Chapter 81: Mental breakdown
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Muzan and the others all looked gloomy. After working so hard and almost succeeding, the enemy suddenly became more energetic again. Their mentality was struggling to withstand this kind of blow. More importantly, they couldn't understand how the defectors did it. Devouring demons, traveling through space, and now showing the ability to restore physical strength—they were all demons, so why were defectors so special?
Even Muzan was beginning to doubt his own knowledge. In his thousand years of life, he had never seen a demon as special as the defector. However, this only made him more determined to capture the defector. Once caught, these secrets would all belong to him.
Muzan's clothes were torn as a thorn whip emerged from behind him.
…
The river flowed slowly, with a small bridge spanning both ends. Two figures appeared on the bridge. On the left was a young man with white, spiky hair, his chest open and body covered in scars. The young man on the right wore a two-colored haori, handsome but expressionless.
"Did you find anything there?" Sanemi asked.
Tomioka shook his head. "No, I searched all around and found no trace of Mr. Aomura."
Sanemi was silent for a moment. "It's been a whole day. There's no point in searching anymore. I'll go back and report to the lord."
Tomioka said, "I'll continue to search nearby."
The two left separately.
Butterfly House.
Kanae was changing the dressing of a patient.
Bang.
Suddenly, the door was pushed open hard. Shinobu walked in, glanced at her sister, and said nothing.
"Rest well and be sure to take your medicine on time," Kanae instructed seriously. After leaving the room, her face turned serious. "Shinobu, what happened?"
Shinobu frowned, her expression serious. "Something happened to Mr. Aomura!"
Kanae immediately said, "Impossible! With Mr. Aomura's strength, except for Muzan Kibutsuji…"
At this point, her words stopped abruptly.
Shinobu handed over the information in her hand. "It should be Muzan Kibutsuji. He set a trap, and Mr. Aomura may have stepped into it accidentally."
Kanae didn't speak. She took the information, quickly browsed it, and fell into a long silence.
"Sister?" Shinobu asked.
Kanae came back to her senses. "I don't believe that something like this would happen to Mr. Aomura. Shinobu, you will be responsible for the Butterfly House. I will go and investigate the situation myself."
"No problem, leave the Butterfly House to me," Shinobu nodded seriously.
Kanae turned and saw Kanao standing at the door. "Don't worry, the teacher will be fine!"
She ruffled Kanao's hair, nodded to Shinobu, and hurriedly left the Butterfly House.
…
Infinity Castle.
The battle continued, and more areas were destroyed. Aoki's physical strength was once again close to exhaustion, and his regeneration rate was getting slower and slower. Including Muzan, all the demons felt an emotion called impatience rising in their hearts.
It had been more than a day since the battle began. Except for Muzan and Kokushibo, who kept using their blood demon arts, the other Upper Ranks had consumed a lot of physical strength, and their injuries had greatly increased. They didn't care about ordinary injuries, but the injuries caused by the defector were different. Even if they could hold on physically, their spirits were very exhausted.
Even martial arts enthusiasts like Akaza and swordsmen like Kokushibo had never experienced such a battle that lasted more than a day and night. Aoki's physical exertion was greater, but his spirit remained excited. Firstly, he knew that he was getting closer to his goal. Secondly, he was the target of hunting; if he dared to slack off, he would really die. The predator was just looking for a meal, but the prey was fighting for life, so the mentality was naturally different.
Whoosh!
A thorn whip lashed out like a sharp blade, severing Aoki's left arm from the elbow. Muzan Kibutsuji's lower body whip was too fast. When his physical strength was intact and his concentration focused, he could dodge, but now that his physical strength was reduced, he would be hit if he was distracted for a moment.
"Rat, continue to recover your strength!" Kibutsuji Muzan's eyes were cold and cruel. The battle was far more difficult than he imagined. The opponent was not strong but was really like a Rat, slipping around and unable to be caught. This made his anger continue to accumulate.
"Since you want to see it, then let's do it."
A smile appeared on Aoki's tired face. He "space shuttled" away, took out the last Qi and Blood Pill, and swallowed it quickly.
Boom!
The aura on his body quickly recovered, and the arm that was slowly regenerating instantly returned to its original state. The eyes of Muzan Kibutsuji and the others froze, and then their faces turned crazy. It's endless, right? If they continued like this, they doubted that they would be able to defeat their opponent before exhausting their own physical strength.
"Ah!"
Muzan Kibutsuji roared, a ray of light burst out from his body, and a powerful shock wave suddenly spread. The surrounding Upper Ranks were knocked away, and nearby buildings collapsed instantly. Aoki felt as if his body had been torn apart, and all the cells in his body were trembling.
"Is this the blood demon art of Muzan Kibutsuji in his prime? It's really terrifying."
The arms turned into whips, and the whips on the upper and lower body were all abilities that evolved from Muzan Kibutsuji's control over his body. Muzan Kibutsuji's real blood demon art was this unknown shock wave.
"It's very lethal to humans, but unfortunately, it has limited effect on demons!"
As soon as the shock wave disappeared, Aoki's body returned to normal. With a thought, he pulled away. At the moment his figure disappeared, Muzan Kibutsuji burst out with another powerful shock wave. The Upper Ranks that had just stood up were knocked down again, all vomiting blood.
"Well done, keep going!" Aoki watched from a distance.
Muzan Kibutsuji's face was extremely ugly. This was a huge shame! Besides almost being killed by that man years ago, this was the biggest shame he had ever encountered. However, even if he admitted that the man was powerful and more like a monster than him, what was this Rat?
Muzan Kibutsuji's powerful aura rose, and his eyes were completely drowned in murderous intent. The strength of this ant was not worth mentioning, but it had many abilities that even he was helpless against.
"Let me see how many times you can recover! If it doesn't work once, then twice. If it doesn't work twice, then three times, four times, five times… I don't believe your physical strength can be infinitely restored! Mouse, I have enough time to play this boring game with you. Struggle as much as you want. As long as you are in this cage, one day, I will definitely catch you!"
Aoki nodded secretly. Muzan guessed correctly. His Qi and Blood Pills were used up. If his physical strength was exhausted again, there would be no way to recover. However, it didn't matter. His goal had been achieved.
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