Chapter 45: "Soul pillar” took office

"What's going on?! My body, is so tired… the wound, it shouldn't be, why are they healing so slowly!"

Hand demon looked down, with its violently shaken eyes, at the wounds on his chest and abdomen.

The wounds that should have completely healed, at the moment was still bleeding fresh blood, the muscle tissues near the wounds seemed to be affected by some unknown force, and thus unable to heal, instead it shrunk and withered into dead cells.

Even the strong energy inherently possessed by demons also seemed to have been slashed apart by some force, leaving him with barely any strength to activate its multiple demon hands.

"You, what have you done!?"

The hand demon let out a shrill terrified scream while covering the wounds that was constantly bleeding, and staggered backwards, wishing to immediately escaped from this terrifying evil star…

What kind of evil breathing technique was this? Why was it even stranger than the demon's technique?

"According to legend, gods living high in the sky was free and happy, but they were subjects to five calamities of decline. The last five forms of my soul breathing were inspired by this."

Maple sheathed his sword while looking at the hand demon who had fallen in illusion, and said to himself.

"As the death calamity of the gods arrived, the cloth would wither, the body polluted. This slash of mine, cut away half of your spiritual essence. Outwardly, your life span and energy would be halved, while your energy collapsed. There will be no more of your exaggerated healing power, the so-called 'immortality'."

After looking at the horrific injuries on the hand demon, Maple nodded his head, quite satisfied with the power of this move.

"This blade wound is sufficient to drop his strength to freezing point, I have 'babysitted' to this point, Tanjiro, if you are still unable to pass this point, don't blame me for changing my plan and 'starting from scratch'."

The reason why Maple tried so hard to "pave the road" for Tanjiro was due to the entanglement between the young man and Muzan.

Looking at the "original work" in his memory, it had to be said that for Maple to have the highest efficiency in slaying the powerful demon and digest the [murderer] potion, Tanjiro's involvement was an indispensable "gear of destiny".

Even after studying pharmacology for a period of time under Shinobu, Maple had a guess…

Demon king's blood, this kind of mysterious and powerful "material", should be able to solve many problems.

With this possibility, Maple could not let the "plot" went even more off course. In other words, only when there was a perfect plan, the "plot" was allowed to go out of control.

Maple knew, Muzan was one who would even split itself into hundreds or even thousands of parts in order to escape. If it realized that there was a fatal threat to him, it would be difficult to lure the "fox tail" out.

"Then I would ask you to survive for another one or two months."

Gradually Maple gathered his thoughts, glanced at the unconscious flesh mountain on the ground and walked away into the forest, no longer staying there.

…

Seven days was not a long time for Maple, one or two days before the end of the assessment, Maple's fierce reputation in Fujikasane mountain had spread among the demons. Those who did not believe it had already paid with their lives.

After Maple walked out of the Fujikasane mountain, the appointment certificate for the first "soul pillar" along with the formal entry into the demon slayer corps were announced to let everyone know.

Killing half a hundred demons in two months, self-created breathing technique, 16 years of age. This impressive battle feat impressed all demon slayer corps members and incited curiosity on the mysterious lord "Feng".

So, after hearing that "soul pillar" would patrol all pillar areas to provide combat support and would temporarily reside in butterfly mansion, some people even pretended to be sick to sneak into the butterfly mansion, just to see the appearance of the "tenth pillar", and become first-hand source material for conversation.

Of course, these few weirdos were quickly "sanctioned" by the head nurse Kanzaki Aoi and were kicked out of the butterfly mansion.

"Yamaguchi! Don't you tell me the scrape on your arm is a fracture!! Get out of here!"

Kanzaki Aoi stared with a pair of beautiful blue eyes like a little tiger. It was obviously a serious expression, but it could not make others afraid. They could only feel the girl's seriousness.

Seeing another young man leave the butterfly mansion dejectedly, Aoi held her forehead helplessly and sighed.

"Hai! These idiots, can they be more stupid! If they wanted to pretend, can't they do it more presentably!"

"There is nothing we can do about it, everyone is very curious about lord Feng!"

"You're right, furthermore lord Feng is also very handsome!"

"That's right, that's right!"

Hearing sister Aoi's complaint, Kosei, Kosumi, and Naho following behind her could not help but start chattering.

For these three little girls with simple logic, these "idiots", who wished to see lord Feng's appearance, was not something strange.

"But this is a place for the wounded to recuperate!"

Aoi, who was in distress, corrected the thinking of the "three little ones", but looking at their confused expression, she was finally defeated.

"Ha…! I really hope there won't be so many people coming anymore."

The situation's development did not make Aoi anxious, the appointment of soul pillar only briefly caused a stir and soon subsided. In less than a week, the butterfly mansion had returned to its former tranquility.

On the eve of the "storm", the task of slaying ghost was not heavy. These few weeks after he took office as "soul pillar", although Maple acted as a "firefighter", it did not mean that he needed to run around endlessly.

Considering that he still needed to research pharmacology with Shinobu, Maple did not choose a new residence, but chose the butterfly mansion as his temporary residence.

During this period, even the demon slayers joked that the butterfly mansion was the safest place since it was guarded by two pillars.

"Pop, pop…"

In Kocho Shinobu's pharmacy room, Maple was carefully concocting a bottle of purple poison. Thanks to its similarity to potion refinement, he quickly mastered this world's pharmacology.

As the purple liquid simmered over slow fire, some bubbles popped, along with bursting bubbles, the room was filled with a refreshing scent of wisteria flower.

From an angle where Shinobu could not see, Maple's green eyes were flashing with vague spiritual aura. Obviously, he had turned on his spiritual vision to assist his medicinal materials preparation.

"Done."

Feeling a slight touch in his spirituality, Maple immediately realized this was the perfect time and stopped the burning fire and the stirring stone pestle.

After confirming that characteristics of the actual object were as expected, Maple kept the poison properly and handed it to Kocho Shinobu, who was waiting beside him.

"Here, Kocho, we have succeeded."