Anime/Manga: Bankai Starting with Demon Slayer

He didn't need to understand Makijuro's psychological trauma. Since the other party was unwilling to help him, he only needed to approach it from other angles.

The goal must be achieved.

Rengoku Kyojuro looked up at Asuka, and the golden-red flames rekindled in his resolute eyes.

Although the flames still bore traces of heartache, they were purer and hotter than before.

"Well said! Asuka!" He flashed a smile befitting the Flame Pillar and replied emphatically, "Then let's begin today!"

"Today?" Shinobu Kocho's brow twitched. Both of them seemed to enjoy acting recklessly.

"Great! There are three guidebooks on the Breath of Flame. It's better to start reading them early! Haha!"

Sunlight streamed into the historic courtyard, shimmering on the wine residue remaining on the shards of wine jugs.

Amidst the clamor of the wind, a new flame is quietly brewing in the Purgatory mansion.

Chapter 68 Different Paths, Same Destination

Afternoon.

Asuka sat cross-legged on the tatami mat in the Rengoku family dojo, casually placing the bastard on her lap.

Opposite him sat Kyojuro Rengoku, his back ramrod straight as a pine tree, his eyes closed, breathing slowly.

"Whoosh—" Asuka exhaled a long, hot breath, and a warm current flowed through her body.

Hearing this sound, Kyojuro nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad! Asuka, your Flame Breathing is becoming more and more proficient. It's hard to believe that only a few days have passed!"

"Feel the burning sensation in your chest, like fuel pumping through your entire body! The core lies in an explosive will!"

Following his guidance, Asuka continued to calm herself and feel the flow of energy within her body.

He has been staying at the Purgatory for the past few days, and his progress in practicing the Flame Breathing technique is much faster than he had expected.

Although he often unconsciously uses the "wind breathing" technique, causing two different breaths to clash in his lungs, making him feel suffocated.

But after many repetitions, the painful memories gradually taught him how to correct this habit.

In particular, he discovered that wind is a formless, free-spirited, and sharp blade, while flame is a fiercely burning sword that pursues explosiveness and the ultimate.

Although the two are quite different, they are also somewhat similar.

"Although the way they exert force and the points of flow are different, their sense of rhythm is very similar," Asuka said calmly.

“Exactly!” Rengoku Kyojuro replied loudly, “Asuka! Your senses are incredibly sharp!”

"My lord once told me that all breathing techniques today originate from the initial breathing techniques of the Warring States period, so it's normal that they have something in common!"

At this point, Asuka opened her eyes and asked curiously, "Then why don't we just practice the Initial Breathing Technique directly?"

Kyojuro Rengoku opened his eyes, his golden-red pupils somewhat confused: "I can't learn it! This breathing technique has been lost!"

Lost to history? Asuka frowned slightly, listening to the other party continue explaining:

"I don't know the specifics either; all I know comes from snippets of information from the Duke."

"Legend has it that in the very distant past, the Demon Slayer Corps suffered a devastating catastrophe, nearly being wiped out!"

"In that brutal battle, which we cannot even imagine, all the swordsmen who had mastered the Breath of the Beginning perished! And with them, this tradition was utterly severed!"

He touched the "Guide to the Breath of Flame" beside him: "Although all we can inherit is the embers that arose after that catastrophe... I believe that even so, we can still slay demons!"

"As the saying goes, those who explore the ultimate path will all find their destination in the same place! Whether it's the Breath of Flame or any other breathing technique, they are all powerful weapons for slaying demons!"

The bird remained indifferent, feeling a pang of regret that it hadn't been able to directly understand the most primal breathing technique.

He stood up, nodded slightly to Kyojuro, and turned to walk towards the toilet outside the dojo.

In this respect, the inconvenience of the Purgatory House's traditional samurai decor style becomes apparent.

At the Butterfly Mansion, Asuka used a Western-style toilet for the first time. Although it was awkward, it was quite convenient.

Before that, when they were in Hayama, Asuka would just go to the public toilets and didn't think anything of it.

But the purgatory uses public toilets, and you have to turn right a few steps after leaving the house, or you can only use the toilet in the house.

To avoid causing trouble for the purgatory, Asuka decided it was better to resolve the matter outside...

The afternoon sun, carrying a cool breeze, streamed through the corridor.

The air was filled with the cool scent of grass and trees, and a faint smell of aged wood.

The bird had just turned the corner of the quiet corridor when it stopped in its tracks.

Rengoku Makijuro's tall figure sat not far in front, blocking him under the corridor.

The flame-patterned feather robe, symbolizing his former status as the Flame Pillar, was draped wrinkledly over his shoulders, and several empty wine jugs lay scattered at his feet, indicating that he had started drinking shortly after waking up.

Asuka has been paying attention to this through her spiritual pressure perception these past few days.

Uncle Maki Hisashiro had been secretly watching their training.

He never approached Asuka and Kyojuro. Sometimes he would lean against the wall from a distance, drinking and watching them. Other times he would just doze off in the corridor, listening to their breathing.

I don't know what An is thinking.

As the bird was about to silently circle around him, the other party suddenly waved his hand at him without warning.

pat!

A tattered book with a red cover was roughly thrown at the bird's feet:

"Take it." Maki Juro's voice was hoarse, each character sounding as if it had been steeped in sake: "...Since you insist on wasting your time learning useless things, then take a good look!"

"Take a good look... just how useless this so-called breathing technique really is!"

Asuka bent down and picked up the tattered book—"The Book of the Twenty-First Flame Pillar"

After that, Makijuro stopped talking, tilted his head back and took a big gulp of sake. His Adam's apple bobbed violently for a moment before he stood up and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor with unsteady steps.

When Asuka returned from the restroom and handed the Book of Flame Pillar to Kyojuro, his expression clearly changed.

"This is... a book that Father often reads?" He was somewhat confused and shocked, seemingly not understanding why Asuka would receive this book that her father never let go of.

Asuka carefully placed the book between the two of them and casually said, "He threw this to me. Let's take a look and not waste time on the Breath of Flame."

“.....Is that so?” Kyojuro asked with a serious expression as he gently opened the old-fashioned red cover.

A strong, musty smell of old paper wafted over.

The first few pages, with their old yet clear and neat handwriting, probably record the life and achievements of the Flame Pillar of the Hellfire Clan, as well as early descriptions of the Flame Breathing technique.

However, after Kyojuro's fingers had turned more than a dozen pages, his movements suddenly stopped.

The pages are no longer continuous.

Large sections of the page were torn off in an extremely brutal manner, leaving the content in a tattered state, completely unreadable.

“This is…” His gaze trembled slightly, filled with incredulous shock: “How could this be? Did Father destroy it?”

The torn edges were jagged, and large sections of blank space were shocking.

As a result of these tears, some chapters or sections of the book disappeared, while others had key parts torn out midway through the narrative, abruptly ending the text.

This is not only a destruction of family history, but also a desecration of the hard work of generations of Flame Pillars.

As Kyojuro's trembling fingers scrolled to the next page, Asuka's sharp eyes spotted something unusual: "Wait."

He reached out and found a piece of scrap paper tucked inside a torn page.

Coincidentally, he also found similar items in some other torn pages.

These straw papers were folded and stuffed inside, and were made of a completely different material than the paper used for the books themselves.

Upon opening it, it was filled with distorted strokes and illegible handwriting. Much of the content was dark gray, indicating that the writer had been lazy and only started writing after a while, which led to this situation.

Amidst their increasingly bewildered and confused gazes, Kyojuro and Asuka exchanged glances and finally understood that these scraps of paper contained parts of the missing chapters.

The records contained within are mostly accounts from previous Flame Pillars regarding the First Breath.

And the Flame Pillar of the Sengoku period, and a conversation with a special person—

[Ji Guoyuan Yi]

Chapter 69 The Ghost King's Nightmare

Let's rewind to three months ago.

Tokyo, formerly known as Edo, is now the heart of the country and the political center.

Inside a luxurious Western-style mansion somewhere in the city, a formidable shadow is lurking.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, the garden plants are meticulously trimmed, forming an elegant landscape with several Western-style sculptures.

Inside, expensive Persian carpets were laid out on the floor, and there were luxurious yet cold ornaments and paintings everywhere, which showed the extent of the owner's wealth.

This is the residence of Hirota Taizo, the head of research and development at Suzuki Pharmaceutical.

His project mainly focused on the development of plasma preparations for emergency treatment on the battlefield or for exploration in deeper areas.

At this moment, he was pointing out the pharmacological effects of different plants to his adopted son, Junguo, by referring to a book.

Suddenly, Jun-guk, dressed in an elegant white shirt and appearing extremely well-mannered, twitched his brow and stretched out a long yawn: "Yawn..."

"Haha, Jun-guk, are you sleepy? Well, you've been studying until late at night, you're such a diligent kid." Hirota smiled and patted Jun-guk's head, then closed the book and put it away. "Get some rest, we'll continue tomorrow."

For Hirota Taizo, Shunkuni was the perfect adopted son.

He is knowledgeable, kind, and exceptionally ambitious.

The only pity is that he has a skin disease and can't be exposed to sunlight. He can only study at home by himself and has no friends to play with.

Thinking of this, Hirota's gaze became somewhat profound:

"I need to urge those experimental projects to produce the effective medicine as soon as possible! I can't let my Junguo never see the sun!" he thought.

After he left, Jun-guk gracefully got up from the bedside, tidied his smooth, short black hair, and stood in front of the French windows.

In an instant, his pale purple eyes suddenly turned, revealing his scarlet pupils!

A figure appeared before him in a disheveled state, kneeling heavily on one knee on the thick carpet, with one hand covering his neck.

Upper Moon Three - Ookata.

His strong body still bore the marks of a fierce battle, especially the gruesome wound on his neck.

Even with the speed of the upper arm's recovery, two days have passed and the fatal wound torn by the burning Nichirin Blade of the Asuka has not yet fully healed.

The edges of the wound were unnaturally charred, and you could see granulation tissue formed from dark red ghost blood trying to suture the wound, but it was blocked by a faint, red and black fighting spirit, making the progress extremely slow.

Akaza did consider tearing this piece of flesh off directly, enduring the pain for a while, and then regenerating.

But his fighting instincts fueled a fierce determination to fight back, and he wanted to rely on his regenerative abilities to overcome the suppression, which is why he has survived until now.

At the same time, this is also a humiliating mark he has branded himself—having been defeated by others, he must get his revenge!

“Yowoza.” Jun-guk’s childlike, clear voice was devoid of warmth, cold and piercing, like a scalpel cutting through glass: “Report.”

"Yes, Lord Muzan..."

Indeed, the Jun Kingdom before me is none other than the Demon King, Kibutsuji Muzan.

He once again changed his body, infiltrating the pharmaceutical company's home as an adopted human, all in order to use these scientists to help him find a way to overcome the sunlight.

Muzan himself is extremely cowardly and selfish. He is unwilling to share even a single blood sample, for fear that someone will discover his weakness.

Once the homeowner has exhausted his usefulness to him, he will not hesitate to completely eliminate him and conceal his existence...

Akaza didn't dare to raise his head, and began to report in a low voice: "...The Mugen Train mission failed. The Lower Moon Nightmare was slain, but the targets, Tanjiro Kamado and the demon girl Nezuko, were not captured..."

"The reason for the failure? Don't make me rack my brains, Akaza," Muzan said coldly.

"...We encountered the Flame Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps and...a Pillar-level swordsman who calls himself Arashi...he's very strong..."

"Strong? They're just two pillar-level beings, what's so strong about them?"

Wu Can was genuinely angry; in his view, it was only natural that ghosts were stronger than humans.

Even if there were nine pillars, let alone two, they would still be nothing more than a bunch of good-for-nothings.

It wasn't the first time he'd made the Demon Slayer Corps flee in terror, so naturally he was very dissatisfied with Akaza's performance.

"Tell me, Akaza...aren't you being too lazy?"

"You're always talking about pursuing the pinnacle of martial arts, but haven't you tasted fresh, vibrant flesh and blood for far too long?"

"Have you become weaker? Has your strength declined?"