Who are you calling a stable boy?!

Tanjiro glanced at Zheng Jing, who had a hearty expression, and then at Akaza, who had a blank expression. He opened his mouth.

"I think the child who sent the blood and letter to Miss Tamayo probably can't carry too many people."

As they were talking, Tanjiro pulled out a calico cat from somewhere.

The cat carried a small wooden box on its back, and had a white talisman with black characters pasted on its body.

“That’s true. Here’s what you do: write a letter to Miss Tamayo and tell her to make preparations so that we can use this kid as an experiment and develop a drug that can turn demons back into humans as soon as possible.”

As he spoke, Zheng Jing inserted the needle directly into Akaza's neck, drawing out three full bottles of fresh upper arm blood.

"Here, blood, and... paper and pen. Do you want me to get you something else to cushion it?"

"No, no, no! That's not necessary!"

After receiving the three blood samples and the paper and pen that Zheng Jing took out of his backpack, Tanjiro sat down cross-legged, laid the paper on his lap, and began to write a letter.

“...I remember now, Tamayo, you're the one who escaped.”

Akaza shifted his gaze from Tanjiro, who was writing the letter, to Zheng Jing and said in a low voice, "You want to use me as experimental material?"

"Yes, in drug trials, it's always better to have the living than the dead."

Zheng Jing looked at him with a smile.

"Any objections?"

"...After it's done, you have to keep your promise."

"Don't worry, you're dead."

Zheng Jing patted Yiwozuo on the back with a grin.

"Even if you don't want to die then, I'll still send you to see the King of Hell."

A moment later, Tanjiro finished writing the letter, put the blood sample into the box on the kitten's back, and asked it to help deliver another letter. Then he watched as the kitten, carrying the letter and the box, silently disappeared into the night.

"Old Zheng, so you know Miss Tamayo? But I didn't know her before..."

Since agreeing with Tamayo to help collect the blood of powerful demons, Tanjiro has maintained contact with Tamayo like pen pals, and he would occasionally tell Tamayo about his recent situation in the form of letters.

This naturally includes mentions of Zheng Jing.

A human who can kill a Lower Moon Demon with his bare hands, without using a Nichirin Blade or sunlight...

Tamayo would certainly be interested in such a human being.

She even mentioned in her reply that she hoped to meet Zheng Jing and have a face-to-face talk with him if given the opportunity.

“I know her, but she probably hasn’t met me yet. Don’t be nervous, Charcoal Boy, Ah Yao actually knows quite a bit about Ms. Zhu Shi.”

"—My lord?!"

It took Tanjiro a few seconds to realize who Ayao was, as Zheng Jing had mentioned.

"It's a long story, oh, and this part seems to be related to your Hinokami Kagura..."

The sheer volume of information flooding his mind in such a short time left Tanjiro momentarily at a loss as to where to begin asking Zheng Jing a question.

"Old Zheng."

Just then, Kyojuro's voice came from the woods beside the road.

"Resolved?"

"Yes, the Upper Moon demons are indeed extraordinary."

Kyojuro, whose clothes were torn in several places, walked slowly towards them.

Jade Pot's Blood Demon Technique is versatile and has almost no obvious weaknesses. Even its physical body has a strengthening mode with a hardness comparable to diamond.

However, no matter how much one boasts about the versatility of their Blood Demon Arts and their unique demonic body, without battle experience gained through countless trials, these things are nothing but decorations.

This is the dark reality of the millennia-long war between humans and ghosts!

"I have no problems on my end."

Approaching Zheng Jing's side, and looking at Akaza, Kyojuro smiled and asked Zheng Jing, "So, old Zheng, explain the current situation."

Simply put—

Zheng Jing opened his arms.

"Time is about to accelerate."

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Have you ever seen how to kill a turtle?

“Sun Breathing... I never imagined that Tanjiro’s family Kagura was related to the origins of breathing techniques.”

Sitting in the quiet room, Kagaya Ubuyashiki couldn't help but sigh after listening to the report.

"However, what's even more surprising is Zheng Jing."

"To capture an Upper Moon, or even the third Upper Moon... This is truly the first time in hundreds of years since the Twelve Demon Moons appeared that a Pillar has accomplished such a feat."

"Our investigation into the background of His Excellency Zheng Jing has yielded very little."

Beside Kagaya Ubuyashiki, his wife Amane Ubuyashiki spoke softly.

"To be precise, our investigation so far has yielded no results regarding Lord Zheng Jing's whereabouts and experiences before his first encounter with Tanjiro Kamado..."

"Oh."

Hearing her husband suddenly chuckle, Ubuya Shiki Tenon looked at him.

"Amane, I suddenly remembered the story of Kintaro."

"Kintaro...you mean Sakata Kintoki?"

"In the degenerate age when evil spirits roamed, a brave and powerful man with immense strength suddenly appeared. His origins were mysterious. He joined a team formed to slay evil spirits and eventually, together with his companions, he destroyed the evil spirits that were harming the world."

Kagaya Ubuyashiki smiled and said, "Sounds like a very nice bedtime story, doesn't it?"

Seeing her husband's smile, Tianyin couldn't help but smile back.

She held her husband's hand.

"I think Kirito and the others will like it."

"So......"

Kagaya Ubuyashiki turned his wrist and gently cupped his wife's hand in his own.

"Let's do as Zheng Jing suggests."

-

“That’s right, Yao has agreed, so Shinobu, don’t glare at me like that. The cooperative relationship between Ms. Tamayo and the Demon Slayer Corps has existed since ancient times. She’s also an intelligent and beautiful woman. You two, well, you’ll definitely get along well.”

Sitting cross-legged in front of Ren, Zheng Jing scratched behind his ear and smiled at Ren.

"You jest, Lord Optimus Prime. How could I be angry?"

He fiddled with the syringe in his hand, refusing to look at Zheng Jing, a smile on his face.

Seeing her like this, Zheng Jing squinted and turned his head away, muttering something under his breath.

"Sigh, I told you, the more beautiful a woman is..."

Did you say anything?

"no!"

"......call."

Seeing Zheng Jing look up at the ceiling, I remained silent for a few seconds before sighing.

“Lord Zheng Jing, if Ms. Tamayo’s character, abilities, and goals are truly as you say, I will naturally strive to cooperate with her. Furthermore, with the Lord’s orders in place, I will cooperate with Ms. Tamayo, so you don’t need to come here in person.”

"Oh, I'm not worried that you're being difficult."

Zheng Jing waved his hand.

"I'm here to deliver experimental materials."

As he spoke, he untied a small cloth bag hanging from his waist and pulled Akaza's head out of it.

"Here."

"...This is the Upper Moon Three that the crow mentioned?"

Seeing Akaza with only his head remaining and his eyes tightly closed, Shinobu's eyebrows twitched.

"Couldn't you have sent him in a more... ordinary way?"

"Isn't this convenient?"

Zheng Jing shrugged.

"With just one head, you can simply put it in a bag and take it anywhere, and it even provides sun protection. If you need other parts when you get there, just let it grow back on its own. Right, dog?"

As he spoke, he poked Akaza's face.

"Hey, wake up, dog, we're here."

"..."

After glancing at Akaza, who remained motionless, Shinobu quietly raised his eyes and stared at Zheng Jing.

"Uh, don't rush, ah, don't rush, it's just a small technical problem... Hiss, wait a minute, the internal force I injected should only prevent this kid from regenerating his body, it shouldn't burn him stupid... And he didn't even drool?"

Muttering to himself, Zheng Jing lifted Akaza with his left hand, looked him over, then stretched his right shoulder, narrowed his eyes, and was about to swing it around and deliver a crisp slap to Akaza's face—

"...Am I also responsible for keeping you company and keeping you entertained?"

Before Zheng Jing's large hand fan came down, Akaza opened his eyes and opened his mouth.

"You're awake but won't say a word? You're not giving me, Old Zheng, any face, are you!"

Grabbing Yiwozuo's cheeks, Zheng Jing pinched and shaped his bitter and resentful face into a fox and then a pig.

"In short, until the winner in life comes to meet me, I'll be here with this kid to help you and Ms. Tamayo with your research. It's not that I'm worried he'll have any bad ideas, it's just in case, after all, he himself hasn't been able to break free from Muzan's curse."

"A winner in life?"

"Yinzhu, working with the super rich brother Ayao, and having three beautiful wives who love him, he has achieved success in both career and love. Isn't he a winner in life?"

As he spoke, Zheng Jing casually placed Yiwozuo, who had closed his eyes again, on the table.

Shinobu blinked briefly to make sure Akaza's neck wouldn't leave any bloodstains on the table, then asked Jung Kyung, "Are you going to meet up with Mr. Uzui here? May I know why?"

"Kibutsuji Muzan is a turtle bastard."

Zheng Jing curled his lip.

"He took down two Upper Moon demons at once, one of whom was the dog that he expected to single-handedly kill the entire Demon Slayer Corps. Who knows if he'll just chicken out and retreat back into his shell. But I have no interest in wasting time on this kind of guy... Shinobu, have you ever seen someone kill a tortoise?"

Ren shook his head.

"When a turtle is on the chopping board, it usually retracts its head. But if you poke its head with chopsticks at this time, it will most likely bite. At this moment, just pull and chop!"

Zheng Jing made a gesture of pressing down with one hand and making a knife gesture with the other, while speaking and forcefully waving his hand.

"You mean, we're going to lure Muzan Kibutsuji into a trap? But..."

She pursed her lips.

"Are you trying to use the Kamado siblings as bait?"

"what?"

Zheng Jing was taken aback, then suddenly straightened his face.

"Hey, what kind of person do you think I am? Do you think I would do something like this? Nonsense!"

"......That?"

"Blue spider lily".

"Blue spider lily?"

"For thousands of years, Muzan has been trying to overcome the sun, but he obviously doesn't have Kars's amazing wisdom to create the Stone Mask, such an ancient technology. So he can only rely on the records left by the doctor he killed back then to find a medicinal herb called Blue Spider Lily to solve his fear of sunlight."

This was the first time Ren had ever heard of such a secret.

She didn't think Zheng Jing would make a fuss over something so important.

"Zheng Jing, you..."