Muzan: My daughter can't be that weak!

"Hey! I'm talking to you. Pay up, you hear me? If you can't afford it, go find your dad!"

Seeing that Yukina was keeping her head down and not speaking, Yota assumed she was scared, so he became bolder and stepped forward, reaching out to push Yukina's shoulder.

However, his hand had not yet touched the pink fabric.

Yukina then raised her head.

Just then, the moonlight broke through the thin clouds, its cool glow illuminating her raised face.

Yang Tai's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, all his words stuck in his throat.

The boy in blue behind him screamed "Ah!" and his legs went weak. He only managed to stay upright by holding onto a pile of debris next to him.

Those eyes... those once clear and bright red eyes, now turned a terrifying crimson.

Her black curly hair, which had been draped over her shoulders, had somehow reached her waist, moving on its own without any wind, and the ends of her hair had turned blue in an instant.

But this is not all.

What's even more chilling is that large patches of bluish lines, resembling those of a living creature, rapidly spread across her originally fair and delicate face, from her forehead and cheeks to her jawline.

"ah--!!!"

Yang Tai finally regained his voice and let out a short scream.

He abruptly withdrew his hand, staggered backward, and his pupils contracted sharply in fear.

"Ghosts... what the old woman said is true... there really are ghosts that eat children..."

The boy in the blue shirt was chattering.

"Yang, Yang Tai, didn't you say you could kill a ghost with one punch?"

"Are you stupid? How could I possibly defeat a ghost?!"

"Run!"

The two boys turned around almost simultaneously, scrambling and crawling as they tried to escape the alley and the little girl who had suddenly turned into a ghost.

Just then, Yukina raised her right hand.

She tilted her head, seemingly confused, her crimson eyes fixed on her outstretched fingertips.

An icy blue light gathered there, and then a small, translucent blue flower trembled and bloomed above her fingertip.

The petals are outstretched, and the stamens are delicate.

The flower appeared silently, emitting a blue glow in the dimly lit alley.

Muzan, who had been standing with his arms crossed and observing indifferently, suddenly widened his eyes the moment the blue flower appeared.

That shape...that color...

It was something he could never forget.

Surprisingly... the Blood Demon Art of the Demon is the Blue Spider Lily!

A search spanning centuries, across countless eras and across countless regions, for something...

At this moment, it blossomed before his eyes in a way that was completely beyond his expectations.

Although it was formed from blood demon magic.

An uncontrollable surge of ecstasy erupted within him at that moment.

This proves that the blue spider lily exists somewhere in this world, waiting for him to discover and pick it!

As long as we find it... as long as we get it...

Sunlight!

The sunlight that he had hated, feared, and craved for centuries would no longer be able to harm him in the slightest.

He will overcome the final weakness of this cursed body and achieve true perfection and eternity.

Muzan's chest heaved violently. Although he forcibly suppressed this overt reaction, a light was surging deep within his eyes.

He looked at the blue flower that was swirling gently on Xue Nai's fingertip, and it was as if he saw his future walking under the sunlight.

It's only a matter of time before all of this happens.

He will definitely find it.

Just as Muzan was overwhelmed with emotion, Yukina instinctively blew on the blue flower at her fingertips.

The petals swayed.

"Rustling..."

The next moment, several vines, as if they were alive, spread out from under the calyx, moving extremely fast and instantly reaching the walls and ground of the alley.

They intertwined into a net, blocking Yang Tai and the boy in blue's escape route.

"No...don't come any closer! Don't kill me! Don't eat me!"

Yang Tai slumped to the ground, scooting backward with his hands and feet, his face covered in snot and tears.

He had long lost all his previous ferocity.

"I was wrong, I really know I was wrong! I shouldn't have hit that dog! You, you can eat the one next to me, it's smaller than me, the meat is more tender, I'm too old, waaaah..."

Upon hearing this, the boy in blue was so angry that he forgot to shed tears, and his voice cracked.

"Yota, you bastard! Last time you got caught stealing money from your mom to buy candy, it was clearly your idea, but you blamed it on me! And you, you..."

He grew angrier and angrier, and in his anxiety and fear, he pointed in the direction Yuta was pointing at Yukina and began to incoherently complain:

"Ghost, Lord Ghost! He, he's the bad guy! He's the worst! He said he'd punch you to death! He even threw a stone at that blind old woman's cat at the street corner! He, he deserves to die!"

Yang Tai hadn't expected his companion to turn on him like this. He lunged forward, trying to cover the blue-shirt boy's mouth: "You're talking nonsense! Shut up!"

The two of them got so engrossed in their fight that they forgot all about being afraid.

Yukina slowly walked over.

The demon transformation did not completely change her physical appearance; she still looked like a little girl.

Her crimson eyes, blue hair, and strange patterns on her face made her look like a ghost from a ghost story.

She crouched down to be at eye level with the two boys who were wrestling.

A smile slowly appeared on that little face.

However, at this moment, that sweet smile only frightened the two boys.

"Do you know you were wrong?"

"Okay! Okay! We really understand!"

Yang Tai answered eagerly, nodding vigorously, tears streaming down his face, "We'll never bully the puppy again! Never again! Please forgive us!"

Xue Nai's gaze slowly shifted to the small yellow dog not far away, barely breathing and barely able to whimper.

Her eyes widened for a moment, as if she saw something else through the little dog.

"But..."

She spoke softly, as if talking to herself, or perhaps asking the two boys.

"What's done is done...it can't be changed...the puppy is dying...so pitiful..."

Her voice trailed off, filled with confusion.

"Why can't we decide our own life or death? We're always letting others decide for us, whether we're sick or dying..."

She recalled very vague and distant fragments.

The cold room, the bitter smell of medicine, the persistent weakness and pain in my body, the adults' soft sighs and pitying glances...

That feeling of helplessness and despair—no matter how hard you struggle, you can only watch helplessly as life slips away, with everything beyond your control…

Even if you say you're not afraid countless times, who isn't truly afraid?

Why is it always like this?

Why is it always the one who suffers?

Why... can't I decide the outcome myself?

A thought, like a new sprout breaking through the soil beneath the ice, suddenly emerged.

Yes, what if I were in charge of deciding the outcome?

A deep blue light flashed in the depths of his crimson eyes.

She was no longer confused or lost.

Xue Nai stretched out her finger and gently touched the dying little yellow dog with her fingertip, then slowly turned to the two boys in front of her who were so frightened that they almost fainted.

"Then... how about we change the result?"

She tilted her head, and the strange yet innocent smile on her face deepened.

"I'm giving you the puppy's pain and injuries... so that... it won't be hurt anymore."

"Right?"