaying Demons all over the mountain.
He simply wandered around, killing Demons he encountered, and when he found a suitable one, he let his newly acquired junior, Murata, practice on it.
Even so, by the end of the night, nineteen Demons had died by Qingshui's hand, including the most powerful Hand Demon.
Perhaps because of this, more people passed the Final Selection this time.
"This time, a total of nine members survived."
Ubuyashiki Amane, holding a golden Nichirin Blade and accompanied by two children, looked at the survivors descending the mountain with delighted surprise.
Most of them looked disheveled, some even seriously injured. Only Qingshui was impeccably dressed, looking calm and collected, as if he were on a leisurely trip.
Next to him was Murata. He had wisely stuck close to Qingshui, and apart from some dust on his clothes from battle, he wasn't injured at all, not even a tear in his clothing.
Nine survivors was already the highest passing rate for the Demon Slayer Corps' selection in recent years.
Could it be because of Qingshui?
Ubuyashiki Amane's beautiful eyes turned to Qingshui.
As Ubuyashiki Kagaya's wife and assistant, she clearly knew Qingshui's identity, and also knew that the Trainers of both Wind and Thunder Breathing Styles had praised Qingshui highly in their letters to Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
"Everyone, congratulations on passing the Final Selection. Now, please choose a Corundum here. The chosen Corundum will be sent to the Swordsmith Village today to forge your Nichirin Blades."
Ubuyashiki Amane pointed to the neatly arranged Corundum on a table.
Corundum, as it was called, was the ore extracted after the initial refining of Scarlet Ore.
Qingshui casually picked a large piece and walked towards Ubuyashiki Amane.
"Is there something you need, Qingshui-kun?" Ubuyashiki Amane asked with a smile.
"Just one piece of ore, or even one sword, might not be enough for me. May I ask if Senior Amane could have the swordsmiths help me forge the parts on these blueprints?"
Qingshui took several blueprints from his basket and handed them to Ubuyashiki Amane.
The parts were for a semi-puppet, armor-like mechanism Qingshui had designed to assist him in combat.
Without any Scarlet Ore Iron or a method to process Scarlet Ore himself, Qingshui could only entrust these tasks to the swordsmiths of the Swordsmith Village.
"I will ask the swordsmiths for you, Qingshui-kun, and have them help create these," Ubuyashiki Amane said. She quickly scanned the blueprints, finding them to be incomprehensible weapon mechanisms, and then put them away.
The Demon Slayer Corps occasionally had swordsmen with unusual requirements for their Nichirin Blades.
For instance, the Stone Hashira, Himejima Gyomei's Nichirin Blade was a flail and axe-blade connected by a chain, and in the future, the Love Hashira, Kanroji Mitsuri's, would be a soft sword like a ribbon.
"In that case, I'll leave it to Senior Amane." Qingshui nodded slightly to Ubuyashiki Amane.
She nodded back in return, then raised her hand to the sky.
Instantly, several crows flapped their wings and flew down.
"Qingshui-kun, this is Douzi. From now on, she will be your Kasugai Crow for communication with the Demon Slayer Corps. Oh, and Douzi likes green beans, especially garlic-flavored ones," Ubuyashiki Amane said to a slender but seemingly goofy-looking Kasugai Crow.
"Caw—do you have green beans?" Douzi, the Kasugai Crow, tilted its head and asked.
Ubuyashiki Amane handed a bag of beans to Qingshui.
Qingshui sprinkled some green beans into his palm and fed the Kasugai Crow.
The crows here were incredibly intelligent. He wondered if they were naturally so, or if they had undergone special training by the Demon Slayer Corps.
If it was the latter, Qingshui wanted to get his hands on that training method.
Crows were good Summoning Beasts in the Ninja World. Konoha ninja, especially the Uchiha, often kept them, and some Ninjutsu that worked in conjunction with crow Summoning Beasts had even been developed.
Before that, however, he could try to train the Kasugai Crow into a Summoning Beast.
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