Infinite: Start as a ghost

“With this number and scale, it seems that simply dodging won’t be enough.” Jiang Jiu chuckled. “In that case, let’s end today’s training here.”

As he spoke, he swung his hands forward rapidly, responding to the blows of countless giant hands.

"Boom boom boom".

Countless arms were crushed into powder and turned to ashes.

"What...you've been hiding your strength all along?" Hand Ghost exclaimed in shock.

"Otherwise, do you think you could have lasted this long?" Jiang Jiu sneered. "Have you never considered that you're actually quite weak?"

"Impossible, this is impossible!" the Hand Ghost retorted, "You can't possibly be stronger than me."

"I am the overlord of Mount Fujikaze, the king of this place, and the strongest being!"

As he spoke, he extended countless giant hands once again, but this time, unlike before, he merged all the giant hands together to form an even more terrifying arm.

Faced with such a ghostly hand, Jiang Jiu also became cautious.

The Hand Demon's power is over fifty, only about twenty points less than his. Such a charged attack could very well surpass his power.

But it takes time to build up power. While the Hand Ghost was gathering his strength in his arm, Jiang Jiu also began to build up his power.

"Good timing! Let's see who is truly the strongest in Tengxi Mountain."

Jiang Jiu spread his legs apart, squatted down with one leg in front of the other, leaned his body slightly forward, and concentrated all his strength in his right hand.

A few seconds later, both of them were nearly at their peak, ready to continue.

A collision could erupt at any moment.

"boom……"

The loud impact caused the surrounding ground to tremble.

Countless birds and beasts that were roosting in the distance fled, and some of those that were closer were shaken to the ground and died from the fall.

"What happened, an earthquake?"

"What's going on? Why did the ground suddenly shake? There was no warning at all."

"Holy crap, this wasn't caused by a battle between powerful individuals, was it?"

"How is that possible? There's no such terrifyingly powerful being. If there were a demon of that level, only high-ranking members of the Demon Slayer Corps would need to intervene. How could it be used for selection?"

"Yes, then it was just a normal earthquake."

"Nonsense, is that even a question? Are you out of your mind?"

The examiners began to discuss among themselves.

After the battle ended, Jiang Jiu, unusually, began to pant, the sharp pain in his fist telling him how fierce the fight had been.

Despite being out of breath, he was completely unharmed, and then looked down at the other person with a cold gaze.

In contrast, the Hand Demon now only had its head remaining on the ground.

His eyes were dull, and he murmured, "I... have lost."

Chapter 9 Time Flies

Several days later, Giyu Tomioka knelt before Sakonji Urokodaki.

"I'm sorry, Master... because of me, Makomo died in the battle of Fujikasake Mountain."

Although Urokodaki Sakonji was sad, he did not blame Tomioka Giyuu. Instead, he sighed and said, "It's not your fault. It's just fate."

"You have passed the selection and proven your beliefs. If I don't accept you, I would be letting down Makomo's sacrifice. I acknowledge you as my disciple."

"I'm sure they'd be comforted in heaven."

Giyu Tomioka shook his head: "No, I am not qualified to be your disciple. I will participate in the next selection tournament and I will definitely kill that demon."

Murata knelt before Urokodaki: "Please instruct me in swordsmanship, Lord Urokodaki. If I can become even stronger, Lord Makomo will not have to sacrifice himself for us."

Urokodaki Sakonji sighed, "Fine, fine, you can train here with me this year."

Sabito rushed over upon hearing the news, grabbed Tomioka Giyuu, and glared at him angrily: "You killed Makomo?"

Giyu Tomioka was unable to refute this.

Sabito punched him hard on the head: "Why don't you just die? Why is it Makomo who died?"

Urokodaki Sakonji stopped him: "Stop. The dead are gone. Makomo sacrificed herself willingly for them. The fault does not lie with either of them."

The other disciples were also furious and enraged at the two.

This situation planted a deeper seed for Giyu Tomioka's later inability to speak fluently.

On Mount Fuji, Jiang Jiu's fame has soared ever since his fierce battle with Shou Gui Na.

All ghosts would automatically retreat when they saw him.

Jiang Jiu ignored them; he was testing the poison.

Yes, you read that right, he was testing for poison, testing the poison of wisteria flowers.

To be honest, while wisteria flowers do have an effect on ghosts, they are not fatal.

Of course, it's hard to say what would happen if other medicinal herbs were added.

Similar to how mosquitoes dislike mosquito coils, mosquito coils can repel mosquitoes, but they cannot kill them completely.

Jiang Jiuzheng strongly suppressed his disgust and aversion and tried to approach the wisteria tree.

"Damn it, I can control my urge to eat people, I don't believe I can't control my disgust and aversion."

He dug a hole here and picked a lot of wisteria flowers to put in the hole.

During the day, I would hide in this cave and rest amidst the wisteria blossoms.

At night, he would go around causing trouble for other ghosts.

After all, he had nothing to do to pass the time except fighting.

Even without eating human flesh or drinking ghost blood, he discovered that he could improve his physique through exercise, but this method was too slow.

Another period of time has passed.

Jiang Jiu didn't know exactly how long it would take.

There's no point in calculating time now; exercise is his only way to pass the time.

His goal is to become stronger.

During that year, the Hand Ghost and a host of other ghosts were tormented by him, their cries of agony filling the air.

Some time ago, the Hand Demon could no longer satisfy his training of "evasion".

So he forced a group of ghosts to attack him. Of course, the Hand Ghost had to participate.

At first there were ten ghosts, then twenty after half a month, thirty after two months, and fifty after half a year.

About a year later, all the demons of Mount Fujikasa joined forces and could no longer harm him in the slightest.

In terms of physical skills alone, he is probably no less than the Twelve Demon Moons (at least that's what Jiang Jiu thinks).

Years of training have improved his physical fitness slightly, with each of his four attributes increasing by 10 points.

The year he spent adapting and practicing had also given him a very strong resistance to wisteria flowers.

Now, the only threats to him are the Nichirin Blade, Nikko, and Muzan Kibutsuji's Blood Manipulation Curse.

Of course, as long as he doesn't utter the words "Muzan Kibutsuji," Muzan Kibutsuji won't really notice him.

When he drank the blood of the first demon, Muzan learned of the existence of the demon Jiang Jiu.

But that's just knowing.

When you see someone's name online, or hear about something they did, you'll forget about it as soon as you turn your back, unless you care about it a lot.

That's exactly how Muzan treated him.

To become an Upper Moon demon?

He didn't think about that; what he wanted was to absorb Muzan and directly replace him.

As for system tasks?

Heh, the system only told him to kill all the Demon Slayer Corps members. It didn't specify a time limit for completion, nor did it stipulate that he couldn't kill demons, nor did it stipulate that he couldn't replace Muzan.

As long as he lives, the ghost will always exist.

That's how the bug is fixed.

While the other ghosts huddled in corners trembling with fear, he was already strolling leisurely through the wisteria grove, enjoying the scenery as he went.

It must be said that the scenery of the wisteria grove is indeed very beautiful and enchanting.

Unbeknownst to him, he had reached the border.

"Hmm, we've arrived already?" Jiang Jiu chuckled. "If it weren't for waiting for Tanjiro, I could have left by now."

"This wisteria tree and its flowers are no longer effective against me."

Suddenly, he saw some movement in front of him.

"Someone?"

So he quickly hid.

They discovered that the visitors were the children of Ubuyashiki Kagaya, namely Ubuyashiki Teriyaki and Ubuyashiki Hina.

"It's them?" Jiang Jiu was overjoyed.

Their arrival signifies that the final selection process for the new round is about to begin again.

"It must be Sabito and his group this time..." Jiang Jiu thought to himself, "If we wait another year, it will be Tanjiro."

His eyes gleamed slightly; the day of his departure was drawing ever closer.

Chapter 10 The Hare and Righteousness

Jiang rescued people from the shadows, watching as one by one the trial participants walked into the depths of the forest.