Demon Slayer: Strength Gained with Every Swing of the Sword

Chapter 41: Chapter 42: The Demon Who Tampered with Memories



Night quickly descended, and Feng Yu was full of confidence this time.

He had addressed his weaknesses, and with Xiao Bai by his side to assist, he was certain that if the ghost appeared to kill anyone, it would be dealt with swiftly.

"Xiao Bai, let's go!"

Feng Yu drew his Nichirin Sword and stepped out onto the street.

Xiao Bai stood on Feng Yu's shoulder, its two tails swaying rhythmically. Its orange-yellow eyes glowed with an eerie light.

Meanwhile, Feng Yu began to release his spiritual energy.

In an instant, all unusual occurrences within a five-hundred-meter radius were within Feng Yu's sight.

This time, Feng Yu had learned to control the release of his spiritual energy, gradually letting it flow out and scanning the area carefully.

The night was shrouded in mist!

Soon, the lights in the houses of the town began to flicker and go out. The streets darkened, with only a few faint, lingering lights barely holding on, as if they might extinguish with the next breeze.

"It's here, Xiao Bai! Let's move!"

Feng Yu finally spotted something unusual in one of the houses.

A pair of blood-red eyes slowly opened in the darkness.

A sickening, foul odor filled the room instantly.

The couple and their small child in the room were already deep in sleep, unconscious.

A pair of ghostly hands slowly extended from the shadows, about to touch the heads of the couple.

Bang!

A white figure flashed by.

The ghostly hands, suspended in mid-air, were severed and fell onto the wooden floor.

"Ah… Who's there?"

The ghost shrieked in pain.

"Ying."

Xiao Bai slowly approached the ghost, proudly lifting its head and glaring at the creature with contempt.

"Damn fox! You'll pay for this!" the ghost yelled, and the body that had been hidden in the darkness finally revealed itself.

To Feng Yu's surprise, the ghost had two identical heads. One was shut tight, giving Feng Yu the uneasy feeling that something dreadful would happen if that eye ever opened.

As Xiao Bai saw the full apparition of the ghost, the amusement in its eyes grew stronger.

"Ahh… You damn fox! How dare you mock me!"

"I'll kill you! I'll skin you alive!"

The ghost shrieked fiercely.

"Blood Ghost Technique: The Cage of the Undead!"

One of the ghost's heads slowly opened its eyes.

Feng Yu felt a powerful force surge toward Xiao Bai, and anxiety welled up inside him.

"Ying!"

Xiao Bai gave a soft cry.

Its two tails began to glow with white light, and the moonlight above seemed to be drawn in. A beam of light shot toward Xiao Bai from all directions, growing brighter with each passing moment.

"Ying!"

With a sudden leap, Xiao Bai sprang into the air.

Where Xiao Bai had been standing, a cloud of black smoke appeared. Feng Yu could hear mournful wails coming from within, like the cries of lost souls.

Xiao Bai easily dodged the ghost's Blood Ghost Technique.

At the same time, two terrifying energy pulses formed at the tips of Xiao Bai's tails, which it flicked towards the ghost.

The energy orbs shot toward the ghost with incredible speed.

Bang!

The energy orb exploded.

The massive energy caused the entire room to erupt, and thick smoke cleared to reveal broken walls and shattered debris.

The ghost seemed to have been caught off guard, or perhaps it had never anticipated that a fox could possess such powers.

The entire body was blown to pieces by the energy sphere.

However, it wasn't long before the ghost's body began to reassemble, restoring itself to its original form.

By now, Xiao Bai had already jumped onto the roof of another house, wrapping its large tails around the family inside and gently lowering them to the ground.

"Damn… damn… damn fox!" the ghost screamed in madness.

"My cake… my cake… how dare you touch it! Unforgivable!"

The ghost's body began to crack open.

Bright red blood poured out like it was free-flowing, and an overwhelming aura shot up into the sky, raising clouds of dust around it.

"Brother!"

Two pairs of blood-red eyes opened. Xiao Bai instantly felt as though its body had been bound, unable to move.

"Ying!"

Xiao Bai cried out.

From a distance, Feng Yu knew it was time for him to step in. It was no longer safe for Xiao Bai to continue testing its limits.

"Total Concentration, Breath of Light, First Form, Moonlight Slash!"

A flash of Sword light cut through the air.

Everything in its path was sliced in two.

Bang!

Feng Yu's sword was blocked.

"Hm?"

Feng Yu felt a sense of confusion.

As the smoke cleared, an ominous sensation washed over him.

Feng Yu quickly retreated a few meters, watching warily as the ghost that had blocked his attack revealed itself.

What he saw was a massive creature, its body covered in twisted, root-like muscle fibers, holding a large, blood-red axe.

The ghost's head was the second one, the one that had been shut. The eyes remained closed, but the danger Feng Yu felt from it was unmistakable.

Xiao Bai, having freed itself from the ghost's earlier attack, landed in front of Feng Yu, also watching the terrifying creature warily.

Feng Yu hesitated, unsure whether to make a move. But the ghost didn't hesitate. Its body disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared right in front of Feng Yu.

"So fast!"

Bang!

Feng Yu drew his Nichirin Sword to block, but was still sent flying several meters away.

The tremendous force that hit his hands made it clear how immense the ghost's strength was.

"That axe…"

The more Feng Yu looked at the large cleaver in the ghost's hand, the more it reminded him of a head-chopping axe.

Even though his spiritual energy had grown immensely, Feng Yu could still hear the cries of the damned souls within the Sword when he made contact with it.

The ghost, seeing that its first strike had failed to injure Feng Yu, immediately charged forward for another attack.

The surrounding buildings were destroyed by the fierce battle waves. Xiao Bai continued to rescue the townspeople, evacuating them to safety.

What was strange was that, despite the chaos and destruction, not a single person had woken up.

Xiao Bai had managed to move all the residents to a safe distance.

Seeing this, Feng Yu let out a sigh of relief.

"At last, I can go all out. I hope you don't disappoint me!"

"Total Concentration, Breath of Water, Sixth Form, Vortex Reversal!"

As Feng Yu swung his sword, water began to spiral around it, pushing the ghost back with every slash.

The ghost's massive form began to show signs of injury.

"Good. Now, let's create some distance…"

Feng Yu smiled.

At this moment, he too felt the surge of combat desire, as this was the first time he had fought such a monstrous creature.

He decided to hone his swordsmanship in this battle.

"Total Concentration, Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"

Feng Yu gathered his strength.

The demon, in turn, swung its massive cleaver.

Bang!

The two Swords clashed.

A powerful shockwave spread from the point of impact.

Then, the battle intensified as both the human and the demon clashed relentlessly. The demon's speed rapidly increased, as though the previous exchange had just been a warm-up.

Feng Yu grew more excited upon noticing that the demon was mimicking his movements.

Moreover, its speed was gradually matching his.

"Although you're strong, I'm stronger!" Feng Yu declared.

"Total Concentration, Light Breathing, First Form: Moonlight Slash!"

Feng Yu's speed surged again, more than doubling. A flash of white light passed, and a deep gash appeared on the demon's chest.

"Ahhh!"

The demon howled in pain. Its head, previously motionless, began to scream.

"Unforgivable... Unforgivable..."

A hoarse voice came from the demon's head.

But Feng Yu noticed that this voice seemed strangely familiar—almost like the voice of the demon before it had fully transformed.

As Feng Yu pondered this, a sudden wave of danger swept over him.

He saw blood seeping from the demon's body, and then, to his shock, eyes began to form—blood-red eyes, all staring at Feng Yu with intensity. For a moment, it felt like Feng Yu himself was being drawn into their gaze.

"It's all your fault... It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been killed and eaten by the demon! Give me back my life!"

Suddenly, Feng Yu saw in his mind's eye the face of the girl's father, the drunkard who had been stripped naked that fateful night.

Now, the drunkard was drenched in blood, with only his head remaining, and he cursed Feng Yu viciously.

Feng Yu didn't want to engage with this vision. He sensed it was an illusion, so he swung his sword at the image of the drunkard's head.

Swish

It felt like slicing through watermelon as Feng Yu cleaved the drunkard's head in two.

But, soon, the two halves of the head began to shift.

They transformed into a younger version of the drunkard.

Feng Yu's temples began to throb as he clenched his teeth and swung his sword again. The two heads turned into four, and they grew progressively younger.

All four heads stared at Feng Yu with furious glares, continuing to curse him.

"Shut up, you're driving me crazy!" Feng Yu shouted.

Yet, the voices didn't stop. In fact, more voices joined in.

Feng Yu soon realized that the heads of other demons he had slain before began to appear around him.

"Die already!"

"Die already!"

"Give me back my life!"

More and more heads appeared—some familiar, some not.

Feng Yu started to feel a sense of urgency.

What he didn't realize was that his memories of the people whose heads were appearing around him were slowly fading away.

"Hehehehe..."

The mocking laughter echoed around him.

Feng Yu knew he couldn't delay any longer. It felt like something was slipping away from him, though he couldn't remember what it was.

An overwhelming sense of fear crept in as Feng Yu took action.

"Total Concentration, Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"

Suddenly, Feng Yu stumbled and came to a halt.

"What's going on... I can't remember how to perform this move?" he wondered.

But soon, the memory of Water Breathing, Third Form, came rushing back. He disregarded it and, using his agile movements, rushed toward the demon.

"Total Concentration, Light Breathing, First Form: Moonlight Slash!"

His mind was most clear with the Light Breathing technique, while his once-perfect mastery of Water Breathing seemed to have vanished from memory.

But before he could strike, the demon blocked his attack with its massive cleaver.

"Hehehe..."

The demon's eyes opened, and it looked at Feng Yu mockingly.

Tap

Feng Yu heard a sound.

Then, to his horror, he noticed that his body was starting to grow pairs of eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" Feng Yu was bewildered.

The demon seemed to exude an aura of eerie strangeness.

At that moment, a voice broke through his confusion.

"Master... please wake up... Don't let the demon control you any longer..."

"Whose voice is that... Why does it sound so familiar... I can't remember..."

Feng Yu strained to recall the voice's owner but couldn't.

"Master... It's me, Xiao Bai... please wake up..."

A small white fox appeared in his mind, and fragments of forgotten memories began to flood back.

"I remember now..."

In the real world, Feng Yu's eyes shot open.

He saw the once-snow-white, soft fur of the fox now stained with blood.

"Master... you... you're finally awake..." Xiao Bai collapsed in his arms, barely alive.

"How dare you... How dare you hurt my Xiao Bai!"

Feng Yu now fully understood why the people in the small town hadn't woken up—the demon's influence had prevented them.

The demon retreated in fear upon seeing Feng Yu's sudden surge of strength.

"No... I'll die... I have to run..."

The demon's blood-red eyes darted around, searching for an escape route.

But Feng Yu wasn't about to give it the chance.

"Total Concentration, Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Droplet Wave Stab!"

With near-instant speed, the pure green Sword of Feng Yu's sword thrust into the demon's head.

The demon, noticing it had been struck, let out a sinister laugh.

"Hehehe... This is exactly what you brought upon yourself..."

It raised its cleaver to strike Feng Yu.

Just as the cleaver was about to descend upon him, Feng Yu's face curled into a smile.

"Total Concentration, Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"

In a swift motion, the Nichirin Sword changed direction, and with a gentle swipe, the demon's head was severed.

The action seemed to slow down a hundredfold as the demon's eyes widened in disbelief that its head had been cut off.

"I... I won't accept this!"

The demon screamed.

But, in an instant, it turned to ash.

Ding "Congratulations! You have gained 500,000 Sword Strikes!"

Ding "Congratulations, host, for completing the task. The system is beginning its upgrade!"

...

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