The next day, Hatsune woke up in a daze, struggling to sit up with the support of the floor, and glanced around.
The brown-yellow wooden walls, the bamboo basket hanging on the wall, everything was exactly as he had seen last night, confirming that everything that happened wasn't a dream.
How fortunate he was to have survived.
Hatsune lowered his head and couldn't help but smile a little.
Though he survived the catastrophe, his body was in terrible condition. His head was dizzy, his mouth tasted bitter, his stomach was queasy, and the worst part was that his whole body ached as if it wasn't under his soul's control.
Hatsune struggled to get up from the floor. Just the simplest movements made him dizzy, his vision blacking out. If he hadn't been holding onto the wall, he might have collapsed back onto the floor.
Hatsune held onto the wall, carefully feeling his way towards the door. The short distance felt like it took an eternity. Finally, he reached the door and leaned against the wall, sitting on a stone stool.
The sunlight was blinding. Judging by the height of the sun, he guessed it was around eight or nine in the morning.
The sunlight, the air, the trees, the flowers, everything was so peaceful and quiet, so beautiful.
But who would have thought that just yesterday, on this very mountain, there was a vicious demon, and he almost became its meal?
Thinking back, he still felt a chill down his spine.
A blurry figure appeared at the entrance to the path down the mountain.
The figure wore gray-white hemp clothing, had a robust build, walked steadily, and held a short-handled hoe in his right hand with a bamboo basket on his back. In no time, he reached the front of the cabin.
Seigen Ryoubei walked straight into the cabin. As he passed by Hatsune, he chuckled, "Hey, rude boy, finally awake."
Hatsune leaned against the wall without responding, smelling a faint scent of blood and fish from the bamboo basket.
Sure enough, Seigen Ryoubei quickly returned after entering the cabin, carrying a basin of water. Floating in the basin were a dead mountain chicken and a carp.
Seigen Ryoubei grabbed a low stool, sat close to Hatsune at the door, and began to bleed and pluck the chicken, filling the area with a strong smell of blood.
"I specially caught these for you this morning. They say old hen soup is good for the body. We don't have old hens here, so we'll have to make do with mountain chicken, but it should work just as well."
Hatsune, already queasy, felt even dizzier and more nauseous from the smell of blood. He couldn't help but suspect the old man was doing this on purpose.
"Can't you clean them somewhere else? Why do you have to do it here?" he said, retching and leaning against the wall.
Seeing Hatsune's distressed state, Seigen Ryoubei laughed heartily, feeling smug.
"Haha, look at you, such a wimp. Weren't you tough last night?"
Hatsune thought, as expected, the old man was deliberately taking revenge.
After laughing, Seigen Ryoubei moved a bit further away to clean the chicken, ensuring Hatsune couldn't smell the blood but could still hear their conversation.
The two fell into a brief silence.
"Hey, rude boy." Seigen Ryoubei broke the silence first. Sitting in silence with a living person felt uncomfortable.
"Why did you decide to fight the demon yesterday? You're just a novice who hasn't seen many demons, and without a Nichirin blade, the only result of fighting a demon is getting eaten. What were you thinking?"
Hatsune didn't expect the old man to be curious about this. Talking about it made him inexplicably angry, and he sneered.
"Hmph, you dare ask. A demon entered your territory, and you, the mountain guardian and cultivator, did nothing. Meeting you guys is my bad luck. And that woman, if she wasn't going to accompany me, why leave such a useless message when she left? It was completely unnecessary."
Hatsune vented all his frustrations, leaving Seigen Ryoubei stunned.
After a moment, Seigen Ryoubei regained his composure and angrily retorted, "Nonsense! Who said this mountain is my territory? I'm not some mountain god. Even if there are demons, it's none of my business. I'm just a cultivator, not a full-time demon slayer. Should I follow demons around all day? If cultivators go slaying demons, what are you guys for?"
Listening to Seigen Ryoubei's rant, Hatsune vaguely understood the role of a cultivator.
Based on the old man's explanation, blaming him was indeed unfair. Falling Dragon Mountain was vast and far from human settlements, so encountering a demon was not unusual.
If there was blame, he realized it was his own overcomplication of the situation.
The two fell silent again, Seigen Ryoubei quietly cleaning the chicken's entrails.
After some time, Hatsune broke the silence.
"I thought the demon was part of the test. That woman dropped me at the foot of the mountain, saying, 'I can only take you this far; the rest you must walk yourself.' Plus, a demon appearing in a cultivator's territory seemed suspicious."
"So, you thought it was a test I set for you?"
Hatsune's silence was his answer.
"Running away would have been foolish. Once exhausted, the demon would catch up, and there'd be no escape. I originally planned to buy time, hoping you'd intervene, but you didn't show. I guessed it wasn't a test and was a real encounter. By then, running was not an option. I had to use my martial skills to temporarily restrain it and signal you with its screams. That's... that's the whole story."
Though Hatsune spoke lightly, Seigen Ryoubei could imagine how dire the situation had been.
Dragging such a battered body while fighting a demon for so long required more than strong will and survival instinct. The boy's calm mind and precise situational analysis were admirable.
Muzan Kibutsuji had vanished for nearly a century, only resurfacing after Yoriichi Tsugikuni's death.
This lapse spanned almost a generation, during which the Demon Slayer Corps had grown lax. Smart individuals like Hatsune were rare in today's Corps.
"Hmph, you're pretty smart. In such a dire situation, you still managed to think clearly, using the demon's screams to signal for help. No wonder I bothered saving you. Have you encountered demons before?"
Without some experience, how could he handle it so smoothly? Most people would be terrified, let alone fight.
Thinking of demons, Hatsune recalled the night his sister was taken, and his wounds ached as if burned.
"Sort of. These injuries are from demons. Twice, I survived demon attacks. It seems I'm destined to kill demons."
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