Who are you calling a stable boy?!

Tanjiro wanted to ask Zheng Jing why he chose to fight alone, when they could have faced the strong enemy together.

He even recalled Zheng Jing's words when they first met: "There's no need to talk about chivalry with evil spirits and heretics."

But when the time came, looking at Zheng Jing, he could only say with some helplessness, "We can fight against him together."

"He kept banging on and on all the way here. How can I tolerate him? I just learned the Dragon Elephant Prajna Kung Fu!"

Zheng Jing raised his arms and gave Tanjiro a standard forward bicep contraction.

"To me, he's just a nobody on the street!"

As he said this, he suddenly lowered his hand and patted Tanjiro on the shoulder.

"So stop thinking about all that nonsense. I'm the one who wants to fight, and I'm the one who wants to kill ghosts. If something really happens, how can you, a kid, be blamed? Besides, I'm such a good fighter, kicking someone to death on the side of the road is nothing, what could possibly happen!"

Tanjiro blinked, unsure how to respond.

"By the way, where's Shan-zai?"

"I asked him to go out and check on Masakazu and Teruko first."

"Alright, let's go out too. I've already seen the two kids' older brothers out. I bet everyone's waiting for us outside by now."

Everyone was indeed waiting for them outside.

However, there is one more person in this "big family".

"It's so noisy, all chattering away!"

Inosuke raised the knife in his hand and yelled at Zenitsu, who was tightly hugging the wooden box.

"There's something fishy going on in there, don't you understand?!"

"This...this kind of thing—"

Zenitsu shouted with his eyes closed, "I knew it from the beginning!!"

"But if it's Tanjiro, then Tanjiro must be hiding something... I... I want to ask him myself, so—"

Zenitsu opened his eyes and glared at Inosuke, his legs trembling as he refused to budge an inch.

"Get out of my way! Don't touch this box!"

"Noisy!"

Lowering his blade, Inosuke took a step forward and kicked Zenitsu in the stomach—

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound.

The familiar pain came from his buttocks, and Inosuke, who was flying again, couldn't help but reach behind him with both hands.

However, compared to the last time, this time the blow to his buttocks was harder and faster, so much so that Zenitsu, distracted by the wooden box, was unable to react in time.

"We meet again, Pigsy."

Watching Inosuke tumble and roll several times before finally landing, Zheng Jing withdrew his right foot that had been kicking Inosuke's butt, raised an eyebrow, and smiled at Inosuke.

"What, are you trying to steal a wife and take her home?"

Chapter Fourteen: Why is the courtyard so wicked!

"You bastard—"

With a somersault, Inosuke sprang to his feet, brandishing his twin swords, and charged straight at Zheng Jing.

"You're not getting away this time!"

As he spoke, the boy slashed at Zheng Jing's knees with the blades in his hands, one on each side.

"Oh?"

Upon seeing this, Zheng Jing immediately took two steps back, letting the tip of the knife almost graz his trouser leg.

With his feet pushing off the ground, Inosuke pressed his advantage, his muscular physique, which seemed beyond his years, bulged as he wielded his two long swords with incredible speed.

In an instant, it seemed that Zheng Jing, who was unarmed, was forced to dodge left and right and was unable to fight back!

"Zenitsu!"

Upon reaching Zenitsu's side, Tanjiro pressed down on his shoulder, glanced at Zenitsu to make sure he didn't seem injured, and then moved his lips, only managing a muffled "thank you."

When he and Zheng Jing reached the entrance of the mansion, they happened to hear Shan Yi's last few shouts.

"Tanjiro..."

As if Tanjiro's hand had drained his last bit of strength, Zenitsu leaned against the box and slumped down.

"—Wait! No, no, no, no! Everything's fine here!"

Immediately afterward, he froze, screaming as he pointed towards Zheng Jing and shouted, "Stop that pig-headed monster! He's... he's stabbing people with a knife!"

Yes.

Tanjiro's slightly softened expression immediately tightened again.

He turned to look at Zheng Jing.

Although the strange man with the pig's head was no match for Zheng Jing in terms of physique, one was wielding a blade while the other was unarmed, so anyone would think that Zheng Jing was at a disadvantage.

In fact, Zheng Jing has been dodging the pig-headed monster's attacks and has not been able to fight back even once.

and......

(Impressive skill!)

With just one glance, Tanjiro realized that his opponent was exceptionally skilled.

At first glance, it seemed to have no rules, but each move was extremely swift. What surprised Tanjiro even more was that the person's attack point was extremely low.

Logically speaking, lowering the body to this extent should affect agility and stability of the center of gravity.

However, this person seemed to be used to this method, and there was no awkwardness in his every move.

And then there were those oddly shaped Nichirin Blades...

In Tanjiro's view, Zheng Jing was not so much fighting a person with a knife as he was fighting a ferocious four-legged beast!

"Zenitsu, could you please take good care of this box for me?"

Having realized that his opponent was quite capable, Tanjiro certainly couldn't just watch Zheng Jing continue to fight bare-handed against the sword.

Before Tanjiro could even step forward, Zheng Jing suddenly turned his face away, continuing to dodge the twin swords while waving and smiling at him and Tanjiro.

"Oh, no need! I'll just play along with him!"

"What are you looking at!"

With a furious roar, Inosuke twisted his waist, which was almost touching the ground, and with a thrust of his hands, he flicked the two sharp knives forward like wild boar tusks, about to stab Zheng Jing in the groin.

Clearly, he was still resentful about Zheng Jing spanking him twice.

However, Zheng Jing seemed to have anticipated Inosuke's move.

Suddenly, Zheng Jing jumped up, dodging the two sharp knives, and even landed on top of Inosuke's head!

With both hands, he grabbed Inosuke by the neck, and with his feet, he hooked Inosuke's waist. Under the influence of gravity, Zheng Jing's muscular body plummeted down, instantly slamming Inosuke to the ground.

"Oh? What's wrong? Look at all that fat on you, even I can't carry you?"

"Who—who said I—"

Inosuke, who had intended to take the opportunity to stab Zheng Jing with the back of his knife, immediately tried to get up after hearing this.

But as he braced himself, he felt as if he were carrying a statue of Niou made of stone, rather than a person made of flesh and blood.

No matter how hard he tried, even the two swords slipped from his grasp, and he couldn't lift himself up even when he reached out to support himself.

"Tsk tsk, wait a minute, looking at you like this, is there some kind of gym deep in the mountains where you can train your strength to the bone?"

"you you......"

"You, you, you, what do you mean 'you'? I can't even breathe, and you're still giving it back to me?"

Having already loosened his grip and crossed his knees, Zheng Jing, sitting on Inosuke's back with his arms clasped behind his back, slapped Inosuke's pig-like head with a gentle, undulating motion. The force of the slap caused Inosuke's body to tense up at first, then go completely limp.

"Young man, you're really strong. If I didn't have the ability to carry a thousand pounds, I would have really let you carry me."

After patting Inosuke's head, Zheng Jing stood up again.

"Old Zheng! Are you alright?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing. What could possibly be wrong with me? Hehe, it's just that I need this kind of mischievous brat to have fun teasing."

With a grin and a wave of his hand, Zheng Jing looked at Tanjiro, then at Zenitsu, and then at the three siblings who had already reunited.

"Alright, I'm going to perform a ritual for the victim. You can chat with Zenitsu. Tie this kid up first. If he wakes up and makes a fuss, I'll tease him. Hey! After this is all done, send the little guys down the mountain. You should also take care of your injuries."

Upon hearing this, Tanjiro, who was about to offer to help with the heavy lifting, quickly interjected, "Injuries? My injuries are all—uh!"

Zheng Jing withdrew his finger from Tanjiro's rib wound and looked at Tanjiro, who was now squatting down in pain.

"What's so great about it? No matter how powerful my Ripple is, it's not capable of bringing someone back to life or healing them in the blink of an eye. At most, it can help alleviate your pain and prevent your injury from worsening. You really have to thank the last doctor who treated you, Charcoal Boy. Otherwise, even if I, Zheng Aniu, had the miraculous healing skills, I probably wouldn't have been able to keep you in pain for so long."

After saying that, Zheng Jing created ripples and poked Tanjiro again.

“At times like this, the child should just rest quietly and go.”

-

After chanting sutras to pray for the souls of every skeleton that could be found in the mansion, Zheng Jing buried each of the victims one by one.

By the time Zheng Jing finished doing all this, the sun had already set.

Inosuke, who woke up during this time, did indeed have the idea of ​​causing trouble again.

However, after failing to bend Zheng Jing's little finger in an arm-wrestling match with both hands, Inosuke, though still noisy, stopped attacking people in his own way.

As for the three siblings, they said goodbye and parted ways with everyone after the group descended the mountain and returned to their town.

Following Zheng Jing's suggestion and with the crow urging them to rest, Tanjiro and his companions decided to head to the nearest Demon Slayer Corps base to recuperate.

Zheng Jing did not intend to go.

During this rest period, Tanjiro and the others will stay at rest until they are fully recovered.

Even with his help, it would still take at least four or five days to recover.

This amount of time can be considered as time Zheng Jing gave to the Demon Slayer Corps.

Or, to be more precise, to give the Demon Slayer Corps's master, the one with the best voice, time.

He had instructed Tanjiro that he was still somewhat interested in the Demon Slayer Corps, so if he were to give a mission report, he shouldn't hide anything about him.

Besides, these four or five days here will also give Zheng Jing time to go home and digest the gains from this ghost-hunting trip.

In the precautions section of the Tianwu Furnace interface, Zheng Jing once saw a note that advised against players using the Tianwu Furnace in projection mode.

the reason is simple.

Doing this actually caused the panel to ask him for extra courtyard coins as a fee!

Holy crap! How could the yard be so messy?!

Chapter Fifteen: Zheng Jing has been an honest child since he was little.

The three-headed demon, the fake fat monk, and the fake thin monk were about the same level, and each of them paid Zheng Jing 450 experience points and 300 courtyard coins as a fee for their salvation.

As one of the former Twelve Demon Moons, although it was optimized by the scumbag boss because of its poor appetite, as the saying goes, even a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Taiko Tatsuki Hibiki Kai generously gave Zheng Jing 800 experience points and 500 garden coins as a fee for the exorcism.

In other words, Zheng Jing earned 1700 experience points and 1100 courtyard coins from this trip.

Having savings suddenly reach four figures inevitably gives one a feeling of relief after hardship.

打开面板，看一看职业等级提升的所需经验值，1级升2级要300经验值，2级升3级就要900经验值了。

1700 experience points may seem like a lot, but if you use them here and there, they can be used up in the blink of an eye.

Scratching his cheek, Zheng Jing's gaze lingered on his professional level and the Heavenly Martial Furnace.

Honestly, this cycle of going out to fight, then coming back to boost his strength, and then going out to fight again gave him a strange sense of déjà vu. He always felt like a beginner gacha character in some mobile game...

Why can't we get a veteran like Master or Doctor to max out his level instantly?

Is Zheng Jing unworthy of it?

Sigh, tears soaked the braised pork trotters rice, I vowed to earn a million.